'Fantastic Four' Casting Controversy: Hollywood's Struggle To Cast Across Ethnic Lines

Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, Miles Teller & Michael B. Jordan

The last time ethnically diverse casting choices in Hollywood were a topic of discussion on this blog was just before Christmas back on December 19, 2014 when the cast of director Ridley Scott's 'Exodus: Of Gods and Men' was generating controversy and a lot of chatter on social media.    

The media images of thuggish-looking heavily-armed civilian "Oath Keepers" standing around the streets of Ferguson being ignored by police is just too depressing to contemplate, so I'd like to weigh in on the negative buzz surrounding 20th Century Fox and Marvel Entertainment's latest superhero summer action flick 'Fantastic Four'.

The reviews for this film have been pretty brutal, and that's from critics and fans alike.

'Fantastic Four' scored an anemic 9% on the "Tomatometer" and a 23% audience approval rating on the RottenTomatoes.com Website, which said of the critic's consensus of the film, "Dull and downbeat, this Fantastic Four proves a woefully misguided attempt to translate a classic comic series without the humor, joy or colorful thrills that made it great."

As you may have heard, some of those poor reviews have been attributed (in part) to the controversial decision to cast an actor of color for one of the main characters who's always been a white blond-haired guy with blue eyes.

My biggest concern is that the exclusive hierarchy of studio executives, producers, directors, agents and casting directors who wield the kind of clout to get mainstream films made in Hollywood will read way too far into the word-of-mouth social media buzz surrounding the casting of African-American actor Michael B. Jordan (pictured above) in the role of Johnny Storm, The Human Torch.

Jack Kirby-illustrated Fantastic Four cover

As a self-professed film geek who also grew up collecting comic books (and still does) and has written unsold screenplays and graphic novel scripts, I think part of the problem with the audience reaction to this 2015 Fantastic Four film stems from the departure from the look of the traditional characters in the hugely-popular comic book series.

Fantastic Four fans have remained devoted to the comic book since it first came out in the 1960's during the "Golden Age" of Marvel Comics. The signature "look" of the four main characters has remained relatively unchanged over the years.

Aside from some minor alterations to the color and style of the their distinctive uniforms, and periodic changes to Susan Storm's hair styles over the years, this classic comic book cover from the 1960's (pictured left) is basically the image of the characters that has been ingrained into the minds and imaginations of countless thousands of Marvel comics readers.

Through JFK, Vietnam, the Civil Rights struggles of the 60's, the NASA moon landings, Nixon, Watergate - the Fantastic Four pretty much remained a constant.

That "constant" was comforting to fans in the same way the Enterprise crew's Starfleet uniforms on the original 'Star Trek' television series, Detective Columbo's rumpled trench coat on 'Columbo', Archie Bunker's chair on 'All In The Family', or Hawkeye Pierce's worn Army fatigues on 'M.A.S.H' were aesthetically comforting extensions of the characters millions loved - aspects of the characters that defined them.

From my perspective, the differences between the Fantastic Four characters as seen in the image above and the casting of the 2015 film, were simply too jarring for some of the hardcore geek fan base that loves the Fantastic Four; and even the younger generations who flocked to see the 2005 and 2007 films.

As much as I respect the young actors cast to play the Fantastic Four in this third film adaptation of the classic Marvel comic book to hit the big screen, (including Kate Mara as Susan Storm / The Invisible Girl, Kamie Bell as Benjamin Grimm / The Thing and Miles Teller as Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic) the casting choices are just one of the reasons this film has performed well below expectations.

But it's the casting of an African-American actor to play Susan Storm's brother Johnny that's been one of the more controversial issues being discussed on social media.

Michael B. Jordan as 'Wallace' on HBO's 'The Wire'

Now make no mistake, I'm a huge fan of actor Michael B. Jordan (pictured left).

His work as a performer stood out on HBO's 'The Wire', and considering the level of talent in that cast, and the fact that David Simon's show is regarded by many critics as arguably the greatest television drama ever created, that's no small feat.

Jordan played the character Wallace with a piercing sensitivity and quiet gravitas as the character struggled to find balance between his "day job" in "The Pit" as a low-level drug dealer for the notorious Barksdale crew in the low-rise projects, and raising four young children in squalid housing conditions without the presence of an adult.

Wallace's ill-fated and heart-breaking efforts to try and escape "The Game" and leave the projects of West Baltimore behind later in the series brought grown men (including yours truly) to tears - I know I'm not the only guy who cried when Wallace was killed on 'The Wire', nor am I ashamed to say so.

Jordan's critically acclaimed work in the 2013 film 'Fruitvale Station' about the true story of 22-year-old Oscar Grant's last day before he was shot and killed on a subway platform by police demonstrated that Jordan is one of the most talented young actors working in film today; and clearly a future star.

But that said, while Fox casting him in the 'Fantastic Four' reflects positively on his talent and status as an actor now seen by the industry as a 'bankable' star, I don't think the casting choice served the story itself.

As much as fans of the Fantastic Four comic series and film fans in general also like Jordan as an actor, I think Johnny Storm being reintroduced in the reboot of the franchise as an African-American created a lot of confusion and awkward discomfort.

'Fantastic Four' just wasn't the right project to do that.

The Fantastic Four have been around since the 60's and Sue and Johnny Storm being siblings is just part of that story line; they happen to both be blond and blue-eyed. There's nothing racist about that; that's the way legendary Marvel illustrator Jack Kirby and writer Stan Lee created the characters.

Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Uhura on  the original 'Star Trek' 

Imagine if a new 'Star Trek' film came out and Lieutenant Uhura was cast as a blue-eyed blond; how do you think long-time fans of the show would react?

Uhura's race was an essential component of 'Star Trek's' identity in the same way Sue and Johnny Storm almost looking like twins was an essential component of the Fantastic Four.

When Fox made the decision to change that character element, they essentially tried to fix something that wasn't broken.

From a media marketing standpoint, it was kind of like Coke introducing New Coke.

A major studio like 20th Century Fox has more than enough resources to hire writers to come up with an action vehicle for Michael B. Jordan to act in with a diverse cast; but even if their intention was to try and attract more younger African-Americans into seeing the film, trying to thrust Jordan into the Johnny Storm role was a mistake - and it cost them.

To me this is not about the money. The studio executives from Fox who put $120 million into the production of the latest 'Fantastic Four' plus millions more to market it would obviously disagree with me on that, but box office numbers are how Hollywood gauges success, so let's look at those quickly. 

Fantastic Four was released over the weekend of August 7th on 3,995 theater screens during what was generally a pretty busy three day period for film releases, but it only pulled in $26.2 million.

To put that into perspective that's the lowest box office opening for a major release featuring Marvel characters since 'Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance' premiered to a $22.1 million opening weekend back in 2012.

Compare that to the staggering $191.3 million 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' made for Disney's Marvel release over it's opening weekend back in April; it's since made $1.3 billion worldwide.

Again, what troubles me is that the Johnny Storm casting issue will overshadow the other  reasons that the 'Fantastic Four' movie didn't connect with audiences.

First, in my opinion Miles Teller, cast as Reed Richards, was not an effective casting decision either.

Teller is clearly a talented performer as demonstrated by the critical acclaim he received for his acting performances in the 2013 film 'The Spectacular Now' and in the Oscar-nominated 2014 film 'Whiplash'.

Fox's decision to cast him makes sense, particularly since his role as Peter in the mainstream film adaptation of the widely popular Young Adult trilogy, 2014's 'Divergent'  and  2015's 'Insurgent' makes him an appealing choice to help draw the coveted teen demographic to the movie theaters - but casting him as the young Reed Richards in 'Fantastic Four' just didn't seem to excite fans.

'Fantastic Four' director Josh Trank

Fox also took a pretty big risk in handing off the reins of a $120 million production to newbie director Josh Trank too (pictured left).

Trank impressed the industry and fans with his directorial debut, the 2012 surprise sci-fi hit 'Chronicle'; which Michael B. Jordan was also cast in.

That sci-fi film grossed over $125 million for Fox and it was made on a budget of $12 million.

When it debuted at number one at the box office, at age 27 Trank became one of the youngest directors to open a number one film; which puts him in some impressive directorial company.

Steven Spielberg was 28 when he directed 'Jaws' and James Cameron was 30 when he directed the original 'Terminator'.   

You can see why Fox took a gamble on Trank, but handling a $120 million dollar production is a lot different than directing a $12 million film.

Trank clashed with film executives over changes and re-shoots and later shot himself in the foot when he sent out a widely-read Twitter message that essentially shifted blame for the poor quality of the film onto the interference by film executives; he tried to delete the Tweet but it had already gone viral.

As Kim Masters wrote earlier this morning in a Hollywood Reporter story about what she termed the "Fantastic Four Blame Game": 

"Days before Fantastic Four opened, director Josh Trank sent an email to some members of the cast and crew to say he was proud of the film, which, he wrote, was 'better than 99% of the comic book movies ever made.' 'I don't think so.' responded one cast member." 

That kind of arrogance, as well as the decision to publicly air his grievances with the same film executives who rolled the dice and gave him the chance of a lifetime to helm a super hero movie with a $120 million budget says a lot about Trank.

It also offers some psychological insight into his decision-making ability and how that might have affected the kinds of questionable day-to-day decisions on the set and in post-production that led to the film being what it is.

In the wake of the phenomenal success he had with 'Chronicle', in 2014 Trank was also tapped to direct the new 'Star Wars' stand-alone film for Disney, but left the production after clashing with Lucasfilm executives over the direction and execution of the film.

To be fair to Trank, he's gone on record as saying his being personally overwhelmed with the degree to which he was under the microscope and in the public eye during the filming of 'Fantastic Four' led him to rethink being the director of an installment in the nearly-mythical 'Star Wars' franchise.

So it's obviously not fair to simply blame the problems with 'Fantastic Four' on Michael B. Jordan being cast as Johnny Storm, but the week before the release of the film, when the casting change was already creating buzz, a couple of radio DJ's in Atlanta did just that.

Jordan's Atlanta interview

What should have been a fairly straight-forward radio interview of the featured 'Fantastic Four' cast members devolved into an uncomfortable example of how race can impact perception in America.

As Krystie Lee Yandoli wrote in a July 31st piece for Buzzfeed.com, Jordan and two of his 'Fantastic Four' cast mates, Kate Mara and Kamie Bell, got up and walked out of the interview after one of the DJ's interviewing them continued to obnoxiously press Jordan to explain how his African-American character could possibly be the brother of Kate Mara's character who is white. 

Jordan was patient and professional about it as he tried to explain to the DJ that there were any number of reasons a black person and a white person could be siblings, but the interview turned south and the three actors simply got up and walked out.

But as we know, controversy over casting characters is hardly new for Hollywood and it's interesting how audience and fan reaction to Hollywood casting decisions can vary widely.

Authentically Asian? Actress Emma Stone

Director Cameron Crowe was recently forced to issue an apology for his decision to cast white frequently-blond haired actress Emma Stone (pictured left) as character Alison Ng, who is one quarter Asian, in his recent comedy 'Aloha'.

Vanity Fair's June 3rd article by Josh Duboff was just one of the slew of mainstream and social media articles covering the casting flap after fans and some critics reacted negatively to Sony's decision to not cast an authentically Asian actress for the role.

The racist e-mail exchanges between former Sony Pictures head Amy Pascal and producer Scott Rudin that were leaked last December and the fact that Amy Pascal was the one who greenlit 'Aloha' only adds to the burden Sony faces as it struggles to overcome the pall of bigotry and ethnic insensitivity that hangs over the studio like a cloud.

Consider this, Pascal was also the one who greenlit 'The Interview', a dark comedy about a fictional assassination attempt of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.

It was okay for Sony to cast an Asian actor to play a buffoonish Korean dictator who's portrayed as an idiot, but when it came to casting the part-Asian female love interest opposite Bradley Cooper 'Aloha'  no talented Asian actress could be found? Really?

The decision backfired for Sony and Crowe as many viewed it as another example of Hollywood "white-washing" film casts because of producer's apprehension about non-white actors in principal roles in mainstream commercial films.

In all fairness, sometimes Hollywood just can't catch a break.

Snarky bloggers like me give them grief for not putting ethnically diverse casts into mainstream movies, then when Hollywood tries to cast across ethnic lines, audiences rip them apart for it.

Do film executives deserve credit for trying? Absolutely.

Decades of history in the film industry isn't going to change overnight and maybe Fox deserves a measure of credit for taking a shot at casting Michael B. Jordan as the Human Torch in 'Fantastic Four' even though the film didn't click.

But not every project is going to be a hit. It's already made over $62 million and will make more overseas and on VOD or OTT digital video services like Netflix or Amazon.com; and a sequel has already been announced for 2017.

Who plays the Human Torch next time is yet to be seen, but there's no question Michael B. Jordan has a positive future ahead of him as an actor.

Hopefully next time, the executives at Fox will roll up their sleeves and attach him to an innovative project with an original story line; one where the character can be defined simply for who he is and the choices he makes and not for who the audience expects him to be.  

The Stepford Anchors & Trump Gets Bloodied

Fox GOP debate hosts loosen up before starting last week.

As much as I call out Fox News for it's elevation of rigid conservative ideology and fringe op-ed over actual facts, reality and truth, overall the channel had a pretty good week.

Their live coverage of the 1st debate between the Republican presidential candidates from Cleveland last Thursday night scored high ratings and debate anchors Megyn Kelly, Chris Wallace and Brett Baier (pictured left) surprised many liberals and progressives with a relentless series of well-researched and hard-hitting questions that kept the candidates on edge.

Personally I was expecting slow-pitch softball but they delivered fast balls over the plate all night; to me only Ohio Governor John Kasich really hit it back out of the park with his comments on same-sex marriage and defying his party to accept the expansion of Medicare which is a major component of the Affordable Care Act.

Trump shrugs off his ignorance during Thursday's debate

Remarkably, when confronted with evidence of his own misogynist comments against women by Megyn Kelly, Donald Trump reverted to a bizarre subtle "threat" against her that he'd have to re-think his relationship with her simply because she was asking him the questions millions of Americans want to know.

Seriously, what is it that has to come out of this buffoon's mouth before the RNC realizes what a liability he is for Republicans in the 2016 general election and finally cuts him loose?

If his report card from fact-checkers monitoring the debate was any gauge the GOP needs to cut that rope pronto.

After the debate, Trump had the gall to try and brush off the fact that Kelly kicked his ass on national television by suggesting she was tough on him because she was menstruating; and his asinine "blood comment" has drawn outrage even from his fellow GOP presidential candidates. 

It also got Trump uninvited from the Red State Gathering event coming up this weekend in Atlanta as conservatives move to distance themselves from his ignorance, blustering toxicity and anger.

Trump even made a lame attempt to explain away his "blood comment", but that ship has already sailed; and Trump seems genuinely confused at the backlash against him.

After all he's only saying what he thinks conservative white Americans want to hear; and let's not pretend a guy who refers to African-Americans collectively as "the blacks" is speaking to any other demographic.

Trump is speaking to the Fox News audience.

"Fair & balanced"? Female Fox News hosts

On Saturday afternoon, a post on DailyKos.com by Injolt posed an interesting question that's puzzled many people; "Why Are All the Female News Anchors At Fox News Blonde?" 

Accompany the article was the image to the left showing the photos of all the female Fox News anchors cropped next to one another.

Now even though I may have philosophical differences with the generally slanted content produced by said female Fox anchors, I'm not demeaning their professional ability or anything.

But there's clearly a creepy "Stepford Wives" aspect to their all having pretty much the same shade of blond hair like it's part of a uniform or something.

An August 3rd op-ed / blog post penned by essayist and cultural critic Chauncey DeVega entitled "Dear White America: Your Toxic Masculinity Is Killing You", written as an open letter to white people on his Indomitable blog about the dangers of what he calls "Toxic White Masculinity", offers some insight into Injolt's question about why all the female Fox News are blond. 

In the article (which I first read about on The Field-Negro's blog the other day) DeVega discusses, in part, the dangers of the distorted media perspective perpetuated by Fox News on a daily basis. 

DeVega shrewdly observes that Fox has "created an alternate reality for many white Americans where down is up and up is down so to speak." in which the Fox News viewing audience which is 92% white during prime time, exists.

The Fox News bubble doesn't reflect the America that actually exists, it reflects a culturally isolated walled-off suburban America the Fox News audience wants to see; one that is continually reinforced by the ideas of political extremists and "mainstream" white supremacists like Ann Coulter, Laura Graham, Rush Limbaugh and Pat Buchanan. 

The blond news anchor pictured above is a psychological reflection of what the Fox News audience sees; there are no Hispanic, Asian or women of color of African descent who host on Fox, though there are certainly very conservative women journalists from each of those demographics in this country.

During the debate, we didn't see that side from the Fox hosts, who seemed particularly intent on reaching out to the much more centrist view point that represents where mainstream America actually exists - and the ideological center from where the next president will elected in 2016.

In short, last Thursday night in Cleveland Megyn Kelly, Chris Wallace and Brett Baier temporarily stepped out of the Fox bubble to connect to reality.

The hard-hitting questions crafted by the hosts and their producers at Fox strike me as a calculated two-prong effort to begin to separate Donald Trump from the field of legitimate Republican candidates, and specifically silence the backlash from progressive and more liberal and centrist-leaning media organizations who've become adept at calling Fox out for it's BS.

What we saw last Thursday was a complete 180 from the 2008 election when Fox essentially created the Tea Party by lending non-stop coverage to what was then and still is, essentially a fringe extremist political movement that reflects the politics of a very small fraction of the total American electorate.

The Tea Party was barely (if at all) mentioned at last Thursday's event cleverly designed to reach towards the center, but if you click over to Fox you won't have to wait long to hear the vestiges of the Tea Bagger ideology where they butter their bread.

Fox was on it's best behavior for the debate, and the anchors came off like real journalists for a change.

But they're still Fox and they still pitch their tent far outside the boundaries of the mainstream American mindset.

The Authoritarian Personality - No Charges For Cop Who Shot Unarmed Teen...Again

17 year-old Deven Guilford killed in a routine traffic stop

When unarmed 17 year-old driver Deven Guilford (pictured left) flashed his brights at an oncoming vehicle near Grand Ledge, Michigan on a cold February evening earlier this year, he had no idea he'd just put his life in danger.

The headlights of the vehicle coming towards him were bright enough to make it look like the driver had left the brights on and the glare was bothering Guilford - so like any one of us has done on occasion, he flashed his brights at the vehicle in the universal signal for "please turn your brights off."

Unfortunately for Guilford, the vehicle he flashed was a Ford Explorer driven by Eton County Sheriff's Sgt. Jonathan Frost, an eight-year veteran who didn't take too kindly to someone flashing their brights at him.

Frost pulled Guilford over and demanded to see the teenager's license; which Guilford defiantly refused to show the officer, sparking a verbal confrontation that escalated as Frost began yelling into the window for the protesting teen to exit the car; which he eventually did after Frost makes an unsuccessful attempt to physically pull the teen out of the vehicle.

In the video the teen does seem a little mouthy to the officer, but no more than any other 17 year-old teenage American boy would be; and he's only asking Frost why he's being treated so roughly since he's unarmed and was honestly bothered by the brightness of Frost's headlights.

Guilford on the ground

Once he's on the ground face down next to his car (as illustrated by the crime scene depiction left), Frost kicks the teen's cell phone away and that sets the teen off to the point that Frost then shoots Guilford with a taser and the teen cries out in pain as the electricity shoots into his body.

The audio recorded by the officer's body cam clearly reveals the sound of what looks like the terrified teen trying to run away and there's some kind of brief scuffle; but it's not long before seven shots from Frost's gun ring out followed by a chilling scream - then silence punctuated by passing vehicles.

Unarmed African-American motorists Samuel Dubose in Cincinnati and Sandra Bland in Texas probably didn't imagine their lives were in danger after being pulled over by police for minor traffic violations either.

Both of those two high-profile cases stemmed from traffic stops prompted by issues so minor (failure to signal a lane change and missing license plate on the front of the car) that the stops themselves, while legal on the part of the officers, are highly questionable; like Frost stopping the kid for flashing his brights.

But these cases also illustrate another issue; how the emotions of police officers can quickly escalate from a professional demeanor to explosive rage when citizens ask perfectly reasonable and legal questions about why they are being stopped.

Emotional reactions that are in many cases, totally disproportionate to the reasoning behind the initial stop.

Antoinette DiIorio, 61, body slammed by Clark, NJ cop

Like the incident that took place last Friday when 61 year-old grandmother Antoinette DiIorio (pictured left) had her front teeth knocked out and suffered multiple fractures after she was picked up and body slammed by a Clark, New Jersey police officer after she tried to intervene when the officer tried to pull her son Fortunato Riga out of the car after he ran a stop sign.

"All of a sudden he grabbed my mother-in-law by the arm, lifted her off her feet in mid-air and slammed her on the ground. All you saw was blood pouring out of her face". Said the driver's fiance Crystal Palmieri," according to a quote from the BTNOMB Website.

That case was discussed during a segment of 'The Brian Lehrer Show' on WNYC earlier this morning, Seton Hall law professor Kip Cornwell was the guest for a really insightful discussion about some of the things that you can, and cannot do by law when stopped by a police officer in NJ.

One of the most interesting listener calls came from a woman who identified the problems that stem from what she called the 'Authoritarian Personality' that police officers assume which often has the effect of ratcheting up confrontations with civilians during traffic stops over relatively minor issues.

If you watch the video of either Sandra Bland's police stop, or Samuel Dubose's traffic stop, the initial demeanor and tone of the officers as they first approach the vehicle seems professional and even courteous - but it almost seems as if they are subtly pushing to elevate the situation.

Particularly with the Bland stop in Texas where Trooper Brian Encinia seems like he's intentionally trying to push her buttons.

Iconic conservative thinker Elisabeth Hasselback, center

Like when he tells her "you seem aggravated", or instructs her to put out her cigarette in her own car.

Fox News' 'Fox and Friends' co-host Elisabeth Hasselback (pictured left) had the gall to suggest that Trooper Encinia was justified in telling Sandra Bland to put out her cigarette as it could have potentially been used as a weapon.

(That asinine statement and Hasselback's general conservative idiocy is another blog entirely; but I digress...)

These are experienced law enforcement professionals with badges and guns who already have compliant citizens stopped and in control; the officers in both the Bland and the Dubose traffic stops clearly understand that the people sitting in the vehicle (who willingly pulled over when requested to do so) are not menacing, violent, disrespectful or out of control.

In such encounters, given the training and authority police officers receive, aren't they the ones who should be held to the higher standard of behavior? Why escalate it?

In some cases it almost seems as if the questionable traffic stop itself is nothing more than an excuse to see if the situation CAN be escalated; which federal investigators in Ferguson, Missouri found WAS the case as officers habitually issued tickets, citations and arrests (to mostly black residents) for relatively minor infractions to bring revenue into the municipal coffers.

In the case of Sgt. Jonathan Frost, he even admits to Deven Guilford that the headlights on his Ford Bronco are new and overly bright and that at least two other drivers that same night also flashed their lights at him, mistakenly thinking he had his brights on too - yet he still pulled the teenager over?

Sgt Jonathan Frost - cleared of all charges

Take a few minutes to watch the video and listen closely to the audio of Sgt. Frost's (pictured left) traffic stop of Devon Guilford; the whole thing only lasts just over five minutes.

If you're squeamish don't worry, the incident takes place at night and Sgt. Frost's body camera falls off after he tasers Guilford so you can't actually see the poor teen get shot; but you can hear it, which is chilling enough.

It's not "bloody" or anything, but it's not easy to listen to.

This version is split screen, matching up the footage that the teenager began taking from his cell phone with the video footage taken from Sgt. Frost's body cam.

Guilford's death did not prompt anywhere near as much national or global media attention at the time of the incident back in February; possibly because of the delay before the actual footage of the cell phone and Frost's body cam was finally made public.

But after Eaton County Prosecutor Doug Lloyd ruled on June 16th that Sgt. Frost's actions were lawful and no charges would be filed against him for firing seven shots at the unarmed teenager, the story is gaining huge traction on social media.

That attention is clearly being boosted by the controversy over the deaths of Samuel Dubose and Sandra Bland.   

Samuel Dubose's "Threatening" bottle of air freshener

By the way a quick update:

When the initial news reports about the deadly July 19th shooting of unarmed motorist Samuel Dubose by former University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing first surfaced, UC officials were quick to report that Dubose had produced a liquor bottle (pictured left) during the traffic stop.

As if somehow the mere presence of a liquor bottle inside a vehicle (after Tensing pulled Dubose over for a missing license plate on the front of the car) was in itself, threatening the officer's life - or an insinuation that Dubose was drunk and violent.

The now widely-seen body-cam video of the incident clearly showed Dubose calmly pick up a gin bottle and hand it to Tensing; he didn't wave it around or threaten the former-officer with it.

He complied with Tensing's question about what the bottle was doing on the floor of the vehicle.

As reported by The Guardian on Monday, after careful labratory analysis of the contents of the gin bottle, "The Hamilton County coroner, Dr Lakshmi Sammarco, said in a statement that lab analysis found compounds consistent with those commonly found in air fresheners or perfumes."

It was fragrance in the bottle. Which might constitute a "weapon" in Elisabeth Hasselback's view, I don't know, but apparently Dubose's having a bottle of fragrance in his car and having no plates on the front bumper of his car was sufficient cause for a police officer to "fear for his life" and shoot him in the head.

It's absurd.

Just as absurd as Sgt. Jonathan Frost tasering and then shooting and killing an unarmed 17 year-old teenager because he'd flashed his brights at him; and facing no consequences for his actions.

By the way, Sgt. Frost is back on duty with the Eaton County Sheriff's Department; God help the next person who has the misfortune to run afoul of his 'Authoritarian Personality'.

Sir Nicholas Winton - A Humble Hero of WWII Who Saved Hundreds of Lives

Sir Nicholas Winton

Before the month of August fully unfolds and we prepare to say farewell to summer and set our sights towards the general busy-ness of Autumn, I think it's important to remember a remarkable life that came to an end back on Wednesday July 1st.

By all historical accounts the amazing Sir Nicholas Winton (pictured left) had already lived a full life by the age of 36 when World War II ended in 1945, but he lived well into the 21st century until the remarkable age of 106 years old.

His obituary is truly fascinating.

As the opening dialog of Ken Burn's 2006 documentary of WWII, 'The War', reminds us:  

"The Second World War was fought in thousands of places, too many for any one accounting." 

Not all of those battles to win the war were fought on the battlefield, in the skies, or at sea; many were fought quietly or anonymously on the home front, or in the civilian arena by people like Sir Nicholas and his associates Doreen Warriner and Trevor Chadwick - their story merits its own accounting.

According to the Nichoals Winton Educational Project, over a two year period between 1938 - 1939 at the outset of WWII, Winton, with the aid of associates in Czechoslovakia and England, helped to save the lives of 669 Jewish children by arranging for them to be transported by train from the railway station in German-occupied Prague to safety in England where they were cared for by British foster families for the length of the war.

Jewish children arrive at Harwich, UK December 1938 [Getty]

Sir Nicholas was born to a well-to-do family that emigrated to England from Germany in 1907 and changed their last name to the more English-sounding Winton.

He was a 29 year-old stockbroker in 1938 about to take a ski vacation when an associate asked him to come to Prague to assist with the growing crisis of refugees who'd fled parts of Czechoslovakia and neighboring Poland to reach Prague in a desperate attempt to escape the Nazis.

Not long after his arrival in Prague to assist with the refugees, the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia itself began in March 1939, just twelve months after the rapid annexation of Austrian territory in March, 1938 known as 'The Anschluss'; when the public humiliation and persecution of Jewish citizens, and the sudden creation of concentration and labor camps quickly revealed the deadly consequences that awaited Jews who remained behind in areas under German control.
 
As a history buff, I'd heard of Winton's story before in somewhat of a peripheral way in the sense that I'd sort of viewed it as being up on sort of a "historical pedestal" and didn't feel a personal connection to it; because I'd never really taken the time or made the effort to read more about it.

But a recent article in the July 24th issue of The Hollywood Reporter about Winton by editor-at-large Kim Masters somehow humanized the story in a way that brought me closer to its subject.

Along with THR Chief Television Critic Tim Goodman and media writer Michael Wolff, Kim Masters is one of my favorite journalists covering the business of the entertainment industry. She's an excellent writer in addition to being balanced and extremely well-informed and I've heard numerous radio interviews with her on public radio as well.      

Statue at Prague's rail station honoring Sir Nicholas Winton

Her fascinating THR article revealed that not only had she personally met Sir Nicholas Winton, Masters' mother Alice was one of the 669 children that were saved by he and his associate's heroic efforts to navigate the bureaucracy of the Immigration section of the British Home Office, the Czech government, as well as the German Gestapo in order to coordinate the transport of Jewish refugees from Prague to safety in England.

As Masters' notes in her THR article she first met Winton in 1996 at her parent's home in Bethesda, Maryland - which caught my eye as I grew up in Bethesda; our family lived there from 1972 - 1985.

Masters wrote that is was her grandmother Sidonia who made the extremely difficult decision to send her three daughters away to England after her brother Heino moved from Berlin to London and found out about the program Winton and others operated known as the Kindertransport and urged his sister to take advantage of it while there was still time.

Personally I was also struck by the heartbreaking knowledge that after getting their children to safety, Masters' grandmother Sidnonia and her husband were eventually forced onto a train train that took them to the Nazi concentration camp in Poland known as Majdanek where they were killed in 1942.

I'd never actually heard of the Majdanek concentration camp until last week when I was searching images online for a photo image of the ovens for a blog I wrote last Wednesday to illustrate why Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's use of the words "marching them to the door of the oven." (to refer to his delusional vision of the consequences for Israelis after a nuclear deal was reached with Iran) was so vile and offensive.

The coincidence really struck me when I read that Masters' grandparents perished there.

Sadly, while a British Act of Parliament in 1938 permitted the children of refugees under the age of 17 to come to England provided money was put on deposit to pay for their eventual return back home at the end of the war, the United States was one of several nations that refused to accept any of the Jewish refugees; as Winton recalled: "I tried America but they didn't take any. It would have made a vast difference if they had."

The Czech Kinderstransport network ended on September 1, 1939 when Germany invaded Poland, tragically the ninth and final train with 250 Jewish children on board headed for freedom in England was stopped by German authorities after it had departed Prague due to the outbreak of the war; and it, along with their passengers, was never seen again.

Winton (center) serving as an ambulance driver in WWII

Winton went on to become a conscientious objector during the war and served as an ambulance driver before joining the RAF where he eventually became a commissioned officer.

But the incredible legacy of Winton and his many associates is the impact their efforts had on the thousands of lives they affected by saving 669 children between 1938-1939.


To me it also brings the global response of nations to the massive refugee crisis in places like Northern Africa, Syria, Iraq, Kurdistan and Turkey into perspective as thousands flee the ravages of war, poverty and violence from extremist groups like ISIS.

If Nicholas Winton and a relatively small number of people could find a way to save 669 refugees in two years, surely the collective resources of the leading Western nations could find ways to make a difference in the lives of thousands of displaced refugees today.

As Winton himself said, "If something is not impossible, then there must be a way to do it."  
 

Lifting the Blue Shroud of Secrecy

Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell

Last night I watched an extended segment during The Newshour on PBS which summarized the latest on the indictment of former University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing and his brief courtroom appearance.

If anything positive can come out of unarmed civilian Samuel Dubose's gruesome death, it's that Tensing's reckless and unjustifiable actions took place at a time when what has traditionally been known in America as the 'Blue Wall of Silence' is being dismantled by a combination of reforms in policing, technology and organized peaceful demands for change.

Gwen Ifill's guest on The Newshour  was Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell (pictured above), whose progressive and innovative approach to urban policing has helped transform the department by (in part) reducing instances of CPD officers using excessive and deadly force against citizens, reducing injuries to officers and making policing more transparent by holding members of the force accountable through investigations conducted by a Civilian Complaint Authority and keeping close track of all traffic stops which are taped by an in-car video system.

Blackwell's leadership has earned him respect and national recognition, back on February 13th of this year he outlined his approaches to effective community policing in detail during a presentation in Phoenix, Arizona at the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing. 

Blackwell not only advocates the mandatory use of body cameras for all police officers, he emphasized that such technology is a critical component of transparent policing, saying:   
"We've got to stop this shroud of secrecy among police officers"

President Obama after meeting with the Policing Task Force

The good news is that efforts at the national level like the President's Task Force, the growing national movement to address inequities in sentencing and the mass incarceration of African-Americans, as well as the many high-profile cases of unjustified police killings that have been so prominent in the media over the past few years, are collectively driving a growing momentum to enact fundamental changes in policing at the local community level in cities across America.

This movement is the product of a lot of work by activist groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, The Campaign to End the New Jim Crow, MoveOn.org, church groups, politicians, as well as journalists and average citizens with the help of the White House and the Department of Justice.

This movement is beginning to tackle a wide range of community policing issues that fall all along the spectrum of police misconduct, from discrepancies in officer-involved shootings to unfair ticketing practices.  

Tampa City Council Chairman Frank Reddick

For example, in an article in The Tampa Tribune yesterday Keith Morelli reported that it was a Department of Justice investigation into the ticketing of African-American bicyclists by the Tampa Police Department that prompted Tampa City Council Chairman Frank Reddick (pictured left) to invite the newly-appointed Chief of the Tampa PD Eric Ward to "come before the Council at its next meeting to talk about the possibility of creating a citizen's review board."

The investigation was prompted after an examination of Tampa PD statistics for 2014 showed that 81% of citations issued to bicyclists in Tampa were given to black bike riders; even though blacks only make up 25% of the Tampa population. 

Former Tampa Police Chief Jane Castor and current Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn initially called for the DOJ to assist in the investigation into the unfair ticketing practices after a rash of complaints by members of the community.

As Morelli reported, the calls for the creation of a citizen's review board with some degree of oversight authority over the Tampa police came from a broad coalition of groups including the Florida chapters of both the ACLU and the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

But getting back to the technology angle, it's clear from a number of high-profile cases of excessive use of force by police against unarmed American citizens that video is beginning to lift the shroud of secrecy that has shielded the actions of bad cops who make bad decisions for decades.

The use of video has increased exponentially in this nation, and it was a body camera that prevented former University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing from using lies to hide his actions behind the shroud of secrecy that has allowed some police officers in this country to get away with murder by claiming a dead suspect who can't testify on their own behalf was "threatening".

But it's not just murders either, video is also exposing bad cops who try to hide behind their badges after beating up people and then lying about why they did it.

Falsely accused Dhoruba Bin-Wahad, center with glasses

Take the case of former Clayton County, Georgia police officer Ryan Hall, which has made national headlines this week.

Back in May of 2014, a 69-year-old black man named Dhoruba Bin-Wahad (pictured left) was moving into his new home during broad daylight when someone mistakenly called police to report a burglary in progress.

Three cops responded to the scene and found Bin-Wahad in the process of moving his things in to the house.

The shocked homeowner tried unsuccessfully to explain that he was, in fact, the owner of the home and not a robber trying to burglarize it. Not surprisingly an argument of some kind ensued and at some, point Hall grabbed the 69 year-old man and slammed him down onto the concrete. 

In a police report, Hall claimed that that Bin-Wahad was argumentative and uncooperative during the conflict that escalated outside the home; moving is stressful enough, can you imagine the cops showing up as you're lugging boxes into a home you just paid for and accusing you of robbing it?

When cell phone video of the incident taken by a neighbor across the street later emerged, police began an internal investigation and last week a grand jury indicted Hall on misdemeanor charges of simple battery after the video evidence showed that the former officer lied about Bin-Wahad's behavior.

Watch the video for yourself, when you watch Bin-Wahad's head being slammed against the concrete, remember he's an innocent man and that's his own home.

Taken as a whole, these steps are beginning to make a difference, not only in terms of holding police officers accountable for their actions, but also in terms of restoring community confidence in law enforcement and raising the standards of police professionalism - which is good for both civilians and the police.

But there's clearly a long way to go in this nation.

America leads modern industrialized nations in police killings and according to statistics being tracked by a coalition of journalists and volunteers, with the killing of Samuel Dubose, 558 people have been killed by police this year.

While advocates for justice and human rights can take heart that these steps are slowly beginning to remove the bricks in the Blue Wall of Silence and lift the shroud of secrecy that surrounds police misconduct, sadly these efforts have come too late for Samuel Dubose and hundreds of others.

For now, we can only hope that if real changes to 21st century policing that are both meaningful and lasting can come about as a result of the tragic deaths of people like 12 year-old Tamir Rice, then perhaps their loss will have a deeper impact on the human condition - and make a difference for those in the future who might otherwise join ranks of The Counted.   

Unnatural Instinct - Ray Tensing's Coverup Exposed

Tensing NOT being dragged as he shoots Dubose with hands up

While I already knew the horrifying outcome of the deadly encounter that took place last Sunday July 19th between unarmed African-American motorist Samuel Dubose and white University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing, I still felt a sense of anxiety and fear in my gut as I watched the unedited video footage of the incident taken from Tensing's body camera.

After watching it carefully a few times and listening to the audio there's something terrifying about it.


Not only because of the knowledge that during the tussle that takes place during a few shaky frames of video a man is being shot in the head. If you watch the approximately 6-minute stretch from the time Tensing is casually driving along until he radios in that he's making a traffic stop, stops and confronts Dubose then shoots him - there's no time that Dubose is threatening.

Look at the still image from the video above; both of Dubose's hands are clearly up, Tensing is positioned in front of the driver's seat - and he's not being dragged by the car as he and his attorney have claimed.

As the Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters made clear in a statement on Wednesday, Dubose's Honda Accord didn't start rolling forward until after he'd been shot in the head at point blank range and slumped over the wheel and "he fell forward and must have pressed on the gas."

Ray Tensing charged with murder

Tensing's decision to take out his gun over a traffic stop because of a license plate not being displayed correctly is disturbing in and of itself.

But what's more chilling to me is that even after killing an unarmed suspect who wasn't threatening the officer in any way, even as Dubose lifeless body is slumped over the wheel and his car is rolling down the block; Tensing has the presence of mind to begin yelling his cover-up into his radio as he runs after the car.

Literally seconds after shooting an unarmed man, Tensing is trying to concoct a lie to conceal what he just did.

As an article posted on The Guardian Website reports, their analysis of the 28 minutes of Tensing's body camera clearly also shows at least one and possibly two other members of law enforcement standing near the scene corroborating something that did not actually happen.

As if it was a professional instinct ingrained into them as part of their training.

That's chilling. Tensing didn't just think that up seconds after shooting an unarmed man in the head, someone trained him to do it. Instinct. Unnatural instinct.

Remember back in April when North Charleston police office Michael Slager shot unarmed African-American motorist Walter Scott after another minor traffic stop? Same deal.

The cellphone video shot by a bystander not only showed Slager shooting the unarmed and fleeing motorist who didn't threaten him.

After shooting him five times he doesn't stop and render any kind of aid or check to see if Scott was still alive; he immediately runs back, picks up the taser that was dropped during the chase and brings it back over near where the victim is lying and drops it next to his body to try and stage a scenario that never happened.

Like Slager, Tensing's concocted story has been eradicated by video evidence proving officer was lying; about killing an unarmed human being who didn't threaten him. And now he's been indicted for murder.

To Serve and Protect is the motto, but the video makes clear that about the only thing Tensing was trying to protect was his own ass.

An unnatural instinct.

Bad Seeds - The Withering Republican Leadership

Holocaust references? Mike Hucakbee's cool with that

What's even more remarkable than Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee comparing the Obama administration and the State Department signing a deal with Iran to taking "Israelis and marching them to the door of the oven." is the tepid reaction to the comment itself by leading Republicans.

Over the course of his political career Huckabee has said some truly stupid things that must be read to be believed, but his invoking images from the Holocaust to characterize a diplomatic treaty drags the already soiled perception of the Republican party even lower.

Was he was simply trying boost his sagging approval ratings by "out-Trumping" Donald Trump's dimwitted inflammatory comments?

Or was he intentionally looking for an opportunity to get some quick free press to boost his chances to be selected as one of the ten GOP candidates who make the cut for Fox News' upcoming Republican presidential debate?

Maybe he'd just tossed back a couple scotches before the interview and pulled a "Jimmy the Greek",
I don't know.

Ovens at Majdanek concentration camp near Lublin, Poland

Regardless of his motivation, Huckabee's choice of words demonstrate a remarkable lack of historical understanding of the scope of the Holocaust in Europe during WWII; and the suffering endured by it's millions of victims and their families, friends, co-workers and countrymen.

His willingness to callously refer to something as horrific as the bodies of innocent people being incinerated in ovens on a mass scale simply to make the point that he disagrees with a foreign policy decision that involved diplomacy rather than war, belies an insensitivity that is all too characteristic of the tone of today's Republican party.

 To me, it's an affront to decency and an insult to Jews.

The tepid response from the Republican candidates themselves about Huckabee's comment also says a lot about the current incarnation of the GOP leadership; which is defined as much for it's open embrace of bigotry and intolerance as it is for it's undisguised misogyny, immigrant bashing, and rejection of science in favor of baseless rhetoric.

As Juliet Ilperin reported yesterday in an article in The Washington Post, during a press conference in Ethiopia on Monday, President Obama spoke thoughtfully and at length about Huckabee's comments, saying:

"The particular comments of Mr. Huckabee are just part of a general pattern that would be considered ridiculous, if it wasn't so sad. We've had a sitting Senator call John Kerry Pontius Pilate. We've had a sitting Senator, who also happens to be running for president, suggest that I'm the leading state sponsor of terrorism. These are the leaders in the Republican Party."  

Leaders indeed.

RNC Dir. of Comm. Sean Spicer

As Josh Israel reported on ThinkProgress.org earlier this morning, Sean Spicer, (pictured left) the RNC's Chief Strategist & Communications Director told CNN he would neither condemn Huckabee's comments, nor characterize them as inappropriate; saying only that "they can speak for themselves."

Thanks for clearing that up for us Sean, in the wake of the silence from the Republican Party leadership after Donald Trump's recent racist comments about Mexicans we weren't sure about that.

Oh and speaking of the leading Republican presidential candidate, Trump shrugged off Huckabee's controversial comments in an interview with Greta Van Susteren on Fox News, saying: "I mean, I'm OK with it."

Which isn't all that surprising considering Trump also just announced in an interview on Monday that he'd like to see marginalized former VP candidate Sarah Palin appointed to a cabinet post if he gets elected, insisting, "She's really somebody who knows what's happening."

Except of course, that Africa is a continent, not a country, or which newspapers she reads.

I'm guessing The Donald never got a chance to watch the movie chronicling the 2008 presidential race 'Game Change' HBO.

While Rick "Opus Dei" Santorum also sprang to Huckabee's defense, Jeb Bush was actually the only top-tier candidate to buck the GOP and come out and say Huckabee's comments were "wrong", but it was more a gentle slap on the wrist than a scolding.

Dr. Ben "Obamacare is like slavery" Carson

Earlier this afternoon while I was riding the exercise bike at the gym during my lunch break, I watched CNN's Jake Tapper doing a live interview with Republican Presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson.

When Tapper asked Dr. Carson about his thoughts on Huckabee's "oven" comment, Carson carefully ducked the question.

Instead he seemed to sympathize with the media backlash against Huckabee by admitting that he himself had been "misunderstood" when he compared the Affordable Care Act to the institution of slavery.

So what's it all mean? Right now the Republican Party is so outside the fence, it's hard to tell.

Do GOP rainmakers want another Bush in the White House?

The political cynic in me believes all this headline-grabbing right-wing buffoonery from these intellectual clowns is carefully and intentionally crafted to set up Jeb Bush as this reasonable-looking moderate front-runner when the smoke finally clears, all the suckers, hucksters and opportunists are cleared out from this field of seventeen candidates, and the race really gets down to business.

The political cynic in me thinks the GOP has intentionally taken the leashes off and let the dogs run wild so Jeb Bush, who's raised more cash than anyone, can eventually emerge as the "moderate" one who stood up to "the crazies" as Senator John McCain aptly described them.

But if all this offensive hate-speak is not a front, and people like Huckabee, Trump and their ilk really DO think the way their offensive media soundbites make them sound, then it's a clear indicator that the Republican Party is not a legitimate, issues-based political party anymore.

It's a paid-for husk that's been stripped of decency, compassion, reason and genuine American values. Thanks to its willingness to allow itself to be hijacked by a fringe extremist wing, the GOP has been reduced to a political party that is devoid of actual ideas, or forward-thinking policies.

As Huckabee's comments and the ho-hum response from the Republican leadership to them demonstrate, this is a political party that only knows how to deal in the currency of fear, ignorance, hysteria and hatred.

These days that's about all it's cultivating, and given the shifting demographics of America's diverse populace, that's not something you can take to Washington, plant in the White House garden and expect to see grow.

Huckabee and Trump make clear the kinds of seeds the Republican leadership has sewn; it's spawned a spoiled crop that's just going to wither on the vine.

Train In Vain - Delays, Politics & The Hudson Rail Tunnel Project

Passengers await a delayed NJ Transit train in 2012

Yesterday July 25th was my niece's fourteenth birthday, an important milestone on her path towards becoming a young woman.

To me, the age of fourteen marks a critical turning point between childhood and young adulthood; after fourteen, there's no turning back.

She just "graduated" from middle school and was accepted into one of NYC's most prestigious high schools in Brooklyn where she'll start this fall.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, on Friday afternoon my niece and two of her close friends took a subway from Brooklyn to Penn Station and then caught a New Jersey Transit train out to Hamilton, New Jersey where my mother picked them up to host the three of them at her place in Lawrenceville for a birthday party weekend.

"Grandmom" has an extensive premium cable package, a 48" flat screen television, Wi-Fi and access to a private pool, so it was a nice summer excursion for three whip-smart teens from Park Slope, Brooklyn.

The following morning (Saturday) my sister came out from Brooklyn to join the birthday party, and I drove over to pick her up from Hamilton station; her train was scheduled to arrive at 12:30pm but it didn't pull in until about 12:55pm.

Now in the grand scheme of things, a 25 minute train delay is not a life-altering event, but just consider the small slice of life I illustrated above and magnify that by thousands and you can start to get a sense of how the recent rash of train delays have impacted the lives and plans of thousands and thousands of average everyday commuters who traveled back and forth between New Jersey and New York this past week.

Those delays made national headlines across a nation wrestling with crumbling infrastructure issues.

As I write these words the U.S. Senate (during a rare weekend session) gathers to vote today on an absurd amendment tucked into the long-delayed highway infrastructure spending bill by Republican Senators that would (drum roll please...) repeal the Affordable Care Act. 

As Jeff Goldman reported on the NJ.com Website on Friday morning, NJ Transit was still announcing train delays of at least 30 minutes going in and out of Penn Station even after the delays that disrupted commuter service on the Northeast Corridor (NEC) line on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.

As commuter Jeff Schneider told New York TV station WCBS-2 during an interview on Friday about NJ Transit's response to the delays, “They raise fares 9 percent and then they say they have delays. ‘It’s Amtrak trouble,’ it’s always the same excuse,”

Hudson rail tunnel? Not a priority for Gov. Christie [Photo - AP]

In response to a flood of similar passenger complaints, on Thursday, a day after NJ Transit issued a public apology to thousands of outraged rail passengers, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie refused to answer a New York Times reporter's question about whether or not he cared about the NJ commuters impacted by the delays.

Frankly speaking, he doesn't care.

And it's not just because politically acitve billionaires like the Koch brothers, Sheldon Adelson and the other deep-pocketed Republican rainmakers whose campaign money Christie covets use private planes instead of NJ Transit trains.

During Christie's two terms he's had ample opportunity to work with the New Jersey legislature to authorize spending to start construction of the long-delayed project to build a new rail tunnel between New Jersey and New York, but he's flatly refused to do so.

In October of 2010, Christie canceled the start of construction on what was then known as the ARC Tunnel project because the cost of the project (estimated to be as high as $20 billion) would have meant increasing state taxes to help fund the state's share of the construction.

Grover Norquist, Republican architect of fiscal disaster

NJ taxpayers already pay some of the highest taxes in the nation and the rail tunnel project could have been financed with a modest increase of about 15 cents a gallon on gasoline, or through other proposed revenue growth methods.

But Christie, like so many other Republican governors, state legislators and at least 279 members of Congress, has quietly signed onto the bizarre "no new taxes" pledge of extremist anti-tax zealot Grover Norquist and his Americans for Tax Reform organization.

Republican governors like Sam Brownback of Kansas, or presidential hopeful Bobby Jindal of Louisiana have literally dragged their state economies to the brink of fiscal disaster over their refusal to violate a pledge not to raise taxes to create much-needed state revenue.

But they stubbornly cling on to their "pledge" to Grover Norquist - a non-elected fringe "starve the beast" anti-tax advocate whose economic theories have been dismissed by actual economists like Christina and David Romer of the National Bureau of Economic Research, William Niskanen, chairman emeritus of the Cato Institute and Princeton economist, author and Princeton University professor Paul Krugman.

So instead of demonstrating visionary leadership to meet the infrastructure needs of NJ citizens, Christie has chosen to put his doomed presidential ambitions over the needs of the constituents he was elected to serve in order to be able to tell a fringe wing of the Republican party that he didn't raise taxes.   

In a statement last week, Christie even had the gall to try and pass blame for the train delays onto President Obama and the obstructionist do-nothing Republican-led Congress that has blocked the President's requests for a comprehensive infrastructure spending bill for the past seven years.

In an effort to deflect anger at his own refusal to use his political clout to address the rail infrastructure issue, Christie said: “We have tried again and again to work cooperatively with Amtrak to resolve these issues, but in the face of this repeated and unacceptable failure, I am calling on the Obama Administration and Congress to step up to their responsibility to the people of New Jersey and to the largest and most important regional infrastructure system in the nation.”

It's absurd.

Not because of Christie's politics, he's simply not a visionary leader capable of inspiring hope.

It's absurd because the train delays inconveniencing thousands of commuters are not a complex problem that just popped up out of nowhere, it's a fixable one. Let's go back to the rail tunnel project.

Construction of the North Tunnel 1905

As anyone who has taken an Amtrak or NJ Transit train between New Jersey and New York knows, commuter trains that travel back and forth between New York's Penn Station and the state of New Jersey pass through a pair of massive underground tunnels known as the North River Tunnels.

The tunnels sit side by side about 37 feet apart, they start on the west side of Manhattan near 11th avenue, pass underneath the Hudson River and end at an entry-exit point in Weehawken, New Jersey.

They were built by the Pennsylvania Railroad and construction to dig the two shafts for the tunnels started in 1904.

They were first used to carry train traffic in 1910, so the current tunnels have been in use continually for 115 years in a regional rail network that's one of the heaviest traveled in the world.

During peak hours on weekdays at least 24 different trains per hour pass through the inbound tunnel in the morning, or the outbound New Jersey-bound tunnel in the afternoon-evenings.

The recent travel delays that affected so many commuters last week, stem from two basic facts, both of which are related to the age of the tunnels.

Pantograph on the top of an Amtrak train car

Most NJ Transit and Amtrak trains are powered by electricity which passes from the overhead catenary wires that run directly over the tracks through a series of those folding hinge mechanisms you see attached to the top of train cars called pantographs (pictured left).

During super storm Sandy, one of the two tunnels was flooded for the first time causing damage to the tunnel's structure, the drainage systems designed to prevent flooding and the overhead catenary wires that power the trains.

The overhead wires are over 80 years old.

The corrosion of the overhead catenary wires from the flood damage, combined with the strain on the system from overuse and extreme temperatures in summer and winter are what led to the disabled passenger train that got stuck in the tunnel last Monday when the temperatures were at least 100 degrees outside with the humidity.

It isn't just something that can be "fixed" by sending some workers into the tunnel and doing repairs.

Passenger rail traffic on the NEC line has increased exponentially over the years and the 115 year-old tunnels with their 80 year-old overhead wires simply weren't built to handle that kind of volume; not without major renovations and certainly not with the flood damage from Sandy.

And the clock is ticking. In 2014, Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman went on record as saying that within 20 years, at least one of the tunnels would have to be shut down for an extended time period to conduct major repairs.

The only real "fix" is to begin construction on a new set of tunnels under the Hudson River as soon as possible so that rail service is ready to be switched over to the new tunnels before the current tunnel is forced to be shut down.

It's the kind of large-scale project that needs active broad-based support from a coalition of public and private interests, and co-financed by a combination of federal and state spending; including the sale of bonds.

The federal government has already committed billions in funds to the project but cost over runs would be the responsibility of the state of New Jersey and that means raising taxes and Chris Christie won't violate his pledge to Grover Norquist.

Sound absurd given the scope of the problem and how many people are affected? It is.

Construction should have started years ago but unfortunately we're stuck with the most unproductive and politically polarized Republican Congress in American history and a Republican Governor in New Jersey who lacks the vision, guts and political will to get the project started.

The costs? An estimated $20 billion. Amtrak already has engineering, planning and environmental impact studies underway for what's currently being called the "Gateway Project".

But what's sad is the reality that the federal government was willing to squander over $1 trillion on a failed, decade-long war in Iraq that killed thousands of people but didn't make us any safer.

$20 billion is a drop in the bucket compared to the tax dollars spent in Iraq on George W. Bush's un-financed war; remember, he flatly refused to raise taxes for the war.
 
In the meantime it's taxpayers who use Amtrak and NJ Transit to get in and out of New York who are paying the price for politicians who just keep passing the buck and burying their heads in the sand from the inevitable truth.

The commuter delays we saw last week will seem like nothing compared to what happens if one of the current rail tunnels is forced to close in the next ten to fifteen years.

If one of those tunnels is closed, the resulting increase in vehicular traffic in and out of New York City will have an equally nightmarish effect on commuters and could have totally unforeseen effects on the economy.

What if the commute becomes such a nightmare that some large employers decide to pack up and relocate from New York because it's already too expensive for their employees to raise families there and getting to and from work would become next to impossible?

What if one of the tunnels is forced to close ten years before construction starts on the new tunnel?

What if Chris Christie put as much energy into forging a lasting political legacy built on being the governor who got the high-speed tunnel project started?

What if he put the same energy into improving the lives of commuters and improving New Jersey's infrastructure as he does enacting revenge on politicians who oppose him, or lambasting teachers and union members who question his policies on pension reform?

What if Christie had just gone ahead and approved the start of the project back in 2010? The shafts for the new tunnel might have been half-way to New York by now and Christie might have been viewed as a presidential candidate unafraid to tackle the kinds of large-scale challenges other politicians shirk from.

But as it is, yesterday my niece turned fourteen years-old and she may very well be thirty four by the time the new Hudson rail tunnels are completed.

Maybe starting construction on the new tunnels is kind of like turning fourteen; once you do there's no turning back. And though that comes with a whole new set of challenges and obstacles, ultimately it's a good thing.