Would I ever take a knee in protest during the national anthem?

I was pulled over by a police officer last week. I was driving 53 MPH in a 40 MPH zone.

Honestly, I had no idea that I was speeding. It was Elysha's first day back to work, and I just wanted to get home and talk about her day. I guess I was a little too anxious to see her. 

As the blue lights filled my rear view mirror and the officer hit the siren, my heart beat faster. My muscles tensed. My flight-or-fight response triggered. 

I am always terrified when dealing with the police. 

When I was 22, I was arrested and tried for a crime I didn't commit because a single police officer was convinced of my guilt. My arrest resulted in the loss of my job and my home. I ended up homeless and hungry, and if not for the kindness of friends, I don't know where I would be today. I ultimately lost about 18 months of my life working 90 hours a week in order to pay a $25,000 legal fee.

As a result, I am always afraid when I encounter police officers. While I respect and admire the work that they do and appreciate their dedication and service, I also know how one police officer derailed my life and came close to putting me in prison. 

I can't imagine what it must be like to be a black man in similar circumstances. 

I have watched far too many of videos of black men being beaten and shot by white police officers. I have watched as a great majority of these officers have avoided jail time for their actions. When I encounter the police, I am terrified of being misunderstood. Mistakenly perceived as a criminal. Unfairly arrested. Perhaps even jailed and tried for a crime I did not commit. 

I am not afraid for my life. I am not afraid of being shot because I reached for my license too quickly or took my hands off the steering wheel.

I can't even imagine.

On Sunday, hundreds of athletes in the NFL, the WNBA, Major League Baseball, and other sports knelt during the national anthem, joining Colin Kaepernick in his protest against police brutality and the mass incarceration of Africans Americans.

Including my New England Patriots.

Many of these athletes knelt in response to Donald Trump's comments in Alabama, where he called Kaepernick a "son-of-a-bitch" and demanded that he be fired (even though Kaepernick has been effectively blackballed by NFL owners for his protest and doesn't currently have a job). 

My response to their protest was simple:

I support the players' First Amendment right to peacefully protest. I support the hell out of it. So, too, do thousands of military veterans and active duty personnel, who took to social media on Sunday to remind Americans that they risked their lives so these men could freely protest.

Including 97 year-old John Middlemas, a World War II veteran who took a knee in solidarity on Sunday. 

I wanted to add that if I were in these athlete's shoes, I would probably choose a different means of protesting, but to say such a thing would be stupid. And if you look anything like me, it would be stupid for you, too.

I'm a white man. I have not spent the last ten years watching watching people who look like me get shot and killed by police officers on video. I have not watched countless white police officers go free after killing unarmed black men. 

I don't live in a country where African Americans are statistically imprisoned for longer periods of time than white Americans who committed the same crime.  

I have no idea how these men and women feel. 

Yes, maybe there is a better way to protest, but until Kaepernick took a knee, America didn't seem to care much about these issues. Every month or two we would watch body camera footage or a Facebook live video of a white police officer shooting an unarmed back man, and after a brief period of outrage, nothing would change. 

Maybe if I was as afraid as someone like Colin Kaepernick, I would've taken a knee, too. I might've stood on my damn head.  

Donald Trump's stupid remarks may have turned Sunday into a protest against him, but Kaepernick's initial goal was to raise awareness of the issue, and he clearly has. When the President of the United States is talking about your protest, you have brought significant attention to the issue.

If I was afraid to getting shot and killed during a routine traffic stop, maybe I would be doing everything in my power to get the attention of the world, too. 

Donald Trump is an old, white man. He does not know the fear that African Americans face on a daily basis. Despite my arrest, trial, and near-imprisonment, neither do I. Going to prison unjustly and getting shot in the driver seat of my car are two very different things.

If you aren't black, you can't know what it's like to live in this country,

The people who vehemently oppose the player's kneeling during the national anthem are almost exclusively white. They are people who do not fear being shot and killed by a police officer for speeding or driving with a broken taillight.

When was the last time we saw body camera footage or a Facebook Live feed of an unarmed white motorist being shot by a police officer?

Trump doesn't know what it's like to be black. Neither do I. I never will.

But I know that the First Amendment gives Americans the right to peacefully protest, including kneeling during the National Anthem. Or sitting during the Pledge of Allegiance. 

Or even burning the flag in protest.  

Only fascist and totalitarian states value their flags more than free speech. 

I respect these player's right to kneel. I respect a fan's right to boo in protest of this protest. 

What I don't respect is a white person's belief that he or she could ever know what it's like to be a black person in America today. If you're white, don't tell me what you would do differently.

There's no way of ever knowing. 

My favorite billboard

The billboard is up on Southern Boulevard, which is one of the only streets that links directly to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.

With Hurricane Irma now battering Florida, my thoughts are with everyone whose lives and property are at risk from this cataclysmic storm.  

My thoughts are also with this particular billboard. Envisioning how angry Donald Trump must be knowing how close it sits to his property and how visible it must be to every guest driving up to his resort warms my heart.

I'd hate to learn that it was lost in the storm. 

Time to break the law on behalf of Harriet Tubman

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, a Yale graduate and former Goldman Sachs investment banker whose Daddy is also a Yale graduate and and former Goldman Sachs banker (Steve is clearly blazing his own trail in this world), indicated last week that the Treasury Department could abandon plans to replace President Andrew Jackson on the front of the $20 bill with abolitionist Harriet Tubman.

The redesign had been finalized under President Obama.

Steve is also currently under investigation by the Treasury Department’s inspector general for taking a government jet to Fort Knox the day of the solar eclipse, perhaps to witness the eclipse from a more favorable position.

Steve is also married to Louise Linton, the fashion-obsessed occasional actress who made headlines two weeks ago after criticizing a woman on Instagram for having less money than she has. 

Linton grew up in a Scottish castle and derives all of her wealth from her family and her husband's fortune.  

She apologized for her elitist comments weeks later in the pages of Washington Life alongside photos of her posing in expensive ball gowns in various locations at her and Mnuchin's Washington mansion.

There are clearly the type of people who Harriett Tubman would have adored. 

In regards to the change in the $20 bill, Mnuchin said, “It’s not something that I’m focused on at the moment. The issues of why we change it will be primarily related to what we need to do for security purposes.”

So screw Harriet Tubman. To hell with the idea of allowing our daughters or children of color to see someone like them on a piece of currency. If our money is secure with old, white men on it, then old, white men it shall be! 

It's also sad that Mnuchin can't apparently focus on more than one thing, or even delegate this matter to a staffer. After all, it's a simple change of face on a bill. We've changed the appearance of our money appears many, many times in just my lifetime. It's not exactly unprecedented. It shouldn't be too hard.

But fear not. We may have a solution. 

Josh Malina, who played a vice president’s chief of staff on the NBC political drama "The West Wing," encouraged his more than 240,000 Twitter followers to write the famous abolitionist’s name on $20 bills over the face of Andrew Jackson. 

This may technically violate federal law, but it's still a fantastic idea, and one that I think Harriet Tubman would have loved. If a white man is going to once again stand between Tubman and the recognition she deserves, the least we can do is break the law on her behalf, the same way she did for the hundreds of slaves who she illegally ushered to freedom. 

Trump's "real" job numbers

On the wake of a less than stellar jobs report, Trump has been touting his "million jobs created" in the first half of 2017.

One million jobs sounds great. But look at the first half of 2017 job creation in comparison to previous years:

2013: 1.12 million

2014: 1.50 million

2015: 1.39 million

2016: 1.24 million

2017: 1.07 million

One million Americans finding work is fantastic. But it's also the fewest number of new jobs created during the first half of the year in five years, so a little perspective, please.

Admittedly not Trump's forte.

Also, thank you President Obama. 

A little girl, a Supreme Court justice, and courage

It's the top of the seventh at the Hartford Yard Goats last night, which means we have abandoned our seats for rides on the enormous, inflatable slides behind the right field fence. 

Charlie has hurtled down these monstrosities before, but for Clara, this is her first time. I expect her to be nervous. Frightened. She may back out.

She is who she is.

I watch as Clara climbs the ladder, admittedly impressed by her willingness to even begin the process. A few seconds later, a hear her voice. She's shouting.

Her words:

"Ruth Bader Ginsburg!"

Then she comes plunging down the slide, repeating the name of a Supreme Court justice again and again.  

She lands with a thud at the bottom of the slide, hops off, and makes a beeline to the ladder for another ride. 

"Clara!" I call. "Why are you shouting Ruth Bader Ginsberg?"

"When I'm nervous, she gives me courage!"

She is who she is.  

'80's John Hughes villain comes alive

On Tuesday, Louise Linton, wife of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, posted a photo of herself stepping off an official government plane wearing designer labels.

I know she was wearing those labels because she hash-tagged them in the photo caption. 

Jenni Miller, a Portland, Oregon mother of three, didn't love the photo and wrote “Glad we could pay for your little getaway #deplorable.”

Linton responded by insulting Miller. Essentially, this born-into-wealth, married-into-wealth failed actress made fun of Linton for being poor. 

“Aw!!! Did you think this was a personal trip?! Adorable! Do you think the US govt paid for our honeymoon or personal travel?! Lololol. Have you given more to the economy than me and my husband? Either as an individual earner in taxes OR in self sacrifice to your country. I’m pretty sure we paid more taxes toward our day ‘trip’ than you did. Pretty sure the amount we sacrifice per year is a lot more than you’d be willing to sacrifice if the choice was yours. You’re adorably out of touch. Thanks for the passive aggressive comment.”

“Your life looks cute,” she wrote an hour later before deleting the comment and making her Instagram account private as the world saw her comments and rained scorn upon her. 

Linton is a woman who was literally born in a castle. She's a woman whose designer labels are the result of her birth and marriage. She's a woman who has always had everything that she wants and needs.

She's a woman so vacuous that hashtags the designer labels that she is wearing.  

This isn’t Linton’s first act of stupidity.

In 2016, she published a memoir about the six months she spent in Zambia in 1999 during her gap year. The people who she worked with refuted the claims she made in the book. The Zambian government criticized her for falsely characterizing the country as a "a war-torn hellhole" when it was actually at peace during her time there. 

In addition, Linton’s book featured photos of the HIV-positive children, which were used without the children’s (or their families’) permission.

The backlash was so acute that Linton pulled the book and apologized.

So yes, Louise Linton has apparently decided to embrace the image of the 1980's John Hughes female super-villain:

A snobby, condescending, pretentious, mean, wealthy woman whose fortune comes solely through birth and marriage and yet feels like this alone places her above all others.

Her last film, Cabin Fever, has the unique distinction of having a score of 0% on Rotten Tomatoes. In that film, she played a sheriff's deputy. Perhaps she's trying to present herself in a new light to prospective producers or directors.

"Look! I can do evil, stupid, rich-bitch ice queen, too."

Yes, Louise. You certainly can.

This is what a free and excellent media looks like

This is the way journalists should conduct an interview. This should be taught in journalism school. 

This is exactly what people want from the media:

Hold public officials and hackneyed pundits accountable. 

Don't forget.

This little baby girl grew up and became a warrior who stood against hate and injustice.

Heather Heyer.

Say her name. Remember her name.

Tyrion Lannister got it right.

It's hard to acknowledge your privilege when you've enjoyed it for your whole life.

It's even harder to admit that your success is very much the result of that privilege, and that your self-perceived story of hard work, sacrifice, discipline, and skill might be entirely different absent your privilege of race, nation, gender, socioeconomic class, or health.

Someone who has been listening to me stories this week said to me, "It's amazing that you've come so far given where you once were."

I replied, "I'm a healthy, intelligent, white man in America. Even with the misfortune that I've suffered in life, I was already hugely advantaged from the get-go. Change the color of my skin or my gender or stick me in a third world country, and my story is probably very different. My path might have been hard, but it was a hell of a lot easier than most people of the world."

It seems to me that there are a segment of people in America today who enjoy the same or similar privileges but refuse to to recognize their good fortune. They feel like victims rather than the benefactors of a lottery that afforded them enormous privilege. They fail to see that the struggle of others is in large part the result of institutions that make their path more difficult because of their race, gender, or country of origin.

It made me think of these words, spoken by fictional Game of Throne's character Tyrion Lannister:  

This, too, shall pass.

We spent last week in Washington, DC. We visited with good friends, ate good food, toured the museums and the monuments, and had a grand time.

What I will always remember about this trip, however, is the way my daughter's insatiable curiosity, her incessant reading, and her mother's influence have transformed her into a student of the world.

Clara loves Clara Barton. This love began with the name they share, but it quickly grew into a genuine interest and love affair with this woman. She's read several books on Barton and can detail her life history if you have about an hour.

The Clara Barton home is coincidentally just a couple of miles from our friend's home, so we stopped to visit. We were sad to discover that the house is closed. Though it's designated as a historic site (it was also the first headquarters of the Red Cross), it's in disrepair, and it doesn't look like it will be open anytime soon.

We went to look at it even though we knew it was closed, planning on taking a photo of Clara standing outside the house. Instead, we were met by three men who were inspecting the building, and one offered to bring just Clara and Elysha inside. He gave them a private tour of the home, and he and Clara exchanged Clara Barton tidbits.  

It was almost better than the house being open to the public. Clara was the first child in a long time to enter the home, making the moment for her very special.

Later that evening, we were touring the FDR monument when Clara spotted a statue to Eleanor Roosevelt, a remarkable politician in her own right. Clara began spouting facts about this female American icon as well, but she also asked at least twice as many questions. 

We ended our tour of the monuments that evening at the Lincoln Memorial. Having lived in DC for six months, I'd visited this monument many times, but it was just as awe inspiring this time.

My son, Charlie, couldn't believe that we were allowed to step inside. He asked an endless stream of questions about the architecture and Lincoln himself. 

Elysha and Clara sat down in the north chamber so that Elysha could read her the Gettysburg Address aloud.

It's easy in today's political climate to become despondent over all that we see. It's not hard to lose hope and perhaps think that our country is spiraling in the wrong direction.

I am not immune to these sentiments from time to time, and I am an optimist and an anti-alarmist. 

But my trip to Washington renewed my spirit.

Abraham Lincoln led our country through the Civil War. Millions of Americans died on American soil in a battle for the future of our union.

Clara Barton served as a nurse during the Civil War. She witnessed horrors beyond imagination in a time when women did not have the right to vote and lacked many of the basic rights and privileges enjoyed by women today. 

Eleanor Roosevelt helped to lead our country through the Great Depression and World War II. 

These were some of America's most challenging times.    

Yet here we stand today. Our country persists. 

The not hard to imagine the despair that Americans must have been feeling during the times of Lincoln, Barton, and Roosevelt. I must have been easy for those men and women to lose hope in the future of their country. 

Yet they fought. They battled. They persisted. Just like we will.

My greatest hope comes from the wide-eyed, insatiable curiosity of my children and their inherent desire to, in the words of Abigail Adams, do good and be good. 

Lincoln, Barton, Roosevelt, and their generations of Americans faced enormous, almost unimaginable challenges, and they won. They preserved and protected this nation for future generations. 

Just like I know we will, for Clara, Charlie and their future generations. 

Heather Heyer: Patriot and hero of the first order

Her name was Heather Heyer.

She died when a car with an Ohio license plate rammed into a crowd near Charlottesville's downtown mall after the rally at the city park was dispersed. Heyer was one of the counter-protesters marching in jubilation near the mall after the white nationalists dispersed from the scene.

Heather Heyer went to Charlottesville to stand against torch-wielding, gun-toting, Nazi flag flying white supremacists who were there to protest the city's decision to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from the Emancipation Park.

Now we know whose statue should replace the traitor and racist Robert E. Lee: 

Heather Heyer, an American patriot and hero who stood against hate, intolerance and violence, and paid the ultimate sacrifice so our country could be free and safe for all. 

Just listen to this. Please.

I can't recommend this episode of StoryCorps enough. 

Entitled "No Barrier for Love," it features immigrants talking about what’s important to them — from falling in love to feeling like they do or don’t belong, memories of how they made their way to this country, and what they found when they arrived here.

It's really so much more. 

It's 16 minutes long and worth every second. 

It's also important for people to hear. Too many Americans misunderstand immigration on an economic, humanitarian, and historical level.

Too many stupid white men in the White House have embraced nationalism and racism over common sense, basic economic principles, demographics, patriotism, and basic human decency.      

My children will be listening to this episode soon, and in September, my students will be listening to it, too.

You should listen now. Then pass it along. 

So many white people

They've done it again.

Here is a photo of the 2017 White House interns alongside Donald Trump. The fact that more than half of all millennials (age 18-34) are not white makes this photo particularly striking.

Given these demographics, Trump's team must've worked hard to ensure that there were be the requisite majority of white interns working for them, given that less than half of people of intern-age are white. 

I say requisite number because this is nothing new. Here are photos of Mike Pence taking a selfie with the newest Republican members of Congress following the 2016 elections, and below that, a photo of the 2016 Congressional interns with Paul Ryan. 

It's disgusting that the GOP makes no apparent effort to diversify their staff of interns, which is of course supremely possible given basic demographics.

They could also look across the aisle at the Democrats, who took this photo of their interns in 2016.

Sort of looks like America. Doesn't it?

Republican Congressmen threaten female Senators with violence. This is not normal.

In the last three days, Republican men in the House have threatened their female Senate colleagues with shooting and beating.

ON MSNBC, Rep. Buddy Carter said on Lisa Murkowski: "Somebody needs to go over there to that Senate and snatch a knot in their ass."

Apparently, "snatch a knot in their ass" means to hit someone in punishment or retribution for a wrongdoing. 

The day before, Rep. Blake Farenthold blamed “some female senators from the Northeast” for holding up the healthcare vote process and said that “if it was a guy from south Texas, I might ask him to step outside and settle this Aaron Burr-style.”

Farenthold is referring to the historic duel in which Vice President Burr mortally wounded Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton in 1804. 

This is a photo (no joke) of Blake Farenthold, by the way, taken in 2010. I thought it might give you a sense of the man.

Murkowski, who voted with Collins against starting the healthcare debate this week, was also specifically called out by President Trump on Twitter and told by a Cabinet official that she and Alaska "could suffer" for her choice. 

I don't agree with them politically on many issues, but Senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins have consistently been the only two Republican Senators blocking repeal of healthcare from tens of millions of Americans. Other men and women have joined their fight then abandoned it given the day and time, but these two women have remained staunch and principled throughout this process. 

History will recognize them as heroes who stood as against their party and in favor of the American people. 

It's important to note that it's not normal for a member of Congress to even suggest in jest that a disagreement be settled with a duel.

It's not normal for a member of Congress to even suggest in jest that someone should be physically assaulted for voting their conscience. 

This only happens when you elect a President who brags about sexual assault. 

This only happens when you elect a President who suggests that it would be better if protesters were carried out on stretchers.

This only happens when you elect a President who tweets juvenile videos of himself tackling and beating a man with a CNN box superimposed over his head.

These sad, pathetic little men are responsible for their comments, of course, but they also feel emboldened enough to make comments like these because the President has so willingly condoned violence.  

It's a terrible thing, and it should concern us all. We have already seen how Trump's violent and misogynistic rhetoric has filtered down to members of Congress.

Where else might men now feel emboldened enough to speak and even act like this?

Words matter. We need to remain vigilant. We need to rally around those who are intimidated or threatened by people in positions of power. We need to stand against rhetoric that condones, promotes, or exemplifies violence in any way.  

Check your privilege at the door

Few things annoy me more than unacknowledged privilege. People who complain about social safety nets while enjoying ample safety nets of their own.

For many, the unacknowledged safety net is the presence of a prosperous family. A childhood filled with stability, opportunity, and advantage. Private schools. Outstanding medical care. Travel.

It's the knowledge that financial ruin will not result in homelessness or destitution. It's the gift of a college tuition or the downpayment on a first home. A sizable inheritance. A job with a parent's company when all else has failed.

This is an enormous safety net that exists only though birth. It is not earned and is often conveniently forgotten as the people who enjoy these safety nets complain about the taxes that fund the social safety net for those who didn't win the lottery at birth.    

I recently listened to a man at a wedding who has lived with his mother for almost a decade complain about those who can't pick themselves up after financial disaster.

I listen to a former classmate who works for his family's business complain about Americans who who can't find a job or the taxes they pay to fund healthcare and Social Security.   
 

I hear to people wonder why so many folks end up in dead end jobs while displaying a diploma in their office from a prestigious college paid for by their parents. 

I hate this so much. 

Trump, for example, loves to tout his business success. He portrays himself as a self made man. A guy who used hard work and intelligence to amass a fortune. 

Yet when Trump was asked how his father helped him in business, he said, "My father gave me a very small loan in 1975, and I built it into a company that’s worth many, many billions of dollars.”

Trump's "very small loan (which he has lied about repeatedly) included:

• $14 million dollars in initial loans
• A $1 million trust fund
• Another $7.5 million in loans ten years later

Additionally, as Trump’s casinos ran into trouble in the 1980's, Trump’s father purchased $3.5 million gaming chips, but did not use them, so the casino would have enough cash to make payments on its mortgage — a transaction which casino authorities later said was an illegal loan.

Trump also attended Wharton School of Business on his father's dime, and after graduating joined his father’s thriving real estate business and he relied on his father’s connections as he made his way in the real estate world.

This is not a self-made man. This is a man who enjoyed enormous financial privilege early in life but prefers to ignore that in favor of a personal narrative centered solely on hard work and clever business transactions.

In fact, economists have determined that had Trump simply invested his father's loan in an index fund, he would be far wealthier today. 

Not only is Trump not a self-made man, but he failed to beat the market over the course of his business life. 

He's less than average. 

Before you start complaining about the social safety net, public schools, government supported healthcare, food stamps, and the like, be sure to take a long, hard look at your own life and what safety nets you have enjoyed and may still enjoy. 

Winning the lottery at birth is a great thing, but not when your blessings prevent you from seeing and understanding the plight and needs of those less fortunate. 

Trump stomped on tradition at the 2017 Boy Scout National Jamboree.

Yesterday Donald Trump spoke at the Boy Scout's National Jamboree. This is a standing invitation to every United States President.

Seven of the last eleven Presidents have taken the Scouts up on their offer since the Jamboree began in 1937.

None of those seven Presidents ever took the opportunity to turn a day of celebration into a political rally, but that did not stop Trump from doing so. Over the course of his speech, Trump:

1. Bragged about his Electoral victory
2. Complained about loyalty in his administration
3. Bragged about his "Michigan strategy" during the election 
4. Attacked the "fake media" and "fake news"
5. Disparaged President Obama
6. Disparaged Hillary Clinton
7. Threatened local politicians about the upcoming healthcare vote

I was a Boy Scout for all of my childhood, and in many ways, it might have been the best thing to happen to me as a kid.

As an adult, I have served as an assistant Scoutmaster and am a member of Camp Yawgoog's alumni association. It's an imperfect organization, to be sure, and there are many things about the organization that I don't like, but it's also an organization that I love and hope my son will love someday, too. 

What Donald Trump did yesterday disgusts me. Not only did he trample on decades of tradition, but he did so for no conceivable reason.

Why turn a speech to thousands of boys into a political rally? 

The Boy Scouts are explicitly apolitical. They do not endorse political candidates. Scouts are not permitted to wear uniforms at political events. Scouts are specifically taught to never make their service about politics. 

Trump did this for the reason he does so many things: In service of himself. He had an opportunity to address thousands of boys, and instead of inspiring them, he talked about himself. He bragged about himself.  

I'm disgusted on a daily basis by the actions and words of this man, but this one hit home for me especially hard. Every year boys gather to celebrate this organization that they love, and Trump treated it as if they were gathering for him. He turned a Boy Scout Jamboree into a self-flagellating rally of for his own ego. 

I am not going to be surprised by anything he says or does ever again. Nor should I.

Shortly after his election, he stunned CIA employees by delivering a similar speech before the agency’s Memorial Wall. On Saturday, he stunned a crowd of uniformed personnel at the commissioning of the USS Gerald R. Ford by urging them to lobby Congress in support of his agenda.  

The man is self serving in every possible way. 

The Boy Scouts are in a difficult position now. While I'm sure the organization would like to denounce at least some of the things that Trump said, they are strictly apolitical and will likely remain silent rather than breaking with this long-standing tradition. Instead, they will have to depend on the hundreds of thousands of Scouts and Scoutmasters around the country who are expressing their disgust today to speak on their behalf.  

For the record, Trump was never a Boy Scout. The only dealings he ever had with the organization before yesterday was in a 1989 when Donald, Jr. joined. 

The membership was $7 in those days, and Trump didn't pay out of pocket. He took the money from charity. 

Even back in 1989, Trump was failing to uphold any of the ideals of Scouting.  

Trump makes my head hurt

From yesterday's Press conference in France, Trump managed to

(a) make a false claim
(b) admit it may be false, then
(c) continue on as if it were true.

You can't make this stuff up.

Republican men decide that women can't wear sleeveless dresses because they are apparently afraid of lady shoulders

In an apparent effort to establish "appropriate business attire," House of Representatives under Speaker Paul Ryan is enforcing a dress code in the Speaker's Lobby—a space adjacent to the front of the House chamber—that bans women from showing their shoulders.

Several female reporters have already been kicked out of the lobby for wearing sleeveless dresses.  

Yesterday Republican Congressperson Martha McSally, a former fighter pilot and the first woman in American history to fly into combat, ended her speech in the well of Congress by saying, “Before I yield back, I want to point out, I’m standing here in my professional attire, which happens to be a sleeveless dress and open-toed shoes. With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back.” 

Some (mostly stupid white men) complained that with all the problems facing America today, dress codes should not be a priority.

But here is the thing:

Paul Ryan and his male dominated Republican caucus have decided to enforce this arbitrary dress code. Republicans like Ryan have also demonstrated an obsession with policing women's bodies, and this policing is highly relevant to many of their GOP positions. These are positions that impact economic policy, healthcare, civil rights, and the criminal justice system.

When a man in power has creepy ideas about what women should be wearing and the freedoms they should be permitted to enjoy, it has far reaching consequences. 

Yes, it's a dress code, but it represents a whole lot more, and in the battle for women to have control of their bodies and their destinies, not one inch should ever be surrendered. 

Donald Trump has blocked me on Twitter

After almost a year of tweeting at Donald Trump, he finally blocked me from access to his Twitter feed yesterday. 

This is mostly bad news.

Admittedly, it has become a badge of honor to get blocked by Trump. Since he has stated unequivocally that he is the only person with access to his personal Twitter account - a statement which appears to be true based upon many of his incredibly offensive and legally damaging tweets - getting blocked means that Trump has at least read your tweets, and they have managed to penetrate his remarkably thin skin.

That is a good thing.

I also join the ranks of folks like writers Stephen King and Bess Kalb, political activists, civic organizers, actors, athletes, organizations like VoteVets (which represents 500,000 veterans and their families) and Andy Signore, creator of the Honest Trailers series on YouTube.    

Joining that group is quite an honor. 

But this is where the good ends. In truth, I was disappointed - upset, even - to discover that I had been blocked. Over the course of the last year, I was tweeting at Donald Trump regularly in response to many of the things he wrote. His supporters (and perhaps Trump himself) would refer to me as a troll, but in truth, I was tweeting at Trump because it amused me. It made me happy to spend a few minutes a day giving him a piece of my mind. It felt good to speak truth to power. I took great pleasure in the knowledge that Trump reads his Twitter feed, and that perhaps there were days when my words might have penetrated the White House bubble.

Apparently they did. 

My tweets have been getting a lot of attention by the thousands of people who hate-follow Trump (and many of his supporters, too). Many of my tweets were receiving hundreds and thousands of likes and retweets. Apparently enough was enough, and the thin skinned, petulant, would-be child King decided to silence me. 

This doesn't mean I can't see his tweets. There are work-arounds to gain access to his Twitter feed, including a new Twitter account, the use of a different Web browser, the use of Google's Incognito mode, and more, but it's going to be clunky, time consuming, and no matter what I do, @MatthewDicks, the Twitter account that represents me, can no longer comment on what Trump tweets.

There is a lawsuit making its way through the courts on behalf of blocked users, arguing that since Trump has stated that his personal account represents the "official statements of the President," it is a violation of my First Amendment rights to be denied access to his feed.

This makes sense to me. Americans have a right to access official statements from our government officials. I'll be following it closely.  

I still have access to his @POTUS Twitter account, but he rarely uses this account and is clearly not the one tweeting from it. The material is inoffensive and benign. 

Not exactly Trump's way of communicating.

Mostly, I'm just sad that the few joyful minutes I spent each day, speaking truth to power and retorting Trump's offensive, racist, misogynistic statements and blatant lies, have now been denied to me.  

People like Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, Sean Spicer, Steve Bannon, Mike Pence, Kellyanne Conway, and even Donald Tump Jr. are all worthy targets of my Twitter scorn, but none will be nearly as fun as that large, white bag of lies, ignorance, and indiscretion.  

Let us hope that the courts decide in my favor and the First Amendment wins the day.  

Rick Perry didn't understand the Department that he now runs, but he REALLY doesn't understand basic economic theory

Department of Energy Secretary Rick Perry was at a coal plant in West Virginia yesterday. He said this:

"Here’s a little economics lesson: supply and demand. You put the supply out there and the demand will follow."

Just so we're clear. THIS IS THE OPPOSITE OF HOW ECONOMICS WORKS. 

Supply does not produce demand, especially for a commodity like coal. DEMAND PRODUCED SUPPLY. 

He went on to say:

"Many times an increased supply increases prices, because the demand becomes so overwhelming. That's how demand works."

Just so we're clear. THIS IS ALSO OPPOSITE OF HOW ECONOMICS WORKS.

As supply increases, prices go down, especially for a commodity like coal.  

This is the same man who proposed the elimination of the Department of Energy during his Presidential run and only later found out that a huge chunk of the Department of Energy's $30 billion budget is dedicated to developing, maintaining, refurbishing and safely keep the nation's nuclear stockpile; combatting nuclear proliferation and maintaining and rebuilding nuclear production facilities. 

Armed with this newfound information (he thought the DOE was the champion of the gas and oil industry), Trump put him in charge of the department that he once thought should not exist.  

Sadly, Rick Perry also appears to believe in the Field of Dreams economic theory:

"If you build it..."

Tell this to New Coke. The Edsel. The Zune. Lifesaver's soda.  Ben-Gay's aspirin. 

All products that were produced in great supply, only to fail to find a demand. 

By Perry's logic, all I need to do is start knitting piles of polyester penis warmers, and customers will be lining up by the hundreds, cash in hand. 

Why do so many people in government have to be so dumb?