Today is for the fallen

Today is Monday, May 29, 2017.  It is the day this year where we observe Memorial Day, thanks to the Uniform Monday Holiday Act.  Until 1971, at the federal level, Memorial Day had been traditionally observed on May 30th each year.

Today is for us to pause and remember the fallen.  Today is for us to pray for peace.

According to the VA, there are more than 20 million of us veterans alive today.  I am proud to be one of them.  But today is not for me.  Today is for the fallen.

We have three days each year where we honor those who served and are serving. 

Armed Forces Day is celebrated on the third Saturday of May.  It is for people like my nephew Josh.  It is for my friend Roberto, who is career Army.  It is for the two sons of one of my closest friends.  Mia's sons Jason and Shawn proudly serve.  Today is not for them.  That doesn't mean I do not think about them today, but this is the one day we focus on others.  Today is for the fallen.

On November 11th each year, we honor all who have served.  The fallen, those currently serving and those of us who did not make the ultimate sacrifice.  But today is for the fallen.

Today we honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice.  Hundreds of thousands who died beginning back to the Revolutionary War and every war since.  Including our current war on terror.  Today is for the fallen.

Today is for the eight military nurses who were killed during the Vietnam conflict.  Today is for 1st Lieutenant Sharon A. Lane, the only woman killed by direct enemy action during Vietnam.

Today is for the 19 American soldiers who died during the Battle of Mogadishu.

Today is for men and women like Henry L. Hulbert.  When he was a Marine Corps private, he received the Medal of Honor for valor during the Second Samoan Civil War.  He continued to serve and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross during World War I.  He was killed in action in 1918 and was awarded the Navy Cross posthumously.

Today is for every man and women who gave their life while serving.  It is not for me.

In the headlines - May 25/26

Today is the real Star Wars Day.  40 years ago today, in less than three dozen theaters nationwide, what we know now as "Episode IV - A New Hope" opened.  Adjusted for inflation, it is still the 2nd highest grossing film in history, surpassed only by Gone With the Wind.

I cut class that day to stand in line and see it on its first day and have been a serious fan of the franchise ever since.  I stood in the rain for hours to see The Empire Strikes Back on its opening night.  I watched in amazement in 1998 as most of the audience walked out of the movie after the first trailer ever for Star Wars I - The Phantom Menace played.  On the day that episode opened, I sat in the Village theater in Westwood as part of a sell-out audience that roared with approval as prior to the film, we watched the original trailer for Episode IV.

Today is the real Star Wars Day.

* * *

Sticking with movies, let's take a look at what is opening tomorrow and how those films have done with both critics and audiences on Rottentomatoes.

Baywatch - 19% with critics, 64% with audiences
Pirates of the Caribbean - 30% with critics, 98% of others surveyed want to see it.

The comments of the critics on both of these movies are scathing.  But they will battle it out for box office supremacy this weekend.  Guess critics don't really influence audiences.

* * *

Still on the subject of movies, let's go to Austin, TX where the Alamo Drafthouse cinema has scheduled a showing of Wonder Woman for June 6th, that is for women only.  All of the staff working and the audience will be female.

Some men are not happy about this.  I do not understand the outrage.  Now if this were the very first showing of the film and it was gender-restricted, there might be an argument to be made that this is discriminatory.  But the movie breaks wide on June 2nd.  So the men who can't attend the June 6th screenings (the first sold out almost immediately and another was added) have no real reason to be complaining.

* * *

In a blog last year, I point out one of the many lies told by the Cheeto-in-Chief, this one related to his claim that he had saved 1,100 jobs at a Carrier Air Conditioning plant in Indiana.  In actuality, 300 of those jobs were not slated to move to Mexico and the accurate figure was only 800.

Now comes news that Carrier is going to cut 632 more jobs at that plant, most of which will be moved to Mexico where the minimum wage is below $5 U.S.

Worse yet, the company admitted that their investment of $16 million, touted by Trump last year as bringing even more jobs to the plant; will actually go toward automation which will eliminate jobs instead.  #LiarInChief

* * *

The headline is that the top student financial aid official, James Runcie, at the Department of Education has resigned, and the official spin is that he refused the request of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to testify before Congress.

If you dig a little, you discover that he said he did not feel it appropriate for him to testify about the issues he was being asked to discuss when the Department had spent a considerable amount of time and resources preparing the point man on the issue of improper financial aid payments, Jay Hurt to testify.

Why would anyone want someone who isn't the expert on an issue to testify about something in their Department?  I'd ask Betsy DeVos that question, but I'd have to put it into simpler terms so she could comprehend the meaning of the question.

Considering we're talking about $6 billion in potentially improper payments, the expert on the subject should be the one answering the questions.

* * *

May 26

Guadalupe Plascencia is a 59 year old hairdresser in San Bernardino.  She was in jail because of an old bench warrant where she did not show up to testify in a court case.  She had done nothing wrong other than fail to show up to testify.

She is a U.S. citizen.  That didn't stop a deputy from pressuring her to sign a document acknowledging that she was aware that ICE had inquired about her. 

Since she's a citizen she figured it couldn't hurt to sign the form.  Big mistake.

Right after she was released ICE agents took her into custody and she spent a day in their "facility" until her daughter appeared with her passport, proving her citizenship.

Now the ACLU has begun the process of filing suit against ICE and the San Bernardino County Sheriffs.  Their claim states she was discriminated against based on her ethnic origin.

The L.A. Times story points out that she had a valid Driver's License.  Since the licenses granted to undocumented immigrants are clearly marked that they are not valid for federal identification purposes, why wouldn't the ICE agents accept a valid license as proof of citizenship?

* * *

Speaking of the Times, they ran a piece today paying tribute to California's war dead, including the five Californians who died while serving since last Memorial Day.

Two of the five perished in "non-combat" related incidents.  I like that they were not excluded from the tribute.  Everyone who serves, no matter where or when, has volunteered to accept the risks to keep the rest of us safe.

* * *

A Baltimore area lawyer was arrested for allegedly attempting to bribe and intimidate the victim in a rape case.  According to the Baltimore Sun story, Christos Vasiliades was recorded telling the victim's husband that there was a risk of her being deported if she showed up to testify, and he offered to pay them $3,000 in cash once the charges were dropped.

If they convict this guy I hope he is disbarred as well as imprisoned.

* * *

Ponderings of the random sort

The first thing I saw Tuesday morning after putting on my eyeglasses was an IM from a friend letting me know that Roger Moore had died.  Some think he was the worst James Bond in the franchise's history but I am not one of those people.  I think his version of Bond was the "tongue-in-cheek" spy, quick with the one-liners.  The actor said he hated guns IRL.

In 1978 he made a movie with Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Hardy Kruger and Stewart Granger titled "The Wild Geese."  It was a movie about mercenaries and while it is not considered a good movie by most, it is a film I enjoy watching.  Somewhere around here I have a rare DVD of the film and I plan to watch it later on this week.  RIP, Sir Roger Moore.

* * *

Katy Perry is proud of her new contract to be a judge on the reboot of American Idol and she talked about it during a radio interview in New York City.  Reports are she signed a deal for a salary of $25 million for her new gig. 

TMZ reports she will need a substantial raise to catch up to the $45 million Simon Cowell reportedly earns.

* * *

Staying with news from TMZ, they say that Charlie Sheen claims that Major League III will happen, he has a great script and the entire original cast on board.

Reporter's note:  Sheen is 57 and will be tough to buy as a pitcher in Major League Baseball.  Tom Berenger is even older, and Margaret Whitton (played the team owner) & James Gammon (played the team's manager) are both deceased.  I'm sure Bob Uecker would love to reprise his role as announcer Harry Doyle.

* * *

Staying with potential sequels in the wind, Tom Cruise told a London talk show that Top Gun 2 is definitely happening.  It's been over 30 years since the original Top Gun soared to the top of the box office for 1986.  Cruise has met with Jerry Bruckheimer in the past to discuss a sequel and with David Ellison's Skydance Media producing the film, it could very well happen.

Reporter's note:  To be a Navy Lieutenant as Cruise's "Maverick" was in the original film his character had to have at least four years on active duty at the time Top Gun was set.  In the real Navy, the only rank that either Cruise or Val Kilmer (who is reportedly going to reprise his role as "Iceman") could be serving at would be as a Rear Admiral or higher. Both are way beyond the age where one is flying a fighter jet.  Then again when did movies have anything to do with reality? :)

* * *

Trying to stay away from the Cheeto-in-Chief in this blog but couldn't resist positing if the reason Melania Trump keeps slapping his hand away is because she knows where those hands have been.

* * *

Hundreds, maybe thousands of Uber drivers in New York City will be getting paid as the ride-sharing firm admitted under-paying those drivers millions of dollars.

But the union that represents those drivers is claiming that the settlement amount is not a full reimbursement of what they are owed.

Reporter's note:  Perhaps Uber should change its name to "Screw Our Drivers" to be more upfront.

* * *

Fox News (or as some prefer, Faux News) ran a story that claimed the murder of Democratic National Committee staff member Seth Conrad Rich was in retaliation for his having leaked DNC emails to WikiLeaks.

The story was debunked almost immediately as one of the primary sources, a private investigator, said that he did not have the information that Fox News claimed he had.

The question is, why did it take this so-called news outlet six full days to retract the story?

* * *

In looking into a story on the SFGate website, I learned something very interesting.  But the story first. 

The Department of Defense has denied a request to add the names of 74 sailors to the Vietnam Memorial Wall.  They were aboard the destroyer USS Frank E. Evans in 1969 and died when it was involved in a collision during a training exercise.

The destroyer had been operating in the waters off Vietnam before the exercise, and was scheduled to return after the conclusion of that exercise, but because it was outside the area of operations according to DOD guidelines, their deaths do not meet the criteria to be included on the Wall.  Author John Prados, author of American Boys:  The True Story of the Lost 74 of the Vietnam War, claimed in that book that it would take an act of Congress to force the DOD to make an exception.

Without taking a position on the DOD decision, other than to call this extreme nit-picking, it seems that with the support of Senator Chuck Schumer, the survivors of these sailors should be able to get such a bill through this Congress.

As to the lesson learned, I looked into the man the ship had been named for.  Marine Corps Brigadier General Frank E. Evans was a veteran of World War I who retired in 1940 and died in 1941.  He was awarded the Navy Cross, the nation's second highest decoration for extraordinary heroism in combat.

Wondering what he had done to earn this honor, I looked up the citation for his Navy Cross.  It reads as follows:

The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant Colonel Frank E. Evans (MCSN: 0-271), United States Marine Corps, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished service as Adjutant, 6th Regiment Marines, 2d Division, A.E.F. During the trying events of the early part of June 1918, while in action against the enemy at Belleau Wood, Lieutenant Colonel Evans carried the administrative burdens of his regiment with great efficiency. His untiring efforts, constant diligence, and intelligent transmission of orders from the Brigade Commander during a number of days when his Regimental Commander was in an advanced headquarters and not always in communication, contributed in no small degree to the successful part played by the 6th Regiment in the operations against the enemy from the 1st to the 16th of June, 1918.

Administrative burdens??  Seriously??  Not to minimize the difficulties of doing anything in a combat zone, but it sounded like it didn't meet the criteria for the Navy Cross.  Then I did a little more digging and discovered that Congress changed the criteria in 1942, prior to which it could be awarded for distinguished service rather than valor.

Then it made sense. 

* * *

Suggestions for Walt Disney World's Hall of Presidents

According to a story from the Huffington Post, Walt Disney World is struggling with an issue involving the Cheeto-in-Chief.  They are unsure about having the animatronic Trump become an audio-animatronic device.  Or in simpler terms, they are wrestling with whether or not to have the robotic Trump likeness speak.

Apparently they are concerned that having the Cheeto-in-Chief record messages for his likeness to utter would not be an entertaining experience for visitors to their Hall of Presidents; slated to re-open later this year.

I don't see the problem.  There are just so many amusing things they could use.

“I was down there, and I watched our police and our firemen, down on 7-Eleven, down at the World Trade Center, right after it came down”  (when did Agent Orange ever visit a convenience store?)

“My IQ is one of the highest — and you all know it! Please don’t feel so stupid or insecure; it’s not your fault.” (probably from a fake IQ test)

“I’ve said if Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.”  (That's truly frightening and weird)

“One of they key problems today is that politics is such a disgrace. Good people don’t go into government.” (Ah, talking about his Cabinet and White House appointees)

“Ariana Huffington is unattractive, both inside and out. I fully understand why her former husband left her for a man – he made a good decision.”  (He probably hit on her and she rejected him.)

“Robert Pattinson should not take back Kristen Stewart. She cheated on him like a dog & will do it again – just watch. He can do much better" (Well, he is an expert on infidelity in his own right)

“An ‘extremely credible source’ has called my office and told me that Barack Obama’s birth certificate is a fraud” (He probably called himself)

"When I think I'm right, nothing bothers me." (He always thinks he is right and yet he's always getting pissed at what people say.  Go figure)

"There have been many bad things said about me over the years, and in some cases they’ve been true. It doesn’t bother me. If I have a fault and somebody exposes that fault or talks about that fault, you won’t hear me complain." (Utterly ridiculous, he flies off the handle every time someone points out one of his flaws and/or failures)

"You know, it doesn’t really matter what [the media] write as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of ass.” (speaks for itself)

And I haven't gone anywhere near pussy grabbing or some of his other choice comments.

Any suggestions?

The bias toward recent events and people

A sportswriter that I had a lot of respect for wrote a column last year in which he described a trade as the worst trade in the history of professional sports.  Since he was not describing the deal made back in 1920 when the owner of the Red Sox, Harry Frazee sold George Herman "Babe" Ruth to the Yankees for $100,000, he was just plain wrong.  That is the worst deal in the history of professional sports.  By far.

So why did he write this?  Because he was describing a trade that took place in the 21st century.  He lost sight of the fact the history of professional sports goes back more than a century.

On the ESPN website they have a group of writers known as the Page 2 staff.  They compiled a list of the ten worst trades in sports history.  They had the trade of the Babe for cash to be the worst ever.  But the other 9 trades on the list occurred in the following years:

1965
1971
1976 (2)
1980
1984
1987
1989
1993

See a pattern?  Most of the deals on this list were really bad.  But nowhere near as bad as others that took place much further back in the history of professional sports.

In 1910, the Philadelphia Athletics traded a kid named Joe Jackson to the Cleveland Naps.  He would go on to earn the nickname "Shoeless" Joe and would become one of the best players in the game.  His .356 lifetime batting average over his 13 season (10 full seasons) career.  In the 1919 World Series where he and the other seven players would be forever branded as the "Black Sox."

Did he take the bribe?  He maintained until his death that he had refused the money.  In the eight games of the World Series that year, he made no errors and batted .375, setting a then World Series record with 12 hits.

What did Philadelphia get for Shoeless Joe?  A man named Bris Lord who had an okay season in 1911, two lousy seasons after that and then he was out of baseball for good.  A horrible trade.

In 1936, the Philadelphia Athletics pulled off another idiotic move.  They sold the contract of Jimmie Foxx to the Boston Red Sox for $150,000.  A's owner Connie Mack was in financial trouble as the Great Depression made it so that he could not pay all of his star player's salaries. 

During the next five seasons playing for the Red Sox, he made the All-Star team all five years, won the MVP award for the third time (a record that wasn't broken until Barry Bonds won his 4th MVP) and nearly won another Triple Crown.  Only Rogers Hornsby and Ted Williams ever won 2 Triple Crowns for batting.

However, there is yet another long-ago deal that might be the 2nd worst ever in pro sports history.  In December of 1900, the Cincinnati Reds traded a young pitcher named Christy Mathewson back to the New York Giants.  Mathewson had been with the Giants and had a record of 0-3 in six appearances until he was sent back down to the minors.  The Reds picked up his contract but traded him back to the Giants for a guy named Amos Rusie.  Known as the "Hoosier Thunderbolt."  He had a blazing fastball and had led the league in strikeouts three straight seasons.  He also once walked 289 batters in a single season.

Rusie pitched badly in a couple of games before retiring.  Christy Mathewson would go on to win 373 games as a pitcher, 372 of them with the Giants.  He was one of the original inductees into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.  Sadly he was the only one of the five original inductees who didn't survive to be inducted.

* * *

And as long as I'm on this bender about the bias towards current players among sports pundits, I want to go back and look at a list that purports to be the best 6 catchers in MLB history.  Here, in order, is the list as written by its author, Michael Laurila:

#6 - Mike Piazza (career ended in 2007)
#5 - Carlton Fisk (career ended in 1993)
#4 - Bill Dickey (career ended in 1946)
#3 - Ivan Rodriguez (career ended in 2001)
#2 - Yogi Berra (career ended in 1963)
#1 - Johnny Bench (career ended in 1983)

My problem with this list, which does have players from further in the past, is that the man at #6 hit a lot of home runs and extra base hits, but his defense was atrocious.  He isn't even the greatest at his position on his initial team, the Dodgers.  The man worthy of that honor (IMHO) is one of only two catchers to ever win the MVP award three times (Yogi Berra and Johnny Bench won it twice each). 

Roy Campanella played for ten seasons (1948-1957) with the Brooklyn Dodgers.  He was an eight-time All-Star.  In each of his three MVP seasons, he hit over .300 with more than 30 home runs and more than 100 RBIs.

But my reasoning for making Campanella one of the best ever is that he still holds the career record for percentage of baserunners he threw out trying to steal.  His percentage of 57.2% is almost ten full percentage points better than that of Yogi Berra's 47.8%.  Ivan Rodriguez is at 47.5%.  Fisk, Dickey and Bench are not among the 100 best in this stat.

Again, it is subjective but I'm guessing that this writer didn't even give Roy Campanella a second though.  It's all about the offense for him.

Answering the wrong question

The Washington Post ran a story alleging that the Cheeto-in-Chief disclosed highly classified information to the Russians.  Later that day, National Security Advisor Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster read a precisely worded statement regarding the story:

"I have a brief statement for the record. There is nothing that the president takes more seriously than the security of the American people. The story that came out tonight as reported is false. The president and the foreign minister reviewed a range of common threats to our two countries, including threats to civil aviation.

At no time, at no time, where intelligent sources or methods discussed. And the president did not disclose any military operations that were not already publicly known. Two other senior officials who were present, including the Secretary of the State, remember the meeting the same way and have said so. Their on the record accounts should outweigh anonymous sources. I was in the room. It didn't happen."

Then this morning, 45 put out a two-Tweet message on the subject: 

"As President I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining...
....to terrorism and airline flight safety. Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against ISIS & terrorism."

For once, he is right about one thing.  It is his absolute right to decide what information is and isn't classified, and he can disclose that information to anyone he wants to.

Problem is, that's not the right question.  The question is not whether or not the Cheeto-in-Chief had the right to do what he did.  The question is, was it something he should have done.  The answer to that is a resounding NO.

General McMaster made a point of mentioning that sources and/or methods were not disclosed by 45.  So what?  The information involved when we're talking about Code-Word, Special Access Program (SAP) and Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) are so closely controlled that having a Top Secret clearance is not enough by itself to gain access to this kind of material. 

Worse yet, it appears that the U.S. did not have permission from the source of this information to release it to another nation.  That is an unforgivable breach of protocol.  Even if 45 did not disclose the sources and/or methods used to gather this data, it is very possible that the disclosure of the information itself may have put the person or persons who obtained this information in danger.

This is yet another example of how the Cheeto-in-Chief's ego and penchant for self-aggrandizing is dangerous. 

But this was not a high crime, it was not a misdemeanor and it cannot be used to impeach him.  It is merely more evidence of what we already knew, he is unqualified and unsuited to hold the office he currently holds.

Who should Trump appoint as new FBI Director?

On Saturday, the Cheeto-in-Chief interviewed eight candidates to replace James Comey as FBI Director.  These were the interviewees:

Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe
Attorney Alice Fisher
U.S. Senator John Cornyn of Texas
NY Appeals Court Judge Michael Garcia
FBI Agent in Charge of the Richmond, VA office Adam Lee
Federal Appeals Court Judge Henry Hudson
Former homeland security advisor Frances Townsend
Former Michigan congressperson Mike Rogers

Eight individuals with obvious qualifications for the position.  However, given 45's lack of qualification for his job, perhaps he should be considering other candidates.  Unfortunately, the perfect choice is not available:

Actor Efrem Zinbalist, Jr. came into our homes every Sunday night on ABC portraying FBI Special Agent Lewis Erskine.  Sadly, he passed away in 2014 at the age of 95 so he isn't available for the job.  Compared to the Cheeto-in-Chief's qualifications for his current job, this man is eminently qualified to be FBI Director.

That is a photo of the late Steven Hill portraying FBI  Director F. Denton Voyles in the 1993 film "The Firm."  Hill spent ten seasons as the Manhattan District Attorney on "Law & Order" as well.  Clearly an excellent candidate had he not died last year.

James Sikking also portrayed the John Grisham version of FBI Director F. Denton Voyles in a 1993 movie, this one being "The Pelican Brief" which starred Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington.  Mr. Sikking is 83 now but his experience as an FBI Director and as "Lieutenant Howard Hunter" on "Hill Street Blues" makes him a strong candidate to be Trump's choice.

Perhaps 45 will become the first president to put a woman into the job of FBI Director.  There is a woman who has made it clear she is a Republican and she has experience as an Assistant District Attorney who later became an Assistant United States Attorney on "Law & Order" and would later move into a job as a homicide detective in Boston.  Perhaps if 45 year old Angie Harmon wants the job, she should attach this pic to her resume:

Another woman who has TV law enforcement experience, and is reputed to share some of 45's conservative values should also be in the mix.

Hey, she was the Sheriff.

One of the issues involving the firing of James Comey is the allegation that 45 asked him to pledge his loyalty to Mr. Trump.  I can think of one man who would probably be willing to do that, who had a career in actual law enforcement for almost 50 years.  And, he's a Republican.

However, former L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca's current status as a convicted felon makes him ineligible for the job.

Feel free to suggest other candidates.  The Cheeto-in-Chief has indicated he will announce a selection by the end of next week.

A waste of space

Almost every single person has a favorite eating spot.  I won't say restaurant because for some it isn't a restaurant but a place where they take their food.  I have a number of favorite restaurants.  But one, now long gone, will always be my absolute favorite.

That's the last message ever posted on the marquee of the Stick & Stein on Sepulveda Blvd in El Segundo.  It closed in early 2011, while I was still bedridden but nearing release from the sub-acute facility I'd been moved to after my first few months at Santa Monica/UCLA Medical Center.

The years listed on that marquee are accurate in terms of how long a restaurant by that name was an El Segundo institution, but they were at this particular location from 1993 through their closure in 2011.  I had eaten at one of the prior restaurants at this location with my second ex-wife when it was known as the Jolly Roger.  By the time it became home of the Stick and Stein, the second ex-wife had moved out and I ate out frequently.  I came here not long after it opened and became an instant regular.

For a long time I'd be eating in the bar, even though I no longer drank alcohol.  The reason for being in the bar was to be able to play the nationwide trivia game then known at the National Trivia Network (NTN).  Sometimes I would play solo, sometimes I would play with friends, but we played frequently.

Eventually I began sitting at the counter in the restaurant.  Some of the food items were good, a few were excellent (I'd go anywhere that would serve their Friday night occasional special soup, cream of chicken with wild rice; I've never found another that was as good) and most were average.  The service was terrific.  The owner, George, was probably the best restaurant operator I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.

On nights when the local professional sports teams were competing in post-season play, the place would be standing-room only.  The dozen or so pool tables were covered with custom-made wooden tables and they would be surrounded by less than comfortable folding chairs.  Every seat had a view of a large television screen.  While games involving the Dodgers or the Los Angeles Kings would draw big crowds, when the Lakers were in playoff mode, it was crowding in the extreme.  One might have to park two or three blocks away and have to walk over to get in.

Now, the property is vacant.  The only revenue the current owner appears to be receiving is from the neighboring IHOP for use of some of the parking lot.  The building has been listed for sale several times during the six years since the Stick closed.  George told me he had worked very hard with the owner in the years before he had to close to try to arrange a new lease that would allow for the retrofitting of the building so the dining room could be air-conditioned.  But it was a deal that could never be finalized.

With the rebound in the economy and the demographics of El Segundo one would think that a corner lot with a large frontage on Sepulveda Boulevard, would be so valuable, it wouldn't sit vacant for more than six years.  But it has.

Records make it appear that the current owner of the property has come close to selling it twice in the last couple of years.  I hope someone can close a deal and turn that corner into something productive.  Right now it is both a lingering memory and a waste of very valuable space.

Is the firing of FBI Director James Comey, Nixonian?

The Cheeto-in-Chief has fired FBI Director James Comey.  Before delving into the parallels and comparisons between what 45 has done by firing Mr. Comey to what Richard Nixon did in the infamous "Saturday Night Massacre" let us examine his predecessors, starting with the man who replaced J. Edgar Hoover.

L. Patrick Gray was allowed to resign as acting FBI Director after he admitted to destroying documents given to him by John Dean and John Ehrlichman. 

William Ruckelhaus lasted all of 70 days as the successor to Mr. Gray.  Then he was appointed as the Deputy Attorney General of the United States and he was forced to resign from that post when he refused to fire the Watergate Special Prosecutor, Archibald Cox.

Clarence Kelly was up next and he served for four years in the position, and then retired.  He is credited with ending several questionable practices that had begun during the era of J. Edgar Hoover.

James B. Adams served for eight days as the acting FBI Director to fill the gap between Mr. Kelly's retirement and the swearing-in of his successor, William H. Webster.  He served honorable in the position for more than nine years until President Ronald Reagan appointed him as Director of the CIA.

His successor, William S. Sessions was the first FBI director in the post-Hoover era to be dismissed by a president.  President Bill Clinton fired Sessions when Sessions refused to resign after the disclosure of a number of apparent violations of ethics rules.  He used an FBI plane to visit his daughter.  You can read more about Sessions and what he was accused of doing in a terrific book by Ronald Kessler.

Louis Freeh was the next person to sit in the FBI Director chair.  His tenure was marked with controversies, including the siege at Waco.  He resigned before the end of his term.

Robert Mueller was the next FBI Director.  He served his full ten year term and then spent two more years in the position at the personal request of President Barrack Obama.

The now fired James Comey followed him in the position.  Was he given the opportunity to resign rather than being fired, as Mr. Sessions was given?  No.  In point of fact, the Cheeto-in-Chief did this firing so badly, Mr. Comey learned about his dismissal from a breaking news item on CNN.  That is just plain wrong.

* * *

So was Mr. Comey's termination Nixonian?  There are parallels.  I happen to think that it should be considered Trumpian in its own right.  Remember that when President Nixon fired Archibald Cos, he didn't just fire him.  He actually abolished the Office of the Special Prosecutor.  This is documented in a 1973 article in the Washington Post.  Unless 45 is even dumber than we all think, he couldn't possibly believe that he has the power to abolish the FBI.  Would firing Mr. Comey end the investigation into whether or not there was collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election?  No.  But it might well slow it down.

However, Trump also fired Sally Yates.  We don't have confirmation that he has promised Preet Bharara that he would be kept on as a U.S. Attorney for the Southern District in New York, as he claims, but given his proclivity for investigating, it makes sense 45 wouldn't want him to have the power to investigate the Cheeto-in-Chief.

Richard M. Nixon was a crook, his protestations to the contrary notwithstanding.  We don't know for certain just what 45 is when it comes to lawbreaking, although it is clear he has no ethics and that he has flouted IRS regulations regarding the activities of his private foundation.

It doesn't matter if what he did is or isn't Nixonian.  It is wrong.  A special prosecutor, who isn't subject to any oversight by anyone in the Trump administration, is warranted.  Needed.  Vital.

Trumpcare - is it better or worse than what we have now?

The American Health Care Act of 2017 has passed the House by a very narrow margin.  Before commenting on its contents I want to share some names with you.

Ken Calvert
Paul Cook
Jeff Denham
Duncan Hunter
Darrell Issa
Steve Knight
Doug LaMalfa
Kevin McCarthy
Tom McClintock
Devin Nunes
Dana Rohrabacher
Ed Royce
David Valadao
Mimi Walters

Meet the 14 members of the House from California who voted in favor of the aforementioned bill.  All members of the Republican Party.  All of whom need to be defeated in the mid-term elections in November of 2018.

Let's clear up one misunderstanding right now.  Congress will not be exempt from the provisions of this law (if passed in the Senate and then signed by the Cheeto-in-Chief).  The law did contain that carve-out for lawmakers and their staffs, but another piece of legislation introduced by a Republican legislator from Arizona fixes that by making lawmakers and their staffs subject to the AHCA.

Why did they exempt themselves?  A procedural move, designed to try and prevent the Senate from having a chance to filibuster the AHCA.  You can read about this here.

You can also read about what's wrong with the AHCA in a L.A. Times piece written by Michael Hiltzik (who I find highly accurate and informative).  In that piece is a link to a Blue Shield internal document from 2011 listing a myriad of pre-existing conditions they would use to decline coverage.

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One of the biggest problems involving health insurance, before and after the passage of Obamacare is the concept of adverse selection.  The problem with the healthcare mandate provisions of Obamacare was that the mandate could be avoided by paying a monetary penalty.  If everyone in the country had to be part of the risk pool, then premium costs for all could be lowered while still providing coverage for the sickest part of that risk pool.

Allowing people to avoid being part of that risk pool doesn't work unless the monetary penalty they paid for doing so would provide an amount equal to the premiums not being paid by these people.  That was not the case under Obamacare.  The amount provided by penalty payments is not nearly enough to cover that amount.

So how do we fix this, without going to a single-payer system?  Simple.  We offer the people a choice.  It can be viewed by some as a Hobson's choice, but it is still a choice.

All individuals under the age of 26 can be covered under the health insurance coverage provided through their parents.  Everyone else can choose to enroll in a healthcare plan that meets a minimum level of coverage, or choose to decline coverage until they become covered by Medicare or through a group healthcare plan, subject to the same 3/3/12 pre-existing condition limitation that existed in the past.  In choosing to decline coverage, these people accept the following:

1.  If they ever file bankruptcy, any and all debts owed for their healthcare are exempt from being discharged.  Medical debt will not be factored into the bankruptcy law calculations that determine insolvency.

2.   Their ability to deduct medical expenses as an itemized deduction on their income tax returns will be subject to a 20% Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) limitation, rather than the 10% AGI limitation currently in effect for all taxpayers under the age of 65.  In simpler terms, in order to deduct any of their medical expenses, they cannot do that until those expenses exceed 20% of their annual income.

Sounds harsh.  It is.  That is because under Obamacare the penalties for failing to comply with the mandate allowed healthy people to accept the penalty and then if they got sick, they could just go out and buy a policy.  As long as that alternative exists, unless the penalties for failure to comply with the mandate reach the level of the cost of coverage, it is easier and there is no risk by refusing to purchase coverage.

Obamacare is imperfect but better than what we had before.  Millions more are covered now than were prior to its passage.  The AHCA is not an improvement over what we have.  If it becomes law, those who voted for it need to be sent packing.

Stephen Colbert - Did he go too far?

Stephen Colbert said something in his monologue on Monday night that has caused a lot of controversy.  He was ranting about his favorite target, the Cheeto-in-Chief, and he concluded his barrage by saying, "In fact, the only thing your mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin’s c–k holster."

Some people want to give him a pass for this obviously homophobic remark.  Sorry, but he should not be given a pass for this.  He needs to issue an apology.  The network should take some kind of action against him.  This was not an attempt at satire, as was the case when back in 2014 his official twitter account for The Colbert Report posted "I am willing to show Asian community I care by introducing the Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever."  That was an attempt to poke fun at the move by the owner of the Washington Redskins for starting a charity to benefit Native-Americans at a time when the backlash against the team's name was very strong.

This is different.

George Takei, Rosie O'Donnell, Patton Oswalt and others are defending Colbert and their rationale is that it is okay because he was insulting the Cheeto-in-Chief.  That doesn't excuse the use of a homophobic slur in this or any other case.  If any conservative talk-show host were to make a similar comment regarding any prominent liberal, gay or otherwise, these people would be among the first to criticize the comment.

You cannot pick and choose which slurs you will tolerate because of the target's politics.  Homophobia is unacceptable in any format, especially from those with a very large audience.  If these celebrities find homophobia acceptable when it is used to insult someone they dislike, they lose the right to criticize it at any time.

UPDATE:  Stephen Colbert addressed his previous remark on his Wednesday night show, claiming he could have used different language, but stopping short of an apology.  He tried to justify what he said by saying it was in response to how the Cheeto-in-Chief had treated a friend of his, Face the Nation host John Dickerson.

Doesn't make it acceptable.  If you think it is, consider this.  Suppose that Dennis Miller had made the same comment about President Obama and any other world leader during the Obama presidency?  Would these people defend the comment?  I don't think so.

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Trump complains media doesn't cover his amazing achievements

Donald Trump tweeted the following:

Mainstream (FAKE) media refuses to state our long list of achievements, including 28 legislative signings, strong borders & great optimism!

Let's examine the first ten of those legislative signings, in chronological order, to see if they are worthy of news coverage. 

#1 - A bill signed in January by Mr. Trump that granted a one-time waiver of a provision of an older law that mandated that no retired military officer could serve as the Secretary of Defense until he or she had been retired from the military for at least seven years.  This was required in order for Mr. Trump to be able to nominate retired Marine Corps General James Mattis as his Secretary of Defense.

CNN covered this story in and of itself, separate from their coverage of the Mattis nomination, confirmation hearings and confirmation.  So did a number of liberal newspapers.  But the point is that this bill, other than being the first he signed as president, is meaningless.

#2 - Still in January, Mr. Trump signed HR 72, the GAO Access and Oversight Act, which gives the Government Accounting Office access to records of all other government agencies.  Hardly groundbreaking or newsworthy.

#3 - On Valentines Day in February, Mr. Trump signed HJ Resolution 41 which did nothing more than repeal a rule under the Dodd-Frank legislation designed to protect consumers.  The rule that was repealed means that those businesses that "extract" minerals, oil and natural gas from other countries no longer have to disclose payments they make to governments. 

#4 - Two days later, Mr. Trump signed HJ Resolution 38 which disapproved of a rule put into effect by the Department of the Interior.  This rule, known as the Stream Protection Act was designed to protect surface water and groundwater from the effects of surface coal mining.

#5 - On the last day February, Mr. Trump signed HJ Resolution 40 which disapproved of the Social Security Administration's implementation of a rule under the provisions of a 2007 amendment passed in the wake of the shootings at Virginia Tech.  Did Mr. Trump want a lot of publicity for signing a bill that is nothing more than appeasing the NRA lobby by making it easier to buy a gun?

#6 - Also on February 28th, Mr. Trump signed HR 255 which requires the National Science Foundation to "... encourage its entrepreneurial programs to recruit and support women to extend their focus beyond the laboratory and into the commercial world."  An underwhelming achievement at best.

#7 - Still on February 28th, Mr. Trump also signed HR 321, the Inspiring the Next Space Pioneers, Innovators, Researchers and Explorers (INSPIRE) Women Act.  Nothing but legislative pablum.

#8 - On March 13th, Mr. Trump signed HR 609, renaming the Veterans Administration facility in Center Township, PA as the Abie Abraham VA Clinic.  Abie Abraham retired after 30 years in the U.S. Army at the rank of Master Sergeant.  He survived the Bataan Death March and was one of the POWs rescued in what is now known as The Great Raid.  He also served almost 37,000 hours as a volunteer at the facility now named for him.  A fitting tribute to be sure, but not a major legislative achievement.

#9 - On March 21st, Mr. Trump signed S442, the appropriations bill for NASA.  Wow, a spending bill for NASA.  Not exactly the commitment to reaching the Moon made by JFK.

#10 - On March 27th, Mr. Trump signed HJ Resolution 37, which disapproved a rule put into effect by the Department of Defense, the General Services Administration and NASA requiring contractors to comply with labor laws.  In essence, he signed a bill into law that prevented the DOD, GSA and NASA from requiring companies they enter into contracts with to comply with laws to protect their workforces.  Wow.

The other 18 bills signed by 45 did little, if anything. to change anything in our country, except to remove protections put into effect by the Obama Administration.

Perhaps the Cheeto-in-Chief could start a new political party, the Do-Nothing Party.