Trump's Shutdown Paused, Investigation Not

The government shutdown that lasted 35 days, victimized at least 800,000 federal workers and cost $11 billion (according to a supposedly non-partisan budgetary agency) with three billion of it never coming back, is currently on hold.

Thanks to the deal made between President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the shutdown has been lifted for three weeks until February 15.  Congress has until then to work out a new plan to fund security at the United States-Mexico border, with or without the wall Trump still covets.

No doubt the announcement was intended to deflect from news of the arrest on January 25 of former Trump political adviser Roger Stone, as part of the ongoing investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into alleged Russian influence of the 2016 presidential election.  Stone has pled not guilty on seven counts against him, ranging from witness tampering to obstruction of justice.

Meanwhile, Trump's prison-bound former attorney Michael Cohen is finally going to tell his side of the story to separate congressional intelligence committees about why he lied to them in testifying of his involvement in the Russian affair.  It won't be as public as Cohen once wanted, having revealed that threats have been made against his family if he testified, and that certain questions relating to the Mueller investigation are off limits.

Most folks thought Trump caved in to Pelosi in agreeing to open the government without his wall.  Not so fast.  Congress has a knack for deciding not to decide, despite the Democrats' promises of a more activist government.  So it seems likely that they'll try to drag things out before the deadline, if at all.  Trump will likely get his wall no matter what, because he is going to declare a phony national emergency for the purpose of freeing up funds and ordering military personnel to build it.

Oh, and the State of the Union address has been rescheduled for February 5.  Plan your schedule accordingly.

For those who had been affected by the government shutdown, they should be using this break in the action to pay their bills and reassess their future.  Because now that your job has become subject to the political whims of the day, it might be a good time to update your resumes.

American Standoff

We are now more than one month into the "partial" shutdown of the United States government.  It has affected around 800,000 employees, who once thought that being in civil service was the most stable form of employment you could get.

President Donald Trump and Democratic congressional leaders remain at a standstill over funding of a security wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, and are using the shutdown as leverage.  Trump has campaigned for one since 2016 and still wants it, even if he has to sacrifice government services to do it.  Democrats do not, and are so far sticking to their guns.

As the shutdown continues into its second month, those federal employees are going broke for lack of a paycheck and/or are forced to work for free, which doesn't do much for morale.  Other unintended consequences of the shutdown include:

• The possibility that there will be no State of the Union address, at least not in Nancy Pelosi's House.  The Speaker from California flexed her political muscle to disinvite the President from delivering his address in the House chamber, unless the shutdown gets settled.  Trump has said he still plans to address Congress, but there is nothing in the Constitution that says he must do it at the U.S. Capitol.  He can do this anywhere he wants,  He can even use Twitter if he cares to.  But it would be awkward if he did.
• The national college football champion Clemson Tigers, one of the few sports teams who chose to visit the White House since Trump became President, were honored with a buffet of Big Macs, Whoppers and pizza that the President said he paid for.  Meanwhile, federal employees are having a hard time paying for gas to get to work, much less being able to afford a Happy Meal.
• The shutdown has created long security lines at the airport, criminal investigations curtailed, delayed tax refunds, attractions closed and so on.  That's because the FBI, CIA, TSA, IRS and other agencies have employees who are not getting paid, and funding is being suspended.  Thank goodness there has been no major catastrophe.

No one knows how long this is going to go on.  In spite of polls blaming him for the shutdown, it's becoming clear that President Donald Trump doesn't need the wall to benefit from it.  As long as there is no money for investigating him and his cronies just as the facts are about to come out, he doesn't need to worry about ever being prosecuted and/or impeached.  When the standoff finally ends, Trump will be sitting pretty.  And the people, even those who voted for him, will suffer.

UPDATE (1/24/19):  Trump has agreed to postpone the State of the Union address before Congress until after the shutdown ends.  The Senate rejected both parties' proposals to fund border security, with or without a wall. The President is reconsidering his plan to declare a national emergency so he could get the money to build his wall.  And the shutdown continues.

Up Against (Paying For) The Wall

After 19 days (as of 1/9/2019), the government of the United States is still in shutdown mode.  Landmarks are closed and thousands of people are either working without pay, calling in sick or staying home because President Donald Trump and the new Democratic Congressional leadership can't (or won't) find a way to fund the government.  Not without also paying for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, which no one else seems to want and Mexico refuses to pay for.

But the President doesn't seem to care what you, I or the Democrats (who now control the House of Representatives) want.  He told his loyal base back in the 2016 campaign that he wants that wall built and, by God, he's going to get it.  Even if it takes a national emergency to pay for it and let the military do the work.

In his oft-ridiculed Oval Office speech Tuesday night, Trump described what's happening these days at the border as a "humanitarian crisis", citing "caravans" of drug smugglers, violent gangs and terrorists coming from all over Central America to do us harm.  He didn't mention the tear-gassing of civilians frantically trying to cross the border, nor did he mention all those reports of children locked in cages.  If that's not a "humanitarian crisis", what is?

Only a big, huge wall can shield us from those thugs, Trump and other Republicans have been telling us.  That sounds reassuring, until you think of the many ways walls can be circumvented.  As the bad guys and other desperate people have already figured out, you can get around, fly over or crawl underneath walls.  The Great Wall of China, the Maginot Line, the Berlin Wall and other structures designed to keep invaders out and their own citizens in all failed for that reason.

There are other benefits for the President to keep holding his breath until his face turns blue.  It's to take media attention away from the incoming Democratic majority in the House, including the return of Nancy Pelosi of California as Speaker, and newcomers such as Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez of New York aka The Dancing Congresswoman.  Also, there's Trump's ongoing legal troubles as more and more of his cronies are indicted for colluding with the Russians during the 2016 election.  And the shutdown also mutes all talk of impeachment, at least for now.

Notice we haven't said a word since the first paragraph about all those federal employees who suddenly face an uncertain future with the shutdown.  Neither did Trump in his speech, though he has said the dispute could be settled in one day or one year.  On Wednesday, he stormed out of a meeting with Democrats Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer of New York with nothing being settled.

This whole mess can be resolved by agreeing to spend more money on better border security.  If President Trump wants a wall so badly, he can go build one to guard Mar-a-Lago.  Stop acting like a child and get those people back to work.

Local Media 2018: Comings and Goings

Mark Rosen is calling it quits after spending nearly half a century in the sports department of WCCO-TV, CBS' Minneapolis-St. Paul station.  He's covered nearly every major event that's come through the Twin Cities, interviewing the greats and putting his own spin on things.  Rosen's wife's health problems forced him to leave sooner than planned, but he'll still talk sports on KFAN (100.3).

It has now become a trend for TV people like Rosen to find a second career on radio.  Angela Davis, longtime weekend and substitute news anchor at KSTP-TV and WCCO, now hosts a daily morning program on Minnesota Public Radio's news network.  KARE-TV reporter and anchor Cory Hepola will soon become a morning talk show host at WCCO-AM (830) radio, taking over for John Hines as he recently concluded his long broadcasting career.  Hepola's wife Camille had left KARE earlier.

So who's replaced Patrick Reusse, Joe Soucheray and others on KSTP-AM (1500)?  A couple of shows from ESPN Radio (Dan LeBatard and Stephen A. Smith), followed by local holdovers Mackey and Judd during afternoon drive.  1500ESPN needs all the help they can get, being a distant second to KFAN in sports talk.  Something needs to change.

KQRS (92.5) recently celebrated its 50th year as a rock station.  Currently best known as the home of Tom Barnard and a playlist that hasn't changed much since 1975, it might surprise you to learn that KQ had an awkward transition in the late 1960s from playing middle of the road music to progressive rock.  If you want examples of this, please go to radiotapes.com or to recordings of DJ Don Duchene's 1960s-era airchecks on YouTube. (Duchene worked at KDWB, KSTP-AM and KQ during that decade)

KMNB (102.9), after much speculation that they would return to the soft adult contemporary sound they had for many years as WLTE, has decided to keep it country.  They dropped Buzn @ 102.9, then renamed it 102.9 The Wolf with a broader playlist.  Whether that will put a dent in country leader K102's (102.1) ratings any more than Buzn did remains to be seen.

Love 105 has returned after a few years as the new home for light rock, replacing classic hip hop as Vibe 105.  The three small signals that make up this station (WGVX/105.1, WLUP/105.3 and WWWM/105.7) have had problems in the past with choosing a format and finding anyone to listen to it.  Light rock (also known as soft adult contemporary) has been making a comeback nationwide, but it's hard to see doctors' offices and other waiting rooms giving up streaming services or satellite radio for this.

KLBB (1220) in Stillwater shut down at the end of March after broadcasting for well over 60 years.  They filled a void for anybody who still wanted to hear vocalists like Frank Sinatra or Andy Williams, musicians like Henry Mancini or Percy Faith, and hits from The Four Preps and The Carpenters.  The owner decided to sell the land where the station's AM towers were located, because it had become too valuable not to be turned into housing developments or condominiums--a situation facing too many radio stations these days.  There is talk that KLBB might return as either a downsized radio station or an FM translator, but who really knows?

Gene Okerlund was a popular pro wrestling interviewer who went from "All Star Wrestling" in the Twin Cities to nationwide fame when he joined what is now World Wrestling Entertainment.  Okerlund's interviews with the outrageous characters that made up pro wrestling were sometimes more entertaining than the matches themselves.  And he seemed to be in on the joke, even if the viewers didn't always catch on.  Okerlund died at 76 just as the new year began.

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.