Q. Did they put Hunter Biden on the board of some Ukraine Utility because they thought his connections might be useful to them?
A. Absolutely
Q. Did China give all sorts of special deals to the Trump companies and Ivanka because Donald Trump is president of the USA?
A. Do you really need to ask?
Q. Do the U.S. Air Force, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the partying attorney general of the United States and many, many others all patronize the Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C. because they like the clean towels and the way the beds are made.?
A. Guess.
As presidents go, this one is relatively cheap to reach. It’s not necessary to change policy, hide your black deeds or human rights abuses, or be connected to family (although it certainly doesn’t hurt). All you have to do is book a couple of weeks at Trump Hotel, play a few rounds of golf at a Trump golf course and you’re on the good guy list. Do other countries put the children of American political royalty into opportunities not available to everyone because of not only their parents but also because they have large networks of friends who are also the children of American political royalty? You bet they do. In prior empires, a couple of thousand years ago, they used to say that all roads lead to Rome. Today, it’s all roads lead to Washington, D.C. or Beijing, China, but London and Moscow are trying hard to get back into the game. For many, government and politics is the family business, and it’s a very profitable business—recession proof, but in some countries, kind of dangerous. Here you could go to jail, although it seldom happens; in other countries you could even get shot. So, let’s stop this hypocrisy. Even the children of presidents and presidential candidates have to work, and for good or bad they’re usually all going into the family business. You should understand that it’s not easy to be the children of American political royalty. It sounds cushy but I kind of suspect it isn’t. What with good schools, an established family position, often money and trust funds, people kissing up to you, and other people working to keep you from failing, well, you never know what you’re capable of or if your friends are really your friends. From the outside looking in, you certainly can’t tell who is competent and able and who is dumber than a house plant, but their friends know. We all like to believe in meritocracy but there are a heck of a lot of political dynasties out there, the Kennedys and Bushes, for example, and reality often clashes with what we would like it all to be.
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There were a couple of interesting things on the Malibu City Council agenda this week. First, Skylar Peak suggested maybe we should break Malibu up into districts. Usually, cities are broken into districts because of racial imbalances and minorities being disenfranchised, but that’s not the case here. Malibu is 21 miles long and a mile or two wide, and Trancas and Big Rock may not have the same problems, still, no one picked up on the idea and it died. One thing I believe we should revisit is the idea of doing sewage package plants all over Malibu instead of the current system. Malibu became a city in 1991 and it was primarily a reaction to LA County wanting to build a sewer system in all of Malibu. Most were afraid that it was developer-driven and, if installed, Malibu would soon look like Newport Beach with condos all over the place. They may have been absolutely correct. So, instead, we opted to become a city, control our own fate and to continue using septic systems. The problem is that since 1991, the septic systems have become very sophisticated and very expensive—expensive to install, expensive to fix and very expensive to maintain. We have opted to put a mini sewer plant on everyone’s lot and that is a very expensive solution, easily $100,000-plus with high monthly maintenance fees. Looking back, the county sewer was going to cost $10,000 per lot, which was a heck of a bargain. We’ve been a city for over 28 years and we now have all sorts of rules controlling development. Maybe it’s time to revisit this septic issue.
It was another item on the council agenda that may cause the largest splash. They were considering a city ordinance to prevent trespass in the very high fire hazard severity zones. To put it simply, we want to make it criminal to live in the bushes in Malibu, the rationale being that this is a potentially high fire area and camping or sleeping, in those brush areas is dangerous to all of us: both to those living in the brush and those on adjacent properties. Although the purpose of the ordinance is sensible, I can just see the headlines all over the country, and probably all over the world. They passed it anyway, but it soon will come back for a second reading. So, we will see what kind of blowback is coming.
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Lastly, they did it again. Those LA bums broke my heart. Well! Wait until next year.