All sides came together Saturday for the funeral of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who died last week while on a hunting trip in Texas. The long-serving conservative justice was liked and admired by liberals as well as conservatives. Noticeably absent was President Obama, who, by virtually all accounts missed a golden opportunity to bridge a partisan divide, choosing instead to do the polar opposite of what he has often preached since he first ran for president in 2008 and to ignore his promise to bring people together instead of dividing them. At center are members of the Supreme Court. (Photo/Jack Gruber, USA Today)

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES NEVER
ALLOW FACTS TO STAND IN THE WAY
OF INFLAMING CAMPAIGN RHETORIC

An up-and-coming blowhard
 
By David Maril
 
Is hypocrisy a prerequisite for politicians?  Do political candidates need to follow any standards of accuracy in comments they make when seeking votes for elected positions?

Bernie Sanders is viewed as a breath of fresh air because of his outspoken, theatrical demeanor.

Even though he has spent decades of his life getting very little done in Congress, he portrays himself as a Washington outsider.

But to the surprise of many political observers, this 74-year-old Socialist is mounting a serious threat to preventing an easy anointment of Hillary Clinton as the presidential nominee of the Democrats.

However, even this “tell-it-like-it-is” candidate resorted to old political hack tricks by accusing Clinton of attempting to portray herself as being closer than she actually is to President Barack Obama simply to curry favor with minority voters.

If he really believes this, how does he justify pandering to the Rev. Al Sharpton, paying a visit to this media publicity hound for an endorsement to increase his support from minority voters?

Hillary Clinton? — She, as an old friend of mine used to say, makes dancer Fred Astaire look as stationary as the Washington Monument when it comes to her fancy footwork, shifting positions with double-talk.

A veteran of political campaigns, she broke, even for her, new ground by originally labeling herself a “moderate” one day… and then, seeing that wasn’t fashionable anymore, insisting she is a “progressive.”

Over on the Republican side, the candidates, except for Ohio Gov. John Kasich, are so irresponsible in their remarks, an army of fact-checkers could be gainfully employed to track all the fiction they are circulating.

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A VOICE of BALTIMORE POLITICAL COMMENTARY

 

At Saturday night’s Republican presidential debate, The Donald effected a smirk when- ever any of his five opponents criticized him.

REPUBLICANS APPEAR ‘PRESIDENTIAL’
IN DEBATE — MINUS ONE HOWEVER:
TRUMP ACTS OUT THE BULLY ROLE

Smirking every time he lacked legitimate defense,
The Donald comes under almost universal criticism

INTERRUPTING, DENIGRATING & ATTACKING,
EVEN WHEN HE WASN’T BEING ATTACKED
BY ANY OF THE OTHER CANDIDATES
 
By Alan Z. Forman
 
When the six leading Republican candidates for President took the stage at Saturday night’s 9th GOP debate, five of them made a supreme effort to appear “presidential” — alternately tough, conciliatory, ready and willing to negotiate in a positive way for the good of America.

However one made it his primary business to run roughshod over whichever of the others he perceived as getting in his way — repeatedly interrupting and raising his voice to drown them out whenever it was their turn to speak — and smirking for the TV cameras at every legitimate criticism for which he had no defense.

A classic bully — but not the way Teddy Roosevelt intended the term. Donald Trump acted the way schoolkids do when other, more intelligent children criticize their actions and they aren’t capable of mounting a credible defense other than asserting themselves physically or in a verbally abusive/overpowering manner.

At one point, chief rival Ted Cruz reminded Trump that “adults learn not to interrupt” other speakers. To which Trump smirked, obviously having no appreciation for being compared to a child.

And when Jeb Bush declared, several times, that he was sick and tired of Trump’s denigration of his family — including personal attacks on his mother, former First Lady Barbara Bush— Trump’s primary response was to smirk again.

Bush also defended his brother, former President George W. Bush, against what he termed Barack Obama’s penchant for blaming the second Bush President for all his problems, even more than seven years into the current presidency.

In addition Trump blamed Dubya Bush for the terrorist attack that destroyed the World Trade Center in New York and cost thousands of innocent lives, and also called him a liar.

The most “presidential” of all was Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who reiterated his intent to run a positive campaign on the issues, and vowed not to backslide into personal attacks — or to give general election voters any reason to favor Democrats Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders over whoever the Republican standard bearer might ultimately turn out to be.

He then asserted that blue-collar Democrats of the Ronald Reagan coalition would “vote for us next fall” and not for the Democratic nominee.

However even Kasich found himself under attack for his record on expanding Medicaid, which was linked by his opponents to an alleged expansion of Obamacare.

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A VOICE of BALTIMORE POLITICAL COMMENTARY

 

Harvard Law Prof. Elizabeth Warren, the first female U.S. Senator from Massachusetts.

CERTAIN POLITICIANS’ NAMES JUST NEVER
SEEM TO COME UP THESE DAYS ON TV

Elderly feminist endorsements for Hillary,
also/known/as Female Fogeys for Clinton

OLD HARPIES SCOLDING YOUNG WOMEN
FOR NOT VOTING ON THE BASIS OF GENDER;
JOHN KASICH NAMED ON “MORNING JOE”
 
By Bjarne Rostaing
 
As the New Hampshire primary proceeded I hopped from channel to channel thinking about a name that had not been spoken in months, a crucial name for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders:  Elizabeth Warren.

It was apparently unpronounceable by talking heads, or unspeakable, or unauthorized, and never came up.

As elderly feminist endorsements flowed for Mrs. Clinton, I imagined the lot of them being brushed aside by the shining spotless escutcheon of our 21st century Ms. Galahad, whose strength is as the strength of 10 because her heart is pure: Elizabeth Warren, a/k/a The Sphinx.

Who, as a woman active in today’s politics, ranks those old harpies who are busy scolding young women for not voting on the basis of gender.

Yes — they really seemed to think that was a key issue; not Goldman Sachs and Wall Street, not the idiotic insecure private email server, not Clinton’s failed hawk tenure as Secretary of State, not her vote for the cockamamie corporate invasion of Iraq that split Sunni and Shia to create ISIS.  (Don’t believe it? Read Joby Warrick’s Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS)

Not even Victoria Nuland’s regime-change blunder in Ukraine that severely disrupted the European Union’s working trade and energy ties with Russia, created an ethnic civil war, and elevated Putin’s status everywhere but here.

No matter, they are Female Fogeys For Clinton, while Warren is a woman with a name that is apparently unmentionable, never to soil the tongue of major media people, or even minor ones. But hey, it’s only a presidency.

What did Warren think about the Sanders phenomenon? God only knows, and He/She/It ain’t talk’n any more than Warren is.

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 NFL players pray before a big game.

ATHLETES & FANS DO RELIGION A DISSERVICE
BY INVOKING DIVINE HELP TO INFLUENCE
THE OUTCOME OF SPORTING EVENTS

Praying to The Lord to tip the scale at ballgames

DESPITE THE MONEY, HYPE AND FANFARE,
SPORTS IS SIMPLY ENTERTAINMENT
 
By David Maril
 
While you were watching the Denver Broncos upset the Carolina Panthers 24-10 in Super Bowl 50, you witnessed many things.

There was the halftime extravaganza; fumbles, pass receptions; quarterback sacks; penalty flags; first downs; timeouts; and plenty of overproduced lavish television commercials, often overshadowing the game.

But that’s not all.

If you looked very closely, you’d have noticed religious gestures by some football players and fans.

A decade or so ago, it became more common for athletes to point fingers skyward, giving thanks to God after making a big play, coming through in the clutch.

Granted, the network television cameras are not focusing on these practices as much as they used to: The cameras now cut away a lot quicker from dwelling on players’ reactions after key plays.

This is probably a good thing. Who needs to watch some of the juvenile, classless dancing around and celebrating that makes sportsmanship seem an endangered practice?

For years now, in interviews, certain players insist on crediting their religious devotion for their success, before even answering any questions.

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Baltimore City failed to clear sidewalks on both sides of Mount Washington’s Kelly Avenue Bridge — shown here looking east toward its intersection with Falls Rd. — until the ninth day following the snowstorm. (VoB Staff Photo)

…before threatening to fine residents
for not clearing the snow from theirs

MTA DOES ITS USUAL LACKLUSTER JOB,
FAILING TO MEET WEATHER CHALLENGE
AND PROVIDE NEEDED PUBLIC SERVICE

Light Rail and subway systems miss opportunity
to display strong, positive impact at a time
when cars needed to be kept off roads

TWO NEW BOOKS OFFER INSIGHT
INTO FINDING COMMON GROUND
TO GET THINGS DONE IN D.C.
 
By David Maril
 
While wondering how Baltimore elected officials can even consider fining private citizens for not shoveling off snow-covered sidewalks, it is interesting to note the following:

 Talk about living in glass houses and throwing stones! Certain city administrative people need some Windex and take a few moments to look out at their own sidewalks and walkways.

Before they start threatening to enforce the law on residents and businesses — issuing fines if sidewalks in front of individual properties are not cleared of snow — they should make certain Baltimore City cleans up its own act.

While over two feet of snow blanketed the city, the focus has been on clearing roadways — often one lane at a time — leaving many city sidewalks and walkways ignored.

One prime example, on the Kelly Avenue Bridge in Mount Washington, involves the two sidewalks connecting with the bridge’s intersection at Falls Road.

The walkways on both sides are safety hazards for anyone trying to get below the bridge to the U.S. Post Office, or to attempt to reach Falls Road or nearby stores.

Pedestrians would have to navigate through 24 inches of packed snow and ice. The only way to avoid slipping and breaking your neck would be to walk out on the road surface of the bridge, which is narrower than usual because of snow plowed up on the sides.

There are plenty of other examples around the city.

But this isn’t meant to be a criticism of the walkways’ not being cleared in a timely fashion. With a record-breaking snowstorm, a measure of patience and understanding is merited.

This storm has required a major cleanup effort, and that needs to be taken into consideration when evaluating the city’s performance.

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