Lazy Sunday scorecard

Friday I went to see Star Wars: The Last Jedi and yesterday I taught a class and then ran a couple of errands.  As a result, I have more pain in my knee today than I've had for some time.  Therefore I am staying home and resting.  Especially since I have more errands to run tomorrow as well as a few clients to meet with in my office. 

* * * 

A noble project, an apartment building to provide low-cost housing to seniors, all of them veterans and some of them currently homeless.  The L.A. Times reports that the Sun Valley Senior Veterans Apartments is one of several such projects being funded with "cap and trade" funds.  But this one will be 200 feet from the 5 Freeway.  Studies show that living too close to freeways dramatically increases health risks. 

Does that make sense?

* * * 

Tamara Holder is a former contributor to Fox News Channel.  She alleged that a network executive sexually harassed her at work.  After an investigation, Francisco Cortes was fired by the network.  The $2.5 million settlement payout she received contained a clause that prevented her from speaking about the incident.  But she is claiming that the comments of Rupert Murdoch in response to a question regarding whether or not the harassment claims had hurt Fox News Channel's business.  He said "It's all nonsense. There was a problem with our chief executive. Sort of, over the years. But isolated incidents."

Ms Holder appeared on CNN's Reliable Sources.

* * *

What caused the ten-hour power outage at Atlanta's Hartfield-Jackson Airport?  It is being blamed on a fire in an underground power vault.  Over 1,000 flights had to be canceled due to the outage.

Time to head over to The Varsity and grab a couple of hot dogs while you wait. But I'm guessing their airport location in Terminal C was hit by the power outage. 

* * *

 An excerpt from a Doyle McManus op-ed piece in today's L.A. Times is worth a look.

 "It isn’t easy to make a tax cut unpopular. But Trump and Republican leaders in Congress have managed a feat of negative alchemy: They’ve turned a bill that should have been political gold into lead. Polls have found that fewer than one-third of voters, on average, think this tax bill is a good idea. That’s less popular than Obamacare was when it passed in 2010.  The reason it’s unpopular? Most voters think the bill is so tilted in favor of corporations and the wealthy that there’s nothing left over for them. And they’re right."

* * *

In May of 1977 I did stand in line for hours to see the first Star Wars movie.  Three years later I stood in line in a driving rainstorm waiting to get into the theater.  I had ticket #1 but since seats were not reserved, it was a mad scramble to get a good seat in the theater.  I was in Miami at the time.  

22 years after that first film I did NOT spend six weeks in line outside the Mann Village Theater in Westwood waiting for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, although I did see the film there on that opening day (later in the day).  That also required hours in line.

I've seen all eight of the Star Wars movies on their opening day.  But I can't stand in line like that.  I had trouble this past Friday just getting from the car to the auditorium.  Thank goodness for reserved seating and advance ticket sales online.

* * *

When you get busted for allegations of domestic violence and you have a famous mom, your arrest will make headlines.  Just ask Track Palin, oldest son of Sarah Palin.  She may not have said she could see Russia from her bedroom, but she can see Track in court soon in Wasilla, AK where he was charged with felony burglary, misdemeanor reckless assault and misdemeanor criminal mischief causing less than $500 in property damage.

Hard to keep a low profile when you were on Mom's reality TV show.

* * *

Usually there are two big winners at the box office each weekend.  The overall gross box office winner and the per-screen box office winner.  This weekend the aforementioned Star Wars: The Last Jedi took both titles.  Over $220 million in total box office domestically and an impressive $51,996 per screen on the 4,232 screens it opened on.  Give credit to The Shape of Water and Darkest Hour, the only two of the 13 movies that were open last week who did not see a drop-off in box office from last weekend.  

And to think, there are new Star Wars movies due out in May of next year and December of the following year  Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm Ltd for slightly more than $4 billion in 2012 is paying big dividends.

* * *

Jerry Richardson owns the Carolina Panthers and has since they were created in the NFL expansion of 1993.  Now he's announced plans to sell the team.  

He was an NFL football player and amassed a fortune estimated at more than $500 million.  But what is missing from his announcement that he will sell the team is that he is under investigation facing allegations of sexual misconduct and use of a racial slur.  Multiple media outlets are reporting that he has paid out a number of confidential settlements to keep these allegations under wraps and out of the public eye.

"Diddy" says he wants to buy the team and sign Colin Kaepernick.

* * *

One little-known provision involving Roth IRAs is on the chopping block under the TrumpTax plan.  It is the recharacterization of the conversion of a traditional IRA to a Roth.  When you make that conversion, you pay tax.  Since you don't know just how much tax until the year is over, you can undo the conversion through a recharacterization.

Thanks to the Republicans, no more do-overs.

* * *

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/940930017365778432

Wow.  Someone needs to update the spell check function on his phone.

* * *