A smart friend of mine reminded me of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Very few Americans are aware of the pyramid of actualization that Dr. Maslow developed, but when explained to them they would see it as common sense. They would also recognize that for many Americans the Trump Presidency has allowed them to reach the top of the five levels.

In 1943, Dr. Abraham Maslow proposed a hierarchy of needs that humans experience. He went on to refine it, but the pyramid defines how modern life works. Obviously, the goal is to work your way to the top. Going through the levels, we can see how Trump has gotten more Americans to level five than his recent predecessors.

The first level is physiological needs. Those are your basic human needs for food, shelter, clothing, etc. Few Americans are challenged at this level. The homeless in urban environments are a recent development as to whether all Americans fulfill their needs at this level. Think of third world countries where people lack the basics such as a clean water supply. Our country has risen above that as have other first world countries. Once you don’t need to worry about those basics, you go to the other… Read More

Lost amidst the tumult of the last several weeks was the quiet passing of an outspoken leader of California – H.L. “Bill” Richardson. H.L., as he was known to his friends, arrived in the California State Senate with the freshman class of 1966, part of the Reagan landslide that year.

For every one of the 22 years he served in the Senate, H.L. was a force to be reckoned with. He served for many years in the Republican leadership, but he was never, ever, a political insider. His enormous influence inside the senate stemmed from the fact that he never joined that club – he never lost sight of the people who elected him – and he not only worked tirelessly to serve them inside the capitol – he worked even harder to organize, inform and mobilize them outside the capitol.

He founded a multitude of advocacy groups to empower the millions of Californians who believed in individual liberty and economic freedom. He started the “Free Market Political Action Committee,” to support free market principles and the candidates who embraced them, and it became the inspiration and prototype of groups like the Club for Growth and Americans for… Read More

California made a dramatic splash with the passing of the now infamous AB5. The bill, which became law on January 1, 2020, codified and expanded a California Supreme Court ruling dictating that virtually anyone working for your company except specifically excluded professions is a W-2 employee. These employees include ever-escalating minimum wages, egregious unemployment and worker compensation costs. The California state government continues to intensify their micromanaging of California businesses.

In addition to the dramatic AB5, the state legislature passed and the governor signed into law 18 bills in one year that control how business owners operate their businesses. That might make sense if the elected leaders knew how to run businesses or even had experience working in private industry beyond a teenage job at a burger joint. The Assembly has 80 members, of which 61 are Democrats. Those Democrats collectively have six who actually worked in private industry for any discernible time. Two of those were doctors/dentists who ran a practice. The remainder either were attorneys, labor leaders or spent their entire careers in positions related to government or as an… Read More

Now that impeachment is experiencing a just death knell, we can focus on other relevant matters more important to our lives. Before we move on, we need to clarify a topic that came to light during the Trump defense which has been grossly misunderstood.

Alan Dershowitz created quite a stir by making a slightly unclear statement. It was then greatly distorted by those who want to use any opportunity to attack Trump even if it involves throwing a life-long liberal Democrat who voted for Hillary Clinton under the bus.

In the course of answering a question, Dershowitz stated that a president cannot be impeached because of doing something that is inherently in their political interest; thus, it is not illegal. Some interpreted that Dershowitz was saying a president can commit an illegal act and not be impeached. An argument ensued and Dershowitz made clear what he was saying but that did not stop the opposition from casting his thoughts as out of the mainstream of legal thought.

The principal reasons they went after Dershowitz is, he is arguably the most famous attorney in the country, he is a liberal Democrat and he is arguing for Trump. He gives the Trump… Read More

The U.S. Senate will soon vote whether to convict President Trump and remove him from office. Not many people believe that will happen. Many people believe this entire process is to convince voters to cast ballots against Trump and Republicans in November. Neither may be true. Whether you are part of the Senate or a member of the public, you should consider the following facts before casting your vote.

1. The person who has been the lead in developing the case against President Trump and in presenting that case to the Senate insisted for nearly two years and right up until the presentation of the report by Robert Mueller that he had definitive proof of collusion between Trump and the Russians. Mr. Mueller totally discounted that was the case on July 24, 2019. Why would we believe anything that the Lead Person has asserted regarding the telephone call Trump had with Zelensky the very next day?

2. Since that telephone call on July 25, 2019, Democrats have stated that delaying the military aid to Ukraine was an affront to an ally of the United States and was risking lives of Ukrainians who were defending their country against a Russian aggressor. Yet for three years… Read More

There have been two major events in our new decade that rocked the world. First, the United States killed the leading terrorist in the world, Qassem Soleimani. The second is our national pastime was hit with a scandal as big as the Black Sox scandal a century ago. The Houston Astros – 2017 World Series Champions and perennial contenders — were revealed to have systematically and electronically stolen signs from the opposing catchers and provided that information to their hitters, thus giving them a tremendous advantage. The more lasting event is the sign stealing scandal.

To not color my take on this matter, I am first and foremost a baseball fan. Yes, I am a Dodger fan, but that is the only National League team I follow. In the American League I would cheer for every team in the World Series except for the evil empire – aka The Yankees. This is all about the integrity of the game I love and have played and followed my entire life. I was able to turn my wife into a baseball fan (actually Kirk Gibson did), saving my marriage from endless disputes. Now the Beautiful Wife has baseball credentials which would make serious baseball fans salivate. It is all about the… Read More

Phillip Rivers, the longtime starting quarterback for the Los Angeles Chargers, reportedly packed up his family and his belongings and moved to Florida. He announced it was a permanent move — he and his large family (nine kids and his starter wife) have left the building.

Why did he move? We’ll get to that shortly.

Rivers is now an NFL free agent. The move does not seem to be related to where (or IF) he will play quarterback next year. Personally I’m hoping that he retires from active play.

I’ve always liked Rivers from afar. Perhaps his top quality is his work ethic. It’s astonishing that he hasn’t missed an NFL game start since the took over from departing QB Drew Brees in 2006.He’s second in the NFL in consecutive quarterback starts behind Bret Favre, a QB that he’ll never pass.

Rivers’ time as a football star has past. Today’s… Read More

Senator Warren is the queen of plans — about sixty at current count. However, she is not the only Democrat running for President who has plans for how to improve our lives. Mayor Pete has his Dignity and Security in Retirement. It is time to delve into this plan and see what he intends to offer if he becomes President.

I applaud Mr. Buttigieg for addressing this issue. People are living longer lives and our government is doing little to address the issue. No society has ever faced this many older individuals; thus, there is no guidance on how to care for so many elderly people. In recent legislation they allowed people to contribute to their IRAs past the retirement age and raised the age for the time people must take distributions from those IRAs from 70.5 years to 72 years of age. This is just a drizzle of activity when what we need is a flood.

Mayor Pete’s plan addresses two principal issues. One is Long-Term Care Insurance and the other is the cost and quality of care for seniors with limited abilities to care for themselves. I am familiar with both issues. I have advised clients to buy Long-Term Care insurance for over 30 years and personally have a… Read More