JACK BERNARD'S TRAVELS

Posted by jdbernard743

· March 21, 2017

Friendship and Politics

Political conversations can be tricky, and even trickier when friendships are involved and tested. This seems a particularly tricky time as the Trump administration takes office and moves to implement its agenda. As this completely new kind of political force takes over, friendships are straining, families are quarreling and the country’s divisions are hardening.

I’m as partisan as the next guy, maybe more, and last week an old friend called me out when I posted a snarky anti-Trump picture and caption on Facebook. His exact words were, “Hey Jack, you’ve forgotten what the former president (Barack Obama) said… ‘Elections have consequences.’ You lost. I won. Get over it.”

He was right… not about getting over it, I don’t think I will, but about elections having consequences. He also narrowed my attention and helped me think more clearly about civil discourse when it comes to friendship and politics.

After his “get over it” rebuff, he continued with, “Well, Jack, even though we haven’t seen each other for some time, I’ve always considered you a friend. We just have a few minor differences of opinion. If you ever venture south you’ve always got a place to stay. Cheers, Deryl.”

This is that Deryl. We’re exactly the same age and grew up in Seattle but went to different high schools. Later, we became military pilots, served our time, and then were hired by Pan Am. We were based in San Francisco for a few years, and during those years flew together several times. I especially remember a memorable crew layover and dinner at an outdoor bar in Tahiti. We haven’t seen each other in years, but we keep up through the Pan Am grapevine and FB.

Today, Deryl lives near the Pacific Ocean in Carmel, California and I live on Lake Washington in Seattle. The similarities would seem to outweigh the differences, but not all. How did those differences come about, I wondered? It’s a bit of a mystery to me, but there are clearly two viewpoints in play. In the spirit of civil discourse, here’s my side.

As far as background goes, I was born into a middle class white family, educated in public schools and attended two state universities. I’ve practiced law, flown commercial airplanes, owned a small restaurant, worked for a public school’s foundation, and managed an international NGO office in Saigon before taking up freelance journalism. Over the course of my life I lived and worked in New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, Miami, Salt Lake City, St. Tropez, Berlin, Saigon, and Ketchum, Idaho.

I’ve had a life full of adventure and opportunity, but here’s where my politics come into play: I doubt that anything President Donald J. Trump does in the next four to eight years will affect how I live my life, but I care about what his policies will do to the lives of millions of other Americans, immigrants, visa applicants, refugees, and low wage workers.

I believe Americans deserve better than what Donald Trump is offering.

As a small business owner with a history of cancer and neurological disease I wasn’t able to buy an individual health insurance policy for several years following the Pan Am bankruptcy. It was not until I was employed by a large NGO that I could obtain coverage. Under the Affordable Care Act I would have had access as every American should. Ryan and Trump are trying to move the clock back. I believe universal healthcare should be a right. We pay more per capita in medical costs but are the only developed nation without a comprehensive single payer system.

As a former Marine whose two sons also served in uniform, one in Afghanistan just after 9/11, I know how good our military is. I don’t believe the richest most powerful nation on the planet, needs to increase spending on its military when it already spends more than the next seven nations combined.

Neither do I believe we need to cut spending for important cultural programs like the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. These are programs that promote positive human values. We need them to give us balance in an increasingly technocratic world and send a message to the world that our strength doesn’t depend solely on the military industrial complex.

The new Trump budget proposes cuts to domestic spending though the candidate promised a trillion-dollar infrastructure program during the campaign. I agree, we need to spend money on infrastructure and education. We need those jobs, roads, and bridges. In addition, we need to ramp up training to prepare Americans for the jobs of the 21^st century. I’m just returning from a 2500-mile road trip and I can tell you our roads and bridges are in serious decay, and we are falling further behind the other developed nations in educational achievement and job training. When our own President can’t spell it’s a clear sign that the country’s education system needs improvement.

Immigration is one of the most contentious and polarizing topics of conversation. President Trump has promised to build a wall along our southern border and deport all undocumented foreigners. I’m sure a wall is feasible at enormous cost, but I doubt that it will solve the problem of undocumented immigrants. Deportation of 11 million illegal immigrants seems both impossible and unwise. Those 11 million people, undocumented and vulnerable, are the ones who currently pick our fruit and vegetables, mow our lawns, wash our dishes, sweep the halls of our office buildings and schools, change the sheets and clean the rooms in our hotels – jobs Americans don’t seem to want. I’ve spoken to many and know some of their children. Those that are working pay taxes but will never see the Social Security benefits they are paying for. I support legal immigration and agree that we need to seek a sound an fair immigration policy. My hope is that a new immigration law can be enacted that will clarify the status of those currently in the US – perhaps a work-permitted legal status with an eventual path to full citizenship – but I don’t believe in criminalizing 11 million people who came to America hoping to find a better life.

I’m not sure which of these things Deryl would agree with, maybe none. I agree with him that the party in power has the right to develop its own policies – but I disagree if it undermines the basic tenets of our democratic heritage. I have no confidence that President Trump understands those principles or has any allegiance to them. He seems singularly uninterested in policy unless it affects his popularity or enhances his self-esteem.

The levers of government are now in the hands of Steve Bannon in the executive branch, Ryan and McConnell in the legislative. So far, neither of the latter two seems concerned with the direction the executive branch is taking them. At the CPAC conference two weeks ago Bannon articulated his vision of “deconstructing the administrative state,” which sounds like code for a move toward autocracy – favoring the rich and letting the poor eat cake.

I don’t normally broadcast my patriotism although I do have a Marine Corps decal on the rear window of my Jeep Cherokee. On the other side of the same window is a UC Berkeley decal. It’s honest. It’s where I went to law school. My wife always comments on the apparent contradiction of the Marine fighter pilot/Berkeley lawyer intersection, but it seems pretty normal to me. Where’s the contradiction? Both institutions are very American.

Maybe Deryl has similar contradictions; but our political differences and the conversations that grow out of them are examples of what I think of as a good model for civil discourse. Thanks, my friend.

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Categories : Aviation, Friendship, Personal/Family, Politics, Uncategorized, Work and Adventure

Posted by jdbernard743

· March 9, 2017

· No Comments

Presidential Advisor is a Fraud…

Take a good look at this face. Remember it. Tell me if you think his history and bio would withstand the extreme vetting called for by the Trump White House.

His name is Sebastian Gorka. Born in London of Hungarian refugee parents, he was educated in London and Budapest. In Budapest he began cultivating a reputation as a counter-terrorism expert though his only military service was a three-year stint in a British Territorial Army reserve unit.

Mr. Gorka moved to Hungary in 1992 and remained there until 2007. While there he aligned himself with Viktor Orbán, the current president, who has been widely criticized for his autocratic removal of democratic checks and balances in the supervision of elections, the judiciary, and the media. While in Hungary, Mr. Gorka married Katherine Cornell, an American steel heiress known for her conservative views. During this 16 year-long tenure in Hungary he was a member of or associated with several anti-Semitic organizations (including Vitez Rend, named for the WWII Nazi-allied leader). In 2007 he was awarded a PhD. from Corvinus University in Budapest (known primarily for its agricultural curriculum and ranked 701 by topuniversities.com.)

One year later, Mr. and Mrs. Gorka moved to the US on the strength of his wife’s citizenship. He was awarded a Green Card and four years later (2012) became a naturalized American. On arrival in the US, the Gorkas associated themselves with ultra-conservative institutions while he padded his resume with a questionable online professorship at Marine Corps University. In 2014 he became National Security Editor at Breitbart News as well as a regular contributor to Fox News.

Sebastian Gorka is an Alt-Right ideologue with no experience in counter-terrorism. His bogus credentials raise serious questions related to the vetting and staffing of the national security apparatus of the White House.

But, to really understand Gorka and his role it is important to understand the rise in autocratic rule in Hungary. This is where Mr. Gorka learned his craft and honed his ideology. It is also the model for what could happen in America under Donald Trump. David Frum’s article How to Build an Autocracy in the March 2017 Atlantic details the methods and outcomes in Hungary and what Steve Bannon envisions when he talks about “deconstructing the administrative state.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/03/how-to-build-an-autocracy/513872

Here’s what else you need to know about Sebastian Gorka: His official title is Deputy Assistant to the President of the United States. He is in a position to influence the most uninformed president in American history. His elevation is unprecedented especially when the Trump administration is calling for the “extreme vetting” of immigrants, visa applicants, and refugees.f

In addition to his ultra-conservative activities in the nationalist politics of Hungary, Mr. Gorka has comported himself in a questionable manner since arriving in the US. In December of 2016, notably after the Trump victory, Mr. Gorka was detained at Ronald Reagan International Airport as he tried to carry a 9mm handgun on a commercial flight. One month later was arrested on a charge of reckless driving. He was found guilty when he failed to appear in court on the charge and it was revealed that he had a prior arrest for reckless driving in 2014. So, what was the outcome? Incredulously, in February all charges related to the handgun incident were dismissed. The judge cited Gorka’s six months of good behavior for his decision to dismiss the gun charge.

Two uncontested reckless driving arrests and one attempt to carry a handgun aboard a US airliner in the past 3 years. Charges dismissed? Would another immigrant pass the “extreme vetting” procedures with this record? What about a Syrian doctor who survived the pounding of Aleppo, escaped with his family, walked through Turkey, bought passage to Lesbos on a smuggler’s unseaworthy boat, and now seeks political asylum in the US? We’re told that under the Obama protocol it would take the doctor three years to be approved for a visa. Under Trump’s flawed travel bans, he would be denied the opportunity to even apply.

The story is vintage Trump. The Breitbart connection linked Gorka to Bannon. Bannon was looking for an alt-right voice to include in the administration. Gorka had bogus but high sounding credentials and a rich conservative wife. Bingo! Charges dismissed and the gift of a promotion to Deputy Assistant to the President of the United States. Yes, that’s right, Deputy Assistant to the President of the United States.

Today, two Democratic lawmakers from New York, Eliot Engel and Nita Lowey, both Jewish, sent a letter to President Trump asking him to fire Gorka based on his history and affiliations with anti-Semitic associations. I doubt that the president will be moved. My guess is that this is the message Gorka, Bannon, and Trump will send back to the lawmakers and the American people.

Categories : Personal/Family, Politics, Travel, Uncategorized, Work and Adventure

Posted by jdbernard743

· March 1, 2017

· 1 Comment

We’ll Never Get Over Slavery…

This is Stephan Blanford – Ph.D., elected member of the Seattle School Board, father, husband, co-worker, athlete, and friend. I met Stephan 11 years ago when we were working at Seattle’s Alliance for Education, a non-profit supporting Seattle Public Schools.

At the time, this handsome, dark-skinned, black male, sported thick stylish dreadlocks, a statement about who he was – a strong, independent, black man who had earned the right to be himself. My wife thought the “dreads” were beautiful but provocative and worried that they would stand in the way of his success professionally. My question to her was always would she say the same if a white friend had the same dreads?

In the day, Stephan and I frequently discussed racial issues. Addressing the racial divide, achievement gap, and racial composition of Seattle Public Schools’ were important elements of the work we were doing. One day as we were entering an elevator I was conscious that others in the uncrowded elevator moved away as we stepped in. Later, Stephan told me how common that experience was. He told me that it didn’t matter if he was in jeans, running gear, or a business suit; white people edged away from him in an elevator or just passing on the sidewalk. I’ve never forgotten the experience or his awareness of it.

I consider myself a long range optimist, nevertheless long before I knew Stephan I was convinced that America would never get over slavery. I shared that dark insight with M 15 years ago. As the beneficiary of white privilege I think about my own prejudice and bias every day, and I’ve come to believe that no matter how many times we remind ourselves, no matter how many cultural awareness seminars or sensitivity trainings we attend, no matter how outraged we become at examples of racial profiling or police brutality we, as a nation, will never get over slavery.

With an increasingly polarized America, an alarming number of black deaths at the hands of white police officers, the ascendancy of the alt-right and questionable white-supremacist, anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, fake news rhetoric coming from the Trump administration I, as a patriotic ex-Marine/American, am alarmed at the direction my country is taking.

Over this past weekend, two Indian-American software engineers were shot in a Kansas bar by a zealot who cried out “Get out of my country” just before he killed one and wounded the other. During the same period Jewish cemeteries in St. Louis and Philadelphia were vandalized while, since the beginning of the year, more than 100 Jewish community centers across the country have been targeted with bomb threats.

As an older white male, I’m the beneficiary of unearned advantages; I was born white, male, and middle class in the richest, most powerful country in the world. I don’t envy white privilege because I have it. I’m not afraid I’ll be pulled over by the police because of the color of my skin. I don’t worry that my pay will be less simply because I’m a woman. I’m not afraid to pray in public, because I’m not a Muslim. I don’t think much about anti-Semitism because I don’t have a long beard or wear a yarmulke. These are some of the advantages of my unearned white privilege.

_____

Last weekend, M and I saw the James Baldwin documentary, I Am Not Your Negro where Baldwin’s words concerning the deaths of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King make a chilling statement about the disparity between the American myth and the nation’s failure to reconcile the myth with reality. It helped me see the extent of my own privilege.

James Baldwin, for those who don’t know his work, was an American poet, novelist, playwright, essayist, and activist who, at age 24, moved to Europe to escape racism and homophobia. He returned to the US in 1957, recognized as an important literary figure. Disillusioned by the murders of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, John and Robert Kennedy, he returned to France in 1970 where he lived until his death in 1987.

The documentary chronicles his observations and disillusionment. In Baldwin’s own words, the filmmaker looks at the lives and deaths of three black Americans – Medgar Evers, the mild mannered field secretary of the NAACP, Malcolm X, the firebrand, success by any means, activist and MLK, the non-violent civil rights leader – three examples of distinctly different social justice approaches, Baldwin shows how all three were thwarted and ruthlessly assassinated in their quest of equality and justice.

When I was in the 3rd grade at Issac I. Stevens Elementary in Seattle, I had a black classmate named Corky White (ironic?). One day after school I took Corky home with me to play. When my father came home, he and my mother huddled in the kitchen for a while before summoning me for a “talk,” the gist of which was that I was not to invite Corky home ever again. I complied though I didn’t understand it then and I don’t understand it now. Corky was a friend but my own parents deprived me of his friendship. I knew they were wrong and, just like standing in the elevator with Stephan, I have never forgotten what it was like to feel racism at work.

Stephan’s “dreads” are gone now. I question whether that makes him look more professional. M and I can disagree about that, but the important thing is that he’s a hard working member of the Seattle School Board and considering a run for Seattle City Council. I wish him well.

I don’t know what happened to Corky. We moved to another part of the city, and I lost contact. I really liked him. I hope he’s doing well, but it’s a good bet that he’s had a harder road than I have. I wish I knew, but right now I’m more concerned about the direction the Trump administration is taking us. I’m not an alarmist, but I am alarmed. I value the diversity of my friendships, my freedom from oppression, and my right to speak freely. It feels like all three are under siege.

I resist poking fun at DJT. He’s a soft target, but we underestimated him too often on his way to the White House. During the election cycle he was blowing hot air but had no power. Now, he has the power to affect lives, and some of his senior advisors have significantly darker visions for America. We’re in dangerous territory. It’s time to wake up, take a stand, and let our voices and votes be counted. Those of us who are unhappy with the election need to accept responsibility for the result and see that it doesn’t happen again. If only 51% of eligible voters show up at the polls we can only blame ourselves.

Categories : Art, Books, Film/Television, Personal/Family, Politics, Travel, Uncategorized, Work and Adventure

Posted by jdbernard743

· February 21, 2017

· 1 Comment

The Liar – a Lesson in Verse

His name begins with D. He’s a charismatic, pathological liar who thrives on the pursuit of beautiful women, ensnaring them with an inflated biography of great accomplishments. But, in the course of his pursuit he is forced, time and again, to revise his story as an aide and ally reveals (leaks?) his lies.

Recognizable? The story line may be, but you’ll be surprised to discover it’s not the story you think it is. It’s not today’s headline grabber. Instead it’s the story of Dorante, The Liar, in a 17^th Century play by Corneille adapted and updated by David Ives and playing concurrently this month in New York and Seattle.

I love clever wordplay and The Liar is nothing if not clever – both in concept and in wordplay. Delivered entirely in iambic pentameter verse, the play’s timing (no pun intended) is unusually in sync with the current news cycle, and its farcical situations add a liberal dose of laughter when there doesn’t seem to be much to laugh about these days.

Leap forward 373 years, from Corneille’s time to today’s parallel universe where, on Saturday, following another chaotic week in the White House, DJT, the other leading man whose name begins with D, beats it out of town to hold an ego boosting rally in Melbourne Florida. Campaigning again, less than 30 days after his inauguration, and relying on shop worn rhetoric from the earlier campaign, he was again The Man. Parading Melania out to open with the Lord’s Prayer, he followed with renewed promises to build a Wall, rid the country of criminal aliens, create thousands of jobs, lower taxes, straighten out the judicial system, and silence the lying media. It was chilling.

_____

Lies are headline news today – and every day. In fact, an argument can be made that lying is and has been the most consistent and durable media topic since Donald Trump entered the Republican primary race in 2015.

At his Friday news conference, the day before the Florida rally, the lies ranged from the size of his electoral victory “the largest electoral victory since Ronald Reagan” to his insistence that “this administration is running as a fine tuned machine” to the assertion that “nobody I know of in my campaign had any contact with Russia,” – all verifiable lies. The Donald is shoveling against a tsunami of misrepresentations, lies, alternative facts, phantom terror attacks, fabricated massacres, and heavy pushback from congressional, judicial, intelligence and news sources.

I’m fascinated by the show, but a steady diet of the Trumpster is depressing and dangerous. The only escapes that work for me are darkened theaters, a trendy restaurant with a good bartender, or a lap pool all to myself.

Sunday afternoon M and I escaped to a matinee performance of The Liar at The Bathhouse, one of Seattle’s small forums for creative live theater. The subject matter wasn’t exactly off topic, but it was therapeutic to spend an afternoon watching professional actors lampoon a liar and show the gyrations it takes to juggle a huge, some would say“tremendous,” pack of lies. After the Sunday morning news programs, I was experiencing acid reflux and a throbbing headache. It was either a good dose of laughter or a fistful of Prilosec.

It’s easy to make fun of D for Donald, but now that he’s the 45^th President of the United States things have changed. It’s not funny anymore. This is serious business, and I found it instructive to read what the grandmaster of the lie, Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Reich Minister of Propaganda, had to say about it:

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

The election of 2016 has brought lies and lying front and center in our daily conversations. What are we going to do about it? Sissela Bok, the Harvard philosopher, ethicist, and author of Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life writes:

Deceit and violence–these are the two forms of deliberate assault on human beings. Both can coerce people into acting against their will. Most harm that can befall victims through violence can come to them also through deceit. But deceit controls more subtly, for it works on belief as well as action. Even Othello, whom few would have dared to try to subdue by force, could be brought to destroy himself and Desdemona through falsehood. (Lying p.19)

It sounds hyperbolic to equate what’s happening in America with the lead up to World War II. Trump is no Hitler, but he may be a Mussolini – part despot, part buffoon, part nightmare – able to do serious damage to individuals and groups he doesn’t agree with or who challenge him. At one point Mussolini said, “Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is not. You in America will see that someday. …The truth is that men are tired of liberty.”

In light of the Trump rhetoric, this is a chilling reminder that we cannot take for granted the liberty our founding fathers debated long and hard to give us. We can’t get lazy and let ourselves be “tired of liberty.” When only 51% of eligible voters participate in a presidential election, as they did in 2016, our liberty is vulnerable to the lies, demagoguery, and attacks on a free press that we are witnessing today. We have to stand up and resist, and we have to force our elected representatives in Congress to do the same.

The Liar ends with Dorante musing on his situation.

“Perhaps I’ll go onstage and be an actor.

Maybe Corneille will write me up a play.

Or maybe, with my gifts and disposition,

I’ll emigrate and be a politician.”

I’m sorry Dorante; it’s already been done. Reagan, Ventura, Schwarzenegger, and now Trump. Maybe what we need is a savior. Can you help us out there? Just don’t lie to us. We’ve had enough of that.

Categories : Art, Books, Film/Television, Politics, Theater, Uncategorized

Posted by jdbernard743

· February 17, 2017

· 2 Comments

If DJT Offers You a S**t Sandwich? Don’t Bite!

I’ve been waiting all week to extract myself from the national horror show and get back to writing about food, films, and books. Last night M and I slipped out to Bastille Café and Bar, one of our favorite places, for a happy hour treat. We took two seats at the round high-top community table in the bar, ordered a carafe of Provencal rose’ and launched into a debrief of this week’s political scandals and alternative facts.

The Friday after work crowd was just arriving, the atmosphere cozy, and the staff upbeat and welcoming. Just what we were looking for. We took our time but eventually got around to ordering a special Romaine salad and an order of mussels, frites and truffle aioli while warming ourselves in front of the small fire pit in the center of the table.

Bastille is a classic-style French bistro where it’s not unusual to share a table with other patrons. While we were enjoying our happy hour, two women came in separately and sat at the high top with us but didn’t engage except to say hello. They were both involved with their phones anyway and we continued our conversation. M and I noted how comfortable the two women were coming in alone, ordering glasses of wine, and unwinding from their day at work. Liberated. Very civilized.

Full of wine and frites, we paid the bill and drove home. I was planning to begin writing about Bruce Springsteen’s recent autobiography – a distraction from the swirling political madness that’s dominating the news. I’m a big fan of Springsteen’s music and the earthy, working man’s aura that surrounds him, and last week I read an interesting review of the autobiography in the London Review of Books. That’s where I was planning to start.

But… when we got home, several “notifications” popped up on my phone at the same time.

One of them was from Slate.com who posted the following:

“Donald Trump isn’t accustomed to hearing prospective underlings say “No.” So it came as a shock when retired Vice Adm. Robert Harward—his first choice to replace Michael Flynn as national security adviser—told the president he’d have to think about the offer. It must have been a double shock when, a few days later, Harward turned him down flat.

CNN quoted one of Harward’s friends saying that, in mulling over the decision, he was persuaded most of all by the sheer dysfunction of Trump’s presidency, describing the job he was offered as ‘a shit sandwich.’”

Unbelievable… or is it?

I was hopeful when I learned that Admiral Harward was Trump’s choice as Flynn’s replacement. I was even more heartened when I learned he had been offered the job. He has impeccable credentials – Navy Seal Team commander, Deputy Chief of Central Command, as well as being a close friend and colleague of James Mattis, the newly confirmed Secretary of Defense.

The announcement came, but the small print told us that said he was “considering” the job and negotiating its terms. Red Flag moment. I was still hopeful, but wary. It’s highly unusual to announce a high government position has been offered without knowing there will be an acceptance. Was there a problem?

Rumors were circulating last week that Harward’s friend, Mattis, was unhappy about his staff support, and it’s reasonable to assume he cautioned his friend to get assurances from the Trumpers that he wouldn’t have the same problem if he took the NSC job.

I was reassured. I knew the guy was serious, and the negotiations established that he wasn’t going to take the job without assurances that he could do it the way he wanted with the staff he needed. He was my white knight riding into Bannon’s bailiwick with the ordnance to defend himself and do the job properly. He would bring experience, knowledge, and rationality back into the National Security Council, and his demands might even include disbanding Bannon’s recently created parallel unit, the Strategic Initiatives Group, (several right-wing zealots) within the NSC.

Last night’s notifications delivered the bad news. Harward declined the job. The Trump team was unwilling to let him choose his own team, preferring to retain General Flynn’s staff, including former Fox News commentator K.T.(Kathleen) McFarland, a Trump favorite. Chalk up another win for the Trump/Bannon cabal and another setback for the rest of us.

No sale. Shit sandwich.

Categories : Aviation, Books, Film/Television, Food/Restaurants, Politics, Uncategorized, Work and Adventure