On April 15, I predicted that the President of El Salvador would agree to return Kilmar Garcia when requested to do so by President Trump. On April 16, he refused to do so. So much for my predictions.
Apparently, the person who claimed he was master of “The Art Of The Deal” couldn’t make the deal or, more likely, didn’t try to make the deal.
I’m sure this was his way of sticking it to the Federal Courts and the unanimous Supreme Court. I’m also sure that the Courts will now take that message to heart.
I have always thought that four years of Trump could not undo the 250 years of the American Experience. Now, I am not so sure.
We have a Mafia Don in the White House who revels in blackmailing universities, law firms and corporations to do what he wants. Unfortunately, too many bend.
For many years, I have maintained that Trump was the Devil and, by that, I meant the real Devil, the snake in the Garden of Eden Devil. However, I always thought that the real Devil would be a very attractive fellow who spoke in literate sentences and was always persuasive and not an illiterate character with an awful haircut.
As someone who writes opinion pieces, I feel like a kid at a Mexican party just before the time one gets to hit the piñata and the gifts fall out. As a citizen, however, I dread the morning when I get up and read the nonsense the Trump administration has teed up for the day and to which the Republicans in the Congress too often say “yes boss.”
You have to admit, however, some things border on the hilarious. For example:
GREENLAND
Leif Erickson‘s father, Erik the Red, was the first to occupy Greenland and Leif spent his boyhood there. He, of course, was the first to occupy continental North America (likely Newfoundland) approximately half a millennium before Columbus. However, Leif’s attempted settlement did not take so it was up to Columbus and others to close the deal. So, the descendants of Erik the Red are the present-day inhabitants of Greenland and they are pretty “hardy” people.
“Hardy” is a good adjective to describe people whose annual sporting event is a 26-mile sled race powered by dogs. And it is very cold and very well attended.
Usha Vance, the “Second Lady” is an accomplished lawyer who likely knows the Leif Erickson story. She is nobody’s fool. Her husband is a different matter and he can make her look foolish.
Imagine the conversation in the Vance household about a visit to Greenland.
J. D. Vance: “Usha, we need you to go to Greenland for a day or so. We need to signify our continuing interest, but in a ‘softer’ way.”
Usha Vance: “What are you talking about? Why should I go to Greenland and what do you mean by a ‘softer’ way?”
J. D.: “By ‘softer’ I just meant that we needed to waive the flag, but since you are not an elected official it will be less offensive.”
U.V. : “What in God’s name would I be doing in Greenland?”
J. D.: “I’ll get our people to figure something out.”
J. D. “Hey, it turns out that there is this traditional dog race that will be going on shortly and you could take one of the kids and watch it. I’ll get the social media people on it and it will look great.
A Short Time Later
U.V. “Great idea, J. D. The Greenlanders don’t want me; the Danes don’t want me and the dog race people have made it clear that I’m not invited to the race.”
J. D.” OK, I’ll go with you. Forget the dog race since if we tried to show up for that we would probably be booed and that won’t look good. We’ll just visit the US airbase and come home.”
U.V.: Next time you or Trump or the social media people have an idea like this, why don’t you run it by me instead of listening to those nincompoops .
The Vances spent three hours at a United States airbase in a remote part of Greenland many, many miles away from the dog race.
WON’T YOU COME HOME BILL BAILEY
It’s not Bill who’s trying to get home. It’s Kilmar Garcia who was deported “by administrative mistake” to a notorious prison in El Salvador. The Trump White House has admitted the mistake but says it is powerless to return Garcia to his home in Beltsville, Maryland because he is in El Salvador’s custody.
The Federal District Court in Maryland ordered him returned; the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed and the Trump Administration filed an ”emergency appeal” to the Supreme Court.
Attorney General Pam Bondi had the gall to tell Fox News that it was pretty clear that Garcia was a member of a gang. After that interview, she did admit that his deportation was the result of an “administrative mistake.” So, what is it: gang member or administrative mistake? So much for her confirmation assurance that she would enforce the law without regard to politics.
Erez Reuveni was the Justice Department litigator handling the Garcia case. He was suspended indefinitely after admitting to the federal judge that the deportation was the result of an “administrative error.” That truthful admission was deemed “conduct prejudicial to his client.” His supervising lawyer was also placed on administrative leave. Apparently, lawyers willing to lie will now take their place.
The Trump lawyers filed an answer in the Supreme Court. The answer is as follows: “Garcia has the right to bring a habeas corpus petition in a federal court. In plain English, this means that the court can order the person to be brought before it to determine if they should be released or not. However, the Trump lawyers argue that since El Salvador has custody of Garcia and since El Salvador may not be sued in federal court, Garcia has no ability to bring a habeas petition. Years ago, Joseph Heller wrote a book called “Catch 22” and the current Trump position before the Supreme Court is a classic “Catch 22.”
“Catch-22,” in Heller’s book applied to fighter pilots who were afraid to continue flying; the fact that they were afraid indicated that they were sane and thus should continue flying. In fact, there was no way that you could not continue flying, even if you declared yourself insane. If you declared yourself insane because of the fear of flying, that meant that you were sane and, hence, you were good to go on the plane of your choice.
Here, you have the right to sue, but there is nobody you can sue. “Catch 22.”
If Trump is correct, anybody can be removed to a foreign country and have no way to get home. You don’t have to be a gang member; you can be anyone including a United States citizen. This gives new meaning to Trump‘s call to “lock her up” directed at Hillary Clinton.
The Supreme Court took about four days to issue an unsigned order directing the Trump administration to facilitate the return of Garcia to United States. There were no dissents. However, the District Court was directed to taken into consideration the Executive’s power to conduct “foreign relations” and to delete the reference in her Order for the administration to “effectuate” Garcia’s return.
Will Garcia make it home? Maybe, maybe not. But I do think that the Chief Justice, by corralling all nine votes, including the pro Trump Justices (Alioto and Thomas), has shown a way forward . It remains to be seen whether the Federal District Judge in Maryland, who clearly has a “bit in her teeth” because of the government’s continued obfuscation, will find that way forward.
Prediction No. One: the President of El Salvador is coming to the White House this coming week. I think El Presidente will agree to return Garcia as a favor to President Trump. Hence, Trump can say that his legal position was correct because it was up to El Salvador to determine whether Garcia should be returned or not.`
Prediction No. Two: After the dust settles and Garcia is back installing sheet metal in Maryland, the Trump Administration will try to find a reason to deport him again.
DAVID BROOKS
David Brooks is a well-known columnist for the New York Times and even better known for his regular television appearances Friday evenings on PBS. Originally it was Brooks and Shields, but when Mark Shields died, it became Brooks and Capehart.
On April 15, Brooks wrote a column in the New York Times entitled “Producing Something This Stupid Is the Achievement of a Lifetime.” 90% of the column outlined the continued decline in scholastic achievement over the last 40 years. The empirical proof is unassailable. He pinpointed the principal reason for this is that people now look at “screens” rather than read or write. Apparently, one in three Americans cannot read at the level of a 10-year-old. The inability to write has been replaced by artificial intelligence and college professors uniformly say that their students are markedly inferior to the students they taught 30 or 40 years ago as they don’t read, and the writing comes not from them but from A.I.
Reading and writing helps the mind to sort out possibilities. In other words: to think.
So where has all of this brought us? Brooke’s summation is as follows:
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Donald Trump’s tariff policy. I’ve covered a lot of policies over the decades, some of which I supported and some of which I opposed. But I have never seen a policy as stupid as this one. It is based on false assumptions. It rests on no coherent argument in its favor. It relies on no empirical evidence. It has almost no experts on its side — from left, right or center. It is jumble-headedness exemplified. Trump himself personifies stupidity’s essential feature — self-satisfaction, an inability to recognize the flaws in your thinking. And of course, when the approach led to absolutely predictable mayhem, Trump, lacking any coherent plan, backtracked, flip-flopped, responding impulsively to the pressures of the moment as his teamstruggled to keep up.
Producing something this stupid is not the work of a day; it is the achievement of a lifetime — relying on decades of incuriosity, decades of not cracking a book, decades of being impervious to evidence.
Gini Waters died in the early morning hours of Saturday, March 8, 2025.
Gini Waters and her twin sister Joan were a fairly constant presence in my college years (see picture of Gini, Jay and Joan abovecirca 1988). They went to St. Mary’s College, an all-women’s institution, directly across the street from then all-male Notre Dame.
They were not shrinking violets. Indeed, they barged into our all-male world, taking classes at Notre Dame, participating in numerous activities and also dating several of my classmates. Joan tended to stick with one boy while Gini viewed boys in those days like chocolates in a Whitman Sampler: Some bad, some good and some really good. Even when she dumped them, they seemed to remain fond of her.
They always called us by our last names. How to tell them apart? Both were very attractive with Joan being the brunette and very studious and Gini also a brunette but with blonde highlights and not so studious. They were as bold as brass; in the patois of some they were “Chicago broads” and we loved them. Because they were frequently at Notre Dame, I thought it was appropriate to call them “the Waters boys.” They either ignored me or told me to shut up.
They both married my Notre Dame classmates. Joan and Will Dunfey are going on 50 years plus. Gini‘s marriage was not so good but her second marriage to Joe Enright was a winner. By that time, Gini had gone to law school and ultimately became the “go to” lawyer in the law offices of the City of New York.
While I have seen Joan over the years, the last time and only time I laid eyes on Gini was probably 35 years ago at a reunion weekend. I don’t remember her from that time as she had ditched the blond. In my mind’s eye, I still see her as she was in those college days, with blonde highlights and looking great.
Fred & Gini circa 1966
My fondest memories of the Waters boys were when Fred Schwartz (no relation) and I spent a weekend at their home in Wheaton, Illinois. Fred was Gini‘s date for that weekend and I was a “plus one” for Joan, but definitely not the one. In any event, Fred decided to start a fire in the basement fireplace but forgot one thing: opening the flue. The basement then filled with smoke, which proceeded to fill the whole house. Mrs. Waters appeared at the top of the basement stairs and yelled: “why do you girls always bring home such lemons.” We then understood where Gini and Joan had gotten the temerity to upbraid us when necessary.
Another classmate, Tom Figel, had dinner at the Waters house and Mrs. Waters said, “Figel do you want more potatoes?” The Waters boys corrected their mother by saying that his name was Tom. Mrs. Waters said, “I’m just calling him what you call him.”
Fred Schwartz would be dead within three years as a result of an automobile accident while serving in the Peace Corps in Africa. To say that he was a character is a gross understatement. He was to be the best man at my wedding, but didn’t make it. He had driven all night from Kansas and fell asleep in the chapel at Notre Dame, which was directly underneath the Sacred Heart Church where the wedding was held. His dad was in the hardware business and my wedding gift was a toolbox (which I still have) with a variety of hammers, screwdrivers, and the like. After closing up a South Bend bar one snowy night, he was the driver of a bicycle, and I was the passenger on the handlebars when the bicycle hit a patch of snow and I fell off and lost my two front teeth. I miss him still and think of him often when I am brushing my teeth.
Tom Condon circa 1988
Tom Condon was part of a large Irish clan from Connecticut. Unlike Gini, I had seen Tom often at college reunions and once at the Chicago Marathon where he flew by me. He was a terrific athlete and extremely competitive. I last saw him a few months before he died in the latter part of 2024 at our house in Cambridge when he and his wife Anne (a fine writer herself) spent time along with other Notre Dame classmates and their wives. Tom had beaten cancer once and told me last summer that he would beat it again. This one time he was wrong.
Tom was a newspaper man and worked most of his life for the Hartford Courant. He was a gifted writer , a much-admired columnist but, more importantly, he was the person that most people in Hartford trusted to tell the truth which, these days, is too often a rare commodity. A fellow named Dan Rodricks was similarly trusted by people in the Baltimore area until his recent retirement after 50 years on the beat. Tom Condon was Dan Rodricks, but a whole lot smarter.
He once called me to ask about laws that were on the books in Baltimore or in Maryland, which made no sense and as he was working on a book outlining such laws. I can’t remember what particular law I found for him but, at one time, it was illegal for a man to buy a female bartender a drink, and it was once illegal in Baltimore to wash or scrub a sink or to swear within the city limits. In Maryland, it was once illegal for a wife to go through her husband‘s pockets and take money, a law that still seems appropriate to me .He was also an inveterate punster, and he delighted in hearing the groans of his friends.
Tom’s Irish humor was always present. He had pretty much lost significant hearing because of his time as an infantryman in Vietnam. When he applied for compensation from the Veterans Administration, he was informed that he needed to have an audiologist report confirming the hearing loss at that time. His response: “Not a lot of audiologists in the Mekong Delta when I was there.”
When your people die, they take a part of you because, for a time, they brought light to your life and that light is now gone. It doesn’t really matter that you only see a person every five years because, if you were close at one time, the conversation picks up as if it never ended.
“Let us agree that we will never forget one another. And whatever happens, remember how good it felt when we were all here together, united by a good and decent feeling which made us better people, better probably than we otherwise would have been.” (Fr. Ted Hesburgh, President of Notre Dame, at his final commencement speech to graduates in 1987).
Gini, Fred, Tom, and any number of others made me better than I otherwise would’ve been.
Maya Angelou once said: “When they show you what they are, believe them.” I always knew what he was but even I did not expect this. On day one, he pardoned January 6th “hostages” who used to be called criminals.
Trump 2.0 is now a full court press. Scores of executive orders have been issued ranging from immigration to tariffs on goods from China, Mexico, and Canada to an abolition of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) efforts by the federal government, and forbidding transgender women from participating in women’s sports.
Then there is the attempt to reduce federal employees by a buyout and the purging of certain agencies (the Justice Department particularly) and the firing of any person (attorney or FBI agent) who was involved in prosecuting the various cases against Trump, all of which have been consigned to the dustbin.
And then there is the silly stuff: retaking the Panama Canal, taking Greenland from the Danes, renaming the Gulf of Mexico and making the Gaza strip into the new Riviera once the 2,000,000 Palestinians are removed. This silly stuff upsets foreign leaders, generates news and opinion pieces, but is likely going nowhere. Imagine the American military taking over Greenland, which is subject to Danish control. The Danes are NATO members and all NATO countries, including the U.S., would be required to come to the defense of Greenland. So Americans fighting Americans. Oops. Never mind.
The “Gaza Riviera” has been opposed by every ally, every enemy, and by normally obedient Republican senators, including Lindsey Graham. The message has been delivered in diplomatic terms but translates in everyday speak as “what drugs are they putting in your Diet Cokes.”
The president’s attempt to end “birthright citizenship” runs squarely into the wording of the 14th Amendment and will not be successful. Again, however, there is a great amount of news, articles and opinion pieces. A Ronald Reagan appointed judge has already indicated that it is the most unconstitutional provision he has ever seen in 40 years as a federal judge.
All of this activity has caught the Democrats on their back foot and, in the words of a friend of mine, they don’t know whether to “shit or go blind.” Some of this is of their own making as the Biden administration’s failure to secure the southern border put wind behind Trump’s sails and may have determined the election.
Has he done anything right? The answer is yes, but since Trump is a hammer, he views every problem as a nail; accordingly, there is only one way to proceed and that is to smash it until the nail is gone. Thus, on immigration he is not content to round up the criminal illegals but must round up “all” illegals. (Democrats want to call these people “undocumented” but if you ask to see their documents it would prove that they were “illegals”). He and his people will not pledge to leave public schools, nonprofits and churches working with illegals alone so hysteria and fear increases daily as well it should.
The “Hammer” announces that that he is preparing Guantánamo Bay for 30,000 illegal prisoners. What is the criminal and civil penalty for being an illegal? A jail sentence of up to six months and a fine of $50 assuming that you are a first-time offender. Sending these first-time offenders to Guantánamo for 6 months or less seems stupid. At the time of the writing of this blog, apparently nine “violent” illegals have been sent to Guantánamo. I am not aware of any court case which determined that these illegals were “violent” so I think the ACLU may have a field day on this.
Elon Musk, who is now heading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has just recently come up with the idea, endorsed by Trump, that the US agency responsible for foreign aid (USAID) should be abolished since it is staffed by Democrats and spends about $70 billion a year and getting rid of it will save about $21 billion as the rest will be administered by the State Department .
I will believe in Musk as soon as he turns his sights on the Department of Defense budget which comes in at $900 billion a year. Let’s see if he has the wherewithal to take on the military industrial complex instead of a foreign aid agency that most people don’t care about or understand. And how about the $11 billion a year that his companies receive from NASA for Space X. Does it really make sense to send rockets into space when there are so many other necessary needs here?
Cutting off foreign aid that provides AID medicines and combats famines only affects “foreigners” and not US citizens who vote in a congressional district and work in the local Lockheed plant. The defense budget has some serious money and, God knows, there is an incredible amount of duplication, waste and unnecessary procurements.
One thing I think that he has gotten right is to require federal workers to return to their workplace rather than working from home. My experience with full-time workers who are “working from home” is that, in many cases, they are not working at all but running personal errands. A paralegal at a prominent Baltimore law firm decided that “working from home” meant that she could work from the beach in Ocean City Maryland.
The other thing I think he has gotten right is to abolish DEI in federal agencies. Numerous corporations have decided to do the same. There is one significant problem with DEI programs, and it concerns the E which stands for equality. In too many instances, the way to determine whether E has been reached is to see the percentages of various groups in various employment categories. So, too often, the DEI coordinator sets quotas. There are any number of laws which forbid discrimination for multiple reasons (race, sex, age, religion, etc.). We don’t need DEI coordinators throughout the federal agencies and, for that matter, embedded in universities and corporations. Equality needs to mean equal opportunity not equal result for each identity group.
Already the DEI ban has resulted in a federal lawsuit against the Trump Administration filed in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. The suit is brought by the City of Baltimore and joined by the National Association of Diversity Officers in Education as well as others. The fact that there is a national association is testament that the DEI infrastructure is prodigious. The DEI officers throughout the American economy can see what is coming and, you can bet, these diversity officers are very well paid and have much to lose.
Disallowing transgender women from participating in girl sports seems sensible, but, in typical Trump fashion, it was announced in a grand press conference peopled by young girls in ponytails wearing their gym clothes and it probably affects maybe 10 people in the country.
Readers of this blog will know that I am no fan of Trump (see “No Sympathy for the Devil” blog dated January 18, 2024). Nevertheless, even a blind squirrel occasionally finds a nut. The problem is that Trump is not blind and there are many nuts which the “Hammer” wants to crush even though those “nuts” are valuable. One of the most recent nuts was dismantling USAID. George W. Bush’s tenure had many misfires, but one notable success was his AIDS initiative carried out by USAID. It saved millions of lives and demonstrated both America’s good intentions and its “soft power” to the rest of the world and particularly Africa.
It’s not as if the United States has not seen “disruptors” as presidents. There’s Andrew Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt. I think we will survive Trump as the loyal opposition is starting to form and the federal courts will likely do their job.
A friend of mine told me this week that her 13-year-old grandson, Justin, called her absolutely irate about the suspension of TikTok, which he frequently used to make videos of things that he was doing. “MaMa, Cheeto Head just shut down TikTok.” Actually, Cheeto Head had given TikTok a 75-day lease on life.
Justin was irate about Cheeto Head for the wrong reasons but I thought it best to leave him that way so the rest of his sixth-grade class, his school and his community would soon feel the same.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s there was a very popular television show set in a bar called “Cheers.” It starred Ted Danson as Sam “Mayday” Malone, a former major league pitcher and a world class womanizer, who owned the joint and was the bartender. Significant roles were played by Shelley Long, Rhea Perlman, George Wendt, Woody Harrelson and Kelsey Grammer. Cheers was a Boston bar where “everybody knows your name.”
All of us, in our younger days, had places whether it would be a bar, a gym, a class, a sports team or any other grouping where “everyone knew our name.” As we grow older, most of those type of places tend to recede in our lives.
Given my current ambulatory challenges, my usual default position is a recliner. There are not a lot of things that you could do in a recliner, but reading is one of them. One of my daily reads is the local newspaper. I used to read only the written obituaries but now I have graduated to reading the death notices. Obviously, that is a function of my age and, as Carl Reiner once said he did the same, and if he wasn’t in them, he would then have breakfast.
There are also other portions of the newspaper that are fun to read. One of my favorites is the list of people having birthdays on that particular day. Typically, the people are actors, musicians, and other celebrity types. Don’t laugh. Where else could you find out that Joey the CowPolka King is 76? Sometimes, I don’t know any of the people but, usually, I know two or three but, if they are under 40, “forget about it.”
But for every rule there is an exception. For example, the birthdays of December 27, 2024 were the following: guitarist Mick Jones was 80; drummer T. S. Monk was 75; actor Tovah Feldshuh was 71; actor, Maryam D’Abo was 64; actor. Ian Gomez was 60; guitarist Matt Slocum was 52; actor Wilson Cruz was 51; actor Masim Oka was 50; actor Jay Ellis was 43; singer Haley Williams was 36; singer Shay Mooney was 33; and finally, actor Timothee Chalamet was 29.
So, I don’t know about you, but I knew no one except the youngest who is now starring in the Bob Dylan movie “A Complete Unknown” which, according to my son, is a must see. I recognize the name of Monk but the Monk I knew was his father Thelonious who was an American jazz pianist.
The business of getting old and realizing that your “sell by date” is approaching is very sobering. There are any number of unwelcome physical changes. Someone once said that we start to resemble what we eat which may explain why my neck now resembles that of a chicken and, by the way, what is happening to my belly which keeps growing; and then the mental change because your brain atrophies just like your muscles. Things like pickleball, movies, friends, good books, Netflix, Prime and crossword puzzles divert our attention from what’s coming but coming it is.
The comedian Dave Barry recently wrote that pickleball courts now occupy approximately 43% of the land mass of the United States and there are legions of pickleball boomers who are trying to get all others to join. Stores cannot keep knee braces in stock as they are flying off the shelves. I guess the notion is that, if everybody starts playing, the noise complaints will go away as we will all be deaf.
I recently saw a television show where two retired detectives were going back-and-forth about their current status. One said that “We are gone but not forgotten.” The other replied “No we are forgotten but not gone.”
Time has a way of erasing memory. There are 188 members of the Maryland General Assembly which meets in Annapolis, Maryland. Approximately a third of those individuals reach Annapolis by driving on I-97 which is the road from Baltimore and points north. A sign on a portion of I-97 indicates it is dedicated to Senator Jack Cade; it was so dedicated by a formal Legislative Resolution in 1996. I will wager that only one elected official of the sixty has any idea who Senator Cade was. In less than 30 years, an individual who was once worthy of a formal Resolution is now virtually unknown.
The same thing happens over and over. The older generation is on its way out; the next generation is in a place where everybody knows your name; the youngest generation, whether it knows it or not, it is on its way to that place. Sons and daughters replace fathers and mothers and their children, in turn, replace them. It’s as if there’s only so much room on the planet.
So, what to do? The answer is pretty easy. Carry on unless you’re inclined to disable the airbag and drive your car at a very high speed into a tree.
The Book of Ecclesiastes appears as one of the Writings of the Hebrew Bible and is in the Wisdom Literature of what Christians call the Old Testament. In many ways, it is one of the most quoted portions of the Bible. The most quoted phrase is “there is nothing new under the sun.” In other words, what we are now experiencing has been experienced by all others since time immemorial.
A well-known section starts as follows:
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
The message of Ecclesiastes can be considered pessimistic or, more likely, realistic for some scholars say it instructs us to enjoy the gifts of living which God has given us.
Apparently, those “gifts” include a chicken neck and a distended belly. Bear up because it will be over soon and, maybe, we will be “gone but not forgotten.” And before it’s over, there are spouses, significant others, friends, neighbors, children and grandchildren to enjoy and, of course, pickleball games to play. All of these things help us to get through the evils in the world that arrive on our doorstep every day. In the end we all want the light to conquer the darkness.
In the meantime, follow the admonition in numerous billboards featuring cows, with one slight change: “Eat less chikin ”
I have a blog which is about 90% complete but not yet ready for prime time for my 1,000,000+ readers (maybe an exaggeration; still 150 is not awful although pretty close).
Today is the Feast of the Epiphany which commemorates the arrival of the three Maji or Kings from the East who had followed a star to Bethlehem, seeking to do homage to the newly born King of the Jews. There they found Jesus, his mother Mary and her husband Joseph.
In South America, this is known as “Little Christmas” and children receive gifts. It is also known as “The Feast of the Three Kings.”
In any event, as the Christmas season winds to an end, I thought that the appropriate blog for today would be Jordan Smith’s rendition of” Mary Did You Know.” It actually came to me in a dream last night .Jordan was the winner of the Voice competition with this song.
Having little musical inclination and virtually no musical memory, it amazes me that music can be such a powerful stimulant. Music is evocative and, like the smell of cinnamon, a simple melody can awaken the memory of when it was first or last heard as well as the places and the people who were around us at the time. Music speaks to our hearts and sensibilities and is like poetry but with a punch. Music can be our energy, our balm in time of sorrow, the background of our beliefs and aspirations.
One reason that certain motion pictures are so memorable is their musical score. Real life is usually played out without music in the background; but a movie maker can intensify a real-life scene with music and give it the emotional texture that one wants in real life as well.
In November of 2009, Don McLean, a 60-something musician, song writer, guitarist and singer, performed his classic folk rock song, “American Pie,” at the Rams Head tavern in Annapolis, Maryland, Listening were 200 people, most of whom were as old or nearly so as the performer.
The song starts slow but then picks up. Nearly anyone that has heard “American Pie” knows the chorus:
“Bye Bye Miss American Pie;
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry;
Them good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye,
Singing this will be the day that I die;
This will be the day that I die.”
In 2023, the President of South Korea during the State Dinner at the White House, was given a microphone and sang his rendition of his favorite song which was “American Pie.” Google this because it really is a hoot.
Give a listen to “American Pie” and, fair warning, it goes on for quite a while but listen for at least 3 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX_TFkut1PM. After listening to American Pie, “Do you believe in Rock and Roll? / That music can save your mortal soul?”
The lyrics of “American Pie” speak about “the day the music died,” a reference to a 1959 plane crash that killed American singers Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper. It was written about 10 years later and it hit the American pop charts in 1972 and was subsequently recognized by the Songs of the Century Education Project as the number 5 song of the Twentieth Century.
Holly was the lead singer of a group called the Crickets and some of his biggest hits were “Peggy Sue,” “That’ll Be the Day,” “Oh Boy” and “Maybe Baby.” If there was a singer who epitomized the American Rock ‘n Roll culture of the late 1950’s, it was Holly. His music formed the beat of high school dances and teenage parties. It was fun, upbeat and danceable music.
Holly was the music of the young in the years of the Eisenhower presidency which was pre-civil rights, pre-Vietnam and previous to the widespread use of recreational drugs. The children of the 1950s would later be called “baby boomers” having been born of parents who had survived World War II and were creating the American economic prosperity of the 1950s. It was rebellion music but not of an angry rebellion but rather of a precocious and innocent rebellion for those who tried to inject levity into a staid and respectable and, in many ways, admirable society. But in many ways and for many people, it was not so admirable.
“American Pie” refers to songs and lyrics which were popular at the time of the plane crash such as “Who Wrote the Book of Love” (the Monotones). “Lonely Teenager” (Dion) and “A White Sport Coat and a Pink Carnation” (Marty Robbins). All of these songs “died” with the plane crash only to be replaced by Elvis Presley and then later the Beatles and finally the “Devil” in the form of Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones.
Since “American Pie” was written in the late 1960s, it has no comments on the later varieties of music which have uplifted or assaulted us including heavy metal, grunge, punk rock, rap and hip hop. It was, however, the music of the “boomers” who – with age and time – would take their place in American society and either be described as the most precocious American generation ever or the most self-absorbed.
When asked what “American Pie” meant, McLean replied: “It means I never have to work again.” He has preserved his silence on the “poetry” of “American Pie” and the references which include the “Jester,” the “King,” the “Queen” and “the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost caught the last train to the coast on the day the music died.”
A few weeks later in nearby Baltimore, the annual “Night of the Hundred Elvises” was held in downtown’s three-story Lithuanian Hall. Scores of Elvis Presley impersonators performed, ranging in ages from 10 to 60. The performers were bedecked in tight pants, sequin shirts and sunglasses. The event, which raises charitable funds for a local hospital, is a celebration of all things Elvis, an American musical icon who still inspires 40 years after his death. There were multiple stages where the Elvises were performing.
Shortly after Elvis had reigned supreme in Baltimore, at the U.S. Naval Academy Chapel, just 5 blocks away from the Rams Head Tavern, a larger crowd heard the U.S. Naval Academy Glee Club and the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra – along with 4 professional singers – perform Handel’s Messiah.” The “Messiah” is a sacred oratorio, a large musical composition which, while modeled after the opera, is not musical theater but strictly a concert piece. “Oratorio” means “hall for prayer” and, hence, oratorios were usually concerned with religious themes.
If there ever was music that “…can save your mortal soul” it is Handel’s “Messiah.” The “Messiah” is a story of Christ’s birth, life and death. The most famous part of the “Messiah” is the Halleluiah Chorus which occurs near the end of the piece and during which the audience stands, before sitting again, for the conclusion (https://youtu.be/BBZ7AfZR9xs?si=ertDLWLMwZmekag.)
Apparently, the tradition of standing comes as a result of an English king who stood during the Halleluiah Chorus and the audience was required by custom to follow the king’s lead. One wag suggested that the king had a leg cramp at this stage of the concert. Nevertheless, audiences continue to stand during the Halleluiah Chorus proving that tradition can be idiotic and not necessarily illuminating.
The chorus is a vital part of the presentation of the “Messiah.” While the Halleluiah Chorus is best known, an earlier chorus is perhaps more powerful (https://youtu.be/eQN9oCTHtSc?si=26VFQi-LYI5TkGtL):
For unto us a Child is born; unto us a Son
Is given, and the government shall be upon His
Shoulder: and His name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
The “Messiah” became such a popular oratorio because it was written in English and gripped the English-speaking world from the time it was first performed in 1742 in Dublin. While originally a piece to be performed in the Easter season, it is now usually performed at Christmas. Since “Messiah” celebrates both the birth and the death of Christ, it covers all significant events in the church year from Christmas through Easter.
The Naval Academy Chapel is anything but a “chapel” or “small” church. It is a massive building, designed in the shape of a cross, with a huge central dome. The acoustics may not meet concert hall standards but the combination of this massive church with its soaring space and a 100+ person chorus makes a presentation of the “Messiah” both moving and as memorable as it was on December 5, 2009.
Whether music is part of religion or just mixed up with it is anybody’s guess. But it is the stuff that moves most people and it comes in all kinds and sizes. “American Pie,” Elvis songs and “Messiah” can move and perhaps save mortal souls.
A 1998 baseball / romantic comedy movie “Bull Durham” (streaming on Prime for a modest rental fee) recounted the exploits of a minor league North Carolina baseball team, the Durham Bulls. It starred Kevin Costner as catcher “Crash “Davis, Susan Sarandon as baseball groupie Annie Savoy and Tim Robbins as “Nuke “LaLoosh, a potential major league pitcher with a million-dollar arm and a five-cent head. Sports Illustrated ranked it as the number #1 sports movie of all time.
Sarandon does a voice over at the beginning of the movie, which contains these lines: “I believe in the Church of Baseball…. For instance, there are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary and 108 stitches on a baseball. When I heard that, I gave Jesus a chance. But it just didn’t work out between us……. I’ve tried ‘em all, I really have, but the only church that feeds the soul, day in, day out, is the Church of Baseball.”
Baseball is referred to as our “national pastime”. Once, that was the case but football now appears to be the most popular sport, at least with respect to television ratings.
For some, like me, professional baseball is the perfect game. To be sure, to play it well requires athletic ability like any professional sport, but it also requires the manager to continually react to situations in the game (when and who to pinch hit or pinch run; who to call from the bullpen and when; when to steal a base, bunt, etc.).
There is no greater accomplishment in professional sports than a pitcher who throws a perfect game (only 24 out of more than 238,000 played) or a no-hitter. There is no greater (or unexpected) spectacle than a grand slam home run (bases loaded resulting in 4 runs) especially one that wins a game as with the case with the Orioles a few weeks ago.
For anyone who loves ballet, there is no more perfect choreography than when a second baseman catches a hard-hit ground ball and lightly tosses the ball underhand to the charging shortstop as he catches it barehanded while stepping on second base and throws a rocket to first to complete a (“I can’t believe what I just saw”) double play.
Is baseball perfect? Like any human endeavor, it is not. The games were too long but that has been pretty much cured this year by a pitch clock and the games are now half an hour shorter. There are traditionalists who objected to the, now decades old, designated hitter rule where the pitcher never has to bat but that objection is never heard these days. The season may be too long (162 games) with spring training starting in February and the World Series, in some years, ending in early November.
The difference between a mediocre team and an excellent team is relatively small. The team which wins 5 out of 10 games is decidedly mediocre with a 500 % winning percentage. A team that wins 6 out of 10 games or a winning percentage of 600% will lead all 30 professional teams.
Baseball has always been a game of statistics, whether it would be batting average or a pitcher’s earned run average. It is also a game of homers where, for years, the issue was whether any player would beat Babe Ruth’s 60 homers in a season. Six players have now exceeded that mark, but only two (Roger Maris and Aaron Judge) were not the beneficiaries of steroid enhancement. Even then, the baseball purist will say that the Babe did it in 154 games not in the present 162 game schedule.
It is the only team sport where the field for games is different. To be sure, the infields are the same with home plate, the pitcher’s mound and the bases in exactly the same position. But the outfields are another matter. Because of the different dimensions in the outfields, a home run in one ballpark will not be a home run in many others. A home run to left field in many ball parks will bounce off the Green Monster in Boston’s Fenway Park. A pop fly down the right field line will be caught for an out in many ball parks but might well be a home run if it drifts past the Pesky Pole in Fenway. And it’s not just Fenway but every ballpark is idiosyncratic when it comes to the outfield.
If there is one annoying thing about present day baseball, it is that the beautiful game of statistics is now on steroids. The announcers want to tell you what the “spin rate” is on a pitch or the “exit velocity” on a batted ball. Metrics has taken over the game and not in a good way.
What would you rather hear on the radio? “He hit an absolute scorcher [OR a ball with an exit velocity of 106.5] to Jackson at second who, somehow, gloved it and fed it into Gunnar’s bare hand coming across the bag for a throw to first for a double play.
The announcers are now so enamored of the statistical trivia that we sometimes hear about those while missing the hit a player just laced into left field. One must question whether there is any real value to many of these arcane metrics such as, QOP (quality of pitch statistic which combines speed, location, and movement reduces into a single numerical value); OOPS (pitcher allowance of on base plus slugging); UBR (a base running metric which assigns a linear weight to every base running event in order to measure the impact of an individual’ s base running skills).
Which, in a very roundabout way, brings me to the case of James McCann. McCann is the number two catcher for the 2024 Baltimore Orioles. He has done well in his professional career, having played for four major league teams and made a considerable amount of money. A few years ago, he received $40 million for a 4-year contract with the New York Mets, but he didn’t produce so they let him go after two years (although they still owe the rest of the money). The Met’s loss was the Orioles’ considerable gain.
Not only is McCann a good player but his work in the Baltimore community resulted in him being nominated for the Roberto Clemente award. That award is given to the major league player who best exemplifies the values of baseball both on the field, and, most importantly, in the community. The winner is announced during the World Series.
About a month ago, McCann, while batting, was hit in the face by a 95-mph baseball. He went down to the ground and was bleeding profusely from his nose. The game was stopped for 10-15 minutes while the training staff attempted to stop the bleeding. The bleeding was stopped by putting what appeared to be massive Q-tips up McCann’ nose. Everyone figured that he was out of the game, but that was not to be. McCann got a new jersey since his first one was covered with blood. Having been hit, he then took his place at first base and proceeded to stay in and catch the rest of the game. The announcers could only say that he was “one tough dude”.
I don’t know if McCann believes in the Church of Baseball, but I do know he believes in providential events. Last week, the Orioles sponsored a “Faith Night” where discounted tickets were given to believers who wanted to hear Oriole players talking about their faith after the game. Perhaps as expected all the players were Christian and I suspect that was also the case with the 4000 to 5000 believers who gathered to hear speeches after the game.
Most of the players recounted how God had blessed their lives and were the type of testimonials that one might expect. When it was McCann’s turn, he stole the show.
He asked the crowd to close their eyes while he recounted a story. Given the audience, I think almost all of them closed their eyes and bowed their heads. Imagine, he said, that a woman had just had a miscarriage, but then found herself pregnant again. This time, however, the doctors suggested that she abort the fetus because there was only a 25% chance that the baby would be born alive and, even if born, would probably have severe physical and mental deficiencies. She and her husband decided to go ahead anyway. There are some people who say that God doesn’t make mistakes, a position many find hard to believe. I don’t think that’s the case with McCann or his parents.
When his story was almost over, McCann told the crowd to open their eyes and to look directly at him and then he said; “I was that baby”. “From day 1, God has been protecting me”.
Apparently, that protection includes a 95-mph fastball to the face.
80 years ago on June 6, 1944, 225 Army Rangers scaled the hundred-foot cliff of Point du Hoc to take out the German guns trained downward on Omaha Beach. Before it was over, 77 of the 225 Rangers died while most were wounded and only a handful were able to continue fighting; 2,400 died on Omaha Beach that day and most are buried in the Normandy American Cemetery. That cemetery holds just shy of 10,000 Americans who died in the Normandy invasion. Additionally, 1,557 soldiers classified as “Missing in Action” are commemorated there.
On the 40th anniversary of D-Day, President Reagan stood on that promontory and recalled “The Boys of Pointe du Hoc” comparing their efforts to begin the end of the Nazi tyranny to the then current need to end the Soviet Union’s stranglehold over Eastern Europe. A few years later, the Berlin Wall would come down and Poland, East Germany, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Czechoslovakia would finally enjoy freedom. As the Wall was coming down, a young KGB agent named Vladimir Putin was busy destroying incriminating records of the East German Stasi before he scurried back to Moscow.
On the 80th anniversary of D-Day, just weeks ago at the Normandy American Cemetery, President Biden invoked “The Ghosts of Pointe du Hoc” to compare their sacrifice to the sacrifice now needed to repel Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.”
William Faulkner once wrote: “The past is never dead. It is not even past.” The past is never past because what happened in the past is repeated time and again. So, on the political level, the forces of authoritarian tyranny will always vie with the forces of personal freedom.
Tom Brokaw coined the name “The Greatest Generation” referring to the American men and women who came through the Depression and then faced up to the Nazi threat and were responsible for ending it. They then returned home. When they returned home, they did not talk too much about their war exploits but they did do one thing: they formed and joined numerous civic and social clubs devoted to improving their communities. For example, when you drive into the city of Annapolis, Maryland, you will see a sign bearing the emblems of numerous social and civic organizations. (Lions, Optimists, Kiwanis, Rotary, etc.). I think the Annapolis sign carries perhaps 10 to 12 emblems.
These groups contributed a variety of ways to their local communities. The Optimists in the 1950s were the “Friends of the Boy and activities included athletic leagues and essay and oratorical contests. Today, Optimists run programs for all kids. The Lions concentrated on medical assistance to those in need and have a special interest in helping the blind. The Kiwanis Club in each community decides how to best serve that community with a particular interest in children. Anyone who follows baseball knows that the American Legion sponsors the best teams in the community. The common concern of each of these groups: bettering the communities where they operate.
My father was a member of “The Greatest Generation.” A World War II veteran, he was injured in a training exercise at Fort Benning, Georgia shortly before his unit was to depart for Europe. That unit ended up in the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes Forest and only a few returned. He never forgot that.
Like many of that generation, he was active in his community. He was the charter president of the Hyattsville Optimist Club and became “Mr. Optimist” with his record of 37 years of perfect attendance. He was also a member of the American Legion, the Rotary, and the Knights of Columbus.
Unlike him, I have never joined any civic group and my only contribution to my community has been coaching Little League baseball, being on the PTA at my children’s school and being on the Parish Council of my local church, all of which is something but far less than that contributed by my father. Of course, my father did these things as well.
It is probably incorrect to say that the explosion of membership in service clubs in the 1950s was the result of the “shared service” experience of The Greatest Generation. But that experience certainly helped. Of course, everything was not hunky-dory with The Greatest Generation. My third base coach was convicted of killing his first wife after the same hitman he hired to kill his third wife spilled the beans about the first murder.
In almost all instances, the membership of these clubs has plummeted dramatically since the 1970s. Indeed, the spirit of service seems to be evaporating with every passing year. World War II had one positive effect on American citizens: the notion of shared sacrifice, one for all and all for one. It was the same sense of shared sacrifice that Winston Churchill engendered in the British people. The American men and women serving in the military were matched at home by “Rosie the Riveter” preparing armaments. (click here to see Norman Rockwell’s iconic painting of Rosie the Riveter)
If World War II effectively created “shared service” and that was a positive development for the American people, perhaps we should dust off the notion that all citizens should be enlisted into some type of service for others. We could require that all citizens, upon reaching the age of 18, should spend two years in a service role before they reached the age of 26. For example, some could enlist in the military; some could spend two years in the Peace Corps or two years in Vista (Volunteers in Service to America) or working on a project to save the environment similar to the Civilian Conservation Corps which existed in the 1930s and was the most popular of the New Deal programs. Others could spend two years serving in nonprofit organizations.
Participants would be paid the equivalent of a military salary with appropriate adjustments. Israel requires the citizens to spend two years in the military. This would be our equivalent, but the military would only be one place where one could serve and there would be multiple other options.
A proposal for mandatory service will be opposed by many. The principal objection will be that America relies upon voluntary activities by its citizens and, with the exception of the draft in times of war, there is no precedent for such an imposition. Moreover, the goal of bringing people together is a form of government social engineering one might expect in authoritarian countries but is surely not proper in the “land of the free.” The more popular expression of this feeling is contained in the Gadsen flag showing a rattlesnake about to strike with the words “don’t tread on me.” That flag was created during the American Revolutionary War and has come to symbolize the notion that individual rights are superior to government demands.
One potential compromise would be to make the two-year service voluntary but reward it with substantial benefits, such as the government providing educational assistance as it did after World War II with the G.I. Bill of Rights. There could be public service ads directed at high school and college students extolling the virtues of joining similar to what the military uses now.
A voluntary program would avoid one significant problem of mandatory programs. The Bill Clintons and Donald Trumps of the world will always find a way to avoid their duty while the average person will not flinch.
One additional bonus of such a program is that it will encourage a sense of community togetherness. The tribal politics of today will be diminished. Many of us will have served and, in that service, met each other.
The whole thing has spread like wildfire. The student protest at Columbia University in favor of the Palestinians in Gaza has resulted in solidarity efforts from fellow students at Southern Cal, the University of Texas, Princeton and countless other universities. Tent encampments are the order of the day as is the chanted slogan “from the river to the sea” which is “Hamas speak” and means that Israel must be eradicated.
Efforts to remove the tent encampments have resulted in howls of protest as the students demand that their university withdraw all support from companies that support or do business with Israel. Many arrests have occurred for violation of criminal trespass laws.
Some will not be surprised that Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) was the first to dive headfirst, without looking, into the shallow end of the pool. She criticized the Columbia administration for the “horrific decision” two weeks ago to call on the New York Police Department to deal with their “own” students and further said that the particular NYPD units involved had a reputation for being some of the most violent units on the force. Of course, she was speaking from hundreds of miles away and there is no credible report that the arrests of the trespassing students were violent.
If there is a tweet war between AOC and the police department, my money is on the NYPD which tweeted this response: “I encourage you @AOC to visit Columbia and do a walk-through. Good SAT scores and self-entitlement do not supersede the law. I’m sure that you will agree that we have to teach them these valuable life lessons.” AOC was not done but it would take two weeks for her to make a reappearance and, once again, made one question if her opinions comport with reality.
The situation in Gaza is difficult to witness. A war is being waged where a civilian population stands firmly in the middle and tens of thousands of innocent people have already died. A cease-fire is necessary, but it probably means that Hamas survives although, unfortunately, I think that it survives anyway as the death of each civilian probably results in the recruitment of another Hamas fighter.
Hamas is recognized as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States. It has ruled the Gaza for the last 20 years on strict Islamic principles. Having a protest in Gaza on behalf of women or gay rights, like any similar protest in Iran, would and has resulted in extremely harsh sanctions including death and prison sentences. Being a protester in these places requires great intestinal fortitude and a willingness to suffer the worst for your beliefs. The Columbia protesters are not cut out of the same piece of cloth; they have demanded amnesty and an erasure of their criminal records so their future life is not imperiled. There is no such thing as amnesty in Gaza or Iran.
Hamas ignited the current war when it invaded Israel and killed over 1,200 people and took 250 hostages, including the elderly and children. It is well documented that its invasion involved the beheading of people, multiple rapes, setting people on fire and the murdering of children. The current student protesters conveniently forget the precipitating cause of the war. Some are even supportive of Hamas. However, one can be very concerned about the war in Gaza and not be a supporter of Hamas, anti-Semitic or an enemy of Israel.
After the initial arrest of Columbia students two weeks ago, the protesters returned and set up their tents again. The Columbia Administration, relying on hope rather than experience, tried to negotiate its way out of the mess. That did not work as it only seemed to energize the protesters into believing they would win and, hey, why not run out the string. They then occupied Hamilton Hall and began to trash it and set up barricades. Finally, the Administration woke up, realizing there was no pleasing the protesters, and called in the cops again and order was restored. The grounds have been cleaned and now the Commencement can proceed as originally planned.
One of the more humorous demands of the Columbia students occupying Hamilton Hall was that the University provide them with food and water. One of the leaders of the protest told the assembled media that the students occupying the building might otherwise die of “dehydration and starvation or get severely ill. It is basic humanitarian aid that we are looking for” said Johannah King-Slutzky, a 33-year-old PhD student in English and Comparative Literature (her picture above). When a reporter questioned her logic, she noted that, after all, many of the Hamilton Hall protesters had a “meal plan” at Columbia.
You really can’t make this stuff up.
Now that they have been dispersed, they will have to find their own food and drink and have to explain why they have been suspended or expelled from Columbia and, in many cases, have a police record for criminal trespass or destruction of property. There are probably any number of employers who will raise an arched eyebrow when the applicant tries to explain.
If the allegations in a case (Virginia Case) just filed in a federal court in Virginia are true, the so-called student movement at Columbia and the other schools has been financially aided and abetted by network of organizations devoted to spreading the Hamas message calling for the destruction of Israel.
Israel is losing the battle in the court of public opinion because of the civilian deaths in Gaza. There is no easy answer. The destruction of Hamas would benefit not only Israel but the world. Getting there is the problem. Already 30,000 have died and, while many were Hamas fighters, most were not. Israel’s current government seems to have a bad war plan and no sensible plan to resolve the conflict. Hopefully, someone with common sense will convince the Israelis to stop killing innocent civilians.
In a few weeks, this will all die down as the universities shut down for the summer. I am pretty sure we have pretty much seen the end of it. The Democratic National Convention will probably see Gaza protesters, but not at the level that the anti-Vietnam protesters who showed up in 1968 for the simple reason that the 1968 protesters were arguing for themselves, i.e., not to be drafted for a war in Vietnam. The 1968 protesters were right about a war which could not be won and was not won. The1968 protesters, unlike many in the current crowd, did not try to disguise themselves by wearing masks. It’s hard to suspend (or respect) someone who disguises their face behind a keffiyeh.
So, I’ll leave it to the celebrity politician (e.g., when her lipstick shade was publicly revealed, it sold out in a matter of hours) to end this blog. A few days ago, after Columbia had been restored to normal, AOC complimented the Columbia protesters and others for their “peaceful” protests. Apparently, her newspaper did not report on (1) the vandalism at Hamilton Hall (2) the pitched battles at UCLA which resulted in police intervention and a clearing of the encampment to restore UCLA to normalcy or (3) the cancellation of the Southern California commencement due to security concerns.
