When everyone has special needs ...

As a society we’ve allowed “special needs” to get out of control. 

That’s not to say there aren’t people who need special assistance to function in the world.  There are people with physical disabilities from birth, injuries, or devastating or degenerative illnesses. There are the visually and hearing impaired. And those with serious mental illnesses that can only be managed through treatment and medication.    

We have a collective responsibility to help them as much as possible.  

But somewhere along the line merely being uncomfortable became a special need. And being unpleasant became an acceptable way to get whatever you want. 

That’s when we’ve gone too far. We’ve enabled otherwise completely healthy people to demand and get special treatment for no other reason than they want it.  If someone whines enough – kid, parent, or adult – we’re supposed to change all the rules for them.  They get special privileges not given to others, excused from selfish and bad behavior, and preferred treatment.

The more people who do this get rewarded, the more other people want the same.  It cascades exponentially as a result.  People already gaming the system inspire others to game the system as well.  As one former client said to me when he whipped out his handicap hang tag to zoom into a handicap-reserved spot before sprinting into a Staples, “everybody does it.”

This is from a guy who works out in a gym two hours a day and has no discernable handicap except occasional bouts with kidney stones. Other than that, he’s in perfect health and has been for years; there’s absolutely no reason he has a handicap tag. 

Except he wants one to park closer to restaurants and stores. 

I know plenty of people with real disabilities who need handicap parking spots. This jerk-off didn’t, nor did his partner who also used the same hang-tag for close-in parking.  

But hey, both of them have “special needs.” Like wanting to park closer.   

You see the same thing with emotional support animals. To be clear, I’m not talking about real service animals, like guide dogs and other specially trained animals to help the truly disabled. 

Nope, I’m talking about ordinary pets people claim to need for emotional support. They get a note from some hack doctor that they need to bring their dog, cat, ferret, peacock or duck with them everywhere so they don’t feel anxious. Or they simply skip the bogus note and go online to buy a service/support animal vest for their furry or feathered friend. 

These pets have no special skills. Their special talent is that they “comfort” their owners, which isn’t unique.  After all, isn’t the sole purpose of most pets to give comfort to their owners? 

Emotional support animals are increasingly frequent flyers. Instead of leaving their pet at home, more people are claiming they need them to reduce their anxiety about flying. 

Do you get anxious about flying? Doesn’t everyone?  I bet even pilots are anxious about flying, which is a good thing – I’d hate to think pilots don’t worry some about flying.

Having your dog, cat or whatever with you so you don’t feel anxious about flying has become utter BS. What’s that animal going to do for you that hitting the drink cart for a double won’t? 

Face it: most people on planes with “comfort” animals just want to show how special they are and/or take Muffy, Fluffy, Barfy or Captain Sprinkles on an adventure without paying for it. 

They are the same weasels who “blue-shoe” their way on board early yet once on seem perfectly fine. Or those who try to muscle enough luggage for an Everest Expedition on as “carry on” using their little kids as Sherpas to evade the “one-personal-item-per-person” rule.  

Special, special, special.  Sheesh. 

Clearly indulging all these “special” people is getting out of hand.

Before I go any further, let me say I have nothing against pets.  I love most dogs, except pugs – sorry they are hideously ugly (and no, they are not so ugly they’re cute). I’m okay with most cats, too.  But aside from certified guide and service dogs, I don’t want to see pets on planes.

And in other places where they don’t belong.  I especially don’t want to see ordinary pets in grocery stores or restaurants. Yet many special people think it’s cute to bring their dog along to those places.  It’s not cute; it’s disrespectful to everyone else and it’s also a health issue. 

How so? Well, for starters your dog licks its butt then licks your hand. Okay?  Despite what you want to believe, your dog’s spit is not magically antiseptic. Don’t share it.       

The sad part is I expect the special-needs landslide to only accelerate. We’re training entire generations to assert their rights to be held to different standards than everyone else. 

Because they have special needs.

I read in a recent WSJ article about the problems colleges are having accommodating the ever-expanding pool of students with special needs.

We’re not talking about bona fide disabilities; we’re talking about students who can’t deal with the “stress” of modern college life, what with all the studying, testing, and social pressures that may make them feel a bit anxious.  You know, the same stuff those of us who went to college endured – and somehow survived – when we were there. 

To listen to today’s college students, it’s much worse today. They are actually expected to squeeze in studying, and to pass exams, which is highly inconvenient, apparently, to many of them. So, they are claiming “special needs” to get more time to take exams, the right to get up and walk around during class, and the right to take exams alone because they are bothered by having other people in the room. And school administrators are giving them all that.   

Some colleges are already providing “crying rooms” for overwrought students upset by elections.  Safe spaces for those who might be damaged by hurtful speech. And on and on.

Good job, colleges. You’re reinforcing that nobody has to do anything they don’t like, or be held to the same standards, if they merely claim to have “special needs.” 

I wonder how well that training will pan out when these snowflakes hit the workforce. I would love to be there the first time one of them tells their boss the task they’ve been given makes them too anxious, so they’re simply not going to do it. Or they miss a critical deadline because “something came up” online that upset them.  Or when one of them goes to tears over a bad performance review and has their mom or dad try to intervene on their behalf.

That is presuming they ever even try to join the workforce. Which I doubt.   

It’s probably going to a deal-breaker when they discover nobody in the real world gives a damn about their made-up “special needs,” regardless of what mommy and daddy have told them.

More to the point, they’ll find when everyone has “special needs” their own “special need” isn’t all that “special” anymore. When you flood the zone with made-up “special needs” the only people who stand out – the only ones worth paying attention to anymore – are those without any.

Those will be the people who aren’t constantly demanding the rules be changed just for them.  Or that rules and common courtesy don’t apply to them because they are so special.

And those will be the people getting along and working with others, instead of just whining.     

Nobody cares ...

As much as our media wish we did, we don’t care about a lot of things. 

First and foremost – Stormy Daniels. 

It’s sad that Democrats and the media have such short memories.

When Bill Clinton was accused of being a decades-long sexual predator by multiple women, Democrats and the media buried the allegations as irrelevant.  “A vast right-wing conspiracy,” Hillary said.  James Carville said you could find the same type of women by dragging a hundred-dollar bill through a trailer park. 

Then Republicans in Congress made way too much out of Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky, which was discovered as a completely unrelated element that fell out of Special Prosecutor Ken Starr’s overzealous investigation of the Whitewater controversy. When his Whitewater case started to run out of steam, he and Republicans shifted to the Lewinsky affair.   

Starting to sound familiar? 

Democrats claimed it had nothing to do with the original Whitewater investigation, which it didn’t, and was just about sex between two consenting adults, which wasn’t and still isn’t a crime.

More importantly, Democrats said the American public didn’t care who had sex with whom.  Democrats were absolutely right about that.  

But Republicans kept pushing and paid a heavy price in the next round of elections for House and Senate seats. The public saw the attacks on Clinton as a wasteful and distasteful sideshow, including way too much focus on what was on the infamous blue dress and how it got there.  How could parents explain to their young kids what that was all about?

The public just wanted it to end. And those who kept it going to be punished.   

I’m stunned Democrats and the media have forgotten all this. They’ve also forgotten perhaps the most important thing – the short attention span of the American public; the longer a “scandal” drags on the less interested the public is.  Especially when those hyping the scandal have neither a crime, nor an actual victim, but won’t give it a rest.

Which brings us to Stormy Daniels. She’s an aging pornstar – try to explain what that is to young children.  You don’t really need to for teenage boys – I suspect most of them have already Googled her repeatedly and by now are extraordinarily familiar with her and her “acting” talents.

Purely in the interest of research, mind you, I Googled her, too.  (That’s my story, it was only for research, and I’m sticking to it, okay?) Let’s just say that she’s experienced. Very.   

Stormy claims she once had consensual sex with Trump about a decade ago, long before he ran for President. She signed an NDA and was paid $130,000 to keep quiet about it. She’s suing to get released from that NDA; I suppose to tell her side of the story we already know – she had sex with Trump. Once. I'm fairly sure that's the entire story.    

Oh, and now she claims she’s been defamed. 

For the life of me I can’t find the crime the media seem to think exists. As to defamation, you have to prove damages. If anything, she’s gotten far more publicity out of this than she ever did for her more than 150 film credits, many of which were for hardcore porn videos. 

Only the truly creepy, and hardcore Trump haters, care. Nobody else does. 

Yet that doesn’t stop CNN and MSNBC from making Stormy the lead almost every day.

Why? Because sex sells, I suppose. At least that’s what their producers must think. 

For most Americans, however, Stormy’s a yawner.   Nobody cares. 

The same could be said for Mueller’s investigation into alleged Russian interference in the last election, which mutated into investigating alleged Russian collusion with the Trump campaign.  

Another thing the media cover nonstop.   

After a year there’s still nothing to show from the millions spent investigating this.  Well, to clarify, it’s true the Russians tried to interfere in the last election – nobody denies that – but nothing that shows Trump or his campaign colluded with the Russians.

There have been charges brought against some one-time Trump associates for things having nothing to do with Trump or his campaign or Russian involvement with the campaign.  

The score on collusion remains the same.  Zero. Zip. Zed. Nothing.

There’s been a lot of fluff without substance. A lot of political posturing on both sides of the aisle.  Half-assed theories about Russians hacking voting machines – disproven.  Half-assed theories about the big effect Russian trolls posting fake news online had on the election – disproven. And more half-assed theories about how Russians coordinated the hacks of Podesta’s e-mails and the release of those e-mails with Trump campaign officials right before the election – disproven. 

Obstruction of justice by Trump? Again, nothing. If anything, James Comey’s own memos – supposed to be the smoking gun proof of Trump’s obstruction – prove the opposite.

Was firing Comey an attempt to stop the Russian interference investigation?  Nope.  As more comes out by Comey himself, it’s clear he was fired for good reason. He was a self-aggrandizing jerk who was mismanaging the FBI and wildly exceeding his authority. He wasn’t a hero. 

The more he tries to stay in the public eye the less likeable and admirable he becomes.   

Mueller’s investigation is suffering the same fate. Frankly, it’s boring to many. 

Now, something interesting may yet come out of it – but not something Democrats and the media will probably like. It may turn out there’s proof some former Obama appointees broke any number of laws to interfere in the last election.

And when Trump won anyway, kept breaking laws to keep him out of office. 

That’s not what those who initially cheered on the Mueller investigation hoped for. They’re now facing the unintended consequences of launching it.  They’re hoping nobody cares about what Mueller finds that hurts them far more than Trump.

While Democrats and former Obama Administration officials, including the former heads of the State Department, DOJ, CIA and other intelligence agencies, keep saying they can’t wait for Mueller’s report, I suspect that’s for show – I think a lot of those folks are worried. 

They should be.   

The Hillary campaign clearly colluded with Russians, via the infamous Steele Dossier her campaign paid for, which relied heavily on info from Russians sources.  Even James Comey – who takes credit for starting the Mueller investigation, and instantly went from villain to hero for Democrats, may have inadvertently confessed to lying to the FBI and to Congress. Andy McCabe of the FBI has already been found to have lied to the FBI and Congress, too.     

Mueller’s investigation has also opened the door – perhaps not intentionally – to a whole range of other misdeeds which are now surfacing by government officials.  Some intelligence agency bosses from the Obama Administration apparently stepped way over the line to cook the books on the Hillary Clinton e-mail fiasco and produce her puzzling exoneration, and to frame Trump before and after he was elected.

Now we’re learning that the FBI may have embedded a paid informant in the Trump campaign to entrap campaign staffers and gather dirt.

This is not good news for the Democrats, Trump haters, and the media.  Or what’s rumored to be the “deep state” obsessed with driving Trump from office. 

It will be curious to see what the media will do with all this new info.  Will Democrats and the media aggressively bury those stories, claiming “nobody cares” about what happened?   

I think that’s precisely what they’ll do.  

John McCain ...

It’s time to put John McCain into perspective.

When he finally passes on the obits will probably be generally glowing.

Just as they were for Robert Byrd, a one-time ardent segregationist and proud member of the Klan. And for Teddy Kennedy, a philandering weasel who killed a young female staffer and tried to cover it up. And for so many others the media have covered for.   

I’d like to interject a bit of reality about McCain before the media covers for him.

We all know the media love to quote John McCain. Always have.    

He’s their hero. The maverick. The Republican that likes to trash fellow Republicans. The Republican that absolutely hates Trump. 

He’s up there with Susan Collins, Jeff Flake, and Bob Corker – “brave” Republicans willing to stand up to conservatives and fight for the same things Democrats support.  That imbues them with virtue in the eyes of our media. You’ll see them quoted often, usually after the claim that “even some leading Republicans disagree” with whatever Republicans generally support. 

But McCain always get the most coverage.    

Everybody knows McCain’s backstory – graduate of the Naval Academy, son and grandson of two 4-star admirals, and a decorated (Bronze Star) jet jock shot down in Vietnam. He was held prisoner for years in the infamous Hanoi Hilton and in other camps where he was repeatedly tortured. As the son of an admiral, he was offered release several times but refused unless all his fellow prisoners were also released.  He was finally repatriated in 1973.

He returned as a bona fide war hero. No doubt about it – he was a hero. 

That’s the story everybody knows. But there’s more, much more after that.

After McCain returned from Vietnam, he divorced his first wife – Carol, who had been a beautiful swimsuit model when he married her in 1965.

While McCain was in Vietnam, Carol had a horrible car accident that nearly killed her. After more than 20 surgeries to save her, she was severely disfigured by the time he returned. He came back not to the ravishing beauty he left but a woman struggling to walk again.

He divorced her, as she said, because “John McCain didn’t want to be 40, he wanted to be 25.” About a month after his divorce he married the daughter of a leading Anheuser-Busch distributor. Her father was a multimillionaire with strong political connections, which helped McCain.

Later, McCain was also helped by one Charles Keating – a sleaze ball banker who played a big role in the savings and loan crisis in the late 80s and early 90s.

Perhaps you remember that Keating ran Lincoln Savings and Loan. Lincoln collapsed in 1989, at a cost of over $3 billion to the federal government. Lincoln bondholders – some 23,000 – were defrauded in the process and many investors lost their life savings.

When Lincoln collapsed, it was learned that five sitting U.S. Senators had received campaign contributions from Keating, totaling about $1.3 million. That spawned a Senate Ethics Committee investigation into charges that Keating leaned on those Senators to intervene on his behalf with the FHLBB regulators to call off the dogs.

It was abundantly clear that’s exactly what Keating expected in return for his money. It was also clear that these beneficiaries of his campaign contributions were told in no uncertain terms by Keating what he expected them to do for the money.    

Keating was quoted at the time as saying: "One question, among many raised in recent weeks, had to do with whether my financial support in any way influenced several political figures to take up my cause. I want to say in the most forceful way I can: I certainly hope so."

McCain was one of those Senators. While he was eventually cleared of the most serious charges, he was nonetheless found to have exercised “poor judgement.”  

Keating was sentenced to five years in prison. McCain continued his political career.

Oh, as one result of the Keating Five scandal McCain coauthored the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform legislation.

With that, suddenly, McCain went from being under review for questionable ethics himself, to a crusader for enforced ethics on campaign funding. He also became a “statesman” who “reached across the aisle” for coauthoring that bill with Russ Feingold, a Democrat. 

McCain-Feingold was a joke. While it mandated disclosure of campaign contributions from wealthy individuals and corporations, it unintentionally, perhaps but maybe not, encouraged the growth of “soft money” sources, which had no disclosure requirements.

Guess where donors went?  Can you say political action committees? 

The flood of undocumented dollars into PACs had the same result as before: pressure on politicians to do what big-money supporters wanted.  The difference was that now those soft-money groups tended to be much more extreme and narrow focused. And donors didn’t have to be identified. 

If you wonder why the airwaves are flooded with special-interest ads filled with half-truths and often outright lies during campaigns, sponsored by groups with misleading names designed to hide their motives, thank John McCain. He’s your guy. 

Now, all this is not to say McCain isn’t a real American hero from the Vietnam War era. He absolutely is. And he fully deserves our thanks and respect for what he did back then.  But all that happened decades ago.  He’s been riding on it ever since. 

In recent years John McCain has devolved into a shameless publicity whore. A political opportunist of the first order. Someone more interested in fawning press coverage than results.

It’s a pity this John McCain been all about himself and less about doing good for the country and the people of Arizona in particular. His state has serious problems with illegal immigrants, criminal gangs, and drugs crossing its borders.  Yet John McCain has argued for giving amnesty to illegals, and against a border security wall and enhanced prosecution of illegals.   

So who does John McCain represent?

Simple. Himself. 

Outside of being a contrarian just to be different there isn’t much else to him. I’m not sure he strongly believes in anything. That became crystal clear when he ran for President. He couldn’t make up his mind whether he was a liberal Republican or a conservative Democrat. Or what. Nobody knew what he actually stood for because he didn’t know, either. 

That’s how he lost to a first-term Senator with zero legislative accomplishments.

I believe he still has that problem.

When he recently faced a more conservative primary challenger, he decided to brush up on his conservative bona fides. It was all just for show. He’s done this time and time again. 

People should remember this same John McCain voted against the Bush tax cuts, then voted to extend them, then voted for the Trump tax cuts. He also voted against repealing ObamaCare. He tried to push through amnesty for illegal immigrants with Democrats. 

He wavers whenever it’s politically expedient. 

During the most recent Presidential campaign he showed an especially nasty and vindictive side; a side he continued to show long after Trump was elected. And continues today. 

Of course, McCain being McCain, he always claims he’s only looking out for the country.

In today’s WSJ, he has a lengthy op-ed piece about how evil Putin is. Duh.  But in that piece he recounts why he gave the infamous Russian dossier to James Comey. McCain claims he only did this – not out of petty hatred of Trump – but because he feared Russia could use it to compromise Trump. As usual, it was always about saving the country.  

Yep, that’s his story. Classic McCain.       

Lately he’s been mucking around in the hearings for the new CIA Director, despite her exceptional qualifications, because he’s opposed to “torture” he claims happened on her watch.  Mind you, that “torture” is a matter of interpretation; it was actually waterboarding of three – count ‘em, three – high-value prisoners captured after 9/11. 

Democrats loved that he was voting no.  So did the media.

Most recently he’s told folks he wants Obama, Bush, and Clinton at his funeral, but not Trump.  Leave it to McCain to try to grab the spotlight once again with a stupid, spiteful gesture.

But that’s who he is.  

John McCain has been diagnosed with a brain tumor that will probably take his life fairly soon.  I am sorry for him and his family. I don’t want to be kicking a man while he’s down. 

He should resign from the Senate now, nonetheless.  Honestly, he should have done that a long time ago when he first got his diagnosis. I’m pretty sure he won’t. Not because he has unfinished business in the Senate, which he clearly doesn’t.

He won’t resign for the very same reason he ran for re-election the last time, even though he knew then he was gravely ill and probably wouldn’t live to finish out his term. But he refused to give up the limelight, even though it was well past time for him to leave.  

It’s very sad.  Actually pathetic.

When he finally passes, he will be lionized by the media as a real “straight shooter,” a “voice of reason” in the Republican Party. His Democrat pals will deeply mourn his passing as one of the last Republican “statesmen” of our time. 

Glossed over will be who John McCain really was.

The same way the media glossed over Robert Byrd and Teddy Kennedy’s sordid pasts. 

Funny hat night ...

What’s funny is highly subjective.

Making a goofy Easter bonnet from provided parts, or a faux Kentucky Derby hat – with the goal of being the most outrageous – is not funny to me. It’s stupid.

Sorry. But if you’re running a social event and feel you need to “spice” things up with a theme or game that involves everybody making a fool of themselves, I’ll pass.

I’ve never understood why event planners in social clubs feel compelled to introduce “contests” with ridiculous rules to force everyone to participate in teams. I know it may seem like a great idea at the time – sort of the answer to: well, what else can we do after we’ve eaten? – but it’s not. Most often some people enjoy it – the same folks every time; the rest of us endure it. 

That happens a lot here in The Villages. Which is downright bizarre. It’s not like we crave additional entertainment bolted on to an otherwise pleasant social get together. 

Honestly, this is a big community of the most active adults you’ll probably ever find. There are always people out on bikes, running, swimming, doing water aerobics, dancing in the squares to live music every night, and playing golf, Pickleball, softball, or taking lessons. 

Hell, there are over 2000 social clubs for everything from line dancing, quilting, target shooting, archery, reenacting old-time radio shows, and more. People here are busy. 

Yet somebody in a social club always seems to want to “spice” things up with games you’d expect to find at a senior center for folks on their last legs. Or a party for little kids.     

I went to one of the clubs I belong to the other night. The theme was Kentucky Derby, which is a sporting event up there with synchronized swimming on my list of things that interest me the very least. You could safely add Olympic short-track speed skating to that list as well. I simply don’t care who wins or loses in those sports. I’ve never understood why anyone would.

In fairness, the food that night was great. They should have stopped there.   

But, after eating, they held a competition to see who had created the silliest Kentucky Derby hat. To me, they all did. Then they had a game with big foam dice to advance contestants who had hand crafted wooden stick horses they decorated themselves.

Why? I don’t know.  I guess it was fun for them. I thought it was dopey.   

As I’ve said, what’s funny is subjective. Wearing silly hats and riding around on a kid’s stick horse – while making horse sounds – doesn’t do it for me.

It’s just evidence for a competency hearing: “Well, I went to visit grandpa and he came to the door wearing a hat with glued on plastic animals while riding a stick horse and neighing loudly.” 

Yep, guess who won’t be living on their own anymore.           

Truth is, if I want to make a complete ass out of myself I’m perfectly capable of doing that on my own. I have years of experience. I’m an expert.  I don’t need any additional props.

I don’t like “fun” games when I feel they’re too forced and too contrived. And especially when there’s no actual skill involved or a real point to the game except to consume time.  Or the primary goal is making you look like a senile idiot. Or it’s a mindless game better suited for an eight-year-old’s birthday party than for adults.

If you must have a game, why not poker?  Or beer pong?

Or even better, skip the game altogether. Let the adults eat, drink, socialize and be merry. Trust me, they’ll have more fun on their own. It worked for us as kids    

If you have to work too hard to get to fun for fun’s sake, it usually isn’t. Don’t ever force fun; just let it happen. And it will, naturally.  It’s really that simple. 

Socializing with others is fun.  Going out to dinner with others is fun. Going out to a dance with others is fun. Having a few drinks with others is fun. Meeting new people is fun.

Dressing up in costume for Halloween can be fun – I’ve done that many times, even on a cruise. I’ve enjoyed participating in Ugly Holiday Sweater events, getting Irish’d up for St. Patty’s Day, and getting Gator’d up for a University of Florida football game with other fans and alums.

I’m not opposed to dressing up for certain stuff, in other words. Still, if you’ll notice, all of the above aren’t about looking like a moron. Tacky and tasteless, maybe; dumbass never. 

There are many other ways to have fun.  It all depends on you.

There’s playing golf, Pickleball, softball, billiards, or Mexican Train with others. If you enjoy those things they can be a source of great fun for you. You can be fairly certain anyone you play with wants to participate, too. You’re all in it together.        

That’s fun. For you and for them.

More power to you.

Don’t get me wrong: I love having fun.

However, my idea of fun typically relies less on props and made-up games, and more on doing things I can now enjoy as a grown up. 

None of  us has time to waste anymore.     

One nation under lawsuits ...

So Stormy Daniels is suing Michael Cohen and Donald Trump. 

A bunch of states’ Attorneys General are suing to stop the end of DACA. Many of the same are also suing to stop Trump’s Executive Orders on restricting immigration from certain countries. Several states are being sued over voter ID laws. Florida is being sued by convicted felons who want to vote. 

And lest we forget, the DNC is suing Russia, WikiLeaks, and the Trump Campaign for damages from alleged collusion during the last election.

That’s big stuff, right? Well, the media want you to think it is. It’s not.

Years ago, I got my most valuable lesson about lawsuits. It’s worth sharing.    

I was being sued by a former partner. My then partner and I had bought out his shares. He had agreed to the generous buyout terms and the payment and got his check right away. 

A year later, I got notice that he was suing me.  Over what?  His new lawyers claimed we had not given him fair value. Mind you, he had long ago signed the agreement and cashed the check. 

I met with our lawyer – a chain-smoking nasty piece of work who normally did personal-injury work – at his grungy office in Philly. I asked him how we could be sued. 

He pointed to a homeless guy picking through trash on the street below.  He asked if I knew that guy.  I said no.  He said, well, he can sue you. I asked for what reason. My lawyer said it doesn’t matter – if he has twenty bucks he can sue me. 

True story.  The lesson? 

Anybody can sue anybody. Whether it’s justified doesn’t matter. Ultimately winning or losing is an entirely separate issue from the act of filing suit.    

Sometimes people file suits for perfectly valid reasons. 

Yet sometimes it’s simply to embarrass someone or some organization in the hope of getting a big fat settlement before it ever goes to court. Or if it does go to court that some jackpot jury will award them a lot of money anyway.      

And sometimes it’s just for publicity.

When that's the only reason, the money’s not the real issue, at least not right away. Getting and staying in the spotlight is, and inflicting pain on their adversary is most important. 

Think Stormy Daniels. Think a few of the #metoo folks. Think Gloria Allred.  If you’re an aging pornstar, a wannabe celebrity, or a politician or attorney looking to raise his or her profile, it’s tempting to file a highly public lawsuit to call attention to yourself.  We see it all the time.          

Quite often these days – perhaps too often – suits are also filed to thwart or delay implementation of perfectly legitimate regulatory actions, Federal laws properly passed by Congress, and Executive Orders fully within the Constitutional authority of the President.

Or to minimize the impact of a Presidential election. 

It’s often purely a delaying tactic, especially when the plaintiffs know the law and the Constitution aren’t on their side. They hope to tie things up in court so long that public opinion or a change in who holds the levers of power delivers an outcome they prefer.

Filing a suit is merely the first step. Through backed up courts, appeals, and refiling in different courts if need be, the plaintiffs and their attorneys can drag things out for years if that's their goal. Once again, if you’re an aging pornstar in the 14^th minute of your 15 minutes of fame, or Democrats trying to fan their base before an election, delay is what you want to keep you in the spotlight; you really don't want swift justice.     

Remember, anybody can file a lawsuit. For whatever reason, frivolous, malicious, or whatever. Or simply to delay the inevitable. 

That’s pretty much what we’re seeing now. Highly public lawsuits without a lot of substance or basis. Lawsuits for publicity. Politically motivated lawsuits just to drag things out.   

But more and more lawsuits every day. 

BTW, Stormy Daniels just filed another lawsuit against Trump for defamation.  She’s claiming he defamed her by his Tweet ridiculing her sketch of the man who allegedly threatened her about a decade ago to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Trump. 

You know, the sketch that was so widely ridiculed on the Internet as looking like Tom Brady, Willem Dafoe, Denis Leary, and others?   

And she’s claiming she’s been defamed by Trump? Truth is, the sketch made her the laughingstock of social media for days. Yet Trump’s the one she’s after. 

As I said, anybody can file a lawsuit. Doesn't mean they'll win, or that the lawsuit has any merit. Sure, some crackpot activist judge may rule in their favor in the short term. In time some higher court usually overturns silly decisions. 

Time wounds all heels, as I like to say.   

It's a mistake to take most of these lawsuits seriously. Especially when it's crystal clear why they've been filed, and what the actual motives of the "plaintiffs" are.  

The media take them at face value too often. Most Americans shouldn't.  

Russia and WikiLeaks won't take the DNC's lawsuit seriously, either. 

I don't blame them. I wouldn't.