Tom Keane

The Year That Was: Donald Dominates, #MeToo Materializes And Kim’s Cantankerous

It was the year of the Donald – and Russia, shootings and sexual harassment.

Liar, Liar, pants on fire. The largest-ever crowds to attend any event ever in Washington, D.C. watched as Donald Trump was inaugurated on January 20. That statement marked the first of hundreds of falsehoods, prevarications, tall tales, inaccuracies and fibs from the president and his spokespeople. George Washington Trump’s not.

Year one and counting. Was Trump’s first year a success? It began with a breathtaking series of executive orders that seemed radical to some, but were actually exactly what he promised. Trump fell in and out of love with the GOP, White House hires came and went, approval ratings dropped and legislation languished amid such distractions as presidential succor for white supremacists. Constant tweeting weakened Trump’s effectiveness, even as it kept him central to the political conversation. Still, Neil Gorsuch was confirmed to the Supreme Court and regulations reviled by business and the Right were gutted. Trump signed tax reform legislation just before Christmas — a law that also effectively undermined Obamacare. And his base stuck with him through it all. By December, Trump seemed to have found some sort of footing. Best of all for the new president: Despite his missteps, the economy boomed. Good jobs and high wages earn politicians a lot of forgiveness.

Putin’s long reach. The Russia-related investigations were a national preoccupation for all of 2017. The House and Senate got involved first. Then, after Trump fired FBI head James Comey, the Justice Department was in the mix too, appointing Robert Mueller to head an independent inquiry. All made for tantalizing headlines, yet it all seems to be coming to nothing. A few have been caught in the net -- Gen. Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort most notably -- but the big fish remains elusive. Those hoping the Trump saga ends with impeachment may be disappointed.

Vote for me! Democrats seemed to have a perfect foil in President Trump. Yet, Republicans won key special elections in Kansas, Georgia and South Carolina. In addition, the Dems seemed unable to come up with a coherent message — except to oppose anything from the White House. November, at last, brought a big win, as Alabama voters refused to elect alleged pedophile Roy Moore to the U.S. Senate. Democrats took that as a sign the tide had turned and started predicting they’d win back Congress in the 2018 mid-terms. Maybe. Moore’s loss wasn’t because Alabamians suddenly turned progressive. Rather, Moore is awful. Republicans -- and even Steve Bannon -- have probably learned their lesson.

Disasters aplenty. A seemingly endless series of hurricanes hammered the country. Meanwhile, California battled record-breaking fires. To many, the two seemed linked to changing weather patterns brought about by climate change. Not the White House, though, which pulled the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord, commanded the EPA to reverse rules that identify CO2 as a pollutant, and generally treated the natural disasters as business-as-usual. Except for Puerto Rico. There, the Trump administration’s attitude seemed to be that the U.S. territory got what it deserved.

Nothing to see here. A series of shootings, some large and some small, shook the country. At a baseball practice in June, a gunman opened fire on members of Congress. In October, a gunman killed 58 and injured 515 at a music festival in Las Vegas. Yet another shooting in November killed 26 at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. In fact, there were more than 340 mass shootings in 2017. And the response from Congress and the president? Tax reform.

Provocateurs. North Korea solidified its position as the world’s enfant terrible. The hermit kingdom assassinated the half-brother of dictator Kim Jong Un in February, threatened to nuke Guam and tested a series of missiles designed to reach the U.S. mainland. Trump and Kim engaged in an escalating war of words, sounding like grade schoolers screeching at each other in the playground. So far, neither has said, “And so’s your mother.” That’s for 2018.

28-3. The New England Patriots won the Super Bowl in an improbable comeback, making for a thrilling game. Otherwise, things in the NFL didn’t go so well: Players started taking knees, attendance and viewership declined and more evidence emerged about the risks of concussions. The end of football may well be nigh – but not, one hopes, until after Super Bowl LII.

Sinecure. When Boston city councilor Tito Jackson announced in January that he was running against incumbent mayor Marty Walsh, political insiders dismissed his chances. Turned out they were right. Jackson suffered a crushing defeat and Walsh, to his delight, discovered the job is likely his as long as he wants it.

Weinstein effect. If Trump was the man of the year, sexual harassment was the theme of the year. It began slowly, with a series of departures at Fox News that led progressives to think harassment was a conservative problem. Then, in October, the Harvey Weinstein story broke. Suddenly a spate of liberal stalwarts were shown the door, including Sen Al Franken, Congressman John Conyers, Louis CK and journalist Charlie Rose. Turns out piggishness is not partisan.

Dearly departed. Of all the notable exits from the White House – Michael Flynn, Reince Priebus, Sean Spicer, Steve Bannon, Tom Price and Omarosa Manigault – the one I regret most is communications director Anthony Scaramucci. Profane and outrageous, the Mooch offered tons of entertainment value. Kind of like his boss. Which, it turned out, was the problem. In the White House, there’s only room for one.

 

The Week That Was: Perennial Politics, Law's Legacy And Prohibited Phrases

It was the week when Donald Trump finally notched a win.

• Teamwork. Many folks have wondered whether politics in Washington is broken. They got their answer this week. Yes. The tax plan passed Congress with nary a single Democratic vote. In the same way that Obamacare in 2009 passed with nary a single Republican vote. There may be new players on the field, but the game remains the same.
• Bad timing. With Republicans on the ropes and Trump’s approval ratings at historic lows, can the tax legislation reverse the GOP’s fortunes? Polling shows only 33 percent of Americans approve of the so-called reform, thinking it a giveaway to corporations and the rich funded by the middle-class. That speaks to smart messaging by Democrats, who have pounded away at those themes. But Republicans hope that, once voters actually get to file under the new system, they’ll change their minds. Maybe. But here’s the problem. Come April 15 of 2018, taxpayers will be filing based on the old system. It won’t be until April 2019 that they file under the new. That’s four months after the 2018 midterm elections. Republicans: Be afraid. Be very afraid.
• The anti-Scrooge. Here’s something that could give the GOP hope, however. Both AT&T and Comcast have announced they’ll give every one of their employees a $1,000 bonus after Trump signs the tax bill. With over 300,000 employees between them, that’s a big chunk of change — and seems to make good on Republicans’ belief that companies would share the wealth from their tax cuts, rather than keeping it to themselves. Is a new era of corporate enlightenment upon us? Don’t hold your breath.
• Priorities. New data showed that life expectancy for Americans actually dropped in 2016 for the second year in a row. We’ve gone from a high of 78.9 years to 78.7 and now to 78.6. The reason: Deaths from drug overdoses. There were 63,600 of them in 2016 alone. It’s an issue that’s ripe for Congress to address but … hey, how about those tax cuts!
• Human error. An Amtrak train derailed in Seattle, killing three and injuring scores. Trump instantly tweeted that the incident proved the need to spend more on the nation’s infrastructure. It then turned out that the likely cause of the accident was the train traveling at 80 mph in a 30-mph zone, suggesting that what we really need to spend more money on is learning how to read signs.
• Newspeak. In a move that was both Carlin-ian (the late comedian George, that is) and Orwellian (George, as well), the Centers for Disease Control told employees, according to the Washington Post, that certain words are now banned from official use. The agency offered up no substitutes, however. Here’s the list of the prohibited words and my suggested alternatives:
  • Entitlement: My inheritance.
  • Diversity: My house cleaner.
  • Fetus: Something worthy of extreme protection except when it comes to health care.
  • Transgender: Sure, I have on some frilly underthings but HEY, WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?!
  • Evidence-based: Tweeted by the White House.
  • Science-based: Retweeted by Breitbart.
  • Vulnerable: GOP majority.
• Good riddance. When people we know to be bad finally die, we struggle to find something nice to say about them, trying to see the balance in their lives. Thus it was upon the passing at age 86 of Cardinal Bernard Law, the man who protected a series of abusive priests in Boston. And so we struggled. And struggled. And struggled. And failed.
• Viral marketing. Politico revealed that the Pentagon for years had in place a secret program to investigate UFOs. Suddenly, no sooner than you can say “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” we were inundated with stories about mysterious fast-moving objects in the sky. Good product placement, Disney!
• Why you should use Android. And finally, Apple admitted that it secretly installs new software in old iPhones that throttles back performance, making them slower than they were before. The company says it does so to prevent the phones from accidentally putting too much computing demand on aging batteries. Sure. The real reason, of course, is that it makes us start thinking, “Boy, I need a new phone.” And hey, looks like Apple is just about to release a new model!

This column was first published by Cognoscenti on December 22, 2017.

The Week That Was: Dixie Doings, Bannon Bruised And Two-Bit Terror

It was the week when Moore was less.

• With apologies to Lewis Carroll

And, has thou slain the Roymoorewock?

Come to my arms, my Dougish boy!

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

Ds chortled in their joy.

• Fantasy world. Any chance Roy Moore had to redeem himself was lost, as days after his defeat, he refused to concede. “The battle rages on,” he told supporters, sounding for all the world like those Japanese soldiers who – decades years after the end of World War II – continued to fight. The difference: Those soldiers were cut off from the world. Moore has the benefit of modern communications. On the other hand, the guy still rides a horse into town to vote, so maybe he doesn’t?
• 20,715 votes. The election in Alabama became a surrogate for a host of national issues: The #MeToo movement, Democrats versus Republicans and the GOP’s internal battle between the renegade Trump/Bannon wing and its more traditional establishment. For the moment, #MeToo, Dems and the establishment won and from the sound of some post-Election Day cheering, they think they won big. But still. Doug Jones’ share of the vote was only 1.54 percent more than Moore’s, meaning almost half of the electorate was OK with a pedophile, supported the GOP, and stood with the renegades. As Moore might say, “The battle rages on.”
• Meanwhile, back at home. Aside from being a surrogate for national politics, Alabamians had their own reasons to seek change. The state’s conservative politics have left it ranking near the bottom on almost every measure of well-being, be it healthcare (47th), education (also 47th), or its economy (45th). If the stuff you’re doing isn’t working, maybe it’s time to try something new.
• Wild and crazy. After Moore’s loss, Republican Rep. Pete King of New York called out Steve Bannon, saying he “looked like a disheveled drunk that wandered onto the national stage.” That line, of course, was impolite, impolitic and politically incorrect. But who amongst us hasn’t thought the same thing? True, he could be as handsome as a movie star and still espouse the same garbage. But Bannon’s bad shave, mottled skin and wild hair gives the impression he doesn’t care – about himself or his country. Sometimes you can tell the book by the cover.
• The rich get richer and the poor lose healthcare. Almost lost in all the attention on Alabama was the GOP’s tax legislation. The House-Senate conference committee apparently reached agreement on a final plan. The corporate tax rate would drop from 35 percent to 21 percent and the highest personal rate would drop from 39.6 percent to 37 percent. In addition, the bill would get rid of Obamacare’s individual mandate. It’s a two-fer! Tax reform and Obamacare repeal wrapped up in one.
• Dim wit. ISIS was quick to claim credit for a pipe bomb explosion in New York’s Times Square. I don’t know. Apparent suicide bomber Akayed Ullah appears a model of ineptness, accidentally setting off the explosive that left him burned – and very much alive. ISIS might want to hold off on the bragging.
• Andy Warhol was right. Sometimes, the efforts to trash Trump go too far. This week’s example: Stacia Robitaille. The wife of hockey player Luc Robitaille tweeted that more than 20 years ago Trump tried to pick her up, telling her in an elevator, “my husband didn’t make as much money as him.” Sorry. This sounds more like an effort for 15 minutes of fame than anything of substance. And it undermines the real stories of genuine harassment told by other women who actually were victims of our now-president.
• Campaign finance. Trump tweeted that New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand would “come to my office ‘begging’ for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them).” Gillibrand called the tweet a “sexist smear” – that Trump was saying she was offering sexual favors for money. An alternative – and probably more accurate – reading of Trump’s words are that he was saying Gillibrand was willing to change policies or alter legislation in exchange for a donation. And by the way, that’s far worse.

This column was first published by Cognoscenti on December 15, 2017.

 

The Week That Was: Trump Triumphant, Democratic Doldrums And Terrible Toys

It was the week when Republicans won on policy and Democrats lost on members.

• “Please Mr. President, it’s too much winning! We can’t take it anymore!” Donald Trump had a series of big victories, perhaps the most in the 46 weeks of his still-nascent presidency. The Supreme Court upheld his travel ban. He fulfilled a campaign promise, recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. And the tax reform bill — having passed the House and Senate — was in committee and soon to be on his desk. So what could go wrong? Oh yeah. Bob Mueller. Or maybe a government shutdown.
• He may be deviant, but he’s our deviant. After weeks of demanding Roy Moore exit the race to be Alabama’s next U.S. senator, GOP leaders switched course. “I'm going to let the people of Alabama make the call,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Sunday. That was followed by Trump giving Moore a full-throated endorsement, which in turn was followed by the Republican National Committee restoring funding to the Alabamian’s campaign. Why the reversal? Did Republicans suddenly conclude that Moore wasn’t a pedophile, that his accusers were lying? Nope. Rather, they realized that a win by Democrat Doug Jones would imperil their control of the Senate. The lesson: In the contest between power and perversion, power wins.
• Self-immolation. Meanwhile, sexual harassment scandals continue apace, largely claiming Democrats and progressives. There have been exceptions, such as the Fox News purge several months ago. But most of those fallen come from the left, including — just this week — Sen. Al Franken, civil rights icon Rep. John Conyers and the Bay State’s own Stan Rosenberg. Don’t conservatives harass too? Maybe. But if they do, few are talking. And in the rare cases that come up — e.g. Roy Moore and Donald Trump — the accused just tough it out. Perhaps the difference between the left and the right is that liberals are embarrassed, while conservatives just don’t care.
• What Weinstein wrought. People have been questioning whether the #MeToo movement is just a temporary phenomenon — a meme — or a sign that something fundamental is occurring: A permanent shift in attitudes and behaviors. Then along came Time magazine, naming “The Silence Breakers” as the “Person (sic) of the Year.” Given Time’s cultural relevance — which is to say, not much — we now have the answer to that question: It’s just a meme.
• Get ready to get sick. Experts are saying that this year’s flu vaccine is only 10 percent effective — which essentially means it’s not effective at all — but still urge everyone to get the shot. Really? If I’m going to take a placebo, I’ll take one that doesn’t leave me with a sore arm. Hello Airborne!
• Political doping. The International Olympic Committee banned Russia from participating in next year’s Winter Olympics. No one has banned Russia from participating in next year’s U.S. elections, however.
• Your government in action. Or maybe that’s, inaction. In the wake of the mass shooting in Las Vegas last October, the House of Representatives passed its first piece of gun legislation, mandating new controls on firearms … oh, no wait. Actually, the legislation allows folks to carry concealed handguns even in states that ban them. Really? The solution to Las Vegas is to have everyone packing heat? This is like Smokey the Bear fighting forest fires by handing out matches.
• Better watch out. It’s Christmas shopping season and so it’s time for Boston-based WATCH’s annual list of “10 Worst Toys.” (WATCH, by the way, stands for “World Against Toys Causing Harm.”) Among the 10 worst are a drone and a Nerf crossbow. The drone is dangerous because its propeller spins and arrows from the crossbow could hit someone. Not for nothing, but aren’t these features kind of essential to the toys’ purpose? If you get a drone or a crossbow for your kid, wouldn’t it kind of ruin Christmas morning if the drone didn’t fly and the crossbow didn’t shoot?
• Ms-take. And finally, the Massachusetts Conference for Women this week gave keynote speaker Bethenny Frankel a hero’s welcome. Frankel is founder of Skinnygirl, which (among other things) sells low-calorie cocktails pitched at women. Great. A company with a patronizing (“girl”), fat shaming name promoting stepped-up drinking. If this is what counts as a role model, feminism has a long way to go.

This column was first published by Cognoscenti on December 8, 2017.

Why self-driving cars will kill the T

They might seem like science fiction, but they’ll be here before the Green Line Extension, and they’ll be way more efficient for commuters.

Imagine for a moment it’s 1905. Boston’s growth has sent demand for horses and buggies soaring. So city leaders hatch an ambitious plan: Raze several neighborhoods and replace them with badly needed stables. Establish a fleet of cleaning crews to sweep manure from the streets. Develop a municipal program to boost the number of horses so that even the poorest of residents can have access.

Ten years later, everyone involved looks silly. The horseless carriage — the car — has arrived, rendering the horse and buggy almost obsolete. A lot of effort and taxpayer money have gone for naught.

We are at the cusp of such a disruptive change right now. But instead of cars replacing buggies, autonomous vehicles, or self-driving cars, will soon replace drivers. Their massive and far-reaching impact will make our current urban planning efforts look as absurd as it would have been to put stables in Southie in 1905. For instance, Boston’s city planners think that by 2030 public transit usage will climb by a third, so they want to extend the Green Line into Somerville. They’re wrong. By 2030, it’s more likely the MBTA will be going the way of the dodo.

Hear me out.

Environmentalists and planners love public transit. Those who ride it? Not so much. Trains, trolleys, and buses are crowded and inconvenient. They don’t run on your schedule, they run on theirs — sometimes, anyway. Check out the grim faces of your fellow passengers the next time you’re on the subway. And for many riders, a trip via public transit means a time-consuming series of hops — foot to bus to train to another train to bus and then back on foot. Little wonder the latest numbers from the MBTA show a 2 percent drop in train ridership and a 6 percent drop in bus ridership.

By contrast, a car is convenient. You start and end where you want. While driving, you can talk on the phone or sing as loudly (and badly) as you please. Nevertheless, we Bostonians suffer through 409 million trips on the T annually. Why? Because owning a car is expensive — almost $8,500 a year. And, of course, the congestion.

Not so with AVs.

In an October report, the Boston Consulting Group argued that autonomous vehicles’ most profound near-term impact would be in reducing congestion and pollution. AVs don’t rubberneck when passing accidents (in fact, AVs should have far fewer accidents). They’ll know when to change lanes safely in traffic, they can follow each other more closely (thereby increasing the effective capacity of highways), and they don’t experience road rage. Moreover, AVs likely won’t be individually owned; instead, there will be fleets of them available to riders on demand, akin to Uber. Once we’re dropped at our destination, our AV won’t need to find parking; it’ll simply move on to the next customer (and if there are none, it’ll find a designated lot to wait). As for pollution, it’s widely expected that AVs will be electric or at minimum hybrid.

Consider that if AVs no longer need to park, an additional lane or two now given over to street-side parking could be available for travel, opening up roads.

On top of that — and most compelling — AVs will be cheaper than public transit. Look at today’s cars. Despite that $8,000-plus annual cost, they are actually pretty cheap on a per-mile basis. Nationally, an average automobile costs $0.56 per mile to drive, says the American Automobile Association, plus another $0.02 per mile in subsidies for roads and bridges. Public transit costs almost twice that, at $1.05 per mile, according to the American Public Transportation Association. But public transit users are heavily subsidized; at the T, fares cover a scant 30 percent of expenses. Thus it appears more economical than driving, and congestion means it’s often the faster choice. Plus, the costs for cars don’t include parking — $300 to $500 a month at downtown lots.

With AVs, we’ll eliminate that parking cost, and congestion will largely disappear. And since we’ll use AVs in an Uber-like fashion, we’ll pay only when we need a ride — without the cost of a driver. Indeed, the per-mile cost of AVs should be less than conventional cars. Insurance will be cheaper (or perhaps unneeded). Electric AVs will average the equivalent of 100 miles per gallon or more, versus the 25 miles per gallon of today’s gas-powered cars. The vehicles themselves will be used more efficiently (since they won’t spend most of their days waiting for their one owner to get behind the wheel).

Given the choice between an AV and public transit, who wouldn’t choose the faster, more convenient, and lower-priced alternative? That’s the predicament the T will face. As AVs quickly gain commuters’ favor, fewer will take public transit. Fare collections will decline, requiring either higher fares — which would drive away even more riders — or more subsidies. Eventually, we’ll simply conclude that trains and trolleys are things of the past. Like the horses, buggies and stables of old, they’ll become relics.

All won’t be lost, however. We could still rip out the tracks and make some really good bike paths.

This column was first published in The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine on December 3, 2017.

The Week That Was: Time For Taxes, More From Moore And Bans On Bags

It was the week when we said goodbye to Matt Lauer and Garrison Keillor and hello to a brand-new long-range missile from North Korea.

• Policy wonks. Dinner table conversations were rife with heated discussions of the GOP’s proposed tax bill, with family members arguing strenuously over state and local tax deductibility, cuts to the corporate tax rate, a proposed new rate for pass-through businesses, and umm … hey, how about those Patriots?
• The Granite State beckons. Yeah, taxes are dull. Still, one proposed rule change has big implications for states – such as Massachusetts – with an income tax. For a long time, those states have been able to mitigate the sting of their own taxes by essentially getting the feds to pay for a chunk of it. That’s because state and local taxes are deductible on your IRS return. That now looks to go away, meaning the effective state tax rate (depending on your tax bracket) will jump by a third. I know. States with such taxes -- others include California and New York -- think they’re such great places to live that folks don’t mind paying more. Maybe. But at some point – especially if Bay State voters pass the so-called millionaires’ tax increasing the top rate from 5.1 percent to 9.1 percent — the incentive to move a few dozen miles to New Hampshire becomes pretty compelling.
• Deep state. We saw this week the truly bizarre spectacle of two individuals claiming to be in charge of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. One was named by the CFPB’s outgoing head. The other was named by the president. A district court (in a decision subject to appeal) finally sided with the White House. As it should have. Look, I’m no fan of Trump. But he is president and a president should get to select members of the administration.  The alternative? Members of the bureaucracy choosing their own successors? A new ruling class, immune from political control? Not a good idea at al
• And when’s the next recession? The funny thing about the good ole days is that we never realize they’re the good ole days when we’re living through them. So I know you probably won’t believe it, but really: These are the good ole days. The Commerce Department just released figures that showed economic growth at 3.3 percent for the third quarter -- a three-year high. Most stunning: That’s basically the maximum potential at which the U.S. economy can run, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. In other words -- and quite literally -- things can’t get better than they are right now. Enjoy it while you can.
• The Comeback Kid? The conventional wisdom says Alabama senatorial candidate -- and alleged pedophile -- Roy Moore should be out of the race. The GOP establishment has turned on him, the media attacks have been unrelenting, and his Democratic opponent Doug Jones has been mounting an advertising blitzkrieg. Yet with less than two weeks to go, Moore still holds on to a lead. If he wins, it will be a lesson in how to respond to sexual harassment allegations: In the face of all evidence, ignore, deny and attack. Moore has done so, making the allegations sound merely like dirty politics. And who else has successfully deployed that strategy? Donald Trump last year. And in the early 1990s – amidst his own “bimbo eruptions‘’ – then-candidate Bill Clinton. 
• An ugly turn. Speaking of ignore, deny and attack, members of Congress seem to be taking a cue from Moore’s campaign. South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn has been defending fellow Congressman John Conyers by arguing that all the women alleging sexual harassment by Conyers -- who is African-American — are white. And a lawyer for Conyers is questioning why House leader Nancy Pelosi is calling for him to resign while not saying the same about the white Sen. Al Franken. Great. Now it’s about race. In America, I guess, it’s always about race.
• Pretend mad. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said he was angry at his schools’ chief, Tommy Chang, for not earlier releasing news about a damning IRS audit of the Boston Public Schools. Angry? He should be grateful. The audit recounted under-the-table payments and financial mismanagement and cost the city almost $1 million in fines and penalties. If it had been released just a few weeks earlier – that is, before the mayoral election – it would have been just the kind of political bombshell challenger Tito Jackson could have ridden to victory.
• Goodbye Main Street. The Boston City Council approved a proposed ordinance banning plastic bags and imposing a 5-cent fee on paper bags with handles. Let’s see: Pass a law boosting the cost of shopping at local retailers and making it less convenient. If I’m Amazon, all I can say is: Great!

This column was first published by Cognoscenti on December 1, 2017.