If a tree falls in the forest ...

(EDITOR’S NOTE: The following column appeared in the April 21, 2017 edition of the Finger Lakes Times newspaper in Geneva, NY)

By Michael J. Fitzgerald, columnist

Philosophy students still ponder this centuries old question: If a tree falls in a forest and there is no one around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Now the question in our 21st century cellphone-camera-video-media culture would be more like: Did someone capture a video clip, photo or audio file of the tumbling timber?

Consider the recent media-frenzy/brouhaha over a United Airlines passenger dragged off a plane when he refused to give up his assigned seat — a seat United wanted to reclaim for an airline employee’s use.

The incident escalated overnight from a Kentucky airport dustup to an international incident, fueled by cellphone videos taken by other passengers, then posted on Facebook and Twitter.

In social media jargon, the videos went viral.

Then numerous mainstream news reports were published worldwide about the incident, including the links — all followed by hundreds of clever memes and commentaries that had a lot of fun at the expense of United Airlines.

This isn’t to diminish any mistreatment of passenger Dr. David Dao, the stunning clumsiness of United Airlines’ handling of the incident or the upset experienced by other passengers who watched Dao hauled roughly from his assigned spot and dragged down the narrow aisle.

But if those cellphone videos hadn’t been posted to social media and circulated widely, would this incident between a passenger and security at a regional airport been any more than a small footnote on the back pages of some newspapers?

You don’t need to be a philosophy student to answer that question.

Similarly, consider the police-vs-water protector clashes at the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota. Activists would not have garnered a fraction of the attention without the tsunami of video, still images and powerful audio recordings that spread nationally and internationally.

We see the power of images often.

Dozens of snippets of videos have been posted from protests at NY GOP Congressman Tom Reed’s office and town hall meetings, adding strong visual and audio elements to Reed’s statements, also reported in print media.

His widely viewed video reply to a question about responsiveness to his constituents, “I try to listen to that silent voice,” is particularly popular among his critics.

Until the group We Are Seneca Lake suspended its arrest-generating protests at the gates of the Crestwood Midstream facility near Watkins Glen, video and photos frequently circulated widely on social media, encouraging mainstream media locally and across the state to pay attention.

The same for videos at local courthouses when protesters had their day in court.

That video attention put added political pressure on the New York Department of Environmental Conservation to be especially diligent in its continuing review of Crestwood’s proposal to store millions of gallons of liquid propane gas in unlined caverns.

But as informative as this imagery explosion can be, there are plenty of troubling elements.

Overexposure — sometimes called information overload — can prompt a numbing desensitization to situations. Or sometimes promotes assumptions based on just seconds of video footage, often out of context.

Perhaps the most problematic is deliberate manipulation of video or images.

Several weeks ago California prosecutors charged two anti-abortion activists with 15 video-related felonies. The charges stem from their roles in the filming, editing and distributing of secretly recorded videos that inaccurately portrayed Planned Parenthood and prompted waves of threats.

The since-discredited videos — which might be called “fake news” — were edited to smear Planned Parenthood and were a major factor in prompting a dozen state investigations into allegations against the health-care provider in the last two years.

The question for 2017 has become “If an incident happens and it isn’t videoed, is it still news?”

This fake news vs. real news debate makes me long for simpler times and debates over “if a tree falls in a forest ... ”

Fitzgerald worked for six newspapers as a writer and editor as well as a correspondent for several news services. He splits his time between Valois, NY and Pt. Richmond, Calif. You can email him at Michael.Fitzgeraldfltcolumnist@ gmail.com and visit his website at michaeljfitzgerald.blogspot.com.

Retiring superintendent's $20-million legal mess

(Editor's note: The following column appeared April 14, 2017 in the Finger Lakes Times newspaper in Geneva, NY.)

Leaving a $20 million legal mess

By Michael J. Fitzgerald, columnist

The legal legacy of retiring Watkins Glen NY Unified School District Superintendent Tom Phillips will likely be long remembered by area taxpayers.

When Phillips leaves later this year, the district, Watkins Glen Police and the tiny Village likely will still be scrambling to defend against a federal lawsuit alleging abuse of power and violation of a citizen’s constitutional rights — all linked to Phillips’ actions last year.

The damages demanded by the plaintiff tally up to approximately $20 million, not counting legal fees that are quickly piling up.

Hansen arrested at a tennis match

The 20-page lawsuit in the federal Western District of New York court is the outgrowth of two arrests of a Watkins Glen woman, a persistent critic of Phillips’ administration and the elected school board.

In both arrests Kristina Hansen was handcuffed and taken into custody by Watkins Glen Police, once for attempting to attend a publicly noticed school board meeting, the second for attending a public, outdoor tennis match.

You read correctly — a public meeting of elected officials ... and a public outdoor athletic event.

She raised the superintendent’s ire to the boiling point when she tried to attend a school board meeting about staff cuts. When Hansen attempted to enter, Phillips blocked her entry.

“Phillips behaved in an intimidating manner, flailing his arms and continuing to shout at her,” the lawsuit says.

Police were called and escorted Hansen off campus without incident.

Days later she received a letter from Phillips barring her from setting foot on any school district campus or office without his written consent.

That letter, which a Watkins Glen judge months later ruled was unlawful, was the basis for Hansen’s two arrests, both of which the judge tossed out.

“No citizen of the United States, the State of New York or the Watkins School District needs to ask ‘permission’ of anyone in order to exercise her constitutional or statutory rights,” the judge wrote.

While Phillips’ clumsy, illegal attempt to silence a critic is clearly the headwaters of this fiasco, school board members, Watkins police and the community share the blame for letting a simmering local disagreement boil over into literally a $20 million federal case.

The school board members should have lassoed their superintendent at the first meeting at which staff cuts were to be discussed. A quorum of the board was present. It was a public meeting. Hansen should have been welcomed, not shunned, despite her history of asking skeptical questions.

Ten days later, when Phillips had Hansen arrested to bar her entry into a public school board meeting, the board members should have overruled him on the spot and invited Hansen’s attendance.

An apology that evening — versus arrest — was in order, too.

Instead they sat passively while Kristina Hansen’s wrists were shackled in handcuffs.

Had the board used its words, a second arrest at a tennis match the next month, ordered by Phillips’ staff, also would have been avoided.

While Watkins police should have diffused both arrests with thoughtful community policing and mediation, the Watkins community needed to voice outrage that a fellow citizen was being denied basic constitutional rights.

If this could happen to Hansen, anyone could be at risk.

All this is likely to prove costly to taxpayers.

The lawsuit seeks a jury trial. And juries historically frown on bureaucratic trampling of First Amendment rights.

Juries also are not fond of mothers being hauled off in handcuffs for simply wanting to attend a public meeting.

The school board has done its best to ensure Phillips and the two school district employees who ordered the second arrest won’t have to pay cash penalties.

The board voted to provide their legal defense and indemnified the trio against any financial judgments.

Too bad it can’t indemnify taxpayers whose money will pay for district lawyers and the potential $20 million legal-judgment avalanche rumbling their way.

Fitzgerald worked for six newspapers as a writer and editor as well as a correspondent for several news services. He splits his time between Valois, NY and Pt. Richmond, Calif. You can email him at Michael.Fitzgeraldfltcolumnist@gmail.com and visit his website at michaeljfitzgerald.blogspot.com.

Health expert says to stay fit, move your DNA

(Editor's note: The following column appeared in the April 7 2017
Finger Lakes Times newspaper in Geneva, NY)

By Michael J. Fitzgerald

     Watching daytime television programming is usually ranked somewhere below scheduling a root canal on my to-do list.
     But a highly recommended segment on last Friday’s NBC “Today Show” featuring biomechanist and fitness author Katy Bowman turned out to be too good to miss.
     Bowman’s name might be familiar from the string of eight books she has published in the last six years, all carrying a variety of advice about how to stay flexible and fit — and keep advancing age from slowing you down.

     Her more familiar titles are “Don’t Just Sit There” (2015), “Move Your DNA” (2014) and “Alignment Matters” (2013).
     And even though the clever names on the covers of these tomes might lead one to think they are lightweight pop culture, they have serious science backing up Bowman’s narrative with footnotes from medical and academic journals like The Lancet, the Journal of Physiological Anthropology or the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
    

    The release of Bowman’s newest book — “Dynamic Aging” — caught the attention of NBC correspondent-anchor Maria Shriver, prompting her to produce the lively five-minute bit that probably should be must-see TV in the Finger Lakes.
    It’s informative (and entertaining) for anyone from 18 to 80.
    Her basic premise is what we consider normal aging is not age but a lifetime of bad habits of how we stand, sit and move. It’s possible to restore our bodies by focusing on movement.
    In the NBC segment, Shriver interviews Bowman and a group of women she labels “superagers” who follow Bowman’s restorative exercise regime.
    Although in their 70s and older, they are measurably as mentally fit as 20-somethings and maintain physical health levels of people decades younger.
    The secrets to their successes sound familiar. People need to challenge their brains and bodies on a regular basis, daily pushing themselves physically and mentally.
    But the pushing Shriver noted is more intense than taking longer walks each day or doing a few extra Sudoku or crossword puzzles each afternoon.
    One woman featured in the broadcast had learned to play the piano, chess and how to shoot pool — in the past year.
    But the video of the women stretching and swinging on playground equipment — and even climbing a tree — was nearly jaw-dropping.
    

    They are, indeed, superagers, although my wife has started to call such people “perennials.”
    While the NBC video was inspiring, “Dynamic Aging” expands the filmed concepts with 200-plus pages of specific exercises and advice.
    This column, for example, is being written in 15-minute segments.    Fifteen minutes at the keyboard, followed by five minutes of getting up and moving around.
    Then it’s back to this week’s “Write On.”
    And there is no using the arms of the chair to help boost to a standing position.
    “Lean your torso forward, shift your weight back on your heels ... then rise,” the book counsels.
    It’s harder than it sounds. But you can feel muscles working, physical evidence supporting the notion of how important movement is to health.
    

    Reading a number of the exercises and suggestions in “Dynamic Aging” seemed eerily familiar, with good reason. My bulletin board contains a half-dozen or so pages of recommended exercises prescribed in the last few years by my Watkins Glen physical therapist. The stretches and various contortions she says are so important mirror much of what’s outlined in the book. 

    As the weather continues to flip from snow and slush to spring and summer around Seneca Lake, it’s a good idea for all of us to get out and move our DNA, physically and mentally.

    Now if I can just remember to stand without using the arms on the chair.

     Fitzgerald worked for six newspapers as a writer and editor as well as a correspondent for several news services. He splits his time between Valois, NY and Pt. Richmond, Calif. You can email him at Michael.Fitzgeraldfltcolumnist@gmail.com and visit his website at michaeljfitzgerald.blogspot.com.

LA Times editorial today: California Fights Back

   POINT RICHMOND - The Los Angeles Times concluded its sixth-in-a-row editorial about the presidency of Donald Trump with today's "California Fights Back."
    The series has included (in order of appearance): Our Dishonest President, Why Trump Lies, Trump's Authoritarian Vision, Trump's War on Journalism and Conspiracy Theorist in Chief.
    All of the editorials can be accessed through Times website here: LA TIMES.
   
   The sixth editorial suggests that while California officials are to be commended for their courage in resisting many of the 45th president's demands and maneuvers, they should pick their battles carefully.
    Here is a link to today's editorial:

California Fights Back

LA Times editorial: Conspiracy Theorist in Chief

   POINT RICHMOND - The fifth in a series of six editorials about the presidency of Donald Trump was published today by the Los Angeles Times.
     The headline reads: Conspiracy Theorist in Chief.
     The sixth - and final editorial - in the provocative group of opinion pieces penned by the Times editorial board is expected to be published on Friday.
     Here is a link to today's editorial:

Conspiracy Theorist in Chief

LA Times today: Trump's War on Journalism

   Point Richmond - The Los Angeles Times today published the fourth of six editorials in a close analysis of the presidency of Donald Trump.
    The two final editorials in the series are expected to be published Thursday and Friday.
    Today's editorial, titled Trump's War on Journalism, details out his strategies for sowing distrust about the Fourth Estate and why it damages participatory democracy.
 
   Collectively the editorials are historic. They already represent perhaps the most strident, direct - and negative - narrative leveled at a sitting president in many decades.
    Here are links to the first three editorials:

    Our Dishonest President

    Why Trump Lies

   Trump's Authoritarian Vision

   Below is the link to today's editorial:

Trump's War on Journalism

LA Times today: Trump's Authoritarian Vision

    POINT RICHMOND - The Los Angeles Times today published the third of six powerful editorials, critical of the 45th president of the United States.
    Today's was headlined, Trump's Authoritarian Vision.
    It follows Sundays (Our Dishonest President) and Monday's (Why Trump Lies).
    A fourth editorial is expected to be published Wednesday with two more to follow.
    All three published pieces contain stinging indictments of Donald Trump's months in office, drafted by the editorial board of the Times.
    Below is a link to today's editorial.

Trump's Authoritarian Vision

LA Times second Trump editorial: Why Trump Lies

   POINT RICHMOND - The Los Angeles Times published the second of six planned editorials Monday on the manifold problems the newspaper believes the nation faces with our 45th president.
     Today's installment is headlined, Why Trump Lies.

     The series of editorials is intended to lay out the case of why Times editors believe Donald Trump's presidency presents such a threat to the nation and the world. The Point-Opinion will publish links to the editorials Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
     Sunday's editorial was headlined Our Dishonest President.

     To read today's LA Times editorial, click the link below:

Why Trump Lies

LA Times publishes 'Our Dishonest President'

   POINT RICHMOND - The Los Angeles Times published a blockbuster editorial today - the first in a series of six opinion pieces - that line out in detail why the Times editorial board thinks the 45th President of the United States is unsuited to hold that office and presents a danger to the nation.

    "The Times called him unprepared and unsuited for the job he was seeking and said his election would be a "catastrophe," the newspaper wrote today.
    "Still, nothing prepared us for the magnitude of this train wreck."

    For a daily newspaper like the Times to take such a strong - and bold - stand attacking a sitting president is nearly as unprecedented as the election of Donald Trump was in the first place.
    The Point will publish links for the balance of the LA Times editorials in the series.
 
    Here is a link to today's editorial in the Times.

Our Dishonest President