2018: Shut. It. Down.

Another crazy year under President Donald Trump is concluding with the government being shut down for the third time, this one over his refusal to sign any bill Congress sends to his desk that doesn't include funding for the border wall he's always wanted along the U.S.-Mexico border.  The same one that not only is supposed to protect this country from ruffians, but also ordinary folks fleeing the poverty and violence of wherever it is they came from.  Trump's more stringent border security has also succeeded in separating families and putting kids in cages, making them wait until they cross the border the "right" way.  It's likely this won't be settled until a new Congress is sworn in, one in which the House is Democratic and the Senate is still Republican.

Elsewhere in Trumpland as the year ends, it's all crumbling down.  The President has no permanent Attorney General, Defense secretary or Chief of Staff because the previous ones either quit or were fired.  Michael Cohen and Michael Flynn are both headed for prison as Robert Mueller's investigation into alleged Russian collusion in the 2016 election reaches its climax, provided Trump doesn't undermine it first.  He pulls troops out of Syria, believing (perhaps prematurely) that the Islamic State has been defeated.   He marks his first Christmas Presidential visit to the war zone of Iraq by unwittingly compromising the identities of some Navy SEALS on his Twitter feed.  The stock market tanks, and Trump talks of replacing the Federal Reserve Board chairman.  There's a trade war with China.  Treaties are dishonored for reasons real or imaginary.  BUT . . . people in the rural areas and right-wing talk radio still love him, even if everyone else doesn't.

Gun violence is a daily occurrence, whether you attend high school in Parkland, Florida, work in an office park in California, or live in Chicago.  Bill Cosby is going to prison and Les Moonves lost his job at CBS because women waited years to be able to tell the world what happened when they were alone with these and other men.  It didn't work with Brett Kavanaugh, though.  He was still confirmed as Supreme Court justice.

Time magazine saluted journalists with its Person of the Year award.  They have been insulted and mocked as "fake news" by President Trump, kidnapped and tortured by extremists, and killed by governments whose money matters more to the United States than in getting at the truth.  Never has the truth been more at peril than the last few years.

As net neutrality is now in the hands of internet providers, Facebook reminds us that whatever you post can also be seen by advertisers and hackers working on behalf of the Russian government.  Is there a better alternative out there?

The Sinclair Broadcasting-Tribune Company merger of local TV stations never went through, once the FCC took another look at it and found it lacking.  Nexstar, which owns a lot of stations themselves, is Tribune's new suitor.  Unlike Sinclair, Nexstar's politics are unknown.

Oh, and a couple named Harry and Meghan got married in the spring.  He's a prince, and she used to be a TV actress.  Should be interesting.

Unlike the government, 2018 is going to be shut down permanently.  And not a moment too soon.

Passing On:  Penny Marshall, Nancy Wilson, Ken Berry, George H.W. and Barbara Bush, Roy Clark, Stan Lee, Paul Allen, Charles Aznavour, Marty Balin, Bill Daily, Burt Reynolds, Neil Simon, John McCain, Robin Leach, Kofi Annan, Aretha Franklin, Paul Laxalt, Margaret Heckler, Charlotte Rae, Ron Dellums, Bill Loud, Tab Hunter, Ed Schultz, Harlan Ellison, Joe Jackson, Dan Ingram, Charles Krauthammer, XXXTentacion, Anne Donovan, D.J. Fontana, Murray Fromson, Nick Meglin, Anthony Bourdain, Kate Spade, Alan Bean, Philip Roth, Clint Walker, Tom Wolfe, Margot Kidder, Verne Troyer, Avicii, Carl Kasell, Harry Anderson, Milos Forman, Susan Anspach, Winnie Mandela, Steven Bochco, Stephen Hawking, Nannette Fabray, Billy Graham, Marty Allen, Vic Damone, John Gavin, John Mahoney, Nicholas von Hoffman, Hugh Masekela, Dorothy Malone, Stansfield Turner, Dolores O'Riordan, Jerry Van Dyke, Barbara Flanagan.

Baby, It's Rough Out There

'Tis the season for holiday music played 24/7 on local radio stations, holiday specials on TV, and holiday movies on the Hallmark channel.  This has been going on since at least November 1, leaving Thanksgiving as collateral damage.

However, as the Christmas season has expanded, so has scrutiny over certain aspects of holiday culture we once took for granted.  Some of those haven't fared so well in light of changing times.

Take the song "Baby, It's Cold Outside", a novelty ditty which is seen today as an invitation to date rape that nobody could have foreseen when it was written back in 1944.  Today's #MeToo movement prompted some radio stations to pull the song.  Others have since returned "Baby" to the airwaves because of (A) conservative listeners wanting it back on, and (B) corporate ownership not giving its stations a choice in the matter.

Or how about "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", which was popularized by singing cowboy Gene Autry back in 1949?  When an animated TV special based on the song was introduced in 1964, what was once considered harmless family entertainment has turned into something parents don't want their kids to see.  Rudolph's red nose, the subject of much verbal and physical abuse before Santa Claus discovered a use for it, has become a parable for all the bullying and mass shootings we see today.

The holiday songs and TV shows haven't changed.  We have.  We are much more aware of domestic violence and sexual abuse against women, and children killing themselves and others because they were, as Lady Gaga would say, "born this way".

As the holiday season goes on, try to remember that most of what you hear and see were written and produced before 1970, a golden age for family entertainment and values.  We don't live in that world any more, no matter how much conservatives would like to see it.  Just enjoy these for what they are as reflections of a past society, and happy holidays.

George Herbert Walker Bush (1924-2018)

Navy fighter pilot in World War II.  Congressman.  United Nations ambassador.  Republican National Committee chair.  CIA director.  Ronald Reagan's vice-president.  President for one term.  Sons who became state governors, one of whom became a two-term president.  Impressive resume, no?

For George Herbert Walker Bush, service was his life and legacy.  His story ended with his death on Friday at age 94, months after wife Barbara passed.

As President from 1989-93, Bush not only benefited from the continued popularity of Reagan and an ugly campaign that was the template for others to come (Willie Horton, anyone?), but for also being present as history turned a corner.  The Berlin Wall came down.  Germany reunited.  The Soviet Union collapsed.

Bush also waged war on Iraq when Saddam Hussein's army invaded Kuwait.  U.S. and coalition forces drove them out, then stopped just short of Baghdad before the first gulf war ended.  Soldiers returned to ticker tape parades, though as it turned out they were premature, as ten years and another Bush presidency were needed to finish the job.

Now, with a sky-high approval rating for winning the war, George Herbert Walker Bush could have waltzed into a second term with a landslide victory.  But that was 1991.  In 1992, as the economy went south and "read my lips, no new taxes" was just a campaign promise, Bush was defeated for a second term by Democrat Bill Clinton, with an assist from independent H. Ross Perot.

George Herbert Walker Bush is being remembered as the last of the nice guys in government, going up through the ranks to earn his just reward.  These days, with a President whose main accomplishments were being insanely rich enough to fund his own campaign, hosting his own reality TV show and pissing people off wherever he goes, that's not good enough.  Nice guys finish last, and for that he'll be missed.

Trumpsgiving

President Donald Trump has begun a new holiday tradition.  Which is putting himself at the head of the table so that no one forgets who he is, shoving aside turkeys, football (he's still mad at the NFL for that national anthem thing), bickering relatives (including his own) and those giant balloons hovering over the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Maybe we should call it Trumpsgiving.

Trump has been commandeering the public's attention on what would normally be a national holiday with his actions, which reveal how ignorant or desperate he is, depending on the day.  Some might see this as the President being on the job 24/7, Sundays and holidays.  The rest of us see this as overkill.  It's as if we can't trust the Leader of the Free World to Leave. Us. Alone. for even a day.
Some recent developments . . .

• Trump used his annual phone call to thank the military for their service to issue grievances about immigration and trade.  He also tweeted about being thankful for himself.
• He dumps a major report from a White House commission on climate change and how, among other things, the American economy would suffer by century's end.  It is released on Black Friday, a day when most Americans were either shopping or recovering from all that turkey.  To no one's surprise, the President dismissed the report as no big deal.
• The "migrant caravan" that Trump had been ranting about during the campaign had finally arrived at the U.S.-Mexican border in Tijuana on Sunday.  Those folks were met with flying tear gas canisters by border guards when they tried to get past the gates, creating a panic.  Trump said some of those demonstrators were "stone cold criminals" who allegedly used women and children as human shields, though there's no proof of that, and has threatened to close the border.  Note:  Gassing women and children, no matter how much you spin it, is never a good look.

Now that Trumpsgiving is over, one wonders if the President is going to turn Christmas into Trumpsmas.  Happy Donald Days?

The Trump Turkey Stomp

On this Thanksgiving week, it should come as no surprise that the man who has been exhibiting turkey-like behavior for some time now has issued the annual pardon for a real one.  President Donald Trump certainly gobbles up all the attention no matter what time of year it is, always trying to prove that he's cock of the walk, undermining everything he sees.  Here's some examples from the past couple of weeks since the midterm elections, in which he and the Republican party lost half of Congress.

1. The President took exception to Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts' comments about the apolitical bent of his fellow justices, especially when some decisions were not in his favor.  Technically, Trump is right that the judges and justices have been political appointees of whoever happened to be President at the time.  But that doesn't mean he should be undermining the rulings they make.
2. Instead of getting to the bottom of who is responsible for the murder of journalist Jamal Khasoggi, Trump chose to side with Saudi Arabian prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is alleged to have been involved in the crime.  After all, billions of dollars in America's (and the Trump family's) investment in the Saudis is at stake.
3. Jim Acosta of CNN is kicked out of the White House press corps for not being deferential enough to the President, only to have him return--at least temporarily--under a court order.  There go those "Obama judges" again.
4. After the midterms, Trump lost interest in the "migrant caravan" making its way north through Mexico to the U.S. border.  But the soldiers he ordered to patrol it are still there.
5. Instead of offering sympathy and disaster aid to those who lost their lives and homes in the California wildfires, the worst in the state's history with 84 dead and over 800 missing (as of 11/21/18), the President not only criticized the way forests are managed, but he also offered free gardening advice by suggesting raking as a way of cleaning up the forests.
6. Trump made the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I about himself, with his decision not to visit a French cemetery filled with American soldiers because of bad weather.  Then he admits to avoiding war zones out of fear that he might get shot.
7. Ivanka Trump is accused of conducting government business on her personal phone.  Hillary Clinton allegedly did the same thing when she was Secretary of State, and Daddy Trump's supporters have been chanting "lock her up" ever since.  But Clinton didn't go to jail, and neither will Ivanka.
8. And Trump is still being investigated by Robert Mueller, who reportedly is close to wrapping things up and releasing his findings.  But if acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker has his way, the President won't have Mueller to worry about much longer.

So while you're eating your holiday meal, rest assured that the Head Turkey is still on the job, clucking about whatever it is that fancies him whether anyone likes it or not.  Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Congress Splits, Sessions Fired

All through the campaign, there were warnings of a Blue Wave of Democrats ready to sweep away the Republican majority in Congress, as if a Category 5 tsunami were to hit.

Turns out, the supposed tsunami became a Category 1 tropical storm hitting land.  But even weakened storms do damage.  According to Associated Press, Democrats won the House of Representatives 222-196 while the GOP kept the Senate by a 51-44 margin, mainly through President Donald Trump's fear and race-bating tactics aimed at shoring up support among disaffected white men (and the women who love them).

The real wave came when more than 100 women, mainly Democrats, won their congressional races in record numbers:  95 in the House and 13 in the Senate.  One of those, Nancy Pelosi of California, is expected to return as Speaker of the House.

Leave it to Trump to steal the headlines the following day.  There was first a raucous news conference, in which he (A) considered the GOP's retaking the Senate a 'victory', (B) put down those in the party who lost their races because they weren't loyal to him, (C) complained of 'hostile' reporters and (D) made an example of CNN's Jim Acosta by taking away his White House press pass for the crime of allegedly touching the young woman who tried to take away his microphone.

Then it was announced that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had resigned, though some would say he was fired.  No surprise, considering how Sessions never really got along with the President.  Matthew Whitaker, who had been Sessions' aide, replaces him on an interim basis.  Whitaker is also not a big fan of the ongoing investigation special prosecutor Robert Mueller is making in regards to any alleged Trump misdeeds in the 2016 election, which is now in danger of getting shut down.

Yes, the 2018 midterms made history.  It remains to be seen whether the split Congress will either make much of an impact, or whether Trump will neuter their efforts.

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In Minnesota, Democrats had a big night.

• Tim Walz swaps his U.S. House seat for the Governor's chair, defeating Republican Jeff Johnson.  Walz' running mate Peggy Flanagan became the first Lieutenant Governor of Native American descent.
• Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith are going back to the U.S. Senate, defeating Republicans Jim Newberger and Karin Housley, in that order.
• Dean Phillips defeated Erik Paulsen, ending more than 50 years of GOP control over the Third Congressional District.
• Angie Craig is the state's first LGTBQ congresswoman, defeating incumbent Jason Lewis in the Second District.
• Ilhan Omer is the first Somali-American to serve in Congress, coming from the Fifth District.  She replaces Keith Ellison, who in spite of charges of alleged domestic abuse, is now Minnesota's Attorney general.

The Trump Midterm: Tell Us What You Want

Tomorrow is November 6, 2018.  Majorities in Congress and at your state house are up for grabs in this midterm election.

Evey two to four years, it seems everyone from politicians to the media to Hollywood celebrities are trying to shame people into voting.  "This is the most important election in our lives!", we're told.  Maybe so, and in the next two to four years you'll be told the same thing.  Why?  Because elections have consequences.  Remember 2016?

President Donald Trump's name is not on the ballot, but the fortunes of Republican candidates--fairly or not--are tied to what he and other GOP leaders in Congress have been doing to the country for the last few years.  Can the Democrats do any better?  Can the number of women who are running make any difference?

There are other issues that can have an impact on an election.  Some of them have occurred in the past few weeks.

Mass Shootings  

In the past week or so, 16 people have died by way of the bullet in the most ordinary of settings.  Two African-Americans were killed at a Kroger supermarket near Louisville, Kentucky.  Eleven Jewish worshipers were murdered at a Pittsburgh synagogue.  Two women were shot dead at a yoga studio in Tallahassee, Florida.  The three suspects, which includes the one from Florida who ended up killing himself, were all white males who allegedly had grudges with women and minorities.  Our President once referred to such individuals as "very fine people".

Oh, we should mention that someone has been arrested in connection with allegedly delivering pipe bombs to former Presidents, media outlets and other prominent Democrats for daring to disagree with Trump. The sheer scope of the bomb threats seems to indicate that the suspect already in custody may not be the only one involved.

Immigration

A horde of people escaping poverty and oppression in Central America, also known as the "Migrant Caravan". have been making their way north through Mexico on their way to the U.S. border.  President Trump has termed these people as thugs and criminals, deploying as many as 15,000 troops to fortify the border he still hopes to wall off, while running racist political ads in the last days of the campaign that have been banned by at least two TV networks--but only after millions have already seen it.

Others say the "caravan" includes mostly women and children who want the better life that the United States provides, even as Trump threatens to sign an executive order to ban birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.  Whether he is actually serious about it or not, any change to the Constitution takes years to ratify, so this might be just a cynical election ploy.

So it is up to us to decide whether we want Trump's actions to remain unchecked in our name, or to elect a Congress that will at least grow a spine.  If you haven't already voted, please do so Tuesday for the candidate of your choice.  This is your country.  Tell us what you want.

Because The President Said So

Two weeks before the midterm elections, which would determine the balance of power in Washington and statehouses everywhere, a number of unexploded pipe bombs and other suspicious packages have turned up at the doorsteps of prominent Democrats and other critics of President Donald Trump.

Former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, former attorney general Eric Holder, congresswomen Maxine Waters and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and the New York headquarters of CNN were among those who got the packages Wednesday.  Federal officials are investigating.

President Trump and White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders made statements condemning the acts, saying there's no place for political violence in this country.  Those words ring hollow when you consider how much damage Trump's and Sanders' words and deeds have done here and abroad for nearly two years.  Trump might not be behind the aborted attacks, but he's done plenty to inspire others to carry out his dirty work.

• He dragged his feet in demanding answers about the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, because too much of the United States' oil and the Trump family's money is tied up in ally Saudi Arabia.
• Calls the media the "enemy of the people" and supports a Republican congressional candidate who attacked a journalist.
• Whips up a frenzy over a "caravan" of Central American immigrants making its way across Mexico to escape the violence and poverty of their homelands, on its way to a possible confrontation with soldiers at the U.S. border.
• Tears up nuclear agreements dating back to the days of Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev because he thinks Russia's been cheating.
• Starts a trade war with China, with tariffs threatening both countries' economies.
• Refers to Stormy Daniels as "horseface".
• Lingering resentment over the way Brett Kavanaugh was approved as Supreme Court justice.
• A man was arrested for allegedly groping a female passenger during a flight.  He told police he thought Trump said it was OK to fondle women without their permission.

The President stokes all this anger and rage in those free-for-all rallies he holds in places where he's popular.  At one of those in Houston recently, he declared himself to be a nationalist, which meant that in his world such qualities as racism and xenophobia are fine with him.  And there are apparently enough people out there who agree with him.

So if the net effect of these assassination attempts is to get rid of the competition while making America great again, Trump is well on his way to doing that. Whatever happens on Election Day will determine how much more power Trump and the Republicans will have, and how much more intimidation Americans can take.

Sex, Lies and the Supreme Court, Part 2

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-10 Friday (that's 11 Republicans to ten Democrats) to send the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh as the next Supreme Court justice to the full Senate.  As suggested by the committee, President Donald Trump has ordered a one week investigation by the FBI to check out charges of sexual assault against Kavanaugh.  This is what Democrats, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and others have wanted all along.

Most of America watched Thursday as Dr. Ford was calm and collect (even though she said she was terrified) in describing as best she could about the ordeal she said she had one night in the 1980s with Kavanaugh, as viewed by stone faced male GOP senators who let a female prosecutor from Arizona ask questions for them.  When it was Kavanaugh's turn, he behaved less like a potential justice than an aging, overgrown frat boy who was caught with his pants down to the Democratic senators who questioned him.  Republicans like Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina were either outspoken or deferential in their defense of Kavanaugh.

This was like watching an episode of "Law & Order:  Special Victims Unit"  (now in its 20th NBC season).  Both make you feel like taking a shower afterwards.

Now that the TV show is over, the GOP-controlled Senate will take at least a few minutes to do their due diligence on Kavenaugh once the FBI gets done with him before officially confirming him.  With the November elections looming and Democrats poised for a comeback (if you believe the polls), the GOP wants to leave a lasting conservative legacy on the Supreme Court before heading out the door.

For Christine Blasey Ford, this reluctant role model who chose to speak out will be remembered no matter how this turns out.  For Brett Kavanaugh, he will be the Supreme Court justice whose every decision will be influenced by what has happened to him in the past few weeks, should he be confirmed.  For the rest of us, we have a lot of soul searching to do.

UPDATE (10/8/18):  Kavanaugh has been sworn in as justice following a 50-48 confirmation vote in the Senate, which followed an FBI background check whose scope was limited by the GOP and the White House.  An angry country now looks to the elections in November for payback.  It might take more than votes to salve the wounds.

Sex, Lies and the Supreme Court

We live in a world where it it now possible for a woman who was sexually assaulted at a younger age to wait until many years later to take down her male tormentor, who in the meantime has become rich and powerful and is on his way to bigger things if his past didn't catch up to him.

President Donald Trump's nominee for Supreme Court justice, Brett Kavanaugh, is on the fast track to be confirmed by a Republican Senate in spite of efforts by pesky Democrats to derail the nomination on the grounds of (A) being the President's toady, and (B) the lack of real information about his qualifications.  Other than that, why the rush?

Enter Christine Blesey Ford, a psychologist and university professor from California.  She alleges that while in high school in the 1980s, Kavanaugh held her down and raped her at a party.

Enter Deborah Ramirez, a social worker from Colorado who was once Kavanaugh's classmate at Yale, claiming she unwittingly touched his exposed penis during a drinking game.

Suddenly, Kavanaugh's fast track nomination is coming off the rails.  Both women (and maybe others) want the Senate Judiciary Committee to hear them out, and that could happen before the end of this week.  Kavanaugh has been busily defending himself by denying everything, pointing fingers at the "vast left-wing conspiracy" that seem to be pulling the strings.

You might wonder why Ford, Ramirez and others chose to risk their lives and careers at this late hour over something that may or may not have happened decades ago.  It's for the same reason women who have been in a similar situation found it difficult to make their case to authorities:  No one believes them.  Their tormentors threatened them.  It's her word against his.  Volumes of so-called "rape kits" are either unexamined or unopened.  And so on and on.

Anyone here remember Anita Hill?  Back in 1991, she testified in front of an all-male Senate Judiciary Committee about how she was sexually harassed by then-nominee Clarence Thomas in graphic detail.  Riveting and salacious stuff for the era prior to Bill Clinton's affair with an intern and Trump's dalliances with porn stars, but it didn't matter.  Thomas was confirmed shortly after he declared the whole process a "high tech lynching".  He still serves as a Supreme Court justice.  Two of the Republican members of that committee--Senators Orrin Hatch and Chuck Grassley--are also deciding Kavanaugh's fate.

This is what Ford, Ramirez and other women who have yet to come forward have to face.  No matter how emotionally compelling their testimony to the Senate committee might be, Trump and the GOP are going to make damn sure Kavanaugh takes his seat inside the Supreme Court chambers.  There he can exact his revenge by helping rule against the progress women and others have made in the past few decades.

Whatever happens, let's all see how this plays out in November and beyond. 

The Not-So-Marvelous Emmys

The Television Academy saluted its best at the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards Monday in Los Angeles against a backdrop of the rise of streaming channels, an intense dislike of President Donald Trump, questions of whether Hollywood is really all that dedicated to diversity, and the continuing sacrifice of prominent but allegedly lecherous males to the #MeToo movement--the latest victim being Les Moonves of CBS.

HBO and Netflix both had 23 Emmy winners. HBO's best included "Game of Thrones" for best drama, Peter Dinklage of "GOT' for best supporting actor in a drama, Henry Winkler and Bill Hader of "Barry" as best supporting actor and actor (in that order).   Thandie Newton won a Best Supporting Actress in a drama nod for "Westworld". Netflix's limited series western "Godless" won Emmys for Merritt Wever and Jeff Daniels in supporting roles, while "The Crown" notched up a Best Actress in a drama tally for Claire Foy.  Also in the limited series category, Regina King won Best Actress for the drama "Seven Seconds".

But it was "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" on Amazon's Prime service that took home five Emmys, including Best Comedy, Best Actress in a comedy for Rachel Brosnahan, Best Supporting Actress for Alex Borstien, and writing and directing nods for the show's creator Amy Sherman-Palladino.

Some of the other Emmys went to: "The Assassination of Gianni Versace" for Best Limited Series, including Darren Criss for best actor in that category.  Matthew Rhys of "The Americans" won for best dramatic actor.

The three-hour Emmy telecast on NBC, co-hosted by Colin Just and Michael Che of "Saturday Night Live", felt like an extended episode of the show.  Or should we say the second half of the show, which usually features the weakest material?  What, Jimmy Fallon or Seth Meyers weren't available?  Also, it would have helped if they had used graphics for the winners while they made their acceptance speeches.  Not many of us know who these people are, or what show they represent.

What will be remembered--if at all--from these Emmys were a video of the late Aretha Franklin singing "Amazing Grace" during the In Memoriam segment (which inevitably will lead to quibbles over who was left out), and a marriage proposal from the guy who won for directing the Oscars to his girlfriend.   Yes, she accepted.

To sum it up, "Mrs. Maisel" had a marvelous evening.  The Emmys did not.

Random Thoughts: Playing Catch Up

OK, we've been away for awhile.  What did we miss?

John McCain (1936-2018)  

The Arizona senator died just a day after refusing any more treatments for his brain cancer.  While being hailed as a "war hero" who spent much of the Vietnam conflict as a guest of the Hanoi government, and as one of the few Republican critics of President Donald Trump, McCain was also responsible for being part of the Keating Five during the savings and loan scandal of the 1980s, and for choosing Sarah Palin as his 2008 presidential running mate.  Neither Trump nor Palin were invited to McCain's memorial services, where former President Barack Obama (his '08 opponent) and daughter Meghan McCain delivered powerful eulogies that also served as rebukes to That Man in the White House.  John McCain was 82.

Palace Revolt?

It seems that those remaining staffers who still work for the White House have been scrambling to keep Trump from doing more harm than he already has, even to the point of invoking the 25th Amendment, which would remove a President for being mentally unfit to serve.  That's the vibe we've been getting from the information that's been coming from Bob Woodward's just-released book "Fear--Trump In The White House", and from a New York Times opinion column by a senior official who wishes to remain anonymous.

The President's response has been nothing short of predictable.  He accused Woodward, who has won awards for his coverage of every President since Richard Nixon, of being a bad reporter and has called the book "fiction".  He has also demanded a Justice Department investigation into who actually wrote the Times article.

However many headlines that were created by Woodward's book and "Anonymous'" column, they still don't tell us a blessed thing that we didn't already know about this President.  The one thing we need to know is why he's still in office, and what are we going to do about it.

The Kavanaugh Express

Neither protesters, Democratic opposition nor cover-your-rear answers will stop Senate Republicans from putting Brett Kavanaugh on the fast track to become a U.S. Supreme Court justice.  There are the arguments that President Trump shouldn't be nominating justices while he himself is in legal hot water, and that all the information on Kavanaugh was released too late for Senators on the Judiciary Committee to get a handle on.  But that doesn't seem to matter to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his gang.  They want a conservative-dominated court that could last to the end of this century, and by George, it looks like they're going to get one.


Trump's "Heckuva Job" on Puerto Rico

As another major hurricane is set to strike the East Coast, Puerto Ricans are slowly getting their lives back together after the fury of Maria.  President Trump recently praised federal officials for being "incredibly successful" in their handling of the U.S. commonwealth's situation.  Uh, slow responses on food and supplies?  Taking nearly a year to get back on the electrical grid?  Nearly three thousand dead, according to updated estimates?  Heckuva job, indeed.

UPDATE (9/13/18):  Trump now says that three thousand people did not die during the hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico, claiming it was all a Democratic party plot to make him look bad.  All right, if three thousand did not die, how many of them did?  If it's around 20, like you first claimed, that would have been remarkable.  Who knew statistics were subject to political interpretation?

Truth In The Rear View Mirror

You've heard that objects in the rear view mirror might be closer than you think?  That's what it looks like for the fate of Donald Trump's presidency as the past continues to haunt him.

• Paul Manafort, the President's former campaign manager, was indicted on eight counts of bank and tax fraud charges.  That's not all.  He'll face another trial soon.
• Michael Cohen, Trump's personal attorney, has pled guilty to various campaign finance violations.  Cohen accuses the President of signing off on payments intended to keep adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy bunny Karen McDougal from talking, weeks before the 2016 elections.
• John Brennan, who was CIA director under President Barack Obama, has seen his security clearance stripped mainly for accusing Trump of treason for his alleged mishandling of the Russian voting scandal.  The White House has indicated more might join Brennan out of the loop.
• Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who is now Trump's mouthpiece, continues to embarass himself on TV by saying things that would feel right at home in George Orwell's "1984":  "Truth isn't truth", which was later amended to "truth is relative".

Trump reacted to all this with his usual angry tweets (just as First Lady Melania speaks out against cyber bullying) and yelling "no collusion" or "witch hunt" to anyone who'll listen, as well as boasting about how he could "take over" Robert Mueller's job of investigating alleged Russian meddling.  He even considers campaign finance violations and collusion as anything but crimes.

Fortunately for Trump, he's still President of the United States.  As long as he doesn't resign or get impeached before his term in office ends, the chances of indictment and/or conviction is slim to none, though the Constitution doesn't say much about prosecuting a President.

There has not been much talk of impeachment even after this week's developments.  The Democrats fear any talk of that might jinx their chances of retaking Congress this November.  The Republicans, in thrall to the President and his fanatical base, are keeping quiet if they know what's good for them.

The Trump-mobile is running at full speed, trying to outdistance the patrol car whose driver has a warrant for the President's arrest.  How will this end?  Will Donald Trump go down in a blaze of glory that would have made Thelma and Louise envious?

Aretha Franklin (1942-2018): With All Due R-E-S-P-E-C-T

They did not call Aretha Franklin the Queen of Soul for nothing.  She had the pipes and the conviction in her music that others couldn't match.  And she helped break a few barriers too, in a career that spanned over half a century.

Over 100 of Franklin's songs made the pop and R&B charts between the mid-1960s and the '90s, including "Respect", "Chain of Fools", "Think", "I Never Loved a Man", "Freeway of Love", "Who's Zoomin' Who?", and duets with Annie Lennox of Eurhythmics ("Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves") and George Michael ("I Knew You Were Waiting For Me").  More than 75 million records have been sold worldwide.

Franklin had won 18 Grammy awards, including eight in a row for Best Female Vocal R&B Performance.  She was the first woman to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.  Rolling Stone magazine named her not only to the top of their "Greatest Singers of All Time", but also by leading their "100 Greatest Singers" survey.  The state of Michigan even made her voice a "natural resource".

Franklin sang at a command performance for Queen Elizabeth II, the first inaugurations of Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, and the funeral for Dr. Martin Luther King.  She performed the National Anthem at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, and at the Super Bowl in her hometown of Detroit.  She also subbed for an ailing Luciano Pavarotti, singing an aria at the 1998 Grammy awards.

Her political and social activism extended from the pulpit of her father's church in Detroit through the Civil Rights and Black Power movements of the 1960s and 70s.  Songs like "Respect" and "Think" reflected that time, and they still do in the era of Black Lives Matter and MeToo.

Aretha Franklin, after years of health problems, died at 76 in her Detroit home.  She leaves behind a legacy of music that will remind her fans now and in the future that a voice like hers could never be duplicated, no matter how hard they try.

The Queen of Soul is dead.  Long live the Queen.
 

As Omarosa Burns, Minnesota Votes

While Omarosa Manigault-Newman has been on the talk show circuit promoting her new book, which chronicles her short-lived career as a White House adviser to President Donald Trump, threatening to expose him through secret tapes as someone we already suspected he was . . . And while Trump uses unflattering language to describe an African-American woman who was once a contestant on his reality TV show . . . Minnesotans took to the polls and made history, turning out in record numbers for the state's political primaries.

The results from some of the contested races are as follows:

• Jeff Johnson, a former Hennepin County commissioner, scored an upset win over Tim Pawlenty in the GOP gubernatorial primary.  Former Governor Pawlenty lost not just because he flip-flopped on supporting Trump (who has endorsed Johnson), but also because voters didn't want to relive the way he nearly ran this state into the ground economically and otherwise during his two terms in office.
• Johnson will face Congressman Tim Walz, a Democrat (known in Minnesota as the DFL party) who won his primary by being better known in so-called "Greater Minnesota" than his Twin Cities-based opponents, Attorney General Lori Swanson and State Representative Erin Murphy (who was endorsed by outgoing Governor Mark Dayton).  Then again, Swanson didn't help herself by starting late and getting involved in scandals regarding her running mate Rick Nolan and misuse of her staff.
• The U.S. Senate seat that Al Franken had to give up due to a sex scandal will be contested between two women for the first time ever:  DFLer Tina Smith (who was appointed Senator by Governor Dayton) vs. the GOP's Karin Housley.  In other news, Republican Jim Newberger will try his best against DFL Senator Amy Klobuchar, whom nobody really wanted to compete against.
• Keith Ellison will face off against Republican Doug Wardlow for Swanson's state Attorney General job.  But the DFL congressman might be in big trouble if allegations of domestic abuse against his ex-girlfriend stick.
• Ilhan Omer is looking to become the first Somali-American to go to Congress, having won a crowded 5th District DFL primary to succeed Ellison.  Since this is a heavily Democratic district, Republican opponent Jennifer Zialinski has a tough task facing her.

So while the Omarosa circus continues and Paul Manafort's trial reaches its conclusion, Minnesota and voters across the country are proving that democracy still exists.  At least for now.

Smoke and Mirrors, Trump-style

"If You Could Believe Your Eyes and Ears" was the title of The Mamas and The Papas' debut album back in the 1960s.  It could also be used to describe President Donald Trump's efforts to deliver his own version of the truth, and how the mainstream media is trying to deal with it.

Trump has had a running feud with any media that isn't Fox News or Twitter since before he was elected.  Recently he met with A.G. Sulzberger, publisher of the "failing" New York Times, during a White House visit.  Sulzberger later said he tried to get the President to stop using phrases like "fake news" or "enemy of the people" when referring to journalists, whom he feared might come to some kind of physical harm.

The Times publisher could have been referring to incidents like these:

• As boos rained down on the media covering Trump's appearance at the VFW convention in Kansas City, the President told his audience:  "Just remember what you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening".  Which is an easy thing to say when your administration is so chaotic that nobody really knows what's going on, with the ongoing Russian election investigation that he calls a "witch hunt" and charges that he's getting too chummy with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
• A reporter for Trump's least-favorite network CNN named Kaitlan Collins was barred from a White House press event.  Her crime?  Daring to ask the President too many questions about his dealings with the Russians.
• Jim Acosta, another CNN reporter Trump loathes, was heckled by supporters at one of the President's campaign-style rallies in Tampa, Florida.
• There is dissension in the ranks, however.  First Lady Melania Trump reportedly watches anything she likes--including CNN.

Of course, the MSM has not exactly been helping themselves in the cause of preserving independent journalism.  The proposed merger of Sinclair's and Tribune's broadcast TV stations (for which the FCC is currently having second thoughts) and actual merger of AT&T and Time Warner (which owns CNN) could have a negative impact.  So are major layoffs at newspapers such as the New York Daily News and the Denver Post.

There are also reminders that responsible journalism still matters.  Prestigious awards are still handed out to deserving stations and networks, mostly for their breaking news coverage of disasters and mass shootings.  Newspapers like the Star Tribune in Minnesota still do major investigative pieces, such as the one they did recently on sexual assault victims who are still waiting for law enforcement to handle their cases years after the crime was committed.  This is what happens when you put money and resources into a news operation, not when you cut and cut and cut until there's nothing left or when you have an ideological bent to promote.

Trump can keep manipulating The Base into believing things are going great under his leadership as much as he wants.  But when he keeps denigrating the very people and organizations who exercise their First Amendment right to cover the President in a fair manner, we all become part of the little world he's created where every lie he tells becomes public policy and his subjects just lap it up.

No, we can't "believe our eyes and ears".  Not when the President challenges the notion of what is fake and what is real, and we all suffer for it.

The Art of Sucking Up and Selling Out

President Donald Trump has just come back from Europe, burning bridges with America's remaining allies while kissing up to a dictator to whom he owes his job.  Is this the beginning of the end of the Trump presidency, or is this just another day at the office?

Trump's summit in Helsinki, Finland with Russian president Vladimir Putin was an excellent display in the art of sucking up and selling out.  After meeting one-on-one with only interpreters present, the news conference that followed saw Trump going on and on like a teenage crush about what a great guy Putin was, and how he didn't believe his own government's intelligence concerning Russia's alleged meddling in the 2016 presidential election and their latest cyber attack on the U.S.  Putin didn't have to say a thing.  He was content to let Trump act like a fawning idiot in front of the whole world.

For some time now, Trump has been hollering "no collusion" in the face of Robert Mueller's ongoing investigation into the matter (which now includes indictments against 12 Russians) in the same way Richard Nixon insisted during Watergate that he was not a crook.  But the President wasn't ready for the barrage of criticism from both sides of the political aisle (even--horrors!--Fox News) for his summit performance, which ranged from "disgusting" to "treasonous".

Trump tried to correct himself by claiming he "misspoke" about his support for American intelligence agencies, and walking back other such comments as the week went along.  But it's too late.  We heard you the first time.

Earlier, in another gathering with European leaders, Trump walked all over them when he briefly considered getting the U.S. out of NATO and for calling the European Union a "foe".  In England, as a giant blimp of "Baby Trump" sailed (or is it soiled?) over London, he dissed Prime Minister Theresa May and broke protocol with Queen Elizabeth II.

After all this, Congress is still at their wits' end in figuring out what (if anything) they should do about the President's apparent betrayal of his country.  For the Republicans who currently control both houses, they keep getting burned by the man they say they support.  It's going to take more than the midterm elections for the GOP to get it through their thick skulls that Trump is a national security risk.  Short of impeachment (which nobody really wants to deal with in an election year) or voluntary resignation, does he need an intervention by party officials?

And then there's The Base, Trump's loyal followers who still blame Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for their problems, and who have more or less shamed their GOP representatives into supporting the President if they want to get re-elected.  Will they still love him, even though he's sold them out?

The more Donald Trump lies and deceives his fellow Americans and their allies, the more he paints himself into a corner.  The more he paints himself in a corner and someone calls him out about it, the more ways he finds to get out of that corner.  Dissing your country while patting the dictator's back should (among other things) be grounds for removal under the U.S. Constitution.  But nobody has the guts to use it.

So it is just another day at the office.

The Supreme Court: Making It Right

Brett Kavanaugh is the second choice President Donald Trump has made for the U.S. Supreme Court since taking office, and he seems to fall into a pattern.  He's a white male, has an Ivy League law school degree, and is young enough (at 53) to steer the Court in a conservative direction for the foreseeable future.

Kavanaugh's bio reads like this:  He's a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C.  He once clerked for Anthony Kennedy, the man he hopes to replace on the High Court.  He used to work for Kenneth Starr, who you might recall was breathing down President Bill and Hillary Clinton's necks during the Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky investigations as special prosecutor.  And he also worked for both George Bushes (H.W. and W.) during their presidencies.  In other words, he's the political insider Trump is not.

Senate Republicans want to get Kavanaugh confirmed before the first Monday in October (when the new Supreme Court term opens) and before the midterm elections, provided they don't find too many skeletons in his closet.  The Democrats, still smarting from having been denied the opportunity to put Merrick Garland where Neil Gorsuch now sits, do not have the numbers to block or delay Kavanaugh's confirmation.  But they're sure going to raise a lot of hell over it considering what's at stake:  Abortion, gay and lesbian rights, guns, health care, political line-drawing, immigrant reform, etc.

There is also the argument that sitting presidents like Trump who are in legal trouble shouldn't be picking any kind of justice until the investigations are over.  (Too late.  He already did that with Gorsuch.)  Kavanaugh is on record as saying that presidents should be immune from lawsuits while they're in office, unless it's about impeachment.  With this president, that's a possibility.  As it stands, Kavanaugh might be Trump's "get out of jail free" card, as Maryland's Democratic Senator Ben Cardin put it.  Which may not be what the framers of the U.S. Constitution (or for that matter, the creators of "Monopoly") had in mind, but there it is.

Whatever happens to Brett Kavanaugh on the way to his nomination, the liberal wing of the Supreme Court has been put on notice.  As long as Trump or any other Republican is in the White House, they could be replaced any day by assembly-line conservative judges who might make life harder and meaner for the rest of us.  It's something to consider as the United States evolves into a majority-minority country with white men still in control.

Being Civil in the Real World

Civility is defined as being polite and courteous in our daily life and activities.  Try finding that anywhere in President Donald Trump's America these days.

Incivility in politics has been around for as long as there's been a United States.  It didn't start with Trump, who struts around fancying himself a martinet with a smartphone in one hand and a raised clenched fist on the other.  It didn't start with Republican lawmakers in Congress who shot down everything President Barack Obama was trying to do from the moment he took office.  It didn't start when President George W. Bush after 9/11/01 declared you're either with us or against us.

But Trump and his enablers are setting a new standard for lowering the bar on civility in office, which is having a negative effect on international relations and invites questions over whether democracy will survive him.  He and his fans have been behaving like loudmouthed schoolyard bullies, frightening and intimidating anyone who crosses their path.  It has taken until now for Democrats, progressives and everyone else to wake up to what's going on.

During the "zero tolerance" crackdown on undocumented migrant families who were trying to cross the border from Mexico, the dominant image was of children being ripped from their parents and put into cages.  Another dominant image was that of First Lady Melania Trump wearing a message on the back of her jacket that read:  "I really don't care.  Do U?"  The President tried to explain it as her being on board with his anti-media message, but it meant so much more.

This has led to incidents where Trump staffers like press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Homeland Security chief Kirstjen Nielsen, who were harassed while trying to eat dinner or are no longer welcome at certain restaurants.  There have also been protests across the country concerning the alleged conditions of the migrant families, as well as reports of detainees who claimed that they were treated like animals.

Also, five employees of the Capital Gazette, an Annapolis, Maryland-based newspaper, were gunned down in the latest attack on our society by a disgruntled individual with a gun.  The President, who has made the terms "fake news" and "enemy of the American people" synonymous with his dislike of any media that isn't Fox News, expressed his condolences to the victims' families and had to be convinced to lower the flag to half staff.  Few people think Trump was really sincere about it, and will probably go back to bashing the media in another Twitter rampage soon.  Meanwhile, the Gazette did put out the damn paper the day after the attack.

We have constantly been reminded that the most civil thing you can do to combat the excesses and pettiness of the Trump administration is to vote for Democrats to take over Congress this fall.  That may be true, but it's a long way from July 4th to Election Day in November.  Until then, everyone has to decide (in the words of TV's "Real World") whether the time has come to stop being polite and start getting real.

The Swing Vote Stops Here

Anthony Kennedy, who has served as associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court since 1988, has announced his retirement effective at the end of July at the age of 81.  Which means President Donald Trump has another shot at trading in one conservative justice for another, just like he did with Neil Gorsuch a year ago.

Kennedy was the so-called "swing vote", a moderate who sometimes sided with liberals on decisions involving abortion and gay and lesbian rights--which is why they wanted to keep him on as justice for as long as possible.  But Kennedy had been reliably conservative on most issues on a Supreme Court that already is, and will be for the foreseeable future regardless of whom Trump (or any other president) chooses as his replacement.

During the past session, Kennedy and his colleagues on the Court were confronted with numerous issues of national interest before them.  Here's how they decided (or not):

• Upheld Trump's travel ban on those living in Muslim-majority countries.
• Ruled that public sector unions can't force non-members to pay contract negotiating fees.
• Punted on gerrymandering in Wisconsin.
• Ruled that law enforcement must get a warrant before searching your smartphone data.
• Legalized sports betting.
• Ruled that a Colorado baker can refuse service to gay customers on religious grounds.
• State taxes must be paid on internet purchases.

So now the Senate must decide if Trump's choice for the Court is worthy enough to join the other justices.  You will recall that back in 2016, the Republican-controlled Senate refused to schedule so much as a hearing for President Barack Obama's choice, Merrick Garlund, because they claimed that election years are not the time to decide on someone for such an important decision.  Which is BS, of course, because Senate Republicans were really biding their time before a GOP president could be elected.  They succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.

Senate Democrats hope to take a page out of the GOP playbook and delay the nomination of Trump's choice for as long as possible, preferably until next January when the new Congress is seated.  But right now there are more Republicans than Democrats in the Senate, and the whole thing might become moot by the time November rolls around.

So the pendulum on the Supreme Court is stuck on the right, just like it always has.

Alienated Nation

In the past week and a half, President Donald Trump has managed to alienate his Canadian and European allies at the G-7 summit in Quebec, jets off to Singapore to make nice with his new best friend, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and to threaten trade wars against anybody he thinks has ripped off the United States' economy.

Right about now, he's offending the sensibilities of most Americans, Democrats and the five living First Ladies (including his wife Melania) with his latest solution to the immigration problem:  Detaining, then separating, families at the Mexican border for the crime of crossing over illegally.  The men and women are being herded like zoo animals into cages, while the children (around 2000 of them so far) are taken to an old Walmart in McAllen, Texas, not knowing if they'd ever see their parents again.

The President has been ranting and raving ever since Campaign 2016 about building a wall across the U.S.-Mexico border, which would be designed to keep out the drug lords, terrorists and other riffraff who might do this country harm.  Unfortunately, it might also keep out those who want to escape the crime and poverty of their native lands, believing they can't afford to wait months for the proper credentials to enter this country legally.  So they just sneak in across the border.

Those who have seen images of children being ripped apart from their mothers' arms are demanding that Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions (who has quoted the Bible to defend all this) to reverse the policy, since it's really not the law they claim it is.  But the President would rather talk tough and blame Democrats than do the right thing.

This latest detention of human beings has everyone asking themselves, "Is this who we are as a country?".  Well, let's see . . .

• Our European ancestors arrived here to escape political and religious persecution, only to gradually exterminate tribes who were already on the North American continent and putting the rest in reservations.
• Africans were brought here through no fault of their own, and are still being mistreated long after slavery ended.
• Europeans who weren't WASPs (Italians, Irish, Russians, etc.) and Asians were routinely discriminated against once they got off the boat.
• Jews have been turned away, even if the alternative was a one-way ticket to a Nazi death camp.
• Germans and Japanese have been interned during wartime.
• Those of the Muslim faith have been viewed with suspicion since 9/11/2001.

And on it goes.

So yes, this is who we are as a country.  We can do better, though.

UPDATE (6/20/18):  President Trump has signed an executive order rescinding, at least temporarily, the administration's policy of separating undocumented immigrant families at the border while keeping the zero tolerance measures in place.  This, of course, doesn't help the families who have already been split up with traumatized kids scattered all over the country.  Now all Congress has to do is to pass a law that fixes the problem.  Good luck with that.

Bourdain, Spade Leave For Parts Unknown

The world of entertainment, fashion and food were rocked this week by the deaths of Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade.  Both chose to leave this world voluntarily.

Bourdain (1956-2018) was a chef who gained notoriety among foodies with his controversial tell-all book "Kitchen Confidential".  He then moved into TV with "No Reservations" and "The Layover" for Travel Channel, followed by "Parts Unknown" for CNN.  All of those shows found him traveling the world while sampling the local cuisine, uncovering insights as to why people are the way they are.  "Parts Unknown" has been on the air since 2013, and is in its 11th season.  Bourdain was filming an episode in France at the time of his death.

Spade (1962-2018) was a designer who created the line of unique handbags that bore her name, then made millions from it before selling the company.

The Centers for Disease Control tells us the number of suicides in this country are on the rise.  The generally accepted reason is that depression and mental illness is being misdiagnosed.  The real reason this is now getting attention in the media is because some celebrity decided to take his or her own life.

We're not going to speculate on why Bourdain, Spade or anyone else chose to do what they did.  How are we to know?  Should we?  Maybe those who chose suicide either had a very good reason or have had enough of living, and there was nothing we could do to stop them.

Taking your own life is not much different than any other kind of sudden death.  It can also happen among the terminally ill, when all the medications and chemotherapy aren't making your life any better.

This is the point where we're supposed to give you the national suicide hotline number, as well as contact information for mental health services.  Well, you can go look that up yourself.  Why make the lives of people obviously intent on doing away with themselves harder than it already is?  Trying to convince them that life can still be worth living, or to think about the ones they might leave behind might fall on deaf ears.

Just so you know, we don't condone or advocate suicide.  Most of us have come through dark periods without ever considering ending it all, because on the other side the tide turns in their favor.  But what if it doesn't?    Then suicide becomes a very real, if extreme, option.  That was the option Anthony Bourdain, Kate Spade and millions of others have chosen.  All we can do is to wonder why.

More Dispatches from Trumpland

The longer President Donald Trump remains in the White House, the further he gets from reality unless it suits his own purposes.  And we're the ones suffering for it.  Some recent examples:

On the Russian election investigation, the President and his attorneys are doing all they can to avoid being questioned by special counsel Robert Mueller, who has been looking into the matter for over a year now.  Trump has mentioned ignoring subpoenas, shutting down the investigation and even pardoning himself to prove that this whole thing is nothing but a "witch hunt".  This is not a man who wants to be President of the United States.  He wants to be King of America.

Speaking of pardons, the President has so far given high-profile ones to early 20th century boxer Jack Johnson and filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza.  Johnson was the first African-American man to win the heavyweight title.  D'Souza is one of those conservative firebrands who, like Trump, wants to see certain liberals eradicated from the face of the earth.  (We see this all the time on Facebook.)  Now the President wants to give "get out of jail free" passes to Rod Blagojevich, the former Illinois governor (and former "Celebrity Apprentice" contestant) who has been in Federal prison for various acts of corruption, and to lifestyle media mogul Martha Stewart (who used to host her own version of "The Apprentice") for serving time for committing securities fraud.  Is this really a good thing?

The North Korea summit is back on, a week after Trump canceled because of some misgivings he had about whether leader Kim Jong-un was as serious about this as he was.  It's now scheduled for Singapore on June 12.

On trade, Trump thinks the rest of the world is disrespecting America's policies to their advantage.  So he raises tariffs on steel, aluminum and other products on Canada, Mexico and the European Union because of  'national security' concerns.  And he seems to want to take German-made cars off America's roads.  You don't really expect the other countries not to fight back with their own tariffs, do you?  One also wonders if the President is disrespecting his own people by cutting jobs and making things more expensive.  Isn't this what happens during trade wars?

Puerto Rico is still recovering from Hurricane Maria, but it turns out the initial death toll of 64 as reported by the government was overly optimistic.  A Harvard study found that at least 4600 people lost their lives in the storm and its aftermath, which is worse that what happened after Katrina.  Looks like Puerto Ricans are going to need a lot more than paper towels.

Samantha Bee, a comedian who hosts TBS' late night program "Full Frontal", has apologized for calling Ivanka Trump the C word during her monologue.  That's not enough for President Trump, who wants to see TBS fire Bee.  It's one thing for him to defend his daughter, but quite another for having yet to say one word about Roseanne Barr losing her ABC sitcom over a racist tweet other than demanding to know why the network has never apologized to him.  The C word is to women what the N word is to African-Americans--something so radioactive that it should be avoided in normal conversation.  But Trump's been known to use the C word in the past to help describe the women he's been with.  Can he pardon himself over that?

And so it goes in Trumpland.

Roseanne Barr Tweets Way Out of Her Sitcom

Just a few weeks earlier, ABC had renewed its revival of the 1990s sitcom "Roseanne" for a second season.  The story of the Conner family of Lanford, Illinois was fetching boffo ratings for the Disney-owned broadcast network, two decades after the original series ended.

Then the show's star Roseanne Barr chose to add to her Twitter account a few choice thoughts about, among other things, a former White House adviser under President Barack Obama.  Barr thought African-American Valerie Jarrett was the product of a relationship between a Muslim and an ape from the "Planet of the Apes" movies.  She later apologized, claiming it was a bad joke fueled by a prescription sleep aid.

But it was too late.  To the applause of many, including critics and colleagues, ABC quickly pulled the plug on "Roseanne".  So did other broadcast and cable channels who had been airing repeats of her previous series.  Just like what happened to Bill Cosby, Charlie Rose, Harvey Weinstien, Matt Lauer, Kevin Spacey and others in Hollywood and in politics who got caught with their pants down.

This isn't the first time Roseanne courted controversy.  In 1990 she screeched, spit and crotch-grabbed her way through the "Star Spangled Banner" before a San Diego Padres baseball game.  She also ran for president in 2012, garnering nearly 70,000 votes in the election.  She posed as Adolf Hitler for the cover of a Jewish humor magazine.  She has also posted conspiracy theories about gun control advocate David Hogg, survivor of the Parkland, FL high school shooting.  And she decided to make her character Roseanne Conner a Donald Trump supporter just like her, a move which would alienate her more liberal fans.

For ABC, currently the network of "The Bachelor", "Dancing With The Stars" and "American Idol" (which also happens to be a reboot), parting ways with their number one show was a gutsy move.   They had planned their entire prime time programming philosophy around "Roseanne" once it became a hit, catering more to conservative white folks who made up Middle America than to the LGBTQs, women and minorities that they had been.  That meant letting producer Shonda Rimes, whose dramas made up one night of ABC programming ("Grey's Anatomy", "Scandal", "How to Get Away with Murder"), go to Netflix.  It also meant throwing minority-led shows like "black-ish" and "Fresh Off The Boat" under the bus.  Until it all blew up in their faces.

And what was the reaction from the biggest Twitter user, which would be President Donald Trump?  As usual, it was all about himself, complaining about the negative coverage he gets from ABC News, and demanding to know why Disney CEO Bob Iger won't apologize to him like he did with Jarrett.

Roseanne Barr has made a career of breaking barriers in her comedy and in her TV sitcom, while at the same time doing enough outrageous things to make people wonder about her sanity.  If there is a lesson about her rapid slide to being persona non grata, it is this:  Tweet wisely, and keep your racism to yourself.

UPDATE (6/22/18):  ABC is bringing "Roseanne" back to TV, but without Roseanne Barr.  They've just green lighted a continuation of the sitcom with the remaining members of the cast for the fall, which is tentatively titled "The Connors".  Which begs the questions:  How will they explain Roseanne's absence on the show?  Can "The Connors" survive without Barr, just like "The Hogan Family" did without Valerie Harper (salary dispute) or "Eight Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter" without John Ritter (death)?  Will anyone still watch?

Parkland, Santa Fe: Will You Remember in November?

This is the fifth month of 2018, and we have already had 22 incidents of gun violence at public facilities.  The most recent one occurred on Friday at a high school in the Houston suburb of Santa Fe, Texas (not to be confused--nor would they want to be--with Santa Fe, New Mexico and the railroad now known as Burlington Northern Santa Fe), where ten people lost their lives to a teenager with a gun.

The suspect, according to reports, has been taken into custody but is not expected to serve much jail time (he's 17).  In addition to the weapon he allegedly used, there were reports of explosives found inside the school.  One of his victims, reportedly, was the girlfriend who rejected his advances.

(An aside:  Among all the BS women have to put up with when dealing with men, they shouldn't have to risk their lives if they turn down a date.)

All this comes three months after the last major shooting, when 17 were gunned down at a high school in Parkland, FL.  That led to students taking to the streets, pleading with lawmakers to pass new restrictions on guns and to make their schools safer.  It has also made celebrities out of activists David Hogg and Emma Gonzalez, students at the school who were dismissed by the right as tools of the left.

Results have been mixed.  Some states have been more receptive to the students' concerns than others on this issue, but Washington is still beholden to the wealth and power of the National Rifle Association.  "Thoughts and prayers" are the rules of the day.

Now that it's happened again, expect the usual round of "thoughts and prayers" and victim-bashing while nothing gets done. 

And nothing will be done as long as there are people with attitudes like Texas' lieutenant governor Dan Patrick (no relation to the sportscaster), who blamed the shooting on such things as violent video games and too many school entrances.  The NRA, who just named another celebrity in Oliver North (of Iran/Contra fame) to be their new president, has named Ritalin as a culprit.  In other words, people who will blame gun violence on everything except the gun itself, while spending billions of dollars to help keep it that way.

There are calls for people to remember the lack of action on weapons and its consequences at this year's midterm elections, and to choose those who pledge to change things in Congress and state legislatures across the country.  That's all well and good, except for one thing:

What happened in Parkland, Santa Fe and a dozen other places will be ancient history by the time November rolls around.  Politicians from both parties are counting on the fickleness of the American voter, not to mention the jury-rigging of some districts in their favor.  And, oh yes, there's the antics of President Donald Trump to consider. 

So what's it going to take for things to turn around at the ballot box?  Another massacre in the fall?  Or is it already too late?

All Apologies From the White House. Not.

It happened during a White House staff meeting that was supposed to be behind closed doors.  They were apparently discussing Arizona's U.S. Senator John McCain's opposition to the nomination of Gina Haspel, President Donald Trump's choice to be CIA director, for her less-than honest testimony in Senate confirmation hearings about her views on water torture.

McCain, who was known for spending most of the Vietnam War as a "guest" of the North Vietnamese government before parlaying his POW status into a successful political career, has been diagnosed with brain cancer.  He is not expected to live more than a year or two.  He and the President have not gotten along because, among other things, Trump once said he preferred soldiers who weren't captured.

With this in mind, staffer Kelly Sadler was said to have joked that McCain shouldn't be taken seriously because "he's dying anyway".

Bipartisan outrage followed by calls for the White House to not only apologize for the remark, but also to have Sadler fired.  Meghan McCain, the senator's daughter, said she spoke to Sadler about it and got a personal apology.

That's about the best the younger McCain is going to get from this White House, having not issued a formal apology to the Senator and to continue employing Sadler.  The staff prefers to see this as an internal matter, reading the riot act to anyone who tattles to the "fake news" media.  The President doesn't much care for leakers, either, but they seem to be doing a poor job in stopping them.

This incident shouldn't be considered unusual behavior for the Trump administration.  When was the last time the President apologized for much of anything?  He seems to think saying "I'm sorry" is a sign of weakness that too many of his predecessors used to engage in, and that it doesn't fit in with his plans to make America great again.

After all, Trump has said and tweeted nasty things about business associates, beauty queens, fellow GOP candidates, Hillary Clinton, the mainstream media, immigrants, certain European nations, law enforcement agencies, and anyone else who happened to stand in his way.  All this without so much as an apology.  So John McCain isn't the only person to feel the President's personal wrath.

There are also plenty of things going on in the Trump administration that demand an apology, which is something the President might have to answer for down the road.  But that's a long ways off.  Right now Trump is making people sorry they ever knew him.  Or voted for him.

Stormy Weather in Trumpland

President Donald Trump might not believe in climate change, but there are several weather-related advisories that could affect the fates of not just his administration, but the country and the world as a whole.  These advisories may not be as accurate as your local TV weather Storm Track Doppler team.  But, as Bob Dylan might have put it, you don't need them to tell you which way the wind's blowing.

Nuclear Fallout Watch  Though this watch might have lessened in intensity with the possibility of an agreement with North Korea, it remains in effect now that Trump has decided to take the U.S. out of an international agreement with Iran to limit its nuclear program and reinstitute economic sanctions, citing alleged violations and a desire to renegotiate.  Which means Iran can resume its nuclear program any time it wants, and countries still honoring the agreement can do little to stop them as long as the current government is in charge.  This could turn into a warning should war start.

President Deal Breaker, in his pursuit of better treaties and economic agreements favorable to the United States, has in the process trashed perfectly good ones (See:  Paris climate accords, the Trans Pacific Partnership, NAFTA, etc.) just to satisfy his campaign promises while sticking it to his predecessor Barack Obama and leaving the rest of the world holding the bag.  The Iran nuclear accords weren't perfect, but it was better than nothing.  And nothing is what we're getting.

Tropical Storm Rudy  Once known as America's Mayor following the 9/11/01 attacks, former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani is now Trump's Mouthpiece.  He assumed the role of the President's lead attorney following the departure of Michael Cohen.

You couldn't miss seeing Giuliani on TV last week (even if you tried), talking out of school about Cohen's allegedly getting a six-figure reimbursement from Trump for buying adult film actress Stormy Daniels' silence about their alleged affair during the 2016 campaign, or for suggesting that the President might invoke the Fifth Amendment if he is ever interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller about his role in the Russian election investigation. 

Trump has assured us that Giuliani will "get his facts straight" once he settles into his new job.  The Facts, that is, as Trump knows them.  It might also be a good idea to keep Giuliani off TV for awhile, because who knows what he might say next?  Otherwise, this tropical storm is in effect for as long as Giuliani remains employed by the White House.

Severe Stormy Warning  As long as Stormy Daniels (aka Stephanie Clifford) remains in the news, this warning will continue in effect.  Besides the alleged hush money payment, Daniels is currently suing the President for defamation, and is still looking for the guy she says threatened her and her child.

Daniels also turned up on "Saturday Night Live", playing herself talking on the phone to Alec Baldwin as Trump in the opening skit.  It's the first time most of us have seen her act with her clothes on.  Or seen her act, period.

Blue Tsunami Watch  Also known as Red Tsunami Watch, the prime season is usually in October  and November of election years.  Republicans in Congress, due to their inability to pass major legislation and in handling an unpredictable President, have been heading to the exits in droves.  This leaves Democrats with a good chance of reclaiming the House and Senate this fall.  Even Trump has said that if the GOP loses, he could very well be impeached.

But there's always the possibility that the Democrats could somehow screw this up:  Weak candidates, political gerrymandering, Russian meddling and the "October Surprise" could contribute to the GOP being back on top.  If the pundits are correct, though, this watch could be upgraded to a warning.

No one knows what will happen when the storms hit, or if Trump's presidency will survive any of this.  So batten down the hatches and seek shelter because, as Ms. Daniels has so eloquently put it on SNL:  "Storm's a-coming, baby".

The Wolves at Trump's Door

Before we begin, here are a list of things we should be more concerned about right now.

• North and South Korea have agreed to end their state of war for the first time since fighting ceased in 1953.  Not much is known of the agreement, but it appears the validity of it has a lot to do with the proposed summit between President Donald Trump (who of course is claiming the credit for this) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, which is scheduled for about a month from now.
• Trump might scuttle the nuclear treaty with Iran because he claims the mullahs aren't holding their end of the bargain.  Israel is saying the same thing, and they might go to war against Iran.  No matter what happens in the Middle East, it all comes back to defending Israel, doesn't it?
• According to the New York Times, special counsel Robert Mueller has a few questions he'd like to ask Trump about alleged collusion with the Russians in the 2016 election scandal.  If reports are accurate, the President might respond by pleading the Fifth (if he's smart), just like Michael Cohen is planning on doing in the Stormy Daniels matter.
• Another in the long line of incompetent boobs in the Trump administration is Scott Pruitt, who's supposed to be running the Environmental Protection Agency.  Instead, he's apparently more interested in improving his environment than ours.
• Bill Cosby has been convicted in a Pennsylvania court of sexually assaulting a woman, in ways familiar to too many other women who have crossed his path.  Now Tom Brokaw and R. Kelly are in MeToo's crosshairs, and their reputations are going to take a big hit regardless of what happens.
• Nine journalists were killed in suicide attacks in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Instead, we're talking about a comedian named Michelle Wolf, who could pass for a younger version of Democratic congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz .  Wolf delivered an HBO-worthy monologue at the annual White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington.  It was political commentary disguised as comedy, with Wolf aiming her sharp tongue at the Trump administration and the media, among other targets.

Wolf got mixed reviews on her speech depending on which party you follow, with folks wondering why the WHCD would hire such a woman for an event like this.    She skewered press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in ways that made her look on TV as if she's squirming in her seat, which some Sanders defenders weren't too happy with.  Neither were members of the media, most of whom were dressed to the nines as if this were Oscar night, too impressed with what Wolf had to say about them.  Uh, make that the Golden Globes when Ricky Gervais was hosting.

Trump didn't show up for the dinner for the second consecutive year, opting instead to rant and rave at one of his "campaign" rallies in Michigan.  Given his relations with the media that isn't Fox News that he calls "fake news" and the way he treats them, Trump wouldn't have been welcome anyway.

Yes, there are plenty of things to worry about in this world.  Whether it's the law breathing down his neck, war on the horizon or a woman named Michelle cracking jokes at his expense, President Trump has wolves at the door waiting to tear him to shreds.  One wonders how he's going to come out of all that.

And Flint, Michigan still doesn't have clean water.

Operation: Distraction

For the second time in his presidency, Donald Trump ordered airstrikes on Syria's chemical weapons program.  The quick hits allowed the Pentagon to claim that these bombs have just set back the country's program by a few years, Russia, China and Congress be damned, with France and Great Britain helping out.

Not that anybody's fooled.  The President needed a distraction from the various legal and political messes he's in, and Syria just gave him one with the world watching videos of people choking to death from the fumes of another chemical attack.  It's all part of Syria's ongoing civil war, with President Bashar Assad destroying his own people to save his country while Russia helps him beat back the Islamic State.

Meanwhile, back in the States . . .

• The FBI raided the offices of Trump's attorney Michael Cohen, in hopes of getting the goods on any evidence of the President's alleged affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels.  So far, the biggest revelation from all this is that Fox News host Sean Hannity has been outed as one of Cohen's clients.  And that Daniels' attorney is trying to make a name for himself.
• Former FBI director James Comey is currently making the media rounds in support of the book he wrote.  His message to anyone who'll listen is that Trump's "morally unfit" for office, but shouldn't be impeached because he thinks only the American people should be able to vote him out.  Well, the American people did reject Trump in the 2016 popular vote, but he gamed the Electoral College tallies in all the right places to win.  And wasn't it Comey who was partly responsible for Hillary Clinton's defeat with his last-minute investigation of her e-mails, only to find nothing incriminating?
• Robert Mueller's job as special counsel in the Russian election interference matter is getting shakier as he finds more evidence of wrongdoing.  As Trump keeps making noises about wanting to indirectly fire Mueller, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he's not bringing a bill to the floor that would protect his job.  Is this another indication of how Republicans would rather lick the President's boots (or some other part of his anatomy) than serve the country?
• Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has decided he's had enough of Washington, so he's not running for re-election.  He's the latest--and most prominent--Republican who's figured out that they should get out of town ahead of a supposed Democratic blue wave in November.  Ryan did his best to deal with Trump, and ultimately suffered the fate of others in the GOP who crossed him.

President Trump has declared "mission accomplished" on his bombing run, even though Assad is still in power and probably has a secret stash of chemical weapons somewhere to commit more crimes on humanity.  But his mission to make people forget his problems at home is still failing, just like the last president to utter that line tried to convince the country that things are under control.

Sinclair Broadcasting: The Dinosaur in the Room

The Sinclair Broadcast Group currently owns or controls 193 TV stations, the largest of any such company in the United States.  From Baltimore (its home base) to Seattle, it has spread its footprint from coast to coast.

Sinclair stands accused of using its conservative political agenda to shape news coverage at its local stations, airing "must-run" features such as commentaries and updates about terrorism.  Recently, they were criticized for forcing its news anchors to read a standardized statement about "journalistic responsibility", accusing the mainstream media of bias.

Now Sinclair wants to raise its profile even more, with its proposed purchase of Tribune Media awaiting approval by the Federal Communications Commission.  This would bring into the fold iconic Tribune-owned stations like WGN in Chicago, WPIX in New York and KTLA in Los Angeles--all of whose reputations for news coverage would take major hits if the sale went through.  Sinclair has already made some changes to make the sale more palatable to the FCC by offering to divest some stations, but would keep control of them through such tactics as local marketing agreements and shell companies.

(SBG also owns WUCW in Minneapolis-St. Paul.  Because it is a CW network affiliate that does not carry local news, the controversy has yet to resonate in Minnesota.  That could change if the company either puts out its own newscast, or if they made a deal to purchase one of the other network stations in town.)

Local news, no matter who the parent company is, has become less a source of information nowadays.  Its coverage of murders stoke fear of crime in the big city.  They exploit people with special needs.  So-called "feel-good" stories are really infomercials promoting local charities.  Alerting viewers to bad weather that's nowhere near where they are.  Stroking the ego of the President of the United States?  That's Fox News' job, not your local newscast.

Remember all those Sinclair gasoline stations that used to dot the highways and byways of America?  Their mascot (and corporate logo) was a big green dinosaur.  Sinclair Broadcasting doesn't have a mascot that we know of.  But if they did, they'd represent a similar prehistoric creature that flexes its muscles in the dying world of broadcast television, pushing a political agenda on the verge of going extinct.

UPDATE (12/28/19):  The Sinclair-Tribune merger fell through, and once it did, Nexstar Media Group swept in and took over Tribune.  Oh, they had to sell a few stations such as WPIX (to Scripps), but it was relatively smooth sailing on its way to government approval.

Sinclair has also announced that they would no longer air "must-run" political commentaries on its stations, and will instead devote its energies to local investigative reporting.  We'll believe it when we see it.

The Art of "You're Fired", The Sequel

As a means to distract the American public from alleged extramarital affairs, high school students marching for the right to not get shot at and trade wars that might unnecessarily wreck the economy, President Donald Trump continues to make news by remaking the White House in his own image.  The latest:

• H.R. McMaster has been replaced as national security advisor by John Bolton, who used to be President George W. Bush's United Nations ambassador.  Bolton sounds like the kind of guy who'd rather pour gasoline on a fire during a world crisis instead of putting them out, if his past statements on Fox News and elsewhere are any indication.  Rip up the Iran nuclear deal?  Sure.  Bomb North Korea before they bomb America?  Why not?  By the way, what's Dick Cheney doing these days?
• Deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe was just two days away from retiring with a pension after 21 years on the job before Attorney General Jeff Sessions canned him.  McCabe's crime, apparently, was for not being honest about the last-minute investigation into Hillary Clinton's e-mails, which ended up costing her the presidential election.  The fallout from the firing resulted in McCabe's old boss, former FBI director James Comey, having his soon-to-be released book zoom up the charts.
• One of Trump's remaining attorneys, John Dowd, quit when he realized that he can't help the President if he doesn't want to listen to his advice.  The last straw, apparently, was when Trump reportedly was willing to be interviewed by special prosecutor Robert Mueller about his role in the alleged Russian hacking of the 2016 presidential election.  No self-respecting lawyer would let his client do something like that.  But then, no self-respecting lawyer would be working for Trunp right now.  Oh, isn't Dowd the one who called for the Mueller investigation to conclude?

The number of former Trump employees at the White House keeps growing.  One wonders how long this shakedown period will last--if it ever does.

The Art of "You're Fired".

President Donald Trump's philosophy is rather simple:  Get the best people you can, and make sure everyone's on the same page as you.  It might have worked for him when he was running his own company, but when it comes to running a country he's had mixed results.  When you have people working for you who don't necessarily agree with you, that's when you wonder why they were hired in the first place.

Maybe that's why the White House has been like a revolving door for employees and Cabinet members ever since Trump took office.  Either he didn't like the person he hired, or his staff felt like rats fleeing a sinking ship.  With the number of scandals plaguing this administration (Russia, Stormy Daniels, etc.), who could blame then for getting the heck out while they've still got careers?

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is the latest Trump figure to be shown the door.  A former oil company executive who used to run ExxonMobil, Tillerson wasn't anyone's first choice to head the State Department, much less having to be the one to explain to the rest of the world his boss' peculiar decision-making.

To say that Tillerson and Trump did not get along is an understatement.  They disagreed on such things as the Iran nuclear agreement, Trump's imposing tariffs on aluminum and steel, and on how to handle North Korea.  As a result, Tillerson was kept out of the loop by the President on important decisions.  Oh, and calling his boss a "moron" didn't help either.

Tillerson said his learned about his firing the same way everybody else did--through one of the President's many tweets.  His replacement, pending Senate approval, is Mike Pompeo.  He is currently CIA director, and is thought to have views that are more in line with Trump's than Tillerson's.  Gina Hempel would succeed Pompeo at CIA, once the Senate gets through questioning her about policies that allegedly endorse torture.

Diplomatically, this is an interesting time for Trump to change course.  The unexpected opportunity for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has left the United States woefully unprepared.  There is currently no ambassador to South Korea, and the chief envoy to Pyongyang has chosen to retire.  The President only gets his intelligence via word of mouth.  If he thinks he can strike a deal with Kim that won't end in disaster, let's just say we'll be very surprised.

Here's who else in recent weeks is no longer serving at the pleasure of the President:

• Chief economic adviser Gary Cohn, who quit after questioning the wisdom of Trump's tariffs.  He is being replaced by Larry Kudlow, a CNBC financial analyst who used to work for President Ronald Reagan.
• White House communications director Hope Hicks, and her deputy director Josh Raffel.

Jared Kushner is still around, even though he lost his security clearance.  So is his wife, Ivanka Trump.  HUD secretary Ben Carson canceled a $31,000 order for office furniture.  Education secretary Betsy DeVos gets vilified every time she opens her mouth. 

Confidence in this administration is at an all-time low, but that's the way it's been ever since Trump took office.  The only ones who still seem to believe in him are Republicans in Congress, and the cheering crowds at Trump's rallies embracing his 2020 re-election slogan of "Keeping America Great".

Meanwhile, those who continue to work for President Trump would be well advised to update their resumes.  They're going to need it.

The Shape of Oscar Night

The 90th Academy Awards on Sunday was, given everything that's happened to Hollywood and the rest of America over the past year, a do-over.  White males were reduced to spectators by women who spent parts of the evening echoing the sentiments of the MeToo and Time's Up campaigns against sexual harassment in the entertainment industry, and by African-Americans and LGTBQs for being mostly ignored on their own merits all these years.

To that end, we got to hear host Jimmy Kimmel tiptoe through a minefield of a monologue, Ryan Seacrest being routinely snubbed on the red carpet due to sexual harassment allegations, the first transgender awards presenter and Jordan Peele becoming the first African-American to win an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay ("Get Out").

On the other hand, the Academy chose to reward two men whose time should have been up, but the statute of limitations must have expired:  Kobe Bryant, who won Best Animated Short for "Dear Basketball", was accused of raping a woman back in 2004.  And Gary Oldman, whose impersonation of Winston Churchill in "Darkest Hour" won him a Best Actor nod, allegedly assaulted his wife in 2001.

Frances McDormand, whose role in "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" earned her her second Best Actress Oscar (the other was for "Fargo"), inadvertently revealed an inconvenient truth about this year's awards when she asked all the female winners in the audience (including Allison Janney, who won Best Supporting Actress for her role in "I, Tonya") to stand up during her acceptance speech.  In spite of all the love for director Greta Gerwig (whose "Lady Bird" garnered zero Oscars), and for Rachel Morrison as the first female to be nominated for cinematography, there were fewer women Oscar winners than in the previous six years.

McDormand also introduced a new phrase to the entertainment lexicon during her acceptance speech:  inclusive rider.  It's inserted into actors' contracts to promote gender and racial balance in hiring on movie sets.  It may not be as remembered as "plastics", but McDormand deserves credit for taking the time to read the fine print, which is what most actors usually leave to their agents or attorneys.

Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway got another chance to announce this year's Best Picture, which went to "The Shape of Water"--this time without a hitch.  As for the movie itself, its love story between a mute woman and a top-secret sea creature sounds kind of retro in a year of female empowerment, does it not?

The shape of the Oscar telecast was . . . flabby.  Despite a three-hour prime time window with an earlier starting time, and Kimmel's promise of a jet ski to the winner with the shortest acceptance speech, the show still managed to clock in at nearly four hours.   Around 26.5 million of you watched the proceedings live on ABC, which is 6.5 million less than last year's Gaffe Heard Round The World.

That's another challenge in the post-Harvey Weinstein world of the Academy Awards--or any other awards show, for that matter.  How do you change the world without viewers changing the channel?

Parkland: Students Up Against The Walls of Resistence

The worst school shooting since Columbine nearly two decades ago happened on Valentine's Day at a high school in Parkland, Florida.  Seventeen students and faculty were murdered because the suspect, who reportedly had a history of mental problems, apparently used an assault rifle to take out his frustrations on his former school.

Usually after something like this happens, we get the usual hand-wringing over how could this have happened and why isn't anything done about it, while the people in power insist "this isn't the time to talk about it" as they offer meaningless "thoughts and prayers".  The only ones who benefit from all this is the National Rifle Association.

What's different this time is that the students who were survivors of this event, having seen too many of these played out on television, are no longer interested in the status quo.  They are speaking out while mourning the loss of their peers.  They are organizing nationwide marches.  They are calling BS on the establishment.  They are calling BS on having to play the victim every time, raising their hands in the air as if they were prisoners about to be shot, or being held hostage during a lockdown.  Centers of learning shouldn't be centers of incarceration.

These students are following in the footsteps of their parents and grandparents who protested the Vietnam War.  Back then, they shut down universities and burned their draft cards to show their displeasure at a conflict no one really understood.  All that got them was more years of war and "four dead in Ohio".

The Parkland high school students will be facing a number of walls on the road to firearm sanity.  Not just President Donald Trump's wall, but also the wall of the NRA and its bought-off politicians who brush aside any meaningful gun reform, and the wall of public attitudes among Second Amendment zealots who believe gun control meaning they have to give up theirs so only the police and the bad guys have them.

There's also the wall of skeptics who think this wave of student activism is really a bogus plot by liberals to get more Democrats in Congress in November.  They point to how the FBI allegedly botched its surveillance on the shooting suspect.  How's gun control doing in Chicago, they say, which has the nation's highest crime rate?  Or how many abortions have been performed when compared to gun deaths.  Or why we should believe teenagers who have made Tide Pods detergent part of their diets?

The skeptics will also point to how there's been 18 mass shootings in 2018 alone.  If that's true, then how come we haven't heard about any of them?  Also, if you want armed guards and pistol-packing teachers in school, who's going to pay for them?  And how long will it be before somebody blames all this on the Russians?

We wish the students of Parkland, Florida, and all the other survivors of gun violence--whether it occurs in public or behind closed doors--the best in convincing our lawmakers to rein in those weapons and the individuals who use them to commit murder.  But Rome wasn't built in a day.  These students will be well into adulthood before the walls of skepticism and doubt come tumbling down, and their kids won't be cowering under their desks waiting for the all clear sign.