I really dont see why anyone should be surprised or upset about Herman Cains death from COVID-19. After all, he chose to go to trumps Tulsa rally. Everyone with a conscious brain knew then, and knows now, that it was completely insane for trump to have a crowded indoor, maskless rally at a time when […]

Watching the funeral service of John Lewis on T.V., I couldnt help but think of the contrast between the late Congressman and the current resident of the White House, who refused to attend because of he was pandering, as usual, to his racist base. Wasnt it wonderful to see President Bush, President Clinton and President […]

I sent this memo to the San Francisco Chronicles investigative news reporter, Phil Matier, after our mayor here in Oakland, Libby Schaaf, referred to the agitators who once again looted and rioted in downtown Oakland on Saturday night: Mr. Matier, As an avid and informed consumer of the news (and a 30-years-plus subscriber to the […]

There is something epically stupid about the extremes of the BLM movement in America. I italicize the word extremes with deliberateness, to make a point. Let me be clear: The movement itself is blessed and welcome. I hope, as Im sure you do, it marks a pivot point in American history, when we finally overcome […]

The big news in Alameda County and Oakland, the county seat where I live, is that coronavirus is pretty much out of control. Infections are rapidly rising, hospitalizations are up, and so are deaths. The center of the superspreading seems to be Lake Merritt and the adjacent Lakeside Park, which have aptly been called Oaklands […]

WE ARE UNGOVERNABLE screams a chalk graffiti on a sidewalk not far from the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building at 1301 Clay Street, in downtown Oakland. The building, one of the citys largest, was constructed in 1993, in a style that might be called Nineties Moderne. Meant to assert the power and authority of the […]

Its encouraging that the Wall Street Journals own writers are demanding that the Murdoch family make a clearer differentiation between the newspapers news and opinion divisions, since the Journals embarrassing support of Trump has cast a shadow over the professional integrity of the reporters who work there. Its very sad; the Wall Street Journal ha...

Following four months of insisting that face masks are a Democrat hoax and a waste of time, President Trumps advisors have concluded that he must make a 180-degree change of course, in order to keep his plunging approval numbers from falling even further. Trump personally ordered the shift in messaging, after being told by his […]

Trump is claiming theres a silent majority that will come to his rescue and get him re-elected in November. This mystery voting block, he asserts, is ashamed to admit publicly that they intend to vote for him. And given the extraordinarily horrendous job hes done presiding over the presidency, if I were a Trump supporter […]

An Anticipatory Memoir I went to bed at 2:30 a.m. the night of Election Dayactually, the morning after Election Day. Id spent the night glued to the T.V. (MSNBC, occasionally flipping to CNN). By 10 p.m. Tuesday night, Brian Williams made it official: NBC news analysts were calling the election for Biden. Moreover, they were […]

I do a lot of reading in these shelter-in-place days. In fact, Im cannibalizing my libraryreading the same books over and over. One that I started yesterday is an old standby: The Wines of California, The Pacific Northwest & New York, by Roy Andries de Groot (1982). De Groot, a kind of minor James Beard, […]

The Governor of Oklahoma, Kevin Stitt, says hes shocked to test positive for C-19. Although hes currently asymptomatic, he plans to self-quarantine at home. Where did Kevin Stitt contract the virus? Its impossible to say, of course. But we do know that Kevin Stitt went to trumps Tulsa rally, on June 20, despite repeated warnings […]

This was not the headline we wanted to wake up to today: PULLING BACK Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday signaled a major retreat in the states two-month effort to recover from the economic collapse caused by the coronavirus, the article began, outlining Newsoms latest dire directives: shutting, or rather re-shutting down California restaurants, bars,...

(October, 2011. Scene: A posh private club in London's Mayfair District) Ghislaine Maxwell: So you see, Donald, we can arrange it for later this evening, or for tomorrow evening, if you prefer. Donald Trump: How about both? GM: (grins) Somehow, I thought youd say that! DT: (signaling waiter) More onion rings! [to Ghislaine] Tell me […]

I get emotionally exhausted sometimes, keeping up with all this Trump nonsense and the impending election. I should probably not get so wrapped up in politics. Its not good for my health. But thats who I am: its how I was raised, to be passionate about politics, which after all is a blood sport. (It […]

There will be someone with my name, says the lead character, Joanna Eberhart, in a climactic scene from The Stepford Wives, the 1975 Gothic horror movie. Shell cook and clean like crazy, but she wont be me. Shell be like one of those robots in Disneyland. Joanna, played by Katharine Ross, is slowly realizing that […]

Ive been thinking of what July 4th means to me. Never before in my lifetime has the country been so absorbed by the meaning of this national holiday. But the BLM movement has forced all of us to reconsider it. Is July 4th the happy, historic celebration of our founding document, the Declaration of Independence? […]

Most presidential elections are about issues: war, peace, the economy, race. The man who is more in touch with the greater body of the electorate on the issues wins. This upcoming election is only tangentially about issues. Instead, more than any election in my lifetime, it is going to be about personality: and the personality […]

Heres a scary election scenario from Tim Wirth, the former Democratic Senator from Colorado. Trump loses the election to Biden, as now seems likely, in both popular votes and electoral votes. Thats despite his best efforts to steal the election through voter suppression, purging voting roles, limiting polling places in cities, and suppressing mail-...

Gus is afraid of Zoom. Its surprising, because no other sounds bother my chill dog in the least. In the ten years weve been together, fireworks, garbage trucks, backup beepers, other dogs barking and howlinghe sleeps through it all. He might glance at me if theres some particularly loud and concussive noise, but its only […]

Theres a narrative out there that Trump might resign before the electionfor instance, here and here. As some have speculated, Trump may decide that its more dignified to retire undefeated. According to this analysis, Trump may conclude that he has more leverage to cut the best possible deal with all players while the bargain includes […]

Donald J. Trumps presidency ended at precisely 12:32 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Jan. 21, when Joseph Robinette Biden was sworn in on the western steps of the Capitol by Chief Justice John Roberts as the 46th President of the United States. A crowd of some 250,000 people, nearly all of them wearing face masks, […]

It was with enormous pleasure I found Steven Kents four new releases sent to me. I hadnt asked for them. I always had the greatest respect for proprietor Steven Kent Mirassous wines. To my way of thinking, he was, not only the greatest winemaker in Livermore Valley, but one of the best in California, which […]

SH: Mister President, its great to have you. DT: Great to be here, Sean. Great show last night. SH: Thank you. Sir, you deleted the white power tweet you had previously retweeted. Why did you delete it? DT: Well, to be honest, I didnt retweet it. That was an aide of mine. SH: Who? DT: […]

Trump woke up that morning feeling bad. Granted, he usually awoke grouchy, but this was more than that: his head ached, his muscles hurt, he had chills, his throat was on fire, and the pillowcase on his bed was wet with what he suspected was sweat. His first impulse was to ring the valet for […]

Trump is now more unpopular with the American public than hes been at any point in his presidency since January, 2019. Some 55.4% of the people disapprove of his job performance, while only 41% approve. Thats the average of five respected polls taken in the third week of June, a month thats been horrendous for […]

Trump: [to his valet] Antonio, I have to go potty. Antonio: Yes sir, Mister President. Number one or number two? Trump: Two. Antonio: All right, sir. Take my arm. [They hobble to the bathroom.] Youre walking better, Mister President. Trump: At least its not down that damn ramp. Ill tell you, I was afraid I […]

Hi everyone, Im getting tired of finding my garbage and recycling bins overturned every morning. Homeless people evidently are going through them for bottles and cans, but they toss everything into the street, and I have to clean up the mess. Grateful for any solutions/suggestions. Thanks, neighbors! Greta, Forest Heights Greta, with so much [R...

Lord Moran, Churchills physician, in his Diary tells of the time he accompanied the Prime Minister to Washington, D.C., for Churchills first wartime meeting with President Roosevelt. It was the night of Dec. 23, 1941; they were alone, in Churchills room at the White House. The conversation turned to Pearl Harbor, which had occurred less […]

I love Brian Klaass column in the Washington Post. Its headline explains the premise: November is our chance to wipe out Trumpism, not just Trump.  It argues that Trump losing is not enough. What is required to get rid of Trumpism is an historic landslide that will sweep Republicans from power in the presidency, Congress, […]

I spent the better part of 30 years living and working in 100-point land: the wine-rating system used by my two former employers, Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast, as well as by Robert Parkers Wine Advocate. The 100-point system surely is the most popular in the world. It has survived decades of often fierce criticism. […]

Memorandum Top Secret Need To Know Basis Only From: Jared Kushner To: Laurent Morali, President, Kushner Companies LLC Dear Larry, As you know, Kushner Companies invested $565 million in the pharmaceutical, hydroxychloroquine, earlier this year. The drug was to be manufactured at our factory in Bangladesh, due to the lower cost of workers and absen...

To my dear cousin Alan: I know that your experiences in Vietnam, and getting spat on when you came back, have underscored your political beliefs. I have enormous respect for what you did and for how you arrived at many of your conservative views. At the same time, its important that you know that my […]

Today is the monsters birthdaythe catastrophe in the White House. He was born in New York City on Friday, June 14, 1946, which makes him 74 years old. Many other New Yorkers were born on that same day, but one in particular interests me: Me. Yes, Steve Heimoff was born in The Bronx, at 6:10 […]

You know how you sometimes channel surf, flipping the remote through T.V. channels until you find something worth pausing for? I did that the other day, enduring the shopping networks, commercials, cartoons, sports channels and Spanish language shows, until I came across a familiar face hosting a religious show: Jimmy Swaggart. What? I thought to [...

I am of a generation that revered Robert E. Lee. The way we were taughtand this was in liberal, Democratic New York City–he was a patriot, a gentleman, a superb general, and a proud Virginian, who just happened to be on the losing side of history. We were taught that he was personally against the […]

It wasnt clear what House Republicans were going to say at yesterdays hearing on police reform and racial profiling. They were in a tough place. The Republican Party has obviously built its modern power on racismthe resentment of people of color by whites. That has been a central platform of the GOP at least since […]

Theyve become, after Black Lives Matter, the three most repeated words in the aftermath of George Floyds murder: DEFUND THE POLICE. You see them everywhere, as graffiti defacing public spaces, on home-made signs carried by protesters, in newspaper articles and T.V. discussions. When I first noticed defund the police gaining traction as a meme, I [&...

Democrats are going to sweep the November elections. We will elect Joe Biden President; well hold the House; and, with the defeat of at least four Republicans, including Collins in Maine, Ernst in Iowa, Tillis in North Carolina, McSally in Arizona and, just possibly, the odious Auntie Lindsay in South Carolina, well regain control of […]

Even as states open up following the shelter-in-place due to COVID-19, experts are warning that the virus could mutate into something far more lethal. Viruses, and coronaviruses in particular, mutate all the time. There is a possibility that this novel coronavirus could mutate into the Andromeda Strain and kill tens of millions of Americans, said [...

Ive been saying for years that the looters, arsonists and rioters who hide themselves inside legitimate protests are not leftist antifa people, but white supremacist, neo-fascist revolutionaries who just want to create chaos and, if they can, provoke a civil war. Anybody who reads my blog knows thats been my position ever since Occupy days. […...

In talking with my age cohort of people over 70, I generally find the following sentiments expressed: Our generationthe first wave of Baby Boomers–was really lucky. We grew up at a time when the U.S.A. was at peace (Vietnam wasnt exactly peace but it sure beat World War II). The land was basically secure from […]

With Trumps threat yesterday to send the U.S. military into American cities, were one step closer to the dreaded scenario some of us have been worrying about for several years: the establishment of a military dictatorship. Of course, it wouldnt be just a military dictatorship. It would be a military-clerical-fascist dictatorship. This term stems fr...

I probably react more emotionally to the protests and looting than some people, because for the better part of ten years, my Oakland neighborhood has experienced more of that than possibly any other in America. Since the Fall of 2011, Ive witnessed on at least six occasions the widespread smashing of shop windows and automobile […]

At some point last night I stopped reading my emails. There was so much hate coming in and I just didnt want to deal with it anymore. I was a racist because I was not in favor of burning down cities. I should take my white entitlement and shut up because I am against setting […]

The burning of Minneapolis gives Trump a powerful new weapon to use in his bid for re-election. He can argueindeed, he already has, on his Twitter feedthat he is the only person who can stand between the forces of disorder and lawlessness, on the one hand, and order and stability, on the otherand he can […]

Maxine, Marilyn, Keith and I have developed a dining ritual of sorts over the last 8 or 9 years: we go to Waterbar, the seafood restaurant on San Franciscos Embarcadero, underneath the Bay Bridge, and have a couple dozen platters of the oysters du jour, with Champagne or Muscadet or some other suitable wine. The […]

Most of you arent old enough to remember the Ban the Beatles movement here in America. It was the summer of 1966; the Beatles were at the height of their fame, having just released Revolver, which at that time was the most progressive of their LPs. Earlier that season, John Lennon had given an interview […]

Were having our first serious heat wave in California. Temps today in the inland suburbs will be well into the 100s; even here in Oakland, it will be close to 90, or higher. People unfamiliar with the Bay Area are always amazed how the temperatures vary within a short distance. Lets say it will be […]

Its exhausting, isnt it? I mean keeping up with all the Trump scandals. Thats why I didnt blog last Thursday or Friday. Im just tired of him, tired of them, of Republicans. Everyday theres a new crime revealed, a new attempt to subvert our Republic, another nail into the limbs of America. One runs out […]