Since our president seems to favor nicknames for his opposition, and since I’m clearly in opposition to most everything he does, I’ve been digging around for a nickname for Trump and finally settled on President Donald Dim. The dictionary defines dim as vague, imprecise, imperfect, unclear, indistinct, sketchy, hazy, blurred and shadowy, which all seem to fit to one degree or another. Every time President Dim seems to be getting ahead, like after the State of the Union Address (SOTU), he manages to do something that sets him back. First, he takes full credit, against advice, for the stock market’s rise, only to be immediately followed by a market crash. Where it will end up is anyone’s guess, including Trump’s. Then, he declares the Nunes memo a complete vindication when it is clearly anything but. Next, he maintains that anyone who didn’t stand and applaud his SOTU address, as many of the Democrats sat on their hands in stony silence, were both un-American and actually treasonous. I think at times he confuses himself with the president of Turkey. I believe we are headed for another Saturday Night massacre, and the last one didn’t end very well for the Republican Party. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Mueller go back to the grand jury, get a whole bunch of indictments, and then hold them sealed, waiting on what Trump does. Most Americans believe that the legal system and the political system are separate. But at this level, when it involves the president, everything that happens is both legal and political simultaneously. There is no way to separate it and the odds are that it will end up somehow before the United States Supreme Court on one issue or another.
• • •
We have a serious problem here in Malibu when it comes to fires, as we are a longtime fire-prone area, bordering on a wilderness. Add to that a very dry, rainless season so far and scores of homeless who are camped out in many places in Malibu, and we are all one match away from a conflagration. Last week’s fire in the Civic Center was spotted early, jumped on immediately by our local firefighters who were close by. Change any of those variables and the entire Malibu Knolls neighborhood could have gone up in flames in minutes. I went up the next day and it was clear from the burn patches how close the fire came to the homes on the top of the knoll. What we are doing is simply not good enough. I don’t know what the answers are but we need to address this publicly and quickly. Certain things are immediately clear: you can’t have people camping in some particular high risk-areas and some areas will simply have to be red-tagged as too dangerous for habitation. Then, we have areas that must be evacuated on red alert days, when the fire risk is at its greatest. But if the homeless are living in dangerous areas and we want to move them out, it won’t work unless they have some place to move to where they can set up camps, with toilets and showers. They are also going to need equipment so they can cook without open flames. Some people are going to say we are being cruel and harsh. Others are going to say we’re encouraging illegal camping and squatters, and we aren’t enforcing the law. There is some truth to what both sides are saying, but I see it as far more important that we protect ourselves, our homes and our families—that’s not going to happen if we insist on being right or correct. We had a very close call that could easily have gone the other way. Let’s not let it happen again.
• • •
Like many of you, I spent part of Sunday watching the Super Bowl. Normally, I don’t watch much football with the one exception being the Super Bowl and even then, only the second half because a full game is just too much for me. I know that’s kind of macho heresy, but when I watch the game, I can’t help but think of the Colosseum in Rome, with scores of gladiators battling it out. The winners got rich and the losers got dead, and professional football, knowing what we now know about brain injuries, doesn’t seem all that different. Still, it was one hell of a game and Brady, who is getting close to qualifying for Social Security, seems to have figured out how to stop time and appears impervious to age, pain and the normal deterioration of skills as you age. But the real story was the Eagles quarterback Nick Foles, the back-up guy who has kicked around the league a bit. He came in for the last few games when the star franchise quarterback was hurt, and there he is—holding his little girl and the Super Bowl trophy. Who could be so hard that they don’t love a Cinderella story? Certainly not me.