Crane's Corner

The Sounds of a long Independence Day weekend. The crisp snap of an American Flag buffeted by a breeze. The crack of the bat and the roar of the crowd at Major and Minor League ballparks. The screech and boom of launching fireworks. Belches of relief in Coney Island, where San Jose’s Joey Chestnut inhaled 76 Nathan's Franks in 10 minutes. The mournful unzipping of 233 body bags, used to transport by one account the number of people killed by guns between Friday night and Monday night on what by design is a festive weekend. More than 500 others were shot and wounded. In Chicago, two police officers were among one hundred gunshot victims in the windy city, 14 of them would die.

Near Atlanta  a country club golf pro was shot and killed as he went to investigate why someone was driving a pickup on the course. The gunmen fled the vehicle where police found two other people shot and killed in the bed of the truck. There were multiple gunshot deaths in Dallas and Vegas and New York, where Governor Cuomo says gun violence is the epidemic replacing the pandemic.

Bad as it sounds….and it does...Independence Weekend 2020 had 26 percent fewer shootings, than the same weekend last year. From a statistical measure, that's progress. By any other measure, it’s still a major problem. Bloody weekends like the one just past and or mass workplace shootings will raise the hue and cry for gun control. But gun control as currently written, enacted and enforced won’t solve the problem. The laws make it harder for a law abiding citizen to buy a weapon legally, make it more expensive to legally bear arms, and to some extent prevents mentally  ill people and convicted felons from legally getting their hands on a pistol, a long gun or even so called “assault” weapons. That might give left leaning lawmakers a nice warm feeling, but it leaves our friends in law enforcement shaking their heads. They know felons don’t try to buy guns legally. Background checks block the process. As for nuts with guns, some acquire them before they’re known to be mentally impaired, others like the Sandy Hook school shooter, grabbed the gun from his mother’s collection.

Gun theft is the real gun problem. Somewhere between 380 and 500 thousand guns are stolen each year from the homes, and vehicles of otherwise law abiding gun owners. Many of which are used in criminal activity.

Paperwork, waiting periods and most other weapon related red tape aggravate legal gun buyers, but are ignored by criminals, just like they ignore a myriad of other laws. And because there is now law compelling gun owners to report a theft, many don’t, compounding the problem.

Seems we do need tougher gun laws. On the people who steal guns, sell them and use them illegally. And maybe legal gun owners need to think twice about leaving them unlocked or visible in a garage or vehicle. We have the right to bear arms, with that right comes the implicit use of good judgement in use and storage of the same.

“I tell people the truth, which is, the district attorney is a nonpartisan job,” she said. “And, you know, people like to politicize the position, and I felt very strongly that I was going to be authentic to myself.”  Today's podcast represents the future of California as Ed interviews Sacramento District Attorney, Anne Marie Shubert, about not only her run for California State Attorney General but her points of differentiation.  As a county prosecutor, she formed Cold Case Prosecution and became a nationally recognized expert on forensic DNA. She also founded the Community and Government Relations Division, which combines community relations and legislative advocacy solutions to enhance public safety.    Why does she believe she can make a difference and what has she done to demonstrate her competence versus others that may be vying for the role.  Straight forward and direct, her comments are a refreshing look at the way a neutral, non-partisan candidate addresses the situation.  Direct responses are something one would expect from the person responsible for convicting he Golden State Killer and putting him behind bars.   Could we be listening to the conversation of the next Attorney General for the state of California?  You decide after the conversation.  

These past few months have been tough on Dead Presidents. Activists whose understanding of American history is roughly that of a French Poodle, have been tearing down statues of George Washington, US Grant and even the Great Emancipator, Abe Lincoln. In New York, Teddy Roosevelt’s perch outside the Museum of Natural History in New York is now history. TR’s been hauled off to storage, lest some nitwits give the Rough Rider a spray painting or knock him off his bronze stallion.

 Forgotten, if it was ever learned by these thugs, is that George Washington got the freedom ball rolling, Lincoln ended slavery, a brave endeavor that arguably cost him his life, with the help of Ulysses S Grant, the Union General who delivered victory in this nations bloodiest war, Then there was Roosevelt, an environmentalist and consumer protection advocate who battled corporate greed and worked to save the planet before anyone knew it needed saving.

 Even as they treat American History, The Constitution and The Founding Fathers, much like a baby treats a diaper, one old white dude seems to have gotten a pass. Maybe that's because Benjamin Franklin is in serious demand. There are a lot of Benjamin’s flying around these days. Since the Pandemic hit the U-S 16 months ago, state and local governments have sending truckloads of Benjamins around, Actually, they’re writing checks or moving gobs of money around electronically, but with his countenance on the 100 dollar bill, the largest commonly accepted paper currency, the old kite flier is the accepted symbol of big money. With his job on the line Gavin Newsom is hoping Benjamins in quantity will buy the votes of Californians when a bank balance topped off with fresh Benjamins brings on a case of political amnesia. Joe Biden’s using the inverted benny strategy, that's when you spend so many Benjamins, on liberal gimmicks, the nation goes into debt, inflation grows as personal supply of Benjamins gets eroded at the gas station, the grocery store and everywhere else. 

 There are about 16 billion dollars worth of Benjamins in circulation, and 10 million Benjamins are in a billion. Criminals moved a lot of them around, with that EDD scam sending 10 billion dollars in fraudulent unemployment claims, much of which we’re told got funneled to gangs, black market gun dealers and of course jewelry stores and luxury car dealers.

 The irony here is that if asked Ben Franklin probably would have liked his face on the penny since he preached frugality and negotiated favorable financial deals for the fledgling new nation,

 Someday soon, a Benjamin may not be worth more than the paper it’s printed on, but for now, nobody’s messing with Ben Franklin, in fact most people just can’t get enough of him.

One or two shots and a card to prove we were jabbed against Co Vid, relaxation of the mask mandate and the re-opening of our favorite restaurants, ball parks, theme parks and other venues  we didn’t think twice about until 2020, have emboldened us. We’re ready to make up for lost time, spend a little  of that money we saved or Uncle Sam sent us and have some fun. 

Half way into 2021, there is good news, bad news and keep your eye out for further development news.

If you invest in stocks or have them in your retirement plan, you are sitting pretty. While the bank--any bank pays a fraction of one percent to use your money, the stock market is way into the green. The Dow--The S & P and The Nasdaq are up between 12 and 14 percent, fueled by a comeback in corporate earnings. But here’s the problem, Analysts fear a trifecta of inflation, supply chain problems and Joe Biden’s plan to raise corporate taxes will eat  away at those earnings. Wall Street fortune tellers fear the economy’s comeback may be slowing, but even a bear market will outpace inflation and offer enough to keep your serious investment money out of the bank. 

Now the bad news. If you haven’t researched that vacation, prepare to be stunned at the prices. Business Class fares are about half of what they were last year, because no one is doing significant business travel. Economy fares are better, but when the industry was hit by CO VID last year, the airlines parked planes in the desert and pilots on furlough. Until both shake off the dust and rust, there will be fewer seats, crowded planes and for now a mask mandate that really isn’t needed.

Rental Cars? No matter who you rent from...The Hertz on you. The car companies sold off a lot of inventory last year, new car supplies are delayed by chip and other supply issues, so if you can get a car you’ll pay through the nose. In May of 2020, Hawaii logged 60 thousand visitors. In May of this year, more than 900 thousand flew into Paradise, and found 40 percent fewer available rentals pushing the price up on some vehicles to $400 per day. Enterprising owners of clean late model rides are offering them for 200 per day. Hotel rooms are in the stratosphere too, and some are using the CO VID crutch, limiting room cleaning and breakfast service because--not everyone has had the shot.

Now what to watch for news. It seems the whole country is under a rolling heat wave, we face a real danger of both fires and power outages in California, the collapse of a Miami High Rise is prompting concern that scores of hi rise buildings are beyond their safe living date, and the likely parade of hurricanes that regularly terrorize the U-S coastlines could pound them into pancakes ahead of schedule.

How many people do we meet in a lifetime? Hundreds? Thousands? I suppose the answer depends on where you live, what you do and how receptive you are to your fellow humans.

Let’s agree over a lifetime, it’s a significant number. Now, of all those people you’ve met--outside of your family, how many really touched you? Connected with you.

My list isn’t terribly long, and as of this morning it’s one name shorter, but the loss is profound. My good friend, Mike Vander Dussen died the other morning. Mike and I met on a golf course, paired up as two single players one Friday morning at Rancho Murieta. Meeting Mike, a big strapping guy blaring Dire Straits out of a speaker on his custom golf cart, a cigar clenched in his mouth and a premixed canned Margarita in his left hand, he extended his right hand, flashed a beautiful smile and introduced himself.

“Hi, I’m Pastor Mike”  Pastor? It was true. Mike’s flock was in South Sacramento and Elk Grove, at the Impact Community Church. Perfectly named for this man of the cloth, who had a very big impact on everyone he met. Including me. Mike was my friend. My Golf Coach. My human encyclopedia of Rock and Roll. He was my fairway therapist. My conscience. He was wise and faithful, dispensing advice if you asked, never judgemental. He could keep a secret. He knew the Bible by heart, and could find the right verse for every situation. He was patient, I never heard him say a word in anger,

On one of our first days on the course, the difference in our golf skills was readily apparent. Mike was playing even par, I was--well getting a lot of golf for the money, Finally, overcome by frustration I went through a litany of cursing, at one point yelling out the name of Mike’s boss, also known as the son of God. Mike approached me as asked, “why is it that you aren’t screaming out the name of your wife or your sons? Why are you taking the Lord’s name in vain? All he’s ever done is sacrifice for you. He loves you. Besides he’s performed a lot of miracles, but that was before he saw you play golf”

He had made his point, with gravity and humor. I made it a point to never take God’s name in vain, at least on the golf course.

For years Mike and I played a couple of times a month, and I soon learned that I enjoyed our conversations, our 4 hours of sharing and maybe another hour at the 19th hole, better than the game itself.

He put up with a lot having me as a partner. Once on Rancho North’s 17th hole, I sliced one right off the tee, cracking the windshield of his Baby Blue Golf Cart. I apologized profusely, pulled out my wallet and watched as Mike convulsed in laughter. He wouldn’t take a dime, all he said was “Bet you can’t do that again”.

 A few years ago, having heard Crane’s Corner and seasoned in the writing of a weekly sermon or lesson as he called it, he proposed we write a book together. He sent me some sermons, I started going through earlier commentaries and I even wrote the forward to the book. We had the title Jesus Has My Bag. And even wrote forward, which read in part:

  Just for the record: 

 We’re not monks. We rarely play a round without a couple of cold beers, or a glass of good wine, and of course a couple of cigars. We’ll also share some tales from the Amador Wine Country and some of our favorite recipes, all in  keeping with the Bible and the teachings of Jesus. We know, in the miracle of the loaves and fishes and the story of The Last Supper,  the Lord’s emphasis on  sustenance and sharing;  as to wine, well Mary didn’t ask her son to turn the water into Lemonade and Iced Tea. 

  Apparently she left that to Arnold Palmer.

 More.... to see the rest of the story, visit www.edcranescorner.com/blog-page/

For those of you who might be listening outside of The People’s Republic of California, this Podcast is a reimagined radio feature which ran from 2008-2020 on 3 different radio stations.Mostly it was my take on current events, some times a tribute to someone who had passed on or on occasion satire which some humor impaired listeners took for my real opinion. A podcast which when you get down to it is radio for people who never worked in broadcasting. But unlike radio, where I had a 2 minute limit to make sense of whatever I was writing that day, with a podcast, you can take off the seat belt, stretch your legs and speak at a respectable pace, I can take 5 minutes to make my point, take an interview 30 to 35 minutes and not worry about e mails from the Program Director that if the 2 minute warning is good enough for the NFL, it’s all the time I need. It never was. I always had to voice it like it was my final exam from the Evelyn Wood Speed Reading Course, So not only can I take my time, I’m expanding the menu. News of the day, something I found funny or worth discussing always takes prominence, but once in a while, like today we change the format and talk about things I’m passionate about, Food. Wine. good books or my constant fear that some afternoon I’ll be hauled off the links and charged with impersonating a golfer.

Today, we’re sharing a couple of salad  recipes that won’t put the Julia Child cookbook out of print, but are easy to make, maybe better than previous versions you’ve tried and handy to have in California where it’s often north of 100 degrees. Will dispense with the climate change  the precursor to the Prius, moved people around and opening multiple windows passed for air conditioning, The saving grace is that we have little humidity and it cools down to decent sleeping weather after sunset. Unless half the state is on fire, which is a seasonal reality as the drought continues.

 Back on long island where I grew up, every town had at least one, in some of them, several old world delicatessen’ originally operated by German Americans...some still are, others have been sold with the old world recipes to Americans of various ethnic groups, the shops are known for their generous meat sandwiches--which islanders call heros, they don’t do well in water, so the name sub doesn’t fit.and in some places, they’re called hoagies. The only hoagie I ever heard of was Hoagie Carmichael--and I guess if you called Ben Hogan hoagie he might answer--but since he’s dead he’s a hero to golfers who’ve seen his swing. 

Delicious salads, American and German potato salad, macaroni salad and cole slaw, the big three. My slaw is based on the old world recipe with a twist. I add some sour cream for body, chopped onion for added flavor, sugar and cider vinegar for a little zing.. Pretty basic but better than anything you’ll find this side of the Adelphi deli in Garden City NY..

Simplicity unto itself.

Start with a bag of pre-packaged shredded coleslaw mix. It usually has green cabbage. A bit of red cabbage and shredded carrots. Toss the mix in a big bowl, add a teaspoon of sugar, a table spoon of cider vinegar and one third cup of milk. Then add one quarter cup sour cream, half a cup of mayonnaise, Best Foods or Hellman’s preferred, one quarter cup finely chopped red or yellow onion, salt to taste, toss it together, chill for an hour and taste for seasoning. Odds are you will want to throw in a little more mayo. If too tart, a little sugar may help. I like to add a teaspoon of caraway seeds, but some folks say the little seeds get caught in your teeth. I go with the seeds and floss after dinner. This creamy salad is a must for grilled ribs, burgers and hot dogs and goes well with any good sandwich, except maybe peanut butter and jelly. Keeps for about 4-5 days.  MORE... you'll find the rest of the content, and the recipe, on the website by visiting www.edcranescorner.com/blog-page

I’m not a kid and I live 2817 miles from Citi Field, home of the New York Mets, But any late afternoon or early evening between April and October, you are most likely to find me sitting in from of the television, watching a bunch of spoiled millionaires, or soon to be millionaires, trying not to break a nail, pull a hammy or get hit with one of those Coppertone juiced baseballs hurled 100 miles an hour by a tobacco spitting student of physics. Thanks to satellite technology and The Firestick I get my daily fix of what is described as Major League Baseball, but actually resembles a traveling self-help group for a talented but tradition challenged roster of some 1000  whiners.

Now to be fair, it’s not entirely their fault. Mom and Dad or some other adult in their life coddled them until releasing them to their current caretakers, the coaches, managers, owners and Commissioner of the Game. My friend Steve Sax, a West Sacramento kid who played for the games elite franchises...the Dodgers and Yankees says the games have been reduced to Romper Room with bases. Rarely does any player go a whole week without a day or two off, to work on his sunflower seed spitting, bubble blowing, I Phone gaze at his investments or check out the potential ,homewreckers down the third base line, who might be laughing at his jokes before falling into their 4th post game margarita. Pitchers rarely make it past the 6th inning, lest they have an ouchie tomorrow morning. Close plays are reviewed by old umps with worsening eye site who even with 16 cameras and slow motion usually miss what the average fan saw with their own eyes in real time, Double headers, once played most Sundays by guys in hot flannel suits, are only scheduled to make up a rainout, and they’re mere 7 inning contests---day night affairs to allow for the players to have a nappy, and the owners a fresh set of suckers--er fans...to buy up the 16 different uniform color combination gear in their 45 dollar box seats as they cheer on their team with a watery ten dollar brewski.

After juicing the ball to allow for more home runs, paying no mind as the players juiced themselves to hit them, baseball changed the rules. Now, with everyone but the ball girls topping 100 on the radar gun, baseball is suddenly shocked by the pitcher's chicanery. More surprised than Bob Baffert with a positive drug test Really? Pitchers and hitters have been playing a cat and mouse game since the 19the century. Ask Steve Sax to name a couple of pitchers who shall we say enhanced the spin, curve or drop rate of a baseball and he’ll tell you it would be easier to name the few who didn’t. Why has it been going on since Ed Crane, the man they called Cannonball pitched in the late 80’s and 90’s. 18 80’s and 90’s. It wasn’t the substance that Crane put on the baseballs that ruined his career, it was the alcoholic post game refreshments.

As for another Ed Crane who loved the game. He was done in by his Mother’s well-intentioned attention to detail. For Christmas she presented me with a First Baseman’s glove that came with a curse. The mitt was the Dick Stuart autograph model. Stuart’s bat was feared--his glove not so much. He led the National League in errors for years--but he could laugh about--his car sporting the vanity plate E-3. Actually the glove was fine. It was high school curve balls that convinced me I couldn’t hit for a living, so I better start talking.

 The game’s not the same. The players earn too much and complain too much, but the Mets are in first and I’m still rooting for em. There’s no vaccine for the Fandemic.

I recently made the observation--which here in California is probably not the majority view--that Governor Gavin Newsom got it right--that his handling of the Pandemic, which led to some long and frustrating shutdowns worked out better, in terms of numbers than many other states,  including big ones like Texas and Florida that re opened earlier. California has fewer  Corona virus deaths per capita, and while lots of jobs were lost, they came mostly from the travel and hospitality industries, which combined  have a relatively small impact on the state's GDP. In fact 15 months after CO VID came calling, California has a 75 billion dollar budget surplus.

Well leave it to Gavin Newsom to make one rethink his management style--and his priorities. Here we are in mid June, in the midst of a long triple digit heat wave. The Governor should be trying to figure out how the lights will be kept on for millions of residents, and how to handle what always seems to be triggered in a California heat wave, wildfires which consume acreage and all too often, homes and human lives. He should also be working harder on the state budget, which isn’t quite ready, even though the courageous state legislature gave it’s preliminary blessing without which, under state law they would forfeit their paychecks.

So what has Newsom been doing? Giving away big money to people already vaccinated. The idea is big payouts will incentivize more people to get the shot. No, Governor it won’t. You have to be in it to win it as they say and the money will have been doled out to those already in the pool--people whose names were harvested from a documented list of the already vaccinated. So far 10 lucky Californians have been picked as the winners of a 1.5 million dollar prize. 30 other immunized Golden Staters got 50 grand for getting the shot. They get money for having gotten the shot, not for thinking about getting one. To motivate the unvaccinated, the amusement park chain, Six Flags is donating  $4.5 million in free tickets, quite a thank you to the guy who put them out of business for a year.

Newsom has said he’s had fun acting like a TV game show host, and feels like Oprah as he gives away money. Big money to people who got the shot, less cash or other compensation to those who finally get around to it.

It sounds like it should be the other way around. Or just a highly publicized plan to get voters on your side as California edges closer to a vote to get Newsom to stop spending millions, by taking away his job. The recall effort will probably fall short, but if you’re Gavin Newsom with all that cash to throw around, why take a chance?

For six years now the cost of money---borrowing it anyway has been incredibly cheap, and that was by design. But now the so-called cheap money strategy is over, as the Federal Reserve ended it’s 2 day monetary policy meeting by dropping hints that inflation is the wild card and if prices keep climbing interest rates will begin heading north as well.

Right now, banks pay less than a quarter point to borrow money. That’s about as cheap as it gets. So interest rates for consumer borrowing, everything from auto loans to mortgages and home equity loans are near historic lows. But because the climate for borrowing money is so inexpensive, the rates for savings are paltry, so investors looking for value do their shopping and buying on Wall Street.T he Dow, Nasdaq and S and P keep churning out record averages because so much money is coming in.

But watch out. The Dow tumbled a few hundred points on the Fed’s message of interest. Wall Street hates surprises and it was surprising that the Fed would even think of raising rates. But if there is one thing that can screw up a good economy it’s inflation. Prices are rising now for a couple of reasons. With the Pandemic shutting large sectors of the economy, many industries stalled. To jump start production again, they’re facing new costs, paying more for workers, working them longer hours and paying more for raw materials and transportation, with gas and diesel now costing a third more in some parts of the country than it did before Co Vid came calling. There’s also that supply and demand and greed scenario. Finally released from pandemic prison, folks are out and about, traveling more, and because they can, airlines, rental car companies and hotels are all charging more--because they know if you won’t pay it the person will.

For now, we’re all putting up with it; most of us didn’t do much last year, so we’ve got more dough and even when we did spend, the money seemed to get replenished by The Cares Act or the ensuing stimulus payments.

Consumer prices are up 5 percent year over year. Wholesale prices increased by nearly 7 percent. The Fed’s betting the Economy will grow by about 7 percent--with inflation for 2021 coming in at around 3 and half percent. If that reading of the tea leaves is on point..rates won’t go higher next year but could in 2023. If inflation is higher, rates will rise sooner.

It won’t be crazy, like the 20 percent interest rates of 1980, but even a slight rise, could mean a few hundred bucks more for the mortgage--enough to keep some buyers from pulling the trigger. It could also lead to tighter credit. Watch the markets. If there's uncertainty, there’s selling. If interest rates go higher, investors hedging bets will move money into bonds again.

We’re moving out of CoVid and free to spend again, in theory clearing the way for an economic take off. But it could be a bumpy ride, and a long one.

When CoVid 19 hit California in March of 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom wasted little time in making the people he governs crazy. Using the state's Emergency Powers, the ones reserved for say a Tsunami that slammed into Los Angeles or ISIS thugs  taking over Disneyland or even the next giant quake, the slick looking, confident liberal leader became the Lord and Master of 40 million constituents. Suddenly we were ordered to stay home, avoid non-family members, wash our hands till they were raw, and wear face coverings in public. He told us we couldn’t go to the beach, or church, Disneyland closed as did most bars and restaurants, wineries, breweries, barber shops and nail salons. For what seemed like forever.

Ignoring most anyone but his team of advisors and medical experts, Newsom held the line on shutdowns, guided by color coated charts that allowed counties to embarrass each other, or cross the county line for a haircut, a cold beer or a mani-pedi. The infections and deaths came in vast waves. Some of the protocols  made sense, a lot of them  made us scratch our heads. With no day to day business, many successful businesses failed. We got shaggy, we got depressed. Some drank and partied to the detriment of their health. Finding basics like toilet tissue and hand sanitizers became a challenge. But in California, we grumbled but knew it was very much the same in other parts of the country, until it wasn’t. The jobless rate soared, crime followed. The George Floyd murder and the rise of BLM made life more unsettling. Covid’s China origin...whether it came from a bat or a sloppy scientist, fueled a disturbing rage against Asian Americans. President Trump’s handling of the crisis probably cost him his job, Gavin Newsom’s CoVid management style fueled an expensive recall process, though he’ll probably survive it.

Now take off your mask and reflect for a moment on the Governor and The President. Depending on your political leanings, you probably harbor strong feelings against one or the other. As California and the country reopen and we all catch our breath  to figure out what the hell happened over the past 450 day -the view here is that Gavin grudgingly got it right, but couldn’t have done it without Trump. The President half a nation despised did what he promised. He got a vaccine in months, not years...now, I can’t say for sure what the vaccine might do to any of us down the road, but it pretty much neutralized covid and it’s collateral damage. And guess what. Newsom's dictator act got it done.

Look at the numbers. Yes, 62 thousand Californians died of CoVid under his watch---but with 40 million people in the Golden State...the per capita death rate...of 160 per 100 thousand was lower than 27 states--including the ones that opened up early like Florida---Georgia and Texas. California’s economy survived the pandemic in much better shape than all but a few states. Sure we still have high unemployment, but most of the jobs lost--in restaurants and hospitality accounted for less than 1 percent of California’s GDP. The state's big industries...healthcare...technology agriculture----were all essential to the treatment and ongoing defeat of CoVid 19. Because of taxes paid by California’s significant tier of millionaires, Newsom has a surplus, which is why he’s throwing money at every special interest group and union and awarding big lottery cash to people who simply rolled up their sleeves to get a shot that may have saved their lives and surely made them better.

I hate it when the facts get in the way of a good journalistic beat down, but the more you look at what Newsom did, thanks to Trump and the miracle workers who came up with the vaccine,  and billions from Aunt Nancy and her pals in congress, California handled COVID better than all of the big states and many of the smaller ones.  More... find the rest of the story at www.edcranescorner.com/blog-page/