Monthly Archives: February 2020

national news

It’s done; now, bring on a full-throated campaign

It’s over.

The latest national nightmare is over. The U.S. Senate today acquitted Donald John Trump of abusing the power of his office and obstructing Congress.

It is an unsatisfactory ending for many millions of Americans; I am one who is unhappy with the outcome. Many millions of other Americans are happy to see Trump still standing as the current president of the United States.

Is there going to be fallout? Oh, sure.

Consider some of the chatter that developed today when Sen. Mitt Romney became the sole Republican to vote to convict Trump. Romney voted “guilty” on the abuse of power charge. The fallout is likely to occur when Trump lashes out at Romney. That’s the president’s modus operandi. He demands total loyalty. When he doesn’t get it he exacts revenge.

Trump “governs” through intimidation. Wonderful, yes? I guess it explains his bromances with international strongmen. He likes their style and seeks to emulate them here at home.

Those of us unhappy Americans, though, need to look forward. We have a presidential campaign looming out there. My fervent opposition to Trump is well-known to those who read this blog.

I still consider fundamentally unfit for this high office. I still consider him to be a danger to the republic. I am frightened beyond measure by what he is capable of doing now that he considers himself “exonerated” of all the charges brought against him.

He won’t express a scintilla of regret for making any mistakes that led to this somber and sober episode. He is likely to unsheathe his battle sword and gallop into battle, quite likely with help from at least one foreign government.

Despite the Senate trial outcome, I remain somewhat relieved that we’re done with this fight. Given the GOP fealty to Donald Trump, the conclusion surprised next to no one.

I am ready for someone to emerge as a legitimate challenger to this president who, in my humble view, needs to be defeated.

Sports news

‘No!’ to reinstating Pete Rose

I am directing these brief remarks to Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred.

Mr. Commissioner, do not knuckle or buckle under the pressure to reinstate Pete Rose, to bring the former Charlie Hustle back into MLB’s good graces. Rose has asked Manfred to be reinstated. He cites the relatively light punishment given to the Houston Astros for their high-tech sign-stealing in the 2017 World Series. C’mon, man. That’s apples and oranges.

Rose bet on baseball games. The MLB rules, which the commissioners knows better than I do, state categorically: Anyone who bets on big-league baseball games is subject to a lifetime ban from the game.

Lifetime ban needs to mean what it declares.

Pete Rose is still drawing breath among us. He broke a clear-cut, unambiguous rule. He should pay the price that he received from one of Manfred’s esteemed predecessors, the late A. Bartlett Giamatti.

Yes, he played a great game of hardball … even with supposedly limited athletic skill. He bet on baseball seemingly because he had a fetish he couldn’t control.

That’s too bad. He broke the rules. Pete Rose doesn’t deserve reinstatement.

national news

POTUS, speaker have destroyed their working relationship

It now seems almost quaint to look back on how speakers of the House and presidents of opposing political parties managed to set aside their partisan differences for the greater good.

I can recall Democratic Speaker Tom Foley working with Republican President George H.W. Bush; then we had Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich and Democratic President Clinton finding a way to balance the budget; Democratic Speaker Tip O’Neill and Republican President Reagan had a legendary personal friendship that transcended their political differences.

What we witnessed Tuesday night was a shattered relationship that looks to me to be beyond repair.

Republican Donald Trump walked to the podium in the House chamber to deliver his State of the Union speech. He handed Speaker Nancy Pelosi a copy of his text; Pelosi extended her hand, but Trump refused to shake it. Then at the end of the speech, Pelosi stood up and tore up the text.

Those two acts embody the government dysfunction at its worst.

I get that Pelosi led the House impeachment effort against Trump. Then again, Gingrich did the same thing with Clinton; Newt led the GOP charge against the president, fought like the dickens to get him tossed, but the two of them managed to find a way to work on legislating and governing.

These days? I’m beginning to fear our government might be bleeding from a mortal wound.

national news

SOTU shows the nation’s stark and deep divide

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Well now … just how divided is the United States of America?

It’s pretty damn divided, based on the performance that took place in the House of Representatives chamber full of lawmakers, about half of whom want the nation’s current president removed from office.

There he was, Donald John Trump during his State of the Union speech, awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to a highly controversial radio talker, Rush Limbaugh — who I have acknowledged is battling an advanced form of lung cancer. I stand by my good wishes in his fight against the disease. However, watching the first lady hang the medal around Limbaugh’s neck made me cringe.

He has spewed hate speech for as long as I can remember. He has done not a single thing to earn the nation’s highest civilian honor. There he was, though, soaking up the love from the side of the House chamber that endorses his fiery rhetoric.

And then there was Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the House impeachment movement against Trump, tearing up the text of Trump’s speech in a dramatic show of petulance at the end of POTUS’s remarks.

Mme. Speaker, you did not need to do that in such a dramatic display. Yes, we all get that she is angry at Trump, but these public demonstrations lend nothing to the effort we all should seek to heal this country’s deep — and I hope not mortal — political wounds.

Trump fed his political base a healthy dose of the red meat it craves. He blasted the criminals who enter the country illegally without ever mentioning all the undocumented immigrants who have contributed to our nation while living in fear of deportation. He stood strong for the Second Amendment. He blasted socialism as a failed ideology.

And, of course, he took the expected digs at the “previous administration,” continuing his ongoing campaign to denigrate the work of President Obama and his team, who rescued the nation from its economic free-fall when they took office in 2009.

Donald John Trump has shown us once again that he intends to keep seeking to divide us. I wasn’t proud of what I witnessed.

medical news

Cold turkey: It’s the way to quit

I can’t believe I almost forgot about this landmark anniversary.

It was 40 years ago this past Sunday that I changed my life for the better and perhaps even lengthened it.

I quit smoking. Cold turkey, man! I didn’t need no prescription drug to wean me of the weeds. I didn’t need any counseling sessions, other than with my wife.

I started smoking at about the age of 15. By the time I reached age 30, I had become a two-pack-a-day man. The cigarettes have taken a toll on my health. I developed a nagging “smoker’s cough.” But, what the heck, a cigarette would make it go away … or so I deluded myself.

Then on the Second of February, 1980 I lit up a smoke. I took a drag. I choked on it.

My next thought at that moment was this, and I kid you not: What the hell am I doing here?

I snuffed that cigarette out. I tossed it into the garbage. Then I reached into my pocket for the pack of cigarettes waiting to be lit, crumpled it up and threw it, too, into the trash.

I was done. Finished. I haven’t put a lit cig to my mouth since. I have become somewhat militant about smoking as I have aged over the years. So has my wife. My total aversion to smoking has caused some tension, truth be told, among those with whom I have socialized. Here’s my favorite example of what happened.

More than 10 years ago, I was touring Israel with four of my best friends. We attended a party in the southern part of the country. There was plenty of food and beverage. At the end of the meal, our hosts lit up a hookah, which we used to refer to in the old days as a “water pipe” or “bong.” I was asked if I wanted to partake. I said “no.” They kept insisting. I kept saying “no” with even more vigor than the previous time. This back/forth went on far longer than I wished.

At the end of it, I am certain I offended my hosts by not enjoying the hookah vapors. What I could not explain to them was that smoking from that device terrified me. I never was a casual or “social” smoker. I was addicted to nicotine. The addiction frightened me to never wanting to be tempted again beyond my strength.

And so it has gone. I read not long after I quit smoking that one’s lungs can restore themselves over time. I surely trust that has happened to me.

What’s more, I long ago quit calling myself a “former smoker.” I am a non-smoker … and proud of how I became one.

national news

Keep it simple: Get rid of these caucuses!

1 Comment

I just have to say something without any equivocation.

This Iowa caucus kerfuffle, this SNAFU, the chaos and confusion, has my head spinning. I feel like the Linda Blair character in “The Exorcist.”

We need to return to a simpler, more straightforward way of selecting our presidential candidates. Let’s just rely on actual voters casting votes on actual ballots. Let’s also just do away with “apps” that have the potential of blowing this process to smithereens, which is what has happened in Iowa.

Iowa Democratic Party officials blame the blowup on a technical mistake. They have said throughout this mess that no one hacked into our system; no one sabotaged it; there has been apparently no “foreign interference.”

But get this: The Department of Homeland Security offered to run this app through its paces prior to the actual caucus, but the party bosses in Iowa declined! Bad call, Iowa Democrats.

Here’s yet another point to ponder. The Russians who interfered in our 2016 presidential election, then interfered in our 2018 midterm election and are ramping up their attack strategy for the 2020 election can take a measure of “credit” for sowing the seeds of mistrust, distrust and angst at our electoral system.

The screw-up in Iowa only feeds that uncertainty. Indeed, the anxiety is stuffing itself on the incompetence demonstrated by the Iowa Democratic Party.

I want to say it again, with passion: No more of these idiotic caucuses. Let us pick our presidential nominees with votes cast on ballots

local news

Preparing to bid farewell to a family patriarch

This picture tells you plenty about a man I want to honor with this brief post.

He is James G. Phillips. He was my Uncle Jim. He was my mother’s baby brother who died this past weekend at the age of 93.

He was proud officer in the U.S. Army. Uncle Jim retired eventually from the Army Reserve as a colonel and in a few days he will be laid to rest at Willamette National Cemetery in Portland, Ore. I will be there to say goodbye to my beloved uncle. He will be afforded full military honors.

Uncle Jim suffered most recently from what I would argue is the most dreaded disease imaginable: Alzheimer’s disease. His body looked the same. The disease, though, stole this man’s essence. It took away his ability to tell a tale, to convey any segment of his wonderful, full life. He was as fluent in Greek as he was in English, which is to say he spoke both languages with absolute clarity, humor and intelligence.

I am likely to say something later about the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease, as I remain committed to calling attention to the need to devote more resources, more energy and more research into finding an ultimate cure for this murderous ailment.

For now, though, I just want to offer this brief comment about someone who stood large in my family. I know we all have ancestors who engender pride. You do as well as I do.

However, I will fight like hell to avoid getting sucked into a spasm of grief. As one of Uncle Jim’s daughters told me just the other day, our sadness in this instance will produce plenty of reasons to rejoice in the many happy memories we all have of this great man.

national news

OK, let’s say so long to the also-rans

Andrew Yang, it’s time to call it quits. Same for you, Michael Bennet. Oh, and Tom Steyer … you, too.

That’s three Democrats who need to step aside. It’s time for them to “suspend” their campaigns, which is a nice way of saying they should throw in the towel.

The Iowa caucus ended in a state of Donald Trump-like chaos and confusion. Virtually all of the still-large Democratic field had staked a claim in this madness. One of the Democrats stayed out of the caucus battle: Michael Bloomberg is taking aim at Super Tuesday, which includes Texas, on March 3.

But the field has got to narrow itself to a more manageable gaggle of contenders.

It’s now down to five individuals. That’s all right with me. They all bring certain levels of competence and creativity to this fight.

But as one pundit noted today, the Iowa caucus mess, coupled with Donald John Trump’s assured acquittal by the U.S. Senate, has resulted in the Democrats’ worst week so far of the 2020 presidential campaign.

Dust yourselves off, Democrats. You’ve got some work to do.

national news

Democrats belong to the ‘inclusive’ political party, right? Well …

The Iowa caucus SNAFU is enough of a nightmare for the Democratic Party, given the app malfunction that has delayed final results from the caucuses across the state.

Then comes this tidbit that seems to shoot a hole in the notion that the Democratic Party is more a, um, inclusive major political organization.

It seems that a caucus-goer wanted to take back her vote for former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg when she learned that Mayor Pete is gay.

I guess she was unhappy hearing the news, allegedly for the first time. Now, I say “allegedly” because Buttigieg is openly gay. He is married to a fellow who’s shown up on campaign stages with the Democratic Party candidate from time to time.

Buttigieg doesn’t use his sexual orientation as a major campaign theme. He discusses other issues, such as, you know … climate change, ethics in government, war and peace, taxation, infrastructure improvement. These are issues that matter to all Americans.

The Iowa caucus-goer, though, sought to take her vote back because, I am going to presume, that she no longer thinks Mayor Pete is qualified to be president of the United States. Why? Because he is gay! That’s it.

My late mother had a saying that seems to fit this individual to the letter. Mom would say that someone is “so narrow-minded he could look through a keyhole … with both eyes.”

national news

Democrats have just messed up an electoral process at the worst time

I guess you can say this about the Democratic Party: When they mess up an election, they do it in a big way, embarrassing themselves and dousing many millions of Americans watching from afar with a huge splash of ice water.

They had that long-awaited Iowa caucus Monday. Except that the system broke down. Democrats are blaming it on a computer “app” that went haywire. They’re unable to tabulate how the caucus-goers decided to support. As I write this blog at almost noon the next day, they still don’t know who finished where in the caucus donnybrook.

Yep, they blew this one!

It could not have possibly come at a worse time for Democrats,

They have fielded a lineup of competent challengers to Donald John Trump, the current U.S. president. Four of them serve in the U.S. Senate, which on Wednesday will vote on whether to acquit or convict the POTUS of high crimes and misdemeanors. They’re scrambling now to make sense of the mess that has been spilled all over them in the Hawkeye State.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump is going to gloat. He’ll make that State of the Union speech tonight and something tells me he might use that high-profile platform to toss a dig or three at the feckless-appearing opposition that tried to conduct a time-honored process to begin the search for a presidential nominee.

Some of us — such as yours truly — prefer an even more venerable tradition in making this determination. How about voting in secret? How about just allowing voters to look at their ballot and place a mark next to the candidate of their choice?

But, no-o-o-o! We have this caucus nonsense that has been swallowed whole by technology that a political machine apparently doesn’t know how to operate.

This is not how you’re supposed to launch an election cycle.