Our Commander in Chief visits the Golden State and lays down the law
Trump is willing to give fire aid for Californians only if we institute a Voter ID law - I am not making this up
LET'S MAKE A DEAL ... So Donald Trump, who famously referred to the town of Paradise as "Pleasure" on a previous fire-fueled trip to California, has now said California will get federal disaster aid only if it's willing to enact a Voter ID law.
Apparently, in states with Voter ID laws, the number of wildfires is extremely low.
And never mind that some of the folks who lost their homes in the horrific Los Angeles fires happen to be Trump supporters who managed to vote for him even without a Voter ID law in the Golden State.
He's likely to double the aid if California agrees that his name will be the only one listed on the 2028 presidential ballot. (Yes, he does plan to run again, Constitution be damned.)
SPEAKING OF THE LA FIRES ... While the president continues to claim that the effort to preserve the delta smelt is to blame for our recent horrifying fires, it would be nice if he'd take time to listen to the water experts in our state.
In that regard, no one knows more about California water than Tom Philp of The Sacramento Bee who won a Pulitzer in 2005 for writing about water in one region of our state and also worked 16 years for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
Wrote Philp recently, "First the facts: Southern California is not short of water. There's water for fire hydrants. There's water for firefighting planes. This disaster is being fueled by a ferocious Santa Ana Wind, not water mismanagement.
"The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California imports water from the delta and the Colorado River for Southern California use. Southern California has more water being held in reserve than at any time in nearly a century."
Instead of our governor, I wish Tom Philp was the one greeting Air Force One on the runway.
MAKING BASEBALL GREAT AGAIN ... Rumor has it that a few patriotic Americans are planning to urge Donald Trump to identify the lone sportswriter who did not vote to induct Ichiro Suzuki into the Baseball Hall of Fame and present that sportswriter with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The Baseball Writers' Association of America has 385 members who are eligible to vote for the Hall of Fame, and only one of them failed to vote for Suzuki, a native of Japan.
The backward thinking involved here is that baseball was founded in America, is indeed America's Pastime and thus only native-born Americans should be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The only player ever to be elected unanimously to the Baseball Hall of Fame was Yankees closer Mariano Rivera.
Rivera, interestingly, is a native of Panama, a country our president has his eyes on as part of his promise to "expand our territory."