It's time for a Black woman Supreme Court justice -- Jan. 27, 2022 column

By MARSHA MERCER

When I wrote last October about liberal activists’ campaign urging Justice Stephen Breyer to retire, I mentioned President Joe Biden likely would nominate the nation’s first Black woman justice.

Some readers criticized the idea of making race and gender a factor.

A reader in Henrico, Va., wrote me: “Will people ever truly understand that it is better and more important to appoint the best possible justice, irrespective of race and sex?”

His question is a familiar one, but it implies “the best possible justice” can’t possibly be both Black and a woman. Even if unintentional, the implication is wrong.

Judges and justices who bring diverse experiences of more parts of society have a wider perspective that can enhance their fair and independent decisions. Their presence on the bench also helps inspire public confidence in the judiciary.

Ronald Reagan proved the wisdom of judicial diversity when he made a presidential campaign promise in 1980 to name the first woman justice to the Supreme Court. He nominated Sandra Day O’Connor the following year and she served for a quarter century before retiring.

Biden has made a concerted effort to name more women and people of color to the federal bench, and the Senate has confirmed 40 of his district and circuit court picks. That’s more than have been confirmed in a president’s first year since Reagan, the White House says. Among those confirmed last year, 80% are women and 53% are people of color.

In contrast, 85% of former President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees were white and 76% were men, according to the Alliance for Justice, a progressive advocacy association.  

With Breyer’s retirement, Biden is poised to make history while, like Reagan, delivering on a campaign pledge.

“I’m looking forward to making sure there’s a Black woman on the Supreme Court to make sure we in fact get everyone represented,” candidate Biden said at a debate days before the South Carolina Democratic primary in February 2020.

Breyer’s retirement comes as Democrats need to revive their base of support before the midterm elections.  Even if Biden hadn’t promised to nominate a Black woman justice, he probably would. It’s not only popular politically but the right thing to do.

It’s time a Black woman joined the nation’s highest court.

She will be only the third Black justice in history and the second, with Clarence Thomas, on the current court, and the fourth sitting woman justice, with Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett. 

Critics say Breyer, a pragmatic liberal, likely will be replaced by a liberal activist. Even if that is so, the liberal wing of the court will remain a three-justice minority. The six-justice conservative majority, including the three justices Trump nominated, will stand.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer promises a speedy confirmation process, and the Senate can move fast. Then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell rushed Trump-nominated Barrett through last fall in one month.

The 50-50 Senate can confirm Biden’s nominee if all 50 Democratic senators stick together and are present that day, and Vice President Kamala Harris casts the tie-breaking vote.

It’s a stretch to think any Republicans will vote for Biden’s nominee – though three Republicans did vote last year to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. They were Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

Jackson is on the likely shortlist of candidates for the high court. She also had bipartisan support when she was nominated for the federal district court in 2012. None other than Rep. Paul Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, introduced her, saying:

“Our politics may differ, but my praise for Ketanji’s intellect, for her character, for her integrity is unequivocal. She’s an amazing person, and I favorably recommend her consideration.”

Ryan, who later became House speaker before retiring in 2018, is related by marriage to the judge.

Also on the shortlist: California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger and federal District Court Judge J. Michelle Childs of South Carolina.

Any of them would make an honorable and qualified addition to the Supreme Court.

©2022 Marsha Mercer. All rights reserved.

Rally 'round the stars, stripes, symbolism -- June 10, 2021 column

                                             -- Flag Day 1917 poster from Library of Congress collection

By MARSHA MERCER

When President Joe Biden addressed U.S. troops Wednesday in the United Kingdom, a gigantic American flag served as a backdrop. Servicemembers in camouflage behind him waved small American flags.

Presidents frequently use the flag to send messages. Biden’s huge flag on his first foreign trip telegraphed to the world that the United States is back as a player on the international stage.

President Donald Trump’s America First policies are history. And, thankfully, so are his antics as patriot in chief. On numerous occasions, Trump literally hugged the flag while mugging for the cameras. In 2020, he embraced and kissed the flag and mouthed the words, “I love you, baby.”

We ask an awful lot of Old Glory.

We proudly send the flag on our adventures on Earth and in space while at home we fight over how to pledge allegiance.

As originally written in 1892, the Pledge of Allegiance said: “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.”

The idea 27 years after the Civil War was to unite the country and to evoke the Declaration of Independence.

In 1923, “my flag” was changed to “the flag of the United States” in case immigrants had any doubt which to which flag were pledging.

During the Cold War, President Dwight Eisenhower prodded Congress to add “under God” after “one nation.” That change in 1954 set off lasting legal battles.

Few are neutral about the flag. Some revere the symbol but may or may not live up to its ideals. Some burn the symbol to protest violations of the flag’s ideals, and a few weaponize it.

It was truly sickening to see American flags used to commit violence Jan. 6 when pro-Trump rioters beat police with flags during the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

But, sadly, it wasn’t the first time the flag had been used as a weapon.

On April 5, 1976, during busing desegregation protests in Boston, a photo captured the moment a young, white man aimed the sharp point of a flagpole, the American flag attached, at a black man.

The photograph – “The Soiling of Old Glory” by Stanley Forman -- won a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography.

We’ve fought over how to treat the flag for decades. Desecrating the flag was a crime until the Supreme Court ruled in Texas v. Johnson in 1989 that flag-burning was Constitutionally protected free speech, overturning anti-desecration laws.

It was President Richard Nixon who started the trend of wearing American flag pins on lapels. He was countering Vietnam War protesters who sewed flags on their shirts and the seats of their jeans. Other politicians, Republicans mostly, soon adopted the lapel pin.

During the 2016 presidential primary campaign, Barack Obama’s failure to wear a flag pin on his lapel caused a mini dust-up. Asked why wasn’t wearing one, Obama said he’d worn a flag pin after 9/11 but found some people who wear them don’t act patriotic. Instead, he said, he would tell people what he believed and show his patriotism that way.

Nice try. Obama’s reasoned response didn’t fly. After that he wore a flag pin on his lapel.

On Monday, we once again will honor the nation’s most iconic symbol on Flag Day. We celebrate on June 14 to commemorate the Continental Congress’s resolution on June 14, 1777:

Resolved, that the Flag of the thirteen United States shall be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the Union be thirteen stars, white on a blue field, representing a new constellation.

How hopeful our forefathers were to see the young country as united under its flag, a new constellation in the sky. That optimism has been tested as the number of stars has grown to 50, but it continues.

On Flag Day, many Americans will fly flags and wear lapel pins. So bring out the stars and the stripes.

Doing so should be an act for us all, not for one group or another. Our democracy may be messier than ever, but the flag belongs to us all, regardless of party or philosophy.

Now more than ever, we need our shared Old Glory.

©2021 Marsha Mercer. All rights reserved.

In 2021, patriots bare their arms -- March 18, 2021 column

By MARSHA MERCER

Last year, wearing face masks divided Americans.

Now, a political gap has opened around the COVID-19 vaccine – with some Republicans saying they are hesitant, at least, to get the jab.

One in three Republicans say they will not get the vaccine when it becomes available, a CBS News poll found.

An Associated Press-NORC Center poll reported 42% of Republicans said they probably or definitely will not get the shot, compared with just 17% of Democrats.

Nearly half of those who supported President Donald Trump in 2020 said they would not get vaccinated, according to an NPR-Marist poll, and 59% of Republicans said in a Monmouth poll they’d either wait or wouldn’t get vaccinated at all.

Some say they are concerned about allergies and side effects, while others cited a distrust of the government, the polls reported.

“I don’t quite understand . . . this sort of macho thing about `I’m not gonna get the vaccine. I have a right as an American, my freedom not to do it,” President Joe Biden said in an ABC News interview that aired Wednesday. “Well, why don’t you be a patriot, protect other people?”

Anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers may think saying no is about personal freedom, but let’s call it what it is: selfish and unpatriotic.

The idea of a patriot has been usurped by some on the political right. Trump talked about forming a Patriot Party though has backed off. His supporters, sometimes armed, wear Patriot T-shirts and wave Patriot banners at “Patriot” rallies. Several political parties already have Patriot in their names.

It’s time to reclaim the word patriot, as Merriam-Webster defines it: “one who loves and supports his or her country.”  

Americans who revere the right to keep and bear arms should also bare their arms for COVID-19 vaccinations.

Getting vaccinated is a patriotic act because someone is taking  responsibility not only for their own health and wellbeing but for that of their community, state and nation.

More than 111 million Americans have received at least one dose, and 15% of adults are fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Among those 65 and older, nearly 37% are fully vaccinated. But we still have a long way to go.

For the United States to reopen safely and fully, we need what’s called herd immunity and that means upwards of 75% of adults need to get vaccinated, health officials say.

Former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and George Bush recently starred in a public service video showing themselves getting vaccinated and urged Americans to follow suit.

Trump and his wife got vaccinated before they left the White House in January but didn’t make their vaccinations known to the public until this month. He acknowledged on Fox News that many of his supporters don’t want to get vaccinated and he recommended, in a qualified way, they do so.

‘I would recommend it to a lot of people that don’t want to get it. And a lot of those people voted for me, frankly,” he said. “But, you know, again, we have our freedoms, and we have to live by that, and I agree with that, also.

“But it’s a great vaccine, it’s a safe vaccine. And it’s something that works,” Trump said.

Getting vaccinated doesn’t mean you won’t get the virus, but it does mean the effects likely will be less and you’ll be less likely to need hospitalization. So, if patriotism doesn’t move you, how about enlightened self interest?

Or follow the lead of about two dozen men and women of faith who rolled up their sleeves at Washington National Cathedral the other day. Think of getting vaccinated as a form of prayer for a healthier, better country.

Biden has directed states to make every adult eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine no later than May 1. He also wants to make signing up for and getting vaccinations easier. The administration is expanding vaccine distribution, the number of vaccination sites and the ranks of professionals authorized to give the shots.

It’s an impressive effort aimed at getting as many people vaccinated as soon as possible.

But the effort will succeed only if people -- patriots -- bare their arms.

©2021 Marsha Mercer. All rights reserved.

No thanks? Why we need this Thanksgiving -- Nov. 19, 2020 column

 By MARSHA MERCER

A few days ago, my neighbors added to their Biden-Harris and Ruth Bader Ginsburg yard art with a sign over their front door that reads simply: “Gratitude.”

Around the neighborhood, a few inflatable turkeys, pumpkins repurposed with wooden turkey heads and feathers, and cheery “Gobble Gobble” signs remind that  Thanksgiving is upon us.

But for many, Thanksgiving 2020 seems to have lost its luster. Some suggest postponing or canceling the holiday altogether. I get that in a pandemic and recession, we’re tempted to say, “No thanks,” that it’s easy to be more focused on what we are missing than what we have managed to hang onto.

No question, this has been a terrible year, a time of unbearable sadness and grief.  We have lost 250,000 Americans to COVID-19 and thousands more suffer lasting symptoms. The virus has devastated the economy, taking away jobs and the livelihood of millions of Americans.

But while this Thanksgiving must be different -- smaller and more poignant, virtual and outdoors around a fire pit or indoors with the windows open – we can still  practice gratitude.

We have rarely needed this holiday and the coming season of lights, music and cheer more than during the long, dark days of our plague year, our annus horribilis (Latin for “horrible year”), 2020.

Yet the Thanksgiving tradition in New World began in hard times. Virginia’s Berkeley Plantation claims the first official Thanksgiving in 1619, after the settlers had endured a year of unimaginable suffering and loss. English puritans traditionally gave thanks with a time of prayer and fasting, not feasting.

In 1621, pilgrims in Plymouth, Mass., shared a harvest meal with about 90 Wampanoag Indians. But calling the Plymouth meal the “first Thanksgiving”?

That was a clever marketing tool in the 18^th century to boost New England tourism, says David J. Silverman, history professor at George Washington University and author of the 2019 book, “This Land is Their Land.”

President Abraham Lincoln declared a national day of Thanksgiving during the Civil War in the forlorn hope of drawing the country together after the Union victory at Gettysburg in 1863.

This year, many people seem to have skipped right over Thanksgiving and landed on Christmas. My corner drugstore in Alexandria installed Santas in its front and center windows before Halloween.

Before anyone tucked the first pumpkin pie in the oven, Christmas arrived on the plaza in front of City Hall in the form of a tall, stately white-lighted holiday tree.  A smaller tree brightens the riverfront. On King Street, white lights illuminate bare tree branches, and red bows and greenery adorn lamp posts.

Alexandria will even collect trash and recycling Thanksgiving Day, rather than take a typical “holiday slide.” That, though, was the choice of collection workers, who prefer to start their pickups at 6 a.m. Thursday so they can be home that evening and off Friday with their families, the city said in a news release.

The holidays won’t be the same this year. We will be distant, actually or socially, wear masks and wash our hands often.

But that shouldn’t stop us from remembering advice attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson to “Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously.”

There are real signs of hope. Promising coronavirus vaccines are in the pipeline. Moderna said its vaccine was 94.5% effective in early tests, and Pfizer announced its vaccine is 95% effective with no serious side effects.

Scientists and medical personnel are true American heroes, going to work every day to save lives. Now we need President Donald Trump, Republicans and the federal government to step up and help President-elect Joe Biden plan for the vaccines’ distribution and the transition to a new administration.

Meanwhile, we can be glad not to live in the little town of Utqiaġvik, formerly known as Barrow, Alaska, at the state’s northernmost point.

On Wednesday, the sun set there at 1:30 p.m. Alaska Standard Time -- not to rise again until Jan. 23.

That’s right – 66 days of what’s called polar night, when the sun does not rise above the horizon.

With everything else happening, we at least will have sunrises and sunsets and the hope of brighter days ahead. Find your gratitude.

© 2020 Marsha Mercer. All rights reserved.

Watchdogs -- Never more needed, or endangered -- May 21, 2020 column

By MARSHA MERCER

An inspector general investigates wrongdoing by the head of a federal department who’s also a staunch presidential ally.

Boom! The president fires the inspector general. What now?

Sounds like a plot of a Netflix drama, but that’s roughly what happened last Friday night, when President Donald Trump fired Steve Linick, the State Department inspector general.

Linick, it seems, ran afoul of his boss by doing his job. Inspectors general are independent watchdogs inside federal departments and agencies who investigate corruption, misconduct and misuse of federal funds. 

Linick reportedly had launched an investigation into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s use of agency staff for personal chores and into an $8 billion U.S. arms sale to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates without the approval of Congress.

Trump said he fired Linick because Pompeo asked him to do so. Pompeo said he didn’t know Linick was investigating him or the arms sale.

Linick was the fourth inspector general in six weeks Trump fired on a Friday night when most Americans were focused on the coronavirus pandemic and the economic meltdown.

Trump on May 1 said he was naming a new inspector general at Health and Human Service, moving aside Christi Grimm, the principal deputy inspector general.

Her office had issued a report about problems in 300 hospitals nationwide that were struggling without adequate equipment to respond to COVID-19, the deadly disease caused by the novel coronavirus – while Trump was bragging hospitals had everything they needed.

In April, Trump said he was replacing Glenn Fine, acting inspector general at Defense. The move means Fine is ineligible to lead a new panel charged with oversight of the trillions of dollars in pandemic relief funds recently approved by Congress.

Also in April, Trump fired Michael Atkinson, Trump’s own appointee as inspector general of the intelligence community. Atkinson had told Congress about the whistleblower complaint that led to Trump’s impeachment.

Trump says he lacked confidence in the inspectors general, but his Friday night massacres raise a larger question: What does his administration have to hide?

The firings also send a clear message to the dozens of IGs stationed around the federal government: To keep your job, avoid annoying the boss.

But we don’t have a king. The Constitution creates three equal branches of government, with checks and balances. All Americans, regardless of party, should demand inspectors general be protected so they can do their work on our behalf.  

In the wake of Watergate, Congress passed the Inspector General Act of 1978, authorizing a system of independent auditors and investigators to uncover and report on corruption in the federal bureaucracy.

Under the law, the president chooses and the Senate confirms inspectors “without regard to political affiliation and solely on the basis of integrity and demonstrated ability in accounting” and other financial specialties.

Of course, no president likes inspectors snooping around, but Trump said Monday, “Every president has gotten rid of probably more [inspector generals] than I have.” That’s wrong.

When Ronald Reagan became president in 1981, he quickly tried to clean house of inspectors general. After a bipartisan uproar, though, he re-nominated five of the 15 he had fired, according to a new Congressional Research Service report.

A handful of other inspectors may have quit to avoid firing, the research service said in the May 12 report, but since 2000 only one president had fired any.

In 2009, President Barack Obama fired Gerald Walpin, IG of the Corporation for National Community Service, after Walpin investigated how grant money was used at a school in California run by former NBA basketball player Kevin Johnson. Johnson was a supporter of Obama and mayor of Sacramento.

“No one seemed to care” when Obama did the firing, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany complained this week. That’s also wrong. The Obama firing led to a bipartisan congressional effort to tighten rules on firing inspectors general. It failed.

At a time when inspectors general have never been more needed, or endangered, Trump would happily get rid of more.

And so we see a familiar pattern. Congressional Democrats raise alarms while almost all congressional Republicans sit silent.

If Congress won’t stop Trump from weakening watchdogs, the voters must remember come November.

©2020 Marsha Mercer. All rights reserved.

Not all bad: 2019's redeeming moments -- Dec. 26, 2019 column

By MARSHA MERCER

The one big event in 2019 history will remember is the impeachment of President Donald Trump.

How future generations will judge impeachment is an open question. Much depends on what happens in 2020 in the Senate and in next year’s presidential election.

As this politically and culturally ugly year ends, Americans are in a sour mood. Only 37 percent of us approve of the current direction of the country while 57 percent disapprove, according to the Real Clear Politics average of polls.

And yet, 2019 wasn’t all bad. There really were bright spots in the gloom.

In the spirit of the season of hope, I’ll share a few things that make me feel better about our cantankerous country. I’m sure you can think of others.

First, about 2.1 million federal employees will be in the vanguard for a benefit that’s been a long time coming and most American workers only dream of: paid parental leave.

Federal workers will have 12 weeks of guaranteed paid leave for the birth, adoption or foster care of a child starting next October. The measure was part of the National Defense Authorization Act Congress passed with true bipartisan support and Trump signed into law Dec. 20.

The House approved the defense bill 377 to 48, with almost the same number of Democrats and Republicans in support -- 188 Ds and 189 Rs. The Senate vote of approval was a lopsided 86 to 8. The idea that Democrats, Republicans and Trump can agree on anything is close to miraculous.

The measure is a needed change that sets a new benefit standard for states and private employers. But it doesn’t go far enough. It does not provide paid leave for workers caring for a chronically ill spouse, child or other close relative, as Democrats had sought.

Only four states – California, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island – have established paid family leave plans. The District of Columbia, Washington state and Massachusetts have plans on the books that are being phased in.

Only about one in five American workers have access to paid family leave, according to the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The United States is the only industrialized country that does not require paid family leave. Expect a renewed effort in Congress to change that sorry state of affairs.

The progress of women in government was another shining facet of 2019.  

For the first time in history, more than two women are competing for a major party’s presidential nomination. At one point, six women were in the running for the Democratic nomination. Four remain.

Women are taking their places in state capitals too. A record number of women – 48 Democrats, 41 Republicans and two nonpartisans -- hold executive offices in the states, according to an analysis by the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. That’s 29.3 percent of the executive positions.

Nevada in 2019 became the first state where women hold a majority of state legislative seats – 32 of 63 or 50.8 percent. Virginia set new records for women’s representation; 41 women will serve in the General Assembly in January.

With Democrats taking control of the Virginia legislature, the Democratic caucus selected Del. Eileen Filler-Corn as the first woman Speaker of the House of Delegates and Del. Charniele L. Herring as majority leader. Herring is the first woman and first African-American chosen for that role.  

Women also made history in the sports world, inspiring a new generation of girls.

The U.S. women’s national soccer team won the 2019 Women’s World Cup, four years after its 2015 triumph. Then the Washington Mystics won the Women’s National Basketball Association championship. Elena Della Donne led the team to victory while playing with not one but three herniated discs in her back.

“Congrats to the @WashMystics on a gutsy, first-ever championship!” tweeted former President Barack Obama. “A great team performance when it counted. If folks aren’t careful, this title thing might become a habit in DC.”

Amazingly it happened. The Washington Nationals surprised everyone when, after a lackluster start of the season, they roared back to win the World Series.

For once, everyone in Washington was on the same side -- hugging, cheering, weeping over our Nats. The unity was short lived, but it was lovely while it lasted.

If only we could see such team spirit again in 2020.

©2019 Marsha Mercer. All rights reserved.

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Vaping damage `an evil that I haven't faced before' -- Nov. 14, 2019 column

 By MARSHA MERCER

In case you missed it, with all eyes on impeachment, there was sad and shocking news about vaping.

A 17-year-old boy required a double lung transplant last month after vaping destroyed his lungs, hospital officials in Detroit announced Tuesday.

His parents described their son, who was not identified, as a perfectly healthy high school student who loved sailing and playing video games -- until he came down with pneumonia-like symptoms in September.

His worsening condition became so dire he needed the double lung transplant to survive.

“What I saw in his lungs is nothing that I have ever seen before, and I have been doing lung transplants for 20 years,” Dr. Hassan Nemeh, surgical director of thoracic organ transplant at Henry Ford Hospital, told reporters, describing scarred and dead lung tissue.

“This is an evil that I haven’t faced before. The damage that these vapes do to people’s lungs is irreversible,” he said, adding: “Please think of that – and tell your children to think of that.”

He’s right. We can’t rely on any company or the government to protect us from the ravages of vaping. It’s up to each of us.

More than 2,000 people have become ill since March with e-cigarette or vaping-associated lung injury, known as EVALI. Of these, 39 have died. Many victims had used products containing THC, the active ingredient in marijuana that makes someone high, and some had used only nicotine.

The Centers for Disease Control found an association between vitamin E-acetate, an additive in some THC products, and EVALI.

 E-cigarettes were supposed to be a safe way for smokers to quit. They work by heating a liquid to produce an aerosol that users inhale. The liquid can contain nicotine, THC, chemicals and additives.

The hospital did not say what or how long the boy had vaped. The median survival of people who receive a lung transplant is seven years, although he might beat the odds, medical personnel said.

About 28 percent of high school students and 11 percent of middle schoolers use e-cigarettes, a new study reported. No one knows the long-term health effects.

Facing pressure, Juul, the leading e-cigarette company, stopped selling some of its sweet flavors favored by kids, including mint, paused its marketing campaign, and cut 650 workers or about 16 percent of its workforce.

Congress is moving toward regulating e-cigarettes, along with other tobacco products. While e-cigarettes aren’t technically tobacco, they contain nicotine, an addictive substance that comes only from tobacco.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health Subcommittee Wednesday sent to the full committee a bill to limit tobacco sales nationwide to those 21 and older, prohibit online sales, ban flavored products, including mint and menthol, prohibit marketing to children and increase health warnings.

The House last month passed another measure raising the age for online sales and delivery to 21, among other things.

The Trump administration said in September it will ban the sweetly flavored nicotine delivery systems kids love, sparking an outcry. Hundreds of vape fans protested Saturday on the National Mall, chanting, “We vape, we vote!”

Amid signs cracking down on e-cigarettes could anger voters in key states of Florida, Michigan and Wisconsin, Trump said he would also consider jobs along with health. As of this writing, he has not acted.

But even if e-cigarettes were banned, kids will find them.

What’s needed is an intensive ad and social media campaign to change attitudes and the culture -- to persuade a new generation that e-cigarettes are no better than the ugly cancer stick of a combustible cigarette.

As someone who began smoking cigarettes in high school and smoked on and off for 25 years, I know how comforting nicotine can be – and how deadly. A close friend died of lung cancer in 2002. She was 52.

I’d already quit smoking by then, less because of health than embarrassment. Smoking was no longer cool, like Bogart and Bacall. It was just a smelly, nasty, old habit.

Smoking still kills nearly 500,000 Americans a year. Adults can make their own mistakes, but we can’t allow young people to believe e-cigarettes are an acceptable alternative. That’s just blowing smoke.

©2019 Marsha Mercer. All rights reserved.

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