Triad Today

We’ve heard it all too many times before. A mentally disturbed loner buys an assault rifle, opens fire in a school, church, or nightclub, and kills dozens of people. The media interviews neighbors, fellow students or co-workers who suddenly recall incidents of sick, dangerous things the shooter did which they didn’t report. The FBI, local authorities, and mental health professionals never shared information that could have prevented the mass murders. Former cops and agents go on TV to tell us that the shooter fell through the cracks. Family members of victims plead for a ban on assault weapons. And, politicians go before the cameras to express their condolences, blaming mental illness, not guns for the tragedy. They say now’s not the time to discuss reforms, then a few days later they forget the massacre and move on to really important matters, like deporting children and criminalizing marijuana, and pain pills. Well, we heard it all again last week when 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida, calmly assembled and loaded his AR15 assault rifle, then proceeded to kill 17 people and wound 14 others.

Cruz had once attended Douglas High where he was constantly getting into trouble, and eventually expelled for picking a fight with his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend. He was known to be obsessed with guns, sold knives out of a lunch box, and posted photos and instagrams that showcased his deadly arsenal, and his promise to use it against students.

Leading up to the massacre, Cruz had been in and out of counseling (mainly out) and was the subject of at least thirty 911 calls to his home. He identified with white supremacist groups, wore a “Make America Great Again” cap, and said that he wanted to shoot some people after seeing a Trump supporter hassled at a campaign rally last year. And when a responsible citizen notified the FBI of Cruz’s social media boast to “become a professional school shooter”, the agency first said they couldn’t locate the boy, and later admitted they didn’t follow protocol in trying to apprehend him.

Last Wednesday marked the 8^th school massacre since the start of the year, and while bodies continue to pile up, Congress sits on its backside, and refuses to pass significant gun reforms, including restoring a previous ban on assault weapons that stood for ten years until the Bush Congress repealed it in 2004.

Before he was a candidate, Donald Trump advocated for a ban on assault rifles, but during his campaign and since taking office, he’s been against any restrictions on gun ownership. Speaker Paul Ryan won’t even allow a gun reform bill to reach the floor of the House. Meanwhile, North Carolina’s Republican Senators Richard Burr and Thom Tillis advocate for gun rights instead of victims’ rights, and last year even voted to keep the names of mental health patients off of the national criminal background check data base. So what’s the reason for their refusal to ban assault rifles and large ammo clips? Money. The NRA spent $30 million dollars to get Trump elected, and gave Ryan nearly $400,000 to keep his seat. Meanwhile, the NRA gave Tillis $4.4 million dollars, and Burr $7 million dollars.

Are shooters like Cruz crazy? Yes. Do law enforcement agencies screw up and fail to share red flag information? Yes. Do students, teachers, and neighbors often stay silent until it’s too late? Yes. Was Cruz the one who actually depressed the trigger and opened fire on his former classmates? Yes. But Congress deserves the lion’s share of the blame for the Parkland massacre, and the Orlando massacre, and the Vegas massacre, and the Charleston massacre, and the Aurora massacre, and the Sandy Hook massacre, because they refuse to ban assault rifles, and they refuse because they’re in the NRA’s pocket.

Last week, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut told his colleagues, “This epidemic of mass slaughter only happens here in America, not because of coincidence, not because of bad luck, but as a consequence of our inaction. We [Congress] are responsible for a level of mass atrocity that happens in this country with zero parallel anywhere else.”

Lissette Rozenblat, the mother of a Parkland survivor was even more passionate, telling CNN, “If we don’t do something now to take action, this is going to keep happening. Whether it’s mental health or terrorism, there are guns out there, automatic weapons that should not be in the hands of civilians, and that’s what it comes down to. Greed, money, NRA, politicians who are taking money from the NRA, and at the end of the day, we just want to keep our kids safe. As parents that is our ultimate goal, and sending them to school should not be like sending them into a war zone.”

This November we should remember Ms. Rozenblat’s plea when we go to the polls to elect our Congressperson. We should let those who seek our vote know that nearly 70% of all Americans want a ban on assault rifles. And we should reject the argument made by NRA-backed Congressmen who say the most important thing is to protect the 2^nd Amendment, our right to bear arms. We should remind them that when the 2^nd Amendment was written, a man with a musket was lucky if he got off two shots per minute, and that today, kids like Nikolas Cruz can get off 500 rounds in half that time. The Founding Fathers could not have anticipated the kind of weaponry that exists today, nor would they have stood for citizens being massacred. Neither should we.

 
 

In a newspaper ad, the Republican National Committee promised prosperity, and hinted at full employment if their candidate was elected. Their promise was, “a chicken in every pot, and a car in every garage.” But that ad wasn’t placed recently. It ran during the 1928 presidential campaign of Herbert Hoover. Hoover went on to win the election, but he wasn’t able to deliver on the RNC’s promise, because one year later the stock market crashed, triggering the Great Depression.

It took some doing, but Franklin D. Roosevelt, who succeeded Hoover, brought us back from the brink by initiating various federal programs that created jobs and a social safety net. But World War II strained our resources and, following the euphoria of Victory in Europe Day, many economists and politicians feared another depression was imminent. That’s when Congress passed the Employment Act of 1946 which put the federal government in charge of coordinating plans and resources that would “afford useful employment for those able, willing, and seeking to work, and to promote maximum employment.”

Some in Congress opposed the Act because they believed that “full employment” should be the goal, not “maximum employment.” Unfortunately, neither phrase was backed up by specific numbers. That came later. In 1978, the law was amended and re-named the Humphrey-Hawkins Act, which established 3% as the targeted goal for our rate of unemployment.

Late last week the Cooper administration reported that North Carolina ended 2017 with an unemployment rate of 4.5%. A few days later we learned that the rate of unemployment nationwide is 4.1%. By Humphrey-Hawkins standards that’s not too good, but today, Congress is OK with 4% of Americans being out of work. That’s because Congressmen all have jobs. The question is, why can’t we have zero percent unemployment? Mike Moffatt of ThoughtCo.com says that’s not possible because of three factors: Cyclical Unemployment, Frictional Unemployment, and Structural Unemployment.

An example of Cyclical Unemployment is when workers are laid off due to a recession or a slow economy. Frictional Unemployment, on the other hand, is a matter of choice. Example, a CPA decides he wants to change careers and look for a job in advertising. Except in rare instances, that CPA is going to be out of work for awhile. Then there’s Structural Unemployment which occurs when there’s an absence of demand for the workers that are available. An example of that happened when Dell located in Forsyth County to make desktop computers, then shut down a year later because consumers were mainly buying laptops.

In short, those three types of unemployment keep our overall jobless rate in flux, or as Quora.com explains, zero unemployment is “not possible in a market economy where, at any given point, someone is switching jobs, looking for a job, or is otherwise without a job.” That brings us back to what actually constitutes an acceptable or normal rate of unemployment, and right now, government officials seem to think that “full employment” is achieved when only 4% of the population is out of work.

Perhaps zero percent unemployment is unattainable, but why should we be satisfied with 4%? And why shouldn’t the jobless rate be the same for everyone? As it stands now, unemployment among African Americans is 7.9%, for Hispanics it’s almost 9%, and for teens it’s 15%. If Trump can really bring back the hundreds of thousands of jobs that went overseas due to more favorable tax climates, and if Congress can ever agree on a comprehensive infrastructure program that would put millions of people to work, then we might be able to move the unemployment needle downward for everyone.

In 1928 we were promised a chicken in every pot. Ninety years later, millions of Americans are still waiting for that promise to be fulfilled. This is an election year, so if Congress refuses to deliver on that promise, then they should be forewarned: On election day, the chickens may not be in our pots yet, but they sure as hell are coming home to roost.

 
 

Last year I angered a lot of my friends when I criticized politicians and the media for misstating and miscommunicating the nature of the so-called opioid epidemic. My concerns were two-fold. First was the tendency to lump legal analgesics with heroin when citing statistics. Second was an overreaction by Governor Cooper and others in handing down restrictive regulations on the sale and use of legal opioid medicines on which millions of patients rely for much-needed pain relief. Now comes a third cause of concern: the blame game.

Last week Forsyth County joined a jillion other localities in deciding to sue the manufacturers of opioid medicines. Their reason? Opioid abuse has caused the County to spend non-budgeted funds on emergency and social services, and the lawsuit seeks to recoup those costs. Translation? Companies who make pain pills are to blame for people abusing or misusing those pills. What’s next, blaming the pills themselves for being ingested? Actually, yes. A few days after the Forsyth County litigation was reported, a convicted killer in Ohio announced that pain pills led him to murder two people. That’s right, the man is appealing his death sentence on the grounds that many years ago, after suffering a work-related injury, he took pain pills, which, years later, caused him to brutally stab his wife and another man.

The absurdity of these kinds of blame puts me in mind of the NRA’s mantra about guns, which was eloquently re-stated by Elise Patkotak who, writing for the Alaska Dispatch in 2012, said, “Drugs don’t kill people—people kill people (and themselves) by misusing the drugs. As with guns, drugs are morally neutral until used by a person in a specific manner that renders them, for that moment, good or bad.”

That same year Dr. Steven Passik, a professor of psychiatry and anesthesiology at Vanderbilt University, came to a similar conclusion when he suggested that it is wrong to blame drugs for addiction. Speaking with the Center for Health Journal, Passik said, “This is the first mistake of opioidphobes.”

So if prescription opioids are not inherently bad, then who or what is to blame for addiction? Again, politicians point the finger at manufacturers and the doctors who prescribe their product. But that reasoning sets up a false narrative. Yes it’s true that there have been unscrupulous companies who purposely flooded the market with pain pills for profit. In 1996, for example, Purdue Pharma introduced oxycontin and assured physicians that the drugs weren’t addictive. Purdue lied and was later punished. And yes there were doctors and pharmacists who created a cottage industry around bulk sale of pain pills. But the Feds cracked down on that scam and today, according to Dr. Caleb Alexander, director of the Center for Drug Safety at Johns Hopkins, doctor shoppers make up less than one percent of all opioid users.

So if manufacturers, doctors, pharmacists, and the pills themselves should not be blamed for the opioid “epidemic”, then who does that leave? The answer is the people who ingest the meds. But we must be careful not to assign blame to all people who take prescription opioids, only to those who abuse them, and that brings us back to the mischaracterization of the problem itself.

According to the Institute of Medicine, 100 million Americans suffer with chronic pain which, if left untreated, costs the U.S. economy $300 billion dollars in lost production each year. By restricting access to prescription opioids, we are, therefore, punishing and prolonging the pain of innocent, law-abiding citizens. Yet those who seem to be criminalizing the use of legitimate medicines, do so by lumping them with illegal drugs.

During his State of the Union address, President Trump told us there were 64,000 opioid deaths in 2016, then said “we must go after the drug dealers,” thus confusing the sale of street heroin with the legal dispensing of pain meds. Also, the figure he cited was the total number of deaths attributed to drug overdoses, but, in truth, the CDC puts that number at closer to 42,000. Nevertheless, only 18,000 of those deaths were due to overdose of prescription opioids, and statistics show that most of those fatalities were the result of mixing other meds and substances with the pain pills. Say what you will, but there is no proof that family physicians are telling their patients to take pain meds while drinking alcohol and popping Valium and Xanax. It’s up to the patient to take prescription drugs as directed, and use some common sense.

I know that one shot of bourbon probably won’t hurt me. But I also know that five shots of bourbon and two beers can do some damage to my body, not to mention cause harm to others if I choose to drink and drive. Speaking of which, according to the CDC, nearly 80,000 people die each year from alcohol-induced deaths, and another 10,000 at the hands of a drunk driver. Yet there’s no outrage by politicians, or a call to make whiskey illegal. And what about the 480,000 people who, between 2005 and 2009, died from tobacco smoking? Shouldn’t the state legislature restrict all adults from buying cigarettes?

There’s no doubt that prescription opioids can be addictive, and that’s why I applaud Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center for leading the way in developing a new protocol for treating pain which is already meeting with great success and satisfaction by patients under their care. But, for now, it serves no purpose for politicians to compare hydrocodone to heroin, misstate statistics, or restrict the proper use of prescription medicines that are designed to relieve pain. Such actions that limit access to meds can actually back-fire, and lead people who suffer with addiction, to turn to heroin instead of seeking help. That’s why we shouldn’t be looking for people to blame, rather, we should focus our efforts on treating those who have abused opioids. Otherwise, we’ll just bring more pain to more people, and that’s the irony and danger of playing the blame game.

 
 

A few years ago I was speaking with a travel agent, and told her I wanted to fly out of PTI. “What’s PTI?”, she said. On another occasion I asked a flight attendant if we would make our connection to PTI in time. “What’s PTI?”, she responded. Clearly a lot of folks don’t know what PTI is or stands for, so it was no surprise that, earlier this year, the local airport authority board voted to drop the name Piedmont Triad International. Board members said that travelers didn’t know what PTI was, and, further, the name was impeding economic development in our area. The problem is that they also voted to replace PTI with CNCIA, aka, Central North Carolina International Airport. In the words of the immortal Gomer Pyle, “What a dumb thing. What a dumb thing to do!”

Public reaction to CNCIA was immediate and harsh. No one liked the new name, and after a few days of public protest, the board relented, and tabled the name change until it could solicit more input. Since then, alternate names have come flying in from all corners of the Triad globe, and consensus seems to be that we should retain the name PTI and move on, or change it to Greensboro International Airport, since, after all, that’s where it is located. Regardless what we call it, the name of our airport isn’t the problem with our airport.

The problem PTI has is too few direct flights to major cities, and a lack of major carrier flights in general. In the good old days you could hop a plane in Greensboro and fly directly to Los Angeles, Vegas, Houston, and other large cities. That’s no longer the case. You want to fly to L.A.? Then prepare to change planes in D.C., Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, or Charlotte, and that’s if the flight times you want are available, otherwise, you might be looking at two stops before arriving at your destination. Moreover, connecting flights come with their own separate set of problems, including long lay-overs, lost luggage, and missed connections due to the airline industry’s horrific record of on-time flights. And so it is ironic that PTI’s board thought that a name change would attract business and business flyers to the Triad, because unless a visiting executive has his or her own jet, then they’ve had to make one or two connections just to get here, and that hassle could lead them to locate in Charlotte or Raleigh rather than Greensboro.

OK so enough with the problems. What are the solutions? In 2007 I wrote a column in which I advocated for PTI to offer passenger rebates and various perks to major air carriers. The campaign would be heavily marketed, and tested for one year. One specific idea I had was for PTI to offer rebates or discounts to passengers who fly out of Greensboro instead of Charlotte or Raleigh. I also suggested giving a 2 for 1 ticket deal to any passenger who flew from PTI and had to make a connection to his destination. And, I thought PTI should offer financial incentives to the major airlines. After all, Miami Dade airport had just offered a total of $680,000 in landing fee waivers to six major carriers in order to generate more traffic and increase revenues. Under my plan, the trial year data would show whether or not PTI could generate the kind of passenger traffic that would entice the major airlines to expand their service here. But what did PTI do instead? The board offered Skybus $57 million dollars worth of perks to locate here. Then, one year later Skybus went bankrupt, and joined a long line of low-cost carriers to fail at PTI.

If the PTI board can come up with $57 million dollars to lure a fly-by-night airline, they can come up with enough money to offer creative incentives to passengers and major carriers alike. Perhaps the incentives campaign can convince the big boys that Piedmont travelers will fill up their direct flights if given a chance. Perhaps not. But it’s a better gamble than just changing the name of the airport and sprucing up the concourse. I love our airport. I love its convenience to home, and the shorter security lines before boarding. I’m just getting tired of flying around my elbow to get to my thumb.

 
 

Every year about this time, thousands of girl scouts in our area hit the pavement to sell cookies. It’s their signature project. It’s what they’re known for. But selling cookies isn’t just about selling cookies. It’s about leadership, empowerment, and a tradition of service that dates back over a hundred years.

In 1917, America was in the throes of World War I. It was supposed to be the “war that ends all war”. What it was, though, was expensive, and it severely strained our resources back home. Reacting to a food shortage, girl scouts, who had been organized five years earlier, volunteered to preserve fruits and vegetables. But a girl scout troop in Muskogee, Oklahoma went one step further. They baked and sold cookies, then donated profits to the war effort. Today, proceeds from cookie sales go to support a myriad of activities, ranging from summer camps, to collecting clothing, toys, and food for families in need.

“I’m glad that the Girl Scouts include Second Harvest in their community engagement activities,” said food bank CEO Clyde Fitzgerald. “Our community at large is blessed by the benevolent activities of the Girl Scouts. It’s great to see our young people educated about and committed to helping their neighbors.”

And while the profits from cookie sales help support the girl scout mission (to make the world a better place), the process of selling those cookies helps girls learn five valuable skills, those being: Goal Setting; Decision Making; Money Management; People Skills; and, Business Ethics. Armed with that knowledge and experience, it’s no wonder that today’s girl scouts are more engaged than ever, when it comes to hands-on preparation for their future careers. For example, each year Girl Scouts Carolinas Peaks to Piedmont teams with Inmar, a data analytics company, to field a competitive, all-girls robotics team. The girls learn about science, math and technology in designing and constructing their own robot. Meanwhile, local girl scouts attend informal events where they hear from former scouts who now hold management positions in high profile companies.

It’s also no wonder that girl scouts have adopted an appropriate acronym for their gender:

G (Go-getter)
I (Innovator)
R (Risk-taker)
L (Leader)

“We help girls tap into their leadership potential. Our girls try new things, take risks, and take on challenging roles,” said Lane Cook, CEO of Girl Scouts Carolinas Peaks to Piedmont, a council that covers 40 counties in North Carolina, serves over 13,000 girls, and enlists over 6,000 volunteers. “The message to our girls is clear. Nothing can stand in their way,” Cook told me.

It’s hard to believe that so much service to community, and so much empowerment for girls stems from a century-old decision to sell cookies in order to help others. But that doesn’t mean today’s girl scouts aren’t willing to break with some traditions in order to achieve their goals. For example, Girl Scouts no longer have to rely solely on a written order pad to keep up with supply and demand. Now they can also avail themselves of the Digital Cookie Platform, which, according to a recent press release, is a web-based program that helps girls run and manage their cookie businesses online.

As always, girl scout cookies are sold door-to-door, and at event booths, and, as always, proceeds from the sale of cookies stay in our area in order to support scouting activities, and help girls become empowered. And let’s not forget another reason to buy girl scout cookies. They taste great!

For more information, visit www.girlscoutsp2p.org.

 
 

In 1976 Toyota aired a TV ad campaign whose slogan was, “You asked for it, you got it. Toyota!” For the past year Piedmont business leaders, elected officials, and economic development specialists have “asked” Toyota/Mazda to bring their new manufacturing plant to our Megasite in Randolph County, but last week Toyota told us that we don’t “got it”. Instead, the $1.6 billion dollar facility went to Huntsville, Alabama, and so did the 4,000 jobs it will create.

“It’s profoundly disappointing,” one local official told me. But more than being disappointed, most of the folks involved with Megasite seemed surprised that Toyota chose Alabama over us. They shouldn’t have been. The truth is we never had a chance at landing Toyota/Mazda, and I believe the folks in Japan and Huntsville knew that from the get-go. I’m not suggesting any collusion occurred, because Alabama didn’t need to cheat. I spoke at length with Jim Searcy, executive director of the Economic Development Association of Alabama, who explained why. “I wouldn’t say North Carolina did anything wrong, it’s just that we had a lot of positives.”

That’s what you call an understatement.

For one thing, Alabama already has three major automobile manufacturing plants: Mercedes in Tuscaloosa County; Honda in Lincoln; and Hyundai in Montgomery. And guess which company already has a plant in Huntsville where they manufacture over 700,000 car engines each year? You got it, Toyota! But the biggest “positive” Alabama offered Toyota/Mazda is an impressive supply chain. It’s what Jim Searcy meant when he told me, “We had some advantages that no other state had.” In fact, Alabama is home to over 150 tier 1 and tier 2 automotive suppliers which, in layman’s terms, means that by locating in Huntsville, Toyota/Mazda would be a stone’s throw away from everything they need to keep their plant going. On the flip side, North Carolina has no major automobile manufacturing plants and no automotive supply chain. Tally up the ledger and Toyota’s decision to build (again) in Alabama is a no-brainer.

This disparity of “positives” prompted me to ask one Megasite team member about the possibility that Toyota planned on building in Huntsville all along, and only used us as leverage to make sure Alabama kept the perks coming. Speaking anonymously, the Megasite proponent told me, “I can’t deny what you’re saying, it’s not out of the question. But if they did, then they were very convincing, because up until a couple of months ago, we thought the deal was ours to lose. I certainly think Alabama sweetened the pot for Toyota.” Meanwhile, Searcy, a 30-year economic development specialist, told me his team didn’t take anything for granted. “We were very aggressive, and we knew what it took to get the plant. Did we allow our competition to force us into over-paying? Absolutely not. We knew we had leverage and an advantage.” And again, that advantage wasn’t money (we offered Toyota four times more in incentives than did Alabama), rather it was familiarity, a track record, and an established supply chain.

I asked Searcy to imagine for a moment that he was leading the Megasite project. “Would you have even attempted to bid on Toyota/Mazda, knowing the deck was stacked in favor of Huntsville?” Said Searcy, “Yes, but I would have gone into it with my eyes wide open.” Translation? It was Alabama’s to lose, not ours.

So did we waste our time bidding for Toyota/Mazda? Yes and no. Yes, in that we should face the fact that we’ll never be able to compete with other Southeastern states for car plants. No, in that the efforts put forth by the Greensboro Randolph Megasite Foundation give us a viable property to market going forward. The question is who do we market it to?

Alabama may have a lot of “positives” when it comes to attracting automobile factories, but North Carolina has a lot of positives too. We have a rich history of textile manufacturing, and if President Trump’s corporate tax package works as planned, then the Megasite would be a perfect location for an ex-patriated textile plant. We also have a pretty impressive transportation system with easy access to roads, rail, and air, and we’re only a few hours from a sea port, so the Megasite could easily accommodate a major distribution center. But North Carolina is also known for two other “positives”: racing and tourism. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could put a NASCAR track at the Megasite, and an amusement park adjacent to it, perhaps one that even includes some racing-related rides. Yes we already have Carowinds and the Charlotte Motor Speedway, but three other states have more than one NASCAR track, and over 20 states are home to multiple theme parks, so there’s no reason why Randolph County can’t have both.

OK so we didn’t get what we asked for from Toyota/Mazda. What we got was a drive shaft up our rear end. But that’s OK, because we can do better, and thanks to the Megasite team, we will.

 
 

Late last year Seattle-based Amazon.com announced plans to build a second headquarters in order to better serve its growing customer base in North America. Amazon says the new plant will cost $5 billion dollars to construct, and will eventually bring 50,000 jobs to the community that lands it. But not every community is in the running. For one thing, Amazon said it would only locate the so-named HQ2 in a metropolitan area with a population of at least one million people. Moreover, the new facility will require 750,000 square feet of space from the get-go, and up to 8 million square feet by 2027.

Immediately following the big announcement, a number of big cities began wooing the e-commerce giant, while some smaller localities let it be known that they hoped to team up with adjacent cities and counties in order to meet Amazon’s population criteria. Nevertheless, Atlanta is now rumored to be the front-runner. In fact, according to Business Insider’s Haley Peterson, Amazon is sending a lobbyist to meet with Georgia lawmakers sometime this month, presumably to negotiate potential perks, such as tax breaks and cash incentives. Even so, Amazon could do a lot worse than the Piedmont Triad. After all, we have the space. We have a slew of community colleges to help train or re-train prospective employees, and we have the infrastructure to accommodate Amazon’s logistical requirements. But there are some ethical flies in the ointment for Triad area officials.

Over the past few years a number of local governing bodies and business organizations have urged all of us to “Buy Local”, rather than do our shopping online. They point out that local businesses pay local taxes, hire local employees, bank locally, and contribute to local charities. The message from local leaders has been clear: “Local is good, Amazon is bad”. Now, these same local officials are all giddy over the possibility of luring “bad” Amazon to our area. Suddenly their “Buy Local” message has become convoluted. So which message are we to believe? How can we support local businesses if we recruit their nemesis to locate here? It’s a dilemma for sure, but one which might easily be resolved by examining a few facts.

First of all, in order to land Amazon’s new HQ2, we would have to pony up massive incentives. True, most economic development perks are tied to specific conditions of performance and employment. But we’ve been burned before by playing that game. Remember when Dell made our Commerce Secretary believe that we’d need to come up with over $300 million dollars in incentives in order to beat Virginia’s bid, which turned out to be only $30 million dollars? Then Dell promised to hire hundreds of people, only to turn around a year later and announce that the desktop computer market had dropped off, so they were closing the new plant in Forsyth County. Amazon says its new facility will eventually employ 50,000 people, but some market experts are already predicting a stock drop for Amazon, so there’s no guarantee that those jobs will ever materialize.

Second, let’s get back to the harm Amazon does to local businesses. One reason Amazon is able to undercut local stores is because of the tax breaks and other incentives it receives, which are not available to those local stores, and which helps to lower Amazon’s overhead. In a 2014 article for Alternet, Jim Hightower reported that, in Texas, Amazon enjoys a “price subsidy of more than eight cents on every dollar of its sales”. Those kinds of subsidies net Amazon an additional several billion dollars in profit each year. Hard for a local shoe store to beat those odds. Then there is the matter of pay. According to a 2013 report by Glassdoor.com, Amazon pays its warehouse workers about 17% less than the average American warehouse worker. That also translates to lower overhead for Amazon. And speaking of warehouse workers, that brings us to another ethical dilemma when recruiting Amazon to our area.

According to the Institute for Local Self Reliance (ILSR) and other sources, Amazon works its employees long hours under sometimes unhealthy conditions. For example, ILSR noted “life threatening” temperatures inside some of Amazon’s warehouses during summer months. And just last week, Tribune newspapers reported that an Amazon fulfillment center in Plainfield, Indiana had been without heat for at least three weeks. Facility employees feared losing their jobs if they complained of the frigid working conditions, and Amazon only attended to the problem after word leaked out to the news media.

So let’s review. If the Piedmont Triad were to land Amazon’s new plant, there would be no guarantee of 50,000 jobs, nor of how well those employees would be paid or treated. Local businesses would continue to suffer because they can’t compete with Amazon, who we’ve agreed to help subsidize. And, our local leaders would have to change their slogan to, “Buy Local, Except for Here.”

Truth is, Amazon probably won’t locate HQ2 in the Triad, but that might not be such a bad thing. Newly fashioned jobs are important, but so are old-fashioned ethics.

 
 

When I was a little boy, I dreamed of becoming a great athlete, a rugged cowboy, or a famous actor. None of those dreams came true for me, but all of them did for one little boy who grew up poor in war-torn Nazi Germany. His is a remarkable journey which even he is astonished by, thus the title of his new book, I’ll Be Damned: How My Young and Restless Life Led Me to America’s #1 Daytime Drama.

For the past 38 years, Eric Braeden (real name Hans Gudegast) has starred as Victor Newman, the iconic, EMMY-winning antagonist of The Young and the Restless. He arrived at the fictional Genoa City in 1980, first by way of Bredenbek, Germany (the town from which he took his stage name), then Galveston, Texas, then Montana and California. As a young man he was a track and field champion in his native land, then after immigrating to America he took jobs as a ranch hand, a furniture mover, a car valet, a lumber mill worker, and a documentary filmmaker, before his good looks and considerable talent led him to a full-time acting career. Like his alter ego on TV, Eric is a serious man who doesn’t suffer fools gladly. He is a deep thinker who is passionate about politics and the state of the world around him. He has a wry sense of humor and a strong sense of self, and, above all, he is fiercely devoted to his family. I recently spoke with Eric about a wide range of topics, including his decision to write an autobiography.

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JL: Why did you write the book? And why now?

EB: Several people had prevailed upon me, including my family, to write it down, so finally I succumbed, and it was not as painful as I thought it would be. Not that it was painful, but there’s a point where you just don’t want to talk about yourself. I’m interested in things outside of myself…because a constant preoccupation with oneself leads to nowhere.

JL: Your love of and proficiency in athletics is a common thread that runs through the book. What does the competition of sports teach us about life?

EB: Essentially what it teaches you is not to give up. Even if you suffer a loss, you come back and say, “OK, how do I improve what I do?”, and then try it again, and the next time you’ll probably be better. I grew up competing in discus, shot put and javelin, and what’s so great about track and field is that it is qualitatively measurable. There’s no bullshit about it. And you never give up, and that has become a guiding principal in my life. I don’t take “No” for an answer. I don’t listen to people who say I can’t do something. I say, “Oh really? I’ll show you.”

JL: That defiant spirit manifested itself in 1966 when you landed the role of a Nazi officer in The Rat Patrol. The producers wanted you to play the character in stereotypical fashion, but you refused because you wanted him to be a three-dimensional human being. Did it occur to you that ABC might have fired you for not taking “No” for an answer?

EB: I didn’t care. If I know that I’m right about something, then I don’t care. I was not insisting on something that was morally wrong. I just wanted it to be a truer representation of what it meant for a young German to be in the Africa Corps for heaven’s sake. There are so many stereotypes about Germans, about Russians, about Americans, and those stereotypes are dangerous.

JL: Is it true that while filming Rat Patrol you actually showed up in court one day wearing your Nazi uniform to defend against a speeding ticket?

EB: You know, [laughs] I hate to say it, but yes I did. We were shooting at MGM and I had to rush to court, but there was no time to change. So I walked in with my hat under my arm and the marshals had a big grin on their faces, and I apologized for the uniform. [During the hearing] I asked the officer, ”When did you have your speedometer calibrated last?”, and he couldn’t answer. I won the case.

JL: How could you not? [both laugh] In 1970 you had a chance to break out of playing German soldiers, when Universal offered you the starring role in the sci-fi classic, Colossus: The Forbin Project. But the studio would only hire you if you took an Americanized name, so Hans Gudegast became Eric Braeden. Did you ever regret changing your name?

EB: To be honest with you, at first, almost every day, but the name Braeden gave me an emotional tie to the village I came from. Still, it was a difficult thing, no two ways about that.

JL: Does anyone still call you Hans?

EB: Only close friends. It’s an extraordinary separation. Anyone who knows me as Eric, and calls me Hans, I say, “No, no, you don’t have that privilege, don’t do that.” And vice versa.

JL: After Colossus, you were in demand as a guest star on a myriad of TV dramas, then in 1980 you were hired for Y&R.

EB: When I made the choice to do a soap. A lot of actors said, “You’re doing what?”, as if I had contracted some type of disease. [laughs] A lot of those people have not been heard from since, but I’m still working. I’m still standing.

JL: I heard that you never watch yourself after an episode’s been shot.

EB: Doing a film you have all of the time in the world, big deal. Doing night-time television, big deal. But doing what we do is a harder medium than any in Hollywood. About a month ago I had to learn 74 pages of dialogue in one day. It’s hard work under very limiting circumstances and I have great respect for our production company, but I’m hard put to watch something that I was a part of. No, it’s on to the next thing.

JL: Speaking of the next thing, you are quite fervent in your beliefs about helping others. One way to do that is by holding elected office. Your father once served as a mayor, so why haven’t you run for governor or Congress?

EB: [laughs] Good question, but I would have pissed off too many people. I say what is on my mind, and in that sense, I am not politically correct. Has it occurred to me? Vaguely. Am I interested in politics? Passionately, because we all need to be engaged, otherwise they [career politicians] run roughshod.

JL: Too bad you won’t run, because all of your fans would vote for you. By the way, I know you receive a lot of fan mail from women. Have any of them ever expressed a desire to know you in a carnal way?

EB: [laughs] Yeah, of course! Why not? And I’m very grateful to them.

JL: Eric, the title of your book isn’t so much one of profanity as it is one of astonishment, especially considering the journey you’ve made and where you ended up. Right?

EB: Absolutely. Totally astonishment.

---

I’ll Be Damned is available in book stores or from Amazon.com.
 
 

I don’t put much stock in top ten lists because they are generally subjective in nature. Even lists that are compiled from public polling can be skewed based on which public was polled. On the other hand, lists can serve as conversation starters, and anything that encourages constructive dialogue can’t be all bad. My list is based on one simple criterion: select issues or news stories which had a significant impact on our state. Disagree if you will, but here is my top ten list for 2017.

10. Gerrymandering and Voting Reforms

In 2015 the Courts ruled that racial gerrymandering existed in over two dozen of our legislative districts, and ordered that we re-draw them for the 5 millionth time. But a three-judge panel wasn’t satisfied with the GOP legislature’s latest effort, so it appointed a “special master” to adjust four districts, including two in Guilford County. As of this writing we still don’t know which version will stand, but what we do know is that candidates must file for office by February 28, or else the 2018 elections could be in jeopardy. No matter how this mess gets resolved, we’ll still be left with similar problems to sort out in at least two of our Congressional districts. Lo, the gerrymanderers will always be with us.

9. Town Hall Meetings Get a Black Eye

Thanks to the influences of reality TV, a president who bullies people, and a Congress that thrives on vitriol, an increasing number of folks who show up at public meetings, have become loud, rude, and, in some cases, threatening to the elected officials hosting the event. Things have gotten so bad that the RNC hired a consultant to advise Congressmen on how to protect themselves at town hall meetings. Meanwhile a number of Congressmen and Senators say they will only hold town halls if they can participate electronically, while others say they have stopped hosting public meetings altogether. Senator Richard Burr is one of those who no longer wants to face his constituents in person, while Rep. Mark Walker says he will continue to press the flesh so long as those who disagree with him let him get a word in edge wise. Whether on TV talk shows or at a local meeting, people don’t seem to discuss anymore, they just seem to yell and interrupt. Shouting matches may be good for building viewership, but not for building common ground.

8. Boy Scouts vs Girl Scouts

Boy Scouts of America can’t seem to catch a break. A couple of years ago it was revealed that BSA had been keeping documents from the public that detailed decades worth of sexual abuse by adult scout leaders. Then BSA made news by embracing openly gay scout leaders and transgender youth. And earlier this year, BSA announced it would start accepting girls into its ranks, effectively launching a gender recruitment war with the Girl Scouts. It’s a desperate attempt by BSA to bolster its membership rolls, but don’t look for a run on unisex badges because this idea has no merit.

7. The President’s Brain is Missing

Trump’s critics have always contended that he is unstable, but this year, two dozen, non-partisan mental health professionals published a collection of studies which concluded that the President suffers from a number of clinical and emotional disorders. Adding to the chorus is a noted neurologist who recently concluded that Mr. Trump has a brain disorder, and in December, at least two high profile newspaper editorial boards wrote that the President is mentally ill and should resign. All of these conclusions are based upon Trumps own words, tweets, and actions which continue to alienate our allies and divide our nation. Meanwhile, the President is fending off charges of sexual misconduct from no less than twenty women, and it’s still possible that the Special Counsel will indict him for obstruction of justice in the Russia probe. Trump should do the right thing and resign, but he won’t, and so long as Republicans control Congress, impeachment for any reason is unlikely. That’s why the least painful alternative would be for his Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove him from office due to incapacitation. Trump biographer Tony Schwartz recently told CNN that the President acts like a nine-year-old child. If that’s the case, then let’s get him out of the White House, and give him a chance to grow up in his own house.

6. The Aftermath of HB2

The transgender bathroom controversy of 2016 was created by former Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts, the ill-named Human Rights Campaign, and Attorney General Roy Cooper, for the dual purpose of putting Governor Pat McCrory between a rock and a hard place over a problem that never really existed, and putting Cooper in the Governor’s Mansion. Still it was McCrory who made numerous attempts to prevent, then kill, his party’s HB2 law, yet he was the one who got blamed for a bad bill that he had nothing to do with. That irony cost him re-election. Meanwhile, thanks to an investigative report by WBTV, we now know that last Summer, then Attorney General Cooper pressured Democrat lawmakers not to cooperate on a compromise until after the election. His strategy worked, and Cooper eked out a narrow victory over McCrory. But early on in 2017, the LGBT community realized Cooper had been disingenuous in his opposition to HB2, and his subsequent HB142 was merely a cosmetic attempt to placate transgender activists, and convince organizations like the ACC and NCAA to call off their boycott of our state. The truth is there was never going to be any bathroom police and industry prospects knew it, which is why North Carolina continued to thrive and be recognized as America’s most business-friendly state.

5. The Opioid Epidemic

Studies show that opioid-related deaths are on the rise in the Triad. From 2005 to 2015, opioid overdose deaths went from 13 to 53 in Forsyth County, and from 27 to 47 in Guilford. As a result, community leaders and legislators are pushing for stricter laws dealing with the sale and distribution of prescription pain killers. In fact, Governor Cooper’s HB 243 puts severe restrictions on physicians who prescribe opioids, and it will even limit public supply of those drugs. Meanwhile, the NC Hospital Association is urging emergency departments to start using non-opioids to treat pain. The problem is that some of these well-meaning reformers are failing to make a distinction between various types of drugs and the abuses that are occurring. They will never stop addicts from shooting up heroin, so the easy solution is to make it more difficult for honest people to obtain much needed pain medicine. We already have laws on the books to deal with unscrupulous doctors and drug dealers, but we can’t save everyone who accidentally or deliberately overdoses on a legitimate medication. Drug abuse is a problem, but we won’t solve it by over reacting and penalizing people who need pain meds and who use them as directed.

4. Vegas Massacre and Gun Reforms

We’ve been fortunate here in the Triad to escape the horrors of a mass shooting such as the one that took place in Las Vegas, during an outdoor concert in October. Nevertheless, we are all susceptible to those kinds of incidents because neither federal or state legislators have seen fit to ban assault weapons. Common sense tells us that such a ban would have been enacted following Sandy Hook where 20 small children were massacred. It wasn’t. Nor did Congress take action after the Orlando nightclub massacre which claimed the lives of 49 people. So don’t hold your breath that any substantive gun reforms will result from the Vegas massacre which left 58 people dead and 500 wounded. The question is why won’t Congress protect us from assault weapons? The answer is money. The NRA and other pro-gun PACS donate millions of dollars to Congressmen, including our own Senator Richard Burr who has accepted $7 million dollars from the NRA alone. And so, the men we elected to protect OUR interests are instead protecting special interests. It wouldn’t kill these politicians to do the right thing, but it might kill the rest of us if they don’t.

3. Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault

When actress Ashley Judd blew the whistle on film producer Harvey Weinstein, she opened a Pandora’s box of sexual harassment and sexual assault charges by scores of women from all walks of life, and started a national discussion about what kind of behavior is and is not acceptable in the workplace. There are no precise statistics which show how pervasive workplace offenses are in the Triad, but thanks to Judd, the news media, and a growing number of female Congresspersons who are demanding reforms and resignations, we can rest assure that male employers in our area who are given to inappropriate touching, are now on notice to clean up their act.

2. The Racial Justice Movement

Despite electing our first African-American president in 2008, we have seen a rise in racism and openly racist behavior over the past ten years. Memberships in the KKK and other hate groups have increased, far-right politicians have ramped up their exclusionary rhetoric, and a handful of rogue policemen have used unnecessary force on minority suspects. And while some people have marched for racial justice, others, like a group in Charlottesville, marched to promote white supremacy. That event sparked a heated national debate about Confederate monuments. There was also a continuing debate about athletes and the national anthem. In 2016, San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick protested police brutality and racial injustice by kneeling during the anthem, but once he was cut from the 49ers, the momentum for his protest lost steam. Then, earlier this year President Trump reignited the controversy when he tweeted derogatory remarks aimed at the few players who were still kneeling during the National Anthem. That prompted a majority of NFL players to kneel in solidarity. Trump then tried to make the protests all about disrespecting the flag and the military, and, to no one’s surprise, neither he nor Congress have taken action to promote racial unity, or tried to prevent racially motivated police violence.

1. The Healthcare Debacle

Republicans in Congress opposed Obama’s Affordable Care Act when it was proposed, and they have pledged to repeal it ever since. But guess what? After the GOP took control of Congress and the White House in January of 2017, they still couldn’t make good on their long-suffering promise to “Repeal and Replace” Obamacare (although thanks to the new tax bill, Obama’s insurance mandate will fall by the wayside). So why the failed attempts at reform? Probably because every Republican proposal was significantly flawed. For example, Paul Ryan’s 142 page “Better Care Reconciliation Act” (BCRA) would have allowed insurance companies to charge older persons (ages 50 to 64) FIVE times the monthly premium as that of younger people. Thus a 49-year-old healthy male might pay $500 per month for insurance, but a 50-year-old man might pay $2,500 for the exact same policy. To date, we are still without clearly defined healthcare reforms, and still subject to the normally obscene increases in monthly premiums. Things could be worse, but I don’t know how. Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare for All” plan is looking mighty good now.
 
 

As we celebrate and enjoy this holiday season, let’s not forget that there are people beyond our immediate circle of family and friends who could benefit from our love and generosity. Over the past decade, I’ve been able to showcase scores of community organizations on Triad Today, and in the process, I’ve learned that there are several ways we can help these agencies help others. The first is to donate goods. Second is to donate money. And, third is to donate our time. Of course, some nonprofit groups can benefit from all three types of giving. Here, in no particular order, are just a few organizations to which you might lend your support.

Kernersville Foundation: Founded in 1999, the Kernersville Foundation provides financial assistance to non-profit organizations that serve the Kernersville community. Beneficiaries include the Mayor’s Council for Persons with Disabilities, the Kernersville Little Theatre, Kernersville Cares for Kids, and many more. Donations can be made directly online by visiting KernersvilleFoundation.org.

Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC: Unfortunately, the Piedmont Triad has one of the worst hunger problems in the nation, and that includes the problem of childhood hunger. To help alleviate the hunger problem, the Second Harvest Food Bank distributes food to churches and nonprofit agencies that feed hungry people in an 18 county area. You can write a check directly to the food bank, and you can drop-off non-perishable food items at a number of locations in our area. For more information call 336-784-5770, or visit HungerNWNC.org.

Goodwill Industries of Northwest NC: Each year, over 45,000 people in Northwest NC are served by workforce development programs that are administered by Goodwill. Those programs are supported in part by the clothing and other items we donate, which are then sold at Goodwill retail stores. That means, the more items you donate, the more people will get back to work. Goodwill also welcomes monetary donations. For more information call 336-724-3621, or visit GoodwillNWNC.org.

Crossnore School and Children’s Home: The first Crossnore school was founded in 1913 as a boarding school for disadvantaged children. The Children’s Home, founded in 1909, began as an orphanage and today serves children in residential group foster care. The two organizations merged in January, 2017 in order to serve more children in the Triad and Western NC. The Triad campus is located on Reynolda Road in Winston-Salem. For more information, to volunteer, or make a donation, visit Crossnore.org, or call (336) 721-7600.

Cancer Services, Inc.: Their stated mission is “to enhance quality of life for those living with cancer, and to provide the gift of life through education”. Their services include patient advocacy, medication and financial assistance, providing equipment and supplies, offering peer support groups, and much more. 90% of funds donated to Cancer Services, Inc. goes directly to providing client services. In addition to money, you can also donate used equipment and supplies. Call 336-760-9983, or visit CancerServicesOnline.org.

Greensboro Urban Ministry is on the front lines when it comes to providing emergency assistance. Greensboro Urban Ministry provides homeless families in Guilford County a safe, temporary environment. They also operate a food bank, and offer a chaplaincy service. Volunteers are needed to prepare and serve meals, manage shelters, tutor children, and perform a variety of other duties. Monetary donations are also much appreciated. Call 336-271-5959, or visit GreensboroUrbanMinistry.org.

Mtn. Valley Hospice: a non profit program that serves a sixteen county area in North Carolina and Virginia, and provides personalized care for patients at the end of life, as well as comfort to families. Mountain Valley Hospice has six regional offices, and operates the Woltz Hospice Home in Mt. Airy and the SECU Hospice Home in Yadkinville. They also specialize in care for terminally ill children and veterans. To give money or inquire about volunteering, call 1-888-789-2922, or visit MtnValleyHospice.org.

The Petty Family Foundation: NASCAR legend Richard Petty and his family support a number of charitable organizations and specialized programs, including Paralyzed Veterans of America and Victory Junction Camp, the latter of which provides an uplifting experience for children with severe disabilities and terminal illnesses. To make a donation or learn more, visit PettyFamilyFoundation.org.

The P.O.W.E.R. of Play Foundation: Founded by former NFL star Ricky Proehl and his wife Kelly, the Foundation works with at-risk youth, teaching them important life lessons in a structured, sports-centered environment. Daily programs are offered at Proehlific Park in Greensboro, which also offers state-of-the-art athletic facilities for adults. Each year, Ricky also teams with Richard Petty to distribute toys to needy children through their “Santa’s Helpers” campaign. To make a donation or for more information, call 336-665-5233, or visit ProehlificPark.com.

Carolina Donor Services and Red Cross … There can be no greater gift at this holiday season than the gift of life, and that’s why you might consider donating blood, and signing a donor card. Either gesture requires only a few minutes of your time, and will almost certainly result in saving someone’s life in the future. You can reach Carolina Donor Services at 1-800 200-2672, or at CarolinaDonorServices.org. You can call the Red Cross at 336-333-2111, or via the internet at GSORedCross.org.

Please remember that your donations of time, money, or goods to area community organizations is vitally important, not just now, but throughout the coming year. It’s also a way for us to expand the circle of people we care about, and that’s something worth celebrating in this season of giving.
 
 

According to a recent poll, 61% of all Americans believe Donald Trump should be impeached if he is proven guilty of any of the sexual assault charges leveled at him by over a dozen women. But if he is removed from office, it probably won’t be because of his behavior toward women. It will more likely be due to his behavior in general.

I first wrote about Donald Trump’s erratic behavior in August of 2016. In that column I cited a number of incidents that many people found disturbing, among them: his mocking of a disabled reporter; his suggestion that Meghan Kelly couldn’t effectively moderate a debate because she might be on her menstrual cycle; his berating of a Muslim gold star family who had lost a son in combat, but who dared to criticize candidate Trump for his view of Muslims; his referring to a black man at a Trump rally as, “My African American”; his saying that the world would be a safer place if more countries have nuclear weapons; and his suggesting to a crowd of supporters that if Hillary was elected, they might take a shot at her. Unfortunately the lunacy and insensitivity didn’t end after Trump was elected.

Since taking office, Mr. Trump has obsessed about the results of last fall’s election, claiming that he would have won the popular vote had it not been for 3 million illegals who cast ballots for Hillary, a fact which has been disproven and which the President ignores. He even ignores his own words. Last year he admitted to and apologized for his language on the Access Hollywood tape, but now he says the tape might not be authentic. Last week he used an ethnic slur while staging a photo op with a group of Navajo war heroes, but doesn’t think he did anything wrong. Then there was the time he blurted out classified information to the Russian ambassador about Israeli security measures, but doesn’t understand why some of our intelligence officials reportedly now distrust him with sensitive information. And, along the way, he has alienated just about every ally in the world, including, most recently, when he re- tweeted anti-Muslim footage from “Britain First”, a fascist group that has been denounced by British government. Trump couldn’t see what harm he had done, but the British PM did, and so did Stephen Doughty, a member of Parliament, who said, “Trump is either a racist, incompetent, unthinking, or all three.”

It’s hard to explain Donald Trump’s inability to understand the consequences of his words, or the difference between reality and fantasy. Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said of Trump, “He wanders between the real world, and the world of Donald Trump.” Iconic investigative journalist Carl Bernstein said of Trump’s tweets, “What we see is a road map of his mind, and it’s a very disturbing road map.” And David Gergen, former adviser to three presidents, commented, “Trump is living in his own reality.”

Nevertheless, the warnings of numerous former government officials now ring true. In 2016, no less than 50 former Republican security officials and cabinet secretaries issued an open letter saying that, if Trump is elected, he would be the most reckless president in our history. Former CIA director Michael Morell went even further, saying Trump, “…may well pose a threat to our national security, and would be a dangerous Commander-in-Chief.” And, Libertarian Vice Presidential candidate William Weld, who had served as an officer in the Justice Department, said of Trump, “He has a screw loose.”

But perhaps the most telling of criticisms- have come from a group of mental health professionals. In my 2016 column, I reported on the preliminary findings of that group, who just this year published a compilation of their conclusions in a book titled, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump. In their book, they diagnose Mr. Trump as having a wide range of behavioral and emotional illnesses, including Narcissistic Personality Disorder. One of the contributors to the book is Tony Schwartz, who also co-authored Trump’s 1987 book, The Art of the Deal. Recently Schwartz told CNN that “He [Trump] doesn’t have a conscience, and he doesn’t have an internal moral arbiter.” It should be noted that the American Psychiatric Association has denounced the book, saying that it is unprofessional to diagnose someone without having seen them. But the book’s editor, Dr. Bandy Lee points out that any clinical conclusions reached by him and over two dozen other mental health professionals, are based upon their review of Trump’s own words, thus they have “seen” the patient, and believe him to be unfit for office. Editors at the New York Daily News concur, and, following the President’s anti-Muslim tweet storm last month, they published a scathing editorial titled, “Donald Trump is a Madman”. In it, they wrote, “After his latest spasm of deranged tweets, only those completely under his spell can deny what growing numbers of Americans have long suspected: the President of the United States is profoundly unstable. He is mad. He is, by any honest layman’s definition, mentally unwell…”.

Under the 25^th Amendment, the Cabinet can remove Mr. Trump from office by claiming he is “incapacitated.” As severe as that sounds, it may be the most expedient and least painful way for America to sever itself from this man, whose divisive words and actions continue to damage our own collective psyche, as well as our global relationships and reputation. Speaking with CNN, Mr. Schwartz said that Trump “acts like a nine-year-old child”. If that’s the case, then let’s get him out of the White House, and give him a chance to grow up in his own house.
 
 

One of the earliest fables I recall from my childhood was about the boy who cried wolf. The story goes that a shepherd boy kept crying wolf when there was no wolf. Eventually the villagers got tired of being pranked with false alarms, so one day when a real wolf actually appeared, the boy cried for help, and no one came to the rescue. According to the Greek version, the boy and the sheep were killed by the wolf, prompting this lesson: “Even if liars tell the truth, no one will believe them.”

Today we are inundated with reports of sexual harassment and sexual assault, but the problem is, in many cases, we have no way of knowing whether the accused is lying, or if the accuser is crying wolf. Writing for SLATE.com, Cathy Young cited women’s activist Jessica Valenti as saying that we should, “believe victims en masse.” Valenti’s comments echoed those of attorney Catherine MacKinnon who, some three decades ago, wrote, “feminism is built on believing women’s accounts of sexual use and abuse by men.” But, says Ms. Young, “de facto presumption of guilt in alleged sexual offenses is as dangerous as a presumption of guilt in any case.”

Young’s warning makes sense. On the one hand we might logically conclude that a man who has been accused of sexual misconduct by dozens or even scores of women, is probably guilty of at least some of the charges. We might also conclude that he is probably a sleazy, sexist pervert. On the other hand, we must be careful not to accept every accusation as fact until they are proven to be so.

Earlier this month while Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, Roy Moore, Al Franken, John Conyers, and Charlie Rose were scrambling to defend themselves against a spate of assault charges, a woman called the Daily Mail to report that, in the Summer of 1986, Sylvester Stallone raped her in his Las Vegas hotel room. The woman, who was 16 years old at the time of the alleged assault, was very detailed in her description of the time and place. But a few days later, Stallone’s ex-wife, Brigette Nielsen, came forward and shot a big hole in the woman’s story. During the Summer in question, Sly was in Vegas filming Over the Top and also enjoying a honeymoon with Ms. Nielsen who said, “The incident did not occur. Most of the day I watched him film, then we’d have dinner and go to our room. No other person was in the room with him but me.” Nielsen went on to say that she and Sly were together 24/7. So much for the rape accusation. Perhaps the woman who lied about Stallone just wanted a big financial settlement or a book deal, nevertheless, false reports like hers are happening more frequently these days, and they don’t just involve celebrities.

Several years ago I wrote about a male teacher at Wiley Middle School in Winston-Salem who was suspended after three of his female students accused him of sexually assaulting them. Weeks later the girls confessed that they had fabricated the assault incident because they were angry that the teacher had given them a bad grade. Eventually the teacher was reinstated and received a cash settlement from the school system, but his reputation was permanently stained. History repeated itself last month when two local high school girls accused their male teacher of sexual assault. When news spread of the assault, protests and violence broke out at the school. Days later, the girls admitted they had lied. They made up the assault story because of their dislike for the teacher. Another reputation ruined.

Sadly, it’s not just reputations and careers that are damaged by false claims of sexual misconduct. In 2005, a male teacher in Roanoke, Virginia was accused of sexually assaulting a female student. The local prosecutor went after the teacher hard and was determined to make an example of him. After all was said and done, the girl admitted to lying, but the truth came too late. The teacher had committed suicide just prior to his exoneration.

And who can forget the woman who brought down the entire Duke University lacrosse team when she accused them of gang rape. Her accusations were later proved to be false, but not before the student athletes’ reputations were irreparably harmed, and their college lacrosse careers ended. And what about California high school football star Brian Banks who was sent to prison in 2007 for raping a female student. He was released five years later when the woman apologized for having made up the rape story. In a similar case, James Grissom spent ten years in a Michigan prison for raping a woman. He was released in 2012 after her story was proven to be a lie.

In the past few years women have cried wolf in Las Vegas, Winston-Salem, Durham, Roanoke, Detroit, and many other cities, resulting in great pain to innocent men and their families. In fact, some studies, such as one conducted by psychologist David Lisak, suggest that as many as 8% of all sexual assault claims are false, and another 50% never go to trial because of insufficient evidence. Thus, McKinnon and Valenti’s position that all female accusers must be believed, is clearly flawed, and quantifiably damaging.

Sexual assault is a serious crime and men who are guilty of it, especially those who prey on young girls and female employees, are despicable human beings, who should do hard time in prison if proven guilty. But girls and women who make false accusations should also be punished, first for ruining the lives and reputations of innocent men, and second, for making it more difficult for real victims of sexual assault to come forward and seek justice.

There are plenty of wolves out there, and we should all come running whenever there’s a cry for help. We just need to be sure who we’re attacking: the real wolf, or the one in sheep’s clothing.