Category Archives: Politics

Ratigan, Nailed It Years Ago

DYLAN RATIGAN, HAD IT FIGURED OUT years ago, back when he was still on MSNBC and MSNBC was still worth watching. “It’s all about extracting the wealth” he’d say. But nobody wanted to talk about it. So he’d repeat it, obviously frustrated. He kept repeating it until, eventually, he was fired, along with Ed Schulz, Keith Olbermann, and anybody else who spoke their truth as opposed to playing a role for their corporate bosses.

That’s not to say there aren’t still some good people at MSNBC. There are. But there’s also an elephant in the room. A big fat Republican economic elephant that needs to be recognized for what it is.

Where do you go after agreeing that predatory capitalists are going after all the money, sucking it up to the top and holding it there, turning America into a neo-feudal society? I mean, what’s left to talk about after the truth is set free? Especially when it’s too complicated for most common folk to understand and too terrible to contemplate for those that can understand it. You can’t talk about it anyway, because those same predatory capitalists watching their numbers rise on Wall Street are the same guys that send you a big fat paycheck every couple of weeks.

Ratigan, was right. So was Ralph Nader, when he wrote his book, “Only The Super-Rich Can Save Us.” Only they can impose a balanced economy as opposed to an unacceptably massive gap between the rich and the poor that grows broader day by day.

Wouldn’t it be something, if, in two hundred years or so, historians look back on our era with curiosity, amazed that the country’s last best chance for survival as a Constitutional Republic may have been an elderly senator from Vermont? An old grandpa looking guy with a heart condition, who stuck it out, trying to wrench his party away from elitists and back into the hands of working class centrists – even while PC extremists tore the party to shreds from the inside out? No point in thinking about that now. That one’s already out of the barn and galloping away.

“Its the economy, stupid!” – James Carville, 1992

Under Trump, watch billionaires and millionaires suck more wealth up to the top of the economic food chain than ever before. Watch for them to put the squeeze on the elderly, with higher and higher deductibles, making health insurance less and less affordable. They’ve wanted to kill Medicare and Social Security from their inception, and now the push will continue, but this time it will be done Trumpist style. That is to say, “bigly.” The cost of auto and home insurance will also keep climbing as will inflationary pressures forcing old folks to obtain reverse mortgages, giving their homes back to the banks just so they can afford to keep buying food for themselves and Christmas presents for the grandkids who will no longer be able to afford college.

Ratigan, was right. Wait for it. It’s all about the rich extracting the wealth from the masses. Just wait for it, suckers. Sure, the Democrats blew it, but “sharing the wealth” was just a stupid pipe dream somebody had. Anyway, it sounds kinda Socialist, doesn’t it? And we want nothing to do with that, do we? Even though most of us have no real idea what the hell it even is.

So now you’re gonna get exactly what you voted for, everything this new Republican Party has to offer. A retirement age so high that you’ll be working until you drop, and even then you’ll have nothing left to leave the family. It’ll all go back to a bank, sucked up to the top of the economic food chain as the gap between the rich and everybody else continues to grow. And there’ll be nobody left to care. Just the rich on one side, and suckers and losers on the other.

Welcome To Our New Ongoing Alternate Reality

Putin has been making noises about nuclear war for months. Now Kim Jong Un, is making the same threatening sounds about nuclear conflict on the Korean Peninsula while his troops fight alongside the Russians in Ukraine under a master plan obviously drawn up by the Kremlin. Wonder what China thinks? What’s keeping their Commie big-wigs up at night?

Also have to wonder if Russia, North Korea and China are awaiting the coronation of Prez Elect Trump, before announcing their new hybrid Communist/Autocratic axis while NATO shrinks into near insignificance without the United States? Will it herald the Chinese attacking Taiwan and maybe some of the Japanese islands while the Russians continue pushing into Ukraine and possibly other countries as well, all with the blessings of Donald J. Trump? If that does happen, will even that be adequate to convince Trump’s supporters that they made a massive mistake?

Why didn’t anybody tell us?

By the time the right wing media gets done with what will be a boiling cauldron of misinformation, disinformation, opinion and rumor, the Trumpsters will have no idea what’s really going on or why. But that’s to be expected, the truth being so bothersome to autocracy. Anyway, for them it will be nothing new. It’s what they want to hear. It’s their comfort food. It’s Pavlov, blowing his whistle.

Flash! Dog Catches Car

Well, that’s over. I feel a need to write something about the dog catching the car, but there’s probably nothing I can add to what will be an endless stream of highly critical reviews. Perhaps most biting, is the fact that more than half the country voted their approval of immorality, bullying, and extreme dishonesty.

When the world’s stability is hanging in the balance, there’s no such thing as a “little white lie.” Words, carry weight.

An early thought, which I find most interesting, is how all the Trump voters will feel when they realize they were conned into voting against their own best interests. Again. That they bought into it, big lie after big lie. That they fell for it, hook, line and sinker, or whichever metaphor you prefer. A political cartoonist, might depict it as the dog that caught the car urinating on one of the car’s tires before walking away.

This is the same guy who said he’d build a border wall and get Mexico to pay for it. The same guy who lied to the American people about the threat posed by Covid-19. We didn’t get a wall and more than a million Americans died from Covid.

One of the toughest truths for me to try and get around, is that they bought into the lie that real news was fake and fake news was real. Feels like it came right out of some old KGB playbook in the 60’s, but they bought it, again and again and again, and now we’re all stuck with it. Like a bug on a rug. For at least four years or maybe longer. Who can say just how far the country will slide into monarchy?

Whatever our system might have morphed into, Trump will refuse to leave. By then he’ll be 82. Who knows when his already questionable synaptic relays will simply stop firing? When Mozart was that old, he’d been dead for 47 years.

One imagines Melania, rehearsing for the lead in Evita at the Met, the opera having been federalized for the sake of presidential convenience.

None of it will be our fault, those of us who saw the train wreck coming and tried to warn the country. And now, with the dog having caught the car, and all of us buried under a giant pile of all the best metaphors and analogies we could come up with to try and make things understandable, we can only sit back in shock and amazement that so many of our fellow Americans plunked down their hard earned money on an Edsel when they could have had a shiny new Buick. It’s gonna be a long four years and in the end, we’ll get what we voted for. Or paid for, in the case of Elon Musk, who, according to multiple sources, contributed $130 million to the Trump campaign.

Until then, there’s a monster question the Democrats need to sort out. What was it they did that was so wrong, so abhorrent, that it drove millions of Americans to prefer what was clearly an unacceptable choice? Was there any one thing or was it a national combo plate of sexism, racism and new media driven by a new high-tech that has outpaced our ability to control it? It’s so much easier to bury the truth once it becomes unidentifiable.

Please God, Let It End

Way back in time, approaching the dawn of man (and woman) – in other words nearer the beginning of this election cycle – pundits were in near agreement as I recall, that the election would rise or fall on the votes of white suburban women. Bucks County, PA, was frequently mentioned. So often, that I thought of buying property up there, as it would surely rise in value simply because it was so popular during election years. It felt like the Stepford Wives were taking over, which would be okay with me if they could beat Professor Evil.

But now, and somebody please enlighten me if I’m wrong, those magnificent suburban white women are hardly ever mentioned, although I did hear the other day that they are expected to vote in large numbers for Harris. And that, friends, would seem to portend very well for the Dems? Is that why the pundits aren’t talking about it? Because if it’s true, then this election is not on a razor’s edge. It is in fact a slam-dunk for Harris which would be bad for the ratings.

Please, somebody enlighten me. I admit to having no idea what the hell I’m talking about. I knew George McGovern. I covered George McGovern, and I should be better than this. I should be able to work things out, but apparently political PTSD is setting in and I’m sinking fast, imagining Harris/Walz winning only MN and DC.

My God, I’m now looking at Janelle Monae on MSNBC, stumping for Harris. I love Janelle Monae. Everybody does. She was great, back when Obama used to rock the White House with those wonderful, funky concerts. How can Harris possibly lose? How can the election be so close? Would the pundits be anything less than genuine?

The only thing that seems to help is binge-watching Leave It To Beaver. The non-stop adventures of Ward, June, Wally and the Beaver. And Eddie Haskell, who grew up to become a cop. It’s all so well ordered and easy to understand. Something even I can handle, without any need to self-medicate.


NO CAMPAIGN SIGNS?

With 29 days to the election, I am struck by the absence of election signs – lawn sign – flags – banners – bumper stickers. There are almost none here in rural Maryland. How about where you live? I’m wondering if people are afraid of showing their allegiance one way or another? Never seen anything quite like it. Very strange vibe.

There was a somewhat unusual vibe on FOX tonight, unusual for FOX, that is, as VP Harris, answered Bret Baier’s questions with complete sentences that made sense as opposed to the blather coming from Donald Trump. Kudos to Ms. Harris, for throwing Baier’s own tactics back in his face, and talking over him as he attempted to talk over her, when she was providing answers to his questions. If not taken to the woodshed, Baier, was at least put in his place as he tried to turn the interview into a positive for the Trump campaign, something Harris did not let him do. Whether Harris accomplished anything for her campaign with her appearance, is an open question.

Meet the Press – RIP


So Kirstin Welker, is attempting to interview House Speaker Mike Johnson on Meet the Press.

First off, she isn’t up to it. She doesn’t have the chops. Secondly, I find it harder and harder watching these people go through the motions, pretending it’s business as usual.

Trump, should have been locked up and banned from ever running for anything again after he led his attempted coup. Now, here we are, potentially, Germany in the 30’s. And the polls are evenly split? God help us.

Do they still have a Reichstag fire up their collective sleeve?

All that really matters is the Electoral College, and you know the Republicans are gonna do all they can to stack and pack it in their favor. Just wait for Florida. I can hear it now, the Trumpists wailing about how the election isn’t valid because flood victims couldn’t get to the polls. So let’s throw it to the Supremes, who will anoint Donald the magnificent. It’ll be Bush/Gore all over again? You know they are laying plans. The FSB is probably working on it.

I know I sound like a conspiracy theory nutjob, but it’s all perfectly logical. Nobody wants Trump back in the WH more than Putin, with the possible exception of the Evangelical South. We are a nation in denial. There’s no reason Meet the Press would be any different, when reality is too terrible to contemplate.

Oh wait, Mike Johnson just said that he agrees with everything DJT has been saying on the trail. Johnson, agrees that Haitians are eating dogs and cats in Springfield. He agrees with Trump’s assertion that the oceans will rise only 1/8th of an inch over the “next 500 years,” and all the rest of the Trump madness including his statement that “I was never indicted,” or his threat to pull CBS Network’s license to broadcast or to withhold funding for fighting California wildfires. It’s a problem they wouldn’t have to face, had they followed Trump’s earlier advice and gotten busy “raking the forest.” That’s what he said, and it ranks right up there with injecting bleach. And nuking hurricanes. And supporting bloodthirsty dictators

Donald Trump, isn’t well. He needs help. Professional help. He appears to be truly delusional, and Mike Johnson, and the rest of the Republican Party, appear to be united in support for his ongoing illness.

I’m not sure how you counter that much toxic baloney on live television, other than going toe to toe with your opponent and forcing him off the stage, which is probably what Welker, should have done. If she had, I wonder if she would have been fired for it? So much safer to either “sanewash” the whole thing or just give up on a question and move on. He is Speaker of the House after all, and Meet the Press does have to uphold a certain amount of traditional decorum. And these Republicans do have gaslighting down to a science. Or is it an art form? Either way, it was born of the devil.

Context Matters

I’m no numbers-cruncher, but it irritates me that so many of the polls being reported out feature only the “battleground states,” and nothing about the bigger picture. If Harris annihilates Trump nationwide, won’t that offset the battleground states? Of course a “neck and neck” race in the battleground states is more interesting. And frightening.

I recall a time when Uncle Walter, tried to calm everybody down, rather than creating a state of high anxiety to drive the daily numbers. Last I heard from Nate Silver, Harris was beating Trump nationally in the projected popular vote, if the vote were taken at that very moment in time. Doesn’t that matter? Won’t that swing the electoral college for Harris? I suppose not, since the polls are just a “snapshot” of what’s happening at any given moment. As they keep reminding us, ad nauseam. Sorry, I’m old and grumpy. What was it we used to say? About never letting the facts get in the way of a…….something or another.

What do I know? I’m just a country kid from Frostbite Falls, MN, who once got into an argument about the future of Journalism with Lou Grant. I argued that it was circular, that we’d eventually circle back to the standards of “old school” Journalism. He argued that it would not. That there would be no circling back to what we once were. I hope he was wrong but think maybe he was right. Somebody should do a poll on it.

Journalism And The Survival Of American Democracy

A former colleague, a man who was a college professor before working decades in the news business, advocated for the licensure of journalists. Real journalists, that is, not those who continually tell falsehoods and then, with their feet held to the fire in court, admit that what they’re doing isn’t real journalism, it’s entertainment. By then, of course, the damage has been largely done, and those who most needed to get the message that fake news isn’t real and real news isn’t fake, are so far gone that they can’t hear anything but the siren call of fear and hatred – which they love, as it appeals to their gut instincts and requires no mental acuity whatsoever.

Wouldn’t requiring anyone wishing to be considered a legitimate journalist to be licensed take care of that? Or much of it? Media outlets, might also be required to obtain a license, if they wanted to be taken seriously by the general public. Let the Society of Professional Journalists act as overseer. They could set up a board, or regional boards, if necessary, using their existing code of ethics as a guide. Anybody losing their license, would no longer be considered a credible source for news. Not long ago, I thought this to be a radical idea. Now, it sounds absolutely reasonable, if we’re to promote the survival of American Democracy.

Another thought that seems more and more reasonable, what with the continuing growth of fascism and what appears to be much of the general public’s growing inability to identify it, is a federal law forbidding anyone other than a native born American, from owning a major media outlet. Not long ago, this idea would have seemed overly restrictive to me, smacking of too much government control. Then an Australian, and his children, none of whom are native born Americans, seized control of FOX. It was also before a man from South Africa who inherited an emerald mine, bought Twitter, and all the mind game political power that goes with it. It was before technology was moving so fast that we couldn’t imagine what the next hi-tech communications monster might be, or who might control it. The Russians? North Korea? Some wealthy trust-fund baby exhibiting signs of psychological co-morbidity who descends from a golden elevator in New York City, with the intention of becoming the first American dictator?

If only native born Americans can become President or Vice President of the United States, then isn’t it only reasonable that native born Americans should be in control of the publicity process that puts them there?

Isn’t the game becoming far too risky to keep playing it without adequate guardrails for the protection of American Democracy? Would licensing journalists and journalism outlets and requiring mass-media owners to be native born, is that asking too much? Once upon a time, I would have thought so. Now, they sound like reasonable ideas if we want to hang onto those freedoms we have left. One of them being, and maybe most importantly, government by the people, administered through elected representatives chosen by free and open elections.

Is MSNBC Really All That Bad?

Help me out with something. I’ve been retired for a number of years, but feel I still have the ability to be reasonably objective. Even in the midst of all these new terms like “false equivalency” and “fake news.” It’s easy for the truth to get lost, especially, it seems to me, for those among us who have no memory of the Cronkite era, when the New York Times, was a shining beacon of veracity, and it was so much easier to make personal judgements based upon information that had run its course through what was then our traditional and trusted journalism filter.

So here’s the rub. For me, at least. There is now broad condemnation of MSNBC for being way over on the left and as such, far too liberal. Slanted. It is at least at the opposite end of the spectrum from the people on FOX and the gang of right-wing talkers Rush Limbaugh established. For me though, it appears that the pundits on MSNBC are simply trying to tell the truth, based upon the facts as they are currently known.

Why are media critics so eager to condemn that? Is it because the right is no longer the traditional conservative right, but a gang of lying cultists while mainstream reporters are still trying to cover politics as they always have and can’t adjust to this new normal? Is taking one side over another bad journalism, even if you’re siding with the truth over self aggrandizement and deceit?

I always thought, and still believe, that good journalism is a search for the truth, not denying it because we need to appear to be “balanced” in our coverage of a gang of liars and thieves out to steal our democracy – a thoroughly biased cult of Trump, that is so open about their deceit, that it has been normalized while those on the other side, like MSNBC, have been made to look like they are equally deceitful, because they continue to try and play by the rules in their search for the truth.

It’s so easy to get lost in the rhetorical shuffle, when fake news is real, down is up and night is day. Feels like we are being played by those that Hoover called the “Masters of Deceit.” I’m no huge fan of J. Edgar, but I did read the book and think he may have been right about this one. I think we’re being played, and being played to the max. I think it may be time to back off on Joe and Mika, with a huge assist from Rachel Maddow, for trying to tell the truth. At this point in our nation’s history, I’d consider welcoming Hoover back, tutu and all, to do combat with the demon seed left on our national doorstep by Roy Cohn.

Brain Worms, Bear Cubs And Shark Bait, Oh My

Haven’t said anything for a while, but now I just have to, all of it in regard to felonious convictions, electric boat or shark bait conflicted, Trumpty Dumpty, being endorsed by brain worm infected, baby bear cub road kill eating, science denier, RFK Jr.

Did you think you would live to see anything this nuts?

There’s a line attributed to the late Hunter S. Thompson, I can’t remember if it was in one of his books or maybe a movie. It goes something like, “No matter how weird it got, it never got weird enough for me.” Well friends, I’m pretty sure that if Dr. Thompson were alive, he’d rescind that statement. This is so far beyond LBJ conferring with his aides while sitting on the john or Dick Nixon, blasted on scotch, wandering around the White House in the middle of the night mumbling things to portraits of dead presidents. And with more than two months still to go, it could get even weirder. Probably will.

I’ve never been big on conspiracy theories, but there are apparently people who think lizard-brained aliens landed years ago. That they’re among us and in the process of taking over. Pretty far out there, but it does explain Trump and J.D. Vance.

If you’d prefer an explanation more on the side of scientific, rational and thoroughly sane thinking, I would refer you to the books of psychiatrist Dr. Bandy Lee and her learned colleagues in the field of mental health, or an equally interesting read by DJT’s niece, clinical psychologist, Dr. Mary Trump. If you have no idea who these people are, you haven’t been paying attention and really do need to try a little harder as you can be sure there’s more fun still to come.

Donald, could dump J.D. Vance, and install RFK Jr. as his running mate. Why not? The Dems already did it. Childless cat lady hating Vance, can’t talk to normal Americans in a coffee shop. Why keep him on the ticket? At the same time, Trump and RFK Jr. appear to be birds of a feather on any scale of wackadoodle behavior you might care to cite. Trump is already invoking the names of RFK and JFK, hoping some of the Kennedy family patina will rub off.

Everything DJT touches turns to you know what. And now it’s spreading to the Kennedys. Good God, haven’t they been through enough? Almost feels like we the owe the family, excluding RFK Jr., an apology.

A Short Political Screed

Thinking about the horror of Trump’s appearance with the NABJ, and what a terrible catch-22 we’re in.

If you put him on the air, even if you feel it’s your obligation to cover what he’s doing as a candidate, you’re giving him a national platform to spew his anger, hatred and fear. True, it’s not a journalist’s job to avoid reality, even if it does look like the next episode of “Evil,” but in this case, normalizing someone who led an attempted coup puts everything in a different light, doesn’t it?

Since his outrageousness is what feeds his campaign to destroy American democracy along with his ego-driven sociopathy, shouldn’t journalists stop providing coverage of his lunatic dog and pony shows and stick to an analysis of the issues? Since rational thinking is apparently something he can’t do, and he has no solid plans for America, other than attacking immigrants and women and cutting taxes for the rich, limiting coverage would provide added perspective on the vast divide between the candidates.

So far, covering Trump as though he’s just another candidate has done nothing but make a bad situation worse by normalizing his neo-Nazi movement. I know the campaign must be covered, but the Trump-free week following the announcement that Biden wouldn’t seek another term, while Donald was conferring with his cabal was heavenly. A return to sanity and the safety it provides as opposed to the master of chaos filling our screens and front pages with his blather each and every day. Or maybe putting all that insane drivel out there is a good idea, as there may be one or two voters who haven’t yet realized that the Donald is certifiably crackers. Co-morbid, as Mary Trump put it in her book, exhibiting more than just one psychological or possibly psychiatric dysfunction.

I dunno, it just feels to me like the news media was horribly late in getting to the party by not recognizing that this is not just another campaign, and as such, it requires a whole different kind of coverage. But that’s where the catch-22 comes in. Not sure what the answer is, I just hope Harris has the staying power to pull us through the storm and into a safe harbor while the usual bunch of reporters struggle to cover this mess as best they can.

Weird Is As Weird Does

After months of name calling by Trump and the American Fascist Party machine, the Democrats finally have a word for Donald and his goofy cabal. The word, is “weird,” and it perfectly describes DJT and his running mate.

You know it has to be getting to Donald, who appears to be spending most of his time at his golf course in New Jersey, while workers clean ketchup from the walls at Mar- a-Lago. Donald’s biggest problem now, apart from his need for a personality transplant and a conscience, is the absence of anything he can use to credibly attack Kamala Harris.

“Hannibal the Cannibal” loving, flag hugging , coup leading, Covid denying, funky chicken dancing, Donald J. Trump, is weird. So is his ‘childless cat-ladies’ hating, Yale educated “Hillbilly” attorney and running mate, J.D. Vance.

“Weird.” It’s the perfect adjective to describe what DJT’s niece and clinical psychologist, Dr. Mary Trump, calls her uncle’s psychological “co-morbidity” in her book, “Too Much And Never Enough – How My Family Created The World’s Most Dangerous Man.”

A scene from the movie “Young Frankenstein” comes to mind. It’s the bit where Igor, returns from the brain depository with a brain for the monster. When asked who the brain came from he replies, “Abby, something? Oh yeah! Abby Normal!” But that was just a movie. Mark Hamill and Jeff Bridges and more than 150,000 others coming out to support Harris on the “White Dudes for Harris” zoom call that raised more than $4-million was reality. Nothing weird about it.


Bye, Bye, New York Times

I did something yesterday I never thought I’d do. I cancelled our subscription to the New York Times. The cancellation takes effect in seven days.

This morning I felt my decision to drop the paper was confirmed, when I went to their website and found four Biden hit pieces on the front page, above the fold – or maybe even five hit pieces, depending upon where you think the “fold” is on a website. My point, of course, is that the entire top of the paper is one massive smear of Joe Biden. Nothing about the Republicans continuing to support a twice impeached convicted rapist whose family has taken money from the Russians and the Saudis.

I thought the paper had dropped a notch or two since my friend Dean Baquet left, but this is madness. I cannot understand what their thinking is. Or isn’t.

Don’t know whether I’ll reconsider and go back to being a subscriber, particularly since dropping them is saving me $500 a year. That’s a lot of dough for a publication that’s apparently trying to bring down the one sane viable candidate for President of the United States.

This isn’t about the paper giving the appearance of not taking sides. This is about our house being on fire, the NYT’s as the nation’s newspaper of record holding the fire hose but refusing to turn on the water. It’s about advocating for the truth. I thought that’s what journalists were supposed to do.

Is The New York Times Being Fair To Joe Biden?

Is the New York Times treating Biden unfairly? I agree, the debate was a disaster, but if they are going to skewer Biden for his performance and for being too old to serve another term, then shouldn’t they be going after DJT with the same vigor? Haven’t dozens of mental health experts, including Trump’s own niece, weighed in with their professional opinions that Donald Trump has even more, and without question more serious issues than Biden has?

One, can do a critical analysis and determine the truth. The other, hasn’t a clue as to what the truth is. Not to mention the fact that he led an attempted coup against the country. Let me do that one more time in case you missed it. HE LED AN ATTEMPTED COUP AGAINST THE COUNTRY. And the NYT’s wants Joe Biden, to drop out of the race? Considering who the opposition is, shouldn’t they be begging him to stay?

The country survived Woodrow Wilson and Ronnie Reagan (what’s that they’re saying, mommie?) and FDR in a wheelchair. We survived Richard Nixon, who, according to Woodward and Bernstein, wandered around the White House talking to presidential portraits. Surely, considering the opposition, we would be better off with another four years of Joe Biden? Or maybe another one or two years of Biden, with Harris, completing the term? I may cancel my subscription.

Turning Tragedy Into A Political Advantage

While strolling by the Sheriff’s Office the other day, I spotted Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler, doing an interview with WJZ-TV. Undoubtedly an update on the arrest of a suspect in the murder of Rachel Morin. His office had already posted big signs near the murder scene proclaiming “ARREST MADE.” Nothing on the signs about work done by the FBI following a DNA trail that led to the suspect’s arrest in Tulsa or that the suspect had been hiding out right here in Maryland during most of the investigation.

Perhaps Gahler put up the signs simply to reassure a nervous public. Or maybe it was more promotional in nature? “Wanted” signs are common. “We got the bad guy” signs, not so common.

With ties to Los Angeles, Tulsa, El Salvador, and possible gang connections and immigration issues, the case has the potential for giving the Sheriff access to a national stage. In an obvious play to political advantage, Donald Trump, has reportedly called the victim’s mother, expressing his sympathy. Gahler, may be eager for some of the same free publicity.

For a “rural” sheriff, he appears to be a very media savvy guy. I’ve seen him on camera regularly since moving back to the area in 2015. If he weren’t interested in the exposure, he could simply appoint a PIO (public information officer) to handle the media for him. Makes me wonder where he sees himself in ten or fifteen years?

With an advanced degree in “leadership and management” perhaps he sees himself as the County Executive, or maybe taking a run at some state office? Or maybe he feels self-promotion is critical to staying right where he is. My hunch is that he’s been bitten by the politics bug and will eventually want to “move on up.” For now, he’s the closest thing Harford County, Maryland, has to a political celebrity.

In that limelight, he might want to refrain from making too much out of the fact that the suspect, Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, was in the country illegally. Turns out Hernandez had tried crossing the border three times before getting in, only to be arrested by Border Patrol agents and sent packing.

(Orignally published on 6/21 on Workingreporter/Facebook)