Do You Understand This Man? We Think We Do…But Do We?

For years I told my students a story, a true story, a quiz really, about a man who, as a reward for his distinguished work in his field, purchased a Lamborghini. He then drove it to visit his father.

I have left out some key details, and as I include them, you will undoubtedly begin to know how the story, and the quiz, concludes. (My high school students did, too.)

The Year—early 1960’s

The State the father lived—Alabama

The Man driving the car—A black man, approximately 6’10’’ tall

The City he purchased the car---Boston

With those clues you may have already solved the mystery of what happened to this black man once he crossed the Alabama state line.

 

Yep, you guessed it. He was pulled over by the police. You’ve probably guessed why.

After telling the “boy” to get out of the car, assumed to be stolen, (you know why, right?) the man did something that only someone well versed in the politics of the situation does—he raised his hands, high—oh, so very high. He waved them around. Why?

You may have guessed that, too. So other motorists would stop and see this spectacle: a 6’10” black man standing next to a Lamborghini. Not an everyday occurrence on a country road in the heart of Dixie.

Naturally people stopped. Lots of folks did. Before the policeman could do too much mischief, someone turned to the officer and said something to the effect, “Hey, y’all know who that man is, Officer? That man is Bill Russell. Why he’s that famous basketball player from up north in Boston. I seen him on TV. Others confirmed this identification.

And finally, predictably, the officer decided to apologize. But before he let Mr. Russell go he asked for something. You know what it is, right? Tell you in a minute.

55 years later the Black Lives Matter is still marching for the dignity that all lives deserve. However, this is not an essay about civil injustice. It’s not about police harassment. It’s not about race. It’s not about Mr. Bill Russell, the greatest champion his sport has ever known. Nope.

This is an essay about one of the many lessons Atticus Finch imparted on his daughter Scout…and if he is not known to you, perhaps you’d best read the novel.

I have no idea what it is like to be black, Hispanic, illegal, female, famous, athletically gifted, etc.

I have no idea what it is like to be a student at any school where there has been a mass shooting.

I do not know the prejudice faced by women in the work place. 

I do not know what it is like to be a slave. 

I do not know what it is like to run the Veterans Administration VA.

I don’t know what it is like to be a hunter. 

I don’t know what it is like to be a politician, democrat/ republican or something in between. 

I don’t know what it is like to be gifted beyond the normal scope of men and women.

But this I do know. I want to learn. Ignorance is not bliss—it is lazy. Ignorance wraps itself in a security blanket that makes people secure in their myopic view of the world. 

I have never been a soldier or one that parachuted into a war zone.

I have never been homeless. 

I have never been addicted to drugs. 

But I know these people.I tried to understand them.

I can have sympathy, but not empathy. So life’s journey, if you are a person who is compassionate and tolerant—open minded to different ideas, even some that at first blush are distasteful, life’s journey is to find out the answers. To make the effort to learn about those whose experiences are so different than your own.

Atticus Finch sat on the porch with his daughter Scout, who can’t understand her teacher’s actions, and explained it this way: “If you learn a simple lesson, Scout, you’ll get along a whole lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view. Step in their shoes and walk around in them.” To Atticus’ way of thinking, that was the only way to explain compassion and understanding. It is when we feel it, really feel it, whether in a book, a documentary, a film, a neighbor, a relative, a song…or the man whose room has the decorations won in a war that ultimately we as a nation…lost.

It’s really simple. Oh, and the officer who stopped Bill Russell that sunny day, what did he ask for?

An  autograph. God’s honest truth…but I bet you already guessed that.   

Dedicated: to the Students who created "The March for Our Lives"

The Times They Are A-Changin'

Bob Dylan

Come gather 'round people

Wherever you roam

And admit that the waters

Around you have grown

And accept it that soon

You'll be drenched to the bone.

If your time to you

Is worth savin'

Then you better start swimmin'

Or you'll sink like a stone

For the times they are a-changin'.

Come senators, congressmen

Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now...Will later be last

For the times they are a-changin'.

I heard this song just the other day...and I stopped dead in my tracks. 

I thought about what it means.

You can't ignore these young people.

One sign reads at the March reads...

"You cannot stop 'stupid', but you can vote it out"

Ode to Sergeant Joe Friday: “Just the facts, Ma’am.” [Dedicated to teachers who are assigning a research paper this spring!]

As a Baby Boomer, I watched “Dragnet” and, however corny and stiff the police show appeared on my black and white TV, it was always clear two things mattered to the gumshoe investigators. What was the data (physical evidence that could be measured (“See that blood on the carpet, Joe?”), and what credibility did the witnesses bring to the investigation in order to discover the truth? (“How did you know it was him, Ma’am?”…. “Because he was my, my lover!)

They got it right 100% of the time. Ah, Hollywood. If it were always that easy. But even today, those principles still are neither out of date nor are they irrelevant. The problem is that they are often ignored. In a Trump World of Fake News, how can we tell “Just the facts,Ma’am”—when we don’t establish what facts are? Here are some tried and true methods.

First. The data. Crunch the numbers and consider whose fingers crunched them. Let’s take the issue of the economy and whether the wage gap is really significant, i.e. “The rich get richer and the poor…have children.” In February of 2017, “In the last two quarters, Gross Domestic Product has risen more than 3%...but many people don’t feel the upside….According to the Pew Research Center report, the average hourly wage for nonmanagement private-sector work was $20.67, a measly $1.49 higher than 1964, adjusted for inflation.” [Time 2-5-18 p41] And that’s the average. Imagine the low end of the pay scale! So despite a “booming economy”—it’s not booming for the worker bees. Those are the facts. Legit. The Pew Foundation is as non-partisan as it gets. Numbers are numbers.

Let’s try the immigration debate. Is Trump deporting the bad “hombres”? He claimed he was going to do, as opposed to Obama’s deportation policy? In this example, let’s use data and an excellent knowledgeable “witness”—Pratheepan Gulasekaram, a constitutional and immigration law professor from the University of Santa Clara. His studies show,“Despite the President’s frequent talk of ‘rapists and murderers”; the most influential shift in 2017 was that ICE agents arrested 146% more noncriminals, compared to a year before [under Obama]. In 2016, 14% of the people whom ICE arrested had no criminal record. In 2017 close to 26% were.” [Time 3-19-18 p40] So clearly Trump is arresting a lot of “low hanging fruit”; people who were just easy to scoop up at 7-11 while they are heading to their low paying job. (This was the cover story in Time.)

Okay, one more. Global Warming and its effects on the disasters in various cities. It is public knowledge Trump claimed it was “a hoax’ perpetrated by the Chinese. In an article entitled “How We Know It Was Climate Change” by professor of earth systems science at Stanford, he concludes, “ This was the year of devastating weather, including historic hurricanes and wildfires….Did climate change play a role? Increasingly scientists are able to answer that question—and increasingly, the answer is yes.” [NYT 12-31-17 p.10] The article discusses the fact that these events are all of the highest magnitude in history because of the warming of the planet and the rising of sea level. No mention of the Chinese…or Russian hackers.

So apply these standards: legit studies and qualified sources reported by organizations that are adhering to the highest standards of journalistic ethics. (Remember, they can be sued and reporters fired.) When teachers assign research papers, demand source citations and teach students to inspect them. Wikipedia is only acceptable if the source is quoted directly and cited in the footnotes. Websites by organizations that do not adhere to journalistic standards are just left or right wing propaganda.

Is MSNBC, FOX, CNN legit? Consider this: whom they interview and if those interviews are part of a written piece in a journalistic publication or a journal like SCIENCE, authentic data or qualified sources. Don Lemon’s opinion is just that—one man’s opinion. He is not a lawyer who studies the case, nor is he a scientist. Rachel Maddow admits she is not a lawyer either, so she interviews them—often they are folks who worked directly with cases like Nixon’s prosecution. Fox’s Hannity is really unqualified. Not a college grad (no journalistic background); he is merely a radio shock-talker. Read up on him (or read my Hannitygate Blog). Same with Fox and Friends. They just gab about ‘stuff’…and have the ear of the president.

Final note: Teachers—your librarian is our best asset. They often purchase  research cites that  have published articles. DO NOT GOOGLE “Is racism still a problem?” You are likely to get all sorts of bogus ads, websites, and the fringe ilk who have little validity.

  

If you live in the 49th Congressional District—your VOTE will be critical and Mike Levin is the best candidate to give a check on Trump’s chaos attack on America’s instructions

It’s gotten down to this: too many Democrats are in the race for the 49^th,  and in California the two who get the most votes in the June primary, are advancing to the final November vote. The problem: it could be two Republicans! (More on them shortly.)

We have passed the date when the weaker candidates can drop out. So Here is why Mike Levin is the BEST, most electable candidate for, frankly, everyone to support—that includes Republicans.

Why? First a quick explanation of the faults in the other three Democratic candidates. First and foremost, when the Democrats realized the problem that they could be locked out of even making the primary ballot, their was a forum called “The Viability Forum” to have all five candidates speak to why they should be the best choice. All five confirmed they would be there. On the morning of the well publicized and attended meeting, only Mike LEVIN showed up. (A fifth candidate had the good sense to drop out.) Mr. Applegate claimed he would go to “a bar” totalk to his supporters; Ms. Jacobs and Mr. Kerr just said they did not want to be associated with a PAC (at the last minute), and just like that Mike LEVIN was the only one there. So lying to the people of the 49^th and wasting so any people’s time and efforts is a huge strike against them.

As for Mr. Applegate, two things haunt him: he has raise a pittance compared to LEVIN and even Jacobs. (LEVIN has been one of the first in and has knocked on doors raising 1.2 million to Applegate’s 662 thousand, despite Applegate’s name recognition. Secondly, the Republican, Diane Hartney, a big Issa supporter and a tax cutter, will certainly raise the issues that Issa raise (unfairly, I add, but in politics your past can haunt you). See below:

“Democrat Douglas Applegate, a retired U.S. Marine colonel challenging Rep. Darrell Issa’s reelection bid, was accused of harassing and threatening his ex-wife during their divorce proceedings and child custody battle more than 10 years ago, court records show….An Orange County Superior Court judge granted Applegate's former wife, Priscilla Greco, two temporary restraining orders against him in 2002 and 2004.”

So Applegate could not win when Democrats came out in droves for Ms. Clinton. He has little chance four years later. Personally I have issues with his temperament. He comes across as a ‘tough guy’—but not very smart. I saw him speak to 100’s of people at the Democratic forum and I am not kidding –the first words out of his mouth were “I’m gonna beat that SON OF A BITCH (Issa)! Really? Is this the kind of person we expect to bring a sense of integrity and decorum to government? I can he is the lesser of the two evils—the two Republican nominees, but we can do better.

As for Ms. Jacobs, if Mike LEVIN were not in this race I would support her. But her poll numbers will make it very likely that she will eliminate both LEVIN and APPLEGATE and she cannot catch up fast enough. Check out this data:

“In a narrowed field of candidates, Chavez maintains the lead with 23% followed by Democrat Levin at 17%, Republican Harkey at 16%, and Doug Applegate at 15%. “The Top Two primary math is working against Democrats in these districts,” said Katie Merrill, chief strategist for Fight Back CA. “With a bus load of Democratic candidates in each of these races, the odds are increasing everyday that Democrats could lose these seats without ever seeing the general election “

 She grew up at the southern tip of the 49th district, in Del Mar,…Her grandfather, Irwin Jacobs, co-founded Qualcomm, the hundred-billion-dollar telecommunications company, and her family are prominent Democratic donors.  That is why she has 1.3 million in her coffers as of Jan 1, 2018. I like her, but she entered the race far too late and she will rely on a barriage of TV (expensive) ads. In the end ever person (particularly young folks who vote for her will likely simply give the election to Rocky Chavez or Hartney who will nudge out LEVIN and the unelectable Applegate. Had she made the decision to run at the beginning of 2017, things would be different but even she admits at 29 she was not sure she ws ready. One more thing—the Republicans will tie her to President Obama (which makes her appealing to me, but she worked for Ms. Clinton prominently as an unpaid foreign policy adviser on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign.…and that will hurt her.) And she DID NOT SHOW UP top the meeting. I saw her speak—she will be terrific, but right now, she will just end up strengthening Trump’s hold on Congress. Sorry, Sara.

Mr. Kerr is raising money 1.0 million, but I saw him speak and, frankly, he knows a lot about small business in exclusively Sa Diego and he is a rags-to-riches- guy, but he will 1. Do what Ms. Jacobs will do, and 2. He is utterly unprepared for national office. His lack of knowledge of domestic affairs and international issues was hard to watch. He just repeats his mantra—I am from here and I’m a businessman. We deserve someone who already knows the issues and can speak to them lucidly and has a vision of what is going on in Trump’s administration. Sorry, Paul—run for State Assembly. Oh, and he also did not show up for the meeting he promised he would!

 So why Mike LEVIN? Here is what I wrote on Sunday, May 7, 2017: I have seen the future of the 49th Congressional District and its name is Mike Levin ! (It is even truer today IF PEOPLE REALIZE HOW THEIR VOTE IS PIVOTAL.

“Mike Levin has outraised Applegate in every single quarter, despite the fact that Applegate ran in 2016 and should have had a ready-made donor base at his disposal,” Levin’s campaign consultant, Parke Skelton, said in a statement.

The most impressive quality that Levin displayed is his temperament. He calmly explained how a disastrous house bill that has no Congressional Budget Office score was passed with the deciding vote attributed to Issa--vote 216. This bill has no cost estimate yet, will knock 20+ million people off insurance, and allows insurance companies to weasel out of covering some people with pre-existing conditions.

Mike Levin has an impeccable resume. He is forward thinking and knows the Trump agenda that Mr. Issa embraces with glee, despite the evidence that renewable energy is America's future; that Obamacare is more popular than ever; and that a 20+ billion dollar wall between the USA and Mexico (that America will pay for !) is not supported by the majority of voters or legislators on the border.

Mike Levin sees the future in a world that author Tom Friedman argues is accelerating rapidly. That makes Mike Levin a political rock star...if we are wise enough to listen to him.

Two Footnotes: 1. Ms. Hartney is cut out of the mold of Issa. Tax cutter, and worked in that industry exclusively. Orange County all the way. She will be just what Trump wants. 2. Rocky Chavez—“In the Legislature, Chavez has built a reputation as a moderate with an interest in veterans issues and education. Last year, he faced heat from his GOP colleagues after he and seven other Republicans helped pass an extension of the state’s cap-and-trade system, a signature climate change program backed by Gov. Jerry Brown.” Now will he cave to Paul Ryan and Donald Trump? That is a chance, right now, I’m not taking.

And finally why does all this matter? Our nation’s strength is built on checks and balances. Trump and his cronies control both houses of Congress, the majority of Supreme Court Judges, the EPA, the Justice Dept., and he has eviscerated the FBI and NSA  as well as the CIA. He listens to no one, except his own TV network. He will fire anyone who will speak truth to power. As for the massive tax cut he signed, check out Kansas and Louisiana and see how that’s going. They are failing states. Now they are trying to reinstate the taxes because the promised jobs are not coming and the schools and infrastructures are crumbling.

So only through the election can Trump’s march to power be at least muted. Don’t just believe me: ask Romney, Bush, and an assortment of Republicans who are leaving office, or are Generals, former top aides to Republican Presidents, etc. Trump running a muck is the most dangerous thing to our democracy.

So vote LEVIN. Don’t split the vote. We live in the most forward thinking state, California, with a 6 million dollar surplus—yes, we are not perfect, but we can stop Trump. 11 seats are needed. The 49^th may be the most critical.

Thanks for your patience. I know this was a long one. Footnotes will appear in my “comments”—no fake news here.

A Statue of Loyalty (part 2)

What do Jim Palmer, Tony Gwynn, Johnny Bench, and Carl Yastrzemski have in common other than all being Hall of Fame baseball players? Hmm? It's not that they represent different parts of the nation, different races, even different positions—and even different leagues. All true, but not what I have mind.

So let’s add to the list and see if you can figure it out: Kirby Puckett, Cal Ripken, Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, Mike Schmidt, Edgar Martinez, and Mariano Rivera

Okay, give up? Well, according to MLB.com, these gents are all guys who, after free agency, remained with their teams throughout—and they are the top position players. I’ll leave it to you to figure out which positions (but add the DH). I must also add George Brett as an Honorable Mention.

Basically all of them were offered big money to leave their team that brought them up to the big leagues—and all of them turned down the offers, stayed with their teams and all of them are or will be the statues you pass as you enter their prospective ballparks.

Of course, there were the greats who played before free agency, but they had no choice to stay with their teams. Then there are the guys who were traded against their will, think of Jackie Robinson who was dealt to the hated Giants, and who refuse to accept the trade and retired instead. We don’t have to have a statue for #42…because of his greatness, no one wears his uniform number any longer.

These players that MLB listed are the all-star loyalty team. They are the embodiment of their cities. They are beloved by the fans, young and old. They put family ahead of an even bigger paycheck. Sure, there are others who played with only one team, but these were the ones that were coveted by the other cities with deeper pockets Many stayed for their children’s education, for continuity, because they already felt they made enough money—but in the end many simply stayed because they were M. Padre; Yaz; the Big Red Machine; the Killer Bees…and one even stayed put despite the fickle fans who booed him despite his greatness.

So what’s the big deal? I mean, players have the right to go where the money is and make as much as they can in

the time that they have right? Yes. True. But baseball is a different animal. It has guaranteed contracts, unlike the NFL. Players have a longevity that is much more significant than other sports along with rosters larger than other sports. And it has tradition. It began in the late 1800’s—and for cryin out loud, it is America’s pastime! Thirty cities hope to go to the World Series. Chicago waited 100 years (I think it was longer, but what’s a decade to them?) And one more thing: a player makes the minimum of $450,000—and that is a whole lot more than a beginning teacher’s 45 K (in California—32K in some states.)

So my point is we fans ask that at least the players who ‘are the face of a club’ remain that face. Sometimes it is player greed, sometimes a team’s cheap ownership, sometimes it is a player who just knows his days are numbered and goes to another team just to extend his career. Fortunately, many of those players come back to their roots and give back to their cities—Trevor Hoffman is a perfect example.

I appreciate that. These guys do so much for the community and set an example for kids. I am sure my readers can list a dozen players that abandoned their town, they were guns for hire, and every team making a pennant run often needs one of these gunslingers, but they are off to the next buyer and …no statues of them will ever appear in from of the old ballpark.

And don’t even get me started when it comes to the rich owners who pick up their team and ‘bolt’ out of town (after

50+ years). 

I few weeks ago I wrote about the Mr. Trump’s strange demands of loyalty. Naturally, the unprecedented departures from his administration make one wonder about the price of Trump’s never-contradict-me blind loyalty. However, this article is about a far more important loyalty—the loyalty of a baseball player to the town he represents and the uniform worn. (I know baseball isn’t REALLY more important that serving our nation…but it is a lot more fun.) 

So loyalty is something I think about. The words “for better or worse, in sickness and health…” are a part of one of the most sacred oaths many take. Commitment. Sticking through tough times. Having another’s back. Sacrifice. Selflessness. These are not the words that come to mind in sports,  in the workplace, and sadly, in marriage.. And certainly not in this White House.

Hopefully this column makes it’s readers think more about the state of loyalty…as we pass the statues of ballplayers as a new season begins.

So Play Ball …and hope the 'stars' stick around, Your city needs you and so do the fans.

For the MLB article go to : http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2018/02/22/266645328/null