Many Americans believe that Thanksgiving is the time to express gratitude. Families go around the Thanksgiving table and talk of what they are grateful for at that particular time. Gratitude is something that should be expressed all year long. And, during the “holiday season,” even a little more. I am truly fortunate to have realized long ago that gratitude is the most important aspect of life. You cannot be genuinely happy without first being grateful. One is most likely unhappy without gratitude. Simple as that. You do not have to be a religiously observant person to understand the importance of gratitude. But I have found that one is more likely to be a religiously observant person if you understand the importance of gratitude. That is part of the reason in our country the “merchants of ungratefulness” are having their day. They tell people that they are taken advantage of by our society, and they divide people into groups – you know all of them. Then they tell the people over and over again that they cannot be happy because of their gender or skin color. This serves to feed only the merchants of ungratefulness as they feed… Read More

There is ample evidence that those who believe the planet is coming to a calamitous ending soon are either cult members or have lost their minds and need significant psychotic drugs. Witness the recent acts by deranged individuals throwing soup on world renown art masterpieces and then gluing themselves to the adjacent wall. These are random delusional cranks, but there is more evidence that some duly elected officials have totally lost their minds over their perverse perception of action needed to save the planet. The Legislature of California is unfortunately a year-round travesty that manages to delve into all areas of our lives because they can due to one-party control. This past session they passed over 1,150 bills of which Gallivanting Gavin signed 997 of them to enact into law. The thought that most California residents will not know of most of these and will likewise ignore the insidiousness of the massive changes seems to escape their understanding what is actually “good government.” One of these new laws caught my attention as being particularly odious. It could only be passed by a group of people completely devoid of any religion other than… Read More

I have been pondering this subject for a long while. I have had discussions with people which have elicited an array or reactions. There is a word that is banned for use for most every population. Yet, the one population that it would be addressed toward in a derogatory manner uses it regularly. This is the word n_____. Now that you have gotten over the shock of seeing the word in print, let’s explore why I believe that black people should be banned from using it also. The motivation for taking this position is that it has become commonplace for blacks to use the word particularly in comic routines. One of my favorite current comedians uses the word frequently. That is Dave Chapelle. Chapelle is a brilliant comedian who banters the word around regularly. In fact, when he hosted SNL people complained because he used the word nigga extensively. Chris Rock who is another amazingly funny comedian has used the word regularly. In fact, Rock had a conversation with Ricky Gervais and Louis C.K. (two white guys) where they bantered the word around liberally. Rock received significant backlash for that. Most of the current usage was generated… Read More

We see an increased level of crime in our country. We see an increased level of negative political discourse. More importantly in our daily actions with the people around us, we see a degradation of human interaction and consideration for people in general. That has been on full display recently in one of my main hobbies – attending concerts. During the pandemic, the principal thing I missed more than anything else was live musical performances. Most people think of me as a baseball person, but my main activity is music. Music is on at my home, my car, and my office as much as possible. There is nothing like a live performance though for me. At concerts I have seen the deterioration of people’s behavior over a period of years. It is especially fascinating because the price of concert tickets has soared – due in part because of people’s willingness to pay but also to compensate for the artists’ lost revenue on CD sales. Regardless, one must wonder why people act like they are in their own homes while surrounded by others trying to listen to a performance. Why are they loudly chatting about recent shopping trips instead of listening to the… Read More

As soon as the news broke, a cavalcade of plaudits started coming in from left-of-center politicians and journalists lauding the accomplishments of Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House and leader of her party. Ms. Pelosi had two four-year stints as Speaker. Let’s look at her years as leader of the House and second in line to the Presidency. Ms. Pelosi is being heralded by her cronies and the Left-wing press as the most consequential Speaker in history. A large part of that is because of legislation passed during her terms. They seem to have forgotten Democrat Sam Rayburn who served for seventeen years between 1940 and 1961. He was the Speaker during two major wars and engineered the first civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. He worked with President Eisenhower with funding for and building of the national highway system. Unlike Speaker Pelosi, he worked with the opposition party and President. But Ms. Pelosi is the current darling. Probably her most significant act of recent was traveling to Taiwan in the face of relentless pressure from the Chinese overlords. It was truly a shining moment, but we all get some things right. Probably her… Read More

Our California governor Gallivanting Gavin has his eyes on running for President, assuming the octogenarian in the White House bows out. Gavin will be telling America what a wonderful job he has done here in California to deserve being promoted to ruling over all fifty states. We should review the sparkling aspects these days of being a Californian. California ranks first in many ways. For example, we have the highest gas prices in the country. We unfortunately have fallen behind Hawaii and come in at number two at having the highest energy prices in the country. Again, we are falling behind in another key area. We come in at #3 for the highest cost of living, falling behind Hawaii and New York. We are really slumping when it comes to overall tax rates ranking just #3. That is despite ranking first for individual tax rates. We are all confident that in his second term as governor, Gallivanting Gavin will strive to get us back to being number one in all these categories. And then there is our poverty rate. Mississippi comes in at the top with highest. That is before you adjust for cost of living. California ranks 26th when you just look at the poverty… Read More

Yesterday, one week after the election, the Legislative Analyst Office released a report on California’s fiscal outlook. It reported that there was going to be a $25 billion deficit. Assembly Budget Committee Chairman, Assembly Phil Ting, a Democrat, told the press there was nothing to worry about, “last year,” he said, “the LAO reported there was going to be a deficit at this same time, and it turned out to be a record surplus.” That is a false statement. I use the harsh word “false” because it is easy verifiable (though no one in the press even made the effort to verify if it was true or false). Read last year’s fiscal outlook report (on November 17, 2021) and you will find the LAO predicted a more than $30 billion surplus, with surpluses into the future (whoops, that was wrong too).

Contrast that with my prediction made in the run up to the state budget last year, in an article I wrote on December 15, 2021 entitled “My Advice to Legislators: Don’t Rely on LAO Rosy Scenarios For A Budget Surplus.” In that article, I said: “History has shown that pre-election projections of large… Read More

Absence of Malice is a 1981 Sydney Pollack film starring Paul Newman that I recently rewatched. If you have not seen it — or have not recently — it is timeless. Newman’s character is accused of killing a union boss which he asserts he is innocent of the charge. Sally Field plays a reporter who writes a story “accusing him” of the crime. During one encounter, Newman says “I gotta know where that story came from. ‘Knowledgeable sources,’ you said. You write what they say and then you help them hide. You say you have a right to do that, and I got no right to know who they are.” Fields says “If they clear you. I’ll write about that too.” Newman replies. “What page?” Matters have not changed much when it comes to the press except they now attribute most claims to “experts say” and we are supposed to drop to our knees and thank them. Yet this kind of behavior has spread throughout our society. You are aware of it – “it” is called cancel culture. People express something on social media, and they are harassed for being a bigot etc. etc. etc. We now have advanced past cancel culture as proceedings have gotten even worse and… Read More