The week that was? You can say that again

Back in the early 1960s, there was a TV show called “That Was the Week That Was.” It was originally a British comedy program hosted by David Frost that took a satirical look at the news and politics of the day. An American version of the show with the same name aired on NBC from 1964 to 1965, also featuring Frost as host.

If that show were still on television today, this past week would certainly qualify as one of the weeks that was. I mean, setting satire aside, all of these events actually happened in just the past few days:

* For one thing, we had the revelation that the president’s people have been doctoring his photographs to make the fat man look thinner and to suggest that his tiny hands are bigger and his stubby fingers are longer. And that was the funny part.  

* Next, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi told the President of the United States he couldn’t come over to her place to stage his annual “State of the Union Fact-Free Fantasy Forecast, Fictitious Fib-a-Thon and Red Hat MAGA Rally” until he stopped shutting down the federal government. She hit him where it hurts. Telling an attention-starved reality show star and malignant narcissist he couldn’t have an hour and a half of free television time to spew out unhinged propaganda was like telling a newborn baby it couldn’t have milk.

* That same president, via Twitter, openly threatened the safety and well-being of his former attorney and his family if the one-time “fixer” had the audacity to testify before a Senate committee investigating the president, all the while continuing to chant “no collusion” and pretending that he hasn’t done anything wrong. Frankie Pentangeli much? Apparently, none of Trump’s army of dime store lawyers has ever bothered to explain to him what the terms “obstruction of justice” and “witness intimidation” mean.

* Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, a theoretical billionaire who seems to have problems with the math required to calculate his own assets, said he can’t understand why federal workers affected by Trump’s month-long government shutdown couldn’t get by without their paychecks, suggesting they just take out a bridge loan to cover their debts. Because, you know, banks are always bending over backward to loan money out to people who tell them they have no income with which to pay them back.

(Note to Mr. Ross: In case you’ve missed it, multiple scholars and other smart people are currently writing books about the myriad things you, the president and the rest of his Swamp Creature Cabinet aren’t able to understand. The utter incompetence of Trump and his advisors and their complete lack of connection with anything resembling the real world and its people will be studied and written about by historians, psychologists and textbook authors long after you and your cohorts are buried deep in the ground.)

* Then, the president who bills himself as the world’s greatest negotiator offered legislation to a Republican-controlled Senate that would have given him $5.7 billion for a border wall, and tried to call it a compromise by throwing in a bunch of crap that the Democratic Party didn’t want. Republican control or not, the Senate turned him down. At the same time, the Democrats offered a proposal to reopen the government while giving the president absolutely nothing, and while their bill also was defeated, it managed to garner more support than the president’s own plan. Oops! Called that one wrong, hey Mr. Trump?

* Just today, the government shutdown got so bad that one of the nation’s largest airports had to suspend operations for several hours because it didn’t have enough air traffic controllers to ensure safe takeoffs and landings. La Guardia, we have a problem.

* Also today, one of the president’s long-time aides, Roger Stone, was indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller for lying to authorities, obstruction of justice and witness tampering in connection with Russian interference in the 2016 election. To illustrate the similarities between Trump and another infamous Republican president, Stone arrived for a news conference displaying the Richard “I am not a crook” Nixon two-handed, arms outstretched victory salute. Not a good look, Roger, mimicking one president who was almost impeached while defending another one who soon may be.

* And finally, in the coup de grace, the aforementioned Mrs. Pelosi ate the president’s lunch right off his plate by forcing him to reopen the government and admit defeat without giving him a single penny for his all-concrete / steel slat / some kind of material to be determined later southern border wall. That prompted meme makers to develop images showing certain of Trump’s body parts stored inside a jar. You can google that or simply use your imagination.

So Trump walks away with the same “compromise” he could have made 35 days ago and spared 800,000 government workers the pain of being furloughed or having to work without getting paid. I'm seeing an image of Howie Mandel and a couple dozen women in electric blue mini-dresses toting silver briefcases and shouting, “Deal or no deal?”

I'm also thinking that when the history of the world is written, there will be a short chapter describing the past few days as one of the "weeks that was" in the presidency of Donald Trump. I doubt if even the satirists at the British Broadcasting Corporation could conjure up this kind of political theater.

‘Winston’s Law’ should at least bring justice for Winston

There’s a bill working its way through the West Virginia Legislature to more severely punish people who abuse animals. I’m all for that and I even volunteered to help promote this bill, known as “Winston’s Law,” until I actually read the text of the bill. I was so disappointed in what I read that I am now officially withdrawing my support.

For those unfamiliar, Winston is a 9-year-old Yorkshire Terrier who was blind, badly matted and abandoned by his owner, who placed the dog in a cooler bag, weighed it down with a heavy book and discarded it behind a power plant in Rivesville, W.Va. A good Samaritan stumbled upon the bag while walking his own dog, rescued Winston and took him to a no-kill shelter. When the community learned about Winston’s story through the news media, dozens of people donated thousands of dollars so the dog could have cataract surgery that restored much of his vision, and he has since been adopted by a loving family that treats him the way he deserves to be treated.  

  

So why wouldn’t everybody support a bill called Winston’s Law? Please allow me to explain.

First off, do not assume for one minute that I don’t support punishment for people who abuse animals. I do. I’d like to get 15 minutes alone with some of them in a locked room while wielding an aluminum baseball bat. I also think the people who proposed and support “Winston’s Law” are good people who want to do the right thing for Winston and all of the other animals who have been or may be mistreated in West Virginia, and I applaud them for their efforts.

However, I was fortunate enough to hold Winston in my arms after he was rescued—when he was still blind and frightened of many people—and he truly touched my heart. My wife and I donated money to help with his surgery and we have followed his story ever since. If a statute to protect animals is going to be called “Winston’s Law,” I believe he deserves better than the one that presently bears his name.

Senate Bill 124 as written—and recently revised—clearly states that in order for animal abuse to be considered a felony in West Virginia, the animal must suffer “bodily injury” or be killed, or the perpetrator must be guilty of a second offense. Here is the exact language:

“A BILL to amend and reenact §61-8-19 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to creating a felony offense for cruelty to an animal that causes bodily injury to or death of the animal; and creating a felony offense for second and subsequent convictions of cruelty to animals.”

It also clearly states that withholding food and water from an animal or abandoning an animal to die—which is what happened to Winston—are misdemeanors:

“It is unlawful for any person to intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly…withhold proper sustenance, including food or water (or) abandon an animal to die. Any person in violation…of this subsection is guilty of a misdemeanor.”

I wasn’t there when Winston was found but I don't remember reading that he was “injured,” per se, when he was placed inside the bag, and he obviously didn’t die, and there has been no evidence to suggest that his owner was a repeat offender. Winston was, however, “abandoned and left to die,” which the law clearly states is a misdemeanor. If I was the defense attorney for Winston’s abuser, I would argue that under the law as written, he cannot be found guilty of a felony, and I believe I would easily win in court.

This is not what Winston’s supporters were promised when we were told that legislation was pending to strengthen the law. In fact, if this new bill had been in place the day Winston was discarded, it still would not have made what happened to him a felony, nor is it strong enough to deter other abusers from doing the same thing to another helpless pet one time, get caught, pay a small fine for first offense and carry on with their lives.

I hope I’m wrong about all of this and maybe I'm missing something, but I don’t believe I am. I have read this bill a half-dozen times and it keeps coming out the same way. I was a journalist for 13 years. I once covered the West Virginia Legislature and have read dozens of pieces of proposed legislation, and I have also covered dozens of courtroom trials, so I’m not just some guy off the street who loves animals. I know a little bit about legislation and the law.

In my opinion, West Virginia needs an animal abuse statute that addresses three key issues:

(1) Abandonment which is likely to result in death. For example, placing a dog in a bag or a box and tossing it over a hill or out of a car window or onto the ground behind a power plant—as in Winston’s case—needs to be a felony on first offense and every subsequent offense.

(2) Neglect. For example, chaining up an animal up outdoors in sub-zero weather and allowing it to freeze to death needs to be a felony on first offense and every subsequent offense.

(3) Entrapment. Locking an animal inside a car in freezing cold or sweltering heat which is likely to result in its death needs to be a felony on first offense and every subsequent offense. This law also needs to allow good Samaritans who are not first responders to rescue an animal from such circumstances without fear of arrest for trespassing or vandalism or any other crime.

People who love their pets and consider them to be family members see little difference between animal abuse and the abuse of a small child. Imagine placing a blind human baby inside a cooler bag, weighing it down with a heavy book and leaving it in an isolated location to die of exposure or starvation. Would that be a felony in your eyes?

I support those animal rights activists who are pushing for legislative change, because without strong animal cruelty laws, situations like Winston’s can happen any time without repercussions or proper punishment for the abusers. I encourage everyone who cares about animals to contact their legislators in every state and tell them to support a comprehensive animal abuse statute that addresses the three issues I mentioned above. 

That way we can put in place the strongest possible laws to protect our animals and deter those people who would otherwise abuse them, usually without so much as a second thought.

Here’s a national emergency we can all get behind

I agree with faux-president Trump that America is facing a national emergency that demands the immediate expenditure of billions of dollars in federal funds. It’s just not the national emergency that he’s been promoting. 

The national emergency I’m talking about is the imminent threat to the health, safety and security of all Americans by the factually-documented phenomenon of global climate change. Unlike Trump’s claims regarding the manufactured “invasion” of our southern border by crazed illegal immigrants bent on robbing, raping, kidnapping and beheading our fine citizens – using statistics he pulled out of his…fantasy world – the negative effects of climate change are proven by scientific evidence.

In its 2018 report, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that the consequences of unchecked climate change are far more dire than previously thought, and that avoiding the damage requires transforming the world economy at a speed and scale that has “no documented historic precedent.”

The report was written by 91 lead authors and 133 contributing authors from 40 countries around the world who assessed 30,000 scientific papers and made more than 42,000 comments during the review process. Factual findings like theirs simply cannot be ignored.

The report warns that the world has already warmed by 1°C since the middle of the 19th century, and could reach 1.5°C before the middle of this century at the current rate of warming. Failure to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases to net zero by the middle of this century will result in unprecedented climate-related risks and weather events including more frequent and intense heat waves, droughts, more damaging storms and rising oceans. It describes a world of worsening food shortages and wildfires and a mass die-off of coral reefs as soon as 2040 – a period well within the lifetime of much of the global population.

For those doing the math at home, in 2040 my elder daughter will be my age now, her sister will be two years younger and my grandchildren will be 46, 36, 31 and 29. I hope they are still alive then, but if they are, this will be the world in which they live, so these are the people we need to protect.  

That’s why I could go all in on a proposal to spend $5.7 billion or whatever it takes to promote and advance the development of alternative energy sources such as wind, hydroelectric and solar that don’t blast ozone-depleting chemicals into the air, and the shuttering of fossil fuel-burning power plants that do.

        

What’s that you say? A climate change initiative doesn’t do it for you? Well, then how about this:

I would also support a declaration of a national emergency to address America’s crumbling infrastructure problem that threatens the health, safety and security of every citizen. I’d support spending $5.7 billion or whatever it takes to repair the thousands of roads and bridges that are falling into disrepair by the day. I’d do this before a bridge collapses in [pick your state] and kills a few hundred people or before a sinkhole opens up on Interstate [pick a number] and swallows up cars full of motorists whole.

Still not enough to convince you? Then I have one more:

How about we spend $5.7 billion or whatever it takes to improve the education system in America? In addition to increasing teacher salaries, I’d suggest we allocate the funds to shore up crumbling schools and failing academic performance, help alleviate massive student loan debt and make colleges and trade schools free or at least more affordable for all students so that more of us can qualify for good jobs.

Improving our education system would undoubtedly make Americans healthier, safer and more secure and I can prove it. The education system we have now spawned 62 million people who voted for Donald Trump to be president of the United States, including a few million who think he was sent to us by god to become king, and who still support him in spite of two years of lies, aberrant behavior and a demonstrated inability to comprehend the simplest concepts of democracy, global politics, American government and the rule of law.

Electing Donald Trump unquestionably ranks as one of the greatest threats to the health, safety and security of the American people since our nation was founded in 1776. If that level of stupidity doesn’t translate into a national emergency then I don’t know what would.

When looking back seems better than looking ahead

“Can you imagine us years from today,

Sharing a park bench quietly?

How terribly strange to be seventy.”

 – From “Old Friends” by Simon and Garfunkel

I’ll be 69 years old in a couple of weeks, give or take a day or two, and my best friend will be 70 a few months after that. I’ll “catch up” with him for a short time next year before he pulls ahead once again. We’ve been friends since first grade so reaching age 70 – assuming we both do – will be “terribly strange” indeed.

These days, when we get together over a beer, we invariably talk a lot about the way things used to be because it’s so much more enjoyable than bitching about the way things look moving forward. Maybe we should take Paul Simon’s advice and go sit on a park bench somewhere. Or maybe not.  

Anyhow, it’s not so much the number of my age that’s important to me, it’s the quality of my life. After nearly seven decades on the planet it seems strange to realize that for the most part, life has already been as good as it’s going to get. That doesn’t mean it can’t still be good – and I don’t mean to depress anybody – but logically speaking, the chances of life getting better from here on out seem remote at best.

Physically, I’m guessing, none of us who are 69 or 70 years old are in the best of health. Am I right? I know I’m not, and I won’t bore you with a list of ailments that plague me because I’m sure you’ve got problems of your own. Suffice to say that, as just one example, a doctor is going to stick a needle in my right eye in a few hours to prevent a degenerating condition from getting worse. In all likelihood, it won’t get better, so as I said, the best days of my right eye are over and done.

See my point?

Still, I see people all around me who are far worse off than I am and I’m thankful that I’m in the condition that I am. I can still see well enough to write this essay, although the words are a little bit blurry, and I can still stand on two legs, dress myself, drive a car, walk my dog, read, write, talk, eat, drink and be merry when the situation demands it. An old man in the doctor’s office yesterday had to be told which way was left and still couldn’t negotiate the turn without help from his daughter and another man. I can still turn left on my own initiative.

So physically, I know I’m better off than millions of other people my age or even younger, and I’m thankful for that, believe me.

Mentally, I think I’m good. Thanks for asking. In the past few weeks I have finished writing three books, including one I started roughly 15 years ago, finished, rewrote, finished, rewrote, sat on, re-edited and finally completed last year. Two of the books I have written are at the publisher’s right now undergoing a critical review. I’m pretty sure that at least one of them will be published and maybe, if I’m lucky, two of them will. You’ll be among the first to know.

The third book is called “The shieldWALL Volume 1” and is a compilation of nearly every essay I have written since I started this blog in 2016, copied and pasted into book form, printed out and placed in a three-ring binder. I omitted a few that were, shall we say, not too good. It’s more than 500 pages long, ending at the conclusion of last year (I had to stop some place) and will probably never become a published book. For one thing, it’s out on Blogspot for free and anyone could read it, including about 1,700 Russians who continue to be my second biggest audience by far. Most of the people who care what I write there have already read it, so why would anyone pay to read it again as a big fat book?

As you can see, I’m still writing, so apparently my brain is still functioning fairly well. The other day I wrote a comment to a Facebook post that I swear came straight out of my own head with no help from anyone else, and a few hours later a political commentator said the exact same thing on MSNBC. I say it here, it comes out there. I should be on TV. Or not.

Finally, there’s my emotional health. I was actually awake at midnight on December 31 when 2019 rolled in, unlike most years when I was sound asleep. I think I was writing book pages at the time. The sad thing is, it was just another night to me. No champagne, no streamers, no confetti, no loud horns and no fireworks of any kind. I didn’t even watch the ball drop. It was just me and a keyboard and a book I had extracted out of my own, active imagination, which still seems to work as intended, even at my advanced age.

I might have been excited on NYE if the term of our current president had expired or if he had been arrested for running a global crime family or if the military had overthrown the government and exiled him to the island of Elba (see Bonaparte, Napoleon) or if he had tendered his resignation because the job was too big for him or even if he had lied (imagine that) and said, “I am leaving office tomorrow because I have kept my promise to make American great again and now my work here is finished.”

But none of that happened, and it’s another year, and we’re still under the “governance” of the crazy man who commands our nation’s military and treats it like his personal police force, has the power to shut down the federal government so that hundreds of thousands of decent Americans don’t get paid and now thinks he might have the power to fabricate a national emergency to keep a campaign promise that no rational citizen ever believed from the first day he uttered the word “wall.”

I wrote the other day that years from now, psychiatrists or other learned doctors will write entire textbooks about the phenomenon of the Donald Trump presidency and a condition I like to call “Trumpaloonic Narcissism.” I wrote those words after watching a video clip that went on for several minutes in which Trump said things like, “No one has ever done (fill in the blank) as well as I have.” I didn’t think a word existed for such an extreme version of the malignant narcissist condition so I made one up. Feel free to use it any time, free of charge.

Let me just say that like my right eyeball, I don’t think things are going to get better before they get worse. It still boggles my mind how 62 million voters and virtually the entire Republican Party can go through life allowing this president to run the country like his fraudulent university or his failed casinos or his questionable real estate business, all the while ignoring his history of having sex with porn stars, evading the military and the tax man and mocking decent people who dare to disagree with him and now, it seems, driving the country further into autocracy while chipping away at everything good about America.    

I don't always pay attention to memes, but I really liked the one that said, "If you can't see that Trump is a con man, congratulations. You're the mark." 

So how is my emotional health, you ask? Well, I wrote this essay, didn’t I? What would be your best guess? It looks like the shieldWALL is back with a vengeance for 2019, so stay tuned, my friends. I’m thinking there just might be several more to come.