EXTRA: Will we really care by week’s end about plagiarized Trump speech?

I can’t get too worked up over the fact that would-be first lady Melania Trump stole bits of her nominating convention speech (the one in which she was supposed to convince the nation that her husband wasn’t the ogre many presume him to be) from a similar talk given eight years ago by First Lady Michelle Obama.

 

Will Trump rescue Melania's reputation ...

For one thing, I highly suspect that this won’t even be the most stupid moment of this year’s Republican convention. For all I know by the time you read this, Trump or one of his allies will have done something even dumber.

THIS COULD WIND up being a mini moment of absurdity in a week devoted to ridiculousness.

After all, Trump is showing us that he doesn’t care what the so-called rules of politics are – he’s going to do things his way.

Considering that this is the real estate developer who thinks that all of his buildings need to have his name on them in giant letters (40 feet high, for his tower in Chicago), I’m sure he thinks anything is appropriate – so long as it’s done on his behalf.

His so-called defense Tuesday morning to his wife’s rhetoric Monday night amounted to little more than telling us not to pay attention to that man behind the curtain – the Wizard of Oz line of logic.

PERSONALLY, I THINK that she took a couple of lines during her 10-minute address to the nation isn’t whole-hearted pirating. In fact, some could claim it flattery that she would take from the source being the spouse of the man that Trump wants us to believe is the source of all this nation’s problems.

I should be honest in admitting that it was a speech-writer who actually came up with this talk. I doubt that Melania herself would be capable of crafting a speech of any significant length – even though she claims she put it together herself.

 

... by doing something more absurd to distract?

Which means she probably gave it a read-through, and may have changed a word or two. But this is more a case of an amateurish campaign taking pride in its amateurism and thinking they can get away with anything.

What is most pathetic is that Melania Trump’s talk was supposed to be the key of the Monday night activity (unless you believe that it was Scott Baio the nation really wanted to hear from).

SHE WAS SUPPOSED to put the human face on him. She was supposed to give us insights into the real man that would make us all want to cast our votes for him come Nov. 8.

Instead, she goes into the history books as the ultimate trophy wife who earned her place at Trump’s side because he likes the way she looks while wearing a tight sweater. I can’t help but wonder what Ivana or Marla think these days?

The nominating convention proceeds, and we’ll be waiting for the next gaffe – one most likely to be committed by Trump himself. For unlike most nominating conventions where the candidate doesn’t show up until the last minute and the events build a level of suspense leading to that moment, Trump wants to make daily appearances.

Just like he can’t envision a building without his name on it, he thinks this week is all about him. Feeding his ego, which really is the purpose of his whole presidential campaign.

IT IS WHY I actually found it funny to learn that former President George W. Bush recently attended a reunion of his staff from his days in the White House, and said there’s a good chance he’ll be the last Republican to ever get elected president.

 

BUSH: No longer the GOP head dumb-dumb!

All because Trump is about to do so much damage to the political brand that was once the “Party of Lincoln” and had a nobility in the way it stood up to the segregationist elements of our society. Now, Trump seems determined to let those people know the GOP won’t hold their nativist thoughts against them.

Although in a sense, you’d think that Bush would be pleased to have a Trump come along. He’ll get blamed for killing off the GOP’s chances of being anything more than a regional political party of rural America.

Because it detracts from the blame that some would put on Bush himself – what with his own many intellectual gaffes as president – for causing the political party irreparable harm!

  -30-

What will they miss; other than chance to see Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame?

(NOT IN) CLEVELAND – So Gov. Bruce Rauner and Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., who allegedly are the two prominent Republican political officials from Illinois, are among the politicos who couldn’t be bothered to show up for the Republican National Convention that began Monday on the shores of Lake Erie.

 

RAUNER: Keeping his distance from Cleveland

Both are among the many GOP types who want to keep some distance between themselves and likely Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

OF COURSE, I doubt their presence is being missed at all this week, with many of the Trump types who will formally pick him to be the GOP candidate who takes on Democrat Hillary Clinton viewing them suspiciously.

Rauner, after all, is the guy who has shown himself to be incapable of crushing Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, while Kirk is the guy whom they only begrudgingly voted for in 2010 and certainly aren’t going to get all worked up over this year.

He is, after all, the guy who was branded by none other than Trump himself as a “loser,” as though if he’d only accept the love of Trump he’d have a chance of beating Democrat Tammy Duckworth come Nov. 8.

It is clear from reports emanating from Cleveland that this year’s presidential nominating convention is nothing like previous versions – which usually amount to over-glorified pep rallies in which political operatives gather together, get all worked up, then go back home to try to spread that sense of energy to the masses to get them to vote.

INSTEAD, THIS IS purely about Trump. It is about feeding his massive ego and making him feel like he’s staging an event that will go into the history books. Even though I expect that whatever does come out of Cleveland this week will be little remembered and long-forgotten.

There’s no way any event that features actor Scott Baio as one of its prominent faces bears any resemblance to an event that dictates serious public policy.

 

KIRK: Not likely missed on shores of Lake Erie

Heck, I’d take this event more seriously if Trump had arranged for Scott’s cousin, Jimmy Baio, to be the big-name speaker. Since the 1970s television show “Soap” (where Jimmy played the smart-alecked son of Jessica and Chester Tate) was probably more intriguing than any of the shows that featured Scott.

Or does anyone really think that highly of “Charles in Charge” or the later years of “Happy Days” that featured Scott Baio as a prominent player?

BUT HAVING PSEUDO-celebrities show up probably is totally in line with the kind of presidency that Trump would give us – should the electorate actually go so far as to give him a majority of the vote come Election Day.

Lots of glitz and glamour, with the likelihood that the actual duties of governing being relegated to fairly anonymous geeky-types hired by a president who thinks of himself as more a CEO-type who barks general orders and is quick to shift the blame away from himself whenever anything goes wrong.

It’s no wonder the serious governing types don’t feel compelled to be on hand for the nominating convention, which usually would offer them a chance to be seen by government-geek types and draw attention to themselves.

Rauner is passing on the chance to be viewed as a national figure; likely because he knows he can only come across as looking foolish in this environment. Better that he spend his week finding events across Illinois to travel to – such as his Monday appearance in Taylorville where he addressed the issue of restrictions on the sale of addictive bath salts. Better that than being seen near Trump.

AS FOR THOSE people who are in Cleveland this week, I hope they feel like they’re accomplishing something significant – other than being in the presence of Stephen Colbert, the entertainer who plays the part of a political commentator which means that Cleveland is probably the perfect place for him to spend a week in search of a cheap laugh.

Nobody else gains much. I don’t feel like I would be missing much by not being in Cleveland this week. For the Indians are in Kansas City playing the Royals, so skipping out on Baio’s speech or the comments of any of the many Trump family members who will speak grandly about dear ol’ daddy is not an option.

 

This week is all about Trump; nobody else

As for playing hooky (delegates get free admission, thanks to AT&T) to see the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame? My brother actually went there once, and claimed the overall experience was one of the biggest let-downs of his life. Too much about Cleveland trying to claim a cultural significance for itself, and not enough about the music itself.

Which could be appropo for the convention itself – lots of fluff detracting from the serious detail of people trying to show why they’d actually be qualified enough to justify our voting for them come Election Day!

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EXTRA: Is Baltimore cop fate likely to see a repeat of itself in Chicago?

It was with some self-interest that I learned of the Monday outcome in court of the Baltimore police officer who was in charge of the scene that resulted in the death of Freddie Gray.

 

RICE: An acquitted cop

For it has me wondering what the chances are we’ll see a repeat of some kind in Chicago when the time comes eventually that one of our city’s police officers goes on trial for criminal charges related to the shooting death of a 16-year-old black male.

I’LL BE THE first to admit one major difference – the police lieutenant in Baltimore faced charges of involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and misconduct while prosecutors in Cook County, Ill., have gone so far as to seek charges of murder against Jason Van Dyke.

He’s the Chicago cop whom prosecutors say fired those 17 shots that killed Laquan McDonald. Of course, that video we’ve all seen of the incident only shows an off-screen gunman firing shot after shot into the boy, while smoke eventually emanated from the body from the repeated gunfire.

There are those who are convinced we saw something nothing short of cold-blooded murder in that video.

Then again, I’m sure there are those who are convinced the case against police in Gray’s death was equally cut-and-dried – only to have two cops already acquitted and the lieutenant in charge now also cleared, with a fourth cop facing a new trial because a jury couldn’t reach any verdict.

WHAT HAPPENS IF a year or two from now, when Van Dyke goes on trial, something comes up and something less than a “guilty” verdict arises? What will the sense of outrage be?

For that matter, what kind of outrage would a “guilty” verdict produce from those individuals in our society who are determined to believe that police can do no wrong?

As it is, defense attorneys have hinted the video we have seen (and which can be found on the Internet if one looks hard enough) gives a distorted view of the incident because it does not include audio.

The video that shows several minutes of police rushing to the scene before encountering McDonald supposedly does not include all the information that police dispatchers were providing to the officers about the potential threat that Laquan presented.

 

VAN DYKE: Could we see Chicago encore?

I DON’T KNOW if such information would have really made any difference. Perhaps. Or perhaps not? But I’m aware enough that circumstances could arise that could result in acquittal. I don’t consider any criminal case to be open and shut – no matter what some want to believe.

Take Gray’s case. He died from a broken neck suffered while being jostled about in the back of a squadrol – where he was shackled, but not restrained with a seat belt.

Defense attorneys for the lieutenant contend he wasn’t aware of regulations requiring the seat belt, and that he was forced to make a judgment call to rush him into the squadrol because of the hostile environment developing at the scene of the arrest.

Some are bound to see a great injustice taking place in Baltimore. Just as I’m sure they would be equally outraged by anything short of a guilty verdict and a maximum prison sentence for Van Dyke.

BUT THERE ARE no certainties when it comes to the judicial system.

If anything, the courts are only as reliable as the individuals we rely upon to make decisions.

That is a truth we can consider no matter where in the country a court ruling is made. We can only hope that rational minds prevail, but we must be prepared for the reality that absolutes don’t exist – except in the minds of those people who’ve already made them up in advance!

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Policing in pairs? We’ve got a ways to go before we reach enlightenment

The order went out to Chicago Police Department officers Sunday morning in the wake of an attack on officers in Baton Rouge, La., that left at least three cops dead and others wounded.

CPD showing their support, while watching their backs

They’re not to be going out on patrol all by their lonesome. They’re also to be in full uniform, to ensure that it is fully clear to the public who exactly the police are. Similar orders have been given to police officers in New York and Boston, to name just a couple of cities.

NOW SOME PEOPLE might think that makes the cops all the more of targets. It probably does. Although I suspect that to the kind of people inclined to want to attack officers, they’re going to know in advance exactly who they’re looking for.

If anything, this might reduce the chance of a non officer being mistaken by someone who thinks of themselves as some sort of revolutionary fighting for the rights of the people against an oppressive force.

Which is what I’m sure is the kind of cheap rhetoric we’re ultimately going to hear if any of the gunmen who attacked the officers in Louisiana Sunday morning are taken alive.

You know, the men dressed in black. And no, I don’t mean the late singer Johnny Cash!

FOR IT SEEMS that one of the gunmen was killed by cops right away, while the other two remained at large for much of the day – with the public in Baton Rouge being advised to look out for anyone black-clad. Not that any further description was given.

For it seems the people who might actually know something didn’t see nothin’, or at least that’s what they claimed when they talked to cops.

Honestly, I don’t know what to think of these latest attacks on Sunday – other than to say we shouldn’t be surprised by anything that happens these days. We have a national mood of mistrust concerning our attitude toward law enforcement personnel.

 

TRUMP: Too eager to mix it up in dispute?

Some of us are determined to view them as the problem, while others are quite eager to use this as an excuse to go after people whom they never trusted and have long wished they could fight back against.

IN SHORT, I’M saying I expect this kind of nonsense to continue on, and not just in Baton Rouge, where local residents remain miffed at the shooting death by police of a black man that got captured on video.

This is not a problem limited to any one city or part of the country. It is why I have refused to get as worked up as some people have over the officer now on trial in Chicago for the shooting death in 2014 of Laquan McDonald.

It’s bigger than any one incident, and it is not going to be solved with cheap rhetoric.

Which is what I think of Donald Trump, who couldn’t wait to rush out with a statement eagerly meant to support the police – claiming he expects that law and order attitudes will prevail. Eager to take sides, and I’m sure his followers will repeatedly parrot the same lines throughout the Republican National Convention being held this week in Cleveland.

PERHAPS HE THINKS we’ll rise up and start shooting people who aren’t sufficiently deferential to the police. Or maybe he’ll settle for an angry mob engaging in fisticuffs against someone who looks just a tad suspicious – from their life’s perspective.

It is a serious issue, this one of mistrust that some of us have with the police – which is really more about our racial tensions and hostilities flaring up!

As much as I wish we could be responsible and rise to a higher level, I won’t be the least bit surprised if our society continues to delve down in the muck for awhile longer.

It’s the kind of situation where I expect there’s going to be many more rounds of stupidity and ignorance that we’ll have to be ashamed of before we can finally attain a level of enlightenment in the future.

  -30-

Does Nice mean Dallas is history?

I was driving my niece, Meira, to a place she had to go to Friday morning and had the car radio going when I heard the story of the funeral services being held for the Baton Rouge, La., man who was gunned down by police recently.

 

Not exactly the image of Nice we're envisioning on Friday

There was the time about a week ago that this WAS the focal point of public debate. But with another such incident in Minneapolis, followed by the shooting of police officers in Dallas, and now that truck going out of control and managing to kill seven dozen people in Nice, France, it makes me wonder if all of this is now reduced to ancient history.

OR AT LEAST “ancient” by the standards of people who rely on snippets of information off of Facebook postings to get their view of the world.

It makes me wonder how soon will people be complaining about how we’ve forgotten about what happened in Texas just last week because we’re now more obsessed with France – an incident so profound that Republican presidential dreamer Donald Trump felt compelled to downplay his vice presidential announcement.

As though anything involving Mike Pence of Indiana could upstage what happened in France this week.

In that incident, someone drove a truck into a crowd that was gathered for Bastile Day. Not the first use of a truck to wreck havoc – let’s not forget in 1995 when Timothy McVeigh used a truck full of explosive material to take down the federal government building in Oklahoma City, Okla.

FOR THOSE WHOSE sense of history or foreign affairs is less than informed, Thursday was the French holiday the equivalent of our own Independence Day. It celebrates the day in 1789 when revolutionaries seized control over the Bastile (the castle used as a prison by French royalty).

I’ll admit that my first reaction to learning of the incident Thursday night was to think to myself how thankful we should be that we didn’t experience something similar in this country 10 days ago.

Just think how much mileage it would have got in terms of public attention if the celebration of U.S. independence had been tainted with a violent outburst somewhere?

We’d probably be going on and on about the “arrogance” of some foreigner to try to taint our celebrations. Which ought to be the same reaction we feel to what happened in France.

FOR IT WAS an attack on Western society, similar to how the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 in New York and suburban Washington were larger than just those cities or even this country.

But we shouldn’t let this drown out our own problem in this country when it comes to race relations – a problem that seriously undermines our society’s ability to claim any sense of moral superiority over the rest of the world.

I don’t doubt that those foreign interests that plot out such attacks probably view our own racial hang-ups that were at the heart of disputes in Dallas, Baton Rouge or many other U.S. cities (including Chicago) as evidence of our own moral decay and all the more reason why their viewpoint is preferable.

Which ought to be all the more reason we try to work in this country to resolve our own problems. We don’t need to be giving the alleged terrorist element any reason for them to think they have the high ground in this global debate.

THE SAD PART is that our normal reaction causes this limited attention dispute. Nice will invariably take away some of the amount of brain matter we can devote to Dallas, or the happenings elsewhere.

Just as the next incident will invariably make us remember that something happened in some French city, although we’ll probably have a hard time remembering exactly which other – other than it wasn’t Paris!

There was one plus, however, to the happenings of Thursday as they spilled over into Friday – they wound up detracting from Trump’s attempts to maximize the level of public attention he’d get from his V-P announcement.

Which itself was meant to undermine all the failed efforts that were made by certain Republicans to undermine the Trump nomination come the GOP presidential convention come next week in Cleveland.

  -30-

Hoosier governor for VP – could Pence become Trump’s political savior?

It would be intriguing if Indiana Gov. Mike Pence truly were willing to give up his current post for the chance to be one seat away from the presidency in a potential Donald Trump administration.

PENCE: Will Trump 'train' take him for better ride?

For the Roll Call newspaper in Washington, D.C., reported Thursday that Trump will pick Pence as his running mate, although Trump later said he would postpone his announcement out of a sense of respect for those killed in a Bastille Day attack on Thursday in Nice, France.

NOT NEW JERSEY Gov. Chris Christie. Not one-time House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia. Not even his daughter, Ivanka – whose name Trump has tossed into the rumor mill most likely to confound those people determined to influence his pick.

I have to admit the idea of Pence as the running mate makes some sort of sense – in a purely political logic kind of way. Even though I have to admit to seeing the humor in political columnist Ann Coulter saying the only reason Trump would say Pence now is so that when he really does name his choice, everybody will think to themselves “Thank God it’s not Mike Pence.”

But keep in mind there are those Republican types who are in with the GOP for social conservative reasons and they don’t find satisfaction in all of Trump’s anti-Mexican or anti-Arab talk or any of the other cheap rhetoric he has used to try to stir up dissent.

Because Trump is a wealthy Manhattanite who doesn’t show the same fear of, and bigotry toward, gay people that they do.

SOME GAY ACTIVIST types actually say Trump is a reasonable individual to do business with. He certainly hasn’t demonized them the way he has others.

So, in the sense that a vice presidential choice is meant to balance out a ticket, that is what Pence’s presence would do. It is why Pence spent the day Wednesday meeting with Pence while Democratic presidential challenger Hillary Clinton was in Springfield, Ill., claiming the mantel of Abraham Lincoln morality for herself.

 

GINGRICH: No political comeback for Newt?

For let’s not forget that Pence was the governor who signed off on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act – the measure that equated hostility toward gay people as being one’s Constitutional right to express and treated efforts to fight back against such bigotry as the real act of racism.

People could claim their religion as justification for their bigotry – which I always personally thought was a repulsive interpretation of religious belief.

BUT IT WAS written into Indiana law, and for a time last year it was Open Season on Hoosiers. The state was the ultimate butt of jokes – to the point where even Mississippi and Alabama had right to look down upon them.

As things stand, if Pence ran for re-election as governor, his support of that measure and willingness to sign it into law would have been a major issue to be used against him.

He would have faced countless questions about gay rights and the mood of the nation might well have turned against him, and the state that hasn’t had a Democrat as its governor for more than a decade could receive one now!

But if he goes on board with Trump, he will be appealing to that segment of the electorate who will view him as heroic. He could well be the guy who helps solidify Trump voter support amongst conservative ideologues – particularly those who think the whole “gay” issue is of crucial importance.

AS IN MEDDLING in someone else’s personal business ought to be a priority of government. But whatever! I’m sure some voters now hesitant about Trump will be swayed by Pence’s presence on the ballot.

Will Hillary make Mike Pence a moot point? 

It may be that Pence has a better chance of having a political future if he signs on the Trump camp and becomes the factor that boosts it to a victory over Hillary Clinton.

And if it turns out that the REAL majority of our society winds up deciding that the return of the Clintons to the White House is nowhere near as repulsive as the thought of the Trump brand being applied to the Oval Office, then what else did Pence really have to lose?

Other than campaigning unsuccessfully for re-election in places like South Bend, Terre Haute and Gary – the latter of which likely would have been extremely hostile toward him.

  -30-

EDITOR'S NOTE: Mike Pence also has the political record that has tried to single out Chicago. Which probably ensures that the Trump camp has written off any chance of taking Illinois' Electoral College votes -- no matter what kind of cheap talk Trump himself spews.

EXTRA: Ginsburg speaks out for society segment “right” would silence

Honey is my step-mother’s mother, and at age 95 is a bit hard of hearing to the point one has to be prepared to shout at her to be heard. But she’s still capable of carrying on a lucid conversation and holding her own in a verbal quarrel.

 

Ginsburg not alone in belittling Trump

So what is it that can trigger this woman these days into outrage and a sense of disgust and contempt?

DONALD TRUMP. THAT’S who!

The mere mention of Trump’s name or sight of him on television (and unfortunately, she’s the kind who makes a point to keep up with current events off the television newscasts) is enough to get her riled up.

She’s convinced his election come the Nov. 8 Election Day proceedings will be a major downfall for this country, and she can’t quite believe that a real majority of our nation could be dense enough to pick that man.

Like it or not, it is a viewpoint held by quite a few people – despite the idea that the ideologues of our society want to believe that everybody who doesn’t agree with them ought to shut up and learn to go along with what they tell them to think!

WHAT MAKES ME feel compelled to bring up Honey is the fact that  the ideologues are getting all worked up these days over the fact that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg felt compelled to express her own thoughts of contempt over the notion that Trump and his “know nothing” attitudes could prevail on Election Day.

Such as saying that Trump has an overblown ego and “says whatever comes into his head at the moment,” while also trashing him for refusing to make public the tax returns that most political people eagerly do to show just how ordinary they truly are. And that bit about moving to New Zealand? What a riot!

Ginsburg has since issued something resembling a retraction, saying on Thursday her comments were “ill-advised” and she “regret(ted) making them.”

 

Ginsburg has her backers most likely

Largely because the ideologues have been bashing her about with the very theoretical argument that as a Supreme Court justice, she’s not supposed to have blatant opinions on issues.

ACTUALLY, MANY JUSTICES make it clear where they stand on issues that wind up coming before the court. What really bothers the ideologues is that Ginsburg doesn’t parrot their ideals. They’d love her if she did – and the nation’s high court were truly as stacked in their favor as they wish it were! And as how people like the late Justice Antonin Scalia (whose seat still sits vacant because of the ideologues) would have made it, if they could have got their way.

Of course, if it were, then we’d have real contempt amongst the public toward the Supreme Court.

For I don’t doubt that Ginsburg merely expressed a sentiment that is felt by many people in our society – not just my elderly abuelita-type person. It seems the conservatives amongst us really don’t want to have to be reminded how despicable some of us find Trump to be.

And how we interpret the fact that he was able to get the Republican nomination more as evidence of how weak and ineffectual the GOP has become, rather than any real strength on Trump’s part.

I HAVEN’T TALKED to Honey in a couple of days, so I’m not sure exactly how she feels about Ginsburg. Although I suspect strongly she’d be in agreement.

She’d probably also think that the people determined to silence Ginsburg are the real problem our society faces – because they invariably would not favor anything that would silence those officials who happen to agree with them.

It’s a one-sided mess. They’re the ones determined to make us into a monolithic mass that invariably would wind up excluding many already in our society.

And that, inevitably, would make us so deadly dull as a people, as well as bordering on morally-bankrupt.

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