Incitement. Insurrection. Inauguration. What we need now, on the part of Republicans in the United States Senate, is intrepidity. They would, no doubt, need to look it up. But then they’d probably have to reference the dictionary definition of the word “courage”–a synonym for intrepidity–because at least four out of five Senate Republicans have shown less political courage in the face of fact-free president 45 than a wet dish rag. At least a dish rag is handy in cleaning up a mess.
As the Senate sits in judgment of ex-president Trump in his second impeachment trial–a world record as only two other presidents have been impeached, once each, in the 244 years of our democracy–odds are that Republicans will again give the wayward president a pass. Never mind that the final verdict will most likely be a majority in favor of conviction. Without a two-thirds vote to acquit, Donald will declare the whole thing a total vindication of a partisan hoax. For once, when he proclaims his latest impeachment “the greatest injustice in the history of the universe,” he may be close to the truth if famously feckless Republicans let him off the hook. That would be the injustice.
I get it that there’s a plausible logic in arguing that a vote to convict and remove Trump from office when he’s already been succeeded by President Joe Biden is superfluous. But to call it unconstitutional is an exercise in conveniently, deliberately missing the point. Trump could have tried to dodge conviction by resigning one minute before noon, Jan. 20. But a similar gambit was tried before by a post-Civil War cabinet member. It failed. He was tried. That’s called a constitutional precedent. Someone must have clued Trump before they were fired, because he has no clue. Ever.
Chuck Schumer, now Senate majority leader, proposed an immediate trial. Mitch McConnell, now minority leader, suggested that in fairness the president should have time to prepare his defense. Yet after Trump self-exiled to Mar-a-Lago during the inauguration of Joe Biden, McConnell voted with the majority of Republican senators to argue that a post-presidency trial is unconstitutional. What do you expect from have-it-both-ways Mitch? He can argue with a straight face that with 11 months remaining in his second term, President Barack Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court vacancy created by Antonin Scalia’s death should not receive even a hearing. A bit more than four years later, just weeks before Trump’s failed re-election bid, McConnell rammed through the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett following the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
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Thank you, Jim by Bob Moores
I have been following politics for a long time, and it has never been as depressing as now. I don’t remember a time when partisanship was this striking, when Americans were more divided.
I believe partisanship reached a boiling point during the Obama administration, the most overt sign being Mitch McConnell’s decree upon Obama’s election that the #1 Republican priority would be to make him a one-term president. How patriotic is that?! On taking control of the Senate in 2010, McConnell followed through by making sure Obama would have no more big accomplishments.
When did the division of America reach criticality? It was with the advent of Trump, but he was not the instigator, the cause. Trump took advantage of growing distrust of a less-than-helpful government that had become even less helpful (by plan) under McConnell’s leadership. McConnell knew that Obama, as leader of our country, would be blamed for a do-nothing government, a government that was powerless to rectify, among other injustices, the huge wealth gap that had become even larger in recent years.
Couple the inability of Obama to help the middle and lower classes with another problem, the growing fear and disgust held by the white working class of the “browning of America” and you got a revolution of angry, less-educated white men for which Trump was greatly attractive. He appealed to both overt and latent racism in America from day one when he questioned the citizenship of Barack Obama.
You can slam Trump for his character flaws and mental issues that psychiatrists have affirmed. You can be dismayed by his childish in-eloquence and self-serving showmanship. But don’t think he’s stupid. He is street smart. He recognized that many believed that the Washington “swamp” was the cause of our problems, not the solution. He knew that many Americans feared dark-skinned people and non-Christians. And he perceived how to take advantage of a new communication tool (Twitter) whereby he could get his message directly to people without the filter of the press. In fact, he declared the press to be not only “fake news” but also “the enemy of the people.” “Don’t trust the press; trust me!” He claimed he was not a politician, but that was BS. He knew the first principle of a good politician is to tell people what they wanted to hear.
Trump made a cynical calculation before he was elected, one he maintains to this day. It was better to have a dedicated “base” of zealots that he could rely on than a much larger, but less dedicated, more moderate group (the entire American electorate). Divide and conquer.
Of the 81 million voters responsible for Joe Biden’s win in November 2020, three stand out for me because of their appeal to the most reliable Democratic voting bloc in American history, the black vote.
Ex-president Barack Obama threw his considerable popularity behind Joe Biden by actively campaigning for him in key battleground states.
Stacy Abrams was a relentless organizing force for black voters, not just in Georgia, but across the nation via TV appearances.
But the person most responsible for Joe Biden’s win, in my view, was the one most responsible for Biden’s nomination as the Democratic candidate, Representative Jim Clyburn of South Carolina.
Clyburn endorsed Joe Biden in an impassioned speech on February 26, six days before the “Super Tuesday” primary in South Carolina. At that time, Biden had not won a single primary and was running about fourth in national polls.
It is remarkable that Representative Clyburn hardly mentioned any policy positions advocated by Biden. He spoke with obvious emotion of Biden’s leadership, character, integrity, and desire for equality. He coined the phrases that would become Biden’s campaign slogans – “We know Joe” and “joe knows us”.
If I could thank only one person for Biden’s win, other than Biden himself, it would be Jim Clyburn.
Thanks, Jim.
Bob Moores retired from Black & Decker/DeWalt in 1999 after 36 years. He was the Director of Cordless Product Development at the time. He holds a mechanical engineering degree from Johns Hopkins University.
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Ivanka & Jared: No Expertise? No Experience? No Problem. By Maria Grant
Will this be the last editorial I write about the Trump dynasty? I hope so. But I’m so outraged by current goings-on that I felt I had to put pen to paper. My biggest, “are you kidding me” moment deals with Jared and Ivanka.
Let’s just review a few facts. When Jared and Ivanka moved to DC, they rented a house in Kalorama for $18,000 a month. Kalorama is the ritziest part of DC and home to many big names–Obama, Clinton, Jeff Bezos, Bloomberg Media CEO Justin Smith, and Fox News host Chris Wallace, just to name a few. You’ve probably read the stories about how Ivanka and Jared refused to allow their Secret Service protection bathroom privileges in their home (which only had seven bathrooms). So, what to do? Eventually, after neighbors complained about the unsightly port-a-potty in their posh neighborhood, the Secret Service rented a studio nearby for $3,000 a month (now totally more than $100,000) so that these protectors of “royalty” could access bathroom facilities.
Recently, Jared and Ivanka bought a $31.8 million two-acre piece of property in highly sought-after Indian Creek Island near Miami known as the “Billionaire’s Bunker”. It doesn’t’ have a house on it yet so expect many more millions to be spent. The property has 200 feet of waterfront, and taxes are approximately $472,000 a year. The island, home to only about 30 residents, (and soon to be the new home of Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen) has its own police force and an armed marine patrol circles the island 24 hours a day. While they await the construction of their new mansion, Ivanka and Jared rented an apartment in an exclusive Miami high-rise for $40,000 a month. (One of Trump’s last negotiations before he left the White House was to ensure that all his grown children received six months of Secret Service protection at taxpayer’s expense. Trump will receive this protection for life.)
Where all this money comes from, I have no idea. According to my research, neither Ivanka nor Jared are particularly astute businesspeople. Ivanka’s fashion business which sold mostly shoes, jewelry, handbags and clothing, wasn’t exactly a booming empire. The business started in 2007 and closed shortly after her father took office. Like most Trump businesses, it’s difficult to discern exactly how profitable it was.
Jared Kushner is famous for paying way too much for 666 Fifth Avenue in early 2007—a record-breaking price of $1.8 billion—at that time, the highest price ever paid for a New York office tower. He bought it just before the financial crisis hit and has struggled to cover its debt ever since. There are a host of stories about how a financial company tied to Qatar brokered a deal that bailed him out. Apparently, Jared had spent a lot of time negotiating blockades between Qatar and Saudi Arabia during this time—something about which the State Department was completely unaware.
Why do I find all this conspicuous consumption so upsetting? Because during the time that this “power couple” is spending ungodly sums of money that most people can’t even begin to fathom, Jared Kushner’s real estate company, which owns and manages thousands of apartment buildings, continued its aggressive practices of evictions and debt collection lawsuits in New Jersey and Maryland—even while their tenants were waiting for promised government relief. Both these states had declared states of emergency and both governors called for moratoriums on evictions and court filings. (Netflix recently released a mini documentary called Slumlord Millionaires which documents the abusive practices of Kushner’s real estate companies.)
Call me crazy, but it seems particularly insensitive at a time when so many people are suffering, that the Kushner business would so aggressively work to evict and sue people, particularly when he was “in the room where it happened” in terms of suspending evictions, student loan payments, and more.
In addition to all this outrage, I now read that Ivanka is considering running for Marco Rubio’s senate seat in the 2022 midterm elections. Please say it isn’t so. Rumor has it that Jared is starting a campaign to support his wife’s efforts in this regard. Reports claim that he is bad-mouthing Rubio, saying he is terrible and worthless, and encouraging people to pledge their support to Ivanka.
Let’s be clear. I’m no fan of Marco Rubio. But when does it end? Just like Jared had no clue or expertise on the myriad of assignments Trump gave him as a White House advisor (remember overseeing border wall construction, solving the opioid crisis, ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, addressing the coronavirus crisis), so Ivanka has no relevant experience to serve as a senator of Florida. Like her father, I doubt that she could explain how a bill becomes a law. Nor is she knowledgeable about the many unique challenges that Florida faces. Apparently, Steve Bannon is on this Ivanka-for-Senate bandwagon as well. In his book Fire and Fury, he called her, “dumb as a brick”. I guess getting a pardon changed his thinking—radically.
So why does this “Javanka,” as they are known, phenomenon bother me so much? Every night on the news we see people waiting in line to be tested, to get vaccines, to procure boxes of food. We see selfless volunteers delivering medicines to those who are housebound, working at distribution centers stuffing care bags with groceries, healthcare workers working double and triple shifts to help those who are flooding emergency rooms. In contrast, Ivanka and Jared have this entitlement mentality. They truly act as though they are royalty—the king and queen of America—above the fray with divine rights. No getting their hands dirty dealing with the masses for them.
We’ve all read how much the super wealthy have profited during this pandemic. Some estimates claim that the wealthiest Americans have increased their wealth by almost 40 percent. In contrast, more than 429,000 people have died from the virus, more than 22 million people have lost their jobs, more than 100,000 small businesses have closed forever.
It would have been nice to have just a small amount of empathy, compassion or aid from this royal duo. But so far, that is not the case. Just for comparison’s sake, let’s contrast this “first daughter’s” focus with Dr. Jill Biden’s first week as first lady. So far, she has met with the governors’ spouses over Zoom, videotaped a message to the American Library Association’s midwinter virtual conference, visited the Whitman-Walker Health Clinic, and brought treats and thanked many national guard workers for their service and protection.
What a difference an administration makes! In my mind, it’s a welcome one.
Maria Grant was principal-in-charge of Deloitte’s Federal Human Capital practice. Since her retirement, she has focused on writing, reading, piano, travel, nature, and gardening.
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Op-Ed: UM Shore Regional Health in 2020 by Ken Kozel
2020 was an incredibly challenging year for health care organizations nationwide, and University of Maryland Shore Regional Health was no exception. In mid-March, the arrival of COVID-19 marked the beginning of dramatic new demands in every aspect of inpatient and outpatient care — demands that, of course, continue in this New Year. I am profoundly grateful to our Shore Regional Health team members at all levels and in all locations for their caring, compassionate and ongoing response to the pandemic. Led by our Chief Medical Officer and Incident Command Structure Chief Dr. William Huffner, with guidance from our UMMS’ Incident Command Structure and collaboration our many community partners, the Shore team wasted no time in creating new protocols for the health and safety of our patients, our team members and the community at large. Their amazing work in this regard continues to this day, saving lives and protecting the health of our community.
For all its challenges, 2020 also saw many exciting and promising developments at UM Shore Regional Health. To name just a few:
We expanded access to telemedicine throughout our provider network, UM Shore Medical Group, as a model of safe and convenient care and also a means of providing education and support for patients managing chronic or serious conditions such as diabetes, cancer and stroke recovery. This month, we passed a major milestone – 25,000 telemedicine appointments since mid-March when the pandemic began.
We welcomed more than 500 new team members to our health care family, many in our hospitals but also in UM Shore Medical Group, in our diverse outpatient diagnostic and rehabilitation services, and our emergency and urgent care facilities. As part of UMMS, we also assumed full ownership and management of the former “Choice One” Urgent Care Centers in Denton and Easton, and welcomed their providers and staff to the Shore team.
We began construction on our UM Shore Medical Campus at Cambridge and celebrate its steady progress. As this new, freestanding medical facility rises in Cambridge Marketplace on Route 50 and remains on schedule for opening in the fall of this year, we look forward to the transformation of health care in Dorchester County.
An integral part of our Cambridge health care transformation is the relocation of inpatients beds from UM Shore Medical Center at Dorchester to Easton. The renovation of UM Shore Medical Center at Easton has begun and when complete later this summer, a total of 17 medical/surgical inpatient beds and 13 behavioral health inpatient beds will be added. These beds also are included in our plans for a new regional medical center in Easton.
In Kent County, we continue to strive toward the establishment of a new model of health care that would designate UM Shore Medical Center at Chestertown as a rural, critical access hospital, including a complementary Aging and Wellness Center of Excellence. This designation will help ensure that Kent and northern Queen Anne’s county have the healthcare resources needed to thrive.
We celebrated the 10th anniversary of our outstanding UM Shore Emergency Center in Queenstown –one of the first freestanding medical facilities in Maryland. The Emergency Center serves an average of 16,000 patients each year and now serves as the model of care planned for implementation in at least two additional locations on the western shore as well as in Cambridge.
We continue to strengthen our partnership with University of Maryland Medical System and the UM School of Medicine to advance access to the highest quality care, close to home, for Eastern Shore residents. One important service for the Shore, our Cancer Program, now benefits from a stronger affiliation with the University of Maryland Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center, making participation in cancer treatment trials more accessible to patients on the Shore, and also bringing an extra level of support and expertise to our Requard Radiation Oncology Center in Easton.
2020 brought excellent recognition for Shore in the arena of cardiac and stroke care. Our Cardiac Intervention Center (CIC) at UM Shore Medical Center at Easton, opened just two years ago to provide life-saving care for cardiac patients, was awarded the American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline® Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award for implementing specific quality improvement measures for the treatment of patients suffering severe heart attacks. For the third year in a row, our Primary Stroke Center at UM Shore Medical Center at Easton was recognized by the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association with top awards for achievement in providing the most effective stroke treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines.
Also in the arena of recognition is the recent “A” rating earned by UM Shore Medical Centers at Chestertown, Dorchester and Easton from The Leapfrog Hospital Group. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is a single letter grade representing a hospital’s overall performance in keeping patients safe from errors, injuries, accidents and infections. Founded in 2000, The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization that advances the quality and safety of American health care. The three Shore Regional Health hospitals are among only 34 percent of hospitals nationwide to earn their highest “A” designation.
Throughout 2020, our hospital foundations continued to support the advancement of health care in their respective communities. The Chester River Health Foundation raised funds to support the purchase of a new telemetry system for our Chestertown hospital, and support received through the Dorchester General Hospital Foundation’s appeal will help purchase state-of-the-art mammogram technology for installation in UM Shore Medical Campus at Cambridge. UM Memorial Hospital Foundation events and appeals benefited the Clark Comprehensive Breast Center, UM Shore Emergency Center at Queenstown and Surgical Services in UM Shore Medical Center at Easton. We are infinitely grateful to all donors and volunteers who support our Foundations and their role in making quality health care possible, now and in the future, for our five-county region.
Lastly, 2020 was a truly remarkable year in terms of the outpouring of generosity and good will our health care network received from scores of individuals, groups and community organizations as the pandemic took hold. Our entire team was touched by the thoughtfulness of those who provided food, supplies, masks and messages of support for health care workers, first responders and essential personnel. These gifts and gestures have meant so much to all of us and helped strengthen our commitment to advancing UM Shore Regional Health and achieving our mission, Creating Healthier Communities Together.
As we move forward into this New Year, our Shore Healthcare Heroes, along with our community partnerships, will remain an integral part of our success. We look forward to continued progress in 2021 and to enhancing our role as an anchor institution serving the people of Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot counties.
Ken Kozel is President and CEO of UM Shore Regional Health
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Op-Ed: The Importance of Earnest Perspective by Maria Grant
I find it interesting that in times of almost obscene amounts of available information, we often fail to discern facts and seek to put allegations into appropriate perspective. Examples of our failures to do so abound in recent years.
Exhibit 1. Hillary’s emails and the Benghazi attack. Consider the time, effort, and money—the number of damning editorials and exposes discussing Hillary’s failure to secure her email traffic in the most secure way possible. Did Hillary make mistakes and errors in judgments regarding her emails? Yes. After months of investigations, the conclusion was that she was careless but no top-secret information had been shared and no nefarious incidents occurred. Still FBI Director Jim Comey felt obligated for “full transparency” to once again open the case just a few days before the 2016 election.
The attack on the Benghazi embassy resulted in the ambassador and three of his colleagues being killed. The White House officials and Hillary’s State Department were accused of negligence in protecting the embassy. The investigation took nearly two years. Twenty hearings were held. Hillary testified for 11 straight hours. Scores of people were interviewed. The investigation cost millions. After two years, the final Republican report concluded that the CIA ensured sufficient security for CIA facilities in Benghazi and without a requirement to do so, ably and bravely assisted the State Department on the night of the attack in 2012. Their actions saved lives.
The situation is complicated because Benghazi wasn’t considered an embassy or even a consulate which put the mission outside normal State Department procedures. Two security teams had nominal authority but no one group was on point. Plus, it has been verified that this was a spontaneous insurrection with little pre-planning that should have been identified. Republicans however saw it as a major opportunity to excoriate Obama and Hillary and took the ball and ran with it. It became one of the most litigated events during the eight years of the Obama administration.
Trump, of course, emphasized both issues whenever possible during his campaign, giving her the name of Crooked Hillary and promising to put her in jail if he became President. Never mind the fact that other embassy attacks were much worse and got nowhere near the scrutiny and criticism of Benghazi. In the George W. Bush era alone, it has been estimated that there were 13 attacks on various embassies and consulates around the world and more than 60 people died.
Exhibit 2. The vilifications of Al Franken and Billy Bush. When the “Me-Too” movement arrived on the scene it became a giant wrecking ball. No one was safe as it swung back and forth knocking down everyone within its range. Did many accused of sexual misconduct deserve to go to jail or lose their jobs, etc.? Absolutely. Some crimes discovered and tried were abhorrent and clearly demanded prison terms and lost jobs. Think Matt Lauer, Jeffrey Epstein, Harvey Weinstein, Bill O’Reilly, Roger Ailes, and Bill Cosby.
Now, let’s consider Al Franken and Billy Bush. As we all know, Al Franken was a comedian before he was a senator. While on a USO tour in 2006, an inappropriate picture was taken with him caressing a woman’s breasts while she was sleeping on a military airplane. It was a gag shot from 12 years ago. Was it inappropriate? Yes, I’m sure most of us would say it was. Did it justify Franken being ousted from the Senate several years later? I think not. Franken was an excellent senator. He took his work seriously, did his homework, and, according to his colleagues, was respectful of women with whom he worked. He was in an inappropriate picture several years ago, and he apologized for it. That was it.
Billy Bush’s major-league crime was laughing at what Trump said when Trump described what he could do to women because he was famous. We all have heard that Access Hollywood tape ad nauseum which was about 11 years old when it aired. Should Billy Bush have laughed? No, of course not. But was that grounds for him to lose his job at NBC? I think not. He ended up losing his job, getting a divorce, basically becoming a pariah. He’s slowly returning to the scene, but it’s taken years.
Exhibit 3. In more recent times, we have the crucifixion of Hunter Biden. No doubt more information will be forthcoming about Hunter’s exact actions. But again, so far, once again we see an error in judgment for taking the Burisma Board position while his father was Vice President—especially when Ukraine was being accused of not cracking down on corruption. The Republican-led Senate Homeland Security and Finance Committee report alleged that Hunter Biden showed errors in judgment but there was no indication that his activities influenced Obama administration policies. Hunter’s taxes are currently under investigation in Delaware, and the jury is still out in determining whether tax fraud occurred.
Obviously, many more examples of our over-reactions to perpetrators of whatever crime of the day is on tap could be cited. My point in all this is that some occurrences are errors in judgment. Others are downright despicable crimes. It’s important to differentiate the two.
The examples I’ve referenced may smack of cancel culture or scapegoating—almost Puritan-like public shamings that make their purveyors feel superior. I see these examples more as inclinations to rush to judgment and denounce “perpetrators” at the slightest provocations—without due diligence or industrious weightings of facts and circumstances.
Mark Twain once said, “You cannot depend on good judgment when your imagination is out of focus.” Many of us imagine we know the true story. But playing judge and jury is a dangerous game—especially when it can ruin people’s lives. Taking time to assess facts, consider circumstances in an unbiased objective fashion, and putting issues in their appropriate perspectives are worthy endeavors and sadly ones that far too often fall by the wayside.
Maria Grant served as Principal-in-Charge of the Federal Human Capital practice of Deloitte Consulting. Since her retirement from Deloitte, she has focused on writing, the piano, reading, travel, gardening and nature.
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The Big Lie by Steve Parks
First of all, we must begin to recognize that what transpired at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was the result of a Big Lie. The incumbent president, who shall not be named herein, set the predicate of this lie months before Election Day, Nov. 3, 2020. He declared over and over at incendiary COVID super-spreader rallies that he could not lose unless the election was “rigged.” So, of course, when he lost–decisively–to Joe Biden, he used the Big Lie to incite thousands of his followers, who he invited through Twitter rants, to commit violent acts of sedition intended to thwart Congress’ constitutional duty of confirming the Electoral College vote that would end President 45’s White House reign.
The marauding mob, shouting threats to hang Mike Pence because he refused to overturn the will of the American majority, came within minutes of confronting the vice president face to face. Thankfully, both he and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, also targeted for death, were ultimately protected from the rioters. But it was 45’s desperate Big Lie that put their lives and those of many others in Congress at risk, as well as six who perished as a result of the violence.
It is virtually impossible for anyone–not the Feds, Democrats or Republicans, not even Russians–to rig a presidential election. American elections are conducted by states. And within the 50 states plus territories, each county or municipality therein–more than 3,000 of them–is responsible for the election nuts and bolts, including hiring poll workers, recruiting bipartisan polls watchers and collecting the ballots. In most precincts, voters see neighbors they know, voting or conducting the vote.
Think of it. Do you imagine they are in on rigging a presidential election? If you’re still suspicious, consider that in 98 percent of precincts, votes are cast by machine backed by paper ballots. Georgia, for instance, conducted three recounts of the election–two by machine and one by hand–plus an audit conducted for certification. Yet the losing presidential candidate still bullied state officials to “find” 12,000 more votes that would turn the state in his favor. Even had he “won,” he would have remained 42 electoral votes short. Only two states conduct machine-only voting with no paper-ballot backup for recounts or investigations. Both were carried by the incumbent president. As for massive fraud–the president insisted thousands of dead people voted in Georgia–the correct number, the Republican secretary of state said, was two. Both fake ballots, reportedly, were for the incumbent.
Suspicion that the vote was rigged grew out of Republican state legislature rules in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin that barred counting mail-in ballots until Election Day or even after polls closed. Mail-in ballots heavily favored Democrats, largely because the incumbent president denigrated them even as many Americans saw mail-in as a means of voting safely during a pandemic.
To rig a presidential election, a candidate would have to get individual state and county officials in at least a dozen or more targeted states to go along with violating their oath of office.
The president had every reason to create the Big Lie. He faces many state charges in New York, possibly Florida and now, most likely, Georgia and the District of Columbia. Re-election would save him from immediate legal jeopardy. Not to mention the stripping of his bully-pulpit power and the ruining of his brand. Believe him at you peril if you choose, but not at your nation’s peril. Rigging a presidential election would require such a massive conspiracy that surely some evidence would have surfaced by now. None did. Not in any of the 60 or so cases brought before courts–including the U.S. Supreme Court–dominated by nominees of the now-defeated president. All were summarily dismissed. Get real. Get over it. Donald–there, I named him–is done.
On a local level, our First Congressional District Republican representative, Andy Harris, distinguished him as a fellow presidential sore loser. Even after the violent invasion of the Capitol, after House and Senate chambers were cleared of the mob that would undo America, Harris nearly got into fisticuffs with a Democratic colleague. They had to be separated by the deputy sergeant-of-arms. A congresswoman reported that Harris indicated by word or gesture, “You want a piece of me?” The Democrat was not innocent of provocation, according to the same witness. But Harris went on after the vituperative debate to vote for the president’s Big Lie. Worse, when it became time for Harris to vote up or down on impeachment, he ducked voting on the record.
His excuse was patient care. Harris is an anesthesiologist. Also, a doctor who doesn’t believe in affordable health care. He chose to attend a surgery, which is an entirely defensible professional decision. Still, I have little doubt, considering his craven support to the president whose name should be banished forever from civilized public discourse, that he feared for his political future in casting either a vote to impeach of not to impeach. I hope his cop-out forestalls any political future. Go back to treating your patients fulltime, Andy. Maybe they can afford you after Biden & Friends fix health care.
What is the solution, if any, of defending against the next Big Lie, or serial lies, that contribute to widespread electoral gullibility? It begins with social media–especially the behemoths thereof. I remember back in the day, the mid-’60s, when we had such a thing as civics classes in high school. It was a time when everyone I knew, when folks we all knew, got their information from the same sources, more or less. Millennials can’t imagine a time when TV news came from three sources–Walter Cronkite on CBS, Chet Huntley and David Brinkley on NBC, Howard K. Smith on ABC, and a bit later with PBS Newshour. Every major city had two or three newspapers and every town, yes, Easton, Chestertown and Cambridge, too, had a weekly or daily paper.
I don’t long for a non-digital world. You never go back. I recall as a journalist the time when we gave up typewriters in the newsroom for word-processors. There’s no way I’d ever go back, even considering that as I was writing THIS story, I hit the wrong button and had to start all over again. (My bad.)
But the reach of the digital world has gotten way out of hand. Facebook started out as a dorm-room discovery that there might be a big market in finding out who’s dating whom and, more to the point, who’s broken up with whom. Who’s available. The concept of socially driven algorithms grew out of that. Now, instead of fixing you up with your next date, such digital computations drive to your next online obsession. If you were to show interest in, say, opposing diversity regarding college admissions, you could be driven a little at a time toward actual racial animosity. Or from an interest in opposing pedophilia in general into believing Q-Anon theories that Democrats and “Deep State” liberals are all child-trafficking pedophiles who suck the blood and even eat organs of babies to nourish their longevity.
Who believes this craziness? I confess to all kinds of doubts about Republicans, but I would never think them capable of bloodsucking depravity except, perhaps, the two Q-Anons just elected to Congress. Look out for them. They’re nuts.
What to do about the viral spread of hate and what I would call nonsense, except that it’s so potentially deadly?
Congress and the president now have a stick to hold over Facebook, Google and Twitter and others who may attain monopoly status in a digital world that now dominates our communication with one other. Each platform, under threat by an attorney general who now works for America (I’m looking forward to you, Merrick Garland) instead of a lame-duck president, could impose restrictions demanding that algorithms require as a default Real News. That means establishing a commission of media experts who decide real journalism from fake. (Sorry Breitbart, Newsmax, OAN and maybe Fox if you don’t expel your opinion flame-throwers.) Every mainstream newspaper, TV/cable network, local newspaper still surviving, and periodicals on every subject worth noting would become the top few choices of any substantive question presented on Facebook, for instance. Speech concerns would be addressed by the freedom to search any of these social media platforms for your desired answer. But your anticipated preferences would never again be shoved into your face. Almost as importantly, Real News sources that are clicked on via Facebook, Google etc. will collect a nickel, a penny or whatever agreed upon reward for every hit. That would help sustain a business model that now projects demise of real journalism as we know it.
Steve Parks is a retired journalist for Newsday who now lives in Easton, Maryland.
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Op-Ed: Being Still by George Merrill
Psalm 46 begins:” God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble.”
The most arguably non-dogmatic, ecumenical, spiritual literature available today is the Psalms. They are timeless. They are to the point, heartfelt expressions of the soul more than the mind: they “tell it like it is’ without intellectualizing. In short, the Psalms are no-nonsense prayers and protests offered to God, frequently in times of crisis without a veneer of pompous religiosity.
In Psalm 46, whatever is going on in the life of this Psalmist terrifies him. He describes it like this: “the earth is removed and…the mountains carried into the midst of sea.” It’s horrifying like an earthquake ––no place to hide. His world is unsettled, and he is reaching deeply inside himself to find his bearings in the midst of the tumult. He speaks with God while he searches himself. He listens to his soul. He hears something and it seems to tell him to “Be still and know I am God.”
This Wednesday, while looking at some Psalms, I learned of the violence in D.C. surrounding the finalization of the election. My own political sentiments were satisfied with the election results. Nevertheless, I felt grief, fear, and then anger and helplessness as violent assaults on the democratic process were happening. My country was tearing itself apart and I was helpless and could do nothing. My stomach was tied in a knot.
This Psalmist is being instructed to be still. In the stillness, he will meet God and become more serene and better focused. In Hebrew, the word “still” means to let go or stop striving, slacking some or letting it drop. For me, it meant loosening my clenched fist around the circumstances that at the moment I could do nothing about. I read the Psalm as a call to surrender any illusions of my presumed rightness and my clinging to some idea of being able to control the turbulence – to make it all nice. My task at the moment was to be still, and put simply, to let go and let God. Hopefully, the time will come when I may be able to make some contribution to the healing of the country, but it is not now.
After the violence subsides and the pitch of the rage begins mitigating, the long road to healing must begin. I would like to be an agent in that healing in some small way. But, if my fist continues to be clenched, my stomach knotted, and my anger and my grief still roiling, I can be of no use to myself or anyone else. I can only become a part of the problem.
Anyone holding religious or spiritual sensitivities will in some ways have a feeling for the concept of a higher power and will understand how important the feeling is not only to have in the midst of crises, but in daily living. It’s helpful to remember the essential goodness in others, in ourselves and in our country. We are not in control of events. The control of events right now is in the hands of others. In stillness, we’re better equipped to respond strategically and wisely: and although I see matters differently from the rioters, in fact it is their country as well as mine.
Be still and pray for unity and healing.
Columnist George Merrill is an Episcopal Church priest and pastoral psychotherapist. A writer and photographer, he’s authored two books on spirituality: Reflections: Psychological and Spiritual Images of the Heart and The Bay of the Mother of God: A Yankee Discovers the Chesapeake Bay. He is a native New Yorker, previously directing counseling services in Hartford, Connecticut, and in Baltimore. George’s essays, some award winning, have appeared in regional magazines and are broadcast twice monthly on Delmarva Public Radio.
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The Fallacy of Populism by Maria Grant
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the fallacy of populism—particularly the hypocrisy of those who espouse it. Scholars define populism differently but the gist of it is a rejection of “corrupt” elites who are seen to act in their own self-interests. In contrast, populists claim to pursue the “people’s interests.” Populists can be left leaning or right leaning—think William Jennings Bryant/Bernie Saunders/Elizabeth Warren or Joe McCarthy/Barry Goldwater/Donald Trump.
A populist philosophy leads to a rejection of globalization, standard institutions, bureaucracies, the media, and basically checks and balances of any kind. Rapid demographic changes in the US have caused older established Americans and younger under-educated Americans to feel they’ve lost status and influence. These Americans tend to be anti-immigration and skeptical of recent global trends which have led to job losses in the US.
Successful populists today latch onto fears and prejudices of the masses to gain political power. They often use catchy slogans, nicknames, etc. as bait to reel in their prey. Such techniques smack of the Pied Piper who plays music that supporters want to hear, and these supporters blindly follow where he leads—no matter how divorced from reality his play card is.
The concept that disenfranchised Americans bought what Trump was selling still boggles the mind. Is there any way that Trump understood the average American? I think not. The son of a multi-millionaire who gave his son millions and bailed him out time and time again from one bad business decision after another is hardly a man of the masses. (We won’t mention his illustrious college career that started at Fordham and ended at Wharton after someone else reportedly took his SATs, an academic record not to be found—much like his bone spur diagnosis to avoid the military.)
The fact that any average American thought Trump related to them and their plight borders on the absurd. Do you really imagine that Donald Trump would welcome any of his rally participants to one of his properties? And who really gained during Trump’s reign, including the loathsome year of 2020? Was it the masses or the “corrupt elite” who made a killing in the stock market –many with record returns? And let’s not dissect the makeup of his pardon list—loyal cronies— “corrupt elites” — who committed felonies and kept singing his tune. Yet Trump continued to play that tune, and his followers continued to sing his praises while thousands of Americans died, and Trump virtually checked out of managing a pandemic of epic proportions.
Now enter Josh Hawley; the brave Republican Missouri senator who has chosen to object when Congress meets to certify the electoral college vote for President-elect Joe Biden on January 6, 2021. Hawley has been coined the post-Trump populist, and he has decided to hitch his wagon to that falling star in a bid for the 2024 Republican nomination. He bills himself as “for the people” and a fighter of elitist policies. But let’ take a closer look. OK first, a banker’s son, he went to Stanford and Yale, two of the most elite schools in the country. Then he taught at England’s most prestigious school, St. Paul’s. Then he went to work at a prestigious law farm. Then he clerked for Justice Roberts. Not exactly your everyday guy.
And this decision to object to the electoral college vote is not Hawley’s first grandstanding move. During the Amy Coney Barrett hearings, he railed on and on saying, “When you tell somebody that they’re too Catholic to be on the bench, when you tell them they’re going to be a Catholic judge, not an American judge, that’s bigotry. The pattern and practice of bigotry from members of this Committee must be stopped and I would expect that it be renounced.” The irony here is that no Democratic member of the Committee even pounded on religion–the only members who spent time on Barrett’s faith were Republicans. Democrats avoided that pitfall at all costs. But Hawley, ever the opportunist, took every opportunity to grandstand here as well, never missing a chance to boost name recognition and ingratiate himself with the religious right.
Hawley’s move to object to electoral college certification is a risky one. Perhaps it will serve him well in coming months—perhaps not. He claims he “has to do something”—even though case after case, recount after recount have ratified election results. Ben Sasse, a Republican senator from Nebraska, has taken the opposite route. He called Trump’s pardons “rotten to the core.” He also called Hawley’s proposed actions “a dangerous ploy.” It will be interesting to watch how this drama plays out.
My point with all this is “beware of a wolf in sheep’s clothing.” It is true that you needn’t be poor to be an advocate for the masses and propose policies that would enhance their standards of living. But it is incumbent on all of us to look closer at truly fraudulent claims.
Donald Trump is not a religious man. He never was. Josh Hawley, it has been said, doesn’t even live in Missouri. (He denies this, but records show he has used his sister’s address as his—where his sister pays the taxes– and put his name on his parent’s piece of land where he claims to be building a house.) Others in Congress have gotten harsh reprimands and worse for similar tactics.
My hope for 2021 is that we respect, honor, and promote expertise. I would venture to guess if you asked Trump today how a bill becomes a law, he could not explain the process. America has some of the best and most respected educational institutions in the world—the best facilities, the best training, etc. Why in God’s name wouldn’t we select the most qualified people for those positions?
Steven Hassan, the author of The Cult of Trump explains how the President uses mind control to convince his followers that only he can save them from ruin. Supervising editor of The Apprentice Jonathon Braun told The New Yorker, “Most of us knew Trump was a fake. He had just gone through I don’t know how many bankruptcies. But we made him out to be the most important person in the world. It was like making the court jester the king.” Bill Pruitt, another producer recalled, “We walked through offices and saw chipped furniture. We saw a crumbling empire at every turn. Our job was to make it seem otherwise.”
In 2021, let’s all commit to doing a better job of seeking truth, verifying credentials, experience, and references. Let’s respect and trust science, expertise and facts. It’s important. And it’s the right thing to do. It’s also a worthy new year’s resolution.
Maria Grant was principal-in-charge of Deloitte’s Federal Human Capital practice. Since retiring, she has focused on writing, reading, piano, travel, nature, kayaking and biking.
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Op-Ed: Judge Richard Carmichael’s Defiance of President Lincoln’s Policy by Paul Callahan
Early in the civil war President Lincoln had Federal Troops occupy the State of Maryland. Though the power vested only with the US Congress, Mr. Lincoln also took it upon himself to suspend the writ of Habeas Corpus (the right of trial) throughout Maryland and eventually throughout the entire Union. Mr. Lincoln also authorized his military commanders to imprison and even execute non-combatant civilians both within Maryland and throughout the Union. Thousands of Marylanders were imprisoned with no charges filed and it is estimated that 14,000 civilians were arrested and imprisoned throughout the Union under this policy.
Military executions, though rare, did happen and were used to show a public display of force to the civilian population. In Fredrick Maryland the citizens were shocked over the execution by Federal troops of Mr. William Richardson a local paper and map peddler. William was hung naked from a locust tree along the roadside about one mile outside of the town of Fredrick and his corpse was left to rot for nearly a week in the hot summer sun. The Union Commander had a note pined to William’s chest that stated “Anybody cutting down the body without orders will take his place”
The Federal arrests within Maryland was also used not just to suppress civilians, but to control Maryland’s local and State government. The historical archives of Maryland document the imprisonment of the Baltimore Council and Police Commissioners and their replacement by Federal Officers. Additionally, Maryland’s representative to the US Congress, Congressman Mays, was also imprisoned. In September of 1861 Mr. Lincoln had a third of the Maryland Legislature imprisoned to prevent them from further convening in their special session called by Governor Hicks.
Judge Richard Bennett Carmichael, a graduate of Princeton University, was our Talbot County Judge during that turbulent time. Judge Carmichael held that the imprisonment of non-combatant civilians was in direct violation of the US Constitution. The Maryland archives records a petition, dated June 18th 1861 from Judge Carmichael and 48 other citizens of Talbot and Queen Anne’s counties asking that, due to the great crisis facing our State, our Legislature stay in session to address the same. In this petition Judge Carmichael reports what was happening on Maryland’s Eastern shore and by using language from the US Constitution calls out its injustice.
From Judge Carmichael’s petition: “They have subverted the law of this State, and all other law that has ever obtained here, and in its stead have set up brute force – “the higher law” – heretofore promised by their chief. They have seized private citizens, without warrant of law – they have deprived them of their liberty without a hearing before judge or jury – they have a military force within our border without sanction of the Legislature – they have set the military above civil power – they have subjected persons to martial law, who are not soldiers, nor mariner, nor marines, nor of the militia in the regular service of the State. The habeas corpus has been suspended. The right of the people to bear arms has been infringed, and the militia of the State is being disarmed, thereby depriving us of the best “security of a free State.”
Judge Carmichael knew full well the personal dangers imposed directly to him but he held firm to his duty to the US Constitution and to the citizens of Talbot. Judge Carmichael attempted to give Talbot citizens their Constitutional protections by ordering the Federal Commander in Talbot to bring the Talbot citizens, unlawfully held by those troops, before his court so the charges could be heard and ruled upon as required by the US Constriction. Though an elderly bespectacled man, Judge Carmichael must have known that he was just one person standing against an overwhelming force. He knew our Legislature had already been imprisoned. But Judge Carmichael also believed in the rule of law and knew that it was through him, as the Judge of our District Court, that any case must pass to higher courts and even to the US Supreme Court to hear the Constitutionality of these actions. If Judge Carmichael did not do his duty then the case could not pass to the higher courts and the rule of law could not occur.
Federal authorities could not allow this to happen. To demonstrate a public display of overwhelming force, 125 Federal troops surrounded the Talbot County courthouse. Troops entered our courthouse while the Judge was holding trial and viciously beat the old judge unconscious and drug him from our courthouse. Judge Carmichael was then imprisoned without any charges being filed against him. Judge Carmichael’s beating was so vicious that the defense attorney at that trial attempted to come to the old Judge’s aid and this attorney was also was beaten by the Federal Troops.
Though too late to help the citizens of Maryland, what Judge Carmichael attempted to do, to have the unlawful imprisonment and executions of non-combatant civilians heard by a higher court, came to pass. Late in the civil war Federal Troops in Indiana arrested and sentenced to death an Indiana non-combatant civilian. President Lincoln sent a message to the military commander there to carry out the execution as expeditiously as possible. Somehow this case made it to the US Supreme Court that ruled that Mr. Lincoln’s policy of allowing Federal troops to imprison and execute non-combatant civilians was a violation of the Constitution of the United States. The US Supreme court stated, that even with the writ of Habeas Corpus suspended, that in any State that was not in rebellion and where the district, circuit and Federal courts were open, Federal forces were required by the US Constitution to turn over any civilians to the civilian courts for determination of charges and trial. This is exactly what Judge Carmichael attempted to do. This Supreme Court case was Exparte Milligan, 71 U.S 2, (1866).
As citizens of Talbot County and as Americans we should be greatly proud of Judge Carmichael, an elderly bespectacled Judge who stood firm against an overwhelming force. Though he knew the great danger to himself, Judge Carmichael stood firm in his duty to the US Constitution and to the Citizens of Talbot county.
Paul Callahan is a native and current resident of Talbot County who currently serves as a volunteer fireman and is employed as a Captain at a major U.S. airline. He is also a veteran who served as an Officer in the United States Marine Corps.
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Son of a Shopkeeper Revisited by Al Sikes
Son of a shopkeeper generated a great deal of feedback. I suspect we all sense the raw edge of artificial intelligence translated and animated by all manner of machinery.
Last year I encountered my first entirely robotic barista at an airport. I keep getting emails on the marvels of drone delivery (everything from packages to explosives). And many of us anticipate the potential of artificial intelligence in health care. So what happens to the truck drivers and baristas and analysts who parse data?
Yet, possibility does not quickly evolve into reality so we have time—time to help people whose lives are or will be disrupted. I was encouraged by an article in today’s Wall Street Journal indicating Amazon is planning to train millions “for cloud-computing roles”.
One response to my column was from my friend Tom Hill who told me, “the Easton Rotary club is raising money for a trade scholarship. In the fiscal year ending in June this year, the Upper Shore Workforce group turned down 66 people who applied in Talbot County – just in Talbot for scholarship help to obtain skilled trade certification in places such as Chesapeake College! The need is large.” Indeed.
I am not a student of community college offerings or of costs and subsidies. But, I can imagine during the intense pressure of the pandemic many candidates for “trade scholarships” have sacrificed their college savings to meet essential day-to-day needs and are in need of scholarship support. While Christmas and work are not normally paired, this Christmas, please support the gifts of work.
Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al recently published Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.
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