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OPINIONOPINION

Mountain View News Saturday, January 25, 2025

RICH JOHNSON 

NOW THAT’S RICH

MOUNTAIN 
VIEWS

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PASADENA CITY 
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STUART TOLCHIN

PUT THE LIGHTS ON


THERE IS NOT MUCH GOING TON


PRESIDENTIAL QUIRKS, TALENTS AND HABITS

Okay, does everyone have their notebooks ready? We need to 
document the activities of our new President. Remember to buy 
a red spiral notebook if you are a conservative, and a blue spiral 
notebook if you are a liberal. I will collect them in summer of 2028.

Figuring it would be good if we have a benchmark to compare our newest 
Presidents’ “odd” quirks, hidden talents and questionable habits I, your intrepid 
investigative journalist, have made it my mission to become an expert on past 
presidential quirks, talents and habits. Let’s take a peek shall we?

John Quincy Adams, our 6th President enjoyed starting his day with a swim in the 
Potomac River. Not so peculiar except for the fact he swam sans clothing. Where 
was CNN when we needed them? Some think Adams bathed in the river because 
he kept his full-grown alligator pet (Given to him by French General Lafayette) 
in the White House bathtub.

James Monroe chased his Secretary of the Treasury William Crawford out of the 
White House after a “disagreement”. And by the way, our 5th President brandished 
a pair of hot fireplace tongs as he ran after Mr. Crawford.

Benjamin Harrison, our 23rd President was the first president to have electricity in 
the White House. You wouldn’t know it going over there in the evening. President 
Ben had a desperate fear of light switches so nobody was permitted to throw the 
switch during his administration.

One of my presidential namesakes, Andrew Johnson (Lincoln’s successor) made 
a living as a tailor before he ascended to the White House. Even as president he 
insisted on making his own clothing.

Teddy Roosevelt favorite family group activity while occupying 1600 Pennsylvania 
Avenue was stilting. Yep, Teddy was 5’10” so it wasn’t a height fetish. His whole 
family had stilts which they would all use while “stilting” their way up and down 
the halls of the White House. Go figure!

Apparently President Herbert Hoover was very, very shy. Herb and his wife, Lou, 
didn’t want the White House staff to ever see them. If any staff member heard 
the Hoover’s approaching they were instructed to jump into the nearest closet or 
behind some bushes. 

My other counterpart in the White House, President Lyndon Johnson (LBJ) was 
a workaholic (obviously no relation to me). LBJ was so into time management 
he had telephones installed in White House bathrooms. He was known to have 
meetings while riding the “porcelain pony” (look it up) and even had meetings 
while he was in the shower. It was not unusual for him to have meetings in the 
morning while still in bed with his wife Lady Bird. Oh, and by the way, LBJ was 
a DJ on the radio. The last time I looked the Texas station is still around. Its call 
letters are KLBJ-FM. And it is one of the Southwest’s leading rock stations. Rock 
on Lyndon!

I want to finish this treatise on past presidents exposing a variety of hidden talents 
of our former chief executives. Let’s start with contestant number one:

George Washington was a very good dancer. And the life of the party at countless 
parties and balls. Don’t know where Martha was as it was said he often had a new 
leading lady on his arm (I’m sure they were cousins or nieces).

Hobbies are good things…mostly. Andrew Jackson had a hobby. He was a master 
of duels. Our presidential gunslinger is said to have fought up to 100 duels. And 
yes, he was shot multiple times. Before he was president, he actually killed a 
guy in a duel after the guy cheated on a horse bet and insulted Jackson’s wife. 
Apparently it wasn’t illegal back then.

President Franklin Pierce had a super memory. He was the first president to recite 
his inaugural address from memory…all 3,319 words. Not a single notecard.

President Garfield was ambidextrous. He could write with both hands at once. 
One display of his prowess had him write in Greek with one hand, and Latin with 
the other.

Two that come close to home were Warren Harding and Herbert Hoover. 
President Harding claimed he could play almost every musical instrument but 
specialized in the tuba. While in office the President could be seen picking up a 
tuba to join in the Marine Band’s rehearsals. Who’s gonna tell him no?

Finally Herbert Hoover was a songwriter. Just like me. Herb was immortalized 
in the broadway musical “Annie”. Song #5 was entitled, “We’d Like to Thank You, 
Herbert Hoover”. Finally, it’s said, while in his 20’s, President Hoover wrote a 
love song for an Australian barmaid. Apparently, the song is now displayed at the 
Australian hotel where they met.

I hope and pray those of you who have suffered loss in the fires is being well taken 
care of. We are community. 

 Rather, what is going on I do not want to talk 
about. I have always had an unwavering belief in the betterment 
of the human condition through individual action 
such as mine and yours. I believe that our collective 
strongest point is our attention. It is necessary to keep 
our eye on the ball. Well, to tell the truth my former 
unwavering belief is wavering. I admit having watched 
the entire inaugural process and its aftermath. My attention should have 
been placed elsewhere, anywhere else.

One thing I know is that other than when I worried about being drafted, 
I always felt safe. I no longer feel that way. Of course, the recent fires 
and windstorms contribute to these feeling. The destruction of friend's 
houses and children’s schools and golf courses undoubtedly contribute 
to these feelings, and I have tried to counter these feelings by proving to 
myself that I am still able, strong, and ready to keep my eye on the ball. 
Recently I suffered some sort of gout attack which for a few days made 
it very difficult for me to walk. Today, I felt better and decided to walk a 
noticeably short nine-hole course without the aid of an electric cart.

 Well, you can guess what happened. After the final hole I felt so 
exhausted that I could not imagine carrying my clubs on my back to the 
car after I returned the hand-pushcart to its proper place. Instead, I aimed 
for a bench which was near the exit and a shorter distance to my car. The 
bench was atop a hill, and I couldn’t make it. I fell on my face narrowly 
missing a rock but not in much pain. Some former golfing partners have 
died on the nearby Eaton course and as I lay face-down on the ground 
that thought went through my mind.

 I did not call for help, but my golfing partner a young 70-year-old 
Republican took it upon himself to help me up and carry my clubs back to 
the car. What would have happened if I were alone or if my partner were 
an uncaring person? Well, luckily, he was who he was, and I was able to 
drive to a familiar restaurant. I called my wife who appeared and chastised 
me for being such an idiot, but after eating drove in her car leading 
me home. Now I am home, but I do not feel safe.

` I have now learned that there are new fires and that strong winds 
are predicted. What can I do? I think of my Republican friend, with 
whom I differ with about most important political issues. I think of my 
wife, needing to put up with my continuing slovenliness and my inability 
to keep my mouth shut. I have already alienated many of our neighbors; 
but amazingly she still loves me. Hooray for our individual human capacity 
to continue to care for others even when there are differences and 
conflicts. 

No matter what I am determined to look for the positives in what goes on 
around me. I am so privileged to be allowed to draft these weekly articles. 
I realize today that there is no goal or objective here unless expression is 
the goal itself. I am not trying to convince you of anything other than the 
need to think for yourself. It is up to each of us to continue to pay attention 
and reflect upon what we have learned and try to learn more. I am 
very glad that I am still around and can continue to appreciate my wife, 
children, and grandchild. I will do the best I can for them, and for myself 
and vow not to attempt to walk any more golf courses or to ever play 
alone. I know that any partner I have will aid me if necessary because 
that is just the way we human beings have been created although I don’t 
know how. It is not necessary to know all the answers but just to do the 
best we can with what little we know.

Let’s wait and see and check out what's happening next week. If you can’t 
do it alone there will always be someone around to help.


HOWARD Hays As I See It

“This is just the beginning.” – 
Eric Trump

 

No, Eric’s not referring to his father 
becoming the only felon ever 
to be inaugurated as President of 
the United States. Context to come 
later. 

 

Donald Trump has this notion that rather than 
an affirmation of our democracy, an inauguration 
should be an exaltation of Donald Trump (while 
trashing everyone else). One of his first Executive 
Orders as president was that flags were not to be 
flown at half-staff honoring a predecessor in the 
office, as that might detract from the honoring of 
himself.

 

Previous inaugural addresses included some reference 
to God as bestowing blessings on our country. 
In his, Trump asserted that having escaped a 
bullet with a grazed ear, the role of God has been 
the anointment of Donald Trump.

 

His Inaugural Address was full of made-up stuff. 
He intends to “tax foreign countries”. We don’t tax 
foreign countries. He said he’d “revoke the electric 
vehicle mandate”. There is no electric vehicle mandate. 
What he wants is to remove fuel efficiency 
standards, which have been around for fifty years.

 

He’ll “bring law and order back to our cities”. Violent 
crime dropped under President Biden. Following 
his address, Trump pardoned 1,500 thugs 
who stormed our Capitol, threatened our representatives, 
attacked and injured 150 law enforcement 
officers, smeared their poop on the walls and 
caused millions in damage. Any call to “back the 
blue” from Republicans giving Trump a pass on 
this can’t be taken seriously.

 

He again claimed the 2020 election had been 
“rigged” and that the House January 6 Committee 
“destroyed all evidence”. That evidence has been 
available online.

 

There were calls to “drill, baby, drill” in response 

to “a national energy emergency”. Oil production 
is now at an all-time high; the highest of any country 
in the world.

 

Trump claimed our recent fires burned “without a 
token of defense”. 7,500 California firefighters and 
emergency personnel, along with nearly as many 
from nine other states, Canada and Mexico, risked 
their lives defending us from these fires. I wonder 
how they reacted to that comment.

 

In a flurry of Executive Orders, Trump pulled us 
out of the World Health Organization and the Paris 
Climate Agreement (again). This as the Coronavirus 
pandemic and climate-related natural disasters 
are still fresh in memory (our own fires still 
smoldering). 

 

There’s no sense of actual science. Trump’s order 
that transgender folks be erased by presidential decree 
states that sex is to be determined by what it is 
“at conception”. (The term “gender” is now forbidden.) 
There’s no identifiable “sex” at conception; 
that distinction only appears maybe seven weeks 
into the pregnancy. There’s no sense of irony, either 
– this order’s title, “Defending Women . . .”, 
coming from an administration having to defend 
itself against allegations of sexual abuse.

 

Trump ordered a halt to spending on Biden’s Infrastructure 
Act – with projects already well underway 
(especially in red states) on roads, bridges, 
electric grids, etc. He can’t accept Biden’s having 
accomplished things he himself never could, so 
now wants to again promise us his own “Infrastructure 
Week”. He’s ordered reversals on Biden’s 
actions lowering healthcare costs, in particular 
those for prescription drugs.

 

He’s testing the Supreme Court; confident they’ll 
simply disregard the Fourteenth Amendment on 
his behalf in rescinding birthright citizenship. 
Trump declared a “National Emergency” at our 
border. Illegal crossings by the end of Biden’s term 
had fallen significantly from when he took office, 
but Trump wants to test an entitlement to deploy 
our military whenever and wherever he wants – 
regardless of whatever legal and/or Constitutional 
restrictions.

 

Now for the context of the opening quote: Days 
before the inauguration, a new meme coin 
dropped, traded over the Solana blockchain, called 
“$TRUMP”. Within a couple days, it comprised 
some 89% of the president’s net worth at $56 billion 
- on paper. Here’s where Eric Trump proclaimed, 
“This is just the beginning”.

 

Then the incoming First Lady issued her own 
meme coin, $MELANIA, and $TRUMP crashed 
by like 40%. But it’s an “asset” with no intrinsic 
value; its own website reminding it’s "not intended 
to be ... an investment opportunity, investment 
contract, or security of any type." 

 

Erik Vorhees, founder of crypto exchange ShapeShift, 
says, “Trumpcoin is stupid and embarrassing”. 
But NYU Professor Scott Galloway explains 
what this is all about, imagining Putin telling 
Trump, “We're thinking about (aggressively) 
purchasing $10b of TrumpCoin this week. Also, 
please cease arm shipments to Ukraine.”

 

Anthony Scaramucci of SkyBridge sums it up: 
“Now anyone in (the) world can essentially deposit 
money into bank account of President of USA 
with a couple clicks. Every favor - geopolitical, 
corporate or personal - is now on sale".

 

A poster on Coinbase summed up the feelings of 
Trump voters who lost their own money in the 
grift: “I was a massive supporter of Trump, but 
now I feel stupid.”

 

Seated in front at the inauguration were Musk, 
Bezos, Zuckerberg and Pichai of Google – with 
our representatives, Supreme Court justices and 
the president’s own cabinet nominees behind. The 
priorities of this incoming administration couldn’t 
be clearer.

 

In his farewell, President Biden warned that “an 
oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme 
wealth, power and influence that literally threatens 
our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms 
and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead". 
And as Eric said, “This is just the beginning.” 

Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com