26 Comments

I felt as though I was eavesdropping on a couple of newspaper reporters in a smoke filled bar with the scent of whiskey and the breath of decades.

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I actually Laughed Out Loud. Loudly!

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'Los Angeles mayoral candidate Rick Caruso declares he's not white because he's Italian' (NBCNews)

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He gets more pathetic on a daily basis.

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No endpoint yet for the whole lot of them.

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exactly right, Fern.

pretty fucking brilliant and a lot of fun, Tom. that it conveys a huge amount of information goes without saying, but I obviously just said it.

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"the breath of decades" -- brava!

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Nice 👍

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Thank you, Dick.

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Great historical review! "Big Daddy" Unruh broke the mold--"Money is the mother's milk of politics."

I am in Brad Sherman's district, too. We should have coffee.

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I had a dear friend who was a policeman for 30 years, mainly with the DEA but before that with a smaller southern California department. He said to me at the time of the OJ case, "The LAPD is still living off of Jack Webb."

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The more things change with those guys, the more they are the same guys. I have now been around for FIVE "reforms" and I still don't feel served or protected.

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Well, here in Las Vegas, our sheriff is running for governor and is scared to death of Orange Hitler, and demonstrating that if this is how his department views facts and evidence, we need every case reopened.

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Orange Hitler says it all, ye hear that MTG, the reincarnation is orange,

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Very good TC, I liked the Jake Gitties reference, that was a bonus 👍👏🏻🙏😎

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With "The Wild Bunch," my favorite movie I can never watch too many times.

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Great post, Tom! California has always been a bit daunting to me and I appreciate your knowledge and 'take' on so many things. xx's

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And I thought CA was sane, Lordy. At least Texas used to be sane

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Being a native San Diegan, the word that comes to mind is schadenfreude. 😁 LA’s misfortune is our entertainment.

You’re right about the old Democratic pols. Gave us a good Governor in Pat Brown. We had some good assembly members from around here too. Waddie Deddah, Lucy Killea, Jim Mills. They got things done. I honestly believe that term limits has left us worse off. It was all a part of the anti-intellectualism introduced here by Saint Raygun. All we have now are climbers and back scratchers. No politician develops expertise in policy or process.

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You're singing my song about term limits - the second-worst idea in politics after the balanced budget amendment.

Would someone please tell me how San Diego, with the best weather in California year-round, lost the naval training center to Chicago, land of midwestern blizzards and summers that kill?

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We are too cheap to bribe effectively?

The real reason probably has something to do with our current ineffective crop of Congress critters. Dilettantes mostly. Largely shilling for pharma or tied up in border politics.

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I agree, term limits weeds out the expertise.

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I enjoy Willie Brown stories. Lived in the Sacramento area while he was still speaker & the SacBee reporters had "good" stories, usually about his back room meetings (at something Fats?)

I met him when I took a Willie Brown Leadership seminar in San Francisco. (Damn, has it really been 15-20 years ago?) He was still a character. He didn't teach the seminar, just showed up for the "graduation".

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Frank Fat's. I left many a wet cocktail napkin there.

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Thanks. I thought it started with an F.

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Not many “lesser of the evils” around there, huh? Damn, politics at it’s worse. Not just republicans it seems. It doesn’t take a lot of power to corrupt, does it? You have a special talent, being able to separate the wheat from the chaff. A lost art…

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