OPINIONOPINION Mountain View News Saturday, July 11, 2026 
1111 OPINIONOPINION Mountain View News Saturday, July 11, 2026 
1111 
MOUNTAIN 

VIEWS 

NEWS 

PUBLISHER/ EDITOR

Susan Henderson 

PASADENA CITY 
EDITOR 

Dean Lee 

SALES 

Patricia Colonello 
626-355-2737 
626-818-2698 

WEBMASTER 

John Aveny 

DISTRIBUTION 

Peter Lamendola 

CONTRIBUTORS 

Lori A. Harris 
Michele Kidd 
Stuart Tolchin 
Harvey HydeAudrey SwansonMeghan MalooleyMary Lou CaldwellKevin McGuire 
Chris Leclerc 
Dinah Chong WatkinsHoward HaysPaul CarpenterKim Clymer-KelleyChristopher NyergesPeter Dills 
Rich Johnson 
Lori Ann Harris 
Rev. James SnyderKatie HopkinsDeanne Davis 
Despina ArouzmanJeff Brown 
Marc Garlett 
Keely TotenDan Golden 
Rebecca WrightHail Hamilton 
Joan Schmidt 
LaQuetta Shamblee 

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STUART TOLCHIN 

PUT THE LIGHTS ON 


JACOB’S DREAM 

Let me warn you at the outset, this will be a very strange article;
but it has been a very strange week. As I write it is 3 AM. I 
am upstairs in a very warm room because our central airconditioning broke down (repairman coming, thankfully.) Myson is sleeping downstairs where it’s cooler because he’s just beenreleased from the hospital after undergoing a surgical procedure. 

I spent the last couple of days at his bedside at Kaiser in BaldwinPark for about 6 hours each day which gave me time to think and read. As I’ve saidbefore I’m no longer driving but my wife drove us to the hospital. As a passenger Ihave lots of time to watch the world go by. Along the freeways we passed numerousbillboard ads for Jacoby and Myers and other accident attorneys promising to fightfor their clients. 

Years ago, I was at a card game with Len Jacoby, a fellow law student, who talkedabout lawyers not being allowed to advertise. That was the law at the time. Basicallyit meant that only wealthy people could hire attorneys to fight their battles. Len 
had this dream that if lawyers were able to advertise, attorneys could be hired toresolve conflicts without the need for costly legal expenses. Over time Len pursuedhis idea which led to the change in law allowing attorneys to advertise and to theestablishment of the Legal Clinic of Jacoby and Myers which resulted in the signsadvertising attorneys posted all along the freeways. Of course, the dream of resolvingdisputes without conflict soon disappeared and now we are flooded with ads forpersonal-injury attorneys who will “fight for you” while they make lots of money forthemselves and conflict rather than conciliation. A sickening result if you ask me. 

Anyway, returning to the name Jacob and my dream telling me thatmessages were being communicated to me from above talking about the need tocommunicate with my higher- self. I awoke one morning last week and openedthe computer and saw a sign flashed across the screen which read “Stuart Fails toSave the Universe”! It turns out to be a sci-fi comedy on HBO starting in a coupleof weeks. I was amazed and looked up the show and learned that it stars Kevin 
Sussman. What?! Sussman is my mother’s maiden name and although, I nevermet, or knew anything about that side of the family, the coincidence amazed andinterested me. 

On some whim I looked up the name Jacob together with the name 
Dream. I forgot to tell you that the eventual naming of my dog DREAM came to meas an inspiration when I was asked by the people at the Dog Shelter to give a name tothe dog. It was only weeks later that I realized that the word “Dream” is composedof the same letters as the second word in the city in which I live which, as you know’is MADRE. Anyway, google referred me to the book THE ESSENTIAL MARCUSAURELIUS by Jacob Pittman. I googled Marcus Aurelius and was shocked that thedate of his birth April 26 -my birthday. I googled Jacob Pittman and learned that the 
date of his death was November 28-the same date as the dates of my two childrenborn two years apart. How weird is that. 

Crazy, as all this seems, all I can tell you is that it is the truth and explains why I havespent the last couple of days reading about the ideas of Marcus Aureliuss who diedalmost 2,000 years ago. I should remind you that at age 82 I am very concerned as Irealize I am losing my memory and coming up with some very strange ideas. What Istill have is a feeling that I have a connection with something from above that I neverthought or cared very much about. 

Just now I looked up the derivation of the word Jacob and read aboutthe biblical dream of the patriarch Jacob seeing a ladder stretching from Heaven toEarth and is a reminder that reaching higher levels of consciousness is a deliberateprocess requiring effort and daily practice 

Recalling the language of Jacob Pittman in his introduction whereinhe says “the secret within the secret of the Marcus Aurelius meditations is to openourself to the Mind of the Whole and experience, that each one of us are beingguided with the capacity to live fully and vibrantly within the life we have been 
given and to act justly toward one’s fellow man.” Wow, that sounds a lot better thanworrying about air conditioning and street signs or even lost memories.

 I will do my best. 


HOWARD Hays As I See It 

Following the World Cup, we all had

reactions to President Trump’s calling FIFA

President Infantino about that red card 

suspension against USA’s Folarin Balogun. I 

thought back to another Trump phone call,
the one where Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy said they wereready to buy more Javelin missiles and Trump responded, “I’d 
like you to do us a favor, though”. I feared that if the US were 
to go all the way, whatever victory would carry an asterisk inthe record books. 

I recalled the US Women’s victory over China at the 1999World Cup – Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain and the rest. 
That victory came with the fact we cheated – goalie BriannaScurry illegally stepping forward before blocking a penaltykick in the game-ending shoot-out, effectively deciding the 
game. Law professor Father Paul Goda noted at the time thathad it instead been China winning by committing that sameinfraction, “All hell would have broken loose.” What stuck 
was Scurry’s post-game comment, “It’s only cheating if youget caught.” 

There won’t be such tainted victory or asterisk in recordbooks this year. Team USA, with full roster, was dispatched 
by Belgium, 4-1. Writing for The Independent, Holly Baxtercited the outcome as further evidence of Trump’s “reverseMidas touch”. She reminded how the US team came as the 
overachieving underdog folks were rooting for. Then Trump 
gets involved, and the game’s not even close. Belgian playersmarked their fourth goal with a “Trump dance” on thefield, another in the locker room - trolling the president on 

RICH JOHNSON 


WACKY JULY HOLIDAYS 

In many ways July 4th is an exceptional holiday. It represents a grand 
experiment in nation building. Humanity has a dubious history of 
changing governments on the battlefield. Human nature has good 
intentions but often over time they go awry. Two reasons (if not more) 
why. Well, once one group gets into power, while they are implementing 

their best laid plans, their political adversaries get busy trying to explain 
to the general populace why the group in power isn’t good for the country. And why their 
political philosophy is superior. 

Think of a teeter-totter. Oh, all right, a seesaw. (By the way, the seesaw is centuries old.)
Teeter-totter is an American term. For you to get the excitement of going up, someone 
else must go down. It is physically impossible to go up in a seesaw if you don’t have the 
counterbalance of someone on the other end going down. Great metaphor (by the way 
what is a metaphor for?) Never mind. 

I really think that is why our country has lasted so long and (so far) only one Civil War in 
250 years. Worldwide there have been over 200 civil wars between 1816 and 1997. Think 
of it, only one dispute big enough to get a country the size of ours to the point of violent 
war. 

When Dwight Eisenhower, long a political independent, put his hat in the presidential 
ring in 1952, he was courted by both major political parties to run under their banner 
(Democrats and Republicans for those who are fuzzy on the two major parties). He chose 
Republican. 

Both Reagan and Trump were Democrats for the majority of their lives but switched. 
Reagan because he said he saw what leftist leaders were doing to the Screen Actors Guild. 
Trump, on the other hand, switched to Republican because he believed he saw a major 
shift of the country leaning right. 

In case you need more holidays in July to celebrate, fire up the barbecue or keep the flag 
waving, here are intentionally lesser known July holidays. 

(July 1st) Zip Code Day… 

(July 2nd) World Porcupine Day and I Forgot Day… 

(July 4th ) Boom Box Parade Day… 

(July 6th) Fried Chicken Day…

 (July 7th) Chocolate Day… 

(July 9th) Bald is in Day (YAY!)…

(July10th) Kitten Day… 

(July 12th) National Jello Day… 

(July 14th) World Chimp Day… 

(July 15th) Be a Dork Day… 

(July 17th) National Pajama Day… 

(July 19th) International Karaoke Day… 

(July 20th) International Balloon Day… 

(July 23rd) Gorgeous Grandma Day… 

(July 25th) National Water Gun Fight Day… 

(July 26nt) National Body Painting Day… 

(July 27th) Take Your Houseplants for a Walk Day… 

(July 29th) Lasagna Day… (July 30th) National Chili Dog Day… 

The single most important factoid about July is July 9th is the birthday of my most precious 
gift…the birth date of my daughter Olivia. 

So, in closing I leave you with these fascinating conversation starters. Snakes can predict 
earthquakes. The largest population by far on our planet is 4 billion…4 billion LEGO 
minifigures. We individuals will spend a cumulative total of a year on the porcelain pony. 
Oh, all right the toilet. Scientist/statisticians tell us there is a 50% chance that two people 
will share a birthday in a group of 23. Sea Lions are the only animals who can clap to a 
beat…well other than humans. Adult cats only meow to humans, not other cats. And in 
case you didn’t know farts travel at 7mph. 

My band, JJ Jukebox will be performing Saturday, August 8th at Nano Café in Sierra Madre. 

6:30 to 9:30pm. We perform fun rock, danceable, not too loud. If you like Neil Diamond, 
the Doobie Brothers, Santana, Beatles, Creedence, you will like our music. The food is 
great and there is a full bar. Call the restaurant after 5:00 Wednesday through Saturday to 
make your reservation. (626) 325-3334. P.S. Dancing encouraged. 
“At this point, we should probably just concede that everything the president touchescrumbles and turns to ash.” - Holly Baxter in The Independent 


Instagram with “OVERTURN THIS”. Baxter observed that with Team USA, “The underdog immediately became the villain. Because most people don’t think that 
bending the rules because your country is bigger and richer makes you impressive.” 

Others referred to a “Trump Curse”. Chris Hayes on MS NOW recalled early last year when Trump picked the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl. The Philadelphia 
Eagles were all over them, and Trump left the game early. Also last year he became the first president to attend a Ryder Cup golf tournament. MAGAs were out in 
force on Long Island. The European Team later taunted Trump on camera, showing off their trophy. There was the Knicks on a 13-game winning streak in the NBA 
championship series. Trump shows up for game three of the finals, shutting down blocks of Manhattan, cancelling watch parties, causing hours-long security checks,
booed by fans, napping in the owner’s box – and the Knicks suffering their only loss of the series. 

Trump got involved with Ultimate Fighting Championship, staging an event on the White House lawn. This reportedly cost UFC $30 million, with UFC head Dana 
White vowing never to pull such a stunt again. 

Whatever opportunity for our country to stage a 250th anniversary celebration has come and gone. A bipartisan structure had been established ten years ago for the 
commemoration, but Trump insisted not only on involvement, but on taking it over. This milestone in our nation’s history will now be remembered primarily as what 
Henry Giardina at Queerty calls “a complete, face-planting disaster on every front”. The internet will forever recall MAGA blaming forced thunderstorm evacuations 
on liberals having “geoengineered” the weather. 

The way to deal with a Reflecting Pool in need of maintenance would be for someone at the Interior Department to arrange for someone – with appropriate expertise,
through competitive bidding – to take care of it. But instead, the someone who became involved, making himself the focus of the project, was President Donald 
Trump. And the result of this involvement, whether because of a “reverse Midas touch” or a “Trump Curse”, was inevitable. 

Holly Baxter wrote in The Independent that “Trump has an almost supernatural knack for taking situations that are perfectly manageable and transforming them intocatastrophes.” There was the “manageable” status quo of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran negotiated under President Obama. Then Trump became 
involved, tore up the agreement, and now we’re at war – though for how long and for what purpose remains unclear. As president, Trump must remain involved 
with our alliances. But as recently reported in the Wall Street Journal, European allies held a “therapy night” session last January to admit their reliance on “flatterydiplomacy” in dealing with Trump was not sustainable; they needed to accept that the United States, under Trump, was no longer capable of leadership. 

Trump will be involved with the conclusion of this World Cup, presenting the trophy to the champions. He did it last year in New Jersey, presenting the trophy forthe FIFA Club World Cup – and ended up keeping the trophy for himself; English champion Chelsea going home with a replica. Trump will also be involved with 
the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. A year ago, he received a set of Olympic medals at a White House ceremony announcing a task force for the games – chaired byDonald Trump. 

The big problem now with the Reflecting Pool is the massive amount of spent casings, unexploded ordinance, paper residue and ash fallen into it from that ill-
conceived, ill-executed July 4th fireworks display. As Holly Baxter wrote, “everything the president touches . . . turns to ash.” 

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