A quick gambol through the many issues facing all of us today.
Our president is off to see his good friend—and I’ve always suspected one of his chief financiers—the ever-amiable Russian Vladimir Putin to cement our relations and see what Putin wants in his Christmas stocking, perhaps Lithuania or something similar.
En route, he’s going to have to stop and visit those pesky and ungrateful nations of NATO, who used to call us allies and today are not so sure. I’ll admit that he’s gotten them all to put more money into defense, principally because most of them no longer trust us and are afraid of our apparent love affair with the Russians.
The Prez has nominated Brett Kavanaugh from the Washington, D.C., federal circuit to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS). We are all in for a very exciting and rough ride in this confirmation fight. A number of people on the very far right and the religious right seem to be lining up to oppose him. I can’t decide if that’s real or just a tactic to make him appear more middle-of-the-road than he might actually be. Much as the left might dislike him, he came out of the Bush shop and by the way politics has polarized recently, having been with Bush might actually qualify him as a moderate by current standards.
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Guilty of the murder of Gabriela Kabrins Alban, the only child of former Malibu restaurateur Howdy Kabrins—that was the judgment of the South African judge, who found, after an emotional yearlong trial, that Alban’s former boyfriend murdered her at a resort in South Africa. I know that Howdy feared, with the defendant’s great wealth, that somehow he might evade justice. Howdy set out to see justice was done. But the process of sitting in that courtroom every day during the trial almost destroyed Howdy and his wife, Linda. The next hurdle is the sentencing, and I suspect there is going to be all sorts of psychiatric and drug impact testimony in that regard—this case is far from over. Howdy still needs all our help. There is a GoFundMe (gofundme.com/justice-for-gaby) to give money.
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The local marijuana initiative collected enough signatures, passed legal muster and is now on the ballot in November. We then go to the polls to decide if recreational marijuana, home delivery and a 2.5 percent tax on recreational marijuana are all OK in the City of Malibu. Even though the statewide initiative passed some time ago, there is a large local option as to the manner and means of the sales, which is why we are going to the polls to decide on the issue.
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There is nothing new on the shooter of the man who was shot to death in Malibu Creek State Park while sleeping in a tent with his two daughters, ages two and four. What has come out is that over the last few years, there have been a total of five, six or even seven shooting incidents in or around the park and adjacent road. We never reported anything on any of those incidents because we never heard anything about them, which makes me very uneasy. Apparently there are multiple agencies involved in investigations: the LA County Sheriff’s Department, the California Highway Patrol, California State Parks and perhaps others. Why isn’t this kind of information being released? We need more transparency from our involved agencies.
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As you may be aware, Malibu Yellow Cab has closed up shop, and we were informed that the owner left the country. The city is trying to put together some alternatives but there is some significant urgency to this. There are Malibu citizens who need to get to the Westside or the Valley for lifesaving medical treatment. For example, people on chemotherapy have to go several times a week. Kidney dialysis patients generally need treatment three times a week for four hours at a clip. If any of you are available to drive people for a while until a solution is found, call us at The Malibu Times at 310.456.5507. We’ll run your name and phone number in the paper so people can contact you.
If some of you are putting together an assistance group, let us know and tell us what we can do to help.
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Recently, I was told of a large movie shoot on some land owned by the Conservancy or MRCA. It was way up in the hills in what looks like major ESHA area. I’ve noticed that when private citizens want to do something in the hills, the governmental agencies are all over you about ESHAs and setbacks and protecting the environment. But when a brother or sister governmental agency wants to do something, there is a great tendency to cut them a great deal of slack. If you think I’m exaggerating, check out some local parkland and see how close they build to ESHAs and stream beds. Appears like a very double standard to me.
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Karen and I are off to the East Coast for a couple of weeks to visit family and friends. Have a wonderful summer.