Does lying about having an affair matter and other Sunday Stuff

Bill Clinton lied about having an affair.
Donald Trump lied about having an affair.

Does it matter?  It's all about context.

I didn't care about the fact that Bill Clinton lied about having an affair.  I cared about the fact that as a member of the Bar, he lied about it under oath.  Under penalty of perjury.

I don't care about the fact that Donald Trump lied about having an affair.  I care that he lied about the attempt to cover it up, because that may have involved breaking the law regarding campaign finances.

Those who defended Bill Clinton said they didn't care that he lied about having an affair.  They rationalized that it was no one's business aside from Bill and Hillary; therefore justifying the lying under oath.

Those who are defending Donald Trump say they don't care that he lied about having an affair.  But they cannot defend him if it turns out that he committed a violation of campaign finance law except to use the same flawed defense that defenders of Bill Clinton did.  That it is okay to break a law because it is no one else's business who he slept with except for those personally involved.

You have to separate the act of infidelity with the other acts.

Violating campaign finance law doesn't invalidate the election result.  Russian meddling would.

* * *

I can think of no one who has done more amazing reporting on sexual misconduct in the entertainment industry than Ronan Farrow.  His latest scoop, published in The New Yorker, contains allegations of sexual misconduct by Les Moonves, the Chairman of the Board, President and CEO of CBS Corporation.  It also describes a culture at the television network that allegedly condoned such behavior, promoting men who were the subject of accusations of such behavior.

Not surprisingly, his wife Julie Chen has put out a statement on the subject:

pic.twitter.com/cW1vUhCIs0

— Julie Chen (@JulieChen) July 27, 2018

There were rumors swirling about an affair between Moonves and Chen going on before Nancy Wisenfield filed for divorce from Moonves in 2003.  Maybe they did, maybe they didn't.  Doesn't matter.  What matters is whether or not the allegations against him and the culture he allowed to exist at CBS are true or not.

In this era of #MeToo, allegations can end careers even if they are unfounded.

* * *

While appearing on a radio show this past Friday (July 27, 2018), actor Ving Rhames told the story of how Santa Monica Police Department officers confronted him in his own home in the city and held him at gunpoint until he was identified.

The incident actually happened in July of 2016.  One of the neighbors who allegedly placed one of the two calls denied having doing so.

Why did he wait to tell the story?  Ask him.  Doesn't make any difference.  If this so-called neighbor did not know who lived there, why would she assume any large black man was a criminal?  Racial-profiling.  It is wrong.

* * *

There is an article in the New York Times about the high administrative costs of healthcare in the U.S.  Here is an excerpt:

"A distinguishing feature of the American health system is that it offers a lot of choice, including among health plans. Because insurers and public programs have not coordinated on a set of standards for pricing, billing and collection — whatever the benefits of choice — one of the consequences is high administrative burden. And that’s another reason for high American health care prices."

Back in the day when I was coordinating health benefits for 200 or so employees, I dealt with that issue all the time.  Doctors would submit claims that would be sent back for additional information.  This could happen more than once.  I dealt with it in my own health issues before the VA became my healthcare provider.

I believe that

* * *

James Gunn will not be directing the next Guardians of the Galaxy movie because of controversy about his old tweets.  Rian Johnson, who will direct Star Wars: Episode IX, deleted 20,000 old tweets to avoid such controversy.

Over 30 years ago, then presidential-candidate Joe Biden was forced to drop out of the race after he got caught plagiarizing another person's speech.

What is the difference?  It is far easier today to dig into a person's social media past to find something they've said that is objectionable.

How many people have allowed themselves to get into serious trouble because of their actions on social media?  Far too many.

When you're tempted to post something and you aren't sure if it is a good idea, wait.  Breathe.  Think.  Then put it off for a few hours.

* * *

Random Ponderings on a Sunday afternoon

While I'm not a fan of Donald Trump, I don't think anything is accomplished by vandalizing his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

I found this amusing:

So, it occurred to me that Seung-Hwan  Oh is wearing 18 now, which results in a pretty hilarious back of the jersey only for those who understand Korean curse words. pic.twitter.com/GAXMU3nJdp

— Sung Min Kim (@sung_minkim) July 29, 2018

Roseanne Barr says she thought Valerie Jarrett was white.  Okay, so how is describing her as the union of the Muslim Brotherhood and Planet of the Apes funny if that is true?

In an interview, Meaghan Markle's father says, "perhaps it would be easier for her if I died."  Actually, it would be easier for her if you'd just shut the hell up.

Late night thoughts on a Tuesday

I worked a long day yesterday.  A challenging day.  Normally a long Monday workday isn't a problem, as I don't normally have much going on, on the weekends.  But I had a very busy, very long weekend.  As a result, I was utterly exhausted today.  Any thoughts I'd had on getting anything accomplished on this day flew out the window as soon as I managed to get out of bed.  Now it is late on Tuesday night and thanks to two long naps today, I'm better rested.  The moral of the story?  Stinger says it better than I could.

The problem is that I wanted to do all of the things I did this weekend.

* * *

Inconceivable that the government would break into a lawyer’s office (early in the morning) - almost unheard of. Even more inconceivable that a lawyer would tape a client - totally unheard of & perhaps illegal. The good news is that your favorite President did nothing wrong!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 21, 2018

Sorry Mr. Trump, but it wasn't a break-in.  It was the execution of a search warrant obtained legally.

It may be unethical for an attorney to record a conversation with a client, but in New York it isn't illegal.  The New York law regarding the recording of conversations is based on one-party consent.  Michael Cohen didn't need Donald Trump's permission to record their conversation.  If you want to research the New York State Bar's Code of Professional Responsibility for yourself, it is here.

He isn't my favorite president.

As to the recently released recording of Trump and attorney Michael Cohen, more later.

* * *

Demi Lovato's 26th birthday is next month.  She's awake and responsive after what's been reported as a drug overdose.  EMTs used Narcan to treat her when they were summoned to her home.

In the documentary Demi Lovato: Simply Complicated, she says she was introduced to cocaine at the age of 17.

Addiction is a real illness.  The only thing we can do to help those who struggle with it, is to offer our love and support.  I hope she finds sobriety again.

* * *

There is a reality TV show called Married at First Sight.  Its name is an exact description.  One man who married a woman at first sight was very surprised when she was arrested as they were about to leave for their honeymoon.  The show is claiming that the warrant for her arrest was issued the day after they received her background check.

She is accused of stalking an ex-boyfriend and credit card fraud.

Stay tuned.

* * *

Random Ponderings:

Maybe the judge can show mercy in sentencing former NY State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver by arranging for him to share a cell with Bernie Madoff.  He was convicted of pocketing $5 million illegally.

Nice to see Jody Watley will be appearing on TV this coming Friday morning.

I'm saddened but not surprised to learn that it was a bullet from a police officer's gun that killed Melyda Corado, the manager working at Trader Joe's over the weekend when a pursuit ended with gunfire exchanged between the suspect and the cops.  I do not fault the officer.

The 85 year old woman who refused to renew her drivers license but insists on driving her cars (2) around the block once a week to keep them running should be educated that all she needs to do is start them up and run them for a few minutes.  It isn't necessary to drive them.

I'm not surprised about the sexual harassment suits being filed by employees of the NFL Network against former stars who work there.

Whenever a headline begins with "Is Trump telling the truth..." the default answer seems to be "no."

Tonight's Mega Millions jackpot is $522 million.  Multiple sources claim that there is a curse on lottery jackpot winners, saying nearly 70% of them wind up broke.  If there is a curse on these big winners, please let me be so cursed.

Monday Morning Musings

On Saturday afternoon, Gene Atkins shot his grandmother seven times following an argument.  Then he kidnapped his girlfriend and sped away in his grandmother's car.  A police pursuit ensued during which he fired at police through the rear windshield of the car.  He crashed near a Trader Joe's in the Silverlake area.  More shots were fired as he headed inside.  The manager of the store, Melyda Corado was shot and killed in this exchange of gunfire.  Atkins eventually surrenders.

Now the Monday morning quarterbacking begins.  Should police have returned fire when there were bystanders in the field of fire?  Was Ms Corado slain by a shot from Atkins or by police officers returning fire?

It is most definitely a bad choice for cops to hold fire, or return fire in that situation.  I remember my military law enforcement trainer talking about this very scenario.  "Your choices in this situation are bad and worse.  And you won't know which is which until after the dust settles."  Even if it turns out that this woman was killed by a bullet fired by a cop, I won't condemn or criticize that cop.  He or she was trying to save lives.

* * *

When will adults learn?  When someone tosses a ball to a kid, don't steal it.  Fortunately, the Chicago Cubs stepped up and got the kid an autographed baseball.

But here's the thing.  What's not on this video is that a few innings earlier, the man who took this ball helped the little boy get a game ball.  Photos of the boy with both baseballs showed up after the game.  Seems he's not such a bad guy after all.  Unlike this woman.

* * *

It is Monday morning and I'm extremely exhausted.  Played trivia Friday night, Saturday afternoon and early evening and most of yesterday afternoon.  All three events required drives of 80 miles or more, round-trip.  I can't call in sick to work today in spite of how I'm feeling because I have a number of clients coming in today.

Time to "power through" another long day.  At least we were victorious in the big one on Sunday, where my four teammates and I split the $1,000 first prize.

* * *

The first Guardians of the Galaxy movie was released in 2014.  The "offensive" tweets from the film's director James Gunn were sent out between 2008 and 2011.  The production budget for the first Guardians movie was just under $200 million, but it ran over and came in at over $230 million.

Given the financial commitment involved in making this movie, and the risks involved, why didn't Disney make sure there were no "skeletons" in James Gunn's background?  Did they know about these tweets and ignore them?  Did no one discover them between the time the first film was a big hit in 2014 and the sequel was released in 2017?

I'm beginning to think that high schools and colleges should offer courses in the risks of using social media.

* * *

Random Ponderings:

I can't quite make the connection between Donald Trump talking about Vladimir Putin's denial of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election was "strong" but in a later interview Trump claims to have told Putin "...we can't have meddling."  Why would he need to say that in the face of that strong denial?

Kudos to Taylor Swift for not canceling an outdoor concert when it began pouring rain.

I will admit to having been pleased to see Equalizer 2 edge out Mamma Mia 2 at the box office.  Both films did well, but it's nice to see Denzel Washington on top.

Revoking security clearances for cause is okay.  Revoking security clearances because someone is criticizing you is not.

I enjoyed some of the films from Sacha Baron Cohen.  I won't watch his Showtime series though.

Is anyone surprised that Stormy Daniels' husband is alleging she cheated on him?

Parsing the pusilllanimous

Let's analyze some of the things that Donald Trump said during his joint press conference with Russian president Vladimir Putin following their "private" meeting.  You can read the entire transcript here.  

Mr. Trump was asked, "President Trump, you first. Just now, President Putin denied having anything to do with the election interference in 2016. Every U.S. intelligence agency has concluded that Russia did. My first question for you sir is, who do you believe? My second question is would you now, with the whole world watching, tell President Putin, would you denounce what happened in 2016 and would you want him to never do it again?

His response was:  "So let me just say that we have two thoughts. You have groups that are wondering why the FBI never took the server. Why haven't they taken the server? Why was the FBI told to leave the office of the Democratic National Committee? 

I've been wondering that. I've been asking that for months and months and I've been tweeting it out and calling it out on social media. Where is the server? I want to know where is the server and what is the server saying?

With that being said, all I can do is ask the question.

My people came to me, Dan Coates, came to me and some others they said they think it's Russia. I have President Putin. He just said it's not Russia.

I will say this: I don't see any reason why it would be. But I really do want to see the server but I have, I have confidence in both parties.

Reporter's Note:  No, Mr. Trump.  Mr. Coats said there WAS Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign.  It was made clear in the original post-election assessment that was released in January of 2017, and has only become clearer since.  Here is more of Trump's response to the above question.

Trump:  "I really believe that this will probably go on for a while but I don't think it can go on without finding out what happened to the server. What happened to the servers of the Pakistani gentleman that worked on the DNC?

Where are those servers? They're missing. Where are they? What happened to Hillary Clinton's emails? 33,000 emails gone, just gone. I think in Russia they wouldn't be gone so easily."

Reporter's Note:  I'm so tired of hearing about the allegedly missing emails.  It's been made clear they were personal, and while it wasn't a wise move on Clinton's part, multiple probes have cleared her of any criminal wrongdoing.  More importantly, given the Trump Administration's utter lack of transparency about anything, he has no business questioning those who came before him.  He is the first president since the 1970s who won't release his tax returns.  

An analysis by First Amendment Watch showed that the Trump Administration fully complied with only 1 in 5 Freedom of Information Act requests during his first 8 months in office.  The responses to 78% of the 823,222 requests during that period contained no records or only censored records.  The most disturbing factoid from this analysis is that in over one-in-three cases, the government reversed itself when challenged and admitted that it had attempted to improperly withhold documents.

The Trump Administration works diligently to prevent the public from knowing just how many rounds of golf he plays during his visits to his golf properties.  That wouldn't be necessary except that his own claims during the campaign about how he'd be too busy to play golf if elected wouldn't add to the proof of his incredible level of hypocrisy.  Here is another question.

This question was, " For President Putin, if I could follow up as well. Why should Americans and why should President Trump believe your statement that Russia did not intervene in the 2016 election, given the evidence that U.S. intelligence agencies have provided? And will you consider extraditing the 12 Russian officials that were indicted last week by a U.S. grand jury?

In responding first, Mr. Trump said, "Well, I'm going to let the president answer the second part of that question. But, as you know, the whole concept of that came up perhaps a little bit before but it came out as a reason why the Democrats lost an election, which frankly, they should have been able to win because the electoral college is much more advantageous for Democrats, as you know, than it is to Republicans. We won the Electoral College by a lot. 306 to 223, I believe."

Reporter's Note:  No, Mr. Trump, the Electoral College is not much more advantageous to Democrats.  The allocation of votes using this system is unfair to larger states, as I pointed out in a blog entry last year.

Alaska, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming all have 3 electoral votes.  Of those eight states, Trump won five and Clinton took three.  But as a percentage of the population, they break down like this:

Alaska:  0.23%
Delaware:  0.29%
District of Columbia:  0.21%
Montana:  0.32%
North Dakota:  0.24%
South Dakota:  0.27%
Vermont:  0.19%
Wyoming:  0.18%

Each of these states gets one electoral vote for their single member of the U.S. House of Representatives and two electoral votes because every state has two members of the U.S. Senate.  Meanwhile, California has 66% of the population but gets only 55 electoral votes.  The concept of one person, one vote doesn't work with the Electoral College system.  The disparity where larger states get less representation as a percentage of population in the Electoral College definitely favors the Republican Party.

* * *

Mr. Trump talks about not showing weakness, but that is exactly what he did after his summit with Mr. Putin.

Members of Trump's political party are calling him out for his poor performance in that summit.  Trump is responding by telling lies on Twitter.  Familiar?  Yes.  He talks about raising vast amounts of money for NATO.  I'll deal with that specific falsehood and the difference between direct funding of NATO and indirect funding in a separate blog.

I'll leave you with words from the Gubinator.

Donald Trump = Cher Horowitz = Clueless and Sunday Stuff

It is true that Donald Trump's wife Melania is a "total Betty."  But that isn't the reason for the comparison between the #LiarInChief and one of the most clueless characters in film history.  The reason for articulating that Mr. Trump is utterly clueless because of the White House's response to criticism of its decision to continue with Monday's schedule summit between Mr. Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin; in spite of the indictment of 12 Russian intelligence operatives on July 13, 2018.  The operatives are alleged to have been involved in hacking the Democratic National Committee servers and releasing the stolen information; possibly to Wikileaks.  The 12 people indicted may never face justice in the U.S.

The White House response to the indictments made three points.

"There is no allegation in this indictment that Americans knew that they were corresponding with Russians."

"There is no allegation in this indictment that any American citizen committed a crime."

"There is no allegation that the conspiracy changed the vote count of affected the election result."

All true.  And all irrelevant to the fact that in spite of his denials, Vladimir Putin was involved in attempting to prevent Hillary Clinton from being elected president.  Irrelevant to the fact that Russia did in fact meddle in the 2016 presidential election.

Donald Trump likes to point out that the U.S. has meddled in the elections of other nations.  That is also true.  And also irrelevant.  That we have done it does not make it right.  I'm sure that if the Japanese public were to have learned about U.S. meddling in their elections in the 1950s and 1960s, they would be outraged.  That the U.S. was doing it in the battle against communism does not excuse it, but it does put it in context.  We didn't meddle in an election in Honduras in 2009 but Hillary Clinton has admitted that the U.S. did work to keep Manuel Zelaya from returning to Honduras after he was ousted in a coup.  Her comments on that series of events was omitted from the paperback version of her memoir, Hard Choices.

The fact that the U.S. (and Russia) have meddled in roughly 1 in 9 competitive elections between the end of World War II and the year 2000 does not excuse Russia meddling in our 2016 presidential elections.

Mr. Trump should not be meeting with Mr. Putin on Monday.  He should especially not be meeting with him in secret.

* * *

One morning this past week I had to go out earlier than usual to run an errand.  I was taken aback a bit by the number of people out running at that hour.  As I drove I thought back to my days as a runner.  Not that fateful day when I ran for hours to lose enough weight to be allowed to depart Los Angeles for Air Force basic training. The days when I got up early and went to the gym to run on a treadmill before work.  When I got up early on weekend mornings to run road races.  Funny how I'd do almost all of my training runs indoors but loved running outdoor road races.  I knew I'd never win any awards and I didn't care.  For me, the victory was getting from the starting line to the finish line.

I obviously can't take up running.  I suppose I could, but running half a block and having to walk back gasping for air in spite of the oxygen tank strapped to me doesn't seem like a productive activity.  Maybe I can find a stationary bike to ride.  When they had me take a fitness test on a stationary bike at the VA some time ago, I could have ridden all day.  I was amused at the reaction of the doctor overseeing the test.  She expected my blood pressure to be going up.  It went lower.  I guess that riding so many thousands of miles over the 1990s and early 2000s had something to do with that.

I'm working three days a week for the moment in what the company calls the "pre-season."  I guess it makes sense to call it that, since once tax season ends, the following period is the time before the next tax season.  I preferred it when they called it the "off-season."

The work schedule will change next month though.  I start teaching the second weekend of August.  The teaching load will get heavier in September but unlike prior years, it will lighten up considerably by the end of September.  The company is focusing on delivering more of the required continuing education in the virtual classroom and by using web-based self-study courses.  In the past, the state-level courses were offered in both web-based and instructor-led classes in a physical classroom.  This year they are only being offered in the web-based environment.

I think that the optimal educational experience for continuing education for tax professionals is in the physical classroom.  It allows the instructor to interact with the students while they are using the software to actually prepare case-study returns.  This can't be done in the virtual environment.  A virtual instructor can't "over-the-shoulder" observe what a student is doing.  In the virtual environment, a student can't ask questions of the instructor while doing case-studies.

But the reality is that it costs less to deliver training online.

I did get out the door on Sunday morning.  Went and saw two movies.  Ant-Man and the Wasp, and Skyscraper.

* * *

California's senior senator Dianne Feinstein is running for a fifth term.  She won a special election to the U.S. Senate in 1992.  She was elected to her first full term in 1994.  She defeated her only serious challenger in the Democratic party in the recent primary, Kevin de Leon, by a vote of 44% to 11%.  Hell, he couldn't even win the race in his own district.

Which makes it very interesting that this weekend, the state Democratic Party chose to endorse Kevin de Leon rather than Dianne Feinstein.  The L.A. Times suggests that this is due to Bernie Sanders supporters and younger, more liberal party members who have taken over the party's executive leadership.  It is also suggested that Mr. de Leon does better with the party leadership because he spends the bulk of his time in and around them in Northern California.

That may be the case.  But it also illustrates the schism between the liberal and moderate factions within the party.  A schism that threatens the party's ability to unite behind any candidate facing off against Donald Trump in the 2020 general election.

How to bridge that gap is the big question.

* * *

Random Ponderings:

Hulk Hogan is back in the WWE Hall of Fame.  He keeps insisting that his racist rant doesn't represent who he is as a person.  Why is it that people say things that don't represent who they are?

Former NHL goalie Ray Emery died at the age of 35, apparently from drowning.  Very sad.

July 29th on Comedy Central.  Bruce Willis is roasted on Comedy Central.  Tune in to see his ex-wife, Demi Moore draw a comparison to his film The Sixth Sense and their marriage.

Conor McGregor had a big weekend.  His girlfriend is pregnant again and he attended the World Cup final as the personal guest of Vladimir Putin.

One of the movies I saw today was Skyscraper, which draws comparisons to Die Hard, which is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its release.  Jeb Stuart, screenwriter of the film has settled one long-standing point of contention about Die Hard.  He says it is definitely a Christmas movie.

Josh Ostrovsky, better known as "The Fat Jew" felt bad that Kylie Jenner is $100 million short of actually becoming a billionaire as reported by Forbes.  So he set up a Go Fund Me page to raise $100 million to push her over the top.  At this hour, people have donated a grand total of $1,843 toward that goal.  A lot of the $5 donations are from companies using the drive as a marketing tool.  $500 came from someone who was pimping his interview with Kim Kardashian West that you can watch on YouTube.

Is the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), the governing body of high school sports in California; going to sanction "e-sports" as a sport?

Revisting Roman Polanski and AMPAS, and other Tuesday thoughts

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) invited 928 people to join their ranks this year.  One of those people was actress Emmanuelle Seigner.  She has been married to director Roman Polanski since 1989.  She is refusing the chance to join AMPAS and wrote an open letter to the French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche as to why she is refusing the honor.  Here is an excerpt:

"Of course, artists are not exempt from justice. But it should be the same justice that exists for all, not a justice that goes back on its word and violates its own principles. That was the case in Los Angeles in 1977, when his first confinement in prison was supposed to be his punishment. Today, Roman has served more than the maximum sentence for the offence committed."

She also makes the very valid point that in 2003 when Mr. Polanski was awarded a Best Director Oscar for The Piano, all of the same things about him were true as they were when he was recently expelled from AMPAS.  What's changed since then is the #MeToo movement.  Other than that, nothing is different.

Ms Seigner is incorrect about the 42 days that Mr. Polanski spent at the Chino State Prison being his "punishment."  He was there for a 90 day psychiatric evaluation and was released early.  He still had not been sentenced,  The probation officer, examining psychiatrist and the victim were all recommending probation only.  This is where the wheels of justice went awry.  The judge in the case, Laurence J. Rittenbrand, had an ex parte communication with an attorney from the L.A. District Attorney's office regarding the case.  As the result of that conversation, the judge was overheard saying he would send Polanski to prison and then order him deported.  The ex parte communication was a violation of ethics law.  But rather than let the system work, Polanski fled.

As a result, technically the other five charges that were dropped as part of his plea agreement are still open.  Mr. Polanski has not completed his punishment at all.  Now I happen to think that at this point, he shouldn't do any more time in jail.  But that's assuming he comes back to L.A. and faces justice. He won't do that.

His wife has a point.  He should have been expelled from the Academy before he was awarded an Oscar.  That was a different era in Hollywood.  Some of the people who stood and applauded when he was honored are among those who called out Harvey Weinstein.  

* * *

That's the Sears Christmas catalog from 1973.  Almost 45 years later, the last Sears in the city of Chicago will close its doors permanently this coming Sunday.  They were the largest US retailer until 1989 when they were overtaken by Walmart.  In 1969 the company decided to consolidate all of its non-store operations in Chicago in one location and the result was the 110 story Sears Tower (now known as the Willis Tower).  

I remember waiting very impatiently for the Sears catalogs to arrive back in those days.  They were wish books for so many of us, because even if we couldn't afford the things in the book, we could wish for them.

I don't know if all brick and mortar retail operators are doomed, but things don't look good for most of them.

* * *

My husband just tried to help a neighbor with hedge trimming.

She yelled at him to get out of her country, he has no right to be here.
When I got outside I shut her down.

My husbby's a Vietnamese refugee who served the USN for 24 years. Please show him love.#TheResistance pic.twitter.com/VaJIAJgAAH

— Honest is Easy (@MimiHuynh1) July 9, 2018

Then there's this:

Yet Republicans are talking about a lack of civility when protestors confront members of the Trump Administration, while remaining silent about this kind of thing.

Just because someone looks a certain way means nothing about whether or not they are citizens, here legally, or here illegally.  Just as we cannot tell by looking that someone is actually handicapped and entitled to that blue placard and preferred parking.  

Even if someone is not here legally, that is a matter for the immigration authorities.  Individuals have no business telling anyone what they should and shouldn't be wearing.  That's just as true for MAGA hats as it is for t-shirts with the flag of Puerto Rico.

What makes this worse is that the police officer on the scene did nothing.  I will follow this case to see what, if anything, happens to this man.

* * *

Random ponderings:

That's a screenshot of Donte DiVincenzo's bank accounts, which contain $3.71.  All the fuss about him having to live on that until he gets his first NBA paycheck on November 15th is a load of crap.  Given that he's owed $2.5 million for his first season once he signs his rookie contract, he should have no trouble borrowing enough money to get through until that first check arrives.

What idiot involved in the Miss Massachusetts pageant this year thought it would be a good idea to put on a skit mocking the #MeToo movement?  

As liberal as the state of New York is, I don't think declaring she is a Democratic Socialist will help Cynthia Nixon's chances of making the primary ballot through petition.  Governor Andrew Cuomo got 95% of the delegates at the state convention.

How does someone manage to graduate from college, then law school and then be stupid enough to post really outrageous stuff on social media without knowing there will be blowback?  I'm referring to Michael Selyem.

The more cases of necrotizing fasciitis that I read about, the more frightened I am of being potentially exposed to it.  I don't see me going back into the ocean after reading about a man who may lose all of his limbs after contracting the deadly bacterial infection after he was crabbing.  Yes, I'm a coward.

Contempt of Cop and other Saturday Stuff

I've written before about what police officers refer to as "Contempt of Cop."  Once when it was Oscar-winning actress Reese Witherspoon who was involved in an incident with police and the other time after the death of Eric Garner for selling "loosies" on the street.  Personally, I think it foolish to do anything other than cooperate with a police officer because you will accomplish nothing by being confrontational.  Asking why you were stopped, as long as you aren't belligerent, is okay.  Escalating is not.

That being said, I'm firmly on the side of 22 year old Shyam Patel of New Jersey.  He spent 22 hours behind bars awaiting arraignment for the sole offense of recording himself flipping the "bird" to two NYPD officers in Times Square.  The charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest were later dismissed.  I do not believe he was disorderly or engaged in resisting in any way.  He flipped them the bird and they found him guilty on the street of Contempt of Cop.

NYPD Sergeant Hameed Armani allegedly told Patel that he could not give cops the finger as he claimed it is a crime to curse a cop.  It is not.  The courts have held time and again that such expressions, verbal and with fingers, are protected free speech.

It is.  Is it wise?  Depends on what you want to accomplish.  He accomplished getting arrested and spending nearly a full day in a jail cell.

* * *

Kino Martinez has been arrested.  He is the man who stands accused of stealing a teen's MAGA hat and throwing a soft-drink at the teen at a Texas Whataburger.  He was charged with theft and released on bond.

Whether or not he was provoked by the teens talking about hanging blacks for the 4th of July, his actions were wrong.

The comment commandos are out in force.  Those who are saying the man was provoked by the things the teens were saying and those who support the teen are going at it.

I was once guilty of letting words provoke me to action.  I was 18.  Someone said something truly awful about someone in my family to me, in the basic training barracks.  I punched him.  I regretted it instantly.  I've never let words provoke me to anything other than words since.

I suspect Mr. Martinez is going to have a rough time finding work going forward, even if he winds up having the charges against him dismissed.

* * *

A church is Indiana is looking for a new home after it was evicted from the building where it had been located.  They were evicted after posting a sign that read:

"LGBTQ is a hate crime against God."

I'm waiting for people who don't understand how the First Amendment works to claim the church's rights have been violated.

* * *

Jahi McMath has died, more than four years after she was first declared brain-dead.  Her family says she died as the result of complications from a simply tonsillectomy at Children's Hospital in Oakland.  In actuality, she was underdoing two additional procedures in conjunction with the tonsillectomy, a uvulopalatopharyngoplasty and a submucous resection of bilateral inferior turbinates.  Those procedures are designed to provide improved airflow while sleeping.  They are a bit more complicated than simply removing a person's tonsils.

The family managed to move Jahi to New Jersey where she required a ventilator and feeding tube to remain alive.  There were reports that she showed some minimal brain activity and responded to commands, but this is disputed by the doctors who originally declared her brain-dead.

She died on June 22, 2018 when her heart stopped beating.

It is easy to understand a mother not wanting to give up on her child's possible recovery.  It is also easy for a very cynical person to claim that this is all about the money.  If Jahi is determined to have died in 2014, the damages from a medical malpractice lawsuit are capped at $250,000.  If she is determined to have been alive all of this time, those damages are not capped.

I honestly don't know what to think.

* * *

Random Ponderings:

I think Senator Elizabeth Warren should take a DNA test as Donald Trump suggests, as soon as Trump releases all of his tax returns.

I wonder what percentage of people who attend movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe know how much of what they're seeing can be attributed to Steve Ditko in addition to Stan Lee.  Mr. Ditko passed recently at the age of 90.  His artwork in the creation of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange was incredible.  He was involved with a number of other Marvel characters.  RIP.

Kudos to Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck for taking the time to send an official NFL football with a personalized autograph to the man who found his wallet...and returned it with everything still inside.

A woman refused to leave a bookstore after she accosted Steve Bannon (who was browsing and minding his own business) and called him a "piece of trash."  The owner asked her to leave and she refused.  Then when the owner went to call police, the woman left.  She should have just left as asked.  But this is another example of how such engagement in conflict accomplishes nothing good.

Congressman Jim Jordan is the latest in a long line of Republicans defended by Donald Trump in spite of serious allegations against them.  How can a man who has a young son not be outraged over the allegations that Jordan remained silent when college wrestlers were allegedly being sexually abused by the team's physician?

I don't care one iota that Will Smith has had "...all the sex I ever wanted."  TMI.

If Scott Pruitt didn't want to resign, he should have forced Trump to fire him.

LiAngelo Ball saying he will be a Laker sooner or later is delusional considering there is no interest in him by any NBA team.

I leave you with a book cover that is a perfect description of the Trump Administration

Scott Pruitt is out and other Thursday Thoughts

I have accepted the resignation of Scott Pruitt as the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Within the Agency Scott has done an outstanding job, and I will always be thankful to him for this. The Senate confirmed Deputy at EPA, Andrew Wheeler, will...

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 5, 2018

...on Monday assume duties as the acting Administrator of the EPA. I have no doubt that Andy will continue on with our great and lasting EPA agenda. We have made tremendous progress and the future of the EPA is very bright!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 5, 2018

The #LiarInChief says that Mr. Pruitt did an outstanding job.  Is he referred to the number of investigations into Pruitt's alleged unethical behavior during his tenure as EPA Administrator?  CNN recently reported that there were 14 federal investigations into Pruitt and his actions at the EPA; and that was before they broke a story alleging that Pruitt's calendars were altered in an attempt to hide "secret" meetings he was involved with.

The New York Times reported that an aide to Pruitt was fired for refusing to alter his calendar after EPA lawyers advised her that doing that could be illegal.  They also reported that she was paid six weeks of severance, which might also be illegal.

The Washington Post reported that Pruitt asked an aide to find his wife a job with a salary of at least $200,000 annually.  They also reported that he emailed the head of Chick-Fil-A to try to get a franchise for his wife.

You can read the details of other allegations against Pruitt here.  If this is what the #MoronInChief considers a great job, I'd hate to see what he considers a poor performance.

Except that what Trump considers the great job is damaging the environment, possibly for decades; in support of business interests.  He had the agency wipe its website of climate-change related content.  He directed that the agency shelve vehicle-emissions standards and sought to reverse the Obama Administration's efforts to turn to "clean" power.

This is NOT winning.

* * *

Scarlett Johansson told critics of her being cast as Dante "Tex" Gill to contact the reps for Felicity Huffman, Jared Leto and Jeffrey Tambor.  All three earned rave reviews for portraying transgendered people in film and television.  Gill was born Lois Jean Gill and lived as a man.

Two years ago, ScarJo faced similar backlash when she was cast as the titular character in Ghost in the Shell. Considering the character originated as an Asian woman in it original manga incarnation, this was called "whitewashing" and a few less-easily printed terms.  ScarJo gave a solid performance but the film delivered mediocre results at best in terms of box office performance.

Now ScarJo is being asked to portray a transman and the backlash is worse than before.  Transpeople argue that no cis gender actor can truly understand their lives, and therefore cannot give a truly accurate portrayal of them.  Considering that transpeople don't get cast very often as cis gender characters, why not give them first crack as portraying transgendered characters.  Or real transgendered people in biopics like this one, titled "Rub & Tug."

There could be an argument if ScarJo were a guarantee of stellar box office receipts, but that isn't the case.  Aside from 2014's Lucy, she hasn't been the lead actress in a big hit in recent years.  Yes, she is part of ensemble casts in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where big money is made, but it isn't because of her.  She's just one piece of that puzzle.  So the argument that she can open a film isn't in play here.

Can a transperson do a better job of playing a transperson on the screen?  Almost certainly.  Will people go to see that movie?  That's a tougher question.  But it is worth trying.

* * *

There are always two sides to every story.

Kino Martinez grabbed a MAGA hat off of a teen's head in a Texas Whataburger and threw a soft-drink in the teen's face.  That is not in dispute.

He lost his job.  He claims he was provoked by what the teens were saying prior to his grabbing the hat and throwing the drink.

If the teens were saying what he claims they were saying, it would certainly be upsetting.  There is one anonymous witness who backs up Martinez's claims regarding the statements made by the teens. But those racist remarks don't justify what Martinez did.

* * *

Random Ponderings:

When David Foster marries Katharine McPhee it will be his fifth marriage.  He'll tie Eva Gabor, Dennis Hopper, Billy Bob Thorton and Joan Collins.  He'd need to get to six marriages to tie Eva's sister Magda.  But he'd need to get to nine to tie the current record-holder for most celebrity marriages, their sister Zsa-Zsa.  Here's hoping that for Mr. Foster, fifth time is a charm.

I don't know if an agent firing a client is patriotic, but I can understand why the agent for James Woods made the choice he made.

The Lakers believe that people in Lonzo Ball's circle leaked out the news of the torn meniscus in his left knee, in order to reduce his value in any potential trade.  That's what several outlets are reporting anyway.  It doesn't make sense to me.  Any team involved in a trade would have insisted on a physical, which he would have failed.  Then again, are the Lakers looking to reduce the drama for the upcoming LeBron James era?  That I believe.

Joseph Munno is the principal of Rochester, NY's University Preparatory Charter School for Young Men.  He has some explaining to do after he forbade the first African-American valedictorian in the school's history from delivering his valedictory address.

I leave you with a few celebrity July 4th tweets:

To every country on the 4th of July. We’re sorry about our president. He doesn’t reflect all of our views—and we hope you know that the majority of us are ashamed. We will rally each other and come back to the world one step at a time. #novemberiscoming #alsosorryabouthotdogs

— Chelsea Handler (@chelseahandler) July 4, 2018

Happy 4th of July! Happy Birthday America! Your President*'s ex-campaign head's in jail and charged, among other things, with conspiracy against you. Your President*'s personal *wink* 'attorney' is in line to face similar charges and guess who's next! Enjoy the fireworks!✊🏾🇺🇸

— Jeffrey Wright (@jfreewright) July 4, 2018

On this celebration of this great country’s Independence, let us not forget that there are thousands of little babies that have been ripped from the safety every child deserves, ripped by impulse with absolutely no plan or wherewithal to reunite them. Never forget...

— Ron Perlman (@perlmutations) July 4, 2018

On this 4th, I'm reminded that we have veered from the promised path before. We left a trail of tears, counted people as three-fifths, built camps for any who looked like the enemy, and stood silent as countless died of a plague. Yes, love will win. But not without a fight.

— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) July 4, 2018

“We’re blessed with the opportunity to stand for something—for liberty and freedom and fairness. And these are things worth fighting for, worth devoting our lives to.” -Ronald Reagan

Happy 4th of July. pic.twitter.com/YmoUl9EgqT

— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) July 4, 2018

s.Why LeBron James isn't an instant fix for the Lakers and other Tuesday Thoughts

The eyes of the professional sports world were all turned to news that the Los Angeles Lakers had signed the "King" LeBron James to a four-year contract, a deal worth $154 million.  L.A. Times sports columnist Bill Plaschke has a column on the front page of this morning's paper in which he questions the wisdom of some of the other signings that took place following the acquisition of James.

Once the verbal deal committing King James to the Lakers was done (contracts cannot be officially inked until Friday), the team signed Lance Stephenson, Rajon Rondo and JaVale McGee to one year contracts.  Given their past proclivity for antics that aren't part of delivering victories, Plaschke thinks it makes the process going forward into next season more problematic that it was.  He also questions the team for allowing Julius Randle to depart for the New Orleans Pelicans.

There are a few facts that must be faced.  One is that in spite of Las Vegas oddsmakers making the Lakers' odds to win the next NBA title 7-2, all roads to the NBA finals go through the Golden State Warriors.  Those same oddsmakers have the Warriors as 10-11 favorites to repeat their current title win; 3rd in the last 4 seasons.

Most people missed that those Warriors improved their own team by signing DeMarcus Cousins to a one year deal.  He will probably recover from his Achilles tendon injury in time to attend training camp.  He is an upgrade in talent to a team already renowned for the best roster in the league.

I see the Lakers definitely returning to the playoffs next season.  They might even make it to the Western Conference Finals, given the right seeding.  Can they beat the Warriors in a playoff series?  Over the course of a playoff series, almost anything is possible.  But I doubt it is likely.

So, why did the Lakers sign those three players to one year deals?  Why did they let Julius Randle, arguably their most improved player depart?  To clear cap space for the next off-season.  Jeanie Buss is a very intelligent woman.  She's also patient enough to wait another season in which her team gets to the post-season, to make it a much better team for the 2019-2020 season.

The list of potential free-agents that could improve a LeBron James led Lakers squad for the season after next is too long to review in this limited space.  A number of players who would be a great fit for the Lakers with James are on that list.  Bill Plaschke accurately assesses that the Lakers need to find a player who can shoot from the outside.

Mark my words.  The Lakers will do very well in 2018-2019.  They will do much better the following season.

* * *

There are three letters that were published in today's paper edition of that same L.A. Times mentioned above.  One of them points out that his salary works out to $4,395 per hour on a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week basis.

Another compares his 4 year salary to the annual cost of $490 million to fight California wildfires.

The last one talks about how the appearance of the signing of LeBron James to the Lakers being on the front page of yesterday's paper indicates that there was no other world news of import on that day, and ponders the question of how that much money could pay for a lot of homeless shelters.

These comparisons are meaningless.  They ignore the fact that this is a privately-owned business entity making a decision to pay a new employee what they believe he is worth.  As I have pointed out before, compensation amounts are based on the perceived value of the labor being performed.  LeBron James has already driven up the price of Lakers tickets on StubHub and from ticket vendors.  A study commissioned last year estimates that by his coming to Los Angeles, it will have a positive economic impact of nearly $400 million for the city, as well as creating an estimated 3,000 jobs.  The study estimates this will generate an additional $29 million in state tax revenue.  While the 3,000 new jobs is a one-time thing, the economic impact and tax revenues are annual numbers.

* * *

When I was a working journalist, Brian Ross was one of my heroes.  In 1980 he broke the story of the FBI's ABSCAM operation, which is the basis of the brilliant 2013 movie, American Hustle.  He had a long list of awards for the stories he uncovered.  Now he's left ABC News after he incorrectly claimed Michael Flynn was going to testify that Donald Trump had instructed him to make contact with Russian officials during the 2016 presidential campaign.  He was suspended for four weeks in December of last year.  Now he and his producer Rhonda Schwartz have departed the network.

Investigative journalism is hard work.  I think it is probably much more difficult today than it was when I was a working journalist.  Technology has shortened the news cycle more than I ever imagined possible when it was my chosen profession.  This has created a conflict between the desire to break stories and the need to properly fact-check those stories.

I wish Mr. Ross and Ms Schwartz well in their next endeavors.

* * *

Random Ponderings:

How can TMZ do a story about Linda Hunt being involved in a car accident, make mention that she's one of the stars of NCIS: Los Angeles and talk about her video voice work, and ignore the fact she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress?

Why is it people want to boycott Walmart over a third-party vendor selling t-shirts that read "Impeach 45" but they don't seem to care about the same t-shirts being sold by a third-party vendor on Amazon.com?

Donald Trump says everyone who ever bought a Harley-Davidson motorcycle voted for him in the 2016 presidential election.  I'd love to see someone create a list of those people who bought a Harley who didn't vote for Trump.

The 12 young Thai soccer players and their coach who are trapped in a cave might be the most accurate instance ever of being between a rock and a hard place.  The only egress available from where they are is to dive through narrow tunnels that stretch for a mile.  Considering that none of them have any dive training makes it worse.  Factor in the fact that apparently none of them can swim, and it is a recipe for disaster.

Add 38 year-old Jennifer Dilan to the long list of "stupid is as stupid does" people.  She went to visit her son in jail while there was a felony warrant out for her arrest.  Instead of visiting, she wound up behind bars herself.

Movie Theater Geography and other Sunday Stuff

How many movie theaters are there within five miles of where you live?  For me, the answer is 16.  Many of them are multiplexes with large numbers of movies showing on any day of the week, so I didn't bother to count the number of screens involved.  Since I live in the Southern California area, the concentration of movie theaters shouldn't be a surprise.

Good thing for me that I don't reside in Goodlow, TX.  The closest movie theater is a six screen multiplex located roughly 15 miles away.  Drive another eight miles and there is a 4 screen theater.  Drive another four miles and there is a drive-in theater where movies are shown once daily, at 9 pm.  After that, it's an 80 mile round trip to go to the movies.  And if you live in Goodlow and you want to see an indie film, you'll drive over 100 miles to do so.  The reason for this is obvious.  Goodlow is a rural city with a population of less than 300.

The film Straight out of Compton didn't play in the city of Compton.  There are no theaters there.  There are four movie theaters within five miles though.  If a resident of Selma, AL had wanted to see the brilliant film Selma, the closest movie theater is over 35 miles distant. The population of Compton is 33% African-American.  The population of Selma is over 80% African-American.  See a pattern?

Jackson is the capital city of Mississippi.  It has over 170,000 residents.  So why doesn't it have a movie theater within the city limits?  Why are there only three movie theaters within a ten mile radius of a state's capital city?  Conversely, Vermont's capital city of Montpelier has a population of less than 8,000.  It doesn't have a McDonald's restaurant within the city limits, but there are two movie theaters there.  Could the discrepancy have something to do with the fact that nearly 80% of the residents of Jackson, MS are African-American?  I think it does.  Would the fact that the population of Montpelier is nearly 94% Caucasian help in demonstrating this?

Jackson, MS hasn't had a movie theater within the city limits since the late 1990s.  Jerry Dallas, Professor Emeritus of history at Delta State University wrote a paper on the subject titled "Movie Theaters in Twentieth-Century Jackson.  It is an interesting read.  One wonders why someone doesn't open a theater there and take advantage of what would appear to be a market with great potential.

* * *

As today is July 1st, it is time once again for the New York Mets to write a big check to someone who hasn't played in the majors since 2001.  Bobby Bonilla was under contract to the Mets in 2000 and they wanted to release him.  But doing so would have obligated them to pay him $5.9 million under his contract.  The team's owner Fred Wilpon had invested a large amount of money with Bernie Madoff and as a result he struck a deal with the agent for Bonilla.  Instead of paying him the $5.9 million then, he would not pay him at all until 2011.  But the payments that would begin in 2011 would continue until the year 2035.  He will wind up collecting nearly $30 million under this deal.

Happy Bobby Bonilla payday!

* * *

A tale of two tweets:

I never pushed the Republicans in the House to vote for the Immigration Bill, either GOODLATTE 1 or 2, because it could never have gotten enough Democrats as long as there is the 60 vote threshold. I released many prior to the vote knowing we need more Republicans to win in Nov.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 30, 2018

That tweet is from June 30th.  Turns out never must mean AFTER June 27th.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS SHOULD PASS THE STRONG BUT FAIR IMMIGRATION BILL, KNOWN AS GOODLATTE II, IN THEIR AFTERNOON VOTE TODAY, EVEN THOUGH THE DEMS WON’T LET IT PASS IN THE SENATE. PASSAGE WILL SHOW THAT WE WANT STRONG BORDERS & SECURITY WHILE THE DEMS WANT OPEN BORDERS = CRIME.  WIN!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2018

Does he even remember what he tweeted from one day to the next?

* * *

Tulsi Gabbard is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Hawaii.  She was elected in 2012.  In her campaigns for reelection in 2014, 2016 and thus far in 2018, she has refused to debate her primary challengers.  Her office is claiming that the reason she is refusing numerous requests to debate her primary challengers this time is that there are other issues that are higher priorities during her limited time back at home.

The Democratic primary IS the election in her district, as the seat has been held by a Democrat since its creation in the early 1970s.  Ms Gabbard has won her three previous general elections with an average of more than 80% of the vote.

In her first campaign, to replace Mazie Hirono (she resigned to run for the U.S. Senate), Ms Gabbard was trailing badly in the primary race to then-Mayor of Honolulu Mufi Hannerman.  Her performance in a primary debate, along with her smartly-run grass-roots campaign brought her an improbably win.

Incumbents usually duck debates.  They favor the challengers.  The problem is that Ms Gabbard resigned as a vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee when the DNC failed to heed her call for more debates during the 2016 presidential primary campaign.

Sauce for the goose?

* * *

I read a FB post earlier this week about how the Supreme Court doesn't always get their decisions right, but they get to act last.  There is some logic to that.  Slavery was legal.  Jim Crow was legal.  The decision in Korematsu v US was legal at the time.

Whether or not a Supreme Court decision is "right" in our eyes is a matter of opinion.  As a matter of law, their decision are right because the Constitution gives them the right to be the ultimate decision-maker in interpreting the law.

There is a doctrine in law known as stare decisis.  It means the court must give weight to previous decisions.  That in and of itself doesn't mean the Supreme Court decisions in Roe v Wade or in declaring the Defense of Marriage Act as unconstitutional cannot be overturned by the court in the future.

I take a lot more comfort in the words of Senator Susan Collins when she says she will not vote to confirm a justice who is opposed to Roe v Wade than I do in relying on stare decisis.

* * *

Random ponderings:

How is it possible that reports that LeBron James has signed a four year deal with the Los Angeles Lakers is not trending in Los Angeles as I write this?  Edit:  Now it is the hottest trending topic an hour later.

Six years of age might be a bit young for all kids to start learning archery, but individually it is a parent's judgment to decide that for themselves.  If Donald Trump, Jr. thinks his kid is old enough at 6 to learn the sport, that's his business.  But if people want to judge and offer opinions on someone's Instagram posts, that's their right.

I don't believe Leslie Van Houten is a threat to anyone.  That being said, I see no reason to give her parole.  When you commit murder, life without parole is a proper sentence.

But I was only joking...

That's not who I am.
I am not a ______.
I was only joking.

I'm not sure exactly how those three excuses for saying something inexcusable would rank in the order they are used.  I'm putting them in this order because my best guess is that the "I was only joking" excuse is used more than any other, save the other two listed.

Donald Trump has used this defense on a number of occasions.  It was the first excuse used by Roseanne Barr when she sent out a tweet saying something vile about Valerie Jarrett.  Now Milo Yiannopoulos is saying that this comment he made to two journalists was a joke:

"I can't wait for vigilante squads to start gunning journalists down on sight"

In what context is that supposed to be funny?  He's claiming that this is his standard response to requests for comment from the media.  He says he was trolling them.  Now some are trying to blame him for the shooting at the offices of the Annapolis-based Capital Gazette newspaper.

He is not to blame.  Neither is Donald Trump with all of his attacks on the media.  Not directly.  Jarrod Warren Ramos is accused of carrying out the murder of five people and the wounding of two others.  He had sued the newspaper over a column that detailed his involvement in a case of online harassment.  He subsequently pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor harassment charge and got probation.  He sued the paper for defamation.  His lawsuit was tossed from court.

I doubt he was inspired to act by the words of Trump, Yiannopoulos or anyone else.  He'd sent over 800 tweets to the author of the column he claimed had defamed him.

* * *

All that being said, there is a problem with the rising level of incivility both sides of the political aisle are engaging in.  Donald Trump did not start this stuff.  But he pushed it to a much higher level than we've seen in a very long time.

Both sides could learn from the example of the late Mike Mansfield.  He was the US Senate Majority leader from January of 1961 until January of 1977.  He had written an address he planned to deliver to the Senate on November 22, 1963.  The assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy prevented him from giving that speech.  He ultimately delivered it 35 years later as the first in a number of "Leader's Lectures," a series created by Senator Trent Lott.  Here is an excerpt:

"In this light, we have reason to be grateful because if what was stated was being said in the cloakrooms, then it should have been said on the floor. If, as was indicated, the functioning of the Senate itself is in question, the place to air that matter is on the floor of the Senate. We need no cloakroom commandos, operating behind the swinging doors of the two rooms at the rear, to spread the tidings. We need no whispered word passed from one to another and on to the press.

We are here to do the public's business. On the floor of the Senate, the public's business is conducted in full sight and hearing of the public. And it is here, not in the cloakrooms, that the Senator from Montana, the majority leader, if you wish, will address himself to the question of the present state of the Senate and its leadership. . . . It will be said to all Senators and to all the members of the press who sit above us in more ways than one."

The Senate that Senator Mansfield described is not the Senate of today.  The level of obstruction perpetuated by the current majority leader, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky when he was the minority leader wasn't significantly different than that of the current minority leader, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York.  Then again, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, McConnell's predecessor as majority leader did almost as much as what McConnell has done since becoming majority leader to prevent the opposition party from being able to get things done.  

It is true that Senator McConnell abdicated his duty in preventing the nomination of Merrick Garland from coming up for a vote.  From at least being debated by the members of the Senate.  But we must not forget that it was Harry Reid who first used the nuclear option to get presidential nominees through the confirmation process.

The Senate may not have a veneer of incivility but how it is conducting its legislative agenda has become so hyper-partisan as to demonstrate a total lack of respect for the process itself.  Senator Mansfield was a Democrat.  Democrats were opposed to allowing the 1964 Civil Rights Act to come up for a vote.  He supported President Nixon's "Nixon Doctrine" which called for the United States to honor all of its treaty commitments.  When the economy tanked in 1971, Senator Mansfield said, "what we're in is not a Republican recession or a Democratic recession; both parties had much to do with bringing us to where we are today.  But we're facing a national situation which calls for the best which all of us can produce."

I get that people who subscribe to the theory of Congresswoman Maxine Waters to confront the Trump administration's people at every turn are frustrated.  It is satisfying to confront that which we oppose.  I believe with all my heart that those who are Trump's core supporters are far more uncivil to others than those who oppose Trump's agenda.  They show it in their behavior, with their t-shirts.  I'm fairly certain that whoever in Texas made the most serious death threats against Ms Waters are ardent fans of Donald Trump.

We simply cannot lose sight of the real brass ring.  It isn't sending people wearing MAGA hats packing from public places.  It isn't calling Stephen Miller a xenophobe to his face.  It is to take control of Congress.  That is the best way to stop Donald Trump from ruining our nation.