Two scenarios, one net result

Scenario 1:

Special Counsel Robert Mueller testifies before two House committees, where he says Donald Trump broke the law on multiple occasions and could have been indicted if he wasn’t president. He says his investigation DID NOT exonerate the president and he cannot say that no crimes were committed. Still, Democrats are reluctant to open an impeachment inquiry for political reasons, so they complain a lot, promise to “keep investigating” and otherwise do nothing.

Afterward, Vice President Mike Pence and Trump lie about the hearings, claiming that Trump WAS totally exonerated and there was “no obstruction” and “no collusion.”

Trump struts around like the cock of the walk and does an end zone dance while proclaiming, “I won! I won! I won!”

Polls show he is supported by 38% of the population.

Scenario 2:

Democrats grow a set of balls and fulfill their Constitutional obligation to open an impeachment inquiry in the House, bringing to light the actions of a president who has repeatedly broken the law and lied about it for more than two years. They bring in witnesses to say—live on national TV—that Trump is operating a criminal enterprise out of the White House for his personal enrichment, was only elected because he had help from an adversarial foreign government and made multiple attempts to obstruct the investigation into his illegal behavior.

The Democrat-led House votes in favor of articles of impeachment, but the Republican-controlled Senate refuses to uphold the charges.

Trump struts around like the cock of the walk and does an end zone dance while proclaiming, “I won! I won! I won!”

He continues to be supported by 38% of the population.

Now I ask you…what’s the difference?  

Remembering (or mis-remembering) the moon walk

I’ve reached that stage of my life where I can’t remember things I should remember, and I do remember things that never happened. My friend calls it “all things mis-remembered.”

Or you could just call it getting old.

Here’s an example: I’ve been telling a story for years about a former newspaper editor getting into an argument with an advertising manager about what constituted “news” and what didn’t. I even wrote about the incident in my book, Time Capsule. But back in April, when I attended a reunion of former employees of said newspaper, the editor said he didn’t recall ever having such an argument. Now I don’t know if it actually happened or not.

(To be fair, however, that same editor mis-remembered the time I met Art Garfunkel walking down a road in Western Maryland as part of his famous “walk across America,” so I had to set him straight about that event. Turnabout is fair play in the mis-remembering game, I guess.)

Which brings me to the moon walk on July 20, 1969.

First off, let me explain that in the year 1969, I was working at the Sears store in Fairmont’s new Middletown Mall. (At least I think I was. Hell, who even knows?) I was there because I had managed to make a total mess of my first two years of college at Fairmont State University, where I had enrolled in the first summer session of 1967. Someone had suggested that summer school was a good place to get acclimated to college life, and like an idiot I believed him. Silly me. I was only two or three weeks out of high school and absolutely not ready for college, and I went out of my way to prove it in every conceivable way.

I’ll spare you the gory details of my early college experience, except to tell you that over the next two years I managed to meet a girl, join a fraternity, skip classes, play cards in the student center, go to parties, drink a lot, hang out at the neighborhood bar watching “Jeopardy” and see my grade point average decline every semester from 3.0 to 2.3 to 1.5 to 0.8 and eventually to 0.0.

(Yes, there is such a thing as a 0.0 GPA. I have the papers to prove it.)

At that point, the college politely asked me to leave and not come back for one full year, so I was placed on academic probation. I also managed to get drafted into the military, fail my physical (not because of bone spurs) and go to work at Sears, a brand new store which wasn’t even open yet. I worked in the warehouse, checking and labeling products to be stocked on store shelves prior to grand opening.

So it was that, according to my best memory, I was working on the night of July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans from planet earth to walk on the surface of the moon. Except that I wasn’t. I remember coming out from the warehouse to watch the moon landing that was showing on every TV set in Sears’ television department. Except that I didn’t. And I remember standing in an aisle and watching Neil Armstrong take one giant leap for mankind. Except that I didn’t do that, either.

You see, contrary to what I thought I remembered, July 20, 1969, was a Sunday, and I don’t believe I ever worked at Sears on Sunday nights. In addition, the moon landing occurred at 4:17 p.m. and 40 seconds on the afternoon of July 20, and not at night as I remember it, so even if I had been working, it didn’t happen when I thought it did. Further, Armstrong didn’t step off the ladder of the lunar module and touch the moon’s surface until six and a half hours after the Eagle had landed, so his moon walk began at 10:56 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time. Regardless of the day of the week, I can assure you I was not working in the Sears warehouse as late as 11 p.m.

So why do I remember all of that happening? Why does it seem so clear? Why have I been telling people what I obviously mis-remembered for the past 50 years? Did I just watch a replay of the event? It sure seemed like I was watching it in real time. I have these questions and more. I just don’t have any answers. I don’t know why the mind conjures up images of things that didn’t happen and we convince ourselves they are true. If anybody does know the answer, I’d love to hear it. Meanwhile, it makes me wonder how many other events I have mis-remembered over the years, such as:

* Where I was when John F. Kennedy was assassinated (I think it was the freshman building at Fairmont Senior High School),

* Where I first heard the Sergeant Pepper’s album (seems like it was a parking lot in downtown Fairmont),

* The first girl I kissed (I see us under the porch on the White School playground) and

* Who she was (the name Mary is lodged in my brain).

And that’s just for starters.

For the record, I do remember getting married, my children being born, my first newspaper job and the three that came after that, retiring from the power company and writing four books. I remember all of my dogs and our four cats, every house we bought and every place we lived. I remember playing softball and being the drummer in a rock and roll band. I remember vacations at the beach and Christmases with the family. I remember my grandchildren, my parents and all of my closest friends. I guess that means I remember the things that are truly important in my life.

But the Apollo 11 moon landing and Neil Armstrong’s historic jump off the lunar module’s ladder? I could have sworn I remembered that, too. Now, about the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, the 1979 World Series and that whole Watergate thing…           

Why don’t they just ask somebody a question?

Two issues found their way into my consciousness this morning. They are issues that seem very simple on the surface but become complicated and controversial whenever partisan politicians get involved. In my mind, both of these issues could easily be reconciled if someone would just pick up a telephone and make a call.

Please allow me to explain.   

First is the issue of medical marijuana in West Virginia. In 2017, the West Virginia Legislature—that bastion of progressive thinking—passed a law that made cannabis legal for medical use on July 1 of this year. But wait! According to my calendar, it’s July 14 already and I don’t see any medical marijuana businesses opening up in the state. Furthermore, just today, I read in my local newspaper that the first sale of medical marijuana is still several years away.

Seriously? Years away? All we’re talking about is allowing the sale of something that already exists, not researching, designing and creating a whole new product from scratch. This isn’t inventing the telephone or sending a man to Mars, it’s opening a few stores. It’s already been two years since the bill was passed, so what could possibly be taking so long?

Well, according to state officials, they have been unable to identify a bank or banks that will handle tax revenue from such sales because, while West Virginia has authorized the sale of medical cannabis, marijuana is still illegal under federal law, so banks are reluctant to get in trouble with the feds by handling the funds. In addition, state health officials claim it will take at least two years “to implement permitting and licensing for patients and those who want to start businesses within the industry.”

And, of course, the initial crops will have to be grown, because I’m certain that no one is growing marijuana in West Virginia right now. (Wink wink, nod nod.)

Meanwhile, in Colorado and 32 other states plus the District of Columbia, the use of marijuana has been legalized in some form, and in 11 states and D.C., pot is legal for recreational use. In Colorado, anyone age 21 or older can now legally possess one ounce of marijuana, including the flower or bud, many types of concentrates, edibles, topicals and so on. Cannabis seeds are also available for sale in Colorado.

Only residents who apply for medical marijuana cards need to even register with the state.

According to the Colorado Department of Revenue, since 2014, the state has netted $1,043,961,209 in taxes, licenses and fees resulting from the legalization of marijuana. That’s one billion dollars plus, for those keeping score at home. Last year alone the state took in $266.5 million, and Colorado has already collected $136.5 million in the first half of 2019.

Does it sound like they have any banking problem out there?

So it begs the question: If West Virginia can’t figure out how to implement a law that was passed two years ago and only applies to medical marijuana, why doesn’t somebody pick up a telephone and call Colorado? They seem to have figured it out quite nicely, thank you very much. Perhaps they could offer some suggestions on how to get around that pesky federal law thing—like they apparently did. Better yet, why not hire someone from Colorado as a consultant to come to West Virginia and administer the program so we can get this show on the road. (The number to call at the Department of Revenue is 303-205-8411.)

I mean, hey man, like, we could have, like, cannabis in the medicine cabinet before you could say “Cheech and Chong.” It would be, like, far out, man.

*     *     *

Second is the matter of universal health care coverage.

Universal coverage refers to a health care system in which every individual has health coverage. Presently, at least 32 countries offer some form of universal health coverage, including some of our best friends on the planet. Many have had it for decades. For example, Norway—the first country to offer it (and Trump’s favorite nation of white people)—has had it since way back in 1912.

According to the internet, “Universal health coverage is a broad concept that has been implemented in several ways. The common denominator for all such programs is some form of government action aimed at extending access to health care as widely as possible and setting minimum standards. Most implement universal health care through legislation, regulation and taxation. Legislation and regulation direct what care must be provided, to whom, and on what basis.”

Universal health care is financed and administered in different ways around the globe. In some countries, universal health care is funded entirely out of tax revenue. In others, tax revenue is used to fund insurance only for the very poor or for people who need long term chronic care. In the United Kingdom, the government manages the health care system through the National Health Service, but many other countries use a mix of public and private systems to deliver universal health care.

In most European countries, universal health care is provided by a network of private insurance companies that are regulated by the government, which sounds a little like a better, broader version of the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare. That European model would seem to contradict the argument by opponents of universal health care that it would bring about the end of private insurance companies nationwide.

At any rate, there are clearly any number of ways that universal health care could be administered in the United States, especially when you consider that it’s been working in Norway for 107 years. So here’s an idea: Instead of holding White House summit meetings to complain about Facebook and Twitter, or dredging the bottom of the swamp to find a way to harass undocumented immigrants, maybe the White House could invite representatives of countries where universal health care is a success and let them advise us on how to get it done.

Then our faux-president could send Congress a health care plan that would actually be a plan and not a plan to have a plan once somebody comes up with a plan. I mean, c’mon, Don, they have universal health care in Cyprus, Slovenia and even Luxembourg. How hard can it really be? Use your phone for something other than a Twitter propaganda device. Pick a country; make a call. What could be easier than that?

*     *     *   

To assist you, here is a list* of the 32 countries that currently offer universal health care systems:         

1.   Australia

2.   Austria

3.   Bahrain

4.   Belgium

5.   Brunei

6.   Canada

7.   Cyprus

8.   Denmark

9.   Finland

10. France

11. Germany

12. Greece

13. Hong Kong

14. Iceland

15. Ireland

16. Israel

17. Italy

18. Japan

19. Kuwait

20. Luxembourg

21. Netherlands

22. New Zealand

23. Norway

24. Portugal

25. Singapore

26. Slovenia

27. South Korea

28. Spain

29. Sweden

30. Switzerland

31. United Arab Emirates

32. United Kingdom

* Source: New York State Department of Health.

When did America stop caring about children?

I can’t pinpoint the exact time, date and place where a large chunk of America stopped caring about children…but it seems to have happened while we were looking the other way.

Think about it. As these words are being written, we have children trapped in cages on our southern border in what are being described as unsanitary, unhealthy and unsafe conditions. (Unless, of course, you’re a Republican member of Congress, presidential adviser Stephen Miller or an ICE agent, in which case these cages are more like summer camps.)

What crime did these children commit that sentenced them to live in a cage? Oh, yeah, they were brought to America by a parent or relative in search of a better life. Shame on them for doing that. I guess they deserve to be locked up indefinitely without their parents and forced to wallow in their own (and someone else’s) filth.

At the same time, we have billionaire white men raping and abusing 12-, 13- and 14-year-old girls at lavish parties attended by luminaries including, allegedly, the current president of the United States, then buying their way out of serious trouble by making secret deals with a federal prosecutor who later became part of said president’s cabinet. This serial child rape continued for years, in which no one seemed to care.

Beyond that, I still haven’t gotten over the images I conjured up in my mind after hearing that 5- and 6-year-old children were ripped apart by bullets at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and that happened nearly seven years ago. It was the outrageous school shooting that was supposed to bring about a drastic change in our nation’s gun laws…until it wasn’t…and to this day nothing but sadness, grief and a few suicides have resulted from the event.

Add to this all of the other school shootings that have taken place since Newtown, including the killing of 17 at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which again focused our attention on school safety until the NRA and other gun rights advocates turned the discussion into arming all of our teachers, thus setting up a Wild West scenario in which an “active shooter” situation could easily turn into an all-out firefight between heavily armed intruders and your eighth grade biology teacher.

Never mind that the Parkland students who survived the horror have become advocates for gun safety laws, and for their efforts have become victims again—victims of ridicule, attacks on social media, misinformation, lies, death threats, criticism and scorn. Just another day in America.

And now, in the wake of the right-wing-ization of the U.S. Supreme Court, we have a number of southern states enacting draconian abortion laws that purport to protect unborn children by punishing women for getting pregnant (never mind that a man had to help with the process), and by criminalizing abortion at virtually every stage of pregnancy. Never before has a zygote enjoyed such legislative attention, “human” rights, personal privileges and protection under the law.

If this new wave of anti-abortion laws doesn’t convince the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, I can’t imagine what will come next. Perhaps the Alabama legislature will declare that life begins when a woman consumes two or more glasses of wine and then takes off her pants.

And finally, our children are becoming unwitting victims of climate change, also known as “that unproven liberal hoax” over on the Fox News and Propaganda Channel.

Now, it may not seem that a discussion of climate change fits in with an essay about children’s safety until you think about it for a minute. Five years ago, I think it was, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned us what would happen if we continued to rely on fossil fuels for our energy. The IPCC said if we burned more than 30% of our known fossil fuel reserves, we would cross an environmental “red line” by the year 2040, resulting in more extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, heat waves, rising sea levels and so on. And if we were to burn ALL of our available fossil fuels, the IPCC said, humans would find large parts of the planet uninhabitable outdoors.

Let me repeat that. Parts of our planet would become uninhabitable

out of doors.

As I previously wrote in this blog, the year 2040 is not some unreachable date far out in the future. It's only 21 years from now. My children will be roughly my age now and my grandchildren will be younger than my children are today. That means that for everyone who has young children or grandchildren, this is not a joke or some cruel liberal hoax. This is the future their children face as long as we continue to burn fossil fuels.

So set aside for a moment the immigration issue, gun rights and wealthy sexual predators—all of which pose a serious threat to our children—and come to the realization that there is perhaps no greater threat than what we’re doing voluntarily to the planet on which they live. I get angry every time I hear someone profess to be “pro life” when scientifically, the only life they care about isn’t really even alive.

There are plenty of living children in the world right now who need to be protected from actual threats: Hunger, famine, climate catastrophe, the ravages of an angry planet and even extinction, not to mention the aforementioned incarceration, gun violence and sexual assault. I don’t know when or why we stopped caring about those children the way we care about the yet unborn.

I only know that we did, and I find that heartbreaking beyond any words.

First novel, 'Time Capsule,' available in paperback and e-Book format

I'm thrilled to announce that paperback and e-book versions of my first published novel, Time Capsule, are now available for sale on Amazon.com. Fifteen years after I started writing it, it's finally an actual book--the first of four I have written so far.

To order a copy, go to Amazon.com and search for "Books by Marshall Scott Shields" or click on the following links:

eBook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TM1624X

Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/Time-Capsule-Marshall-Scott-Shields/dp/0998871834/

High Peaks Publishing: http://highpeakspublishing.com/recent-projects/

I hope you'll enjoy my book and tell your friends about it. Thanks.