Breaking Fake News Update (v28)

     FAKE NEWS BROKE ON 5/31/26!

This breaking fake news is pretty straightforward: a petulant child who slapped his name - oh, wait, silly me - a petulant child who appointed a bunch of sycophants who would abide by his wishes and vote unanimously to slap his name on a living memorial to a beloved, if flawed, assassinated former president - was told by a duly-appointed judge that his name doesn't belong there and has to be taken down.

Knowing how little attention the petulant child pays to convention, honor, respect, laws, courts, public service, selflessness, or anyone saying no to his insane er, sorry, 'stably genius' ideas, it's not much of a leap to land on what my highly trusted fake news sources discovered - the ultimate "I told you so!" from said child. 

As always, when fake news breaks, I've got my eyes and ears on the ground for you! 

Trump in Transition (v32)

Trump's transition from reality TV star and cheap brand merchandise hawker to president has gone completely off the tracks. Again. For the umpteenth time.

Last night, after the president finally succumbed to pressure and issued a proclamation ordering the flag over the White House to be lowered back to half staff to honor the passing of Senator John McCain, I lost it when I read comments from one of McCain's colleagues, Senator James Mountain Inhofe of Oklahoma, who partially blamed McCain for Trump's inability to act as if he were a human being.

Here are a few excerpts from my post on another social media platform:

It is not John McCain's fault, in whole or part, that the president still does not understand that the world does not revolve around him, and that as president he has the opportunity - strike that, he has the responsibility - to rise above the petty nonsense and just do the right thing...

Yes, it is within the rules to take the flag down only for a day - I get that - but it's also within the president's role as Commander in Chief and as alleged leader of the country to do the honorable thing and pay his respects...

I was not alone in my thinking, nor did I think I would be. Anyone with a heart, with even a shred of decency or compassion, intuitively understood the right thing to do, and just as intuitively understood that Trump had no clue, had to be pressured to act at all, and acted about as badly as possible.

Here are a couple of examples from others. First, Ashley Parker  in her piece President non grata

Less than two years into his first term, Trump has often come to occupy the role of pariah - both unwelcome and unwilling to perform the basic rituals and ceremonies of the presidency, from public displays of mourning to cultural ceremonies.

The latest snub comes in the form of the upcoming funeral for Senator John McCain (R-AZ), which, before his death, the senator made clear he did not want the sitting president to attend. That the feeling is mutual - Trump nixed issuing a statement that praised McCain as a "hero" - only underscores the myriad ways Trump has rejected the norms of his office and, increasingly, has been rejected in turn. 

Rejected by artists, athletes, and more, Parker notes "the rejection is mutual."

Trump, who prefers the comforts of his Trump-branded resorts and restaurants - rarely ventures far from his cosseted bubble. He is generally uncomfortable crossing into hostile territory and prefers to frequent places where he is likely to be lauded, rather than rebuked. 

She goes on to note that his "disdain for what he terms political correctness" is something he wears as a "badge of pride." What he doesn't realize is that it's a badge of shame in the eyes of many in the country, both promoters and detractors of McCain, and of Trump. Some things are more important than his ego, but he has yet to figure that out.

Another Parker, Kathleen this time, called out the president for behaving like a vengeful brat in her column.

The world seems already a lesser place with the passing of John McCain.

...Despite traits and qualities that sometimes earned McCain enemies among friends, the past few days have been filled with with a sense that we've lost something more than the man; we've lost one of the few remaining remnants of the American honor code. 

Dropping the 'vengeful brat' reference, she says this about Trump:

Perhaps he is aiming for consistency rather than compassion, or maybe he's simply undone by the inevitable contrasts -a larger-than-life hero vs. the trite bully whom even pulpits find distasteful.  

Parker mentions Trump's comment about avoiding sexually transmitted diseases was (his)' personal Vietnam," a comment that demeaned the service of all who died in the conflict, as well as to those who lived through it. She also rightly notes that the word 'hero' is overused these days; I would add that it's particularly overused by the president himself, who has called virtually every first responder a hero, no matter how large or small their contribution may have been to any given situation.

Noting the real reason why McCain was a here -- for refusing early release once his captors realized who he was - she opines rather harshly

This singular act of self-abnegation is no one's to question, least of all president Trump's whose military title is so misplaced that one marvels at the self-control of military leadership, for many of whom nausea must be a constant companion.

(McCain) was a hawkish, pro-immigration centrist when the GOP base was increasingly becoming a hard-right, isolationist bulwark against civility, dignity, and the reality of globalization. Thus, McCain and Trump were full-throated foes, each standing his ground on opposing shores of American rectitude.

In closing, Parker landed where I did: on Trump's slogan.

It is a tragedy that McCain, the warrior-hero, should exit the stage just when his model of citizenship is so needed. But perhaps by his leaving and the eulogies to follow, more Americans will recognize what it really takes to make America great again -- and who clearly doesn't get it. 

Pick up the Phone, Make that Call

The other day, in one of my posts about Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner's State of the City address, I mentioned the Greater Syracuse Land Bank.

As I noted, the Land Bank had taken ownership of the house next door to us, but I didn't have a lot of information on what that meant. I knew that the goal was so help increase property tax collection, and to help get abandoned properties back on the tax rolls, but other than that I didn't know much.

But first, a little bit about the neighbors.

When they moved out in December, what I'd call a less than optimal relationship came to an end. We sure didn't see eye to eye on the simple things that go into being good neighbors. There were many times during the years they lived here that the lawn was waist-high before they tried to weed-whack it into submission. And there was the time that their tree fell onto our garden; after discussion, it was agreed that we would hire the contractor and our families would split the bill, provided it was below a certain threshold. Suffice to say, I never got their half; rather, it was 'my fault' that I wanted the tree moved, instead of waiting for them to take care of it. In the winter, the sidewalk was either not shoveled, or shoveled in a path about six inches wide - and yes, there's a school three doors down.

There were days, no, weeks and months that it seemed like everything they owned was in the yard, in the driveway, on the back deck, or on the front porch. Their garbage cans and recycling bins would stay in the yard, or the road, or the middle of the sidewalk, for days on end.

And yes, in case you're wondering, we did mow, and shovel, and bring the trash cans in, pick up junk from the yard, and things like that, in a neighborly, non-confrontational way.

Sadly, if we hadn't seen them move, it would have been hard to tell that they did. From our house, we could still see their front porch cluttered with broken furniture and other debris; the rug that had been haphazardly thrown over the railing of the back deck a few years back was still there, frozen now; and a healthy supply of broken toys, tools, chairs, tables, and quite a bit of just general junk stayed behind.

Fast forward to yesterday, when I called the Land Bank office to find out what was going to happen with the property, and what the protocol was if we saw folks lurking or hanging out. Obviously we would call the police, but were we supposed to call the Land Bank office as well?  And were the former owners supposed to be around?  The answer to those questions were yes and no, respectively.

I also asked if there was any way the property could be cleaned up a bit; after all, it's a house that needs work for sure, but it's pretty unattractive with a swimming pool ladder in the side yard (the whereabouts of the pool remain unknown). Debbie, the woman I spoke with in the Land Bank office assured me she'd check into it and call me back.  Within 90 minutes, I got a return phone call, and Debbie let me know that she had spoken with another woman in the office who had immediately written up a request to have someone check the property.

Today, when we got home from work, everything was gone. Rug, pool ladder, broken toy hanging from the tree way out back, all of the junk from the porches, the driveway, the yard, behind the garage - everything. To say I was pleasantly surprised would be a massive understatement.

The last time I tried something like this,I emailed then Syracuse University Chancellor Nancy Cantor and asked if the university might be able to help us combat violence in the city; within a matter of days, the SU Athletic Department made an anti-violence video that played in the Carrier Dome and as a public service announcement on the all the local television stations. This time, I asked someone to help make my neighborhood a little better in the near term, while they worked to find someone who would help make the neighborhood better over the long haul -- and they did.

Neither of these ideas come close to the rocket-science threshold; similarly,acting on them, by sending an email to SU's chancellor or calling the Land Bank office, didn't take a lot of effort on my part.

And that's the message here: we have the power; we just have to use it.

• If you see trash on the ground, pick it up. 
• If you have an empty lot or an empty house in your neighborhood, mow the lawn in the summer and shovel the snow in the winter.
• If there's a chance that a public servant might be able to help you out, ask them.
• And if you have an idea, share it.

I'm never going to have enough money to influence a politician or get face time with a famous educator or businessperson, but if I care enough to try, I might just get someone to help out.  

I encourage you to care, and to try.