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CAVEAT EMPTOR

The town supervisor where I live suffered a tizzy recently.

His name is George Hoehmann and he, of course, is a Republican. He won election in 2015 supporting, among other things, a limit of two terms in office. He is currently serving his sixth two-year term.

Hypocritical or not, the small percentage of Clarkstown, New York’s population that votes in local elections believe he’s doing a good job. So it’s hard to begrudge him.

Recently, Hoehmann got upset about something he saw online. The post, according to Hoehmann, called for a boycott of local businesses whose proprietors ally themselves politically. 

Given his penchant for flouting supposed rules, I’m going to make the assumption that Hoehmann is upset with the boycotters because they’re not enamored with his party or the felon in the White House who leads it. 

Hoehmann responded with a social media post.

“Clarkstown small businesses are the backbone of our community. Today, I saw a partisan political activist social media post targeting many of our local small businesses for a boycott due to the alleged partisan affiliation of their owners.”

“This is an affront to our community and way of life in Clarkstown.”

“These businesses provide many varying services to our community. They employ our family members. They donate to our local student groups, sports teams and community organizations. These businesses feed our families, cloth our kids, fix our homes, and go above and beyond for our residents every day of the year.”

“I call on all elected officials and candidates for public office to join me in reaffirming our support for all local small businesses and reject this unacceptable assault on our Clarkstown small businesses.”

Now, unfortunately, I can’t seem to find the posts about which Hoehmann is spewing. Unfortunately, for two reasons. One is that it would help me write more knowlngly about what exactly he’s talking about. 

And two because I would like to know who not to do business with.

Hoehmann – who I equate with Rolf in my Trump-era “Sound of Music” because our congressman, Mike Lawler, is more like Herr Zeller – has more problems than just being a lousy writer. (Note: Maybe before writing screeds he should learn the difference between cloth, the noun, and clothe, the verb.)

He seems to believe that I and anyone seeking to combat the effort to subvert American democracy should overlook that when it comes to getting our gutters cleaned.

Because it comes down to a simple question: Why should I give my money to someone who’s going to take that money and give it to Donald Trump?

I’m retired. I’m fortunate to have a modest amount of money to live on for the rest of my life – a sum recently made more modest by the wackadoodle economic and military craziness of Trump and his Little Rascals.

It is my prerogative to spend my money as benefits me. And it benefits me not to see that money used to support people who bomb Iranian schoolgirls, raise prices through reckless tariffs, and shoot people protesting their terrorizing anti-immigrant policy.

Last year, I was going to a medical practice in New Jersey to treat the arthritis in my knees. I had undergone surgery on the left knee with the doctor in charge of the practice and wanted help mitigating the ongoing pain.

I was about to begin therapy on the knee – with the same practice – when I decided to check out the Federal Election Commission website’s database of political contributors.

It was there I learned that the doctor donated more than $30,000 in the 2024 cycle to Trump and various PACs supporting him.

He is no longer my doctor. I found someone who didn’t have any political affiliation I could determine on the FEC database, And I got better treatment at a better price.

I will not eat at a pizza place or shop at a meat market that shows Fox News. I avoided the locksmith who put Trump signs all over his yard. 

I have the right – and, in my mind, the obligation – to do that. It’s my money. I was the one who got up at 3 a.m. to work early shifts for almost 40 years to earn it – and I’ll be damned if some Rolf thinks I should be supporting a Trump enabler because he coaches girls’ softball.

Or “cloth”s my kids – who I believe don’t want anything to do with him, either.

I understand the risk. If everything is political then there’s no respite from it. It adds to the constant anxiety that permeates this country in 2026. And it puts businesses I support at risk of being avoided by Trump sycophants.

But Hoehmann helped deliver this atmosphere. And just like term limits, it’s easy for him to say ignore what those MAGA types do with your money.

The only unacceptable assault is his on American independence.

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GOUGING THE SCAB

In 1978, my father and I engaged in an animated debate on a car ride home. Amazingly, it was about Iran.

What was amazing was who was on what side.

At the time, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was Shah of Iran. He had been a strong ally of the United States for more than 25 years – ever since the U.S. and Britain engineered the coup that toppled an elected prime minister in 1953.

But there was growing opposition to Pahlavi from various groups within Iran. Some sought democratic reforms. Others sought to turn Iran into a religious state – a la Saudi Arabia except for Shi’ite Muslims instead of Sunnis.

Pahlavi’s ruthlessness worsened as he struggled against opponents. And his use of imprisonment, torture and murder became the subject of a “60 Minutes” piece – a reminder in this sad age of how powerful good journalism can be.

Dad – who would be best described today as a moderate – was mortified by what he saw. And when something bothered him that much, he was almost evangelical on the subject.

So why were we debating?

I – supposedly the wide-eyed liberal idealist – said that while I agreed that the Shah was a horrible human being, what would we be getting if he just left? Would there be a nascent democracy? Or would the religious fantastics – led by the exiled cleric Ayatollah Khomeini – turn Iran into an even worse place?

Dad thought it didn’t matter. Torture is evil. Anyone who tortures the people he supposedly leads doesn’t deserve to lead.

He was adamant. And it turned out Jimmy Carter, a strong advocate for human rights, kind of agreed with him. The United States withdrew its support of Pahlavi, who fled the country. 

But it was Khomeini and the fanatics who took control. And it has been a mess ever since.

A mess that has entangled the United States more than once since 1979. Of course, most famously, soon after Khomeini took power, with what we call the Hostage Crisis. American diplomats held by Iran for more than a year after Pahlavi was allowed to be treated for cancer in New York.

The closest we’ve come to reconciliation was late in Barack Obama’s presidency. His team – with the help of Europe, China and Russia – got Iran to agree to repurpose its nuclear development away from weapons in return for the release of assets frozen during the Hostage Crisis.

—

The name “Iran” is supposedly derived from the Persian word for “Land of the Aryans.”

Unfortunately, the definition of the word “Iran” in the United States and much of the West is “oil.”

There are lots of places in the world with which this country has had fraught relationships. We seem to be able to leave Vietnam alone after fighting against its interests for about 20 years. 

But the problem with Iran is all that oil. It’s one of the biggest pools of black gook in the world. 

And they don’t want us to have it.

It has a lot to do with the fact that we’ve thwarted their efforts at controlling their destiny in the past, and they don’t trust us not to do it again.

Like Trump did last weekend.

There’s some fantasy that Iranian protests against Ayatollah Khamenei, the brutal leader taken out in the initial attack, meant that the Iranian people might see us as liberators.

Mazharf. That’s the Persian word for baloney.

The Iranians have no reason to trust us. They don’t want us in their lives. And this war we’ve started – whether it’s already ended or drags for months – won’t change any of that. We’re not getting their sweet, sweet oil – which we really wouldn’t need if we committed ourselves to a clean energy future, but that’s another issue.

They, like my Dad did, have long memories. Torture leaves a scab and the U.S. has been picking at it for all of my nearly 72 years and more. 

This time, in fact, we didn’t just pick at it. We amputated it.

It’s not unfathomable that we will end up devastated by this. The Iranians are perfectly capable of inflicting pain on us – now or years in the future.

Ultimately, my father was on the right side of history. Even if the ayatollahs were vicious, hateful men, they were Iranians. It was up to Iranians to decide how to handle this. 

And now, who knows?

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TIME IS UP FOR “TIME TO TIME”

Did you watch this week’s State of the Union address? 

I sure as hell didn’t. I phoned a friend, played a computer baseball game (OOTP – I highly recommend it!) and cleaned some of the mess on my desk.

Three years ago, we were in Palm Springs when President Biden delivered the speech. His detractors – and even some supporters – wondered if he’d become too addled to stay focused. Biden proved to be pretty sharp and the speech bolstered his standing in the polls.

And that’s the problem.

Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution contains this line about the role of the president: “He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”

There are three things that are archaic about that sentence. The first was noticed immediately by any woman who reads this blog. The second was the unnecessary Capitalization of select Nouns.

The third is the whole damn speech.

Tuesday night was a spectacle. Trump spent a record one hour and 47 minutes telling us how great he is, how lousy Democrats are and tarnishing any glow the U.S. men’s hockey team earned by winning the gold medal in Milan.

But let’s be fair. It’s not just Trump who has made the State of the Union anything but what the founders intended. The speech has been a political event more than an actual government function for a long time. 

Republicans heckle Democratic presidents. Democrats heckle Republican presidents. The presidents get their speechwriters to deliver gotcha lines to garner headlines – back in the day of newspapers and broadcast news – and memes, for social media today.

But does any president actually give Congress information about what’s going on in or concerning the United States of America?

You and Congress already know. It’s on TV or online. It’s in the e-mails and texts you get from friends, family and organizations you support. 

All the president does is either repeat the facts or, too often in Trump’s case, tell you not to believe your eyes and ears.

That wasn’t the case when Alexander Hamilton was singing about taking his shot while helping to craft the Constitution in 1787 (OK, he probably wasn’t singing, but I’m having a fond flashback about seeing “Hamilton” with my daughter.)

Up until the early 20th century, the president probably did reveal things in the State of the Union about what was happening in this country. Of course, up until the 20th century, the president also didn’t generally deliver a State of the Union speech – it was Woodrow Wilson, in the first year of his presidency, who began a tradition of an in-person address to Congress.

Until that time, the president sent a letter to Congress meeting the requirements of Article II, Section III. 

But Wilson’s appearance came at the dawn of the broadcast age. It was on radio and it was a way to emphasize the second part of Article II, Section 3 – “and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”

Over the past 113 years, that’s what it has become. A free political ad for a president’s agenda. A chance to get his message to the American people without the filter of analysis or context that journalists provide.

What a waste of time and energy! Nothing was accomplished by Trump’s speech except that his supporters heard what they wanted to hear and we detractors found another reason – as if we needed it – to get ticked off that this buffoon holds the nation’s highest office.

Wouldn’t you rather have seen a new episode of “High Potential” on ABC or the season premiere of “NCIS” on CBS? Or a good college basketball game? Or the replay of a spring training game?

Because you were more likely to learn something about the state of the union from any of those broadcasts than from hearing Trump spew.

If there’s going to be an effort to amend the U.S. Constitution after the Trump debacle – and I’m beginning to think there really needs to be, since in many ways this document is failing a stress test – it might be that time to time has run out for the State of the Union.

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YEAR OF THE HORSE’S ASS

Gung Hai Fat Choy!

The lunar new year began Tuesday. It’s the Year of the Horse in the Chinese zodiac, which means that for people born in 1954 – including me – and every 12 years after, it’s our year.

Unfortunately for us, and fortuitously for the People’s Republic of China, it’s also another year of Donald Trump.

Trump was actually born in the Year of the Dog, 1946. But like everything else, he interjects himself into everyone’s life with the finesse of a steamroller. So even though people like me should be celebrating, Trump is trying his damnedest to make sure he’s in as many conversations as any single human can.

Why is this fortuitous for China?

Well, for one thing, no American president has – until now – driven steadfast allies running into the arms of either Xi Jinping and any of his predecessors as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. The crown jewel of this debacle has been Canada’s embrace of China as a trade and political party. 

Thanks to Trump, it’s now as easy to go from Toronto to Beijing as it is to go from Toronto to New York. China recently waived visa requirements for Canadian citizens despite a history of not always being welcoming to those folks. And given the way border crossing has become tougher in North America, a Canadian needs his or her passport to go to either China or the U.S.

Because of Trump’s idiotic tariffs – his tariffs should never be described without the adjective “idiotic” – Canada has now increased its purchases of Chinese raw materials and products, while China has decided that Canadian soybeans taste – if’s that what you do with soybeans – better than ones grown in the 50 states.

In addition, Trump’s determination to stomp out vehicles that don’t run on good ol’ drilled-from-the-ground petroleum, Chinese electric cars will soon find their way into Winnipeg, Sudbury and Halifax. And, unless he’s stupid enough to further restrain Canadian-U.S. ties, Trump will be able to tool on his golf cart at Mar-a-Lago while Chinese-built electric vehicles purr on the streets of Palm Beach.

It’s not just Canada. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer recently returned from a productive mission to Beijing.

So we’re driving – literally and figuratively – our greatest historical allies into China’s sphere of influence. That wasn’t exactly the intention.

I think Trump is fine with China aligning with Japan and South Korea – again, among this country’s best allies since the end of World War II. It’s in line with the vision he shares with Xi and their puppetmaster, Vladimir Putin. 

Asia is China’s sphere of influence. Europe is Russia’s – that’s what the Ukraine war is about. A

And Trump wants control of the Western Hemisphere. That’s what the Greenland nonsense is about. That’s what the Canada as 51st state nonsense is about. That’s what the seizing of Venezuela’s Maduro is about.

But by being Trump, Canada isn’t falling sway to his, um, charm. It’s aligning with the slighted Europeans – including such angry nations as Britain, France and Denmark. And if it benefits Canada with the bonus of pissing off Trump, Prime Minister Mark Carney has shown that he’s all in – or “elbows up” as they say up there.

While there are multiple polls showing how politically weak Trump is in the United States, it’s unrealistic to believe he won’t still be president when the Year of the Sheep rolls around on February 6, 2027.

So fighting his dictatorial willhea (that’s a word my father made up to indicate a craving) is going to take a lot of energy in 2026, it’s what we have to do. It’s what we have to keep doing to save the country we believe in.

Honestly, though, I’m all for making a part of Trump a part of this Year of the Horse.

I’ll give you a guess as to which part.

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GAME PLAN

Congratulations to any of you who root for the Seattle Seahawks. 

Being a former sportswriter, I know that a winning Super Bowl team is the one that executes its game plan better. On Sunday, the Seahawks’ plan appeared to be focusing on the younger members of the New England Patriots’ offensive line and pressuring their quarterback. The Patriots came close to figuring it out in the fourth quarter, but came up short.

There’s a lesson here for the forces trying to undo the mess that is the United States of America.

We have midterm elections in nine months. In special and off-year elections leading up to November, Democrats are far outperforming the norms. They’ve captured legislative seats in what were thought to be safe Trump districts and taken over municipalities previously run by Republicans.

Democrats are winning because most Americans are sick of this Trump crap. They’ve seen the U.S. embarrassed on the world stage, the economy slide, and the disgrace of mass arrests and extrajudicial murder by the human waste known as ICE.

But success can only be fueled by anger for only so long – although I suspect people are so angry that this feeling will last longer than usual.

Democrats – and the non-Democrats who can’t stand what’s happening to our country – need to come up with a game plan. One that will spell out what they plan to do to not only end the nightmare of Trump II, but to make life genuinely better for the 342 million-plus Americans who aren’t billionaires.

This plan should not be developed by a liberal think tank, or by the groups perceived as being on the left.

It should be developed by the people who it affects. What the Democrats need to do is travel the country listening to the problems people have – and then sounding out solutions.

Take healthcare, which until the Trump threat to democracy was probably the biggest problem people in this country faced.

I’m on Medicare, so healthcare costs are merely outrageous. For many people who aren’t 65, they border on catastrophic. The cost of taking care of yourself and your loved ones should not be an impediment to your financial viability.

The country might finally be ready for universal healthcare. Maybe Medicare for All. Maybe even something as advanced as Britain’s NHS.

But Democrats need to get their push for this from the American people. The ones who are paying outrageous premiums, who are committing huge chunks of their financial wherewithal to pay for prescriptions Having town halls throughout the country – forget the blue state/red state thing – is an important way to get a public impetus for improving healthcare. 

Pointing out that Trump is constantly proclaiming that he’s “two weeks away” from a great plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, drawing up a plan – maybe naming it for a place where a town hall came to a solid conclusion – and then getting just about every Democrat running for the House, the Senate and the statehouses to stand behind that plan. 

That’s what needs to be done to ensure Democrats are not just using rage bait. That it’s finally time to stop screwing around with people’s lives and start making those lives better.

And not just with healthcare. Infrastructure. Immigration. Women’s rights. Climate change. Campaign finance reform. Ending corruption.

This isn’t that original. In our lifetime, the Republicans have run on the Contract for America and Project 2025 – and as miserable as they are, they’ve executed them well. 

The New Deal is an example on our side – we’re still reaping the benefits of FDR’s vision and the impetus for real change. It led to the Democratic Party controlling Congress pretty steadily from the 1930s to the 1980s.

It’s a game plan. Just like what the Seahawks executed in Super Bowl LX. Only this time, both Pioneer Square and Copley Square – and every place in between – will find reason to celebrate.

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ERASING ERASURE

Carter Woodson created what has become Black History Month because he refused to be erased.

Woodson became a black historian the hard way. His parents, both slaves until a few years before he was born, needed his income in rural Virginia. So he worked as a sharecropper and miner, moving to West Virginia at 17 to dig for coal there.

Well past the age most people graduate from high school, Woodson began attending classes. He finished in less than two years, then got a degree from Berea College in Kentucky. After a stint working for the U.S. government in our then-colony of The Philippines, he got a second bachelor’s from the University of Chicago and then a Ph.D. from Harvard.

But this was the early 20th century – I’m guessing the time period that some folks in red hats perceive as when America was great. 

So when Woodson, with credentials that probably blew away most of those deciding, was refused admission to American Historical Association conferences, he took his wisdom and created the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History.

Because Woodson knew – as anyone with even a smidgen of understanding knows – that Black history is American history. It’s an integral part – American history and accomplishment is woefully incomplete without an understanding of what Black people endured and contributed to this country.

Woodson first created Negro History Week 100 years ago. It later became Black History Month and continues to this day with the guidance of what’s now known as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. 

He put in February. Not, as some comedians like to joke, because it’s the shortest month, but because it’s the month in which two of the most important figures in Black American lives – Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass – were born.

Black History Month has grown more prominent in recent years. The association that runs it has an annual theme for its commemoration and program, this year focusing on the celebration’s centennial. Other years have seen attention given to education, economics, politics and the arts.

Of course, since the 2024 election, Trump and his gangsters have tried to diminish Black history. There should just be history is the gist of what they’re saying, trying to make it seem as though racial bigotry and animus have been eliminated.

In some cases, retroactively. In Philadelphia, signs discussing how enslaved Africans worked at George Washington’s home were taken down; the city is suing the administration to get them returned. Last year, the dolt occupying the Secretary of Defense’s (that’s right!) office was forced to retreat after an attempt to remove references to the Tuskegee Airmen from training material.

Erasure is not limited to Black people. You’re watching it in real time at the Super Bowl.

It is – to say the very least – insulting the intelligence of anyone with half a brain to think there needs to be an “All American” alternative to the scheduled official halftime performance of Bad Bunny. It implies a) that the Super Bowl is a strictly United States event; b) that Puerto Rico, Bad Bunny’s home, is not part of the United States; and c) that any of the human leaf blower voices listed on the alternative show are in any way comparable to one of the most dynamic and entertaining performers in the world.

But bigots seem determined to have their say. I’m an elderly Italian-American man and the only Spanish I used to know was the translation of English language ads and warnings on the New York City subway (Aviso: La vía del tren subterráneo es peligrosa. Si el tren se para entre las estaciones, quédese adentro. No salga afuera. Siga las instrucciones de los operadores del tren o la policía). That said, the only reason I’m watching the game is to share the joy of Bad Bunny with hundreds of millions around the world.

Bad Bunny, like Carter Woodson, refuses to be erased. So do other Black, Hispanic, Asian, and indigenous people. So do those of us Caucasians who refuse to accept a homogenous white identity, instead relishing the history of our immigrant ancestors.

Combined, those histories tell the real story of a country that hopefully will be great again after we fight off Trump’s effort to destroy us from within.

If you wonder why Black History Month is a big deal, there are two important reasons. One is that you’re going to hear and read a lot of interesting stories that you didn’t know before about Black contributions to America’s struggle.

The other is that no history is invalid or unworthy. History is history. It’s how we know that reverting to the past doesn’t make America great – learning from it and improving on it does.

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L’ETOILE DU NORD

When my wife and I visited Minneapolis in 2024, we loved it.

Of course, having close friends there doesn’t hurt. Or the fact that, as in every other trip I’ve taken to the state of Minnesota, the temperature never fell below 70°. That includes two trips in late September and early October, when New York was in the 40s. I have no idea what it’s like when the high is minus 10°.

But even putting those things aside, we noticed things about Minnesota that surprised our Gotham-centric eyes.

First, it’s a really beautiful place. The Mississippi River begins in Minnesota and it frames Minneapolis. It’s not as wide as it gets when you’re further downriver – in St. Louis, for example. It seems like you see life on both sides.

Not to mention Minnehaha Falls, a wonderful park that includes the impressive cascade on the outskirts of the city.

Second, we ate really well there. The idea of peanut butter on a hamburger would gross me out. Not in Minneapolis. Same with a stuffed hamburger. Or a tater tots casserole, aka hot dish.

We even ventured to an Italian restaurant. I never do that outside New York since it’s hard to believe any other city – except maybe Boston – has decent cuisine of my ancestral home. But it was wonderful – a great array of antipasti, pasta and carne that would be at home in Carroll Gardens or Arthur Avenue.

The Twin Cities don’t lack in culture. We attended a wonderful production of “The Lehman Trilogy” at the relatively new version of the Guthrie Theater. In a previous trip, we visited the beautiful Walker Art Center. There are independent bookstores all over the place.

And, of course, Minnesota is the home state of Prince and Bob Dylan.

You’ve heard that people in Minnesota are over-the-top nice and try at all costs to avoid hurting your feelings.. Let me give you an example:

On our last day in the area, we had lunch with friends at a pub in the south part of the city. It was a Monday, and I was somewhat distracted by the fact that the Mets needed to beat Atlanta to make it to the postseason.

I tried to avoid the game – my friends aren’t big baseball fans. But as were leaving the restaurant, I watched on the TV screen as Francisco Lindor homered to put the Mets ahead in the ninth inning.

I do not hide my feelings when I’m watching the Mets. I let out an enormous “Go, go, go, yes!” as the ball cleared the fence.

At which point a server in the restaurant, quite naturally for a Minnesotan, blurted “Who cares about the Mets?”

I was undaunted. I went out to the parking lot to catch the end of the game and say goodbye to my friends. At which point, the server came running out and apologized profusely for her outburst.

I mean, the rowdy New Yorker is the one who disturbed everyone’s lunch. But she was the one who expressed remorse. My wife and I laughed, because there was no way this ever happens in New York without somebody’s middle finger going up.

Minnesotans are nice. They look out for one another. There’s less crime and a genuine effort to alleviate poverty. They are culturally diverse, welcoming people from throughout the world to a place where a lot of immigrants from tropical areas are probably shocked by the climate.

It might seem like heresy for a native New Yorker, especially if you know how chauvinistic I am about the City that Never Sleeps. But I could live in Minnesota.

So why did Trump pick on Minnesota?

Exactly because of all of the above. And because Minnesota hasn’t voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1972 – and has only voted for a Republican (Eisenhower twice) three times since 1932, the first time it ever went Democratic.

The red states where Trump is beloved are generally failures. Crime is higher. Living standards are lower. And, of course, bigotry keeps anyone not white and Christian from thriving.

That won’t do as far as Trump and his minions are concerned. Their hatred for Tim Walz and Illan Omar and Amy Klobuchar and everyone else from Minnesota is based on the perception that the competence of Democratic leadership is a taunt rather than an example.

So Trump and Stephen Miller and the rest of the pond scum were determined to make life miserable in a place where it isn’t. The results are there. Hundreds of non-criminal immigrants – undocumented or otherwise – whisked away by secret police. Disruption of businesses, schools, houses of worship. And murder – at least two that we know of.

What Trump and Republicans didn’t count on was the fact that Minnesotans are fierce about their niceness. They mistook civility and kindness for complaisance and apathy, and ended up with exactly the opposite.

I love Minnesota. I love the Minnesotans I’ve met in my life. They are real Americans, the real patriots. And they deserve better than what January 2026 has given them.

It’s the North Star State, l’etoile du nord, because it’s a guiding light for the United States and the world. Never more than now.

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A SHOT IN THE FOOT

If you’re not aware of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech Tuesday at the World Economic Forum, learn about it fast.

It’s the future Trump bequeaths us. A world in which we, the people of the United States, no longer matter the way we have my entire 71-3/4 years. 

What Carney said, basically, is what we’ve been trying to point out since this country put Trump back in the White House a year ago. 

Basically, the world is tired of trying to figure out what this buffoon wants or doesn’t want. Of him proposing nonsensical actions and wondering if he really means it. Of criticizing and belittling our loyal partners while turning tyrants and murderers into role models and buddies.

Who the hell thinks one of our enemies is Canada? Or Denmark? Or Mexico? Or France?

Who the hell looks up to Putin? Or Xi? Or MBS? Or Netanyahu?

The civilized world is through with this crap. Unlike the American Left, they can and will shake Trump off. They will treat us like the second-class power we’ve become. They’ll deal with us when it’s in their interest and ignore us when it’s not. And if we try to bully our way into what rightfully belongs to them, they will fight – even if they lose, they’ll make us bleed and hurt.

Since the end of World War II, we’ve claimed to be the moral and cultural compass of the world. We talk about freedom as if we are the best exemplars of it – as if other countries don’t have it as much as we do.

Because they thought we were trying to achieve a more perfect union, they gave us the benefit of the doubt. The civil rights movement, which Trump asininely proclaims hurt white men, made other nations believe that we were reckoning with centuries of racism and the legacy of slavery. We wanted emerging nations to embrace democracy and the electoral process – even as we tried to make it harder for some to cast a ballot.

Carney called BS on this. The United States has turned from paying lip service to ideals to not even trying. It remains a powerful nation, with a massive military and weapons enough to destroy the world. And, with this cetriolo seeking a dictatorship or absolute monarchy, the policy of this administration is to get what it wants by whatever means necessary – mores, alliances and tradition be damned.

The Greenland debacle is the epitome of it all. I mean, it has never crossed a rational mind that there should be any dispute. If you read a book, if you ever watched “Borgen” on Netflix (a great Danish TV show!), you know that Denmark and Greenland have an 800-year history that has worked itself out. 

The United States has as much access to Greenland as it could possibly need right now. And yet, we put our relationship with all of the European Union at risk because of some need to add territory.

Trump appeared to back down Wednesday after his debacle of a speech at Davos, giving the face-saving we’ve-agreed-to-talk-about-it he loves to use when he caves from his ridiculous demands.

But my guess is the world is fed up. It has more important things to do – there are real problems to solve involving climate change, global migration, technology and economic justice. If the United States wants to ignore this, that’s its problem.

Except that we’re Americans, so it’s our problem.

Here’s one way this will all manifest itself:

The United States dominated the automobile industry for much of the 20th century. It only ceded its leadership when it refused to innovate – and Japan and South Korea filled the void. That’s why Toyotas and Hyundais dominate the road – and Fords and Chevys get harder to find.

Now, just as the American carmakers figured it out and started down the path of non-gasoline powered vehicles, Trump is ending any incentives to keep going. He wants more oil – re: the Venezuelan tomfoolery. He wants to drill in parts of this country set aside for environmental protection.

That’s dumb. That’s also expensive – while gas isn’t as high as it was a few years ago, you still pay something between $2.50 and $3 a gallon for it.

Meanwhile, Europe and China have looked at the innovation in electric vehicle manufacturing and are betting big on it. The progress made in the last 10 years is phenomenal – imagine what it’ll be like in 2036.

Except here. The rest of the world will be running on sustainable, low-cost electricity while we putt-putt and need to fill the tank.

Joe Biden tried to fix this. Kamala Harris would have protected and expanded his gains. Instead, Trump is trying to erase it all.

It’ll be this way in everything else. Food and appliances. Airplanes and technology. The arts and sports.

The images of America that will guide the rest of the world won’t be F-16 flyovers and the Academy Awards. It will be watching goons terrorize the people of Minneapolis and sending people to countries they’ve never known. It’ll be the adoration society for a senile dingbat with no culture, no soul, no compassion and no intellect.

We’ve cast aside our empire. We ruled the world – and the world didn’t seem to mind.

Now it will. We shot ourselves in the foot. This time, the wound won’t heal as fast as Trump’s ear did – if it heals at all.

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COURAGE, NOT CHAOS

What to write about?

Just last week alone, Trump seemed to average more than one crisis a day. Iran. Venezuela. Greenland (imagine going back in time and trying to explain a crisis with Greenland), Minnesota, blue states in general, Ford workers, the Fed chairman, the environment, climate change treaties. I’m sure there’s more.

It’s part of his overall modus operandi: create distractions and poke the wound to keep your enemies – and it’s weird to think a President of the United States sees half the populace as his enemy instead of his boss – off guard.

So which of those topics am I focusing on this week? Which should get my attention?

The answer is none of the above.

Today would be the 97th birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The nation officially celebrates it Monday, the 41st commemoration of King’s birth since President Ronald Reagan signed the law creating the holiday.

And instead of focusing on the crap Trump throws at us, imagine instead how Dr. King would handle it – and maybe learn from it.

It isn’t as if Dr. King would have been shocked by what Trump and his supporters are. He would have known that stench.

It’s the same garbage he faced at the Birmingham bus boycott, being sent to a notorious Georgia prison for violating the probation from a dubious traffic ticket, the violence inflicted on his supporters in Selma, the harassment he faced marching for fair housing in Chicago.

It’s the same garbage he dealt with as J. Edgar Hoover tapped his telephones and race-baiting Southern governors called him every name they could. 

We’re rightly horrified by what happened to Renee Nicole Goode, a 37-year-old Minneapolis woman murdered by an ICE goon. In King’s time, he watched in horror as people got away with murdering civil rights workers like Viola Liuzzo, James Cheney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner. He never lived to see anyone held accountable for the bombing of Birmingham’s 16th Street Church that killed four girls.

Through all of that, King stood unafraid. He understood that there might be a price to pay. He paid it on an April evening in Memphis. 

But he didn’t flinch – or at least not in the eyes of the people who admire him. When he died, he was fighting alongside Memphis sanitation workers seeking a living wage – King having realized that there wasn’t much chance of racial justice without financial justice.

One amazing thing about Dr. King is that he died at age 39. That’s about half an average American lifetime. It’s less than half Trump’s age. Because his life and times ended in the 1960s, there’s a perception of age and wisdom that just isn’t real. 

But we should know better. My generation tends to dismiss younger people as disinterested and apathetic. We hear about incels and bros and cluegys and other such terms of derision. 

My experience is different. When I taught at a New Jersey university a decade ago, the students were young people trying to advance themselves while holding down part-time or full-time jobs. Some of them served in Iraq or Afghanistan. Many were the first generation in their family ever to attend college.

Their world was made better by what Dr. King did in his life. And many, many of them are looking to return the favor, working in their communities, mentoring children, volunteering at hospitals and veterans centers.

In politics, we are seeing what inclusion means when we look at a Zohran Mamdani, who in his first weeks as mayor of New York has devoted himself to making life better and easier for all of the city’s citizens. Not just the ones who voted for him.

Young people deserve a chance to lead. Give them the chance, give them Martin Luther King as an example, and see how our country, our world can be better.

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It’s a few days before the holiday, but you can bet the ranch that Trump will minimize it. His administration already has – Dr. King’s birthday was one of a few days a year during which national parks and monuments were free.

Not any more. Instead of King Day – and Juneteenth, the new holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States – you can now get into National Park Service-run sites on June 14. Which happens to be Trump’s birthday.

Trump mouthpiece Karoline Leavitt will talk about how it’s a normal workday at the White House – which doesn’t mean he won’t play 18 at his golf course in Florida. And I’m sure a lot of federal employees will report to the office if they know what’s good for them – some MAGA commissar taking attendance.

But you and I and anyone else who cherishes what this country is supposed to mean should take at least a moment on Monday to think about and reflect on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Read one of his speeches. Glance through – or read for the first time – one of the excellent books about him and the civil rights movement. Watch “Selma” or “King: Montgomery to Memphis” or a wonderful HBO film called “Boycott” with Jeffrey Wright as Dr. King.

Remember Dr. King on his birthday. That’s why the holiday exists. And let us all try to channel his moral courage and intelligence as the fight to save our democracy grows fiercer amid the chaos Trump creates.

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BOARD GAME

I first became aware of Venezuela when I was about 6.

I received a board game for Christmas that involved moving cargo from one international port to another. It was a great way to learn about international ports, one of which was Maracaibo, from which the country exports its oil.

Then, of course, when I was a little older, I got Risk. Venezuela is one of the key locations in the game of global conquest, the gateway between North and South America. 

In later years, when I would play with family, my daughter and my brother would constantly battle over the spot, stacking the plastic soldiers in the country and on its borders. If I’m not mistaken, the last Risk winner got a small Venezuelan flag – i think my daughter has it now.

While we’re mentioning Risk, another key location is Greenland, the bridge between North America and Europe. Like Venezuela, it seems like a lot of the action in the game takes place on those two spots.

You would have hoped that grown adults, ranging in age from their 50s to just shy of 80, got their desire for world domination or massive cargo fortunes out of their system by the end of adolescence.

But then again, can you imagine a young Donald Trump playing a board game? Or a game of any kind, other than golf for status seeking? Like the guy in the Sheryl Crow song, Trump’s “never had a day of fun in his whole life.”

A lot has been made about why Trump decided that January 2026 was the time to go after Nicholas Maduro and get the oil he thinks he and his oil executive benefactors deserve. 

He’s trying to distract from the still unreleased Epstein files. He’s trying to distract from Jack Smith’s January 6 testimony before a House committee that puts him squarely at the center of a plot to overturn the 2020 election. He’s trying to distract from the disastrous impact on the economy of his idiotic tariffs. He’s trying to distract from his declining health.

All that stuff about distractions might be worth nothing. Except for one thing.

Real people die.

It’s estimated that 80 died in the attack. Some were Venezuelan military personnel. Some apparently were Cuban advisers, bringing another country into this tussle. And some were civilians who apparently were destroyed in order to save them.

As far as we know, no Americans were killed. It would have been a real botch job if there had been,

In the reaction to the raid, people in both parties have talked about how it’s good Maduro is no longer in power. I’m sick of hearing it.

Yeah, Maduro is a bad guy. So is Vladimir Putin. So is Muhammad Bin Salaam. So is Benjamin Netanyahu. So is Kim Jong Il. 

And so is Donald Trump. If you think he’s any better than Maduro, you’re deceiving yourself. If anything Trump is enabling other bad guys with his recklessness, his contempt for civility and his overwhelming greed.

People in both parties praised the U.S. military for its professionalism. That’s also crap.

The United States military was in about as much danger in the raid on Venezuela as your kid is playing “Call of Duty.” Somebody in Venezuela sold old Maduro and led the CIA and the military to him. 

If you’re a military member who participated in this, ask yourself if you think you warrant the same honor as somebody who defused an IED in Afghanistan or was rescued from a downed  helicopter in Iraq. The Venezuelan raid was like shooting fish in a barrel.

It is not valor to fight someone who hasn’t fired a shot at you. 

That’s something every member of the military needs to keep in mind if stupidity’s reign goes unchecked and the forces of this country are used to capture Greenland. Or Cuba. Or Mexico. Or Canada. Or anywhere else. 

Doing so would be a war crime. You would be accountable to the civilized people of the world. And, if you believe, to your God.

People have lives. They have hopes. They have ambitions. They have love for their families.

They are not chips or squares or blocks or little figures on a game board. They are not incidental. This isn’t Risk or some shipping game.

It’s time for these sugar-hyped manchildren to grow up. Particularly the nearly 80-year-old one in the White House. 

It’s making everyone’s life miserable.

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