Is saying "I was emotional" a good excuse for anything?

Artvoice is a free publication issued weekly in the Buffalo, NY area.  In a year-end wrap-up issue they posed some questions to a number of prominent local residents.  Here are those questions.

1. What would you most like to happen in 2017?

2. What would you like to see go away in 2017?

3. Who would you like to see run for mayor of Buffalo in next year’s election?

4. Should the new $50 million Amtrak station be at Central Terminal or Canal Side?

Carl Paladino is a billionaire who lives in the area and was the co-chair of Donald Trump's presidential campaign in New York was one of those who was sent this short questionnaire.  Here are his answers:

1.  Obama catches mad cow disease after being caught having relations with a Herford.  He dies before his trial and is buried in a cow pasture next to Valerie Jarret, who died weeks prior, after being convicted of sedition and treason, when a Jihady cell mate mistook her for being a nice person and decapitated her.

2.  Michelle Obama.  I’d like her to return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla.

3. Someone with a brain, a set of balls and a lack of fear who has enough money so as not to owe anyone anything once elected and who believes in a market economy.

4. We need a $50 million dollar train station as much as we need parasitic people like Lou Ciminelli, 80% of the school board and the dizziness of socialistic progressive politicians who never signed the front of a paycheck.  At best 400 people a day take a train.  They are not complaining about exchange or Depew.  We are already the laughingstock of America for having the dumbest elected leaders ever.  Why add to it.

When these answers were published, the backlash was immediate and widespread.  Two of the other respondents to the questions mentioned Mr. Paladino in their answers.  One wanted him to run for Mayor and the other listed him as what he'd most like to see go away.

His response was very Trump-like.  You can read it in its entirety here, but I do want to share a couple of excerpts:

"This is in response to my comments published in Artvoice:

It has nothing to do with race.  That’s the typical stance of the press when they can’t otherwise defend the acts of the person being attacked.

It’s about two progressive elitist ingrates who have hated their country so badly and destroyed its fabric in so many respects in 8 years.his is in response to my comments published in Artvoice:

It has nothing to do with race.  That’s the typical stance of the press when they can’t otherwise defend the acts of the person being attacked.

It’s about two progressive elitist ingrates who have hated their country so badly and destroyed its fabric in so many respects in 8 years."

"Michelle hated America before her husband won.  She then enjoyed all the attention, the multi -million dollar vacations, the huge staff and other benefits.  Then when Hillary lost, she and Barack realized that without Hillary, there was no one to protect the little, if any, legacy he had.  That’s when Michelle came out and said there is no hope for America.  Good, let her leave and go someplace she will be happy.

As for Barack, he’s a yellow-bellied coward who left thousands to die in Syria and especially Aleppo and he gets on TV and says he feels bad he couldn’t do anything about it."

He also issued a 748 word statement about his survey responses that you can read here.  Again, here are excerpts.

"I received Jamie Moses’ emailed survey at an emotional moment after I had just listened to Obama's statement that he regretted the slaughter in Aleppo that, in fact, resulted from his failed and cowardly foreign policy."

" I wanted to say something as sarcastic and hurtful as possible about the people who are totally responsible for the hurt and suffering of so many others. I was wired up, primed to be human and I made a mistake. I could not have made a worse choice in the words I used to express my feelings.
I wanted to say something as sarcastic and hurtful as possible about the people who are totally responsible for the hurt and suffering of so many others. I was wired up, primed to be human and I made a mistake. I could not have made a worse choice in the words I used to express my feelings."

"I filled out the survey to send to a couple friends and forwarded it to them not realizing that I didn't hit “forward” I hit “reply.” All men make mistakes."

* * *

He is right.  All men make mistakes.  But his was not in hitting the reply button.  It was in thinking those were appropriate words to write in any electronic format, even if intended only for a few friends.

He describes them as deprecating humor.  That's nearly as stupid as it was to hit the reply button.  What he wrote was hateful invective, ad not intended to be humorous or funny in any way.

We live in a day and age when nothing one puts in an email can be considered completely secure.  Before you write something in an email, you should consider how anyone other than the intended recipient might view what you write.  That may well happen.

His own comments about how those were the worst possible choice of words prove that he understands this on at least some level in his twisted reality.

He is now finished in politics.  While he is refusing to resign from his post on the school board in Buffalo, he will be booted out in the very near future.

Personally I think he's a scumbag.  But that's just my personal opinion.

More celebrity passings in 2016

I think if we were to look at the numbers, 2016 wouldn't be all that different from any other year in the total number of people who we consider to be celebrities, passing away.  What has made this year different is that there are more people who we consider not just celebs, but true cultural icons.

Now Carrie Fisher has died, felled by an apparent heart attack at only 60 years of age.  When you live as I do, with Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), it's a reminder of how fragile my own existence is.  I was really pleased by the report on Christmas Day that she was in stable condition and had been moved to the Intensive Care Unit.

To hear that her mother, Debbie Reynolds had died the next day just made Carrie's passing worse.  We won't know for awhile, if ever, if she died of a stroke or from what is often referred to as "Broken Heart Syndrome."

David Bowie, Prince and so many others gone all too soon.  Hopefully the year can finish up with no more bad news like this.

* * *

I have to apologize for neglecting my blog for the past week or so.  Between Wednesday and Monday I saw seven movies currently in theaters (the links are to my reviews of these films):

Passengers
Office Christmas Party
Patriots Day
Assassin's Creed
Fences
Hidden Figures
Live by Night

I also wrote other pieces about gangster movies, movies spawned from video games and sadly, an article on the passing of Carrie Fisher.

What's great about all of this movie viewing is that until recently I've usually found reasons to not go and see movies I wanted to see.  I've been more tired than usual of late and I have just been talking myself into staying home and resting.

Given that my workload will be the heaviest it has been since I awoke from my nine-week coma in 2010 after the first of the year, I am taking heart that this past week of movie going will continue in the same manner.

* * *

Some of my friends wonder why I watch Jerry Springer on a semi-regular basis.  Something I saw on today's episode may help.  After his infidelity had been exposed and his now ex-girlfriend had left the stage. this guy followed her into the restroom. She told him to get out and he responded by saying that she'd left before he could ask her a question.  He pulled out a ring and handed it to her, proposing marriage.

She took the ring from the box, threw it into the toilet, used her foot to flush the toilet and stormed out.  Now that is entertainment!!

It's clearly a crap program (pun intended) but this particular crap provides plenty of laughs.

* * *

I won't go into all of my resolutions for 2017 but one I will share is that I want to post something in this blog daily.  Feel free to organize a pool on how long this resolution will last.

Now that Donald Trump has 270 Electoral College Votes...

All of the pressure applied to the 538 electors failed to change the result of the 2016 general election.  Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States.  Anyone who tries to tell you they know with certainty what will transpire in the first year of a Trump presidency is foolish.

The hashtag #NeverMyPresident is trending.  Given how fervently Mr. Trump tried to delegitimize the presidency of Barrack Obama with his "birther" claims, it might seem appropriate to do the same to Trump's presidency.  I suspect that there will be much said about how he lost the popular vote by such a wide margin, going forward.  His hollow claims about what a landslide his victory do not change the fact that he actually eked out victory in the swing states that gave him enough electoral votes to become president.

You can proclaim he is not your president but making that statement is not going to have any impact on the fact that come January 20, 2017, Donald Trump will be the President of the United States.  Rather than focusing on making such statements, perhaps it might be better to try to take actions that will thwart his efforts to effect changes we oppose.

The same rule of law that resulted in his election remains in effect.  We must make sure that everything he does is legal and above board.  Starting with the fact that the moment he takes office, he is in breach of contract with the U.S. government regarding the lease for his new Washington, D.C. hotel.  While it is true that the federal statutes regarding conflict of interest for elected officials do not apply to the president and vice-president, this lease is a different issue. 

As reported by USA Today, the lease contains this language:

"No member or delegate to Congress, or elected official of the Government of the United States or the Government of the District of Columbia, shall be admitted to any share or part of this Lease, or to any benefit that may arise therefrom; provided, however, that this provision shall not be construed as extending to any Person who may be a shareholder or other beneficial owner of any publicly held corporation or other entity, if this Lease is for the general benefit of such corporation or other entity."

Seems pretty clear to me.  But inundating the General Services Administration with emails and phone calls about this lease conflict is a waste of time.  So is the viral message regarding asking the Justice Department to conduct an audit of the presidential election.  Details on both issues are found here on Snopes. 

What can we do moving forward that may have impact?  Let's examine  a few names:

Jeff Flake
Roger Wicker
Deb Fischer
Dean Heller
Bob Corker
Ted Cruz
Orrin Hatch
John Barraso

They are the eight United States Senators who will be up for reelection in 2018.  Several are not likely to be vulnerable to being defeated should they run.  That list would include Senators Corker, Cruz and Hatch.  But the others might face stronger challenges should they seek reelection.  Senator Heller may give up his seat and run for Governor of Nevada instead.

We can also focus on the most vulnerable Republican members of the House of Representatives.  What should we do in focusing on these particular members of Congress?  Let them know how we feel about what President Trump is doing.  Our feelings on the issues that Congress will be considering.

We need to take a more active role in trying to shape our nation's future.  If the Democratic party does not make major changes and simply attempts to maintain the status quo, four years from now Donald Trump will almost certainly be reelected.

* * *

I just watched the Tuesday night episode of Jeopardy.   Cindy Stowell won for the sixth straight time, bringing her total winnings to more than $100,000.  In case you aren't familiar with her story, when she tried out for the game show she was already dying of cancer.  Once she qualified to appear on the show she asked about how long it would be before she would compete, as she didn't want to keep the space if she was going to pass away before competing.

The show's producers made sure she was able to come to California and take part in the program, but she would die a week before her first appearance was aired last week.  All of her winnings will be donated to a cancer charity.

Her fellow competitors did not know about her illness.

This is a story of true courage.  Next time I'm feeling low I'm going to think about this woman and how she faced her future.  Color me inspired.

* * *

One of the lead stories on the local news in Los Angeles on Tuesday was the discovery of the body of Lisa Marie Naegle buried at the family home of Jackie Jerome Rogers.  He has been arrested and charged with her murder.

This story has been followed closely by the local media since Ms Naegle disappeared after attending a birthday party at Alpine Village in Torrance.  There are reports that she and Mr. Rogers, who was one of her nursing students, were having an affair but they are as yet unconfirmed.

Why did this story get so much more attention than any of the other deaths in Southern California this month?  Because an attractive young woman disappeared?  Because she had been a contestant on a reality TV show I've never heard of?  She was on Bridalplasty, a show that ran for one season on the E! Entertainment Network.

According to the homicide tracker of the Los Angeles Times, 677 people have been killed in Los Angeles County in the last 12 months.  

While most homicides get a mention on the news, they usually don't draw a lot of press unless the person was a celebrity in one way or another.  Or if the killing involves an attractive young woman.  Especially if it is preceded by her disappearance.  Or in those cases where a person of color dies at the hands of police officers.

Should all homicides be big news?  Depends on whether or not they will attract an audience.  Apparently they don't.

* * *

Two thumbs up to Amy Schumer for buying her family farm back.  Her father lost the farm in a bankruptcy when Amy was a child.  Now he owns it again.

Awesome!!

Sunday night thoughts

Tomorrow, Monday December 19, 2016 is the day the 538 chosen members of the Electoral College will assemble in their respective state capitols.  In those meetings, they will cast their ballots.  They are all pledged to vote for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.  

There have been multiple efforts by various individuals and organizations to try to convince at least 38 electors that are pledged to vote for Donald Trump to vote for someone else.  Obviously, it would be the dream of Democrats and others who prefer Hillary Clinton to Mr. Trump in the Oval Office; but that won’t happen.  Republicans are not going to make that choice and spend the rest of their lives as pariahs in their chosen political party.

The Associated Press has attempted to reach all the electors and claim to have been in touch with at least 330 of them.  Of that group, only one is on the record as planning to vote for someone other than Donald Trump.

As pointed out in an earlier blog, unless at least one electoral vote is cast for someone other than the two major party nominees, if the election weren’t decided by a 270 vote majority on Monday; the election goes to the House of Representatives.  They can choose a president from only the three candidates who received the most electoral votes. 

Who could the future faithless electors vote for, since they would never vote for Secretary Clinton?  Mike Pence?  Perhaps.  One of the other top primary vote-getters?  Ted Cruz, John Kasich and Marco Rubio are the only three other Republican candidates who got more than a million votes in the primaries.  Of those only Senator Cruz received at least 50% of the total number of votes that Donald Trump got during the Republican primaries.  Would any of these three be acceptable alternatives to Mr. Trump or Governor Pence?  Again, perhaps.

Unfortunately, I believe it unlikely that there will be anywhere near enough faithless electors to change the outcome of the November general election. 

*****

As to the subject of Russian hacking and people asking that the election be put on hold until there is an investigation, there is no provision in our Constitution specifically addressing this situation.  If the House cannot elect a president in a contingent election before January 20^th, the Vice-President-Elect would become president.  In the event both Trump and Pence failed to get the required number of votes in the Electoral College, the House fails to elect a President and the Senate fails to elect a Vice-President; the Twentieth Amendment gives Congress the authority to decide statutorily who will become President.  Congress has never passed that statute.

Talk about uncharted waters!  President Obama cannot remain president temporarily.  That would also violate the Constitution.  I suppose that the Congress could appoint the current House Speaker, who is next in the line of succession after the President and Vice-President, but that isn’t a solution either.

As to the question, why is Donald Trump and his minions attempt to make the allegations of Russian hacking sound like nothing more than “sour grapes” (a term future White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus used on a Sunday news show); that’s an interesting question to ponder.

Is he afraid that if he were to come out in favor of investigating and possibly retaliating against Russia, his friendship with Vladimir Putin might be damaged?  Is the concern that the legitimacy of his election being called into question might cause him to fail to get his dream job? 

To those who point out that all 17 U.S. intelligence-gathering organizations appear to be on the same page concerning the allegation of Russian hacking, aren’t those the same groups who claimed there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq?  The same people who failed to foresee the 9-11 attacks? 

Some claim this is a partisan issue but I’m hearing the voices of Republicans among those elected officials who are calling for a closer look at just what transpired.

Why is it so difficult to ensure that computer systems are protected against this kind of hacking?  Considering what has transpired this year, is it not more obvious than ever what a horrible choice Secretary Clinton made in using a private email server; without regard to the issue of the transmission of classified information.  Not all important information gets properly classified and there are going to be emails and documents attached to them that no one outside the State Department should have been able to see.

It seems that no matter how hard cybersecurity people work to protect networks and computers from hacking, the hackers are always finding new ways to bypass these security measures.

*****

Because I had to be at work this afternoon to proctor a certification exam for some of my students, I could not see the movie I wanted to see this morning.  The timing did not work.  But what I found so amazing about movies this weekend was what happened yesterday.  Figuring most of the people at the malls would be there doing last-minute shopping, I could duck into an afternoon showing of one of several movies on my list.  When I was sure I’d be able to leave the office as scheduled, I checked to see what was showing nearby and when.  Every single showing of any movie I was even remotely interested in within 25 miles of where I was; for at least three hours after I was finished working, was sold out.  I went home and watched reruns of Blue Bloods, Hill Street Blues and Star Trek – The Next Generation. 

I am now taking tomorrow off so I can get to a movie on both Monday and Tuesday.   I am so far behind in movie-going.  I want to see the following films, in no particular order:

Fences

Collateral Beauty

Miss Sloane

Nocturnal Animals

Jackie

Moonlight

Office Christmas Party (yeah, I know, not my usual fare)

Loving

Elle

Of the films that open on Wednesday, Dec 23rd, I plan to get to the following before December 30^th:

Passengers

Silence

Assassin’s Creed

Patriots Day

*****

From the “being drunk is no excuse” file, a deputy U.S. Marshal was arrested for allegedly pulling out a gun in a Brooklyn, NY McDonald’s when it took too long to get served.  Charles Brown, 30 years of age and off-duty at the time was described as “drunk” by witnesses who saw him point the gun at the cashier and others in the lobby.

He was able to pay for his food and left the restaurant but was arrested a short time later.  He has been charged with menacing, harassment and violating firearms regulations.

I suspect his career with the U.S. Marshals Service might be in serious jeopardy.

Deciding and then undeciding by not deciding

Back in 1992, the U.S. Supreme Court made a decision in a case known as Quill Corp v North Dakota.  North Dakota was attempting to impose a use tax on all sales that were shipped into the state.  A use tax is designed to discourage businesses and individuals from buying items from sources where they won't have to pay sales tax.  FYI, here in California, the Revenue Code requires all taxpayers to self-report and pay use tax on all of their purchases where sales tax was not collected.

The court's ruling was that North Dakota could not impose the use tax on Quill Corp because the company did not have a "physical presence" in the state.  As a result of that ruling, most online retailers have not collected sales taxes in states where they do not have the required physical presence.

Now by choosing to not hear a case, the court may have made a major change in how states attempt to collect use tax.  Colorado had passed a law designed to compel companies who sell to customers in Colorado without a physical presence in the state to either collect the sales tax, or report information on the purchases to Colorado.  That way the state will have a record that they can use to collect the tax themselves.

The Data & Marketing Association filed a suit challenged the law.  Ultimately a federal appeals court ruled in favor of Colorado.  With the Supreme Court's decision to refuse to hear an appeal of that ruling, the case is over.  Those who sell in Colorado must either collect the tax or furnish the information.

Considering how some states have grown more dependent upon sales tax revenue for their budgets to balance, the trend in those states will undoubtedly be to enact similar laws.

* * *

Meanwhile the California Supreme Court gave a victory to online hotel sites in deciding that the City of San Diego cannot force them to collect a hotel occupancy tax for the amount they charge when they sell a room on behalf of a local hotel.

These sites like Expedia, Hotwire and so on, make money by negotiating a wholesale price on the rooms found on their sites and then marking up that price by as much as 22%.  The person booking the room is charged the occupancy tax on the higher price and the online site pockets that money.

San Diego and other cities wanted to collect that occupancy tax on the full price.  The court's ruling will allow the cities to go after the hotel owners directly, and the online sites may have to reimburse them for the tax, depending on the terms of their contract.

* * *

Donald Trump says he doesn't need the daily intelligence briefings that every previous president received, because he's a smart guy.

Plenty of his predecessors were also very smart men, many of them far smarter in terms of experience with geopolitics and raw IQ.  They didn't beg off from those briefings and Trump shouldn't avoid them either.

Things change rapidly on the world stage and the vast increase in the speed at which information travels has made those changes more time-sensitive than ever.

Trump has already demonstrated that he is less than fully informed by his phone call with the president of Taiwan and the resulting strain in the relationship between the U.S. and the People's Republic of China.  You don't unilaterally alter foreign policy BEFORE taking office.

I fear for our future if he keeps going in this direction.

Origins of Empires

Harlan Sanders, who we know today as Colonel Sanders (he was honored by a commission as a Kentucky Colonel, an honor unique to that state), put his name and image on his fried chicken stores.

Dave Thomas put himself into the commercials for Wendy's.  So did Carl Karcher for Carl's Jr.   But there are other names that are much less familiar to us. 

Robert O. Peterson - Founder of Jack in the Box
Harry and Esther Snyder - Founders of In-N-Out
Fred DeLuca and Peter Buck - Founders of Subway
David Edgerton and James McLamore - Creators of Burger King
Dan and Frank Carney - Founders of Pizza Hut

And then there is the name that stands head and shoulders above all of them.  Raymond Albert Kroc, who had the vision to take a concept at a burger stand in San Bernardino and build it into a global empire.  There is a new film out, The Founder, that tells the story of Ray Kroc and the McDonald brothers, Dick and Mac.  My review of the film is posted on TailSlate.net

Ray Kroc was in his early 50s when he made that drive out west and found the amazing assembly line process and use of paper serving products that were pioneered by the McDonald brothers.  Seven years later he bought them out for $2.7 million; enough for each of them to net $1 million after taxes.  He also made a "handshake deal" to pay them a royalty of 1.9% of the company's earnings.  Would he have reneged on this deal if the McDonald Brothers hadn't chosen at the last minute to give the original location to their employees as a gift?  Perhaps, but he was so incensed by this betrayal that he refused to acknowledge the deal.  He also opened a McDonald's location close to the original site, which was forced out of business in short order.

He died in 1984 with an estimated net worth of $500 million ($1.1 billion today when adjusted for inflation).  What we cannot easily quantify is how many people became millionaires by buying McDonald's franchises?  But it is safe to assume that Blake Casper, owner of the most McDonald's franchise locations in Florida, with 53 units and 3,800 employees as of 2015, is one of them.  So is Ed Bailey who had 63 franchises in North Texas in 2009 when he put them all up for sale.

Early in 1977 I worked at a McDonald's location that is still there, on Wilshire Boulevard, just to the west of Crescent Heights Boulevard.  It was owned by the Goldfarbs and according to a 1987 L.A. Times article they owned seven locations by that point.  I was offered a chance to move into management, to attend Hamburger University.  I'd already enlisted in the Air Force, so I had to decline that opportunity. 

I don't know how many other empires Ray Kroc helped to create by franchising McDonald's all over the world. But it is a lot.  Today and every day, McDonald's feeds 1% of the world's population.  Roughly one in eight Americans have worked at a McDonald's at one point in their lives.  Are you one of those eight?

So what if the Electoral College doesn't vote Trump?

Petitions are circulating like mad, calling on people to do things to try to stop the election process from going forward as it normally would, with Donald Trump receiving 306 electoral votes on December 19th.

The members of the Electoral College don't actually gather in one place.  They traditionally assemble in the capitol city of each state to cast their votes.  There are mechanics but eventually their ballots make their way to Washington, D.C. where a joint session of the Congress will review and approve the result on January 6, 2017.


There are efforts being made both by these petitions and members of the Electoral College themselves who do not want to see Donald Trump become president.  So what happens if Mr. Trump does not get the required 270 electoral votes to become president?

The joint session of Congress would review the result of that vote on January 6th and then the House of Representatives would immediately go into session for the purpose of holding a contingent election.  In that election, only the three people who received the most electoral votes can be elected president.  Which means that unless an elector casts a ballot for someone other than Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, only one of them could be elected president.

We know that the Republicans hold a majority in the House.  But what most people don't realize is that this vote wouldn't involve the 435 members of the House voting as individuals.  Instead, the delegation from each state would meet and cast one ballot on behalf of their state.  32 of the 50 state delegations have a majority of Republicans in their membership.  17 of the remaining 18 have a majority of Democrats in their delegation.  One state (Maine) has one Democrat and one Republican representing them in the next Congress.  So would a majority of Republicans choose Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump?  Unless another candidate gets at least one electoral vote, that's the only possible outcome.

So pardon me if I think these petitions and other efforts are probably going to fail.   The mechanism for choosing a president doesn't allow buyers remorse at the last possible moment to avert the disaster of a totally unqualified candidate.

We must never forget their sacrifice

It was 12 minutes before 8:00 am on a Sunday morning.  The attack achieved nearly total surprise.  353 Japanese aircraft attacked the United States Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor.  The Japanese government had intended to notify the U.S. government that the peace talks were over but the attack began before that message could be delivered in Washington, D.C.

When the attack was over, four battleships, the U.S.S. Arizona, California, Oklahoma and West Virginia were gone.  Sunk.  The Arizona was a total loss.  The California and West Virginia were raised and put back into service in 1944.   The Oklahoma was raised but determined to be too badly damaged to be returned to service and it was scrapped. 

2,403 were killed.  Another 1,178 were wounded.  The Arizona was turned into a memorial where 1,102 of the 1,177 men who died aboard her remain below the surface.  I've been to the Arizona Memorial several times.  It is always a moving experience.

Today the 75th anniversary of that fateful morning, December 7th, 1941 was commemorated.  A number of the survivors of the attack were there, although their numbers continue to shrink at an ever-increasing rate.  Considering that an 18 year-old sailor on that morning would now be 93 years old, that should not surprise anyone.

At some point in the future, the commemoration of this anniversary will be held with no living survivors in attendance.  The few who remain will be too ill or infirm to make the trip.  Eventually, all of them will have passed away.  That is when the danger of this date that FDR said "...will live in infamy" will be in danger of being forgotten.   Not right away.  It takes years, even decades before the events of history begin to fade from the forefront of our memories. 

July 4th of this year marked the 190th anniversary of the death of our 2nd and 3rd presidents on the very same day.  The last words of John Adams were "Thomas Jefferson still survives."  He did not know that Jefferson had actually died five hours earlier.  News did not travel quickly back then.

Now information travels instantaneously.  We are overloaded with information.  As we continue to be inundated in this way, we lose track of our history.  Undoubtedly there will always be some level of commemoration of Pearl Harbor Day, just as there is an annual remembrance of D-Day.  My question is, will the day come when the importance of this date is lost?

I don't have access to a complete list of those who perished on that December morning.  However, there are 16 names I'd like to share and remember. 

Captain Mervyn Bennion
Chief Aviation Ordnanceman John Finn
Ensign Francis Flaherty
Lt Commander Samuel Fuqua
Chief Boatswain Edwin Hill
Ensign Herbert Jones
Rear Admiral Isaac Kidd
Gunner Jackson Pharris
Chief Radioman Thomas Reeves
Chief Machinist Donald Ross
Machinist's Mate First Class Robert Scott
Chief Watertender Peter Tomich
Captain Franklin Van Valkenburgh
Seaman First Class James Ward
Commander Cassin Young

All 16 of these men were awarded the Medal of Honor for their bravery and gallantry on that day.  11 of the 16 received their award posthumously.  Admiral Kidd and Captain Van Valkenburgh stayed on the bridge of the Arizona, directing their response to the attack until a direct bomb hit killed both of them. 

We must never forget the sacrifices made by the men and women who were victims of the sneak attack on December 7th, 1941.
Meanwhile it is up to those of us who learned of the fairly

"I can barely stand here right now"

"I can barely stand here right now" is what Derick Alamena, aka Derick Ion was asked during an interview if he should be held accountable for the fire at the Oakland warehouse he managed.  Actually, let's not quote him out of context.  His response to the question as to whether or not he should be held accountable, he said "What am I going to say to that? Should I be held accountable? I can barely stand here right now." Perhaps someone should remind this man that because of his blatant disregard for the safety of the people in that building, at least 36 of them will never stand again.

However, this irresponsible idiot is not solely to blame for this tragedy.  Government can pass into law the most stringent building safety codes imaginable but they are useless without at least some amount of effort going into their enforcement.  These are photos shot by a building inspector from the City of Oakland on November 16, 2016.  Yes, just weeks before the fire that took so many lives.

 There is another factor to consider and it isn't happening only in the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Area.  That is the gentrification of areas like this without proper planning to provide the current residents with affordable housing alternatives as their homes are taken from them.

That is part and parcel of Mr. Alamena's rationalizations for ignoring the need to provide safe housing to his tenants, because it was simply too expensive.  In that interview with Today Show host Matt Lauer, Alamena said "Eventually you can’t pay your rent because your dream is bigger than your pocketbook.  When the need for housing, when the need for people to be able to sit down and be warm and make food and take a shower and take a bath and go to bed, so we created something together."

But from reading and listening to interviews with people who resided in Alamena's Ghost Ship, it sounds more like Alamena was simply exploiting those people for his own benefit.

The problem of safe and affordable housing will not go away.  Unsafe places like the Ghost Ship are not a viable alternative.

* * *

As mentioned in the past in this blog, we don't know the exact origin of the famous quotation, "justice delayed is justice denied."  Is that aphorism appropriate for Ronald Gasser, who is now charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of former NFL star Joe McKnight?  His release immediately after the shooting last Thursday was met with outrage on social media.

Now he has been arrested and charged we need to know the real reasons for the delay.  The local sheriff claims, "had we arrested him Thursday, it would be over."  What would be over?  Is there some Louisiana law that would have caused charges against Gasser from going forward had he been arrested immediately, before all of the witnesses were interviewed?  I don't know.

But the whys of this bear further investigation as the case progresses.

* * *

Chuck Jones is the president of United Steelworkers Local 1999.  Among the plants represented by this union is the Carrier plant where President-Elect Donald Trump promised to save 1,350 jobs that were going to be moved to Mexico.

He said that Donald Trump "lied his ass off" when he took credit for saving 1,100 jobs at the plant.  Only 800 of the jobs that were going to be moved were saved.  President-Elect Trump included jobs that were not going to move to Mexico in his tally of 1,100 jobs saved.

Monday's meandering musings

I've decided to use the blog to deal with a Facebook thread in order to share some information.

The post in question reads as follows:

"Facts are ... less people are in the work force than ever before, more people are on Gov. subsidies, more people are living under the poverty level and we have not had a 3% GDP growth in 8 years."

Let's deal with these one at a time.

"...less people are in the work force than ever before."

False.  The current labor force participation rate of 62.7% according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics is low. But it has been lower as recently as September of 2015 when it dipped to 62.4%.  It has been lower in the past.  It was lower when President Carter was inaugurated, at 61.6%.  In 1969 it hit 59.6%.

Was the rate that much lower back then because far fewer women were in the workforce?  Perhaps.  But that doesn't make the bold claim above any less inaccurate.

"...more people are on Gov. subsidies..."

That depends on how you define government subsidies.  Absent a clearer definition of the term, it's impossible to determine the accuracy of the claim.  As an example, the number of people receiving what were traditionally known as "food stamps" is higher than ever, but that has a lot to do with the fact the Obama Administration engaged in educating the eligible population that they could receive this benefit.  Has the percentage of the population that qualified for that benefit grown?  To some extent, thanks to the economic collapse of 2008.

"...more people are living under the poverty level"

False.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the percentage of the U.S. Population living below the poverty line fell from 14.5% in 2014 to 13.5% in 2015.  That's down from a 2010 high in excess of 15%.

Further, in evaluating poverty levels it is important to note that the measure of that poverty level by the Census folks has not changed to take into account non-cash transfers like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP which is what food stamps are now known as) or the Earned Income Tax Credit.  There's an interesting article from Forbes on this subject.

"we have not had a 3% GDP growth in 8 years."

Depends on how you measure GDP growth.  If you mean specifically per calendar year, that's true.  But the most recent quarter shows the GDP growth to have been 3.2%.  And as you can see in this chart, measured from April of 2014 through March of 2015, annualized GDP growth was slightly over 3.3%.  So I have to rate this one as mostly false as well.

What's the lesson here?  If you're going to make bold statements, make them very specific or they can easily be proven inaccurate.

* * *

United Airlines will pay a fine of $2.4 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to settle charges involving "cooking their books."  What did they do?  They covered up the fact that they had reinstated a money-losing route in order to curry favor with the man who ran the agency that oversees airports, tunnels and bridges in the New York City area.

Why did David Samson want United to reinstate a non-stop direct flight from Newark, NJ to Columbia, SC?  Because that was the most convenient way for him to travel to his vacation home.  And since United was in negotiations with the New York Port Authority where Mr. Samson was the Chairman over a hangar lease.  Is it a coincidence that the day the route was reinstated, the Port Authority approved that lease?  Or that the route was again discontinued four days after Mr. Samson resigned his position?

Mr. Samson has pleaded guilty in a bribery case.  United paid a fine of $2.25 million in a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice in that matter.

But my question is, will the lease agreement be reviewed and possibly canceled or renegotiated in light of these revelations?  Probably not.  It should be.

* * *

When I read about the tragic death of 11 year old Oakley Debs over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend it hit close to home.  He died from a food allergy and I have food allergies.  The difference is that mine aren't severe enough to put my life in jeopardy as long as I don't massively overdose on any of those things I'm allergic to.

But I've eaten things that made it more difficult for me to breath to the level of severe discomfort, so I have some notion of how he suffered (having nearly died of ARDS gives me a much better understanding I fear).

His family has started The Red Sneakers Foundation to educate parents of the real level of danger involving food allergies.  Good for them.

* * *

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has sent a letter to the Obama Administration asking the federal government to reimburse the city in the amount of $35 million for the cost of providing security around Trump Tower since the November 8th election.

Mayor de Blasio's letter references a federal code section passed in 1976 that allows reimbursement for such expenses only in cases where the town or city providing presidential protection has a population of less than 7,000.

If the cost of providing that protection to President-Elect Trump is as Mayor de Blasio claims, some $500,000 per day, that means that either the federal government or the city of New York will be spending over $700 million on this expense during the four years of his presidency.

Perhaps that should be considered in the calculation of whether or not the future President Trump should reside exclusively in the White House with his family, since he is so focused on eliminating wasteful spending.

End of the weekend thoughts

I had planned to go to a movie today and wound up just staying home.  Between the occasional times I've felt weak over the past weeks and the fact I worked six days each of the past two weeks, I am guessing my body was demanding a day off.  It got its wish.  I also decided to take at least one other day off this coming week.  It is a tough call given the paucity of work for me at this time of year.

For how many decades have I told myself on dreary mornings when I do not want to head off to the office, "I owe, I owe, so  off to work I go" to convince myself I have no choice?  I don't want to know.

* * *

As I write this blog, the death toll in that Oakland warehouse fire stands at 33.  Here are some quotes from a Los Angeles Times article on how the fire may impact other artist enclaves in Oakland warehouses.


“I don’t want people to lose our creative outlet,” said Jennifer Jennings, 39. “There are already fewer and fewer places to live.”

Neela Davis was quoted as saying, “It costs money to do things by the book,” she said. “And there isn’t always the money to do it.”

Fremaux Seltzer was quoted as saying, “It’s the kind of thing you joke about in DIY houses, that a building isn’t up to fire code,” he said. “But now it’s not funny."

No, it isn't.  And to make things worse, the man who operated this warehouse, one Derick Ion, took to Facebook to bemoan the loss.  Not the loss of life, but the loss of his business.

The daughter of the owner's building told the San Francisco Chronicle that the building was leased as a business and was not supposed to have people living there.  There are reports that the building was not permitted for use as living quarters and yet there were at least three complaints made about the building since 2014.  How did building inspectors visit this place and not take note of the fact that a building that was not permitted to be a residence had a number of tenants living in it.

Is affordable but unsafe housing an alternative in order to live where one wants to?  It's a really tough question.

* * *

Donald Trump has announced he will nominate retired Marine Corps four-star general James "Mad Dog" Mattis to be his Secretary of Defense.  He will be only the second general officer to hold that position since it was first created in 1947.  Prior to that, the Department of Defense had been known as the Department of War, but that changed with passage of the National Security Act of 1947.

That law mandated that at least ten years pass between the retirement of a military officer and that person being appointed to this specific position.  An exception was made to allow the appointment of former Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall.  As a General of the Army, General Marshall technically never retired.  In passing the amendment to the National Security Act of 1947, Congress said, “the authority granted by this Act is not to be construed as approval by the Congress of continuing appointments of military men in the office of Secretary of Defense in the future.”

The ten year period during which a former military officer cannot serve in this post was cut to seven years in 2008.  But it will still require legislation by Congress to allow General Mattis to be the next Secretary of Defense, as well as confirmation by the Senate.

I believe the Congress should discuss and review the reasons why this language was inserted into that law nearly 70 years ago, before approving the waiver for General Mattis.  I find General Mattis to be very qualified for this crucial Cabinet position.  That doesn't mean the discussion should not happen, as it is needed.

* * *

I don't know who is behind PJ Media but they are not very good at journalism.  Look at this picture.

They used that photo at the top of an article about the death of a man at a Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs facility where maggots were found in a wound.  The implication is that this was a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs facility, which is not the case.  I'm not sure if it is the author of the piece, one Tyler O'Neil or whoever edited the piece is geographically challenged, but Ann Arbor is in Michigan, not Oklahoma.

The real tragedy is that if you look at the comments section of the piece, people bought into the misleading verbiage and imagery and believe this was an actual VA rather than state level VA issue.

Secretary of State Sweepstakes

The Associated Press is reporting that a source close to the Trump transition says that the President-elect is considering other candidates for the post of Secretary of State than "front-runners" Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani.  Other names in the mix are retired General David Petraeus and Tennessee Senator Bob Corker.  Those are the four names mentioned by Kellyanne Conway as the "top four" this past Friday. Now it appears there is a new name under consideration, former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman. 

In evaluating the fitness of General Petraeus to serve as Secretary of State one has to consider his misdemeanor conviction for mishandling classified information.  Edward Snowden is claiming that there is a two-tiered system of justice in the U.S. because General Petraeus disclosed classified information to Paula Broadwell that was classified at a much higher level that what Snowden hiself disclosed.

That the information Petraeus passed to Broadwell was more highly classified than what Snowden released is entirely correct.  But there is a significant difference.  Ms Broadwell did not publish or disclose any of that information.  Petraeus retrieved the book of code-word documents he gave to Broadwell three days later.  The damage done to the national security by what General Petraeus did was very minimal while what Mr. Snowden did seriously damaged that national security.  The two are not comparable in the harm done to the United States.

However, that doesn't change the fact that what General Petraeus did should disqualify him from serving in any government position where any level of security clearance is required.  No one convicted of disclosing of classified information to any unauthorized individual should ever be again allowed access to classified information.

As to Rudy Giuliani, his fitness for the position is tenuous at best.  Especially in light of his foreign business ties.  The conflicts in interest in the Oval Office are more than enough to mire the Trump administration in that morass without adding another set at Foggy Bottom.

I do not believe that Mr. Trump will appoint Mitt Romney as his Secretary of State.  I'm not entirely convinced that S.E. Cupp's theory that this is a set-up, but it is a possibility.  Their views on a number of issues are not the same.  Would he abandon his positions and take up those of the man he called "a fraud" is an interesting question.

But based on relevant experience and knowledge; while admitting I am probably not going to like or approve of anyone Donald Trump nominates to serve in his Cabinet, I believe the best of the bunch is Senator Bob Corker.  He has been the Chairman of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee for the past two years and a member of that committee before then.  He's honest enough to have said for the record that the problems in the Middle East pre-date the Obama Administration.   He also likened the 2003 War in Iraq to "...taking a big stick and beating a hornet's nest" which is a fairly accurate analogy.

Jon Huntsman, Jr. is also worth of consideration.  His tenure as U.S. Ambassador to Singapore and then later to China gives him valuable diplomatic experience in a part of the world that will be crucial to determining the course of the next four years.

In the end, it seems obvious that Donald Trump, with the behind-the-scenes guidance and counsel of Mike Pence will set the agenda and the tone, no matter who is the boss at Foggy Bottom.