Party of Lincoln Derailed

Republicans are fond of claiming to be the party of Lincoln. It gives them a sense of respectability that Nixon and Joseph McCarthy never could provide. The last time they were the party of Lincoln was seven score, ten years ago if it was a day. So, the obvious question is what has the party of Lincoln done for us lately.

For a good part of the 20^th century, Democrats struggled to remove racism from within their own party. When they finally exorcised their demons, those who couldn’t stomach reform, who thought giving blacks actual citizenship rights, just one century after giving them full citizenship was moving too fast, sought refuge in the GOP.

Republicans were only too happy to welcome them, just as they would grudgingly welcome other hate groups when there were political gains to be had. Clearly “big tent” means something different for Republicans. Today’s Republican Party is not the party of Lincoln. It is the party of Strom Thurmond.

For the last fifty years, the nation has tried to move toward tolerance and acceptance and away from racism and bigotry, not just for blacks, but for all minorities.

During this same period, the Republican Party has relocated to a place where its main constituency is now old white men with money and/or attitude and young, less educated white men with mostly attitude. Oh, and Evangelicals, who used to be all about GOD have also found a home in the GOP.

When Civil Rights legislation was still in its incubator stage, Nixon was putting together, his “law and order southern strategy.” The once solid Democratic south has morphed into the new solid Republican south. Racism and bigotry are the glue holding it together.

The 1976 election wasn’t so much about enforcing law and order or advancing civil rights. Gerald Ford was burdened by blow-back to the Nixon-pardon-baggage. It allowed a southern Democrat who was neither racist nor law-and-order to win the election that even Republican Lincoln would have had difficulty winning.

By 1980, bigotry was back on track. Reagan gave his first post-convention speech near Philadelphia, Mississippi, sight of the 1964 murder of civil rights workers. Republicans claim the location was insignificant and only coincidental, as was his references to states’ rights. No one, in either party, was fooled.

The Republican Party has spent the last 30 years since Reagan was its figurehead working behinds the scenes, sometimes shrouded by smokescreens, to dismantle anti-discrimination legislation and actual civil rights achievements. Knowing they have a problem with minorities, they’ve continually vowed to improve their relationships with them—just as soon as they’ve stopped Blacks from voting, slowed down immigration, and stop catering to people with disabilities.

Republicans would have us believe they are the party of small government, low taxes and individual freedom, but their biggest concerns always seem to be enacting discriminating policies against minorities, protecting gun rights and shifting tax burdens away from the wealthy.

Republicans repeatedly oppose anti-discrimination laws benefiting gays, transgender, blacks, Hispanics, woman and just about any other group looking for not much more than acceptance and equal treatment under the law.

At the same time, their discriminatory practices in the 30 or so states where they control government have led to countless voter ID laws under the pretense of preventing voter fraud. I’m not sure what fewer voting locations and shorter voting periods have to do with stopping voter fraud, but it sure makes it more difficult to vote.

How bad is this fraud? Very bad say predominantly Republican state legislatures.

What do the actual numbers tell us? Out of 197 million votes cast in federal elections between 2002 and 2005, only 40 voters were indicted of voter fraud and 26 convicted. That’s a conviction rate of 0.00000013. Probably more cases went undetected. I will admit that. Certainly not enough to justify all the money and time that has been spent making voting harder for legitimate voters.

The only national election decided by a single vote in the history of our nation was the five-four vote by a Conservative Supreme Court to elect a Republican president in 2000.

The only fraud being committed, is by Republicans who under the pretense of making it fairer, make it more difficult.

Today, few Republican leaders are willing to speak out against the obvious bigotry of their presidential nominee. I’m not saying they are bigots. Perhaps, gutless hypocrites is a better word. Trump is able to succeed, not despite his racist comments, but because his racist comments seem to find such a welcoming audience among his supporters. They’ll be the first to say he speaks to them, that he says what they are thinking, what they want to hear.

Obviously not all Republicans feel this way, but enough of them do to cause Lincoln to turn over in his grave and demand they stop using his name in vain.

Grass-roots Republicans—upset that their leaders have failed to fulfill promises, either ignore or don’t understand how hard the Republican establishment has worked for the last 50 years to turn back anti-discrimination movements. The fact that it hasn’t totally succeeded in spite of their efforts isn’t their fault. They tried. They are still trying. It is a tribute to those Americans, who not only say they aren’t racist, but actually aren’t racist, that the struggle for equal rights continues.

Electing a black president did not signal the end of racism in America. It only gave racists more stuff to complain about. Racism is alive and well, and has found a home in the Republican Party. The party of Lincoln continues to deny this, even as white supremacists, the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazi groups, and most militias continue to pledge their support to the Republican Party.

The party of Lincoln is now the party of Donald Trump because Republicans have handed it over to him on a silver platter.

Postscript: Trump challenged Blacks with the words, “What have you got to lose?” He has spent the last two years answering his own question. He’s belittled black athletes, business leaders, staff people, and Congresswomen. He’s called them dogs, questioned their intelligence, their patriotism. He’s lied about how well they have done under his presidency.

He’s treated Hispanics with outright scorn, to the point where some families separated at the southern border may never be reunited.

He jumps on every opportunity to divide the nation, pitting one class against another, one state against another, one party against the other.

He’s denigrated the Justice Department and Intelligence community—once the darlings of the “law and order” party to the point where the whole country—well, most of it—are shaking their heads in disbelief.

The party that thrived on the Cold War in the fifties and ended it in the eighties, now finds its leader standing on the same stage with Putin and Jung-un and talking about what great guys they are—even as Putin attacks our elections and Jung-un threatens to attack our west coast.

Republicans haven’t opened the door for Trump so much as they paved the way for him.

Simply put, the GOP has fallen victim to the MAGA scam. As Yogi Berra might have said, it’s SNAFU all over again.

Ukraine—a realtors nightmare and they’re not the only ones

Location, location, location say realtors, who are equally big on timing.

Location and timing have always been problems for Ukraine.

My daughter met Mary, a transfer student from Ukraine while attending Francis Marion University. They’ve continued to correspond regularly and have gotten together in Ukraine, this country and other places.

Had either gone to another school or enrolled in different majors, they might’ve never met and would have missed out on what looks to be a lifelong friendship. Life certainly is all about timing and location.

That’s what I told Mary’s father in my only correspondence with him. When Jessica returned from her first visit to Ukraine. She delivered a gift from him—a pewter glass holder. Before sending him a thank-you letter, I researched the significance of the image portrayed on it.

It seems that in the 1600’s, Poland was a powerful nation controlling much of Eastern Europe. Ukrainians resented living under this repressive regime, much the way, a century later, we would resent being under England’s thumb.

In 1648, Bogdan Khmelnitsky led the Ukraine Cossacks in a successful revolt against Poland. His image is the one on the glass holder. He was Ukraine’s George Washington before there even was a George Washington.

Like us, Ukrainians had willingly put everything on the line to gain independence. Unlike the American colonies, their success was short-lived.

It was a different time and a different place.

The Treaty of Pereyaslav in 1654 put Ukraine under the protectorate of the bigger, stronger Tsarist Russia, eliminating the risk of her falling back under Poland’s control. Unfortunately, Ukraine’s fight for independence merely resulted in escaping the grasp of one European powerhouse only to fall into the repressive realm of another. Their alliance with Russia would, in the long run, prove more destructive than if they had remained with Poland.

Over the next three hundred years Ukraine’s borders shifted constantly as the big fish that surrounded her—Russia, Poland, the Ottomans and the Nazis, among others, tried to gobble her up.

The Crimean War (1853-1856) is as good an example as any of the hapless fate suffered by Ukrainians for no greater sin than living where they do. Some say it was fought for religious reason, others for territorial disputes. France’s Napoleon II wanted to drive the Ottoman Empire out of Europe, Imperial Russia wanted to make a move into Europe. The Ottoman’s just wanted to hang around a little longer and Ukrainians simply wanted everyone to return to their own homes.

In the period immediately following our victory over England, we experienced many hardships in forming a new government, but our independence was never threatened. Again, timing and location made the difference.

We had room to breathe because our borders weren’t threatened. Something else was different in 1776 America, something that did not exist in 1648 Ukraine—fresh ideas.

In the hundred years between Ukraine and America’s Revolutions, something happened. Something that changed the world. Philosophers like John Locke, Rousseau, and Voltaire gave the world revolutionary ideas of what the governments resulting from revolutions should aspire to.

Before these men, revolutions were about replacing repressive governments with similarly repressive ones. The American Revolution was about revolutionary ideas like life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness—ideas that did not exist in 1648, and which forced Ukraine to turn to Russia.

That’s what I noted to Mary’s father when I thanked him for his gift in the early 2000s. At the time, the Ukrainian people were again at a crossroads. They had broken from Russia, but needed a strong alliance to safeguard their new-found freedom. 

Fortunately, the protection provided by Europe and the United States did not come with strong-arm demands for control as was the case in 1648, but rather with enlightened ideas for self-governing.

Location, however, remains a problem for Ukraine, and is exasperated by Russia’s desire to go back in time and again become a force for evil. They’ve retaken Crimea and set their sights on all of Ukraine. More than ever, Ukraine must rely on powerful allies to help guarantee her security, but something else has gone wrong.

Since World War II, the United States with its unwavering values and democratic ideals has been both a model and protectorate of all countries, particularly Ukraine and other nations once part of the Soviet Union.

Earlier this year, that support was compromised when President Trump attempted to secure Ukraine’s involvement in our 2020 election for his benefit. His corrupt attempt at extortion, aided by his supporters both inside and outside the government has hurt both us and Ukraine. They have also hurt the cause of freedom and democracy.

Ukraine could be forgiven for wondering if there will ever come a time and place that will enable them enjoy true independence, as other free nations do, without a foreign superpower using strong-arm tactics to threaten their existence.  

President Trump presents a fireide chat

I’m speaking to you from this very amazing house that you people have just given me...I guess, to show your warm appreciation and deep affection for me because of all the really great things I will continue to promise to do for you. You can’t see it, but I am sitting in front of a truly amazing fireplace that is pumping out so much heat and although I know, it is very cold outside and maybe for some of you, very cold inside, but I have to say I am feeling very, very, very good.

And that is what I wanted to talk to you about tonight. Some of you, I know, are not feeling as good as I am about the way everything is going. It is no accident that my life is very good because I work very hard, am very smart, very good looking in a non-threatening way, and make really great decisions. God is probably looking out for me because I have always felt very special and I think if there is a God, and why should there be...oops...I meant to say why shouldn’t there be. Anyway, I think He would probably take a special interest in special people.

I know some of you are sitting in your living rooms in front of much smaller fireplaces than the one I’m sitting in front of. Some of you might not even have a fireplace. You are probably sitting in front of a space heater.

Excuse me. Somebody is trying to get my attention. Can’t you see I’m talking to the...what’s that? Oh. I’ve just been told to tell any of you who might be sitting in front of a space heater, to keep it away from your flammable curtains.

That’s what I don’t like. What ever happened to being able to put a space heater any place you wanted without the government telling you where to put it?

If it was up to me—and it should be since I am the government—but I would let you put the space heater anywhere you wanted. Maybe some houses would catch fire and maybe others would not, but isn’t that what living in a free country is all about?

Anyway, before I was distracted by that man who I guarantee will be out of a job as soon as I’m finished here, I was going to add that there’s a good chance some of you are hungry because you didn’t get enough to eat tonight. I won’t tell what I had to eat tonight, because you wouldn’t believe me, anyway, but believe me, it was unbelievable. What else is unbelievable is that I’ve been told, tomorrow’s meal is going to be even more amazing than today’s. That’s what they tell me. Unbelievable.

The point of this little talk I’m having with all of you, as I sit in front of this big fireplace after eating that fabulous meal, is that I understand many of you are afraid. 

You’re afraid of losing your jobs, afraid of losing your homes, afraid that you will slog along in your miserable existence and no one will ever recognize how truly amazing you are, which I’m sure many—not all—but certainly many of you are. Maybe not as amazing as me, but I’ve always said, amazing is as amazing does and I have done some amazing things. Nevertheless, I know many of you are afraid.

Some of you might even be afraid of those space heaters. You should be.

I don’t know what it is like to be afraid because I have never been afraid. I don’t think I have ever even been leery or skittish—although once, I had a doubt. It didn’t last nearly as long as it could have and sometimes I even doubt if I even had it at all.

I’m afraid many of you out there don’t possess the amazing self-confidence that I have been blessed with. I’m afraid that’s what makes many of you are afraid.

I just realized that I just said I am afraid of something even though technically I wasn’t really saying I was afraid of something although technically, I guess, that’s exactly what I said—that I was afraid of something.

I never thought I would ever say I was afraid of anything but I’m afraid that just goes to show how easy it can be sometimes to be afraid of something even when you’re not afraid of anything.

There was a long pause. The silence caused many listeners across the nation, who were bundled up in their parlors to think aliens may have invaded our planet adding one more thing for most of them to be scared about.

I’m sorry about that. I don’t know what happened just now, but for a moment there, I was almost afraid to say anything. Then I was afraid not to say something. And then, frankly, I’m afraid I didn’t have anything to say.

There was another long pause.

I’m beginning to fear that the only thing we have to fear—and obviously, I fear it—is saying the word afraid, which is weird because I’m afraid I can’t stop saying it.

I’m afraid I just did it again.

This was supposed to be a really huge pep talk. I’m afraid it’s not working. My biggest fear is that there can’t be much hope for all you people out there, if someone as smart and powerful as me, someone sitting in front of a huge fireplace in a huge house is having this much trouble trying not to show fear.

I believe there is a lesson to be learned about fear here, but I’ll be damned if I know what it is. That’s a shame because I think it would be a fabulous lesson and one of the most inspirational things I have ever said. I’m afraid I just don’t get it. And if I don’t get it, you folks aren’t going to get it—and you can take that to the bank—when they open—if they open.

***

Is the mike off? It is. Good. Hey you...yeah you. Before I fire you, see if there’s a pretty girl in the house to share this beautiful fireplace. A house this big...there ought to be a pretty girl somewhere.

That fireside talk I just gave was a real crapper, but that doesn’t mean the whole night has to be a bust.


This excerpt is from "Trump Dismantles Washington." https://www.amazon.com/Trump-Dismantles-Washington-little-friends/dp/1725801744/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1537748324&sr=1-1&keywords=trump+dismantle+washington  

They aren't hypocrites. They're stooges.

In 1998, Lindsay Graham spoke out against President Clinton stonewalling Congress by repeating the words used against Nixon during his Impeachment stonewalling. “....‘You’re taking impeachment away from us. You’re becoming the judge and jury. It is not your job to tell us what we need. It is your job to comply with the things we need to provide oversight over you. The day Richard Nixon failed to answer that subpoena is the day that he was subject to impeachment because he took the power of Congress away from Congress and became the judge and jury.’” 

He made a strong argument even if the words were not his own. His 2012, another country boy, Trey Gowdy made the same argument during one of the—there were many—Benghazi hearings.

“The notion that you can withhold information and documents from Congress no matter whether you are the party in power or not in power is wrong. Respect for the rule of law must mean something, irrespective of the vicissitudes of political cycles.”

Today both men are taking drastically different approaches as they attempt to defend Trump’s refusal to provide information to Congressional oversight committees. Naturally, their previous words are being held against them and they are being portrayed as hypocrites. This is too easy and overlooks a more serious problem.

My understanding of hypocrisy is when you stand for something and then, in a moment of weakness or convenience, or whatever, you turn on yourself and your own values. This seems to be what’s going on with Graham and Gowdy, but I think we are missing the bigger picture.

In the initial examples, when Graham and Gowdy appeared to be standing up for something, what they really were doing was grandstanding. Today, they are merely grandstanding for something different. They haven’t flipped on their values, but rather boarded another showboat.

This makes them habitual stooges, not hypocrites.

By 1998, Republicans had been trying to get Clinton on something for six years and weren’t having much luck. When they finally got something on him, rather than represent a high crime or misdemeanor, it looked more like petty crime and misbehavior. Still, he lied about it and Republicans felt they had the goods on him. Clinton fought back, which eventually led Graham to pretend to be a patriot.

In 2012, when Gowdy was going through his “I could have been a founding father, but I was born too late” period, Republicans had been going after the Obama administration since the day he took office. Turns out he was born in America and wasn’t a secret Muslim and giving more people health insurance wasn’t his attempt to destroy America.

Nevertheless, when Benghazi happened, Republicans breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, something was working in their favor. Again, after it was proven numerous times that there was nothing there, the Obama administration and Clinton (this time Hillary) fought back, giving Gowdy an opportunity to do his best imitation of Graham doing his imitation of the Watergate impeachment panel.

One can believe both men are lying now or that they were lying then. I chose to believe that just like the president, they lie every time they open their mouths.

Grandstanding is grandstanding. Graham and Gowdy may be spouting hypocritical drivel, but the bottom line is they never stood for anything except: Republicans good, Democrats bad. They haven’t lost their way. They’ve simply lost their minds.    

Republicans Hoping for a Flag

 Republicans running out of way to defend Trump - NBC  News

Congressional committees continue to expose bad, corrupt, and often illegal behavior by the president and his cronies. Just to be clear, illegal means criminal.

President Trump’s effort to withhold military aid from Ukraine until they provided him with dirt on his potential political opponent, Joe Biden amounted to no less than inviting a foreign entity to interfere in an American election. This is a crime.

This crime was committed in part during a phone call between Trump and the newly elected Ukrainian president. It was made worse because the Mueller Investigation, just a few months earlier and Robert Mueller, himself, just a day earlier speaking before Congress had condemned Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election.

No one in Trump’s circle, no Republican in Congress has made any effort to refute the accusations. The case appears to be very open and shut.

While not condoning his behavior, they are questioning the Democratic Congress’s method of investigating him—essentially attack the process. Questioning the motives of the whistle-blower, the closed hearings, and anything else.

This is not new. Crooks have been crying foul for as long as crooks have been committing crimes.

So what are they hoping to accomplish?

Muddy the waters is a common defense maneuver on par with comparing apples and oranges. It is not, however, a legal term although it is often a legal strategy. Attacking the process is the Republicans strategy to muddy the waters so to speak.

In a court of law, no judge would allow this, but impeachment is not a legal procedure. It is government’s answer to government misconduct. In fact, muddying the waters, comparing apples to oranges is practically the definition of how government works. In government, it is always about this with that in the background versus that with this attached. Politics is nothing if it is not muddy waters.

This still doesn’t tell us what Republicans hope to accomplish by arguing process in their defense against substance. To better understand what is going on in Washington, it would be helpful to look at what goes on in a football game.

Trump and McConnell—two ‘fraidy-cats

Trump got a doctor, one of his dad’s tenants, to say he suffered from bone spurs to keep him out of the military during the Vietnam War.

This doesn’t make him a coward because a lot of people didn’t want to fight in Vietnam for a lot of different reasons. And the fact that he used his father’s wealth and privilege only makes him a scoundrel.

What makes him a coward is his inability to stand for anything, his lack of fortitude, his willingness to blame others and make excuses. Cowards are a dime a dozen. What makes Trump’s cowardice regrettable is that he is also president. His weakness and cowardice puts the nation at risk.

Weak presidents are nothing new. In the past, strong Congresses have made up for weak presidents. Unfortunately, Congress is also weak because it is hamstrung by a weak Senate being led by a man every bit as weak as Trump, and every bit a coward.

Nothing brings McConnell and Trump’s shared cowardice to light more than their failure to address the gun issue.

The vast majority of the country wants something done, but Trump is waiting for McConnell to make a move while McConnell waits to hear from Trump what that move should be. Of course, all Republicans are afraid of the NRA.

McConnell stonewalled a Supreme Court nomination because he controlled a Republican Senate also composed of cowards. He refuses to put issues on the floor for a vote because he can’t risk the vote going the wrong way and incurring the president’s wrath. Republicans in the Senate are okay with this because they fear losing the little status they have. They aren’t strong enough to be bullies themselves, so must concede to the two bullies in leadership roles.

The meanest party in history are a bunch of cowards being led by two cowards.

Any middle school student will tell you that being a coward goes hand-in-hand with being a bully.

Bullies aren’t cowards in the same sense that fair-skinned men are often blue-eyed. Their shared qualities aren’t coincidences. One actually derives from the other. A bullies is a coward first and after somehow arriving at a point where he has some authority, either physical size or position, and be it real or imagined, the coward becomes a bully.

Being a bully is a defense mechanism for those weighted down by fear. Because they fear a fair fight, and usually cannot win one, bullies use other means to tip the scales in their favor.

We have seen Trump throw his weight around against those he perceives as weaker than him to cover for his cowardice. Gold-star mothers, immigrants, Congresswomen, allies, movie stars, journalist, athletes, and everyone else who he perceives as having crossed him have all been attacked by the little man with the big mouth. His weapon is always words because talk is cheap, even more so for a man who only lies, and he doesn’t venture far from where those lies are accepted as truths. He admires dictators, the real strong men he wishes he were. His fear of them prevent him from ever crossing them.

The two most powerful men in Washington, in terms of the positions they hold, happen to be the biggest bullies and cowards, and they have surrounded themselves with cowards who fear them.

Being fearless is the only defense against a bully, even as bullying a heroic man is the only way a bully will fight. Because they are not fighting on common ground, the fight is often drawn-out and ugly. The winner is rarely determined through surrender, but rather by observers who must themselves choose between cowardice and fortitude, right and wrong, good and evil.

Trump and McConnell will never see the light and become honorable men because they are blinded by their own egos. Bullies must be knocked down—and remembered by history for what they were, not what they pretended to be.

Trump and Parades

What Americans celebrate

What dictators celebrate

  

    Again,  I am amazed by what Trump—a genius with a great brain—does not know.
    His planned Fourth of July extravaganza is designed, in his words, to display “the strongest and most advanced military anywhere in the world.”

    If he had an inkling of what the holiday commemorates, he’d understand that we are celebrating our declaration of independence from, and the eventual victory over, the strongest and most advanced military in the world at the time.

We did so by uniting in a common cause and standing for something other than self-gratification. In fact, Americans have always seen our shared values as being our strength against nations that promote their military and offer little else.

That movement was led by statesmen who understood it wasn’t about them, and it was promoted by a free press that brought the words of the Declaration of Independence into every household.

Who doesn’t love a good parade?

However, who doesn’t—except our president—understand that military might is not what makes us strong?
    Happy Fourth of July.

What a show-boater who doesn't get it, does 

No Illusions About Collusion

The fish was huge

The fish was this big

                                                                            


    Mueller’s report stated that, “the Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systemic fashion.”

It also stated that, “the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency,” something Putin has admitted publicly and Trump has agreed with.

It also stated, “Russia could assist Trump’s campaign through the anonymous release of information damaging to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton,” something Trump publicly requested.

The report also talked extensively about the secret Trump Tower meeting between Trump’s senior campaign manager, Trump family members and a Russian lawyer promising to produce “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. It also reported on numerous other meeting between Trump operatives and Russians.                                                             The report cited initial statements by Trump and his family denying the meeting and its purpose as lies.

Attorney General Barr read, so he says, Mueller’s report including these quotes and concluded there was no collusion.
Trump didn’t have to read the report. If Barr said, no collusion, that was good enough for him. However, for those Americans who, like himself, had not read the report, Trump issued an official White House Twitter announcement stating that there was no collusion.

He then called Putin, the former head of the KGB, to inform him they had both been cleared—by the Attorney General. Bottom line: no conclusion, witch hunt, big hoax. They had both hinted at this outcome, but until Barr arrived at his conclusion of Mueller’s conclusion, they were both under a cloud of suspicion.

Both men are accustomed to operating under clouds of suspicion, even storm clouds of suspicion, but it’s always nice to have an umbrella when the rain does fall.
Trump and Putin congratulated each other for surviving the Democratic witch hunt, commiserating, no doubt, that the business of winning elections is not for the weak-hearted.

So where does this leave everyone?

Putin is ecstatic. He got the candidate he wanted and the American political system is a mess. True, 25 Russian operatives and three Russian companies were indicted for criminal activity, but as they say in Russia, “So what?”

Trump is feeling good, too. After saying, “no collusion” ten thousand times, it was nice to finally be vindicated by his hand-picked Attorney General, who before even reading the report had concluded that a president can’t be indicted, and possibly proven guilty of a crime because he’s the president. If you can’t be proven guilty, obviously you can’t be guilty.

But, where does this leave the American people?

I guess we will have to wait and see.

Wait for what? Look for what?

We will have to wait and see if in the months leading up to the 2020 election, Trump announces a summit with the Russian dictator, Putin, because as president he can do things in plain sight that he could never do as a candidate.

Wait and see if during that summit, they have a private conversation behind closed doors as they so like to do.

Wait and see if Trump opts to tell us nothing about what they talked about, other than to say it was very friendly and there was definitely no collusion, despite the obvious secrecy, before demanding we believe him.

Wait and see if, like with the Trump Tower meeting, this also turns out to be a lie.

Wait and see if when that happens, Republicans in Congress finally say, “Wait a minute. We don’t like what we’re seeing.”

Who knows how big the fish was, All I know is it was a fish.
It could have been a fish story? Who knows?

So, now we're banning Kate Smith?

   When I first read the story about the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Flyers discontinuing the playing of Kate Smith’s version of “God Bless America,” my first thought was God help America.

I understand the “Me Too” movement and its goals.

I understand the prejudices and racism that lingers in America, which has to be exposed at every opportunity.

I understand the concept of zero tolerance. That if we let something go unchallenged, the problem only gets worse, although zero tolerance has proven just as bad as the original problems.

Well, newsflash. We have another problem to worry about. We are fast becoming a nation with no common sense. It would be too easy to say, as we often do, that a lack of leadership at the top is the reason for all the stupid-ness at the bottom, but “too easy” is another problem we face in this country.

The reason for throwing Kate Smith under the bus was her 1931 recording of “That’s why Darkies were born,” written by Tin Pan Alley lyricist, Lew Brown.  Forget that the satirical song poked fun at whites. Forget that at the same time, in the real world deep south far from Tin Pan Alley, real whites were lynching real Negros.

Forget that Lew Brown also wrote “Don’t sit under the apple tree” and the “Beer Barrel Polka.” He also wrote “Shine,” which had racial overtones and was recorded by Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and Anne Murray among others. He wrote most of his songs between the two world wars, a time when Negros couldn’t attend white schools, eat in white restaurants, or sit in the front of the bus.

These songs were written and recorded for one reason and one reason only. Audiences were buying them.

The lyricist were writing and the singers singing about a very real world that didn’t exist on records.

My point is, yes these were terrible times involving terrible laws and outrageous criminal behavior, but the music industry was only reflecting the world that existed at that time. The music industry didn’t create that world. In fact, the music industry has played a large role in taking us away from that world.

Individual American bigots and racist, those who are often given cover under the cloak of American Exceptionalism, gave us that world that we’d now like to expunge from memory.

Maybe, it’s time to take that picture of old granddad down from the wall.

Or, we can stop taking it out on individuals and start fixing a culture that has been bad for so long that all we can do is search for scapegoats.

    This in no way excuses statues of Confederate generals. They fought against this country. And their statues were only erected during the same period many of these songs were written, not to entertain people, or to honor the soldiers as their supporters claim. They were erected to send a message that the war might have been lost, but the fight was going to continue.

Whatever the issue that people think something needs to be done about, I suggest we attack the issue. Shakespeare may have been right when he wrote, “The evil that men do lives after them. The good is oft interred with their bones.” That doesn’t make it right. The good should count for something.

Attacking individuals, particularly individuals having nothing to do with the problem is getting tiresome, especially when so many real problems go unfixed. Playing the blame game and not doing the hard work is another problem we face in today’s world.

Blacks are having their voting rights attacked in North Carolina and other states. Republicans harp on voter fraud as if it were a real thing and are virtually silent about Russia attacking our elections.

None of this has anything to do with a song Kate Smith recorded in 1931. Descendants of people who listened to that song back then are guilty of racism today. White nationalists are still the problem. Kate Smith is not a problem.

A lot of what the entertainment industry has done in the last century is questionable, going all the way back to, “Birth of a Nation,” but everything they have done has been geared to their audiences.

If we stop using common sense, who knows what dumb thing we’ll do next? Let’s give entertainers a break and start shaping up ourselves.

    

Hoag Franklin

All of us are familiar with the names Kit Carson, Wyatt Earp, Buffalo Bill. Few of us know about Hoag Franklin. Born in 1830 in Illinois and raised in Lone Tree, Nebraska, he not only witnessed the Wild West, but he played an integral role in it. By the time he died in 1912 in San Pedro, he'd seen and done it all.

His story is my latest novel. Hoag's adventures will be illustrated by Danielle Grandi 

This introduction explains how I discovered Hoag Franklin.

The Discovery

I was shuffling around the squeaky-rickety-floor thrift shop. The kind, you know, where you can find everything, but you’re still surprised when you find anything. There were the familiar stacks of old Life and Look magazines, with mostly covers of the Kennedy’s and long-dead movie stars or astronauts from the 1960s—all packaged nicely in supersized plastic lunch bags. Any of them would make a lovely snack.

There were old vinyl records, and older vinyl records plus a lot of records that shouldn’t have been allowed to become old. Pictures hung everywhere and I could only wonder, had they ever hung anywhere else. I didn’t think so. Just like some movies go straight to DVD, I don’t think it is far-fetched to think some pictures go straight to thrift stores—especially those frightening portraits of the men and woman staring at me from every wall in the room.

I felt like a dog on a walk. Something would catch my eye and before I could zero in on it, something else grabbed my attention, and then something else, but nothing could hold my interest. I was bouncing from one piece of forgotten...neglected...abandoned memory to another.

Then I saw the box lying on the floor in the corner. A rag doll rested on top of it...I say rested and not dead but the dust covering it and the box told me it hadn’t moved or been moved so much as an inch since it was put there. Both the box and the doll reeked of that stale, musty smell...though how I was aware of that I can’t explain. My nostrils had been under siege of that mildewed stench in a losing battle since the moment I walked through the door.

I tossed the doll to the side and instantly felt remorse. It couldn’t have been the first time and I was sure it would not be the last. Still.

I picked the box up and surveyed the outside. There were no markings, no pictures, no writing to indicate what might be inside. It appeared to be a box a shirt might have come in, or some small towels. Maybe. It could and probably has held just about anything. I lifted the top to see what it was holding now.

Well. Well, indeed. I may have just found something. Wouldn’t that be a first? Inside the box lie a stack of papers, obviously from an old typewriter...possibly like the one I’d seen ten minutes earlier and two aisles over. A worn ribbon held what appeared to be a hundred, maybe more pages together.

The print was faded but certainly readable. The title, centered a third of the way down the first page read, THE LIFE, TIMES AND ADVENTURES OF HOAG FRANKLIN—INDIAN SCOUT, BUFFALO HUNTER, LAWMAN, and VAUDEVILLE ENTERTAINER.

Was I holding a long-lost, forgotten manuscript? Of course, I was holding a long-lost, probably forgotten manuscript. I sifted through the pages to be sure, but there could be no doubt. This was a story...someone’s story...Hoag Franklin’s story, obviously.

But, who the hell was Hoag Franklin? When were his life and times? Obviously quite a while ago from the title. There was only one way to find out.

I walked around a little more but I wasn’t really looking for anything else. In fact, I was anxious to see more of what I had. Before long, I walked out the door with the only copy in the world of THE LIFE, TIMES AND ADVENTURES OF HOAG FRANKLIN—INDIAN SCOUT, BUFFALO HUNTER, LAWMAN, and VAUDEVILLE ENTERTAINER.

Oh, yes. I took the doll, too. They just looked like they belonged together.

No sooner had I gotten in my car then I opened the box, unwrapped the manuscript and started reading.

Hanging up is too good for them

“Don’t hang up. This is not a sales call. Are you suffer—”

The only thing I was suffering from was the inability to complete an afternoon nap without some telemarketer interrupting me.

This country used to stand for something. Our people used to stand for something. We took pride in our work. When did we become a nation of people who don’t care?

What I’m talking about, of course, is pick-up lines. Pick-up lines today leaves a person with no choice but to hang up.

How many times can a person cold-call me and ask if I’m suffering from chronic pain and not expect me to answer, “The only pain I’m suffering from is a pain in the ass about four times a week from someone like you asking me if I’m suffering from chronic pain,” after which I brashly hang up.

How many times must I be reminded that the warranty on my 2003 Tribute has expired? Hell, yes, it’s expired. It expired in 2005.

How many times must Bridget from card services call to inform me that, no there isn’t anything wrong with my credit, but yes I might be paying too much interest on my credit card debt, which apparently she doesn’t know doesn’t exist.

Bridget has no credibility. Sometimes it’s Bridget from Cincinnati. Sometimes it’s Bridget from Des Moines. Sometimes it’s Bridget from Paducah. 

I keep getting these calls with the same worn-out, meaningless opening lines. As young men, hell, as high school boys, we learn that pick-up lines are useless at best and lame ones are actually damaging to one’s reputation—unless you’re living in a war zone.

The last time pick-up lines worked on me was when I was serving in Vietnam. Whenever a Vietnamese girl wearing hip American-styled clothes, enough make-up to put Mona Lisa to shame, and calling herself, Linda, might have approached me on Tu Do Street, smiled and uttered the words, “Hey, G.I., you look lonely. You looking for girl friend?”

My answer, unless an M.P. was standing within listening range was always, “Yes. Yes. I am. How did you know?” We’d then go inside the bar and I’d spend the last of my monopoly money on endless drinks. Hers was a pick-up line I couldn’t refuse.

However, my living room is not a war zone. The sofa I’m lying on is not a bunker. Most of all, I’m not falling for a pick-up line that begins with, “Don’t hang up.”

Really! “Don’t hang up” is how you expect to keep me on the line.

I used to be a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman. I’m not bragging, but I will say, it was harder than being stationed in Vietnam. I wasn’t a particularly good salesman, but a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. In many ways, I wasn’t much different than today’s telemarketer. I arrived unannounced, probably at a bad time and selling a product most people already had and didn’t need.

There was one difference between me and today’s intruder. I was working a whole lot harder. I wasn’t running down a list of names. I was walking a neighborhood of houses. Slamming the door in my face was still an option just as slamming the phone down is today, but as a salesman and not a telemarketer, I think I brought a little more to the table.