News and Views - EMAILER MESSAGES



News and Views

By Marcia and Mile Midler, Phil Sloan and Bert Busch

News and Views, Regency's current events discussion group for all residents, has met, pre-pandemic, on the second and fourth Monday of each month at 7:30 p.m. in the Clubhouse fitness (aerobics) room. The meetings for this month have been cancelled. This column covers the March 9 meeting, moderated by Bert Busch, and scribed by Linda Busch. The March 23 meeting was cancelled as we were directed to shelter in place--and that didn't mean our Clubhouse! We are exploring the possibility of holding News and Views sessions via Zoom. Stay tuned.

Bert reminded participants that our meeting was taking place on the eleventh anniversary of the bottom of the markets during the "Great Recession" of 2008-2009. We began the discussion speculating on the eventual Democratic nominee. Two weeks before Super Tuesday primary voting, Marcia Zajac pointed out that Joe Biden was not yet a done deal, despite Jim Clyburn's endorsement. Jeff Davis predicted, shrewdly as later events proved, that Sanders would not whole-heartedly endorse Biden should he lose. Jeff also stressed Biden's need to attract Hispanic voters. Andy Tepper noted that Elizabeth Warren was the smartest candidate with good ideas and detailed policies. Bert Busch saw her mistake as campaigning not as working class Betsy from Oklahoma, but letting others cast her as wonkish Harvard Law Professor Warren. Leslie Giffords felt the remaining septuagenarian candidates were all especially vulnerable to coronovirus. Judi Zipkin was excited by a Biden candidacy, giving him the best chance of defeating Trump. Assessing the best Democratic VP candidate option, we saw Senators Klobuchar and Warren, and Stacy Abrams, as leading choices. All agreed a woman should be chosen. Given age considerations, we deemed Warren the better nominee for a Supreme Court appointment. We wondered whether Pence would remain on the GOP slate as VP, and whether New Jersey's June primary would again be irrelevant.

On to the coronovirus. Many universities had canceled classes prior to Spring break. Remote videoconferencing would become increasingly vital, we agreed. We wondered if the Fed's slashing of interest rates would help in the long run. Another unknown was whether a plan to guarantee sick leave and pay for hourly workers would continue if they stayed home, per CDC recommendation. Andy Tepper lamented the credibility gap between what Trump says and what many in the public believe to be true. In a volatile stock market, some considered investing in the Zoom company, or possibly in a toilet tissue manufacturer. We acknowledged that all sectors dependent on close social contact would be hurt, including airlines, cruise lines and schools. Should we invest in medical supply businesses, those likely to deliver the first vaccines, or buy and hold firms offering remote teaching, and remote employment? God knows.

Turning to the Supreme Court, we considered the fact that the Supremes are hearing arguments on a Louisiana abortion case to be decided by June 2020. During oral arguments, Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh suggested they felt themselves unbound by the 2016 Texas precedent upholding restriction an undue burden for women seeking abortion. (During Kavanaugh's appointment hearings, he had said he would uphold existing precedent). Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has warned that there would be many impending 5-4 decisions on important cases which would dismay her supporters, and we suspect that she is right on.

Moving on to other topics in the news, no one in our group expressed interest in the latest Clintons documentary series in the pipeline. None believed Bill's supposed contrition regarding the Lewinsky scandal. Bert Busch noted that a Federal judge took issue with representations made by A.G. William Barr, which did not match the Mueller Report. The judge questioned whether Barr made a calculated attempt to influence public discourse in favor of Trump. We noted the appointment of the fourth new Chief of Staff in 38 months, with Mick Mulvaney replaced by Mark Meadows. The group remembered Mulvaney 's October 2019 press conference calling Trump's call to Ukraine's President a quid pro quo, advising us to "Get over it." For deviating from the party line, Mulvaney drew an assignment as Trump's special envoy to Northern Ireland. We all hoped he would get over it!

Venturing beyond domestic topics, we pondered Israeli PM Netanyahu's inability yet again to form a government. (Spoiler alert: After our meeting, it finally happened, when Benny Gantz agreed to be part of a Netanyahu administration, a concession he'd long refused to make.) Considering the always volatile Muslim world, we noted that Iran now had enough nuclear fuel to build a bomb. The new development happened only after Trump's administration withdrew from the pact, which had been constraining Iran from doing just that. In Afghanistan, the Taliban attacked Afghan troops, and US forces made a defensive strike. Pakistan signaled a desire to influence that weakened neighboring country. In Saudi Arabia, Salman is imprisoning related princes. He has not yet been implicated in any murders of those relatives, given the supposed involvement of "his aides" in Washington Post reporter Khashoggi's brutal assassination. And one final issue threatening the globe is of course climate change. Andy Tepper led this discussion, pointing out that it never emerges as a viable campaign issue because it is seen as a "bottomless pit." We agreed that long-term, complex goals do not resonate with voters. Though the long-term damage caused by global warming is hard to measure, it is notable that a Pro-Trump climate denial group has just laid off staff amid financial woes.

A final issue was the open spread of Anti-Semitism, in schools and colleges, and with Nazis storming the stage at a Sanders rally. Phil Harris wondered why the item was on our Agenda, given that it is nothing new. Bert Busch referred us to a New York Times article describing the harassment of a Monmouth County high school girl. The two anti-Semitic boys responsible for the attacks saw their acceptances from competitive colleges rescinded.

If you are interested in current events, please feel free to join us on the second and fourth Mondays of the month, when possible, or virtually via Zoom, if available.

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