We have never before seen a major national political candidate in this country who set off so many alarm bells from such a wide portion of the country before Donald Trump in 2016. It's one thing that Democrats did not like or trust the man, but the number of Republicans who seemed unusually skeptical about him should have tipped more people off that there really is something different, and very alarming, about the man.
Yet, he was nominated as the official GOP candidate and, eventually, was elected to the highest office in the land.
Afterwards, many Republicans fell in line, and supported their new president. But many also did not, and this man remains very polarizing, even within the GOP. I mean, seriously, how often have you seen the president being so criticized and questioned, even by people who normally would be political allies? Sure, every politician, and every President, has critics, even by fellow party members. But the vehemence with which he is being attacked, the relentlessness of charges that he is, for all intents and purposes, an immature, overgrown child, just do not go away.
Why do his supporters have such a difficult time seeing that there might be a good reason for this? When will they ever see, or admit, that these criticisms are not coming from left field, but are grounded in concrete reality, based on Trump's own conduct, and his own words?
Now, it surely is no secret to anyone who knows me, or follows this blog, that I am no fan of President Trump. Like most everyone else, I too think of him as an immature, overgrown, overly entitled and bratty child.
But it's more than that. It's worse.
My big suspicion with Donald Trump and his team is this: they hold the American people in contempt. They want to keep playing the big important rich boys, and they want to keep making money the only way that they know how, which is by taking advantage shamelessly, by making shady deals, perhaps even illegal business transactions. They want to continue being vulture capitalists, and they want to encourage other powerful people like them to do the same. If it seems like they are doing everything humanly possible to make the country, and even the world, a worse place, it's because that is exactly what they are doing. Honestly, I do not know that they know how to do anything else, and they do not appear to have it in them to be or do better than this, generally.
Naturally, this poison is affecting the country for the worst. Trump is not the symbol of what the country should be, or the direction this nation, much less this world, should be going in. Cut throat, vulture capitalism has not worked for a vast majority of people, and not surprisingly, the gap between rich and poor, between the powerful and the weak, between the haves and the have-nots, has grown dramatically in the short time that Trump has been in the White House. It did not get there accidentally, or by static, somehow. This was done by design, and the widening gap is also by design, as the most privileged among us, including Trump and friends, are helping themselves to our money and our resources, because they know they can. At least, they assume that they can, and nothing has really suggested otherwise yet.
One of the charges that Trump finds continually leveled at him is that he is a con artist, that all that he really offers are lies and scams. Indeed, if you look at his history, you will find an extensive history clearly showing good reason for people feeling that this is all that Trump is about. He has a long and alarming history of shady deals and abuses, and promising much while delivering little.
He thrived because people believed what they wanted to believe, and abandoned their critical thinking in order to fool themselves into believing it. He thrived off of this, it worked for him, and so he used it, encouraged it, and mastered the art of manipulating the masses. Not only does he trick and use people, but he then looks down with contempt at the very people that he did this to, because when you view the world in simple, black and white ways, seeing only winners and losers, and feeling that you are the ultimate winner, then how else can you possibly view the people you took advantage of? To Trump, and people like him, anyone who does not play the game the way that they do, anyone who is not filthy rich and scamming people out of their money is just a loser.
Is this really who we want as our president?
Not surprisingly, the President surrounds himself with like-minded people as himself, which is perhaps why he has the most blatantly corrupt administration in history. And, since Trump also wavers so incredibly in his opinions of people, one day holding them up as model citizens, and then the next scoffing at them and ridiculing them publicly, it is not surprising that there is such a high turnover rate in the Trump White House. Frankly, it would be surprising if there was not.
And of those who remain, we can expect only the worst kind of conduct. The kind of conduct that Trump gives his stamp of approval for, and which makes the country worse.
Case in point, his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Here is a guy with the worst kind of ethics. A man who owns apartments meant for low-income people, but who hides that fact when it suits him, and has no qualms about trying to raise the price of rent, and essentially force the poor people out, so that he can pocket the profits and come out "the winner."
Kushner has indeed had some shady deals, and new headlines on a daily basis reveal numerous situations where he is guilty of conflicts of interest. The fact that he did not even get the security clearance that usually should be an automatic for such a high-ranking official within the White House strongly suggests that something is not right with this guy.
This man basically looks down on members of his own Republican party, for that matter. When Elizabeth Spiers called out Trump on his birther stance and claimed that it was racist, Kushner, according to her, responded like this:
“He rolled his eyes and said ‘He doesn’t really believe it, Elizabeth. He just knows Republicans are stupid and they’ll buy it’”.
This is not the first time that Trump has been accused of dismissing his own Republicans as, at least by and large, stupid. However, it cannot fully be proven, although frankly, it would not surprise me that he would feel this way. It would be even less of a surprise for me to know that he not only feels this way, but joined the very party that he feels is populated with stupid people.
What really depresses me about the present, and especially the future, regarding what is going on in this country, is that people seemingly truly cannot see through a man like Trump, nor the people who he surrounds himself with. Whether or not he outright said so boldly that he thinks Republicans are stupid, I have no doubt that, given his winners and losers perspective on life, he does indeed view them as losers, with himself of course being the winner, once again having scammed people into believing what he wants them to believe in order to get what he wanted.
Trump has incredibly low approval ratings, has been condemned worldwide for many of his actions and viewpoints, and is generally seen as a clownish figure by far too many to be easily dismissed. Yet, he also is the sitting President, and like it or not, has a solid 30 to 35 percent who serve as his base of supporters, and seem to let him get away with nonsense time and time again.
Mass shootings are obviously tragic and clearly unpleasant, but the increasingly selfish and willfully blind and arrogant defense of the NRA by many Trump supporters in the wake of these tragedies is simply downright depressing. In the past six months, there have been three major mass shootings that rank as among the most deadly in modern American history. The first was the biggest, at the concert in Las Vegas, where 58 people were killed, and hundreds more wounded. The second was the biggest mass shooting in Texas history, as a man walked into a church in Sutherland Springs and killed 26 people. Then last month, Florida saw another mass shooting, this one in Parkland. It ranks as the third deadliest school shooting in the modern history of the United States.
So, perhaps it is not surprising that the gun debate has been raging like never before. After all, we have a big mouth that received the full endorsement of the NRA during the 2016 presidential campaign, and now he is in the Oval Office. He mocked a disabled reporter during the campaign, so should it really be a surprise that his gun loving supporters would make such a point of mocking kids?
No, it's worse than that, actually. They are bullying kids who survived one of the world school shootings in history. These kids saw their classmates killed on what was supposed to be a regular school day, but wound up anything but. A 19-year-old man, hardly more than a kid himself, somehow managed to get his hands on an AR-15, and decided to use it against defenseless kids.
This was not the first time, or the second time, or the third time that we have seen such massacres in American schools. In the past, some of the solutions offered up by pro-NRA advocates has been to have armed guards in every school. Despite tight budgets, this was seen as an emergency to help keep our kids safe. But there were armed guards in previous school shootings, and it did not help. It did not help at Columbine. And in Parkland, the guard refused to enter the building, refused to put his life on the line to either help prevent, or at the very least limit, a school massacre.
Do we really think that teachers, who surely would not get more training on guns and shooting, would fare better?
Also, there are plenty of mass shootings that happen outside of schools, as well. Are we going to hire armed guards, at taxpayer expense, for literally every kind of public gathering? Will we see them at post offices, at shopping malls and supermarkets? Are we going to hire them for churches, which have obviously seen quite a few mass shootings just in recent years, as well? Would it even help in these circumstances? How much would an armed guard have helped in Las Vegas, where the shooter was firing from 32 stories up?
Obviously, that solution has not always worked. Yet, conservatives and other NRA supporters, usually quite hawkish about being on a tight budget to the point that they continually try to cut school programs, like Trump did with after school programs, are now championing the idea of providing teachers with training and with guns themselves. Clearly, this will cost quite a lot of money, considering how many thousands of schools there are in the country, and presumably, there would be more than one teacher on average per school that would receive such training, because of absences and the possibility that a trained teacher at the far end of a school would not necessarily even be able to get to a shooting on time if it winds up being on the complete other end of the school. Plus, let's face it, if armed guards with proper training and equipment do not always, or even often, prevent mass shootings, why would teachers suddenly be the answer?
Of course, it is pointed out over and over again that the United States is the only industrialized nation in the world with such a massive problem with gun violence in general, and with the relentless regularity of mass shootings in particular. It is hard not to notice that the easy availability of guns in the United States might indeed be a decisive contributing factor for all of this.
So, despite how confident conservative gun lovers try to sound with their answers, history has not been on their side. And that's got to be frustrating.
But who knew that they could stoop so low as to outright mock kids in high school? Conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham seemed to be absolutely gleeful that one of the Parkland teens turned activist was turned down from several colleges, despite an apparently strong GPA and other impressive credentials. FOr her lack of professionalism, numerous sponsors dropped her. And now, only after the fact, and seeing that there are indeed consequences for being an asshole, she seems to be apologizing and expressing regret at her own conduct.
How convenient.
Ingraham is hardly the only one, though. One of the NRA gun lovers slapped a Hitler mustache on the image of a Parkland kid, and a fake image of another Parkland survivor turned activist, Emma Gonzalez, tearing up the constitution, while another member of the Republican party from Maine referred to her as a "skinhead lesbian," before he was forced to drop his political campaign as a result of his mind-numbingly stupid and insensitive remarks.
But how low can we go as a nation? When is enough enough? Not just with gun violence, but also with the personal insults and, yes, the bullying. Not be kids,but by supposedly full grown, allegedly responsible adults. If this is how angry and irresponsible they get, how trustworthy will they possibly be with assault weapons?
This is getting absurd. Frankly, those sponsors should have dropped idiots like Ingraham and LaPierre and the NRA in general, and a long time ago.
No matter what political affiliation we may subscribe to, it seems that everyone agrees that we seem to have lost something as a nation.
The question that I have, is whether insulting children who want frankly reasonable measures for their own personal safety is the cause, or just a clear symptom of the larger problem plaguing us, clearly pointing to what is wrong with this country?
Hogg Asks Melania for Comment After Ingraham Tweet Newsweek logo Newsweek Joe Difazio, March 29, 2018:
Sometimes, you have to be careful what you wish for.
For years, people listened to horror stories about how bad any expansion of the healthcare program would be, how it was increasing government control, and would inevitably lead to a brutal dictatorship (funny how literally everything that threatens the privileges of the rich, from healthcare reform to gun reforms that threaten the profit of the NRA seem to always be labelled as a first step towards dictatorship, even when there is no evidence of this from the numerous countries which tried both).
Then, in 2016, many of these same people bought into the promises of then candidate Donald Trump, who made wild promises and statements that sounded too good to be true. The most famous was his promise not only to build a border wall, but to make Mexico pay for this wall. "Mark my words," he said specifically. He would be the greatest job creating president in history. He would save the coal industry, and bring back all of those lost coal jobs in Appalachia. He would be the fittest man ever to serve, which seems laughable, because he was nowhere near in as good a shape as the man who preceded him, or even the man who preceded him. He criticized Obama for playing golf while so much needed to be done, and promised that he would never play golf as president. He would be too busy working on behalf of the country, so he promised that he would not take vacations, either. He also promised that he would defeat ISIS within 30 days, and of course, he knew more about ISIS than the generals did. He would release his taxes, and he would divorce himself from his business interests to avoid any conflict of interests. He would pay down the national debt. He would do for the country what he had done for his business empire, and under him, the country would no longer be a laughing stock, but would just win, win, win. We would win so much, in fact, that we would grow tired of winning. He told us, with a straight face, that he and he alone could save this country.
Of course, there was a reason why those promises sounded too good to be true. For those of us who looked at this man as a clown figure, and took what he said with a grain of salt as the rantings of an untrustworthy man, we saw his extensive past as a conman and understood at once that he was just putting us on, that this was just the latest, and apparently greatest, scam yet. But surely, most of us thought, our fellow countrymen would eventually see through all of this. A man who mocks the disabled and stokes the fans of racism, and who lied so effortlessly, would not be rewarded with the White House, right?
Well, we all know what happened, so there is no point in retelling that particular story.
But now that he is in office, how many of those promises did he manage to keep? Did he force Mexico to pay for the wall? Nope. Shocker, I know. Did he defeat ISIS within 30 days? Not so much. Did he release his taxes, or at least divorce himself from his business interests? Nah, he never actually intended to go through with that, anyway. Did he at least refuse to play golf, or take vacations? Hardly. In fact, he has spent more time on vacation during this stretch of his presidency than anyone who preceded him, to my knowledge. Are we winning, winning, winning, to the point that we are sick and tired of it? Not at all. In fact, it seems that the rest of the world is laughing at us far more these days than ever before, and Trump has everything to do with that.
One of the many promises that Trump made as a candidate that sounded too good to be true was healthcare. He promised it would be an amazing plan, and would cover everybody. Plus, it would be cheaper than the healthcare system - the hated Obamacare - that then existed in full force.
Low and behold, though, this was yet another lie. Not only did he not come up with something better and less costly that would cover everyone, he did not make a serious effort to help design one. All he did was attach his name to the mediocre plans of others, such as Paul Ryan, and then lent all of his support towards "repealing and replacing" Obamacare. But of course, those efforts were fruitless, and did not pass Congress. Then they focused on simply repealing Obamacare, but that did not pass, either. So, Trump did exactly what he and his supporters criticized Obama for, and exerted his executive power in order to gut Obamacare, for all intents and purposes.
And so, he could claim to have ended Obamacare. That much he can do. But did he make it better, cheaper, more affordable? Nope. Is everyone at least now covered? Not even close. In fact, predictably, there are more and more people going without health insurance now specifically as a consequence of having Donald Trump in the Oval Office. Many of these people are in red states and, presumably, many of them strongly supported and ultimately voted for Donald Trump.
Again, careful what you wish for.
Of course, the Republican lie...er, excuse me, line - the Republican line...would be that these people are exercising their freedom of choice. But it is the freedom of choice of having to make difficult choices based on financial realities. Namely, that they have to gamble and go without the expensive health insurance costs that they cannot afford, and hope that it ultimately works out best, that they get lucky. It's a gamble, of course, not unlike the gamble that Americans collectively took for many years by sticking so doggedly to the for profit healthcare system in the first place - the only one of it's kind in the industrialized world. And there's a reason for that, too. No other industrialized nations want anything to do with such a system, because they see the failures of the system we have here in the United States, and the people of these countries know that what they have is better than what we have. Hell, even President Trump admitted it during a visit with the Australian head of state, commenting that their healthcare system was better than the American one. And that was before Obamacare was gutted. It's even worse now, under Trump!
According to a recent article published by Bloomberg, the success ob the Obamacare program - for all of it's faults - is being taken away as a direct consequence of the actions by Trump:
While the share of Americans without health insurance is near historic lows four years after the Affordable Care Act extended coverage to almost 20 million people, the Trump administration has been rolling back parts of the law. At the same time, the cost for many people to buy a health plan—if they don’t get it from a job or the government—is higher than ever.
Are you as tired of all of this "winning" as I am yet?
Again, careful what you wish for. Most Trump supporters desperately wanted an end to Obamacare, and most desperately wanted Trump in the White House. Now, they got exactly what they wished for - except once again, the exact same failures that were so glaringly obvious, and which created the need for reforms like those in Obamacare, are rising up. And President Trump is not addressing any of this. He's too busy playing rounds of golf on his weekend outings to sunny Florida to bother, and he seems to like his vacations way too much to actually address the concerns, much less the needs, of the American people he is supposed to be representing.
Surprise, surprise, eh?
Now, Obamacare was basically a first step in the right direction. It did not scrap the exclusively for profit healthcare system, but it did curtail it, took out the worst of the abuses and unfairness. But under Trump, all of that is coming right back, and whatever tinkering we might have done to make Obamacare work better will now shift to a fight simply to retain as many scraps of it as possible, with Trump the butcher having carved it all up and rendered it virtually lifeless.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Why Some Americans Are Risking It and Skipping Health Insurance by John Tozzi, March 26, 2018:
Just before this weekend, I posted a blog entry about how the owner of the New England Patriots, Robert Kraft, had the Parkland students who survived last month's mass shooting take the official team plane up to Washington to join in the protests.
Well, it turns out that there was slightly more to that story than I knew about. Kraft actually left a letter there for the students to read, and it was really something! He clearly considers them leaders and true patriots helping the country "towards a better future."
That was pretty cool of him to do so!
Here is the fuller story, and the earlier blog from before the march:
Read the letter Kraft left on plane for Parkland students By NBC Sports Boston Report March 26, 2018:
Parkland Students Flew to DC For March on Plane of the New England Patriots (originally published on March 24, 2018):
This is rather unexpected!
The New England Patriots allowed the students at Parkland High School to use their plane in order to attend the March for our Lives event in Washington, D.C. to be held later today, and so it seemed very appropriate to write a story about them, and what they are doing.
It is an unexpected, but encouraging gesture by a professional football team - and NFL teams are not usually known for their progressive stances.
Apparently, Patriots owner Robert Kraft was persuaded to do this by former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. She herself was shot in the head during a mass shooting in Tucson, in her home state of Arizona, during one of her political rallies. Ever since, Giffords has become one of the most prominent voices for gun control legislation in this country.
These kids have been amazing! After surviving one of the very worst school shootings in American history, they have become incredibly politically active. Everywhere you look, they are on the news, making headlines, forcing attention on an issue that, obviously, impacts them tremendously.
Obviously, this activity has generated a lot of attention. Some of it has itself made news, because it is the unwanted attention of gun nuts who have taken to threatening the students. Think about that, these kids survived one of the worst school shootings, and then voiced their concerns that this kind of tragedy could happen again. Now, precisely because they sounded off on this issue, they are being threatened with, of all things, gun violence.
A truly American paradox, is it not? It kind of brings new meaning to that old phrase, "Only in America," doesn't it? Only, that is not the way most Americans want to think about their country.
Now, it is not only enemies who have been noticing the activism of the Parkland kids. They have plenty of supporters, including, obviously, Congresswoman Giffords and the New England Patriots organization, as well of plenty of others. That includes actor Bill Murray, who recently likened the group and it's activism to the student anti-war movement during the Vietnam era:
"I was thinking, looking at the kids in Parkland, Florida who have started these anti-gun protests, that it really was the students that began the end of the Vietnam War. It was the students who made all the news, and that noise started, and then the movement wouldn't stop. I think, maybe, this noise that those students in Florida are making — here, today — will do something of the same nature."
Now, that's high praise!
I am both pleasantly surprised, as well as proud of the kids at Parkland. Sometimes, my cynicism gets in the way of things, and I remain overly skeptical that meaningful change will occur anytime soon. But these kids have me feeling something that feels priceless: hope for a better, brighter future, one where this country finally joins the world community in obtaining sensible gun measures to keep dangerous, violent people from being able to have quick and easy access to deadly weapons.
Whether or not I am there physically today during the march, I stand with the students of Parkland!
Parkland students flown to DC on Patriots plane BY MAX GREENWOOD - 03/23/18:
Linda Brown, the student at the center of the monumental Brown vs. Board of Education case in the 1950's that essentially began to make the end of legalized segregation in the United States feel all but inevitable, died yesterday. She was 76 years old.
“Linda Brown is one of that special band of heroic young people who, along with her family, courageously fought to end the ultimate symbol of white supremacy — racial segregation in public schools. She stands as an example of how ordinary schoolchildren took center stage in transforming this country,” Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel at NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said in a statement Monday.
The struggle continued, and there were many ugly and tragic moments to come, but the legalized Jim Crow segregation that was particularly prevalent in the southeastern United States did finally come to an end under President Lyndon Johnson, after tremendous pressure from the civil rights movement, particularly Martin Luther King, Jr..
However, it was this landmark case that really got the ball rolling, and began the momentum of what came to be known as desegregation.
A sad day for America regarding this, but what a huge case that quite literally transformed the political and judicial landscape of this country!
Linda Brown, student in Brown v. Board of Education case, dies at 76 Print By Victor Morton - The Washington Times - Monday, March 26, 2018:
As mentioned in the earlier blog, I have been to a few Jimmy Carter booksignings before, and even posted blog entries about them. So, here are some of those previously published blog entries about a couple of those signings.
Both of these were from 2014. The first one was with my son on March 25, 2014. The second one was much later in the year, around early December, from the Yale University campus in New Haven, Connecticut.
President Jimmy Carter Book Signing, New York, NY - March 25, 2014 - originally published March 27, 2014:
My son and me, posing in front of the sign advertising the appearance by President Jimmy Carter. It was a bit chillier than expected, as well as noisy. But in the end, it was definitely worth it!
This is President Jimmy Carter's new book - "A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power
A couple of days ago, I mentioned in a post that President Jimmy Carter was coming to this area for a book signing. New York City is always going to be a big draw, of course, and he has come here before. This was not the first time that I would attend one of these functions of his, for that matter.
But that said, it would be the first time that I would take my son to one. He is eight years old, and this seemed like a unique opportunity for him to experience something that he might not experience again for a long time, if ever.
So, off we went.
Truth be told, I found this time to be different in several ways then the three previous times that I had gone to the city for a book signing event with President Carter. The previous times, I had been less organized, even though I had enjoyed more time beforehand. I found out about this less than 48 hours before it happened, but was determined to make this happen, and make it a success - mostly because the last time I had been to one, I had been disappointed by the extent of their limiting the amount of books signed. Following that, I made sure that the books that I wanted signed were all in one place, should the opportunity rise again, like it did this time. Also, I never had a camera on me before, but my cell phone nowadays does have one, which would afford me the opportunity to snap some pictures, hopefully!
I met my son and his mother (my ex-wife) at our designated meeting place -Willowbrook Mall parking lot. It was more or less midway between us, so it worked out best, and I am appreciative that she was willing to drive out that far. He seemed in high spirits. But then again, it was a surprise day off from school for him, as well as an exciting opportunity to meet a famous and historically important person!
It seemed best if we got some food in us, so I picked up some bagels (flavored for him), so we would not be starving while on line, and unable to get out of the line. The previous such events with Carter had been like that, so I was prepared to stand for hours, if need be.
After that, we headed towards Newark, to my old place of employment, and his former school. There is some cheap parking there that I know of, and we then took the PATH train to the city. My son absolutely adores trains, and he was fascinated by it all! This was already very exciting!
We got there, and obviously, there was some walking to do. The PATH takes you to 33rd Street, but the store was on 46th Street and 5th Avenue, which was a bit of a distance. Maybe that does not sound too long, but when you have an eight year old who, understandably, is taking everything in, fascinated by the noise and the sites and the energy of the big city, it can take some time. He has taken a fascination with rocks lately, and we passed a very impressive looking rock/jewelry store. The store front window showed a huge display of fossils and expensive looking boulders and such. I promised him that we would visit it as we headed back.
Finally, we arrived at the store and, sure enough, there was a line that already wrapped around the corner. The first time I went to one of these (at Barnes and Noble on Union Square), the book signing was on the fourth level, and they closed off the entire floor for the event. So, those of us who were waiting to get the President's autograph could wait inside, in the warmth. True, sitting on the floor for a long period of time can be uncomfortable. But it was better than standing outside, listening to garbage trucks across the street picking up all the debris that the construction workers were bringing out of the building. But, hey, what can you do?
Of course, the first thing that I had to do was pick up a couple of copies of the new book. So, we went in and did that, after first stopping at the bathroom. We both needed to go. He thought he did not at first, but I told him it might be a long wait, and so he decided it might be best.
Then, we went back outside. Walked around the corner, and found what appeared to be the end of the line, not maybe fifty feet after the corner. Wow! This was looking good!
Then, the security lady kind of smiled, and told us the end of the line was further back. I saw that we were by what might have been loading bays, which are not to be blocked, and saw a line of people standing beyond.
Sighing, I told my son that we needed to keep walking.
As we reached the end of the line, we looked around. There was some kind of construction project across the street, and a bunch of very noisy garbage trucks lined up, picking up the garbage, apparently, from the worksite.
Great!
My son mentioned how loud it was. But then, he began to be preoccupied with the sidewalk scaffolding on our side of the street, and started climbing. He kept remarkably occupied throughout the wait, which wound up being not nearly as long as I feared.
The guy in front of me was a science teacher right in the city, apparently playing hooky from school for the day so that he could attend this event. He had also gone to one of these events before with President Carter. He mentioned that he was from Connecticut, and I mentioned that we were from New Jersey. Before long, the conversation turned political, and he asked if I was a supporter of Christie.
God no!
He laughed, feeling a lot better after that answer, and we got to talking for quite some time after that. We talked about politics, about Jimmy Carter, and even about comic super heroes, as he was apparently a big fan of Marvel characters. I tried to engage my son in the conversation with this topic, but he apparently was having none of it. But the guy apparently was very well informed about the history of Marvel, and told me, for example, that Stan Lee kind of posed as the creator of Marvel, but really wasn't. Learn something new everyday.
By this point, the line was moving, and we finally entered the building. Upstairs, to the line, with the aligning area not far, although it was blocked off by curtains placed all around, so you could not actually see anything. They instructed us to prepare our books, but since I figured this would be like the last time, where the line snaked around each row of bookshelves, I took more time than probably I should have, since it seemed we had plenty of time.
Butt we approached the signing area much quicker than expected. The previous times that I had done this, it had gone much slower, but there were probably good reasons for this. First of all, this was the middle of a weekday! That makes a difference. I happened to have had that time off naturally, given my schedule (and even if I didn't, I probably would have tried to make a way to make it free), so it was not a problem from my end. But for others, it would probably prove to be more of a challenge than if this had taken place during an evening session. Also, there seemed less publicity this time around then before. I happened to stumble on this information just a day or two beforehand, and quickly took action and made my plans. But I was lucky to have done so. Point was, there were not nearly as many people as any of the previous three times that I had seen him. Now, he is a former President, so that is going to attract a crowd. And given the day and the time, it was a fair amount of people, with the line stretching past the entrance of the building, around the corner, to the end of the block, where as I understand it, it went around another corner. But still, we were more or less in and out much quicker than I expected. The line inside the store did not snake around the shelves, like they have in the past. Before I knew it, we were pretty much there.
Now, when I had called the store the day before, just to confirm that this event was still on, and to ask some general questions, they had told me that pictures were more or less frowned upon. That was entirely in keeping with the two previous times that I had seen President Carter, although the first time, it was at another Barnes & Noble (the one at Union Square), and the set up was entirely different, and much more conducive to picture taking. The problem was, I did not have any camera, including my cheap cell phone at the time, which did not have a camera feature. I was dying to get some pictures, but was discouraged.
Imagine my surprise, then, when one of the employees said that we could take quick pictures, but only in the short waiting area just before giving our books to be signed! So, I took a few pictures - as many as I could, really - and hoped that at least one of them would come out well. Keep in mind that I was trying to get my books out of the bag and ready simultaneously, and the security guys kept telling everyone to keep moving, or get your books ready. Everything was done, as always, to expedite the time involved. A few of them came out decently. Not great, but not too bad, either. These are posted down below.
It was a relief to finally get a picture of one of these events! I was glad. But suddenly, we were up next, and again, pictures were frowned upon at too close a range. So, I clumsily fumbled my phone back into my pocket, and approached the President, while urging my son on in front of me, to go ahead and meet the President.
President Carter looked at my son after signing the last of the previous person's books, and mentioned that now we have a very important customer.
He looked at my son warmly, and then asked, "What's your name?"
My son told him. First and last name. Very respectfully, very properly.
President Carter then turned to me, with the same good spirit in his eyes and demeanor.
"Take good care of him."
"Yes, I will, Mr. President."
I also thanked him for signing our books.
And then it was done. Not much of a conversation, especially from my end, admittedly. Still, it was better than the previous times that I had gone to one of these events, and found myself speaking hoarsely, barely comprehensible even to my own ears. A bit tongue-tied those last times, when all I could muster was an almost choked off, "Thank you, Mr. President." Then, I would awkwardly walk away, looking back to steal glances at the man.
This time, it was better. More words exchanged, and almost an actual conversation, small though it might have been. And my son, who can often be awkward, if not downright rude in these situations, was actually pretty good this time around. Respectful, answering the question posed to him thoroughly and attentively.
A few years ago, when I went to a similar event to see Andre Agassi for a book signing, Agassi had wanted to engage my son, but he was in a combative mood, telling Agassi that he did not want to talk to him.
"But I want to talk to you!", Agassi responded, as my son fought off my efforts to encourage some kind of conversation, stalking off angrily, making sure, one last time, that Andre Agassi understood that he wanted absolutely nothing to do with him.
I thanked Agassi, obviously awkwardly, and went after my son.
Agassi said one last thing, with people laughing all around.
"Good luck with him!" he said, in a conspiratorial tone that suggested that luck would be necessary.
Yes, that had been a bit uncomfortable. And I wanted, at all costs, to avoid that kind of a scenario this time around.
Indeed, it could have been much worse. In fact, this time around things went without a hitch at all, really. Under the circumstances, it was probably the best that I could hope for.
So, walking away from the President, I was thankful. Told my son to look one last time, to get a good look at President Carter, as he was back to signing books again. He can do that awfully fast, by the way. When I went to the Julius Erving book signing in November at the Philadelphia Free Library, I overheard one of the workers there mentioning that while some of the people could sign books quickly, the undisputed record holder was Jimmy Carter. Indeed, in past book signing events with him, I remember him seemingly scribbling his name on the books, then sliding them down in a very cool manner, over and over again with each book, my own included. Yet, when I checked his autograph, they all looked pretty much the same! You cannot say that he doesn't have a talent for those things.
We walked away, feeling great! The science teacher was there, waiting for us with a smile. The books were really cool souvenirs of the event, he said, and I agreed. He also mentioned that hopefully, my son would remember this, I obviously did, too. He is still young, and seems to have forgotten some of the things that we did together, which is pretty common for very young people, I guess.
Oh, and we did stop at the rock store on the way home. I even got him something, a little bottle with little rocks, the name of which I can't quite remember at the moment. Green something or other. I eventually had to kind of get him out of there, because it was getting later than expected, there were things that I had to do, but mostly, I was getting very, very tired. ad not slept all night before, because I was working. All of that fatigue came rushing in all at once when we got out of the wind and the cold and into the rock store.
Also, I guess I'll admit to being more than a little nervous each time he approached some of the really expensive rocks. Some of them went for $20,000! Daddy does not carry that kind of cash around. Hell, it would take me years to pay that off, if he did break something like that! I'm not made of money, and far from rich!
We left, and headed back to the PATH trains. Got back to Journal Square, the transfer station, in what seemed like no time. Perhaps a part of why it felt quick was that my head kept nodding in and out, my hat pulled over my eyes, drifting in and out.
The wait at Journal Square felt long, and cold. I remembered how I had a girlfriend a few years back, and we at times would meet at that station if we met to go to the city. She recommended Grove Street instead, because it was indoors, and warm. I regretting not doing that this time around.
Eventually, finally, the train got there, and we got back to Newark, to our car, and got him home, with signed books in hand! I wondered if he would remember this event, and he said maybe, but he couldn't be sure.
Still, this was a very memorable event, and a pleasant day, overall.
I think that this was the clearest shot that I had of President Carter. He is the man with the white hair, seated and signing books. There are obviously plenty of people all around him. Some, I believe, were secret service agents they were around, and were around, The others are employees of the store. There was a very limited window of opportunity to take pictures, and you could only do it from a bit of a distance. That is why there are no straight on shots, or anything. Also, there were so many people standing in the way for much of it, that I took what I could get, when there were clearings (usually, all too brief). Still, this one came out okay, given the circumstances.
I had been hoping to sneak one picture after the signing, but they put up the curtains all around the President, to make it more difficult. Security precautions, surely, and that is understandable. You can see the curtains in the background.
Not going home disappointed - here is the autograph that President Jimmy Carter gave for my copy of his latest book, "A Call to Action"!
President Jimmy Carter Visits Yale & Princeton - originally published on December 5, 2014:
Jimmy Carter during a brief break in between signings of books.
Yes, that's right.
President Jimmy Carter is in town, and he is back to signing books and discussing his most recent book "A Call to Action" in these last couple of days, even though the book was actually published many months ago, earlier in the year.
Everyone who knows me also knows that I am a big fan of President Jimmy Carter. Carter has become an inspiration to many, myself included. He is a tirelessly selfless man who gives so much of himself to causes for a greater good. His idealism has not always won him fans, but what makes him unique has been his pure approach to this idealism. Others may use the illusion of idealism in order to advance their own agenda, but Carter's conduct has been so far beyond reproach, that it is a breath of fresh air in an era when corruption and transparent and excessive ambition and self-interest have disgusted a vast majority of Americans time and again, no matter what their political leanings may be.
I only learned about Carter's local appearances very late in November (Thanksgiving day, I believe). That left me with only a few days to work with. The Princeton appearance was sold out, but his appearance at New Haven, Connecticut still had tickets left (at least the book signing), so I was able to get one.
It was a rainy, crappy late autumn day that felt more like winter than anything. There were forecasts of snow and hail for later in the afternoon and into the evening, which made me worry enough that I gave pause for thought. Was it a good idea to drive all the way out to New Haven to go see him? But what if the weather was not as bad as some were suggesting? It seemed that some forecasts were predicting really horrible weather including hail, while others were suggesting that it would be mostly rain, and that it was just a bit too warm for the icy stuff. It was strange. But he is now 90 years old! How many opportunities will I have to see him? I definitely want to see him more, but have to capitalize on the opportunities when they come. So, I took my chances, and drove up to Connecticut.
The drive was not so bad, although it was the drive back that I was most worried about. I got there in plenty of time. Early, in fact. I went on line, which was pretty near the door, and stood there in the cold for a little over an hour, reading my beat up copy of An Outdoor Journal, which I brought with me just to pass the time. Obviously, when you go to a booksigning for President Carter, there will be a line, and you will have to wait. This was not my first time doing this, so I knew to bring something to read. It was cold, and my hands were pretty chilly by the time it was all said and done. But otherwise, no worse for the wear.
The time came (in fact, it felt like it might have been a few minutes early), and we began to move forward. Within minutes, I was inside of the building and, a couple of minutes after that, we were ushered into a side room, where President Carter was signing books. I had been told that he would be signing only new copies of his most recent book sold by the bookstore sponsoring this event. But the took my old copy of An Outdoor Journal, which was a pleasant surprise. Two books signed, not just one! Very nice!
The last time that I saw him, we actually had something resembling an actual conversation. He wanted to talk to my son, who was with me at the time, but my son was hardly the conversationalist. So, he turned to me and told me to take care of him, and I said that I most certainly would do that.
This time, he looked at An Outdoor Journal, smiled, and said "Good book!" I am not even entirely certain that he was talking to me, or to anyone else around him. Just one of those things that you kind of say to yourself out loud, I think. And my response was to smile, and maybe grunt something incoherent, which is my usual fallback position in such situations.
We were told just before entering that no pictures would be allowed. But I saw people, after they had gotten their books autographed, standing over to the side and snap some pictures. So, I decided to do the same. I was thankful this time around not to have taken the more serious, and far heavier, camera. Just my cell phone, and that was going to have to do. No, the pictures did not come out great. But it is still just a thrill to see this man, and especially to get his autograph, even if I did not manage to actually get tickets to either of his speaking engagements, either at Yale or at Princeton.
However, I was presented the opportunity to see both, and read some articles about each appearance, as well. The Yale University speech and conversation (it was a bit of a strange format) is already on Youtube, and so I thought it would be good to present it here, so that you, the reader, can view it and judge it on your own. As for the Princeton appearance on the next day, I went to the campus, to the McKosh Hall right next to University Chapel, where some rooms would show the speech by Jimmy Carter.
Carter was honored before his speech at Princeton. I will get to this in time, but for now, let me briefly add this from the article Carter calls for better treatment of girls and women around the world by Michael Hotchkiss, Office of Communications for Princeton University, December 4, 2014- see link at: http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S41/77/24S37/index.xml?section=topstories
Alison Boden, dean of religious life and the chapel, introduced Carter as "a person of profound religious faith."
"My humble observation of him is that he believes religion is about what is noblest in human beings," Boden said. "It is what calls us to our highest purposes and brings us closest to the divine. The manipulation of religion to support human rights abuses is its deepest betrayal."
Following Boden's introduction, the University's Whig-Cliosophic Society, the world's oldest college political, literary and debate society, awarded Carter its James Madison Award for Distinguished Public Service, highlighting the work of the Carter Center, established by the former president in 1982, in advancing human rights and alleviating human suffering around the world.
"While every president has accomplishments to be proud of from their time in office, few have continued to serve the public with such dedication and vigor since leaving office," said Adam Tcharni, president of the group and a member of the Class of 2015. "President Carter revolutionized what it meant to be a former president."
Adam Tcharni mused that upon retiring from the White House in the first half of the 19th century, John Quincy Adams had said that there was nothing so pathetic as an ex-president. But he mentioned - rightly, I think - that Jimmy Carter redefined what it meant to be a former president. His is surely the most successful ex-presidency in history, and by far, I would imagine. As Americans, we should be thankful to have had such a man represent us in such a positive manner, even while some of the sitting presidents and other political leaders were so transparently corrupt, self-indulgent and narrow-minded. I believe this nation should be honored that he served as our president.
Carter spoke at length from the pulpit of Princeton's University Chapel on the subject matter of his last book for both appearances, which is about oppression of girls and women around the world. I already wrote a fairly lengthy article on the content of his speech, especially at Princeton, since I took notes while watching it. Please go ahead and click on the link below to read it in full. It, too, has the video link to his Yale appearance.
In the interest of space, and getting the article published in a relatively timely manner, there were some things that I had to keep out, although the article is probably my longest article on that online newspaper. One of them includes the statistics that reveal the extent of how much China and India are now paying for preferring boys over girls, which I found tragic. In India, there are 112 boys for every 100 girls, while in China, there are 118 boys for every 100 girls. To have young men with all of that excess energy, and probably a lack of prospects, coupled with a lack of young women their age, surely makes life there less than ideal, one would imagine.
Seeing such an inspiration on what has come to be known as "Giving Tuesday" of all days was pretty cool! To me, he remains a source of incredible inspiration. A tireless advocate of making this world a better place in any and every way that he could. Again, he is 90 years old! Yet, he has visited over 140 countries, and works physically and intellectually the world over to try and do his part to improve conditions the world over. His religious convictions, I believe, as true and run deep, guiding his conduct and prevailing over the baser instincts that most of the rest of us regularly give in to. I can hardly think of anyone else that can compare with this man as a role model, and believe that he is, in the truest sense, the model American. A solid blend of idealism and pragmatism. It strikes me how he can speak so candidly to such huge audiences, without pulling punches or giving the "PC" arguments and excuses for everything, and still be so widely respected! He just has a way about him, and it is hard not to admire him.
It was nearly four years to the day when I took my son to see Jimmy Carter in New York City on a school day.
I offered this time, but my son did not want to miss any work from his school, which I could understand. So, he unfortunately did not come with me this time around, although it would have been wonderful to have had him around for it.
Still, I was determined to go, and for two major reasons. Firstly, I have tremendous respect and even admiration for President Jimmy Carter, and think he is not just a fine and decent man, but indeed, in a very real sense, he is a modern American hero, someone who the world looks up to, and who best exemplifies the best, most positive values and abilities that this country is capable of. The second reason was because going to see Jimmy Carter during his book tours has become a bit of a habit. A little more on that later.
Again, though, Carter is a man to be admired and appreciated for being such a positive role model, and truly an American hero. This is not something that I say lightly, either. As such, he serves as a counterweight to the current sitting president, who more closely embodies the very worst that America has to offer, and who the world judges harshly, yet accurately, as a result.
Indeed, Carter was a better President than most people give him credit for being. Most people seem to judge harshly because of the hostage situation, although I think personally think that he handled it well and, despite the fact that the Iran regime waited until Carter was out of office officially, specifically, to release them, Reagan accurately credited Carter with achieving this through tireless, overnight negotiations. There was also inflation, which ran rampant, although that situation certainly has not gotten much better in the years since, which means that we cannot at least solely fault Carter for this. However, Carter does not get enough credit for signing the Panama Canal treaty, which was a major landmark and helped end an unfair, de facto colonialism on the part of Americans. Also, he was instrumental in helping to create the first major breakthrough towards achieving peace in the Middle East. Carter is also known for two major speeches - the Energy speech, and the so-called "Malaise" speech. In the first, Carter showed that modern day politicians can not only envision, but work towards a brighter future beyond the next election cycle. He felt it was imperative for the United States to achieve energy independence and develop alternative energy, to become a leader in that regard. In the "Malaise" speech, Carter accurately diagnosed that a spirit of selfishness was beginning to pervade in the country, and that this was at least as big of a threat, if not more of a threat, than any other single problem that the nation was facing. In the ensuing decades, it seems safe to suggest that Carter was right on point in both of these speeches. But again, he does not receive the recognition that he deserves for them. In short, though, he was right, both times. It was not what Americans wanted to hear, and they made him pay come election day in 1980. However, it was what Americans needed to hear, and if they had indeed listened to him at that time, taken it seriously and tried to remedy these situations that threatened the country every bit as much as Carter warned, the United States would probably be in far better shape today.
If Americans judged him a little too harshly while he was in the Oval Office, Carter repaired his public image with the good works that he has tirelessly done ever since. This is a man who is now 93 years old, yet he still engages in some incredible works, and his active schedule would put many people not even half his age, or even a quarter of his age, to shame. This is a man who travels all around the world frequently, and who uses his vacation time helping to build houses for people in need.
After his presidency, the Carter Center opened, with Jimmy Carter heading it and being the face and the voice of that organization that has done such good works around the world. Through this organization of his own making, Carter has gone all over the world, building wells and other infrastructure to isolated villages in third world countries, also bringing medicine and education. He has also gotten involved in peace negotiations in other parts of the world, such as Haiti and North Korea. He and the Carter Center have helped to monitor elections and try to ensure that they are fair in all parts of the world. And here at home, he has used his free time helping to build homes for disadvantaged people through Habitat for Humanity. Also, he has become a prolific author, not just writing about his time in the White House through his memoirs, but also writing a poetry book, a novel, and several other books of varying subject matter, including faith and family and his past.
Through it all, he has also continued to voice his opinion, often times courting controversy along the way. This seemed especially true during the years of President George W. Bush, when Carter criticized the Iraq war and the seemingly threatened status of American democracy. One of the books that he wrote also generated considerable controversy. In 2006, he wrote "Palestine Peace Not Apartheid," a book that warned that a de facto system of apartheid, not based on race but on religious affiliation, existed in the occupied territories of what had been Palestinian land. There was even a movie about it that came out called "Man From Plains," which also delves a bit into a biography about the man, including his childhood. But it explored the controversy surrounding that book, with demonstrations both in support and vehemently against the views that Carter expressed in it.
Carter has shown tremendous courage in being so willing to take a stand on public issues, like he did with the situation regarding a de facto apartheid state which exists in the occupied territories, and he has not shied from it. If anything, he seems to thrive in provoking people to at least debate controversial topics, and to get a conversation going. That in and of itself is saying something, and he deserves credit for waking people up to these issues which, otherwise, they might not even think about. The added gravitas that he lends to these arguments because of his status as the former President of the United States has added legitimacy in the public eye.
As I mentioned earlier, I have a kind of history of attending booksignings by Jimmy Carter. This is because I take pleasure in seeing this man and, to the degree possible, in showing my support by being present. Very rarely do I ever say anything that feels worth saying, although for today's signing, I said something appropriately brief, yet all-encompassing. I said to him, "Thank you very much, Mr. President. For everything."
Hopefully, this more or less covered it, although since everyone wants to talk to him (the guy ahead of me actually shared a brief story, which Carter appreciated. Not being particularly outgoing, and usually getting nervous around people like that, it is a bit of an achievement for me to have said anything at all, frankly.
The first Carter booksigning came in October of 2007, for “Beyond the White House: Waging Peace, Fighting Disease and Building Hope,” published by Simon & Schuster. My brother met me in the city for that one. A few months later, in April, Carter came to New York City again, and this time, I went with my father to see him. The next year, on January, I went again, this time with my then girlfriend, on her birthday. She seemed pleased (seriously!) to do that on the occasion of her birthday.
It would be a few years before I would go back to another Carter booksigning, but when I did, it was with my son. That one was very special to me as a result, and it came on March of 2014, also in New York City. Later that year, I attended another booksigning of Carter's on the campus of Yale University in Connecticut on a snowy day. A couple of days later, I went to the campus of Princeton University and watched President Carter's speech there about the book he was then promoting on women's issues, even though I myself was not actually physically in the building where he was speaking, although it was right across the window from me, and being broadcast in that building where I found myself, and presumably in other parts of the campus. That was for an assignment with the Guardian Liberty Voice, and I added the link to that article down below, just in case anyone is interested in reading it.
Then, in 2015, Carter had several booksignings in my area, from New York City to suburban New Jersey to the Philadelphia Free Library, and so I saw him three times in a span of roughly four or so days. That was a lot of fun, especially the one in Philadelphia.
This time around, I learned about this particular booksigning just by chance. It had been a long while - too long - since I had checked on him to see if he was going to do any signings, and just by chance, I checked just before this weekend, and found out that he would be coming around on the other side of the weekend! That was good luck, and so I gathered some of the extra Carter books that I had hanging around but had not yet gotten him to sign. Then, I decided to give myself Monday off, and prepared to go into the city for another booksigning with Jimmy Carter - my ninth such event with the 39th President of the United States!
What a day it was, too!
It's early spring, although this year thus far, it feels a lot more like winter. It grew cold in a hurry once we were standing outside, not moving. It's one thing when you are walking, and perhaps walking fast like I was, to get there. You do not feel the cold so much at that point. But once you are out there and not moving, you start to really feel the cold. After about an hour of reading, I had to stop, because my fingers hurt from the cold.
Yet, it was worth it. I was so glad to see him again, and am so grateful to have gotten this opportunity several times now, obviously.
He is 93 years old, and so you never know if or when a booksigning might be the last opportunity to see him. But it is a pleasure, and really an honor, to get to meet such a man - no, such a hero and role mode - in person, if even for the briefest of exchanges. God willing, maybe someday the opportunity will present itself again!
They allowed no pictures with or of President Carter this time around. On past occasions, there were no selfies allowed, understandably. That would take way too much time, as everyone would then want a selfie. This time around, however, there were no pictures of President Carter allowed, period. You could not even have your camera out and take a couple of pictures as you approached. Since I have been to quite a few of these with President Carter, it was not that big of a deal for me, as I do have pictures of him from prior signings, although I felt bad for the people who were there to see him for the first, and possibly, only time! Here are the pictures that I did get from yesterday's signing:
Indeed, the rock icon from Boston turns 70 years old today! Hard to believe, and he still looks very good for his age! He could pass for a man of roughly half his age. At worst, he appears to be in his forties, at first glance.
Of course, he is better known for his voice and his incredible energy. What a singer, what a performer!
Here's hoping Steven Tyler has a wonderful 70th birthday!
