OLD MAN CHRISTMAS.
This was my first Christmas as a 60 year old and my gifts didn’t disappoint. I got pajamas, socks, and loungewear. I’m thrilled! LOL The pajamas are so warm and soft. Best PJs I’ve ever experienced. With all of the fuss about foreign imports, I don’t think the quality of clothing has been this good for the everyday person.
STORM WIMPS OUT IN SAN DIEGO.
California is getting pulverized by a Pineapple Express atmospheric river, but we’ve barely had 0.75 inches of rain. I’m still waiting for this big storm to slam us. Why am I complaining about this? We are lucky in San Diego. Storms traveling south from Alaska often weaken and fade before they hit San Diego. Now this storm from the south is mostly bypassing San Diego. Heck, we even avoided most of Hurricane Hillary. It’s always been this way. TV Weather People will alert us to STORM WATCH <YEAR> while rainfall totals are far less than anticipated.
MARTY SUPREME IS A TRUE STORY?
Our family headed out to the Mira Mesa Edwards Cinemas on Christmas afternoon to watch the debut of Marty Supreme. Without spoiling it for you, it was a wild movie with so many unexpected twists and turns. Timothee Chalamet portrays a table tennis champion named Marty Mauser. I can see why this guy gets so much buzz in Hollywood. He’s a great young acting talent. Today I discovered that there was a Marty Reiser table tennis champion in real life. My friend sent me this YouTube video and it is remarkable how accurately Chalamet mimicked Marty Mauser’s body shape, movement and even floppy hair style. Incredible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGLkkd_r9D4
TRUMP’s CHRISTMAS SURPRISE.
While we were enjoying our Christmas Day we got news that the US launched Tomahawk Missiles at ISIS targets in Nigeria. Merry Christmas Nigeria! Trump campaigned on “No New Wars” yet we have seen his administration strike a range of nations around the globe including Iran, Syria, Yemen and now possibly Venezuela. This strikes me as another con man job on the MAGA base. Many anti-war Trump supporters felt betrayed when US attacked Iran earlier in 2025. Now he bombs Nigeria and MAGA just shrugs. The United States hasn’t had a coherent foreign policy in decades and it is now even more erratic under Trump. There is no North Star or philosophical approach to which names US attacks or looks the other way. It’s Trump. It’s not a matter of right vs wrong, but of advantage vs disadvantage.
POWAY NIMBYS ARE STILL ANGRY.
Do new luxury apartments cause rental prices to decrease? This was an active debate in my hometown of Poway. Those opposed to new development were insistent that those damn landlords would raise the price of housing as high as they could go. After all, those new, high-priced luxury apartments in Poway are the perfect example! It turns out that they were wrong. In fact, rent prices are decreasing in Poway. This may seem counter intuitive to some, but it’s Econ101. More supply with consistent demand will lower prices. Sure, high-income people are the ones moving into these brand spanking new luxury apartments, but they are moving out from somewhere else. This increased inventory of older Class B and Class C is helping reduce rents market wide, including here in Poway. But that won’t stop from the NIMBYs from being angry.
SELF-DRIVING CARS WILL RADICALLY CHANGE SOCIETY.
Many progressives and urbanists believe we need more trolley infrastructure and should be tunneling to build subways. I have a very different crystal ball vision of the future. I took a self-driving Waymo taxi in San Francisco this summer and I was very impressed how it handled it self on busy city streets avoiding hazards and pedestrians. Self driving cars are already changing the way humans move. I’m looking forward to Waymo’s entry in San Diego. Imagine a civilization where self-driving cars are the dominant transportation choice. People wouldn’t need to own cars. Instead they will hale as car as needed. That means less need for huge parking lots and parking garages, on both commercial and residential property. This provides land that can be used more productively for housing which will help lower the high cost of living. Cities will become more dense and more efficient. Vehicle deaths will be dramatically lessened. There wouldn’t be a need for more infrastructure for trolleys and subways. Self-driving cars will use existing roads. This can be a huge game-changer. Will self-driving cars be the only form of transportation? I doubt it. A diverse population has diverse needs and interests. Some people will always want to own a car whether it is a matter of freedom, flexibility or pride in ownership. But I can see this self-driving technology only improving. With each innovation, life for humans will be improved.
DO HERITAGE AMERICANS UNDERSTAND AMERICA?
It’s the new vogue term amongst some of the MAGA camp. Some are multi-generational families with ancestors that fought in the Civil War and Revolutionary War. They take great pride in the accomplishments of their blood line. They also don’t take too kindly to newcomers to America. It seems that Heritage Americans think they are a higher class of American than an immigrant that has come to America and passed the citizenship test. But are their different levels to being an American? With those different levels are there different rights and privileges. Sure, a foreign-born US citizen cannot be President. But you don’t get legal bonus points for your DNA. You don’t deserve the credit, or the blame, of the actions of your great-great-grandparents. The beauty of being an American is that anyone can be an American. Our ancestors came here from all over the world to pursue happiness. The “all men are created equal” part of the Declaration of Independence means that we are all equal under the law with equal, inalienable rights. Sadly, some Heritage Americans fail to understand this idea.