We were in Maui and watched the sunrise from the top of Haleakala, about 10,000 feet above sea level. Three representative pictures below. (It was flippin' cold too).
Sun is well below the horizon - it was probably at least another half hour before the sun actually came up.
Still below the horizon - you can really see the heavenly rays of light.
Sunrise at last!
A Higher Loyalty, By James Comey
Of course I had to read this book, given all the drama surrounding the 2016 presidential election, Russian interference in it and its links to the Trump campaign, the Mueller investigation and of course Hillary Clinton’s emails. I’ll say at the outset Comey is a very persuasive writer and storyteller - after all, he was the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Deputy Attorney General under G.W. Bush, as well as the head of the FBI, the nation’s top law enforcement agency. He knows how to make a case. I would say it is a good idea to put that filter on while reading the book, to help maintain an ability to analyze what he is saying.
The upshot of the book is it is primarily a defense of the FBI and its (and his own) handling of the investigation into the Clinton emails as well as the investigation into Russian interference in the election, and Comey’s own dealings with Donald Trump.
Relating to the Clinton e-mails, Comey goes into a good deal of detail as to why he went public both times - once in June of 2016, and again right before the election in late October. Essentially, the conflicts of interest involved and data that got into the hands of the House GOP that could be leaked without proper analysis led Comey to announce on his own in October - without the Attorney General - the fact that additional emails came to light that needed to be analyzed. You have to read the book to get the full accounting.
As for Donald Trump, Comey’s account largely relates to his interactions with Trump after the election - with each encounter described in exacting and compelling detail, threading an overall narrative of how Trump deals with the people around him. You get a clear sense of how Trump was seeing the election, the emails, and his perceived exposure to the Russian investigation. Early in the book Comey relates his experiences as a prosecutor, bringing cases against organized crime, in particular against the Gambino family. It is this experience that leads him to compare Donald Trump to a mob boss, with the demands of personal loyalty, bullying, an “us versus them” mentality, the lying with impunity, casting people out with public shame, and so on. Frankly, it scared me not just a little to read this account. As with the emails, you really have to give it a read to get a sense of it - the encounters are up close and personal.
If you are interested in the events leading up to the election, and are looking for a detailed first hand account of how the President interacts with his staff, then I would highly recommend this book. Of course, the book is written from his point of view; even with the filter I suggest above, it is sitll a very interesting read.
Grant, by Ron Chernow
As soon as I started reading this book, I pretty quickly realized that I didn’t know very much about the man. And I wondered if others felt this way too. I unscientifically asked a few folks “what do you know about U.S. Grant?” The answer invariably came back “Well, he was a drunkard, and used brute force to overwhelm Lee to win the Civil War. Bad president.” And that’s what I had thought as well.
In the same vein as David McCullough’s rehabilitation of John Adams, Ron Chernow provides us with a rich narrative of Grant’s life, providing deep and exploratory insights into his character, working through both his strengths and weaknesses. Ultimately we learn that Grant, while having certain weaknesses and blind spots, found ways to conquer many, but not all, of the key issues that faced him during his life.
Grant’s early military career ended in his getting kicked out for drunkenness, and he subsequently went into business, and failed miserably at it. He was married to Julia Dent, who came from a slaveholding family in Missouri (Grant’s father-in-law remained unrepentant his entire life). Grant, however, got his chance to get back into the military when the war started. Between his wife Julia, and his closest military aide John Rawlins, Grant by and large controlled his drinking problem throughout the war, and later on, his presidency.
We learn that Grant, far from being just a meat grinder general, was actually an astute strategist and tactician. The battle and capture of Vicksburg, for example, ranks among the great military campaigns in world history. Grant was also the first modern general to command multiple far flung, highly mobile armies in a unified, coordinated campaign, primarily utilizing Sherman’s Army of the Tennessee and Meade’s Army of the Potomac, as well as Phil Sheridan’s cavalary units. Grant’s capture of Vicksburg, and Sherman’s subsequent march through the South, kept Joe Johnston’s army away from the eastern theatre while Grant (now in charge of all US Armies) and Meade kept Lee occupied. Grant did acknowledge his campaign at Cold Harbor was one of the biggest regrets he had.
Grant fully supported Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, and was instrumental in accepting and organizing freed slaves in the nation’s war effort. Grant, more than any other person, was responsible for how newly freed black Americans were treated on initial contact. No less than Fredrick Douglass said of Grant:
“To [President and General Ulysses S. Grant] more than any other man the negro owes his enfranchisement and the Indian a humane policy. In the matter of the protection of the freedman from violence his moral courage surpassed that of his party; hence his place as its head was given to timid men, and the country was allowed to drift, instead of stemming the current with stalwart arms.”
Douglass’ second sentence is an indictment of the Republican Party growing weary of Grant’s ongoing efforts as President to combat, mostly successfully until the end of his second term, violence against blacks in the South, more on this in a moment. Grant also was astute in offering generous terms to both Lee and Johnston on surrender - avoiding, until the Klan came up in the 1870s, continued guerrilla warfare from remnants of the Confederate Army. Congress, and the Union States with Grant’s public support, passed the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments. Ratification of these was required for a Confederate State to rejoin the Union.
As President, Grant seemed to find ways to surround himself with people who were corrupt - and he was often the last to see it. On the other hand, Grant’s support for black Americans was unwavering - appointing the first black ambassador for the U.S., as well as a number of other administration posts. He repeatedly sent troops down to the South to quell violence against black Americans, and worked to crush the Klan terror that sprung up during the Johnson administration. Grant was a major proponent of Reconstruction, and during that time there were black congressmen and senators, as well as local elected officials. Ultimately, however, the North got weary of federal troops in the South, and as federal troops left, Jim Crow arrived. Without a military presence, Reconstruction was doomed.
Grant’s record as president is decidedly mixed - the corruption scandals throughout his presidency reflected poor judgment, and while he made huge efforts to combat violence against blacks in the South, he alone could not stem the dismantling of Reconstruction. In the end, Chernow presents Grant as an earnest servant of the United States, however imperfect, and a staunch supporter of civil rights.
I re-watched MLK's "I have a Dream speech", posted below. Let us all recommit to MLK's dream to "lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time, to make justice a reality for all of G-d's children".
We are excited to bring back our popular "Seeing Red? Vote Blue!" made in the USA t-shirts to get out the vote for the 2018 midterm elections!! You can order one here at custom ink. Orders for this round are accepted through July 9. Let's spread the word and get out the vote for 2018!!
I literally could not breathe for a second when I saw this. And it's not me that is saying it - it is the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Defense that is saying this. Here's the link to the DoD document. I've also posted it separately to my site as according to this Forbes article from late last year it apparently was taken down before being reposted in a different place. Key finding from the report:
“OASA(FM&C) and DFAS Indianapolis personnel did not adequately document or support adjustments made to AGF data during FY 2015 financial statement compilation. Specifically, OASA(FM&C) and DFAS Indianapolis personnel did not adequately support $2.8 trillion in JV adjustments for third quarter and $6.5 trillion in JV adjustments for yearend.”
Think about it for a second. There was a $6.5 trillion of unspported adjustments to the Army's financial statements in 2015. The total budget for the Pentagon for 2018 is $700 billion. Here's a quote from the Forbes article, citing the GAO itself on what an unspported journal voucher adjustments are:
“According to the GAO’s Comptroller General, “Journal vouchers are summary-level accounting adjustments made when balances between systems cannot be reconciled. Often these journal vouchers are unsupported, meaning they lack supporting documentation to justify the adjustment or are not tied to specific accounting transactions…. For an auditor, journal vouchers are a red flag for transactions not being captured, reported, or summarized correctly.””
I should note that this article questions whether $21 Trillion of unspported adjustments were made. I'm "only" referencing the $6.5 Trillion because that's the backup I have.
I really don't know what to say except I'm floored.
I have one word for you on this: Water. Putting aside the issues of breaking up the university system, infrastructure maintenance, prisons, bond debt, et. al. - the fight over water would be insane. I can't imagine how that would play out in reality. I am pretty sure it would be very difficult and ugly. LAT has an overview piece here.
Just to give some perspective - let's say a multi-state authority - think along the lines of New York/New Jersey Port Authority - was established to manage water between the three states. The Port Authority of NY and NJ has jurisdiction over the Hudson River crossings, the three major airports in the region - JFK, LaGuardia, Newark, and other multi-state infrastructure (e.g., Bayonne Bridge). In practice, this isn't always such a great idea - we lived in NJ and watched NY and NJ try to jockey resources of the PA for its own benefit. An example of this was Chris Christie redirecting PA funds for repairs to the Pulaski Skyway in NJ - an old freeway entirely based in NJ, that is not a Hudson River crossing that would fall within the scope of the PA. Additionally, both the NYC and NJ governers (Andrew Cuomo and Chris Christie) also vetoed legislation that was unanimously passed by both state legislatures designed to provide more oversight to the PA - in part because of the Pulaski Skyway issue.
California is a diverse state that for all its faults, manages to lead the nation in technology, environment, the economy, civil rights and countless other issues. Yes, we have major problems as well - lack of public school funding and an acute homeless crisis are two - and yet we still manage to have influence both in the U.S. and around the world. As the fifth largest economy in the world, California is a force to be reckoned with. I see no reason to walk away from California as the strong, united beacon it is today.
Help someone get home
The average shortfall in funds for a person to get a roof over his or her head is about $1000. Please join me today in making a modest donation to PATH to help get someone home. PATH's mission is to end homelessness for individuals, families and communities.
LA's homeless population has exploded to 53,000 people. The difference between the time we left in 2013 and the time we came home in 2016 - less than 3 years - is striking. The encampments underneath overpassses, the tents along the LA River, the increased population on Skid Row, calls for whatever action we can do.
According to PATH - People Assisting the Homeless - the average shortfall in funds for someone to get a roof over his or her head is about $1,000. That is why I am kicking off a fundraising campaign today to help get at least one person home. If 20 people gave $50, we would hit our goal! My fundraising page is here, and giving is EASY. Please take a moment right now to make a contribution to help combat homelessnes in our city. If you want to know more about PATH, you can find them here.
Thank you in advance - I know you love our city as much as I do. Let's start doing our part to make it a little better every day.
Valley Dude (c) 2018
In my last post on the subject of depression, I had expressed anxiety that more people might copy Kate Spade. But I did not think another very public figure would follow in Kate's footsteps so quickly. I did not know either Kate or Anthony, so I can't speak to their specific life experiences or what demons brought them to a darkness that they felt only one escape from. I can only tell you what I have been through, the demons and darkness that have visited me, and how I have tried to cope with them. I will say at the outset that at this moment I am living a life where the sun is shining most every day, I am finding interest in new and old friends again, new and old interests, and making the best of where I am at a given moment. I will also candidly admit this is a relatively (and happily) recent development after so many long years. I hope that my thoughts here can be useful for anyone reading this that might be suffering from depression.
For as long as I can remember, I have been living with lengthy periods of despair and anxiety since I was probably 8-10 years old. There are a lot of reasons I can think of as to the why - but I'm not all that sure the specifics matter; after all, Kate and Anthony were two different people with two different life experiences, yet they wound up sharing the same fate. Depression is that way, it is a disease that seeps into the very fiber of your being. Just as cancer may have different causes and can - but does not always - lead to similar disease progression in different patients, the causes of depression may differ from person to person but the outcomes can - but not always - be similar in different patients. It truly is a disease, just as someone who can't see needs eyeglasses for their eyes to focus, someone with depression needs consistent treatment and perhaps medication to have their mind focus and work in a more healthy manner.
I've often wondered why I spent so long trying to hide my mental and emotional pain. I suppose it is "not something people talk about", which if you think about it is really silly, and can be dangerous. I never got quite to the point that Kate or Anthony did - I could never leave my family, and I never wanted to quit fighting - but I understand the sheer terror that comes with a darkness and a lonliness that feels entirely out of your control. I felt, just like it seems like Kate did, that I had to put the smile and the act on to carry on my day to day life, and that admitting my problems would be tantamount to giving up to them. But the demons were always there, foreboding, angry, at times immobilizing. I wrote a poem back in 1992 when I was 22 years old, that may give you an idea of what can go through my head. You can read it at this link if you are interested.
For me, admitting the fact of depression was the first step in starting to understand how to cope with it. I first found and got help when I was 42, when I was feeling like my anxiety and depression were so overhwelming I was starting to feel like my entire being was fraying. Help consisted of both therapy with psychologists and psychatrists, as well as medicaton to help me "see" - my mental glasses. I admitted to my wife, certain close friends, and doctors that I was in crisis. It was really hard. I've run into some walls and have fallen flat on my face during this time. But the minute I realized I was not alone, and accepted a medical regimen that the doctors are keeping a close eye on me, that in fact I did not need to judge myself for feeling this way, I felt like I was starting to go down the right path.
Here's where it gets tricky - despite the constant therapy and trial and error on medication, it has taken six years of different doctors, approaches, medications and persistence to get me to the point where today, I feel like I wake up and I am ready to enjoy the day. I want to be clear on this - I am in a good place right now, but there's no doubt that just as a diabetic needs constant care and medication, depression requires the same. I also want to say that therapy and medication may not always be enough. It may require, like it did for me, changing fundamentally ways of how to live my life - lifestyle changes and avenues to my passions, which include my routines, my diet, and pursuit of things that are meaningful to me. There is also a useful NYT article here if you have a loved one suffering from depression and do not know what to do.
I would like to close this piece by reiterating a point - I judged myself for what I was going through, that somehow I was not good enough or able enough to fix my own problems. I used to feel almost out of body - like I was watching my own car wreck happening and I could not stop it. The fact is that I suffer from a disease, and I no longer feel shame or judgment for what I've been through. It is because I admitted my disease, let my loved ones - my wife, my children, my friends, family and closest colleagues - help me through my day. And for each of you, I am humbly and eternally grateful for you every single day.
On a recent flight out of LA I was looking out the window and really caught a great view of the heavy marine layer that was enveloping the Santa Monica Bay. I also caught a pic of the PV peninsula.
Sunset and the marine layer looking northwest. (c) J. Sarrow 2018
Looking north, heading west just after takeoff before the turnaround to go east. (c) J. Sarrow 2018
Marine layer looking west over the ocean as we began the turnaround to go east. (c) J. Sarrow 2018
View looking south at the Palos Verdes peninsula. (c) J. Sarrow 2018
(c) J. Sarrow 2018
Gate 75B at LAX. After a 2 hour departure delay.
I thought it was about time that the Valley Dude moved out of Google and into a website of my own. They say wherever you go, there you are. So, here I am! Still a work in progress, but am excited to build a new place to call my own.