Politics 2016: The Other Guys

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There are (as of 7/22/15) a total of 21 presidential candidates--16 of them Republicans--all vying for the chance to take over Barack Obama's job come 2017.  Some of them are serious contenders and are in it for the long haul, while the others are there to draw attention to issues they consider important, whether they admit it or not.

For the GOP, these are the names we have so far:  Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Bobby Jindal, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Lindsey Graham, John Kasich, George Pataki, Rand Paul, Rick Perry and Rick Santorum.

For the Democrats:  Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Jim Webb, Martin O'Malley and Lincoln Chafee.

With all those people in the running, and primary season yet to get under way, it's hard to stand out and explain to the voters why you want the job when all you're getting in return are meager sound bites and money worries.

It's also harder if you're behind the eight-ball from the very beginning, recognition-wise, while candidates more familiar to the voters suck up the media oxygen.  Trump gets headlines for dissing Senator John McCain's war record and broadcasting Senator Graham's phone number on live TV.  Clinton has been the Democrats' presumptive nominee almost since the last election.  Jeb Bush, whose father and brother were previously Presidents, must be seeing the White House as his birthright.

Until Trump came along, the biggest flakes in the campaign were Senators Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky.  They could always be counted on to make outrageous statements intended to fire up their conservative bases, particularly the Tea Party set.  To everybody else, they were indicative of what was wrong with the Republicans.

Besides Bush, a number of present and former state governors such as Christie of New Jersey and Jindal of Louisiana are in this campaign.  Scott Walker of Wisconsin, whose labor and economic policies have alienated almost everyone there, reminds those of us on the Minnesota side of the border of the reign of Tim Pawlenty.  He ran for President too.  Oh, and doesn't Christie also have a bridge scandal to live down?

Progressives who are unhappy with or unsure of the seeming inevitability of another Clinton administration have been flocking to Bernie Sanders' side.  The independent Senator from Vermont has made himself an alternative by hammering away at his contention that (a) the rich are getting richer, and (b) the poor and middle class are so screwed.  Familiar arguments, yes, but there's little evidence so far that any of this is making a dent against Clinton.  If you believe the polls, she leaves  everyone including Trump in the dust.

It's only a matter of time before the wheat is separated from the chaff, so to speak, and some of these candidates go back to their day jobs.  Until then, we can only imagine what it must be like to be a voter in a major primary state, about to be bombarded with TV and Internet commercials from 21 different presidential candidates spending their time and (somebody else's) money chasing a dream.  We don't envy you at all.

Southern Discomfort

Vice President of the United States John C. Calhoun (19th-century daguerreotype) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A few weeks ago, we asked "Is there anything new to add after the latest mass shooting in Charleston, South Carolina that hasn't already been said before?  Or will likely be done about it?".  (6/22/15)

We have our answer.  Instead of more debates about gun control and the mentality of the alleged shooter, we get flag controversies and the church patrons' naive decision to forgive him before the investigation ends and his trial begins.  Anything to avoid talking about the elephant in the room, and we don't mean the one that represents the Republican Party.


Because of this, the Confederate flag and all those who pledged allegiance to it are getting the cold shoulder from African-Americans and others who think it belongs in the trash heap of history, 150 years after the end of the Civil War.  It has gone from the profound to the ridiculous.  Some examples:

• The battle flag that was used during the Civil War, and has been flown at South Carolina's state capitol for more than 50 years in reaction to the Civil Rights Movement, was taken down to cheering crowds at an otherwise solemn ceremony in Columbia.  Similar flags across the South have also been taken down.
• Cities and states across the country are taking a second look at their founders, some of whom may have been racists and/or slaveholders, and considering whether or not to keep honoring them.  Minneapolis, for one, is thinking about removing John C. Calhoun's name from a popular lake.  He was a 19th Century Vice President and Senator who often spoke in favor of slavery and states' rights.
• The cable channel TV Land (also known as TV Commercial Land, but that's another story) yanked reruns of the 1980s CBS series "The Dukes of Hazzard", because the car used on the show happened to have its roof bedecked with the Stars and Bars.  To TV Land, that must have represented more of a threat to impressionable young minds than reckless driving, moonshine or stereotyped characters.

You might say this is all political correctness running amok, an attempt to whitewash the negative aspects of American history.  Well, the Confederate flag does mean different things to different people.  To the Southern man and woman whose ancestors came here to escape the British Empire, the Stars and Bars represented loyalty, courage, and the upholding of a certain way of life.  To the African American man and woman, whose ancestors came here in chains, the flag meant slavery, lynchings and Jim Crow laws.  To everyone else, it just meant that the South was on the wrong side of history.

The American flag represents many of the same things the Confederate flag stood for, and then some.  How come no one ever talks about taking Old Glory down (not that we advocate it)?  Oh, that's right.  The Union won the war.  We still have the legal right to use the Stars and Stripes as an excuse to go to war anywhere we want, discriminate against anyone we want, and do anything else that makes patriotic Americans no different than your average Rebel.

The Confederate flag has had its day, and that day was between 1861 and 1865.  It belongs in the history books, museums and Ken Burns documentaries as a reminder that one of the bloodiest and costliest wars in human existence was fought right here, not in some faraway land.

You can take down the statues, place names and symbols of every Confederate war hero and sympathizer if it makes you feel better.  Unfortunately, you're also going to have a harder time changing people's attitudes about racial discrimination, no matter what flag they're saluting.  Or whether the alleged Charleston shooter should have had access to guns at all.  To some people, the Civil War never ended.

The Donald, Trumped

English: Donald Trump at a press conference announcing David Blaine's latest feat in New York City at the Trump Tower. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Right now, there are almost as many Republicans running for the White House in 2016 as there are in the entire roster of the World Cup-winning U.S. women's soccer team.

One of them (the candidates, not the soccer team) is Donald Trump, self-styled billionaire and TV personality who puts his name on almost everything he touches, whether it's hotels, golf courses or beauty pageants.  He's also been known to lose a lot of money, whether it's through bankruptcy, bad business decisions or costly divorces.

Trump is making another run at the presidency, focusing on America's immigration policy.  Only this time, instead of making a big deal out of President Barack Obama showing his birth certificate to prove he's a real American, Trump's been chastising Mexico for allegedly sending their 'criminals' and 'rapists' across the border.

Cue the backlash.  Thus far several companies, TV networks and other semi-notables have ended their business relationship with Trump because of his remarks.  The Miss USA Pageant, which was dropped by NBC, has been picked up by a small satellite network called Reelz Channel--which just happens to be owned by Minnesota-based Hubbard Broadcasting. 

Surprisingly, instead of sounding the death knell for his campaign, Trump has received enough support to put himself at or near the top of the GOP field.  He's even been praised in some quarters for putting the immigration issue front and center, while all the other candidates seem to be dancing around it.  Ever defiant in defense of his Mexico remarks, Trump told NBC News that he expects to win the Latino vote once he wins the nomination.

This isn't to say most political pundits are going to give Trump a snowball's chance of being President.  Not in a New York minute.  The experts point out that Trump's celebrity status, business track record and blunt talk will come back to bite him big time as primary and caucus season nears.  Voters are more likely to choose someone who doesn't rock the boat so much, or carries loads of baggage.  That doesn't bode well for Trump.

Which means that Donald Trump is more likely to mend fences with his former business partners, rather than to strengthen the ones that run across the U.S.-Mexico border.  Once people get tired of him, he'll be slinking back to his boardroom wondering why America "fired" him.

Love (and Obamacare) Is The Law Of The Land

United States Supreme Court building. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Two U.S. Supreme Court decisions on two days in June told us that (A) this isn't as conservative a court as we were led to believe, and (B) Republicans and all other right-thinking people are behaving  like Chicken Littles.  You know, the sky is falling and all that.

On June 25, the Affordable Health Care Act (also known as Obamacare) survived another challenge when the justices ruled 6-3 that federal subsidies can be used to help pay for the six million Americans who need affordable health insurance.

Republicans in Congress and on the presidential campaign trail have been hollering about getting rid of the ACA for years.  Trouble is, they don't seem to have a decent alternative--or at least we've never heard one--besides tweaking it to favor the big insurance companies.

Because of this ruling, some states are considering dumping their health insurance exchanges in favor of the federal one.  If they're as badly run as Minnesota's MNSure program, with technical and logistical snafus galore, then the Court just gave those states an out.

On June 26, the justices ruled 5-4 that same-sex marriage is now legal in all 50 states.  This includes the 13 or so states that had outright bans, or whose appeals were pending in their Supreme Courts.

As Americans who have seen positive portrayals of gays and lesbians on TV and/or in their own lives celebrate the decision, others are reacting in horror as the America they thought they knew and loved had turned into an alien culture in which Christianity isn't the only game in town any more.

Same-sex marriage is going to be the 21st century version of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion--an issue we'll still be fighting about decades from now.   Only instead of pitting
"life begins at conception" versus "a woman's right to choose", it will now be "homosexuality is a sin" versus "everybody's got the right to love".  And just like abortion, conservative states will keep passing laws to make it more difficult for gay and lesbian couples to get married, find employment or raise families.  No one wins.

These two rulings signify that the Supreme Court recognizes that America is changing with affordable health care and same sex couples becoming an accepted part of society, and the laws need to change with them.  What they have also done is to open a new can of worms that ultimately might do more harm than good to the country.

Random Thoughts 2015, Volume 2

Is there anything new to add after the latest mass shooting in Charleston, South Carolina that hasn't already been said before?  Or will likely be done about it?

Pope Francis has said that climate change is happening.  Now if he could only convince corporate executives and politicians who worship money more than they do God.  Oh by the way, doesn't the Pope have his own toxic mess to deal with?

How can anyone have an intelligent discussion about the Trans Pacific Partnership if no one knows, or can say what's in it?

Rachel Dolezal used to run the Spokane, Washington chapter of the NAACP until her parents claimed she was born white.  Dolezal said she identifies as black, and those aren't her real parents.  Who's telling the truth?  Does it really matter if she's black or white?  And how did the NAACP get caught up in all this?

The clown car that is the number of Republican candidates running for President now includes Donald Trump.  He may not be the nominee, but he's upped the entertainment quotient considerably.

With all due respect to Senator Bernie Sanders, isn't he just token opposition for the Hillary Clinton juggernaut?

A woman on the ten dollar bill to stand alongside Alexander Hamilton?  What happened to the efforts to get rid of Andrew Jackson on the twenty dollar bill?  For what it's worth, our choice would be Eleanor Roosevelt.

Jerry Seinfeld has complained that political correctness is killing comedy.  No Jerry, 9/11 did.

Brian Williams is back at NBC after being suspended for "misremembering" certain things about how he covered events.  He's been demoted to "breaking news" anchor status at struggling MSNBC.  How much do you want to bet that Lester Holt, who replaced Williams as "NBC Nightly News" anchor, is looking over his shoulder?

Bruce Jenner is now Caitlyn, a former Olympic decathlon champion who became identified with the Kardashian circus--and look what she is now.  So far, she hasn't been asked by the International Olympic Committee to give back her gold medal from the 1976 Games, and already she's being put up as a model of 'courage'.  Well, if changing your sex is something you thought you should have been doing all along, maybe it is courageous.

In other news, Kim Kardashian announced she's pregnant with a boy.  A fact which shouldn't surprise most NPR listeners, or anyone else.

Bud Kraehling (1919-2015): Minnesota's Weather Oracle

Bud Kraehling, who died at age 96 this week, was best known as the man who did weather forecasts from the 1950s to the mid-90s at WCCO-TV (Channel 4).  To many of his viewers, he was the oracle of weather in Minnesota long before anyone had ever heard of Doppler radar or meteorology, or of dewpoints and wind chills.

Like many others in the early days of television, Kraehling did his weathercasts the old fashioned way relying on information and equipment that we would consider primitive today.  An on-air presentation back then might look something like this:  Stand in front of a series of maps.  Use a pointer or a marker like a high school teacher would to highlight fronts and storms affecting our weather, and to show temperatures from across the region.  Relay the current conditions, which usually came from the airport.  Deliver the forecast for today and tomorrow, and maybe a couple of days after that.  Throw it to the news anchor or to a commercial when you're done.

After a few years in radio following World War II, Kraehling joined Channel 4 in 1949 when the station went on the air as WTCN (it became WCCO in 1952).  He did a little bit of everything on the air besides the weather, which included live commercials, station breaks and announced for other shows.

Unlike most others in TV weather, Kraehling had a way of communicating with his audience when he was delivering his forecast, or warning of a possible storm, in a calm and personable manner.  His unscripted banter during newscasts with 'CCO icon Dave Moore were, to put it mildly, legendary.

Kraehling left WCCO in 1996, just as a new generation of meteorologists came to TV with millions of dollars in satellite technology, and a newfound importance on weather at local news stations as the reason people watch. 

Today, you can get the latest forecast anytime you want with whatever technology you've got on hand.  Or you can turn on the TV to hear about the latest "Top Ten Weather Day", or live coverage of a storm happening miles away from your home.  But it is the rare chief meteorologist or weekend weather person who can relay that to viewers in a calm and professional manner the way Bud Kraehling did, and wish others did too.  For that, we thank him.

The Ugly Game

Português: Joseph Blatter, da Fifa, fala à imprensa após audiência com o presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, no Palácio do Planalto (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

World football (known in North America as soccer) has survived many things:  wars, depressions, violence on and off the field, use as a propaganda tool, etc.  Yet those who play and/or watch still swear by the game they love, often placing it high on the list beside family and religion.

So how come the game is run by incompetent fools who care more about making money than in improving the sport itself?  Or shouldn't we be surprised by this because that's how most corporations seem to work?

Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation made headlines by announcing the arrests in Switzerland of several top officials in FIFA, which is soccer's governing body.  It's part of an investigation that includes $150 million allegedly doled out in bribes and kickbacks through U.S. banks over the past two decades.

Not among the indicted (at least not yet) is FIFA's longtime president Sepp Blatter, for whom no amount of wrongdoing involving the organization seems to have stuck to him.  Blatter was just re-elected to a fifth term with little opposition, so the soccer world still has to deal with him.  How much longer remains to be seen.

Much of the investigation revolves around what it took to award past and future men's World Cup tournaments in South Africa (2010), Russia (2018) and Qatar (2022).  FIFA officials allegedly took money from those countries' football organizations in exchange for a favorable vote to host a World Cup.  It's not much different than, say, a politician discreetly taking lobbyists' moolah in exchange for a favorable vote in Congress.

Russia and Qatar have their own set of baggage, none of which should affect their standing as future World Cup hosts.  For Russia, it's worldwide outrage over President Vladimir Putin's lust to regain territories lost after the Cold War.  For Qatar, there is the summertime heat that might force the move of the tournament to late fall, as well as allegations of human rights abuses.  It seems they've been building stadiums with alleged slave labor, or using labor who are paid and allegedly treated like slaves.

Given that this is an ongoing investigation, how much are things really going to change at FIFA?  There is talk of boycotting the World Cup among some countries and corporate partners, but do they really want to pass up the money and exposure that comes with such a prestigious event?  What about the backlash from fans in their own countries?

In the United States, where soccer is just starting to get a foothold on people's consciousnesses, will FIFA retaliate by denying them a chance to host a World Cup in the foreseeable future?  Or punish the American teams in other ways?  There is precedent.  The U.S. has yet to host another Olympic games (NBC's money notwithstanding) since the scandal involving the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games.

(Oh, by the way, FIFA is holding the Women's World Cup in Canada this month.  Any guesses as to how this scandal is going to affect people's perception of the competition?)

Yes, the game of world football/soccer has survived many things.  Can it survive the people who run it?

UPDATE (6/2/15):  Blatter announced that he is stepping down as FIFA's president, pending the election of his replacement.  Maybe he just realized he's become a liability?