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OPINIONOPINION

Mountain View News Saturday, August 8, 2026

STUART TOLCHIN

RICH JOHNSON 

PUT THE LIGHTS ON

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 Hyde

Audrey Swanson

Meghan Malooley

Mary Lou Caldwell

Kevin McGuire

Chris Leclerc

Dinah Chong Watkins

Howard Hays

Paul Carpenter

Kim Clymer-Kelley

Christopher Nyerges

Peter Dills 

Rich Johnson

Lori Ann Harris

Rev. James Snyder

Katie Hopkins

Deanne Davis

Despina Arouzman

Jeff Brown

Marc Garlett

Keely Toten

Dan Golden

Rebecca Wright

Hail Hamilton

Joan Schmidt

LaQuetta Shamblee


ARTIFICIAL AND OTHER KINDS OF 
INTELLIGENCE

SO WHAT SHOULD WE DO?

 Let’s review. My 53-year-old learning-disabled son 
complained about a pain in his stomach. The loving, caring 
Social Worker assigned to him by the Regional Center took 
him to the Kaiser Baldwin Park Medical Center to have the 
problem diagnosed. The Medical Center was aware that he 
was neuro-divergent which I guess is a term for learning 
disability and asked him if he would consent to an endoscopy 
which is a diagnostic procedure. He may have been told that there was a risk 
of the procedure causing some other problem; he doesn’t really remember. It 
has been explained to his stepmother and I that the procedure was necessary to 
determine if there existed a cancerous blockage. As a result of this first endoscopy 
a blockage was found in a duct leading from his liver. This blockage caused pain 
and fatigue, and doctors tried to physically remove it.

 The removal failed but a small portion of the blockage was taken for a 
biopsy which determined that there was no cancer. After being released from 
the hospital, my son stayed with my wife until a week later. At that time his 
condition remained so troubling that we took him to the Urgent Care Facility 
in Pasadena. After being seen by a doctor, we were directed to take my son 
immediately to the Hospital Emergency Center in Baldwin Park.

We took him immediately. At Baldwin Park a second endoscopy was performed 
which also failed to remove the blockage. As a result of this second endoscopy, 
we were later told a condition called acute pancreatitis resulted which required 
hospital care with intravenous fluids, pain management, digestive support, and 
taking enzyme supplements. Other symptoms were a hugely distended stomach 
bloating, nausea and constipation.

 After the second endoscopy my son displayed all these symptoms. Since 
then, he has been in constant pain, completely immobile and unable to get out 
of bed without assistance. Many of the disabilities have remained as he stayed 
hospitalized for sixteen days. Five days ago, he was discharged and brought 
back to our house by medical transport. He remains unable to interact and looks 
miserable. A wheelchair and walker were provided and today my wife and I took 
him to Kaiser Pasadena to see a primary doctor. The doctor explained that there 
was no “cure” for pancreatitis other than the passage of time and the symptoms 
could possibly last for months.

 Tomorrow a physical therapist is scheduled to come to our house and 
perhaps that will be of help. Meanwhile as a subject of this article, I just want to 
report that my feelings change drastically every day. At first, I was just miserable 
and terrified. My son stated one day that he was very scared; but most of the time 
he doesn’t talk at all and has been unable to carry on with a conversation. Of 
course, my wife and I share those feelings but increasingly today I just feel angry. 
I need to do something. Certainly, creating this article was one way of trying to 
cope. I began the article after asking my son how he felt and asked that he use 
more than one word. He said “s**t, s**t, s**t”! 

 Honestly that is what he said, and it is an accurate and honest description 
of how I feel. I was a practicing lawyer for almost fifty years, and I imagine 
retaining a lawyer for performing the second endoscopy without proper informed 
consent. After all, the procedures were performed without informing me, the 
father of the learning-disabled patient of the possibility of the disabling results. 
Really, I am not interested in any kind of monetary reward. I just want my son 
to get better and given my own age and medical condition and experience the 
last thing I want to do is think about lawsuits and their complications. So, what I 
have done is create this article as a lament to the Gods and hope that something 
will change.

 All I can say is that at this time in my life this is the hardest thing that has 
befallen me. If God or anybody else can bring improvement I am ready after life-
long disbelief to become a believer. As I said last week, I welcome your prayers 
and I promise myself to keep writing and to not just completely fall apart. Thank 
you for sticking with me so far!!

Recently, people have been asking me if I utilize the growing 
phenomena of Ai (artificial intelligence) in the construction of 
my columns. The computer told me to say “no”. So…”no!”

For the uninformed and/or misinformed, Ai has indeed taken a big slice of the 
collective consciousness of humanity by storm. Taking by storm is better than 
taking by fiat, (no, not the small Italian car) but fiat meaning through an official 
order, decree or absolute command by people in power. I can assure you, no 
Ai has been used in constructing this paragraph. In fact, most regular readers 
already know, no intelligence of any kind is engaged in the construction of my 
columns. At least not on purpose. And no intelligence of any kind will ever be 
accessed in future columns. You have my promise.

There are many famous people who are not only not held back by minor 
deformities, but often known and endeared for their slight imperfections (mine 
are obvious). Take for example. Barbra Streisand, the brilliant singer, refused to 
“improve” her looks by having a nose job (which they call “rhinoplasty”). Cindy 
Crawford refused to have her famous “mole” removed from above her lip, which 
became a positive part of her beauty. If you get up close to Kate Bosworth, you 
will discover she has “heterochromia iridum”. Oh no! Hold on, it’s not that bad. 
It means one eye is hazel and the other eye is blue. She’s obviously learned how 
to live with it. And Dan Aykroyd has two toes on each foot which are webbed 
to each other. 1 in 3000 people have this. Don’t ask him to take off his shoes and 
socks. At least not until you get to know him.

This leads me to share a list of “laws” you might not be aware of. We all know 
Murphy’s Law which states: “anything that can go wrong, will go wrong!” By the 
way there was a actual Murphy. Captain Edward A. Murphy Jr. He coined the 
phrase while working on rocket sled tests at Edwards Air Force Base in 1949.

Let’s take a look at more laws. The first one hits close to home:

1. Gold’s Law of Journalism: A column about errors will contain errors.

2. Murray’s Law: If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is not for you.

3. Dunn’s Law: Careful planning is no substitute for dumb luck.

4. Melnick’s Law: If at first you DO succeed, try not to look astonished

5. Law of Retrospection: You can never tell which way the train went by looking at the tracks.

6. Weber’s Law: A single fact can destroy a good argument

7. Prescher’s Law of Exams: If you don’t know the answer, someone will ask the question.

8. Cameron’s Law: An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought

9. Chaney’s Law: Entropy requires no maintenance (no kidding)

10. O’Rourke’s Rule: Never fight an inanimate object

11. The Two Rules for Success in Life

12. Never tell everything you know

Next week (unless I forget), I will regale and delight you with “Dumb Laws” 
found codified and enforced in a variety of different states. 

In closing, an unsolicited testimonial: I have experienced a cacophony of car 
problems recently. And, as we all know, having a good, honest mechanic is one 
of the more important assets to have. 

For years, Edgar, the mechanic who owns the gas station on the northeast corner 
of the intersection of Baldwin and Sierra Madre Blvd in Sierra Madre has taken 
great care of my vehicles. (Many of us still think of the station as the “Valero” 
station, but it has been operating as K Petrol.) I still use him and recommend 
him highly to anyone looking for a good, honest mechanic. His number is (626) 
355-3337.

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“unlike the rest of the field, I’m 
given very little time to practice, 
because I’m focused on many 
other things. It’s called TALENT, 
and I have it, and they don’t!" 
–President Donald Trump, on
accepting a championship trophy
at his Bedminster golf club in
New Jersey

 Pronouncements are made from the Oval 
Office, on Truth Social and from the cabin 
of Air Force One that might suggest a story 
worth writing about. But more often than 
not, they turn out to be nothing more 
than President Trump just saying stuff. It’s 
become so routine that it’s often taken for 
granted there’s little if any substance to what 
he’s saying. 

 

A recent example concerns Bears Ears 
National Monument in Utah. Having 
received protected status under President 
Obama, Trump set out to slash its area by 
90%. His stated rationale was that “You 
can’t go hunting, you can’t go fishing, you 
can’t do anything, you can virtually not even 
walk on it”. The NY Times reached out to 
dumbfounded Utah officials, confirming the 
area remains highly popular for hunting, 
fishing, hiking, offroad vehicles and other 
activities. Trump was just saying stuff. When 
the president made his statement, Interior 
Department Deputy Kate MacGregor 
gushed in with, “That’s exactly right, sir, so 
you are remedying that today” – though she 
herself probably knew he was just saying 
stuff.

 

Last June, Trump was saying stuff about 
imagined vandalism at the Lincoln 
Memorial Reflecting Pool: “I saw it. They 
cut it. They cut it very violently. . . And that’s 
what it was.” Even now, after all charges 
have been dropped against David Hearn for 
alleged damage, Trump insists we “look for 
ourselves” at video of cutting “with knife or 
a box cutter, for all to see”. Trump remained 
determined to pursue felony charges against 
a former Olympian, carrying a possible ten-
year prison sentence, hoping to dispel any 
notion he was just saying stuff.

 

Trump will sometimes just say stuff not to 
deny reality, but simply because it’s what he 
has on his mind. When Dana Perino on Fox 
asked if he had any information on shortages 
of food or drinking water for civilians in 
Iran, he replied, “Do you remember when 
we had lunch years ago at Trump Tower? 
You have not changed. You may be even 
better looking.”

 

Other times, his just saying stuff is tagged 
“utterly repulsive”. At Dover Air Force Base 
to attend the transfer of four soldiers killed 
in the Iran War, Trump claimed, “all of them 
said very strongly, ‘We can’t let, we cannot 
let Iran have a nuclear weapon.’” Former 
Marine combat pilot Amy McGrath posted, 
“The president is 
just flat out lying about what fallen soldiers 
said, and this should always disturb us.” 
From former Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI), “It’s 
disgusting and shameful for the president 
of the United States to put his words in the 
mouths of these departed service members.”

 

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt promised 
a July 31 cabinet meeting at Camp David 
would be “a lot of fun and something 
different for the cabinet to experience 
together”. Trump spent a lot of his time 
just saying stuff. He contradicted the 
assessment of our intelligence agencies 
that Iran was behind cyberattacks on 
Minnesota’s water system (since spread to 
seven states), asserting, “I would blame it 
on Minnesota and the governor, the corrupt 
governor of Minnesota.” In the midst of a 
war costing $40 billion and the lives of 18 
servicemembers, Trump lets Iran off the 
hook so he can instead take a shot at a state 
that didn’t vote for him in the last election. 

 

Also at that Camp David meeting, Trump 
said he’d never intended for himself to dip 
into that proposed $1.8 billion slush fund, 
although “I probably was abused more than 
anybody in the history of our country.” 
Never mind 4 million held in slavery at the 
start of the Civil War, or four presidents 
who’d been assassinated. He was just saying 
stuff.

 

A week ago, Trump promised to unleash on 
Iran “Military Terror, Strength, and Power 
not seen since World War II.” He was just 
saying stuff. Apparently, Saudi Crown 
Prince Mohammed bin Salman, along 
with other Arab leaders, told him not to. 
(A meeting between Prince Bonesaw and 
Cadet Bonespurs?) Having sunk $2 billion 
of Saudi funds into bankrolling son-in-law 
Jared Kushner’s private equity firm, when 
Prince bin Salman tells our president what 
to do, he’s not just saying stuff. 

 

Trump’s propensity for just saying stuff 
might cost him. Earlier, announcements on 
trade and tariffs, war and peace and what 
ethics expert Dylan Hedler-Gaudette calls 
“the pimping of specific companies” by the 
president would have dramatic effect on the 
markets. As another opportunity to grift off 
the presidency, traders willing to pay up to 
$100,000 a month to Trump Media could 
get his Truth Social postings milliseconds 
faster than anyone else. But with these 
postings increasingly regarded as simply 
more of Trump just saying stuff, fewer will 
be shelling out for that opportunity.

 

As for Trump’s being “focused on other 
things” and having “little time to practice” 
his golf game, he’s logged 149 out of his 
first 562 days playing golf – 26.5% of his 
second term in office. Regarding whatever 
golf “TALENT, and I have it!", I don’t know 
enough about the game to pass judgement. 
But I suspect he’s just saying stuff. 


HOWARD Hays As I See It - 


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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