President Trump

Leave a comment Posted on abortion, President Obama, President Trump, Roe v. Wade, U.S. Supreme Court

Turning Back the Clock on Women

For the first time in its 233-year history, the U.S. Supreme Court revoked a right that it sanctioned a half a century ago:  a woman’s right to an abortion.

Never before has the Court done such a thing.

Suddenly, mothers and grandmothers who lived through the legal abortion era now have daughters and granddaughters who do not have as much freedom as they did.  Isn’t that the reverse of how our culture is supposed to advance, granting more freedoms as the years go on, not taking them away?

At a time when our country is divided over so many issues, this is the last thing we need to happen.  It is time to recognize that we have been living in a cold civil war period for the past few decades and not protecting a woman’s right what she does with her body will further exacerbate the situation.

Now, each state will be fighting against each other because the states who will have the strictest anti-abortion laws plan to block women who seek out those states that allow abortion, thus generating tension among the states.

If a woman from Alabama where abortion is not legal travels into the neighboring state of Florida where it remains legal, who is going to enforce what that woman does?  Will a Florida doctor be arrested for giving pills to that woman?  Will the woman upon returning to Alabama be jailed?

This creates such a mess.  And aren’t they more pressing issues that we as a country need to face such as inflation, gun control and climate change?

You know what I have always found odd about those who oppose abortion is that they tend to be the same people who oppose affordable child care.  In other words, they won’t allow a woman who makes a mistake getting pregnant to terminate a pregnancy so that she is not burdened with financial difficulties, but in forcing the woman to have the baby, will not provide care for that baby.   That single woman and child end up using welfare and other social services which affects all of our paychecks.

And, by the way, what business is it of anyone if a citizen has an abortion?  How does that personal decision negatively impact anyone but that woman?    

Those who oppose abortion strongly are the same people who refuse to wear a mask declaring to mandate one is an infringement on their personal freedom; in other words, it is one’s personal choice to wear or not wear a mask.  Likewise, to tell women they do not have a choice is to take away their personal freedom. The hypocrisy is overwhelming.

Another hypocritical matter is that President Obama with 8 months left before the 2016 presidential election was blocked from filling a Supreme Court opening, yet President Trump was allowed to appoint a justice with 8 days left before the 2020 election.   

Amazing that one president, in office for just 4 years without winning the popular vote, could have such an impact on the Supreme Court by appointing three justices over another president in office for 8 years who won the popular vote both times who only appointed two.

Fifty years ago, conservative judges appointed by President Nixon helped pass Roe v. Wade by a 7 to 2 vote, granting women the freedom to choose, proving that no matter the political bent of individual judges, when it came to making a decision, both sides were considered. 

Today’s Supreme Court justices stuck to their political persuasions, not ruling on what is right or wrong, demonstrating how politicized the court has become.  The proof?  All three of Trump’s justices voted against Roe v. Wade.

Let’s hope the Court doesn’t consider revoking a woman’s right to vote. After all, just like abortion, women were not mentioned in the 1789 U.S. Constitution.

1 Comment Posted on COVID-19, Edgar Allan Poe, President Trump, Prince Prospero

Prince Prospero AKA Donald J. Trump

One of the short stories I used to teach was Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death.”

Prince Prospero decides to hold a masquerade party in his castle high on a hill and away from the town which is experiencing a plague, the Red Death.   The Prince invites special wealthy guests to be safe in his abode and enjoy themselves while the paeans below them die mercilessly.  He locks the doors to ensure that the pestilence does not come in and harm him or his guests, similar an idea that building a wall will prevent illegal immigration.

So what happens at the party?

Everyone dies.

The morale of the story is that no one, not even the wealthiest denizens, are immune to disease.  One can’t lock one’s doors to the plague.  A virus does not know the bank account or pedigree of its hosts.  It’s just contagious.

And now we turn from 1842 when the story was published to present day where we have a President who does not believe the scientists or doctors.  He feels he is immune, above reproach from a disease, from dying even.  Just as he runs away from paying his fair share of federal income tax, he fools the American people not to do anything that could protect them from getting sick from the worst pandemic in 102 years.

Call it karma, schadenfreude, or a simple comeuppance, Trump has the coronavirus.  Is anyone surprised?  What is surprising is that it took this long for him to catch it. 

Just a few days earlier at the presidential debate, he mocked Joe Biden for wearing “the biggest mask I’ve ever seen.”  For months he mocked Biden for being too old and feeble.  Well, who looks too old and feeble now?

What will be interesting to see is how Trump comes out of this episode.  Will he restart his anti-mask campaign?  Or will he admit he was wrong about Covid?

Don’t expect an epiphany from a family (all of them shunned masks at Tuesday’s debate even when a doctor in attendance was passing them out) who, like Prince Prospero, feel that they are better than us, richer, more privileged, who don’t have to contribute part of their earnings for the good of the country.  How can regular people feel good about that?

To quote another piece of literature, in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Roman senator Caius Cassius is manipulating fellow senator Marcus Brutus to kill Caesar.  While faulting the leader for having physical maladies such as epilepsy or the falling sickness, he tells Brutus that “we have the falling sickness” when it comes to doing nothing to rid Rome of a dictator.

In a month, the people will have their once-every-four-year moment to decide not only the outcome of the election, but the direction of this tattered country.  It is in the hands of its citizens, just as the Founding Fathers wrote it in the Constitution.   The question from a 400-year-old play remains:  how many of us have the falling sickness?

Leave a comment Posted on climate change, George H. W. Bush, John F. Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, President Trump

New Trump, New Year

This New Year’s we say goodbye not just to 2019 but to the second decade of the 21st century.

It seemed not that long ago when the biggest worry we had was the alleged Y2K crisis.  Who knew that 20 months after celebrating the new millennium, 9/11 would turn our world upside down.

And so, with 20% of the century now gone, what is the health of America?

Scanning negative headlines everywhere, the future seems bleak.

Like a vision from the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come from Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, I can’t help but picture a headstone reading:  The United States,

1776-20–?

But just like Ebenezer Scrooge’s transformation, America can turn it around.

Imagine President Donald J. Trump waking up on New Year’s Day a changed man, compassionate and decent, delivering a speech for the ages, words to unify all Americans.

“My fellow Americans,

For these past three years, I have not been the best person I could have been.

Ever since November of 2016 when I was shocked to learn that I had won the presidential election, I really had no idea what to do next.  My team and I were completely unprepared for those results; our pollsters had Hillary Clinton winning by three million votes.

Since I did not want to come across as someone incompetent, especially since so many believed in the brilliant billionaire businessman they saw on television who hosted “The Apprentice,” I did not want to let citizens down.

From my childhood, when my father sent me to military school, his only child of five for whom he did such a thing, I have felt insecure.  That is why I boast, berate and shout to cover up my inadequacies.

But once the House of Representatives passed those two articles of impeachment, it made me reflect on what type of legacy I want to leave behind.

Just as I am the first president ever to be impeached in his first term, I could become the first president who performed amazing deeds in less than a year.

As of today, I am disabling my Twitter account.  The juvenile name-calling stops now.  Restoring the honor of the office of the presidency is a prime priority.

Dishonesty and misinformation will no longer thrive; the Trump Administration will be known for truthfulness and transparency.

I will rebuild our relationships with our allies and strengthen our human rights concerns with our foes.

I will model bipartisan Congressional relationships by working alongside Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

The Trump presidency will welcome those people from other countries who are seeking a better life in America.

I admit that climate change is real, so I will re-affirm the United States’ commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement.

I will embrace not insult the free press, and as a sign of my pledge, will host regularly scheduled press conferences.

And, if after 10 months of Trump 2.0, you wish to reelect me, I would be honored to continue as president for another four years, remembering always that I serve at the pleasure of all Americans.

The enemy is not the person who disagrees with you or votes for someone else, not the person whose religious or ethnicity is different from yours.  No, the enemy is intolerance of those who are unlike you.  That is not America.  We are stronger because of our diversity.

I welcome each and every one of you to remember the words of President George H. W. Bush to be a ‘kinder, gentler nation,” as well as President Kennedy’s proclamation, ‘ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.’  May God bless America.”

I know, I know, like Dickens’ story, it’s a work of fiction.  This is never going to happen.   However, if it did, what a wonderful world this would be.  Happy New Year.

Leave a comment Posted on Brett Kavanaugh, Christine Blasey Ford, President Trump, U.S. Supreme Court

Cranky Kavanaugh Not Suited to be a Supreme Court Judge

By the time you read this, more likely than not Brett Kavanaugh will have become the 114th Supreme Court justice in American history.  Next to the 45 presidents, it is the second most exclusive job one can hold.  And unlike presidents, justices’ jobs are for life.

The controversy over his confirmation concerning alleged sexual misconduct from his high school and college days has underscored the divisions among political parties and the public.

For me the issue isn’t the alleged sexual assault.  It isn’t even the decisions he has made as a federal judge.  It was his histrionic performance at last week’s Senate judiciary hearing.  He wasn’t just angry, he was furious; he wasn’t just defiant, he was combative; he wasn’t just teary, he was red-in-the-face near full-out balling.   And remember, he was exhibiting these emotions reading from prepared remarks, not speaking extemporaneously.  Are these the traits of a Supreme Court justice who needs to be measured and reasonable when deciding cases?

Someone with the temperament of Kavanaugh should not be a judge, especially on the Supreme Court, one of the most hallowed government institutions.

Of course, the same could be said about Trump regarding the presidency.   He has drained the office of all decorum.  Is it any surprise that he chose a less-than-stellar candidate for the Court?

Too bad that the confirmation vote was delayed a week because all it served to do was to give those Republicans on the fence—Jeff Flake of Arizona, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska—a “the FBI could not find corroboration” excuse to vote for him.   The whole delay was an agonizing tease for those who did not want a justice with an asterisk by his name like Clarence Thomas.  Now for the next 30 years or so we will have a judge who could have assaulted a woman.

When my students study characters in literature, we talk about how all of us have different sides to our personalities.  It is very possible that Kavanaugh has many positive sides to him.   The problem is that there is a darker side to his character.  We should expect those nine people who serve this country on the Supreme Court bench to be of the highest moral fiber.   Kavanaugh’s demeanor last week should have sealed his fate.

It didn’t.

In this age of Trump, the decency bar continues to sink lower.

We have a president who ridiculed Prof. Christine Blasey Ford at a rally, with the crowd encouraging him to continue.

Trump could care less about the twisted optics of his mockery of a sexual assault victim, even as he stands accused of sexual misconduct himself.

More disturbing were the people laughing at his insulting behavior.

Based on his resume, Kavanaugh looked like a cinch for the Court.  He declared it as such in his remarks last week.  Like a spoiled brat, he assumed that coming from a wealthy family, attending the right schools, and working for the right powerful people meant he could walk right through the doors to the Supreme Court Building.  And he may yet do it.

If he is confirmed, he should remember these words:

“To be a good judge . . . it’s important to have the proper demeanor . . . to keep our emotions in check.  To be calm amidst the storm.”

He should remember them because he said them back in 2015.  So just who is the real Judge Kavanaugh?

Leave a comment Posted on Kirstjen Nielsen, Maxine Waters, Merchant of Venice, Michelle Obama, President Trump, Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Hath Not a Republican Eyes?

When a driver cuts you off in traffic, the devil inside you wants to catch up with that discourteous motorist and cut in front of him—tit for tat.  One of those “There, how do YOU like it?”

While this might feel good for about a second, what does this behavior say about the so-called good driver?

This is how I view the recent spate of people ambushing Trump administration officials while they are out in public as private citizens with their families.

Last week, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was refused service at a restaurant.  And Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen had protesters interrupt her meal at another restaurant; some shouted outside her home.

These incidents bring a smile to those opposed to President Trump’s administration and its heartless policies; however, they are trading a pound of incivility for an ounce of revenge.

Is that the best way to respond to someone whose views we don’t agree with, berating them as they eat out or yelling at them where they live?

I wouldn’t want someone who disagreed with my views harassing me as I shopped at a market. It’s like the fans in a sports arena interfering with play on the field.   That’s a red line never to be crossed.

In a speech to supporters, Congresswoman Maxine Waters advocated for more below the belt tactics.

“If you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station . . . you push back on them [that they] are not welcome anywhere.”

Opposed to that strategy, political commentator David Axelrod said on CNN that “a race to the bottom in terms of civility in our politics is [not] the way to go.”

You end up making those who you revile sympathetic, the opposite of what was intended.   Watching a cell phone video of an adult screaming “Shame on You!” makes these Trump employees appear as victims.

Turning away Sanders resurrects ugly memories of America’s past when African-Americans were refused service at restaurants.

Former First Lady Michelle Obama said it succinctly at the 2016 Democratic National Convention:  “When someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you don’t stoop to their level. No, our motto is, when they go low, we go high.”  It used to be the American way.

Intolerance of those who are different—be they of another ethnicity, religion, or political persuasion—counteracts values in our country that this upcoming Fourth of July is supposed to celebrate.

Every citizen is entitled to an opinion.  And every citizen is entitled to privacy.

Send emails.  Write letters.  Make phone calls.  March outside the White House and federal buildings.  Vote your opponents out.

But getting in people’s faces is boorish behavior, the type anti-Trumpers accuse the President of exhibiting.

It’s troubling when our emotions rule our intellect.

Four centuries ago, Shakespeare wrote a poignant speech for his Jewish character Shylock who is victimized by Christians in “The Merchant of Venice.”

“Hath not a Jew eyes . . . hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is?”

Now, re-read the same passage only this time replace “Jew” with “Republican” or “Democrat” or any other kind of people for whom you harbor ill will.

Tolerance for those unlike us embodies the soul of this democracy.

 

Leave a comment Posted on President Obama, President Trump, Teacher of the Year

No Surprise: Trump Diminishes Teachers of the Year Ceremony

Teachers rarely receive national attention which is why the annual ceremony acknowledging all states’ Teacher of the Year honorees is so significant.

For 65 years, these gifted instructors have been showcased at the White House hosted by the President.

If you are a teacher, it is a moment to cherish.   This year, it was a moment to forget.

Last week, President Trump hosted the teachers in the crowded Oval Office, the favorite room of his where he greets paeans, remaining seated as if he was a king on his throne. Also in the room was Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, an anti-public education advocate, all making nice smiling for the pool cameras.

Remember, Trump lambasted public education in his inauguration speech as a system that “leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of knowledge.”   This came from the same paragraph lumping education with poverty, job loss, and crime as part of the “American carnage.”

Yet there he was reading from a TelePrompTer about how valuable teachers are.

The entire ceremony took barely five minutes.

Compare this to the forty minutes former President Barack Obama shared with last year’s winners.

Obama relished this annual event, treating it as more of a celebration than a static photo op.  Last year’s ceremony was held in the East Room to accommodate more people, with the teachers standing on risers so that they all are clearly seen.

Obama is announced at the same time as Jahana Hayes, the 2016 Teacher of the Year, allowing her the spotlight and the lectern first to deliver a four-minute speech, about the same amount of time given to this year’s entire ceremony.

Not only does he personally hand the Crystal Apple award to Hayes, but tells a story about her so that the public can gain an insight to what makes her such a special educator.

This year’s Teacher of the Year, Sydney Chaffee, lost among the crowded pack of educators surrounding Trump, wasn’t given an entrance, wasn’t allowed to give a speech, and had very little said about her.

Standing to Trump’s right, Trump barely looks up at her, quickly pats her arm, then awkwardly holds the Crystal Apple himself smiling at the cameras as if it were meant for him before giving it to Chaffee.

He doesn’t shake her hand, he doesn’t stand up to hand the award to her, he doesn’t say anything about her except her name, what she teaches, and where she works.

Washington Post reporter Valerie Strauss discovered that very few relatives of the teachers were allowed in the Oval Office; most “who had traveled at their own expense for many hours to attend were left to wait in a building near the White House.”  Even Chaffee’s husband and daughter “were kept waiting in a hallway before being allowed to enter the Oval Office.”

In fact, the video does not appear on the official White House website link of “events” videos.

One video that is featured came a week earlier showing Trump welcoming this year’s Super Bowl champs, the New England Patriots.  Their ceremony happened in a larger arena on the South Lawn with more observers and media in attendance.

Trump spent 16 minutes with the team, underscoring how some people care more about the champs on a football field than the champs in the classroom.

But not Obama as evidenced by what he said:

“Part of the reason this event is so important is for us to be able to send a message to future generations of teachers, to talented young people all across the country to understand this is a dream job; that this is an area . . . where you have the potential to make more of a difference than just about anything you can go into.”

If only Trump did his homework and plagiarized even a bit of Obama’s remarks as his wife did copying Michelle’s.  Then again, to paraphrase his comment about healthcare, who knew that honoring teachers could be so complicated?