Trump A Disgrace To American Politics – And I thought the Republican Party had already scraped the bottom of the proverbial barrel with that bizarre, deadbeat group of wannabes that finally gave us Mitt Romney. I was wrong. This year there are, at last count, sixteen GOP warriors including a rump party of one – Donald Trump. The Donald, who is famous for denigrating everything and everybody who is not Donald, has zeroed in on immigrants, Mexicans most prominently, John McCain, presumably for being an unwilling guest at the Hanoi Hilton for five years (where torture replaced room service) and President Obama, for many sins, possibly including, but not limited to, the selection of a final resting place for Jimmy Hoffa.

Trump has been flailing away at a variety of targets over the years, and until this year his assaults were accompanied by unfulfilled threats to run for president. He has been a well-recognized loose cannon but has yet to put his wealth and ego to the test of a ballot. He pledged to go public with his balance sheet, and he has filed “something” with the FEC. And for those who think it’s a shame the way the media is “ganging up” on Trump, just ask an Irish man or woman what they think of Donald Trump. They smarted up after watching the Donald deal.

There is little to be gained by calling Trump names or cursing him out for his less-than-creative brand of destructive, shoot-to-maim politics. He is what he is and he will never be the American president, not even close. There are not enough “crazies,” as Sen. McCain called them, to elect this fool, who may have more bankruptcies and Trump Corporation reorganizations than his self-proclaimed billions. And it’s not beyond the realm of reason that Trump’s dismissal of some of his fellow GOP candidates might even prompt that hesitant group of “patriots” to return substantial fire against Trump’s mean-spirited salvos.

A brief culling of some of Donald Trump’s quotes and media statements over the past decade will provide the cautious with some grist for the mill, or at least unleash some serious doubts re Trump’s suitability for anything but defending himself in court.
Donald Trump, abetted by the Fox, ahem, News network, was an early and often denier of President Obama’s birth as a US citizen. When Obama embarrassed Trump and the distant-right Birthers at Fox, the issue disappeared, but not before Trump initially called the birth certificate from Hawaii a forgery. Trump has also repeatedly claimed that Obama did not write his own memoir. He also likes to call climate change a “hoax, and continually links vaccines to autism despite huge evidence to the contrary.

The Donald is also infamously known for saying, “[Obama] lost the popular vote by a lot and won the election. We should have a revolution in this country” In 2014, Trump added to his passion for outrageous charges with this for the history books: “There is something seriously wrong with President Obama’s mental health.” Yes, indeed. Who would know better!

This commentary on the politics and personal life of Donald Trump will be the last bit of attention he receives in this space. Others, I’m sure, will be ready to grasp that banner.

AARP Gets It Right On Drug Costs – The AARP, the non-government organization with some 30 million members age 50 and older, is a powerful entity and an active player in the health industry and in age-related public health policy.

In a recent column, AARP President Jeannine English gave strong support to the easing of medical drug costs. Like many, the AARP leader is an advocate of negotiated drug prices, a right that is not currently allowed by the single largest drug agent, Medicare, the program that is celebrating its 50th anniversary this summer. It has been a boon to America’s over-65 population, yet unlike most other health insurers, Medicare is not allowed to negotiate with drug companies to lower prices for its covered clients.

This is outrageous. The federal government’s huge Department of Veteran Affairs and other private insurers negotiate drug costs at renewal time each year. The result is that insurers using their large numbers can cut costs to their clients. Here in America we generally pay more for drugs than other advanced countries, as do the people of Ireland, which is among the higher drug-cost countries.

It is well past time that the secretary of Health & Human Services be given the authority to look Big Pharma in the eye and demand a level of parity with other western countries. Where is it written that seniors in America, and their insurers, must pay top dollar for essential such as life-saving medications?

If you agree, please contact your US senators and tell them you support the bill and ask them to cosponsor S.31, the Medicare prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2015.

‘Game Of Thrones’ Boosts NI Economy – Now in its fifth year, the fantasy television series “Game of Thrones” has been a financial success for Northern Ireland, creating an international excitement grown big since the series began. The expense of local production in the northern locations has cost some $20 million and returned over $170 million on goods and services to the Northern Irish economy.

The benefits to the people of the North also include putting the province on the “movie & TV map,” as a first class site for TV and movies, while garnering 24 Emmy Award nominations. The TV series is filmed at the Titanic Studios in Belfast and on location at sites across Northern Ireland.

Damian Carr, of Game of Thrones Tours, says fans from all over the world come to visit the film sites.  “We’ve had people from North and South America, Asia, China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and all across Europe. Richard Williams, CEO of NI Screen added, “Films and television programs have a significant, positive effect on tourism, contributing to a wider branding of people, society and culture.” Whatever the magic, “Game of Thrones” has found the key.

Stalwart Patriot Retires at 32, Citing Health – Dan Connolly, one of the toughest and most versatile players on the Patriots’ offensive line, officially retired last month. Connolly suffered four concussions in his 10-year NFL career and also had one in high school. “It’s important to me to leave the game healthy,” he said. “I’m able to be here for my kids and walk away on my own terms. I feel I got everything I could out of football in playing ten years, winning a Super Bowl, and playing alongside some truly great players.”

In 2010, Connolly set an NFL record for the longest kickoff return by an offensive lineman with his 71-yard run against Green Bay. He has three daughters. The Patriots will miss him but his family is happy to have him around.

Bertie Was In Charge, But Externals Hurt him – The old conundrum in the timeworn question is “How can you miss them when they won’t leave?” Yes, indeed. There was former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern once again answering questions or pointing elsewhere when testifying before the Oireachtas banking inquiry last month.

Bold Bertie would not accept blame for the failures of the Irish financial regulatory system. “I take no responsibility, none, for what was happening to the Central Bank or the financial regulator, because I had no knowledge or control over it.” Ahern conceded later that there was “hardly any regulation as far as I can see.”

Miriam Lord, writing several days later in the Irish Times, was not as kind to Bertie as a few of his former colleagues have been. And Bertie, unlike them, has not taken legal action against the nasty Mahon Tribunal and other people who are intent on tormenting him, but he has an answer: He doesn’t do that because it costs an awful lot of money to take on newspapers and the like.

The smarmy little man, cushioned in his retirement by thousands of euros every month, owned up to not knowing a great deal about the crisis when he was in charge. Bertie’s successor, Brian Cowen, moved from finance minister to taoiseach as Bertie eyed the door and Ahern brusquely dismissed his former friend and colleague: “You know, from a political point of view, I would have managed the challenge. But as we know, that’s life. It wasn’t to be.”

All said without a blink or a nod to the reality that he was forced to resign. Enough, please!

1916 Centennial Goes International – Early last month, shortly before America’s Independence Day celebrations, the Irish government announced its plans for a “ multi-million euro program” of cultural events around the world to mark the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising.

Among the events being organized are concerts, plays, exhibitions and film events that are planned in Washington, New York, London, Paris, Rome, Buenos Aires, Dubai, Hong Kong, and Sydney. Joining in the announcement were Ireland’s Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan and Arts Minister Heather Humphreys.

Included in the Ireland 2016 Global and Diaspora Program are a number of special events that include:
A three-week festival of Irish arts and culture at the John F. Kennedy Cente for Performing Arts in Washington; a concert showcasing Ireland’s contribution to classical music at Wigmore Hall, London, in April; a series of performances of Sean O’Casey’s “The Plough and the Stars” during the annual Saint Patrick’s Day Festival in Sydney; a month-long Beckett Festival in Paris in March involving 16 Irish artists or artistic groups; Irish Film Institute screenings of films related to events of 1916 in New York and London; and a new operatic version of James Joyce’s “The Dead,” which will tour festivals in Canada.

Minister Flanagan said the new program of events was aimed at encouraging “reflection on the international dimension of the Rising.” Minister Humphreys added that the traveling arts events would be presented as a “unifying force that brings people together at home and abroad.”                                        
                      
NOTABLE QUOTE
“It is inconceivable that any bishop would stand before a congregation and give them the following Instructions: If you commit a serious sin against the community, your first obligation is to conceal it. If an accuser comes forward, deny the offense and condemn the accuser as someone who simply wants to besmirch your name. If that doesn’t quiet the accuser, offer payment for the person’s silence. If that fails, hire the best lawyers in town. And if, finally, you have no escape, go to settlement and apologize to anyone who may have been hurt by your “mistakes.”

The scenario is unthinkable, but it is also descriptive of the very behavior that Catholics have witnessed among their leaders, with slight variations, for the past 30 years.”

The National Catholic Reporter in an editorial on July 10
North’s Twelfth: A Province In Distress — Many Catholic families make a deliberate exodus out of the North toward more peaceful surroundings when the annual July 12th celebrations by loyalists and other unionists get mean and threatening. The Twelfth celebrations, marking better days for the North’s majority population, is a temper tantrum fueled by disillusioned loyalist youth and their dispirited elders. And it shows no signs of easing in this summer of 2015.

Much of the discontent and low morale, especially among the young people, is beginning to alarm social workers and teachers in the North and some are predicting a further hardening of relations between the people of both traditions. A teacher who has been working in troubled north Belfast says: “I’m worried about what’s happening on the ground. What we are seeing is the emergence of a hard core of disillusioned kids who have been untouched by the peace and political process.”

One veteran social worker in east Belfast reports about talking with young people who are building fires.  “They’re not listening to me, or the locals, or unionist politicians or councillors, or anyone. ...They don’t trust any of us.”

And, sadly,  a popular refrain heard increasingly from young people at odds with a fractured society and with few non-belligerent role models is that there is nobody giving them any hope. Some of that is the pent-up anger at the Parade Commission that won’t allow some marches through Catholic districts or anti-Catholic music in front of Catholic churches. Then, inevitably, there is the arson and anti-Protestant sentiments desecrating Orange Order halls – tit for tat in an end game that seems to lead nowhere except to more violence and destruction. And shadowing the deeply troubled North is the lingering and resentful flag anger and protests by unhappy unionists.

The Twelfth brought on three nights of rioting, the trashing of a retirement home, the destruction of traffic lights, and repeated attacks on police, largely at the hands of rampaging bands of young loyalists. Newspapers in the North, which have supported moderate unionist politicians, are beginning to use their pages as frontiers for criticizing the political leadership for not leading. The vacuum is growing worse and large chunks of population in the urban North have little real respect for their political leaders.
That’s a rambling snapshot of just a few of the irritants that keep the pot brewing. Not good today, and generally not good tomorrow, without serious changes in the Assembly, in the Stormont structure, and between David Cameron, his government, and responsible adults in the North. In a nutshell, for now it’s not working. I hope they find the answers.

RANDOM CLIPPINGS
Have you seen the August issue of the National Geographic? It features Pope Francis on the cover and a dozen pages inside. It asks if Francis can remake the Vatican. … God love the Brits.

When they like someone from Ireland that has accomplished something, they simply reclassify that poet, boxer or golfer as British and move on. … Don’t send any contributions to Barney Frank. The former congressman, who was tough on the banks when he was serving, was just named to the board of Signature Bank. Board members annually receive about a third of a million dollars. … Newest survey shows that Ireland’s food costs have risen almost 80 percent since the 2007 recession began. Ireland’s Navy has agreed to accept 600 extra Syrian and Eritrean migrants after giving refuge to 600 boat people earlier. Irish charity works in a variety of ways. … UMass Boston Moakley Chair and author Padraig O’Malley has been on a book tour for his newest tome. “The Two-state Delusion, Israel & Palestine.” He’s traveling the circuit and signing while he deals with a broken ankle.
The Irish Times describes the president’ leadership in the Iran agreement as “a foreign policy win for Obama” and reminds us that he was under fire as a candidate in 2008 for advocating that the US reach out to its enemies. … The Jimmy Fund Walk steps off on Sun., Sept. 27, to help beat cancer. If you want to participate register at jimmyfundwalk.org. … Ireland’s first post code service was launched  in mid-July. All 2.2 million Irish properties should already have received their codes. … In case you missed it, Aer Lingus shareholders voted in favor of the national carrier takeover by IAG. and the government a greed. … The Confederate flag is disappearing in the US South, but was seen near Bushmills, NI, in early July. And the GAA president had to ask Cork sports fans to put away their Confederate flags for their Killarney match. … A personal note: The death at 63 of state Sen. Tom Kennedy of Brockton was a great loss to the Irish community, his family, and his State House friends and colleagues. This solid, creative legislator and a great friend of Ireland is well remembered by the Reporter staff.