Month: May 2017

Donald Trump Can’t Do Right For Some

By Chris Freind

Paul Revere would have it easy today. Instead of a wild midnight ride to alert his countrymen, he could simply post on social media:

“The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming! One if by land, two if by sea – and three if via the Oval Office.”

But admittedly, there’s a key difference.

The Brits were unwelcome. Yet for some reason, this White House feels compelled to roll out the red carpet for the Ruskies. And not only do they get the royal treatment, but, courtesy of President Trump, they also get classified secrets. Only in Amerika!

We’ve said it here before: You can’t make this stuff up. From the president’s insane accusations about being wiretapped, to off-the-wall tweets, to this latest doozy – betraying some of America’s most trusted allies and jeopardizing the lives of intelligence assets – the presidency of Donald Trump has become farcical.

And the lack of results bears that out.

Despite enjoying Republican majorities in Congress, the president has accomplished virtually nothing; in fact, he has conceded to Democrats on a host of issues. Yes, Congress must bear some blame, but responsibility for such failure ultimately rests with President Trump himself. And things are only getting worse, as his un-presidential antics and lack of discipline keeps the White House mired in crisis mode, to the detriment of his policy agenda. As his approval rating continues to plummet – the result of no victories – an increasing number of Republicans are openly moving away from him, wary of association as next year’s elections creep closer.

Here’s a look at the major developments of Mr. Trump’s first four months in office – and his self-inflicted failures:

1. Obstruction of Justice? In what could prove the most stunning development to date, a memo has surfaced from former FBI Director James Comey, written after a February meeting with President Trump in the Oval Office. In the memo, Director Comey stated that the president asked him to drop the Bureau’s investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go,” Mr. Trump told Mr. Comey, according to the memo. “He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.”

While more facts will undoubtedly emerge, a president asking the FBI to kill a high-level investigation would seem to fall into the obstruction of justice category. For it that doesn’t meet the definition of obstruction, what does?

2. The classified information giveaway: Was it within Mr. Trump’s purview to share highly-sensitive information with the Russians, obtained from sources close to ISIS? Sure. But his cluelessness to the ramifications was bewildering. The Russians are smart cookies, and will undoubtedly figure out the source. So given that betrayal of trust, and the president adamantly defending his decision, why would other intelligence assets still take America at its word? Why continue to incur grave liability to themselves and their networks after Mr. Trump acted with such recklessness? They won’t – so our fight against terrorists just got that much harder.

Let’s get this straight: You share classified information with the Russians, give them a free pass for meddling in our election, get nothing in return – and somehow that’s a win? Makes you wonder if Putin is really that smart, or if President Trump is just that politically challenged.

3. Firing FBI Director Comey: The decision by President Trump to fire Jim Comey is just as baffling. Should Comey have been canned? Absolutely, as this column pointed out a year ago. By becoming a political pawn and injecting himself into the election, Comey impugned the reputation of the bureau and destroyed his own credibility.

Comey should have been fired on Day One, but instead, the president slapped his back and repeatedly sang his praises, as recently as last month. So what changed? What was the president’s epiphany that made him suddenly realize that Mr. Comey wasn’t up to snuff?

Was it that Comey refused to pledge his loyalty to the president? Or that the director, that very week, had sought additional resources in the FBI’s Russia-Trump collusion investigation? Or was it that “Russia” was on the president’s mind, as he freely admits?

Regardless of the reason, it should’ve been a no-brainer to put away the ax until the Russia investigations were concluded. How did the president not know that firing Comey right in the middle of those investigations would generate comparisons to Nixon firing the special prosecutor investigating Watergate? In politics, perception is reality, and President Trump just cemented the perception that he is trying to quash something ominous. Being identified alongside a crooked president who set the standard for paranoia is not helpful.

But the crème-de-la-crème was the president tweeting a warning to Comey that he not leak “tapes” of their conversations, which immediately prompted members of both parties to state that subpoenas would likely be issued if any such tapes exist.

Firing Jim Comey at the worst possible time: dumb. Canning him in the belief that Democrats would support the decision: really dumb. Not foreseeing that confirmation hearings for the new FBI Director will dredge up every aspect of the Russia investigations Mr. Trump has been desperately trying to avoid? Mindbogglingly obtuse.

But tweeting Nixonian-like statements about secret tapes? Insane.

4. No one home: The Trump Administration has been wholly incompetent in installing a functioning executive branch of the government. The president’s transition – slowest in history – is so inept that GOP senators are begging for nominees. Trump diehards love to say that Democrats are to blame by blocking nominations, but that’s ridiculous for two reasons: A) nominees only need 51 votes, and there are 52 Republican senators, and B) there are virtually no nominees. As of today, no nominees have been submitted for 479 out of 557 “key” administration positions. Since it’s going on seven months, it’s fair to ask what the hell they’ve been doing.

5. Derailed Agenda: Donald Trump has created a vicious circle. He acts like a horse’s patoot, causing his approval rating to sink. Then he tries to achieve policy victories, but fails – due to his low approval rating. Paradoxically, the only way to raise his approval – and thus his effectiveness – is to achieve success on policy initiatives. Yet just when Congress looks amenable to that end, the president exhibits the same reckless behavior that got him into the hole in the first place. And the cycle continues.

The president’s shrinking base correctly points to Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch as a victory – and it is – but that was as much the Senate acting in its own self-interest as it was a Trump win. And sure, onerous regulations have been slashed, but they are behind-the-scenes executive orders that win no votes.

So where do all the other big promises stand?

No Obamacare replacement; no border wall; no withdraw of funding from sanctuary cities; no ripped up Iran nuclear deal; no re-vamped “America-first” trade deals; no withdrawing from NAFTA; no hard line with China; no tax reform; no adherence to staying out of Middle Eastern conflicts; no infrastructure package; no reduction in government spending (or size); and no voter fraud investigation.

Bottom line: the “Trump is better than Hillary” line isn’t cutting it anymore, as even some of his most ardent supporters are sounding the alarm. If things are to change, and the trajectory is to be re-directed, the Trump base must stop turning a blind eye, and understand that giving the president a free pass every time he goes off the rails is counter-productive.

No more blaming the Democrats. No more excuses that “Trump is new, so give him a chance.” No more platitudes that he must first drain the swamp. And please, no more insulting arguments that Donald Trump, as master deal maker, is light years ahead of everyone else, every action of his being a carefully orchestrated chess move that will produce incredible results.

“Just wait,” we’re always told.

Well, Mr. President, we’ve been waiting. And we ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

Donald Trump Can’t Do Right For Some

Re-Testing Is Not A Right

By Chris Freind

Villanova shouldn’t have been crowned National Champions last year. Not because they weren’t the best, but because North Carolina wasn’t given the opportunity for a do-over after Kris Jenkins’ winning shot. And that wasn’t fair.

Maybe the Tar Heels were too euphoric after nailing an incredible game-tying shot with 4.7 seconds left. Maybe they didn’t get back on defense. Or maybe they just assumed that, as the nation’s most storied team, they were predestined to win in overtime.

But whatever the reason, they deserved the chance to correct their mistakes.

Right?

Don’t laugh. That’s becoming the new American reality.

No, we don’t have re-dos in sports. Yet. But they can’t be far off, given that the exact same mentality — getting an automatic do-over whenever a result isn’t to our liking — has been creeping into our schools, including some in Delaware County. Proponents of so-called “request to retest,” where students continually take tests on the same material until they’re satisfied, are warping an entire generation. Instead of teaching our children timeless lessons — life is a series of pass/fail tests, and actions have consequences — we are instead sending them out the door with massively unrealistic expectations and, by extension, dooming them to failure.

Let’s look at retesting’s negative impacts on teachers, parents, and, most of all, students:

1. It seems that small, but vocal, groups of entitled parents are front and center in pushing re-testing, along with school administrators either hell-bent on social engineering, or appeasers trying to placate the loudmouths.

And why? Several reasons, but all rooted in entitlement: “Since I’m paying high school taxes, my kid should damn well be entitled to good grades.” Or, “I pay teachers’ salaries, so that entitles me to not lift a finger. Educating my kid is the teacher’s job, and if Johnnie comes home with a bad grade, it’s the teacher’s fault.” Or even, “This is America, where we’re entitled to have things handed to us — without putting in any blood, sweat and tears to earn it.”

No matter the reason, re-testing sends the unmistakable message that repercussions for not prioritizing school have gone out the window.

2. When school officials implement re-testing, human nature dictates that students will make a mockery of the system.

Hell, there have already been cases where students request re-tests — before the first test has even been given! Talk about a slap in the face to teachers who have invested so much time in planning lessons, instructing the class, and creating tests to measure students’ mastery of material over a given period.

And why the need to re-test? Sickness? Extenuating circumstances at home? Nope. It’ll be for much more “important” reasons: The ballgame was on; binge-watching Netflix; had an appointment with my personal sports trainer; got stoned; and, surely, most common: I just didn’t feel like studying. Fact is, students don’t need a reason, because re-testing will soon become second-nature.

3. As part of their job, most teachers must be available to students outside of classroom hours. Truth is, many regularly exceed this requirement because of their innate desire to help children — the very reason they chose teaching. They are voluntarily working overtime for free, but re-testing negatively changes that equation, akin to smashing a gift horse in the mouth.

Instead of spending that extra, personal time with students, teachers would be forced to cut back. Re-test after re-test would have to be created, since offering the same test — where answers from the first go-round could be memorized — would be an insult to a teacher’s dignity. Yet that’s exactly what has occurred, as some students, confident that they aced the re-test, in fact bombed it because the teacher had the “nerve” to change the order of the questions! It’s bad enough that students think they deserve a re-do, but to be so arrogant as to expect the same test shows just how out of touch they are.

Bottom line: Teachers’ time both after school and at home will be consumed with creating and grading countless re-tests, to the detriment of daily lessons and one-on-one interactions, all because some students, and their clueless parents, think they automatically warrant unlimited chances.

4. Re-testing is an innately unfair system, penalizing those who do things the right way. How is it fair to attentive students who do their homework and study for a test, only to see some classmates bomb with a smile? Knowing that others can get unlimited cracks at the material is demoralizing to diligent students, and will ultimately lead them to conclude, “If others aren’t studying but eventually get the same grade, why should I put in all that effort?”

Being just as lazy as the next guy because there’s no incentive to do your best is the quickest way for a society to collapse.

5. And how is it fair when some schools re-test and other don’t? So if two eighth-graders are competing for limited slots at a private high school, and only one enjoyed a re-testing policy, then, by definition, the other is at a distinct disadvantage. Ditto for high school seniors trying to impress colleges. Obviously, those with better grades, courtesy of an “I-can’t-fail” policy, will have a huge leg up. Will they crash and burn upon the realization that their fake education hasn’t prepared them, and that other entities don’t give second chances? Absolutely. But that’s no solace to those who got shafted.

6. Re-testing isn’t limited to those who perform poorly. Grade-grubbers craving the 4.0 can take full advantage, re-testing until they hit the 100 mark. If applied across all subjects, that means that a perfect GPA can be achieved every year. Hyperinflated, artificial (and ultimately meaningless) grades, to be sure, but from the perspective of high schools and colleges, it would be a perfect GPA nonetheless.

7. Fortunately, re-testing is not in every school (yet), so people have an opportunity to demand that such policies be avoided, rescinded, or, at the least, qualified. For example, rules could stipulate one re-test only, and taken within one day of the original test; the final grade would be an average of the two tests (incentivizing against bombing the first one); if the re-test results in a lower grade, that would be the one counted; all classwork and homework must be completed prior to the original test or no re-test is permitted; and parents must be notified that their child is re-testing.

Short of abolishing re-testing, common sense reforms to open-ended testing should be mandated.

We have become a society where “everyone gets a trophy.” Individual achievements are whitewashed so as not to hurt feelings. Everyone and everything must be homogenized, a “spread the wealth” mentality whereby accolades are doled out not by merit, but by who hasn’t won yet. Far be it for a student to be top in the class, as that is deemed “unfair.” There’s a term for mandating equality: communism. And all along I thought we beat the Soviets.

The longer-term effect is more chilling: A dysfunctional generation, expecting everything, yet prepared for nothing. When faced by that thing called The Real World, they respond dismally without the benefit of their crutch. Business suffers as jobs are outsourced to those not expecting entitlements. And college graduates, expecting six-figure salaries, find themselves adrift, lost because of an inability to cope with life’s challenges after discovering that the “trophy days” are over.

Life is a series of tests, passing or failing in your job, sports, marriage, as a parent, and yes, in school. But those lessons are being sidelined in favor of artificial “victories,” without regard for the devastating effect they are having on our children.

Re-testing earns an “A” only in breeding massive resentment and incapacitating our children. It’s time we give re-testing the failing grade it deserves. And on that, we need no re-test.

Re-Testing Is Not A Right