Editorial: Don’t sit this one out

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October 28, 2024

MIC_OAwstudent — SUNY Old Westbury Assistant Professor Ӧzgür Akgün working with a student in the campus' Media Innovation Center. (Photo courtesy of SUNY Old Westbury)

A SUNY Old Westbury Media and Communications professor is among 14 statewide selected to develop new programs through the new SUNY Institute for Local News to address news deserts and struggling news outlets.

Announced on Oct. 22, Assistant Professor Ӧzgür Akgün will serve as a faculty “champion” within the Institute, which will operate in partnership with the Center for Community News and serves as the first statewide program of its kind in the United States.

“Journalism is the keystone of a healthy democracy, but as thousands of local news outlets have closed their doors or dramatically reduced staffing since the mid-2000s, that keystone is chipping away,” John King, SUNY chancellor, said. “Higher education can help these ‘news deserts’ while providing our students with the hands-on learning experience of delivering local content to struggling platforms through academic collaborations. I am grateful for the support of the Lumina Foundation for making this vital collaboration happen.”

The SUNY Institute for Local News is possible as a result of funding from Lumina Foundation, which has committed $150,000 over the next two years toward faculty champions and its impact award program.

“The lack of diversity in media and journalism remains a significant issue, and SUNY Old Westbury is actively working to address this by fostering programs and encouraging diverse perspectives through its curriculum,” Akgün said. “SUNY’s initiative will help us make stronger progress towards our goals.”

The Media and Communications program at SUNY Old Westbury provides students with a broad-based education emphasizing theoretical, historical and experiential learning in an interdisciplinary context. Its curriculum is designed to give students a grounding in the economic, political, social, and intellectual history of the U.S. At the same time, through practical training and internship experiences, students gain the professional skills needed to work in all varieties of media, including television, interactive media, newspapers and radio.

Akgün and his colleagues from campuses across the state will collaborate with The Center for Community News to create news/academic partnerships across the state. Through these partnerships, students will gain the experience they need to have success as journalists while contributing to an expanded presence of local news for citizens of the New York.

North Hempstead awarded 2nd place in All-America Selections Landscape Design Challenge

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October 28, 2024

https://all-americaselections.org/project/second-place-winner-clark-botanic-garden-in-north-hempstead-new-york/.

The Town of North Hempstead was named the second-place winner in Category Two for the 2024 All-America Selections (AAS) Landscape Design Challenge for its filming of the Clark Botanic Garden (Photo courtesy of the Town of North Hempstead)

The Town of North Hempstead was named the second-place winner in Category Two for the 2024 All-America Selections (AAS) Landscape Design Challenge.

This year’s challenge was to “Film A Tour” of the town’s most prestigious garden, the Clark Botanic Garden in Albertson, and gardens had the option to incorporate older AAS winners in their design to illustrate the theme.

“A lot of people don’t realize we have world-class botanic garden right here in Town so I’m so glad everyone can see some of the beauty in this video,” Town Supervisor Jennifer DeSena said. “Thank you to our town botanists and video crew, who did a fantastic job on the project.”

“North Hempstead is filled with so many gorgeous natural attractions, and Clark Garden is one of my favorites,” Parks Commissioner Kelly Gillen said. “Our presentation team is so talented, and I’m thrilled the garden got the recognition it deserves.”

North Hempstead’s horticulturalist Bonnie Klein oversaw the Design Challenge project, staff grower Frank Obidienzo designed and planted the garden, and NHTV’s Alan Ginsberg and Rebecca Levine shot and edited the film.

All-America Selections is an independent non-profit organization that tests new and never-before-sold varieties for the home gardener, and they work to promote new garden varieties and recognize superior garden performances.

To learn more about Clark Botanic Garden’s entry, visit:

The garden is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., November through March with extended hours April through October. It’s located at 193 I.U. Willets Road in Albertson.

My Turn: Trust yourself

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Steven Blank Publisher

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October 28, 2024

By Robert A. Scott

In “Letters to Students: What it Means to Be a College Graduate,” my co-author, Dr. Drew
Bogner, president Emeritus of Molloy University, and I explore topics such as critical
thinking, the meaning of the liberal arts and sciences, how do we know what we think
we know, and the meaning of success, among others. We also discuss writing and
speaking, finding and using one’s voice to speak up.

When I asked a young Adelphi graduate about advice he would give to students and fellow
alumni, he said, “Trust yourself.” We then had a stimulating conversation about his high school and college paths, including advisers, mentors, and friends.“Trust yourself” sounds like a simple admonition, but what does it take?

It certainly requires self-confidence, i.e., confidence in yourself based on experience in overcoming obstacles. Self- confidence derives from reflecting on past experiences and learning from listening to critiques offered by family, teachers, coaches, and friends.

It is important to ask for advice, but this takes self-confidence. I don’t mean arrogance or blind faith. Asking for help requires that we be willing to listen to others. We gain this confidence by working with others on collaborative projects and tasks,

Asking for advice does not mean “paralysis by analysis,” that is, delaying a decision by seeking endless amounts of information. There is a saying that “the perfect is enemy of the good,” meaning that seeking perfection can take so long and so much effort that we don’t get anything done.

We should instead accept a good outcome that can be a step toward a more perfect
solution.

Many people think in terms of probabilities. What is the probability that we can achieve the
outcome we seek? In this way, we can trust that we will succeed in our task. This takes
preparation and practice. In a way, we are always preparing for the future by reflecting on our experiences and building a store of knowledge about challenges, successes, and failures faced.

I had a mentor whose advice helped me gain confidence in myself. He was one of several, but he was especially helpful. When I asked about a decision I had to make, he would say “Secure your footing before you extend your reach.”

In other words, be confident in your position before taking the next step. Take reasonable risks, whether deciding on an issue at work or on a new job. He would then say that this is good advice for life as well as for mountain climbing.

Mentors, teachers, and friends can all provide a network of supporters of those who encourage us in our efforts. They can help us retain or gain faith in our strengths and in our resilience.

I remember a time in junior high school when some wise guys called to me and said, “What are you looking at, kid?” I was always fascinated by people and was curious about these
schoolmates who dressed in black and acted tough. I had seen then bully others and did not want to tangle with them. I also did not want to act scared.

So, I waved to them and said “Goodbye.” I walked away and they seem confused. I trusted that I could pull it off without getting into a fight.

As students, we have decisions to make. Should we join a fraternity or sorority? Should we join a club or a team? Should we study what we love or what our parents say will lead to a good paying job?

We can balance the pros and cons, weigh the alternatives, seek advice, but ultimatedly the
decision is ours. We must trust that we have considered the alternatives and then trust in
ourselves to make the right decision.

In our jobs, we have many decisions to make. Should we hire this person or another? Should we sign a contract with this vendor or that? Should we promote this person or not?
I trusted myself when it became obvious that I had to make some major decisions as a college president.

The governor had cut funding for higher education and agreed to a union contract that
increased compensation without providing the funding to pay for it. This happened in May, just weeks before the start of the new fiscal year. It was the equivalent of a 9% budget cut.

I did not want simply to cut all campus budgets across the board. I thought that was a path to mediocrity. So, I asked for advice about what to do and agreed with a suggestion to eliminate football.

Attendance at games was minimal and the coach was leaving for another institution.
Without a coach and with the star quarterback on probation due to grades, the time seemed right to save a great deal of money and preserve academic integrity.

I figured the decision would be controversial, but knew I had the support of the vice presidents and the chair of the Board of Trustees. I also knew it was the right decision and trusted myself.

A couple of trustees were unhappy, even though I had briefed the board three times, but the rest of the board supported my decision and prevailed. I also remember a time when I didn’t trust myself. I didn’t intend to lose confidence, but the prevalence of opinion from others was such that I buckled and went against my instincts.

As a result, I learned a valuable lesson: listen to others but trust myself and my values. On another occasion, I asked approval from a higher up who took so long to answer that I lost an opportunity.

At times it is better to ask forgiveness than permission.

For each decision, we have choices to make, and some choices have more serious consequences than others. But if we trust ourselves, if we have reasonable self-confidence in the probabilities of the success of our decisions, if we have considered the alternatives and have confidence in our choice, we can move forward. Trust yourself.

Robert A. Scott, President Emeritus, Adelphi University and Ramapo College of New Jersey;
Co-Author, Letters to Students: What it Means to be a College Graduate, Rowman & Littlefield,
2024.

An earlier version of this article appears as Chapter 3 in Letters to Students: What it
Means to Be a College Graduate, Rowman and Littlefield, 2024, co-authored with Dr.
Drew Bogner, President Emeritus, Molloy University.

Will Cuomo succeed Adams as NYC mayor?

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October 28, 2024

When Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams ran for mayor of New York three years ago, he barely beat a radical Progressive, Kathryn Garcia, in the Democratic Primary runoff 50.4% to 49.6%. His winning platform: having served for over 20 years in the New York Police Department and achieving the rank of captain, he could handle the crime wave that had hit the city.

There is, however, another side to the “law and order” Adams. He relishes the nightlife. In fact, he has reminded many of former Mayor “Beau” Jimmy Walker, who personified the excesses of the 1920s Jazz Age and ran the government from speakeasies and nightclubs.

Walker’s tenure was marred with scandals. His administration imploded in 1932 after the Seabury Investigation revealed corruption throughout City Hall. The mayor was accused of accepting gifts from businessmen seeking municipal contracts. To avoid prosecution, Walker resigned from office and moved to Europe where he lived until the statute of limitations kicked in.

Well, like the Walker administration, the Adams administration has been crumbling. On Sept. 25, Adams was the first mayor to be criminally indicted by federal prosecutors on five counts that included bribery, fraud, and solicitation of campaign contributions from foreign nationals.

Allegedly, the mayor’s lucrative lifestyle was financed by officials of the Turkish government, which New York Magazine reports, “arranged for him to receive some $123,000 worth of illegal gifts such as discounted business-class tickets on Turkish Airlines, and a stay in the Bentley suite at the Saint Regis in Istanbul.” The mayor is also accused of knowingly accepting illegal campaign donations through “straw” donors.

What did the Turkish government get return for its largesse? It is alleged the Turks received a favorable fire department report on their new consulate building in Manhattan without any safety inspections being performed.

The indictment is not Adams’ only problem. Two fire department chiefs have been indicted, and key members of his administration have been racing to the exit doors.

The mayor’s chief counsel, health commissioner, deputy mayor for public safety, police commissioner, first deputy mayor, schools chancellor, and various other advisers have resigned. The offices and homes of at least 13 of his administrators have been raided by the Feds.

The embattled mayor has resisted calls for his resignation, insisting he will be exonerated. But can he actually govern during the remainder of his term?

The person to make that determination is Gov. Kathy Hochul. She possesses the Constitutional authority to remove from office local elected officials.

Thus far the governor, while demanding Adams “clean house,” has held he is entitled to his day in court.

There are two significant political reasons for not booting out the mayor. Adams, a so-called “moderate” Democrat, is Hochul’s only powerful friend in the city. The other reason: if Adams vacates his office, the interim successor is Public Advocate Jumaane Williams—a sworn enemy of the governor.

Williams, a self-described Socialist, challenged Hochul twice in statewide primaries. In 2018, he ran against her unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor; and in 2022, lost a second time to Hochul in the gubernatorial primary.

The governor is trapped in a political quandary. If she lets Adams serve out his term or removes him, it could cost her politically if she seeks another term in office.

The person who benefits the most from the chaos is Andrew Cuomo. The former governor is itching to make a comeback to clear his family’s name. A mayoral candidacy may be the best route for him.

Cuomo resigned his office after allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced and his enemies in the Legislature threatened impeachment. Yet since that time, five district attorneys have cleared him.

This past year Cuomo has been making sensible observations in speeches and opinion columns on crime, the migrant problem, the failure of the right to shelter laws, the commercial real estate crisis, and the unfairness of congestion pricing at this time.

Cuomo has also been reaching out to former allies in the business and African American communities.

Cuomo can boast that he has a unique understanding of state and municipal government and of the neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs.

And business leaders know that Cuomo is a fighter, that he fearlessly took on the radicals in his party and is a competent manager.

In a 2025 Democratic mayoral primary that will be crowded with militant wannabes, Cuomo may be able to put together a successful coalition of frustrated and angry voters from all walks of city life to garner the 40% of the vote required to avoid a runoff.

With Adams rapid fall from grace, the saving grace for New York City might be a Cuomo candidacy based on competence and not ideological histrionics.

Guided nature walk – Fall foliage

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October 27, 2024

hikes — Join the Sands Point Preserve for a nature walk (Photo credt: Sands Poing Preserve

Join us for this series of all-ages walks as we explore different aspects of the preserve’s environment, encompassing its unique physical features and wildlife, as well as critical conservation issues and helpful practices to create a healthy, sustainable environment.

Our expert guide, environmental educator Hildur Palsdottir, brings a range of perspectives for each outdoor adventure. Hildur will engage audiences in hands-on nature discovery activities, as we celebrate the changing seasons!

Saturday, November 2
10 – 11:30am – Fall Foliage

TICKETS
Members: $10 per adult; children are free
Non-Members: $15 per adult, $5 per child; includes parking
Pay at the Gatehouse and meet at Castle Gould’s Clock Tower.

Our Town: The 21st century will be called The Age of Loneliness

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October 27, 2024

It has been an interesting century, don’t you think? It started with 9/11, followed by the global economic collapse in 2008, and the worldwide COVID epidemic in 2020. It’s been an eventful, fast-moving and disturbing century so far and shows no signs of slowing down. It is time to begin guessing what the 21^st century will be labeled.

The 19^th century was referred to as The Victorian Age with its class system, strict social structure, rigid values and the need to repress instincts. This led to psychological symptoms like anxiety, phobias, hysteria, neurasthenia and the need for a Freud to create psychoanalysis.

The 20^th century had a very different flavor to it and the age of anxiety slowly gave way to The Age of Narcissism, thanks to a tsunami of media and advertising images instilling a hope that we all could achieve specialness if we bought the right things by using our credit cards often enough. The 20th century was marked by the ascendance of the print media, which toppled the office of President Nixon thanks to investigative journalism. The entertainment industry toppled other cultural institutions, including parenting (i.e., “Married with Children,” “The Simpsons” and “ Ferris Beuller’s Day Off”).

We are nearly 25 years into the 21^st century. The last century fades away. What should we call the 21^st century? Here are the five main characteristics of the 21^st century:

1) SPEED: Speed is a key quality of the 21st century. The 21^st century citizen loves coffee, cocaine, adderall and fast cars. We want what we want instantaneously.

2) DISTRACTIBILITY: Adults and kids can no longer focus. More children are being diagnosed with ADHD. There is not a day goes by where one of my adult patients, worry that they have Attention Deficit Disorder. Society’s favorite new term is FOMO, which stands for Fear Of Missing Out. There is always some fun thing to do that you hear about and this instills a distracting, envious wish to be elsewhere.

3) EXHAUSTION: Another central hallmark of the 21^st century is exhaustion. We are overworked, overspent and sleep-deprived. Who wants to go to bed if you can binge on another hour of your favorite television series? And it costs money to have all those TV channels so you have to keep working in order to pay for your television addiction.

4) RAGE: It does not take a genius to see that America is filled with a growing rage. Thanks to income inequality, social isolation, shame and envy, we now witness school shootings, mass shootings in malls, hyper competitiveness on the playing field and a general hatred for our fellow man.

5) LONELINESS: Research shows that loneliness is a growing problem as we become increasingly cocooned within the world of electronic media. The Nobel Prize in Literature has recently gone to writers whose body of work focuses on loneliness. Both Kazuo Ishiguro and Han Kang’s novels involve the impossibility of finding a connection with others. Twentieth century writers Albert Camus (“The Stranger”) and Samuel Beckett (“Waiting For Godot” and “The Lost Ones”) both predicted this state of affairs.

The new world of the 21^st century is frenzied, unfocused, exhausted, angry and lonely. If you don’t have these traits, congratulations and send me a postcard from your home in Hawaii. So outside of Hawaii, the image that best exemplifies our current state of mind is the zombie, that undead creature that occasionally is roused and runs about in a frenzy to bite you. But who wants to hear that the 21^st century’s best representative is the walking dead?

So let’s go easy on this and say that the 21^st century will become known as The Age of Loneliness. I have no doubt that within 20 years there will be a new personality disorder appearing in our diagnostic manual and it will be called The Loneliness Syndrome. We have become increasingly siloed in and have only our TVs and smart phones to keep us company.

Readers Write: A case for knowing facts, becoming well-informed before voting in the presidential election

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Steven Blank Publisher

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October 27, 2024

A case for knowing facts and becoming well-informed before voting in the presidential election
By

Who was a better baseball player, Willie Mays or Mickey Mantle? Aside from favoritism, Yankees’ and Giants’ fans, looking at the same facts, would come to different conclusions, but both were based upon facts.

Real facts. It’s like the way things used to be with the Democrats and Republicans. You spent too much on defense! You spent too little on defense! Both based upon facts, but with each looking at the facts differently.

Getting back to Mays vs. Mantle, if you asked the same question to one not knowing a thing about baseball, such ignorance should not generate an opinion.

However, even with such ignorance, if they would provide an opinion, that would be called stupidity, giving an opinion without knowing anything.

Let’s apply the same reasoning to comparing the economies during both the Trump and Biden administrations, utilizing the facts as provided by the Joint Economic Committee of Congress covering each administration and Obama’s too.

Let’s begin when Obama became president in 2009 when the economy was experiencing “the worst financial crisis in global history, including the Great Depression.”

In the last quarter of 2008, real GDP plummeted 8.4 percent and the economy lost more than 1.9 million jobs. President Obama and the Democrats rescued the economy by implementing the stimulus, namely the Troubled Asset Relief Program where funds were provided to stabilize banking institutions, revitalize credit markets, stabilize the U.S. auto industry, extended credit to American Insurance Group to preserve the stability of the fragile U.S. economy and to protect the taxpayer from the potentially devastating consequences of the company’s mortgage-backed securities failure debacle. As for struggling families, it established programs to avoid foreclosure.

Under Obama, unemployment fell from a recession peak of 10% to only 4.7%, the economy experienced 76 consecutive months of job growth, non-farm job growth averaged 227,000 per month, GDP growth was 2.6 percent, and during the last two years of Obama’s administration, annual median income increased $4,800.

As for the stock market, over the eight years of the Obama administration, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased almost 140 percent.

At the end of the Obama administration, George Mankiw, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under George W. Bush, stated that “the economy was in fine shape”.

It’s funny because one of the biggest themes of Trump’s reelection campaign is that he inherited a weak economy and turned it into a strong economy by implementing his own policies.

He added, “If we hadn’t reversed the failed economic policies of the previous administration, the world would not now be witnessing this great economic success.

Under Trump’s administration, unemployment fell from 4.7 percent to 3.5 percent before Covid hit, and peaked to 14.9 percent. At the time Biden took office in January 2021, it went down to 6.4 percent.

Job growth continued for another 35 months until Covid hit, and during that same 35-month period, job growth averaged 191,000 per month, some 36,000 jobs per month less than under Obama. During Trump’s first two years, annual median household income increased by $1,400, compared to Obama’s $4,800 over an 8-year period.

In President Trump’s first three years in office, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 50%, a nice increase but at a substantially lesser pace than Obama.

Before COVID hit the United States in January 2020, Trump’s presidency was doing okay, but in some areas, it was substantially less than Obama’s performance. But Covid changed everything.

Covid hit in January of 2020, the final year of his presidential term and his dealing with it or rather downplaying it as a regular-type flu, saying that it’s going to disappear one day, and not taking it as a deadly threat until months later, cost more than one million Americans their lives and wreaked havoc on the economy.

Perhaps you caught COVID and while lying in bed, hoping to recover, you were lucky to not take Trump’s advice of injecting bleach into your body.

Trump had encouraged his top health officials to study the injection of bleach into the human body as a means of fighting COVID-19, and it was a watershed moment, soon to become iconic in the annals of presidential briefings.

It arguably changed the course of political history, although many of his aides didn’t even think about that day as the wildest they had experienced, based on the fact that there were simply too many others, this one was so instantly shocking, even by Trump standards.

But the most consequential event was his leading the insurrection on January 6th, inciting a heavily armed mob of his supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol building in an attempt to overthrow the results of the presidential election and destroy democracy and the rule of law.

But let’s go on to the so-called incompetence of President Biden and his administration. Remember that Trump inherited from Obama an economy that was quite healthy, but Biden wasn’t that Lucky as Trump left him with a pandemic-riddled economy.

In Biden’s first year in office, the economy improved more during his first 12 months than of any other president in the past 50 years. Job growth, economic growth, retail sales and business creation were all up while unemployment and unemployment insurance claims were all down.

The economy grew at the fastest rate in nearly 40 years. A record new business applications were filed in 2021. Almost 370,000 manufacturing jobs were created in 2021, rebounding from nearly 580,000 manufacturing jobs lost during the pandemic recession in 2020.

Currently, although many believe the U.S. economy is experiencing a recession and the stock market is faring poorly, how does one explain why GDP is growing and the stock market is at a record high.

Nearly 11 million jobs have been created since 2021, including 750,000 new manufacturing jobs and unemployment is at 3.5%, the lowest in 50 years and salary increases are outpacing inflation.

The minimum wage for federal workers and contractors is $15. Income inequality is narrowing at last! And unemployment rate for Hispanics and African Americans are at a near record low.

The cost of energy, gas, and Internet are lower. Biden helped bring gas prices down more than $1.60 from their summer 2022 peak.

Over 16 million households receive lower cost or free high-speed Internet through the Affordable Connectivity Program. President Biden has created rapid disinflation that no other president in history achieved.

The health of Americans has improved dramatically. President Biden rescued the economy and changed the course of the pandemic. 79% of American adults are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.There are more people with health insurance than ever before in American history. There is an all-time low of uninsured Americans.

Over 90% of the population is insured. Benefits and services for toxin-exposed veterans have been expanded historically.

He has improved the quality of American life by:
Providing more support for labor unions, libraries, single mothers and college students deep in debt.
Implementing the first meaningful gun violence reduction legislation in 30 years.
Protecting marriage for LGBTQ+ and interracial couples.
Issuing executive orders protecting reproductive rights.
Advancing equity and racial justice, including historic criminal justice reform.
Signing the most significant gun violence prevention legislation in nearly 30 years.

Biden delivered on the most aggressive climate and environmental justice agenda in American history.

Green spending is booming, but it’s still not enough. The goal of net-zero emissions by 2050 requires $1 trillion in transition investment now.

He is rebuilding our infrastructure with investments in all 50 states, D.C., territories, and throughout the tribal nations.

Basically, more people are working than at any point in American history. Households are prospering.

The ever-widening gap between the poor and the super-rich is beginning to close. More rights were extended to the people, even though the Supreme Court destroyed reproductive rights recently. Under Biden democracy has been thriving in spite of damaging radical opposition.

Biden has a fervent, almost religious zeal to fight greed and obscene profits because he has true compassion for those who have been dealt a bad hand in life.

Misleading information is not facts. The above are based on facts. May I suggest you check them out. Please utilize them to form an informed opinion. If you have other facts, utilize them too.

I’m sure you noticed that Vice President Kamala Harris is not mentioned at all. The purpose of this article is to show how misleading so much of the information presented by Trump used against Harris is not only misleading but totally wrong.

Check out Vice President Kamala Harris on your own. You will find that she is well-qualified to become President of the United States and most important, she is an honorable human being.

Alvin Goldberg

Great Neck

Schneps Media, Bethpage Federal Credit Union present Suffolk County police society with $1.7K

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October 27, 2024

Pictured are, left to right: Jimmy Jurado, sergeant at arms; Edwin Hugh, president; Thomas Joy, vice president; Sameer Malik, treasurer.

On Wednesday, Oct. 23, Schneps Media presented the Suffolk County Police Asian Jade Society with a check for $1,700.

The society received the raffle monies from the 2024 Leaders of Labor, presented by Bethpage Federal Credit Union.

The Suffolk County Police Asian Jade Society consists of law enforcement officers from Suffolk and Nassau counties.

The society also has associate memberships for anyone who has worked in or is interested in promoting law enforcement or related fields.

The society’s goal is to establish a network and bring together the Asian American Brothers and Sisters of the various law enforcement entities within New York and Suffolk County.

No Spin Zone: Reasonable voters

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October 27, 2024

This column is written for clear-thinking individuals who need a concise primer on the presidential candidates. If you are a quixotic ninnyhammer, you are not allowed to continue here. If you do, karma will hunt you down.

So, let’s begin with an honest assessment of where Trump and Harris really stand. We will bullet point the fact-based data.

Government Spending: Huge issue few care about. Kamala Harris will increase the already massive entitlement giveaways that will eventually bankrupt the country.

Donald Trump is a big spender as well, especially in military situations. $35 trillion in debt, heading to $40 trillion, no matter who wins.

Money in your pocket: By taxing corporations more, Harris ensures continued pain for working Americans, as expenses are passed down to consumers, leading to higher prices on everything.

Trump will cut taxes to try to stimulate higher “real wage” growth, as he did while in the Oval Office.

Immigration: Kamala won’t do much to shore up the southern border as her progressive base wants it open. She will push for amnesty for most foreign nationals already here.

Donald Trump will punish Mexico economically if it doesn’t use its troops to stop the migrant flow. He will also try to deport many migrants who entered illegally. Federal courts will oppose him on a “due process” basis.

Inflation: Kamala knows little about economics. Trump has more knowledge and will try to bring down prices by stimulating cheaper energy, more production. Big advantage to Trump here.

Woke policies: Ms. Harris is a DEI zealot who will also passively push for reparations for slavery, another progressive tenet. She will support taxpayer-funded gender surgeries, abortions, childcare, elder care, and almost every other societal need.

Ms. Harris does not oppose biological men competing against women in sports and will push for new federal “rights” laws to “protect” certain groups. Her attorney general is likely to elevate social controversies into criminal cases especially targeting the pro-life movement.

And worst of all, a President Harris will undermine parental rights by encouraging “no tell” laws for minors who want to have abortions or gender procedures.

Donald Trump will oppose all of the above.

Law and Order: Kamala Harris will champion the legalization of marijuana and seek to use “alternative sentencing” for many federal crimes. She supports no bail policies and leniency for many active criminals.

Donald Trump doesn’t much care about pot and will not oppose legislation. He will, however, use the threat of federal grant suspension to punish Sanctuary Cities and jurisdictions that do not enforce the law. I expect JD Vance to be active in this area.

Abortion: Kamala is a “anytime for any reason” person. Pretty tough view of humanity.

Trump is relieved that the states are dealing with this, so he doesn’t have to.

Overseas: Like President Biden, Ms. Harris has no clear view as to how to confront foreign evil. It is inconceivable she would be respected by America’s enemies.

Mr. Trump is feared abroad by both enemies and friends. He is likely to get a ceasefire in Ukraine but not in the Middle East. The Iranian Mullahs hate Trump.

Bringing the country together. There’s a better chance Putin goes woke than either of the presidential candidates doing that. They won’t even try.

Presidential demeanor: Befuddled for Harris. Depends on the day for Trump.

So, there you have it. The top ten most important considerations for reasonable voters. Click and save. Spread them around.

A Mar-a-Lago dinner

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October 27, 2024

In February 2018, I was honored to be invited to a private dinner with President Trump and members of his family at Mar-a-Lago, then considered the Florida Winter White House.

Erica, Sol and I were staying nearby at the Breakers in Palm Beach, and I was delighted when I mentioned that fact to the president’s secretary to be invited.

The invitation was very controversial in my family. Ultimately, and despite my frequent urging, wife Erica refused to go. I wasn’t angry. She wasn’t being rude. She was just being honest.

She vehemently disapproved of President Trump’s policies and racist language particularly concerning migrants and was adamant in her refusal to socialize.

The president greeted me like an old friend when I arrived. He looked around for Erica, saw that she wasn’t there and said, “She really doesn’t like me, does she?” Answering his own question.

He brushed that off, and immediately became a gracious host, never mentioning the snub again.

The President and First Lady Melania had just returned from a highly emotional hospital visit to survivors of the Parkland high school massacre, which had just happened that week. It was the worst high school massacre ever, with 17 killed, 17 others injured, some grievously.

The First Lady did not attend the dinner. As the president and I sat alone at his table in the center of the big outdoor dining area, still shaken, he described graphically how horrible the wounds were.

“Their arms were just ripped,” he said, gesturing. I used the opening to urge the president to help prevent these horrible school massacres by passing a juvenile assault weapons ban.

I suggested the slogan could be, “If you’re not old enough to buy a beer then you are not old enough to buy an assault weapon.”

He listened politely, and I thought favorably, but then we were joined at the table by his sons Eric and Don Jr. and Eric’s wife Lara.

The brothers are ardent gun enthusiasts and were very negative about the proposal. They urged their dad to brush it off, which he did, ultimately adopting the hardline Guns R Us position of the NRA. (Florida Gov. Rick Scott later enshrined the juvenile weapons ban into state law).

After dinner, the president mixed with club members who were seated around the circular dining area, saying hello to various members and guests.

As I recall the evening, as the president made small talk, his Chief of Staff General John F. Kelly and his wife Karen approached me. We shook hands, and Mrs. Kelly immediately said something to the effect, “Can you believe how they are treating my husband?”

I later figured out that the “they” she was referring to were White House insiders and reports they were working to undermine General Kelly.

In addition to the endemic backbiting for which the West Wing is notorious, it was later reported that Kelly was also suffering mistreatment at the hands of a president impatient with checks and balances who only wanted to do things his way.

Retired four-star General Kelly deserved better. He has served the country his entire life.

A decorated Marine Corps combat veteran, he came to the White House after a relatively successful tenure as Homeland Security secretary.

Tragically, the Kellys lost their 29-year-old son Robert, a USMC first lieutenant, in combat in Afghanistan in 2010. Honorable Gold Star parents, they are American patriots, and I believe whatever they say of Kelly’s White House service.

What the general is saying has roiled the presidential election.

Along with many others, General Kelly claims former President Trump is a closet fascist.

Specifically, Kelly says Trump praised Hitler’s generals and referred to American GIs killed in action as “suckers” and “losers.”

I never heard Trump speak like that, but I must believe the general. He has earned America’s trust.

Great Neck South doubles team wins county crown; Port girls lose in final to Syosset

By

Michael J. Lewis

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October 26, 2024