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[richardpiccolo]

#116 - Ford v. Kavanaugh, Part 4, the Finale

I watched Trump’s ceremonial swearing in of Brett Kavanagh as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court on Monday night, and I thought to myself that Trump’s victory was now complete. Oh, I don't mean Kavanagh’s nomination.   No, that’s small potatoes.  That’s just a tiny piece of the puzzle.  No the Trump victory of which I speak is much larger than that. It was Trump’s outright theft of the Republican Party, founded by Jefferson and Madison, which has played such an important role in our country over the last 225 years. The theft of this once great American institution was now complete.  Donald Trump had won.   And the real irony here, was that the real victims, the Trump Republicans, thought this was a good thing ….for them. 

This is my fourth and, I am expecting, will be my last post on this incredibly divisive topic that has gripped the country for the better part of the last couple of months.  And the only certain thing I have concluded, the only thing, is that there are no winners here.  Sure, Republicans got a small chest-bump from the approval of Kavanaugh to the Court, but let’s get real.  It should have been a cake walk, and it was anything but.

I have said that reasonable people on both sides of aisle will have different takes on the issues brought forth in the Ford v. Kavanagh.  That’s understandable as this alleged event happened over 35 years, when both of them were young teenagers. But that hasn’t stopped Republicans and even Democrats from doing what they do best, playing politics.

Beginning with McConnell’s failure to move Merrick Garland’s nomination forward with 10 months to go in Obama’s term, we see Dianne Feinstein’s delay in surfacing the Ford story, followed by Cory Booker wanting to play Spartacus or Tony Curtis, I’m not sure which, then we have Lindsey Graham’s maniacal rant, and it was all topped off by an investigation by the now, all of a sudden…incredibly talented FBI.  Apparently they are no longer the cause of THE Witch Hunt…until tomorrow or the day after anyway.  

It was one shameful exhibition after another, and it all went according to the script of our reality TV president. 

When Clarence Thomas’s nomination was approved back in 1991, then President George H.W. Bush’s instinct was to calm the waters, knowing that it was important to bring the country together.  I know, because I listened to his 17 minute introduction of Thomas. Bush began his speech with the opening “Welcome all” and there was no reference to the contentious battle over the nomination. There was no desire to stoke the divisiveness that had ensued, and in the year that followed, while Bush was on the campaign trail for re-election, he chose to ignore the battle over Justice Thomas. Looking back on that now, we didn’t know how good we had it. We now have a deeper appreciation for Bush’s actions, which were filled with equal parts integrity, compassion and patriotism, and stemmed from his strong desire to be President to all Americans.  Please, allow me to say that one more time…all Americans. I’m sorry, it just feels so good, I can’t help myself.  That’s the way it used to be anyway. Yes, those were the good ol’ days. 

Donald Trump and his dedicated followers of merry men have made the calculated choice that they don’t want or need to represent all Americans, they have opted for minority rule today. And they are thrilled with the results.  But as these Trump Republicans will eventually learn, it’s very easy to go down this path now, but good luck trying to reverse course.

There was so much wrong with Kavanaugh’s swearing in ceremony, it can’t be captured in one post.  So I will just focus on the opening line of this pseudo campaign rally where Trump introduced Kavanaugh stating that “On behalf of our nation, I want to apologize to Brett and the entire Kavanaugh family for the terrible pain and suffering you have been forced to endure”.

On the surface, independent observers might find this comment as fair and acceptable, if only there was some compassion exhibited for all the others who were hurt in this process as well, but there was none.  They were not mentioned or referenced.  They were simply forgotten.

There was no apology on behalf of the country for Christine Blasey Ford for her pain and suffering.  Worse, in the days leading up to the final vote, Trump had gone on the offensive, mocking Ford’s inability to remember certain facts from her ordeal, and he and the mini-Don, Donald Trump Jr. went on to lament the injustices caused to their kind, the real victims in all of this, angry (and entitled) white men.

There was no apology on behalf of the country for Renate, you know Renate of the Renate Alumni, who apparently received special commendation from Kavanaugh, Squi and all the other guys with 14 references in their Georgetown Prep yearbook.  Kavanaugh claimed his reference related to their attendance together at a social event, but it would have been more believable if he just claimed they were bridge partners.

Renate Schroeder Dolphin told the New York Times days earlier “I learned about these yearbook pages only a few days ago, I don’t know what ‘Renate Alumnus’ actually means. I can’t begin to comprehend what goes through the minds of 17-year-old boys who write such things, but the insinuation is horrible, hurtful and simply untrue. I pray their daughters are never treated this way. I will have no further comment.”  

Can you blame her? But President Trump offered no apology on behalf of our nation for Renate.

Because there was no sympathy, no compassion, no acknowledgment for the pain and suffering by the other Americans hurt in this process, when Trump closed his introduction asking “us to renew the bonds of love, loyalty, and affection that link us all together as one great American family.. let us pray that all of America's children will grow up in a country that is fair, and just, and safe, and strong, and free.”...the only ones who heard it, were the Trump Republicans…and they believed it all.

Thus, Trump’s victory this night was complete.  His takeover of this once great institution was over.   The Republican party was no longer recognizable, even to itself,

President George H.W. Bush who understood the importance of being President to all Americans was now 94, and in weak and in failing health.  Sadly, the same could also be said of the few real Republicans still out there, many of whom are my friends.  

I shall miss them all.  I shall miss my friends.

[richardpiccolo]

#115 - Ford v. Kavanaugh, Part 3

For a brief moment, fresh air filled the room of the Senate Judiciary Committee and we were catapulted back in time to a place where Republicans and Democrats could sit in a room together and ….not want to rip each other’s eyes out, or so it might have seemed

The truth is one voice, just one voice, toggled from the right to the center, perhaps for only a brief moment, but it was enough to put a temporary hold on the madness that was about to be perpetuated by Republican leadership.

Senator Jeff Flake, the outgoing Republican Senator from Arizona got up from his chair a few minutes ahead of the planned vote to move the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court out of the Committee, walked past the row of Republicans to the Democrats, and tapped Democratic Senator Chris Coombs from Delaware on the shoulder, motioning in a way to say “Let’s talk”.

What followed was an agreement to put the floor vote on Kavanaugh’s vote on hold for seven more days while more inquiries could be made into Kavanaugh’s past

The delay occurred:

(i) because in the ever growing shadow of the Me Too movement,  Christine Blasey Ford in describing an alleged sexual attack by Kavanaugh when Kavanaugh was 17 and Ford was 15 sounded…..believable and

(ii) because no independent third party (FBI) had done anything….ANYTHING to investigate the claim of the alleged sexual attack and

(iii) because Kavanaugh had dodged and equivocated about his drinking in high school and made up comments about ralphing and the Renata alumni which came across as deceitful because years later he was embarrassed by the poor behavior he once exhibited…. as one of the cool guys at this prestigious private school.

Through it all, our ever mercurial President showed numerous sides of his chameleon like skin.

First he said he saw Ford’s testimony and said it was compelling and she seemed like a very fine woman.

Then two days ago, he began to shift the focus stating that "It is a very scary time for young men in America, when you can be guilty of something you may not be guilty of. It’s a very scary situation where you're guilty until proven innocent,"

But later that same evening at another campaign style rally, he went into full attack mode openly mocking Ford’s allegations of Kavanaugh’s sexual attack. Just about everyone on Planet Earth, including all the Republican members in Congress, was appalled that Trump would stoop so low, AGAIN, everyone except the Trump supporters in the room that night who cheered him on during his rant and raised their “Women for Trump” signs a little higher...

Reasonable people on both sides of the aisle will debate whether Kavanaugh is suited to be a Supreme Court Justice long after the final vote is taken, whichever way it goes, but one thing is certain.  Anyone who thinks the Me Too movement has gone too far, need only look at the shameful commentary of our President and the Kool-Aid drinking supporters at that rally to realize that Me Too still has a long way to go.

We should all note that this final point has only now become so crystal clear because of the good conscious of Senator Jeff Flake.  

And for that Senator, we thank you.

[richardpiccolo]

#114 - Trump in Love

“I was really being tough, and so was he. And we would go back and forth. And then we fell in love, okay? No, really. He wrote me beautiful letters, and they’re great letters. We fell in love”

Those were the words of President Donald J. Trump at a Make America Great Again campaign rally in Wheeling, West Virginia on Saturday speaking of his latest love affair.

Oh, this was no ordinary love affair. This was not a superficial fling with a former Playboy Bunny or a one night stand with porn star. No, this new found love, as unexpected as it was, was with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un.

On some level, it had the potential to be the feel good story of the year, the prototypical ‘Boy meets dictator, is awed by unrestrained power, wants to be just like him, and professes his undying love for this moody, but clearly misunderstood, mass murderer” story.

I mean, we’ve all seen this movie before, haven’t we? I can’t think of one right now, not off the top of my head, but surely Hollywood has written this plot line before, somewhere, sometime. Surely…

In the Age of Trump, there are no rules, and there is no story so absurd, that it should be considered an impossibility. But when Trump spoke these words, his MAGA supporters beganlaughing at first, reassuring me, that there was still hope for these folks, that they too saw the absurdity, that they too were all in on the joke. But only a few seconds passed and they realized Trump was serious, and so they stopped laughing, and began to cheer their glorious leader … crushing my foolish hopes and kicking them to the ground.

So why do I think this particular love affair is destined for the trash heap of insincere romances?

Maybe because Trump has been divorced twice already and is well on his way to his third, maybe because he doesn’t know anything about real relationships, maybe because it’s always about him. or maybe it’s because I just don’t think you can trust murderous dictators, even the ones who are in love.

Strange as this may seem, Fox News must have similar sentiments, marking a tuly unique alignment of the stars, because so far, 48 hours or so after Trump's statement of devotion,  their homepage featured no headlines devoted to the stunning statement.

Still, wouldn’t it be nice if Trump and Kim were truly in love? Wouldn’t it be nice if their love proved to be real, and we had a fairy tale ending…. and they all lived happily ever after? 

Yes, yes it would.

But pigs don’t fly… be they domestic or foreign.

[richardpiccolo]

#113 - Ford v. Kavanaugh, Part 2

In all likelihood, the color of my glasses which have a decidedly blue tint to block out the rays of the sun, also color my views of Ford v. Kavanaugh.

Both Ford and Kavanaugh appear believable enough to make a clear cut choice between the two individuals' stories difficult for any impartial person. But it is because time and time and time again Kavanugh dodged and equivocated when pressed to tell the Senate Committee, that he would proactively ask for an FBI to re-open their background check and speak with Mark Judge, that I believe he is trying to hide something.

What that something is, we will likely never know.

Under the cover of Lindsey Graham's righteous indignation of the pain that Kavanaugh and his family have had to suffer, Graham lambasted Democrats and their apparent delayed disclosure of the incident in question, and stifled any further pursuit of the truth.

Graham's pointed response was reminiscent of a fire and brimstone preacher telling his flock that their sins would damn them to hell for all eternity. He used his own anger and emotion to strangle any negative thoughts on the part of his fellow Republican Senators, and rally the troops.

"To my Republican colleagues, if you vote 'no', you're legitimizing the most despicable thing that I have seen in my time in politics.", he said.

The most despicable thing that I have seen in my time in politics....

Perhaps, Lindsey, but perhaps not.

Unlike my own blue tinted glasses, my belief is that God sees more clearly than I ever will, and so I maintain, its not beyond the realm of comprehension that when God speaks to Lindsey on his personal day of judgment, he might remind him of this potentially persuasive and pointed statement that he made yesterday, and he might ask Lindsey

... if the name Merrick Garland rings a bell.

[richardpiccolo]

#112 - Ford v. Kavanaugh, Part One

How could the greatness of America have come down to this?

Thirty five years ago a young teenage boy may or not have tried to (i) get lucky (ii) take advantage of (iii) sexually abuse (iv) rape or (v) attack with attempt to harm (insert the term of your choice) a young teenage girl, at a party, where alcohol may or may not have been involved.

Based on the actions and comments of both Democrats and Republicans in Congress and their respective supporting team of cheerleaders in both the left leaning and right leading media, this once obscure and certainly very dated story has dominated the media and the debate in our country for the better part of 10 days, and it is surely going to continue.

You would have thought that a gigantic asteroid was on a collision course with earth which would wipe out half of the population, and each party was posturing to insure, that the other side ….would make up most of the unfortunate half.

Really? Is this happening? Does anyone else see the absurdity of all this? That this possible incident would be contemplated/dissected/reimagined/hypothesized with such magnitude that the world has almost stopped turning? I can’t be the only one. I can’t be the only person in the country asking….

How the hell did we get here?

Without belittling the impact that this event would have had on that young teenage girl, if it happened, because I am sure it would have been traumatic, on a larger, macro level I can’t contain my contempt that this moment is emblematic of the larger scale failure of America. Not the country of, but the idea of.

By all accounts the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court by Donald Trump is a contentious one. His election would represent a clear cut shift in the balance of the Supreme Court, where five justices would lean heavily right, and this new balance might continue for years to come.

Dianne Feinstein’s choice to sit on the news of this possible incident between two teenagers until the 11th hour of the Kavanaugh nomination was clearly a partisan effort to delay and possibly derail it. That by itself is bad enough, but the apparent leaking of Ford’s name to the press presumably by some Democratic staffer, when Ford had first come forth under the condition of anonymity, represents just another selfish political maneuver and the sell-out of an individual’s right of privacy for purely political purposes.

Oh, we all know why this happened. It was political payback time for Mitch McConnell’s decision to shut down the nomination of Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court with 10 months remaining in Barack Obama’s second term. To be clear, I think McConnell’s despicable decision represents one of the most disgusting political acts in the 240+ year history of our country. It was then followed up by his decision with the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to remove the filibuster rule in the Senate which would have required 60 votes to confirm.

As I wrote in my post, #102 - Mitch McConnell: The Second Most Despicable Man in American Politics (I don’t have to tell you who gets the top spot, do I?) McConnell’s actions represented an outright suppression of the President’s constitutional power. And they weren’t based on any legitimate rationale or any justifiable righteousness. They were based on McConnell’s belief that the end, his end, justified any means.

It was the start of a theme perpetuated by Republicans across the country as they put aside the shameless and loathsome behaviors of Donald Trump because he gave them the greatest chance to sway the Supreme Court in their favor. They chose to lower our standards and to disregard the outright danger this man represents to our country, because they too concluded, that their own selfish ends justified any means.

Fast forward to the circus spectacle of recent days where Democrats are now doing their level best to mirror the loathsome behavior of the opposition. Why should they try to hold the high moral ground? Why should they exhibit integrity when Republicans can’t even spell the word?. If the rules of the game have changed, they are just going to do their best to adapt.

But it hasn’t ended there. It just gets worse as the crazies just try to one up each other.

Ed Whalen, the president of a conservative think tank called The Ethics and & Public Policy Center, (let’s give it a moment and let that sink in…. ) and an assertive supporter of Kavanagh suggested on Twitter that Ford, might have mistaken the identity of her alleged sexual assaulter and then, then, then, went ahead and actually provided the name and picture of a former classmate of Kavanaugh’s at Georgetown Prep. Whoa! I bet that poor dude had no idea what hit him!

And I was never so happy…that I went to public school growing up.

So you see, this is how we got here. This is why an obscure event which may or may not have occurred some 35 years ago has dominated the political landscape in recent days. This is why our political leaders are falling over themselves. This is why nothing of any substance ever gets done.

A cynical observer might conclude that that aforementioned asteroid was coming much closer to earth now, and the light from the sun was beginning to dim on the idea of America.

I would be lying if I said, I hadn’t had similar thoughts in the last 22 months, but I still believe that over time, America will wake up and the good guys on both sides of the aisle will prevail. I won’t stop believing otherwise. I can’t.

The threat of the asteroid is too terrible to contemplate.

[This is just part one of Ford v. Kavanaugh. Mind you, I have no idea what part two will entail; I just know there won’t be any shortage of material]

[richardpiccolo]

#111 - In Support of First Responders: A Case for More Regulation

My wife said something to me yesterday, and my first thought was, wow, that's a really good idea.  My second thought was, hey, that's the sort of idea I would usually come up with ...which I immediately attributed to the positive influence I have had over her, after almost 40 years of marriage...

We were watching a news clip of first responders rescue a stranded family in North Carolina whose home was surrounded by water.   This was not a particularly dangerous rescue, still my wife said "They should charge those people for not evacuating when they should have, and for putting those guys at risk".

Her question is a fair one.  First responders come to our aid in the event of accidents, fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, and as recently as Friday in the nearby Lawrence, MA area, over 80 sudden gas explosions and fires shocked and stunned three different communities.   Many of those natural and man-made disasters were unforeseen, and in those instances the first responders must be at their ultimate best, relying on their training and instincts to save those in need.  But some disasters can be foreseen, as they roll out over an extended time frame including forest fires, volcanoes and hurricanes.  

Time and time and time again, we hear state and local officials ordering their residents to evacuate the homes ahead of a possible catastrophe when they declare a mandatory evacuation, but still some choose to remain behind.  This morning I heard the mayor of Fayetteville, NC, implore residents to leave as nearby rivers where not expected to crest for two or three more days.  He suggested that if you choose to stay, you should notify your next of kin.  He was doing very best to scare the crap out of any fool who was dumb enough to think that they could take on mother nature.  It was all he could do, for our system provides no other tools to do so.

A press release from the City of Fayetteville, spoke of a potential for life-threatening flooding. "Those] who refuse or fail to comply with this mandatory evacuation order shall do so at their own risk and are put on notice that emergency and rescue personnel and first responders may not be sent into flooded areas within the area to be evacuated after the deadline for evacuation passes," the press release read.

It's a nice try, but who are they kidding?   Will first responders not go if they think their is a sliver of chance to rescue someone?  I don't think so.  Its part of their DNA and thank God it is.

So, why can’t we give our elected officials more tools to deal with most stubborn amongst us?  For rescues during a mandatory evacuation, why not charge residents a minimum fee of $XX, subject to a surcharge for complex rescues, with a waiver of charges for extenuating circumstances such as the sick and elderly who might realistically be unable to evacuate. This would be a simple and effective deterrent for… reckless behavior.  My Republican friends often shutter at any talk of regulation or taxation, but I suspect in this instance, that many would be open to this concept.   Anything that minimizes the number of dangerous rescues for our responders and/or frees them up to aid others who may be in even greater danger, well, that gets my vote

We require automobile drivers to carry auto insurance, banks require those with shoreline property to obtain flood insurance if they want a mortgage, and Obamacare attempted to penalize individuals who chose not to obtain health insurance.  In each case, the prevailing concept is that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the naive, shortsighted, and self-centered few.

Why can’t we apply this same concept for the benefit of our communities and for the safety of our first responders?  

I think my wife was on to something with her comment yesterday.  She usually is...just don't tell her I said so.

[richardpiccolo]

#108 - You Get What You Pay For

I know my wife thinks I am cheap sometimes. She never says it, but I know. But I like to think I am a just a value shopper.  I want to get my money’s worth. I want to know that as the years go by, I won’t look back and be unsatisfied with my purchase.   I don’t want to suffer… any buyer’s remorse.

But Donald Trump, Donald Trump wants a steal. Life is a series of transactions for the Donald, where he expects to be the undisputed winner.  The Art of the Deal guru likes to go mano a mano and come out on top, every minute of every day.  Whether it’s the venders he has abused over the years, the students of Trump University he defrauded or the debt holders he stiffed in his bankruptcy filings, Donald is always looking to take advantage of an opportunity, or an opponent.

So when Paul Manafort offered to work for the Trump’s Presidential campaign for ...FREE, Donald Trump didn’t think twice.  This  smooth talking operative with GOP street cred dating back to Ronald Reagan, who had the smart sense to actually own an apartment in Trump Tower, and who, most importantly, looked damn good in his very expensive, custom made, suits would be perfect for the Trump campaign.  As to his willingness to work for free?  Well, who wouldn’t jump at the chance to work for….the Donald? 

Donny’s dad clearly never had the “Nothing in life is free, my son” speech that every other red, white and blue American received at some point during their formative years from one of their parental units.  And so, without a moment’s hesitation, Donny boy made his purchase, and now he was joined at the hip with this man.

Fast forward two and half years, on the day that Hurricane Florence rocked the North Carolina coast, Paul Manafort rocked the political world.

In a case involving Manafort’s work as a political consultant in Ukraine, where his 10+ years of criminal activity would have put him away for the rest of his natural life, Manafort agreed to tell all he knows to the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, as part of a plea deal that could put together any missing pieces to the inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election.  Manafort agreed to an open-ended arrangement that requires him to answer “fully, truthfully, completely and forthrightly” questions about “any and all matters” the government wants to ask…without his lawyers present. 

BINGO!  I’ve got BINGO!

Now, now.  I’m getting ahead of myself.  And that’s exactly what I don’t want.  So, Instead of looking ahead, let’s just look at where we are.  Let’s just look at what we know.  Let’s just look at the facts.

Manafort is the fifth player in the Trump campaign, and the undisputed crown jewel, to plead guilty to criminal activity and to agree to cooperate with the Federal Government.  In addition to Manafort, Trump’s second campaign chairman, Trump’s deputy campaign manager, national security adviser, personal lawyer and foreign policy aide have all become founding members of the Trump Campaign Choir, and have all agreed to sing loudly and long to the sweet sounds of truth, justice and the American way.

In truth, we don’t know if the President is guilty of anything at this point.  But at this point, does it even matter? This is the guy who promised us, he would run the country like a business, and he would hire the best and the brightest, Really? Out of 330 million Americans to choose from, these are Donald’s go-to guys? 

There is so much that is wrong with the Trump Presidency, it will be a gold mine for presidential historians for years to come, and this is just but one sorry symptom.   In Paul Manafort, Donald Trump got what he paid for, because… he didn’t pay a thing, and now, he may pay the utlimate price.

In the hiring of Paul Manafort, we have a metaphor for the entire Trump Presidency. Just think about the buyers’ remorse of the long time Trump supporters, who thought they were buying in to the man who would make America great again, who would drain the swamp, who would repeal and replace, who would eliminate the deficit who would…unite the country.

They were as guilty as Trump was.  They fell for the equivalent of an ordinary shyster’s get-rich-quick scheme.  They bought into the magic elixir that would cure all their ills.  The decision seemed simple,  Donald Trump was the quick, easy fix.  They never considered the down side, they never considered the hidden cost.  They too forgot that.. nothing in life is free.  They too forgot, that…you get what you pay for. 

The desk in the Oval Office of the White House is supposed to be reserved for the best and brightest our country has to offer, for real leaders who are battle tested and who will represent all Americans. It is supposed to be reserved only for those who truly understood that the office of the President is so much bigger than the man sitting in it.  

In Donald Trump, we bought ourselves a tin can version of a president.  In Donald Trump we bought ourselves… a lemon, but sadly there is no lemon law for the buyers' remorse that comes with the purchase of an incompetent and immoral president. 

It is a fixed four year lease, and we own it.

[richardpiccolo]

#109 - Hell Hath No Fury Like A Fixer Scorned: The Michael Cohen Story

The admission of guilt by President Trump’s former fixer and his implication of the President in the same criminal activity represent an astounding turnaround for the man who less than a year ago said he would take a bullet for Mr. Trump.

Cohen admitted last week in open court that he violated campaign finance laws “in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office,”

Hmmm…. who could that be?

To understand how we got here, you have to understand the role that Mhael Cohen played for Mr. Trump, his personal issues, and most importantly, you have to understand what the President really thought of him.

Cohen began his career as an attorney pursuing one of the least respected segments of the American legal world, personal injury law.  Yes, he hails from that group of low level bottom feeders who actually make other lawyers look good.  Here he honed the skills which would set him on a most unusual career trajectory.

In 2006 Cohen landed a job working for Trump back, impressing him with the fact that he had read “The Art of Deal”....twice.   Don’t laugh, he knew the best way in with Trump was to flatter him, besides, anyone who could get through that literary jewel once, deserves a medal.  Over time, Cohen convinced family and friends to buy condominiums in the Trump World Tower which helped Trump gain control of the condominium board, and he soon became Mr. Trump’s BFF, or so it seemed to Michael anyway.

This newly minted pit bull had found his purpose in life. Cohen told ABC News in 2011 that "If somebody does something Mr. Trump doesn't like, I do everything in my power to resolve it to Mr. Trump's benefit. If you do something wrong,  I'm going to come at you, grab you by the neck and I'm not going to let you go until I'm finished."

Grab you by the neck…..Nice.  Remember my earlier point about making other lawyers look good? I rest my case.

Between 2011 and 2016 Cohen worked behind the scenes working to gloss over the scandal regarding the alleged rape by Trump of his first wife, and the affairs with Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougle and may or may not have met with Russian officials in Prague in 2016 with the objective of paying those who had hacked the DNC and to "cover up all traces of the hacking operation.   The Fixer was proving his value and earning his pay.

But with Trump’s surprise election victory, The Fixer was presented with a new opportunity, to be part of something bigger, to be part of that luxury cruise that was sailing south to DC and included all the beautiful people who had made it possible for Trump to get there, including: Jared, Ivanka, Hope Hicks, Kellyanne, Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn and even Trump’s old bodyguard, but a funny thing happened on the way to the big dance, the President’s fixer was left behind.  Early on his name had been in the mix for the coveted Chief of Staff position, but in the end the man who helped make it possible for Trump to succeed, was all of a sudden, the odd man out.   His fix-it skills would not be welcome in the pristine halls of the White House.

With the President now ensconced in the Oval Office and looking to distance himself from the unsavory activities of his fixer, Cohen had to morph, and he quickly seized on a bigger and better opportunity, peddling access to the big guy and providing insider knowledge to anyone with a big wallet. In the months following Trump’s election in November 2016, Cohen negotiated payments totaling $600K from AT&T for “his opinion on the new President and his administration”, which it’s CEO would later describe as…. “a big mistake”,

Novartis, a Switzerland–based pharmaceutical giant, paid Cohen $1.2M to help the company understand the "health care policy" of the new administration. Novartis subsequently admitted to the public, and thus to its shareholders, that it did not actually receive any benefit for its investment.  The fact that Trump had no health care policy was apparently lost on the Novartis executives. Excuse me sirs, I have some ideas on a health care, and you can have them for $10. Call me.  

But the next one is best described by the old PT Barnum ascribed statement “There’s a sucker born every minute”.  Korea Aerospace Industries paid Cohen for advice on “Cost Accounting Standards,” those highly technical bookkeeping rules that would apply to the company’s bid for U.S. defense work.  If Cohen actually spoke the words “Cost Accounting Standards” once in his lifetime, it would be a shock.

In a matter of months, Cohen had pulled in $2 million, for doing….nothing, which begs the obvious question: Why can’t I get a gig like that? Soon, all of his clients realized that they had been sold a bill of goods, that The Fixer was just another one of Trump’s snake oil salesmen, and they weren’t going to get any bang for their buck.  And that’s because The Fixer had no real insight from the President to offer, because, because, wait for it, wait for it it….the President simply didn’t need him anymore.  His usefulness had expired. Loyalty was a one-way street for this president

And so now, the disrespect was out there, out in the open, for all to see.

But, this wasn’t really anything new, and deep down Cohen knew it.  Of all the stories printed about the President’s relationship with his former fixer, the most compelling one was the President’s reported humiliation of Cohen at his own son's bar mitzvah in 2012.  One attendee told the Wall Street Journal that Trump was so late to the event that Cohen delayed the blessings. Trump then spoke and said that he hadn't actually planned on attending but came after Cohen begged him to come by repeatedly calling him, his secretary, and his children.  On one of the most important days of Cohen’s life, the President took center stage and then used it to belittle his loyal servant.  It’s unlikely that Trump’s performance that day was a surprise to anyone who knew him, but the fact that Cohen accepted this embarrassment and didn’t immediately bail on his boss was.

Fast forward to April 2018.  Already suffering financial difficulties from the devaluation of NY City taxi medallions which he owned (thank you Uber), federal prosecutors raided Cohen’s home and office for anything they could lay their hands on.   Trump’s own instinct for self-preservation immediately kicked in, contending that federal prosecutors were looking more at Cohen's business dealings than the legal work he'd done on Trump's behalf.  "Michael is a businessman, he's got a business. He also practices law," Trump said back then "And they're looking at something having to do with his business. I have nothing to do with his business”.

So much for loyalty.  So much for honor among thieves.

And then in June, almost out the blue, with absolutely no correlation with his legal and financial troubles, Cohen signaled he was having a change of heart and blasted the president’s “zero tolerance” policy under which children have been separated from their parents after illegal border crossings.

“As the son of a Polish holocaust survivor, the images and sounds of this family separation policy is heart wrenching,” Cohen wrote, marking the first time he had publicly distanced himself from Trump.

“While I strongly support measures that will secure our porous borders, children should never be used as bargaining chips,” he added.

“He’s turned his life around from what he did for Donald Trump, much of which he now regrets,” Davis said on the Today Show. “That’s the kind of thing that caused Michael Cohen to change his mind, and decide to dedicate himself to telling the truth to the American people.”

Whoa! Where did all this come from? The Fixer has a conscious?  Who knew?  But there was still more to come.

Cohen’s new attorney, Lanny Davis, recently upped the ante in this chess game, stating his client now believes Trump is “unsuitable to hold the office”, citing Trump’s refusal to accept the conclusion of US intelligence agencies that the Russians were responsible for the election disruption, while standing next to Vladimir Putin.

In the midst of all his legal troubles, pleading guilty, cooperating with the Feds WITHOUT some type of formal leniency deal, Cohen and his attorney were speaking out on the President’s abhorrent policy on the separation of children from their refugee families and on the President’s performance at the Helsinki Summit.

Good-bye Presidential pardon.

The Wall Street Journal later reported that Cohen’s turning point may have been influenced by his elderly father, Maurice, a Holocaust survivor, who reportedly told his son that he did not survive the Nazi genocide to have his name dragged through the mud by Trump.  Maurice had no doubt seen Trump ‘perform’ at his grandson’s bar mitzvah and that was likely all he would ever need to see.  He likely filed this event away and would pull it out if the time every came when he needed it.   No doubt Trump’s pull back from his formerly loyal fixer and his disparaging comments, was that time, and Maurice likely reminded his son of that event to convince him that Trump would never have his back. Never.  

There’s no way of knowing where the Michael Cohen story will end.  Has the former fixer and would-be influence peddler had a legitimate change of heart?  How much information does he have on Trump’s shady dealings?  Will he spill it all to the Feds?  Can it be corroborated?   And will it even make a difference?    

t’s still too early to answer any of those questions, but maybe this Prodigal Son has in fact returned home to right things with his father, and just maybe The Fixer had decided that it was time to fix things, once and for all.

[richardpiccolo]

#108 - John McCain, We Will Miss You

We all had one, our first political crush.  Unlike the pang of a first love, which typically occurs early in our lives, and dissipates quickly, the political crush comes much later, when we have become both very familiar and very disappointed with our still imperfect democracy, and a good one might linger for a lifetime.

Our political crush comes along when we are lucky enough to stumble across a politician, who is so unique that they inspire us to believe, that there is a better way.  My first political crush was with John McCain and started back in 1999, when he was a frequent guest of the Imus in the Morning radio show.  Campaigning for the Republican nomination for President as a long shot candidate, with little money, his Straight Talk Tour captured me.  He was the anti-political politician. He would put country over party, set policies on its merits, speak honestly, admit mistakes and respect others with differing opinions. Yes, I admit it, I fell for him, hook, line and sinker.

My early infatuation with this man only grew as I learned of his history of service as a war hero, and a POW for over five years in Viet Nam, who was tortured but still refused early release.  As the son of a  Four Star Admiral, this would have given the enemy a meaningful propaganda victory, but he would have no part of it, no matter what it meant for him personally. 

So, my disappointment was great when the South Carolina primary against George W. Bush got personal and dirty.  McCain would lose that primary and would eventually drop out of the race.  But still, he want back to the Senate to continue to serve in the only way he knew how.  Despite his differences with W., he was not done working, for there was still much work to be done. 

By the time the 2008 Presidential Elections rolled around, I had begun leaning left, after a lifetime of leaning right, and while I supported Barack Obama in that election, I was buoyed by the realization that for the first time in my life, instead of being unsatisfied with both Presidential candidates, I could take comfort with either one of these men sitting in the Oval Office.

And despite my preference in that election, there were three very explicit events during the campaign that reinforced my own satisfaction in knowing, that the choice of my first political crush was a damn good one.

The first was during a Presidential debate when a clearly bigoted woman called Obama an Arab, and before she could get the next word out, McCain was already shaking his head and pulling the microphone out of her hand.

The next was at the Al Smith Dinner, the annual white tie fundraiser for  "the neediest children of the Archdiocese of New York, regardless of race, creed, or color."  Just three weeks ahead of the election, McCain was hilarious, self-deprecating and still honorable.  Recalling a time in our country when the invitation of an African-American citizen to dine at the White House was considered to be an outrage, he noted that night that we were  a "world away from the cruel and prideful bigotry of that time and good riddance."  In closing, he said that while he could not wish his opponent luck, he did wish him well.

And even in defeat, Senator McCain did not disappoint.  In his concession speech to President Elect Barack Obama, he worked to move the country forward, urging  "all Americans to join me... in offering our next president our goodwill and earnest effort to find ways to come together, to find the necessary compromises, to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited".  

His wife Cindy would call it the best speech of his life, for it was John McCain at his purest, putting his own disappointment behind him, and moving quickly to continue his life of service.

McCain was one of those rare politicians who understand in every fiber of their being, that it was not about them.  It was about everyone else.  And that the honor and privilege of successfully serving others was the ultimate reward.

Over the years I would agree with Senator McCain on some issues and I would disagree on others, but my crush never waned.  

And I had to smile when I heard a couple months back that in preparing for his own funeral, in a request that was emblematic of the man, he asked his two greatest political rivals, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, to speak for him, in his absence.  

And President Trump was not invited.

[richardpiccolo]

#107 - The Week Ending 8.17.18 in the Age of Trump

Every week in Age of Trump is a new adventure, not a Raiders of the Lost Ark type of adventure, but one in which historians will look back and find a treasure trove of rich and relevant material when they begin to document, for generations to come, how America lost its way.

Here are just a few story lines which caught my eye last week.

o The prosecution in the Paul Manafort trial rested, and the defense did too, interestingly enough, without offering a defense.   Apparently they were so tired listening to the mountain of evidence against the ostrich-wearing, tax fraud and former campaign chairman for President Trump, they just gave up.  That’s one theory anyway.   The more popular thought is that theyknow that Donny Boy will simply issue Manafort his ‘Get out of Jail Free” card less than one week after his conviction comes down and his “throw away the key” sentence is doled out. 

o By my count, exactly 11 players exhibited some form of protest during the national anthem in the first week of the NFL pre-season (3 Eagles, 3 Jaguars, 3 Seahawks and 2 Dolphins).  These 11 represent less than .5% of the 2,340 players currently on NFL rosters.  Despite this, Trump’s August 10th tweet referenced “NUMEROUS players, from different teams, wanted to show their outrage” and said they “should be suspended without pay”.  These “numerous” 11 players seem to get a lot more attention from our President, while the 565 refugee children who still remain separated from their parents don’t even rate a tweet.  Maybe the President with the big brain needs as remedial math course in order to help him focus on the larger and more important matters.

o Steven Miller, the architect of the Trump Muslim ban (yes, let’s call it by its real name) and the separation of refugee children from their parents was strikingly dressed down by his own uncle in a Washington Post Editorial entitled “Stephen Miller Is an Immigration Hypocrite. I Know Because I’m His Uncle”. Dr. David S. Glosser, a retired neuropsychologist formerly of the Boston University School of Medicine, stated that if his nephew’s ideas on immigration had been in force a century ago, his family would have been wiped out. According to Dr. Glosser, his family came to the U.S. just a few years before the fear and prejudice of the “America first” nativists of the day closed U.S. borders to Jewish refugees. And sadly he noted that only seven of the 2,000 Jews who remained in their village of Antopol, Belarus survived the Holocaust.  Before this story broke, Miller was a leading contender for the biggest scumbag in an administration of scumbags.  With his own uncle’s latest revelation, he has now vaulted into the pole position.

o Family feuds in the White House were the theme of the week as Kellyanne Conway got into a public spat with her husband over his critical comments about the President . During an interview with Washington Post reporter Ben Terris, Conway complained that her husband’s recent tweets about Trump were “disrespectful” and possibly violated their “marital vows”.  A violation of their marital vows….for having a different opinion, for not drinking the Kool Aid.  It’s  hard to make this up, but with the President now doing his level best to stifle the free speech of his opponents, it looks like Kellyanne thought she would get in the act and decided she would warm up …by dumping on her husband first.

o Omarosa Manigault Newman began the Omarosa Book Tour with lessons learned from her mentor.  The highly paid former Assistant to the President, who was fired in week 10 of the 13 episode first season of the Apprentice, was the only contestant to go 0 for 3 as Project Manager and to offer to have sex with Piers Morgan just to spice up the story line.  Impressive credentials, to say the least.  Omarosa’s first shots were to call “Trump a racist” and declare that “This is an administration where everybody lies”.  Ho-hum Omarosa, tell us something we don’t already know. The White House Office of Personnel has been sifting through resumes for months looking for an adequate replacement for the controversial Apprentice star.  Maybe Gary Busey and Meatloaf are still available. 

o Trump advocated a boycott of Harley Davidson after they announced they were moving production off shore to deal with tariffs now in play courtesy of the Trump administration. Capitalism, it’s now a crime, who knew?

o Trump sent a message to the entire national security community that dissent with him for any reason will result in personal punishment when he revoked the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan. The reason this is so remarkable is that it came from the White House and was never run by Trump’s own intelligence officials.  Many Trump supporters viewed it as a show of great strength from this great man.   The Wall Street Journal called it petty.  And others declared it was a way for the President to distract from the Omarosa Tapes.  If that's true, with a rumored 200 tapes still to go, we should expect to see many more revocations before the final season of this reality TV show comes to a close.

o One last interesting development, a new Gallup poll out last week showed that Trump’s approval rating has dropped to 39% while his disapproval rating increased to 56%.

Perhaps it is now beginning to dawn on a few open minded Trump supporters, that despite all of the adventures, week in, week out, and despite their own earlier desires for disruption, that the grass is not really any greener on the other side.  Perhaps they now see, that it’s turning brown.

WITH MALICE TOWQRD NONE (...mostly)

www.richardpiccolo.blogspot.com 

[richardpiccolo]

#106- Donny’s Latest “Let the Rich Get Richer” Tax Scheme

At the bottom of this post you will find various definitions of ‘cost’ from (i) dictionary.com, (ii) Wikipedia, (iii) generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), and (iv) the US tax code.

In each case the definition discusses cost as an amount paid, where money is expended, where the money is tied up and no longer available for use.  In none of these definitions do you see the word “inflation”.

OK, what does this have to do with anything ? Bear with me a moment and it will all become clear.

Steve Mnuchin, the Secretary of the Treasury and Emperor Trump apparently believe that their god-given powers allow them to re-write over 100 years of established tax law while completely bypassing Congress.  The fact that no other president in the last century never reached this same conclusion, doesn’t matter to this administration, which just makes up new shit every day.

The New York Time’s first reported this late yesterday, stating that the Trump administration is studying this very possibility.  The specific idea is that the Treasury Department would change the definition of cost to include... an inflationary component.  Let me provide a simple example to explain the impact of this.

Under today’s tax law, if you bought a share of stock for $100 ten years ago, and sold it for $200 today, you would have a long term capital gain of $100 and would have to pay a 28% federal capital gains tax or $28.  Under the Emperor’s new rules that $100 cost basis would be adjusted for inflation, so over 10 years the cost basis might rise to say, $150, and the long term capital gain would be reduced to $50 ($200 - $150).  In this example the capital gains tax would be cut in half to $14.

Not bad if you are a rich old white guy with a huge ego who believes his richness is a direct result of his very large brain. 

This is simply a boondoggle for the ultra rich who have tons of unrealized long term capital gains just sitting on their books waiting for Emperor Trump to come along.

The Times sites an independent analysis from Wharton School of Finance, that fine Ivy League institution that still can’t come to grips with the fact that they actually gave the Emperor a diploma a half a century back, which suggest that more than 97 percent of the benefits of indexing capital gains for inflation would go to the top 10 percent of income earners in America. Further, nearly two-thirds of the benefits would go to the super wealthy — the top 0.1 percent of American income earners.  The cost to America will be $109 Billion over the next 11 years The Times report was confirmed later today when a Treasury official told FOX Business that the economic impact of indexing capital gains to inflation was being evaluated by the administration.

The kicker here is that if  the Trump Administration goes through with this, yes it will eventually get overturned in the courts who will appropriately rule that this power belongs to Congress and that the Emperor really isn’t an emperor even though he thinks he is.  But by the time that happens, it will be too late. You see by then, Donny Jr. and Eric will have teed up and executed a bunch of sales to take advantage of this temporary tax windfall, maybe so they can finally pay down all that Russian debt and laugh all the way to the bank.

Welcome to the New Republican Party. Welcome to the draining of the swamp. Welcome to the greatness of America.

Nothing the Emperor does any more surprises me, but I really wonder how the rank and file of the Trump base will feel it finally dawns on them, that they were just being used as pawns in the Emperor’s “allow the rich to just get richer” scheme. 

How will they feel when they finally wake up one day and sadly realize that unbeknownst to them, they had been the ones playing the role of the fool all along.

**********************************************************

Definitions of ‘cost’: Dictionary. Com.   the price paid to acquire, produce, accomplish, or maintain anything Wikipedia - cost is the value of money that has been used up to produce something or deliver a service, and hence is not available for use anymore. In business, the cost may be one of acquisition, in which case the amount of money expended to acquire it is counted as cost. Generally accepted accounting principles hold that the cost principle requires that assets be recorded at the cash amount (or its equivalent) at the time that an asset is acquired. It may be one of the most important underlying guidelines in all of GAAP. US Tax Code - Cost basis is the original value of an asset for tax purposes, usually the purchase price, adjusted for stock splits, dividends and return of capital distributions.

WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE (...mostly)

www.richardpiccolo.blogspot.com 

[richardpiccolo]

WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE (...mostly)  #97 -  The Politics of Protest and Hatred

Standing for the national anthem, removing your hat, putting your hand over your heart, and even singing (if you can hit the high notes) seems like a sacred moment to me, and I’d like to think is it for all of us. It is a reminder that we are a country where free speech is embraced, despite the difficulties which often surface as a result of its exercise.

And so when Colin Kaepernick and others NFL players began to kneel during the anthem, almost two years ago now, as a sign of protest against police brutality, to me it felt both counter-intuitive and counterproductive to the cause they wished to discuss. They consciously or unconsciously had concluded that their cause was so special that they could protest a solemn moment for others in the stadium. They chose to protest an aspect of our less than perfect democracy, they chose to protest the county which grants them free speech as an indisputable right, but they wanted more than free speech, they wanted a podium, and a large one at that.

I didn’t agree with their approach and if I had a cause I wanted to promote (say the impeachment of our President for hateful rhetoric and gross incompetence), I wouldn’t choose to do it by kneeling for the national anthem. I would simply look for other ways to express my opinion

However, their actions didn’t bother me, I didn’t lose any sleep over it and quite frankly,  I just didn’t give it a lot of thought. We are afterall a diverse nation, and we all come to the table with unique personalities, with unique backgrounds and more often than not, in the history of our country, it has made us all better over time.

As long as no one was being harmed in this process or personally insulted, then my own outlook might be best described as (pick one) - “No harm, no foul” - “To each, his own”, - “Different strokes for different folks” - “Live and let be” Or, all of the above

But none of these old sayings would hold any meaning for our selfish and demented President.

Back on September 22 of last year at a campaign rally in Huntsville, AL ostensibly to support the senatorial bid of fellow Republican Luther Strange. (just one of Donnie’s many political failures ) Trump veered off topic, because, well, it was in his own self interest to do so, and he eventually landed on the Colin Kaepernick inspired protests.

“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners,” sad the president, “when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out. He’s fired. He’s fired!’ ”

And his adoring crowd went wild...

And so it began, in a moment’s time, this little story that was reserved for page six of the sports section was now prime time on the nightly news. Trump had weighed in and thrown a slab of rich, red meat to his adoring fans. And in the process, he took out his machete and made the divide in our country that much greater.

The NFL has been under fire for the better part of nine months since Trump iterated his divisive comment and this past week announced their new rules in the subject. Players who choose to be on the field during the anthem will be required to stand. But If a player or team employee is on the field during the anthem and chooses not to stand, that player’s franchise will be fined by the NFL. The new policy does give players the option to remain in the locker room during the playing of the anthem if they do not wish to comply.

In an interview on Fox News Thursday morning, while acknowledging the improvement (in his eyes anyway) of the change in the NFL’s stance on the topic, Trump just couldn’t leave well enough alone and had to serve seconds on his personally seasoned piece of rich, red meat.

“You have to stand proudly for the National Anthem or you shouldn't be playing. You shouldn't be there. Maybe you shouldn't be in the country,"

Maybe you shouldn’t be in the the country…

So now in addition to deporting the 11 million illegal immigrants, apparently we are going to do the same for anyone who disagrees with him on anything. Somebody shoot me now, please . So I don’t have to listen to his idiotic musings any more.

The real story here is not that the President of the United States is a vile and despicable human being. No, the real story is that he has made this behavior acceptable for others in the Republican Party.

New York Republican Rep. Peter King on Saturday expressed his disdain for National Anthem protesters, suggesting their actions were on par with spouting racial insults or giving the Nazi salute.

"Disgraceful that @nyjets owner will pay fines for players who kneel for National Anthem," he tweeted. "Encouraging a movement premised on lies vs. police. Would he support all player protests? Would he pay fines of players giving Nazi salutes or spew racism?

So there you have it, another Republican dissing the act of peaceful protest, where no one was hurt, no one was attacked, and no one was insulted. Republicans were dissing a right that all free nations uphold, and comparing this act to the actions of the most hate filled group of the 20th century.

The specific details varied, but the central theme of the story was the same as many of the other stories that have played out over the last sixteen months. Donald Trump had legitimized the art of hate for all to witness. And Republicans hadn’t even blinked. Instead, they were all clamoring to get a seat at the front of the bus.

[richardpiccolo]

WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE (...mostly) #96 - Barbara Bush: A New England Perspective

For those of us who have been life-long Patriot fans, we take great pride in our quarterback.  And we do so, not because of his Super Bowl victories or his statistics or his consistency over his many years in the league.  No, those accomplishments are the just the end result of his unique ability to make the players around him that much better, to help all of his teammates perform at a higher level and to get them to step up and improve their game when it mattered most.  This is his critical value add.  This is why we respect him so.  This is why New England loves our favored son..

When I heard the news earlier in the week, that Barbara Bush had chosen to cease her medical treatment and chose instead to gracefully accept the end of her life, I was deeply saddened, but I was not surprised. So, despite this sadness, I had to smile.  This was how she lived her wonderful life - head on.

The wife of a US Navy pilot, congressman, ambassador, CIA director, vice president and president, married for 73 years, the mother six children, including two governors and a president and a parent who had buried a three year old child, the hardest ordeal any person could possibly endure, she bore witness to a world that very few of us have even glimpsed.  And with the even more important legacy of 17 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren, her experience of a life well lived only taught her to be more grounded, more giving, more thoughtful.

Listening to a wide array of family members, historians, lifelong friends and associates over the last few days, she was described as genuinely kind and loving, but one that would always offer up tough love whenever the moment arrived.  She was plain spoken, comfortable In any surrounding, as honest as the day is long, caring, funny, and most of all she was authentic.

Listening to her sons describe her as the disciplinarian, teaching them to be humble and to treat others with respect, all with the purpose of taking them to higher levels and making them better men, it was apparent that Barbara Bush was the parent we all wanted, the parent we all needed.

She was many things to many people.  The Enforcer to her family, Tranquility to the Secret Service, America’s Grandmother to the country, she could subtly morph herself to fill the apparent need in her line of sight.   At a time when our politics have become so bitter, most noteworthy were the stories and accolades that poured out from around the country from those who only met her once, retelling the value of the moment, extolling her kindness, her sincerity, and her authenticity.  It was a welcomed breath of fresh air.  And it seemed that even in her death, she was guiding us, teaching us that there is a better way.

We can only hope that the memory of Barbara Bush will linger for many generations to come, for the people she touched over her consistent 92 years were all better off for it.  But the question remains, will they continue to grow? Did they grasp enough from her in her lifetime that they will continue to move the ball forward on their own or will they get pushed back? Will they lose ground with her absence?  Only time will tell, Barbara Bush, a straight talking woman of action, would be the first to tell you that.  

Over the last several years, many offensive players have left the Patriots to go on to play for other teams, but few have achieved the same personal or team success they did when they played with Brady.  With the passing of Barbara Bush and the loss of her aura in American politics, sadly I worry that the prospect of our collective successes to come and of our collective efforts to move our country forward will be diminished.  While I hope and pray that others will step in to fill the quiet void she leaves behind, it’s not lost on me that her value-add was so great, that doing so will take a village.. 

In New England, and specifically along the coastline of Maine, we understand this implicitly.

[richardpiccolo]

WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE (...mostly) #95 - Michael Cohen, The Slam Dunk Example of the Incompetency of DJ Trump

From the get go, I have been amazed by the belief of many Trump supporters that the Donald was this tremendously successful businessman who could take what he had learned over his lifetime and apply it in a way that we would make our country greater.

From what I could tell, he ran a successful family business in one industry, but when he failed to stick to his knitting (airlines, football, casinos, retail, education), he either crashed and burned or never moved the needle one bit.  From what I could tell, he was a mildly successful host of a reality TV show, which if you stopped to think about, offered no redeeming value to anyone, anywhere under any circumstance.  From what I could tell, he was extremely successful at bragging about himself and more importantly, getting some people to actually believe him.   

If he had the background of a Michael Bloomberg or a Rex Tillerson or a Mitt Romney, I would have gladly given more credence to his skills.  These men succeeded in business in because they could work in large organization, influence those around them and move their businesses forward.   They succeeded in businesses where they had to report to independent boards, which no doubt challenged them and forced them to learn and grow, which made them better businessmen, which made them better leaders. (Note - Mitt Romney actually headed up a Private Equity firm, but the skills required to manage numerous other PE partners are even more challenging than those required for an independent board) 

It is with this perspective that the lion's share of the posts in With Malice Toward None (....mostly) have spoken to the ongoing incompetency of  our President Donald J. Trump.  I know, there is a lot of  low hanging fruit here.   I never said any of my musings were intellectually challenging. 

The recent news that the home and offices of Michael Cohen, the President's lawyer, the President's fixer, the President's consigliere and the self-described right-hand man of the President, were raided by the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York offers the definitive proof of the complete and total incompetency of our President.   It has been reported that Michael Cohen, the Fixer, failed to take the advice of Michael Cohen, the lawyer and went ahead and taped a lot of his conversations.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) on Friday blasted  Cohen, over the reports that he taped business conversations.  "Michael Cohen's an idiot. To be taping — if he did tape — conversations with his client, that's stupid," Graham said on "The Brian Kilmeade Show." 

"I don't know what kind of legal advice Michael Cohen gave Donald Trump. I'm not really impressed with him as a lawyer, just to be honest with you," he added.

The most successful businessmen will surround themselves with other talented and competent managers.  The most successful presidents know will surround themselves with the best and the brightest our country has to offer.  I am going to go out on limb here, but I don't think Michael Cohen meets this standard for either Donald J. Trump, businessman or Donald J. Trump, President of the United States.  But that's not the fault of Micheal Cohen.  The honor belongs to the Incompetent One.

[richardpiccolo]

WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE (...mostly) #94 - The National Debt is Out of Control

My taxes went down with George W. Bush’s tax cuts in 2001.  Like all Americans at the time, I thought this was a good thing.  

At the time, the National Debt approximated $12.5K per person.  Today that number is closer to $61K per person.  That's an increase of almost 5X in a mere 17 years, in just the blink of an eye.  How could it have gotten so bad in the time it takes to raise a child and send then off to college?  Assuming they can afford college...

Shortly after the Bush tax cuts, our world changed as passenger jets became missiles targeted at the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon and another crashed in a peaceful field in Pennsylvania. Beyond the impact to our national psyche, the subsequent costs to our economy and our society were massive and included the creation of yet another government entity, the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate our defense.  But strangely enough, despite the increasing costs that our country had to bear, no one came to ask me to pay my fair share.  Sure, I hung out the American flag like everyone else, but the additional costs were merely added to our country’s debt.  I didn’t pay a dime. Not long after 9/11, America began our war in Afghanistan. We were certainly not going to sit back and take a defensive posture. We were going to retaliate, we were going on offense to find Osama Bin Laden and hunt him down like a dog.  I was all in on this. I wanted payback. I wanted justice. But still nobody asked me to pay my fair share. The costs were simply added to our national debt, and they are still being added to our national debt today, for this war is still raging on, some 17 years later. 

To make matters worse, we couldn’t be content with just one war, we needed more. So we turned our sights on a war with Iraq, which was predicated on either (you pick it) the stupidity or the dishonesty of the Neo-cons in the Bush administration who falsely concluded that Saddam Hussein was sitting on a stockpile of WMDs.  With Shock and Awe, we would be greeted with open arms, we would free all the little people and we would be in and out of there in twenty minutes. Right, that worked out well.

[For the record, the day the Bush  Administration announced there were no WMDs in Iraq was the day I stopped voting Republican]

I was too old to serve in both of these wars and so my share of the burden was picked up by the brave service-oriented volunteers in our armed forces and equally by their families, a group which represents less than 1% of our population. Still, nobody came to ask me to pay my fair share. The added costs of both wars just went to increasing the country’s debt.  I didn’t have to pay a dime.

In 2008, our economy, nearly crashed and burned when the sub-prime housing market tanked and almost took the rest of us down as well. My investments tanked, but the governments TARP program and federal stimulus and I believe, some steady leadership at the top, pulled us back from the brink and we recovered.  My investments recovered as well. Still no one asked me to pay my share.

And, while you might find this hard to believe, my luck was about to get even better.

The Republicans came along in 2016 and took the trifecta winning the Presidency, the House and the Senate, but instead of holding to a now forgotten heritage of managing with fiscal responsibility and instead of asking me to pay my fair share, the Republicans did me a solid.  Not only did they lower my personal income tax rate, even more noteworthy, they lowered the federal income tax rate for my company (of which I am CFO) and all the other corporations in the country from 35% to 21%. That’s a reduction of 40% year over year. 40%!!  Wouldn’t you like it if your bank lowered your mortgage payment 40% and explained to you that they were doing it to Make America Great Again? Pretty cool, huh?

Looking back at all of these significant events of the last 17 years culminating in this Republican give-away, I realize this is probably the closest thing to real magic that I will see in my lifetime.  

But as you might suspect, this was ALL simply too good to be true.

At the time of the vote, the Joint Committee on Taxation estimated the new tax bill would cost about $1.1 trillion over a decade. That was bad enough on its own, but now, four months later, a Congressional Budget Office estimate released Tuesday showed the bill will add $1.9 trillion to deficits over a decade. After hearing this, the man that cast the deciding vote on the tax reduction, retiring U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said at a Senate Budget Committee hearing on the new CBO estimate, “If it ends up costing what has been laid out here, it could well be one of the worst votes I’ve made,

“None of us have covered ourselves in glory. This Congress and this administration likely will go down as one of the most fiscally irresponsible administrations and congresses that we’ve had,” Corker said.

Business Insider also reported that the new CBO estimate also showed the U.S. will now reach an annual budget deficit of more than $1 trillion beginning 2019. I am on record as railing against the Republican Tax Cut before it happened (See posts #72, #73 and #74), so while this won't help my children deal with the overhang from this decision over their lifetime, at least I will be able to look myself in the mirror in the morning and take comfort that my head was still screwed on straight.  Republican leadership who, in the words of Republican Bob Corker will be viewed as one of the most fiscally irresponsible that we’ve ever had, will look in the mirror every morning and simply remember, that they screwed us.

We are all shareholders in America.  We all have an equity stake in it and we want to see it grow and prosper. And despite the differences in our politics, our beliefs and our religions, we are joined together at the hip.  When our country does well, the benefits accrue down to us all, as it’s shareholders.  When our country hits some rough patches, even those created by the poor or even stupid decisions of our management, we can’t simply walk away from it, as much as we might like.  We must all suck it up and contribute to make our corporation strong again.  We must all pay our fair share. 

And that means that those of us who have more, must pay more.  That’s the way it works in Corporate America.  Someone just needs to explain that to the Republicans.

[richardpiccolo]

WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE (....mostly) #93 - The Failure of Fox News

Ralph Peters, a retired United States Army lieutenant colonel, has been a Fox News contributor for over 10 years.  He has been a tough critic of Barack Obama, once describing him as having been “date raped” by Vladimir Putin and was briefly suspended in 2015 for calling President Obama a "total pussy" while on the Fox Business Network.

I lead with this background for its important to appreciate that Peters is no Liberal Snowflake hiding out in a fox skin fur.  Earlier this month, Peters chose not to renew his contract with Fox News stating "Over my decade with Fox, I long was proud of the association.  Now I am ashamed”.   Ashamed….

“Today, I feel that Fox News is assaulting our constitutional order and the rule of law, while fostering corrosive and unjustified paranoia among viewers”, Peters said in resignation letter to his colleagues, adding , “In my view, Fox has degenerated from providing a legitimate and much-needed outlet for conservative voices to a mere propaganda machine for a destructive and ethically ruinous administration. When prime-time hosts--who have never served our country in any capacity--dismiss facts and empirical reality to launch profoundly dishonest assaults on the FBI, the Justice Department, the courts, the intelligence community and, not least, a model public servant and genuine war hero such as Robert Mueller--all the while scaremongering with lurid warnings of "deep-state" machinations-- I cannot be part of the same organization, even at a remove. To me, Fox News is now wittingly harming our system of government for profit.”

Peters makes several extremely important points that speak to the selfish behavior of Fox News, which is causing long term damage to our imperfect democracy.

First, he reflects upon the fact that Fox once had a mission to offer a legitimate and much needed outlet for conservatives.  On the surface, this was a well-intended goal, but the face of American press has morphed dramatically over the last few decades.   Walter Cronkite was once considered to be the most trusted man in America, so much so that when his perspective turned on the Viet Nam war, President Johnson was quoted as saying “If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost the country."  

Since those days, the press has clearly leaned left in its outlook, which set the stage for the arrival of Fox News. It was a void waiting to be filled.

If Fox News had only stayed true to its original mandate, things might have turned out better for them and better for all of us.   While the network was being established back in 1996, co-founder Roger Ailes actually used the slogan ……."Fair and Balanced".   Honestly, I am not making this up.  Check out Wikipedia if you don’t believe me.  

Peter’s resignation refers back to those days, when real value could have been added by the arrival of the network, but sadly, somewhere along their path, they lost their way.

Second, Peters references the Fox’s more prominent role in the press today as “a propaganda machine for a destructive and ethically ruinous administration”.   Think about this for a moment.  A Fox News contributor is accurately depicting the network’s action as the defacto spokesperson for the Trump administration, where the only speech that emanates out is so far from the truth, it’s officially …“propaganda”.

Third, Peters hits the nail on the head when he states that “Fox News is now wittingly harming our system of government for profit.”   The profit motive was not far from the minds of the Fox executives who released a reply to Peter’s resignation statement which read “We are extremely proud of our top-rated primetime hosts and all of our opinion programing,”

Their reference to their top-rated primetime hosts is accurate.  Of course they are top-rated, Fox News effectively has a monopoly owning the only major conservative voice in the main stream media, while all the other networks fight over the left leaning and moderate voices in our country, so how can they lose?  Fox’s profits is their raison d'être.   They achieve those profits by catering to a large minority of America, and they are not going to let anyone poach their territory.  So as many conservatives and republicans morphed into the current base of Trump supporters starting back in 2015, they moved with their market.  They moved to protect their brand with no concern for the loss of the any remaining credibility they might have once owned.

There is a reason President Trump is not rushing to fill the Director of Communications role, formerly held by Hope Hicks, who officially left the White House on Friday.  It’s not because he is his own Director as many political commenters have postulated.  No, it’s because he already has Fox News acting in this role.  Under the guise of being “independent”, they offer additional validation to his base.  This has led to a circular, reinforcing dynamic, where the President is happy, Fox News is happy, and Trump supporters are happy.   They are all tucked in and cozy, in their hermetically-sealed bubble, undisturbed by all the fake news around them. 

And for the rest of us, who choose to live outside of any bubble, it’s now confirmed.  Walter Cronkite is now a distant memory, and we are not in Kansas anymore Dorothy.

[richardpiccolo]

WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE (...mostly) #92 - Patriots Owner Takes a Stand

Corporations are stoic beasts, often fixated on the bottom line, who are loath to take a political stance which could alienate some part of their customer base and preclude future access to their wallets. But every now and then, some radical thinking CEO decides to pull a “PopEye” and declare that they have had all that they can stand, they can’t stand no more.

New England Patriots owner and CEO Robert Kraft explained his “Popeye” yesterday and why it was a “no-brainer” to lend the team jet to the families of the 17 victims and other injured students of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting who were participating on Saturday in the “March for Our Lives” rally against gun violence in Washington DC

Kraft acted on a request to lend the team’s Boeing 767 from former Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords, herself a victim of gun violence, and her husband, Mark Kelly. Kraft’s mini dissertation on the topic and and his clear frustration follows below:

“I have a big problem with what’s going on in Washington and the divisiveness, and no one’s listening to one another, and forgetting where you stand on this issue. So when they called and asked, would you send a plane to help take the wounded kids and their families, kids who couldn’t go on a normal plane, we didn’t hesitate a minute.

“Think, all of you who have kids. Think about losing one of your kids. You wake up in the morning, they go to school, and they don’t come home at night.”

“I just thought this is a way for our organization to reach out to these people who were hurting bad. I can’t think of a worse unnatural thing than losing a child. Think of little kids going to school and seeing bullets, in America, going over their head. Something’s not right, and we’ve got to fix it. Congratulations to these kids for trying to get the attention of this country focused on it.

“I hope our friends in Washington are smart enough to figure out a way to listen to one another and do something that can be positive.”

We applaud your strong words Mr. Kraft, but unfortunately our friends in Washington, specifically our Republican friends, continue to hide out on this issue, so that makes your suggestion to listen to one another a little hard to pull off. With Congress on recess at the end of last week, Republicans had a built-in excuse to literally and figuratively head for the hills on this one, so none of them stuck around to hear what the kids had to say.

Once onboard the Patriots jet, the students and their families were greeted by a letter of support from Kraft which read:

"On behalf of the New England Patriots organization, I want to express our support as you travel to Washington for this weekend's March for Our Lives. In the wake of incredible tragedy, we have hurt for you, mourned with you and been inspired by you. It is an honor for us to now partner with you as you push for progress.

Your community is stirring our country towards a better future. That is the true mark of a patriot. Thank you for your leadership and inspiration. Best wishes as you prepare for takeoff on your journey."

So now, let’s compare Mr. Kraft’s words and deeds to those of the tone deaf dunderhead and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum who suggested on CNN that the students would be better off taking a CPR course rather than trying to motivate a Republican Congress to do something positive for once in their sorry lives.

President Trump at least avoided putting his foot in his mouth on this one, but he did so by high tailing it out of town over the weekend and headed to his personal golf course, again, where his motorcade took the long way home to avoid even driving by protesters. For a brief moment in time, when the President met with survivors of the shooting, we all thought he might actually lead the country forward on this one. But a meeting with the NRA the very next day caused him to crawl back to the safety and comfort of his Twitter feed, and a briefly hoped for bang, ended with a whimper.

Mr. Kraft’s assistance on this worthy effort will certainly lead to some blow back from some of the good ‘ol boys who buy seasons tickets every year, who will view this as a big nod to those on the left who, they will say, harbor a long term goal to repeal the second amendment. But he appears willing to accept it, and we should note that this is not the first time the corporate owner of the New England Patriots has taken a personally difficult stand. He previously stood up for his players’ right to protest during the national anthem at the start of each game. The most interesting part of all this is that it comes from a man who was a big supporter of Mr. Trump and who reportedly donated $1 million to his campaign.

Proving that there are people on both sides of the aisle that can come together and agree on common sense steps to make our country a better place to live.

And for those of you Patriots haters out there, you might ask yourselves, what has your team done to take a stand ? What has your team done to take a risk?

[Footnote - coincidentally, tonight my wife and I will be attending the Boston Speaker Series with Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly. I am looking forward to hearing their perspective on this important issue first hand.]