Crane's Corner

Doctor Donnelly Wilkes was just about to complete his medical studies and head off to a ship somewhere in the ocean and serve out his military duties...or so he thought.  And then, the twin towers came down and the world and his world in particular, changed.  From the expectation of a somewhat comfortable existence in the ocean aboard a Naval floating city to active duty and medical facilities just hundreds of yards from the fighting.  His thoughtful journaling has produced a fascinating book:  Code Red Fallujah:  A doctor's memoir at war.

The graphic stories and horrific reality of war is told from the eyes of the medic in the midst of it all.  The personal toll it takes on all parties and the solution he found through his faith are just a couple of the areas he explores.  This is a very compelling conversation shared like only the professional and the man who experienced could tell with riveting detail.  

Put a fork in Donald Trump. He’s done. The beginning of the end, a press release from the Office of The New York State Attorney General noting that the civil investigation into The Trump Organization, that's about a month old will be evolving into a criminal probe. The press release did not give further details but suggested a parallel investigation with the Manhattan DA into the Trump Organization’s banking activities. According to one source, Trump over valued the price of assets to obtain bank loans.

In the grand scheme of financial chicanery it may sound mild, but don’t underestimate the people who hate Donald Trump, high on the list is his former attorney Michael Cohen, the man Trump used to fix various problems. It was Cohen who made the so-called hush money payment to Porn Star Stormy Daniels and his fingerprints are on many Trump financial deals. He’s jailed for lying to congress. He didn’t get a term ending pardon from Donald Trump. He will turn on Trump, bet on it. All he’ll need is a grant of immunity from further prosecution. Expect that to happen. Prosecutors have no problem throwing back the little fish, if what those fish have to say can land the whale-and Trump is Moby Dick.

Trump is adapting his public Alfred E Neuman persona. What, me worry? He’ll tell anyone that will listen that it’s all fake news. As he has for years, he’ll also repeat that his tax returns are under audit, and he can’t reveal sensitive data. 

There are millions who will fall for this canard. Voters who remember how The Donald handled the economy, handled the North Koreans and The Iranians and how he was moving along with that big wall to keep the so called undocumented throngs of would be refugees out. 

Hard line Trump supporters have no problem ignoring Trump’s indiscretions and ego mania, when compared to the left wing agenda that's being played out by the trillions in the Biden administration. For now, he’s still the Man in Waiting, the frontrunner to unseat Joe Biden or perhaps Kamala Harris is 2024. But there are these mounting legal concerns. That investigation in NY, another in Atlanta, where prosecutors contend he tried to intimidate and threaten officials to get the November results overturned. Then there’s the promise of a full throttle congressional investigation into the attack by Trump supporters on the US Capitol and what he may have had to do with it. There are allegations that he drained supporters after November allegedly to fight voter fraud, when the money went to a general Trump slush fund, that down the road may find it’s way into the bank accounts of attorneys trying to fight charges against Trump’s businesses.

The GOP’s surgical strike on Wyoming Representative Lynn Cheney earlier this month is evidence that for now Trump loyalists are still in control of the Republican Party,  but for how long? The task ahead and it’s an arduous one, is to beat back the left wing surge in Washington, retake the White House and at least control of the senate.

The mission is more important than the man---and as charges mount---Donald Trump’s re-run at age 77 may not be viable. Politicians are not a sentimental bunch, and if a ride on the Trump Train isn’t going to return them to Washington and return them to power, they may put their money on someone else.

There’s an old saying dating back to the Daley regime in Chicago---and  it applies here.

Don’t make no waves. Don’t back no losers.

With the possible exception of hotels, has any American industry suffered more from the Pandemic than the restaurant business? In an industry that loses 50 thousand restaurants a year in good times, the predictions for the survival of restaurants and the industry as a whole were dire. Some experts said one third of all eateries would fail. One well known chef-owner put the number of closures in the fine dining segment as high as 75%.

Well, as most Americans get the Covid 19 shot, and cities and towns are open, we’re learning the cuisine carnage is bad and may get worse; but not quite as bad as first predicted. To date, since the Pandemic arrived in early 2020, 90 thousand restaurants have permanently closed. That's 14 percent of all restaurants, about twice as bad as a typical year, but nowhere near what had been foretold-that we’d have to bring a bag lunch to our jobs most days, wait weeks for a reservation and try and sip soup and chew our filet while wearing a mask.

So what really happened? The vaccine process, dubbed Operation Warp Speed by Team Trump, was just that, the vaccine got here in less than a year and within 15 months of Covid 19’s arrival, a majority of Americans had taken the jab. Texas and Florida completely re opened, most other states loosened restrictions to include limited capacity dining or maskless al fresco dining. Take Out, which accounts for a small percentage of trade at most sit down restaurants boomed and literally saved the day. Restaurants that might turn their tables 4 times a night, could churn out as much Take Out business as the kitchen could manage--while expenses like linens, dishwashing and front of the house staff disappeared.

Right now, as we head into summer, the food and beverage industry glass is half full. More people dine out in summer, there’s pent up demand after months of sheltering and vaccinations and mask rule relaxations are making people emboldened to go out again. But those pandemic jobless payments, for the moment, are no match for the low wage plus tips formula that have been the industry standard for decades. Here in California, the restaurant at one public golf course has brought in a food truck, unable to staff the restaurant with cooks and wait staff.

Eateries that do manage to staff the business, are dealing with rampant inflation for everything from food costs to the paper packaging needed to box up their takeout fare. Now they’re faced with the tough decision; pass along the cost to customers, or hope they can make up the difference in volume or alcohol sales.

It seems the most experienced restaurant connections did better than the young and quickly successful owners, but some well capitalized chains went belly up, especially those linked to shopping centers, like the Cheesecake Factory. Others like Applebee’s and Logan’s Roadhouse closed a number of stores.

The Pandemic as it’s been said changed everything. The restaurant industry has been critically injured but likely to pull through.

History tells us we can spend our way out of a depression. It happened in the 20th Century as Hirohito and later Hitler forced us into war, and the nation was compelled to produce. America needed everything, Guns, Tanks, Ships, Jeeps, planes, bombs and bullets. Not to mention gasoline and diesel fuel, thousands of uniforms. America rolled up it’s collective sleeves, went to work or went to war and made the sacrifices to get the job done.

Now it appears we can vaccinate our way out of a pandemic, and we’re trying to spend our way back to prosperity, but it's tricky. Right now, it seems everything's in short supply. From lumber to labor, many a commodity or product  or service is in short supply and that’s driving prices higher.

Early in the pandemic, you’ll recall some of the symptoms of COVID 19 and the need to constantly sanitize led to  shortages of bathroom tissue, paper towels and hand sanitizer. Enterprising brewers and distillers shifted their production line to make hand sanitizer. Eventually the paper mills caught up with demand, and we all got what we needed.

Fast forward to May of 2021. Because of vaccines the pandemic is winding down, and in some sectors the economy is revving up, but in others, the wheels continue to spin. Economists have long held when demand is greater than supply prices go up and vice versa. But they’ve never had to factor in how drought, computer hackers, and government  cash payments that basically invite workers to stay home can impact that supply and demand curve. 

Despite climate change, bad forestry policies and ensuing wildfires, the world still has plenty of trees. But the timber in warehouses being cut and produced is no match for the demand for houses, cardboard and paper packaging. That send lumber prices skyrocketing. Think of just how many boxes were delivered to you via AMAZON, UPS OR FEDEX during the pandemic. Then multiply that number by a few hundred million.

Then consider how much fuel those delivery trucks need. Then add in all that diesel the over the road trucks that bring the finished goods to the warehouse consume. That alone is enough to boost prices, but look what happened when Russian based hackers tapped into a giant US Pipeline. In a matter of days gas stations along the eastern seaboard either ran out of gas all together or decided to triple the price of already high prices.

Lumber prices are adding tens of thousands of dollars to the price of a new home. Aluminum is also in short supply, and barrage companies like California based Monster reports soft drink cans are in short supply.

Drought around areas of the globe is impacting prices for coffee and other commodities. Semiconductors are in such short supply that the production of cars and trucks..which now rely heavily on on board computers is slowing new vehicle production, while demand for transportation is pushing up the price of used vehicles.

And while the current and former administrations may have meant well, pandemic relief payments added to standard jobless compensation is putting hundreds of dollars more into the pockets of millions of formerly laid off workers, who would make less money on the job. Restaurants and other service sector businesses can’t get good help--or any help. Some have had to close a day here or a day there, because they don’t have even a skeleton crew to run the operation.

And even when the joints are open, you may see a number of menu items crossed off because purveyors can’t get certain products. And of course it’s sticker shock for just about everything at the grocery store.

Supply chain managers are not encouraged that this will end any time soon, but there is some hope for the service sector. MORE... find the rest of the story on the blog page at www.edcranescorner.com/blog-page/

My wonderful Mother Grace Crane stepped out of here 6 years ago. I think of Gracie, as we all called her, often. Sometimes with a tear in my eye, but usually with a smile. My Mom was warm and generous, elegant and kind, and she had a gentle wisdom that in my experience is the secret weapon of Irish women. She would tell us that everything is ok in moderation while warning us that nothing in excess is ever good. She tried to find the best in everyone, even those who had no damn good in them, let alone the best. She could have written the Golden Rule, because she treated everyone like they were the only person in her universe and deserving of her love and respect.

 Unless you crossed her. Then she treated you like a baby treats a diaper. She had zero tolerance for unkind behavior and zero patience for stupid behavior. Over the Mothers Day weekend we got this joke from the land of the woke. The Ministry of Cancel Culture issued an edict that the special women who brought us into the world and gave us the tools to survive it, should now be referred to as “birthing people”.

 Why suddenly do we need a gender neutral, let alone stupid term for Mother? Now I was barely able to get out of High School Biology with a B- and a dissected baby pig, but I’m pretty convinced that even fans of the trans will agree that the maternity ward is a no mans land. Even those who have exhausted the realm of gender realignment need not squint at the sonogram to learn what they’re carrying. Nothing! Even surrogates are,  sorry, mothers!
 
 Had I greeted Gracie with the term birthing person, I could be greeted with the term injured person as the wooden spoon or high heeled pumps, her weapons of choice, would find their mark. Never bring a knife to a high heeled pump fight. Gracie loved history and she would have been appalled at the WOKE FOLKS ignorance of the times our forefathers lived in, and the vandalizing and destruction to statues…Abe Lincoln? Hello. Of course, if she had been alive, a number of Antifa goons would have stopped occupying Portland for high heel and wooden spoon lacerations.

Go woke, go broke. All these woke induced spending bills from President Biden, he may be woke but he ain’t awake..are sending Uncle Sam into paper poverty.

 And stop this nonsense about white privilege and institutional racism. I had no say in being born white.

 Good people don’t need to Read The Book Of Woke. They treat people the right way. Bad people don’t listen to anybody, so the woke folk might as well grab a toke, they’ll be ignored. BUT BY A VAST MARGIN, THERE ARE MORE GOOD PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY THAN BAD.

 We don’t go through life based on what a bunch of half assed Marxists want us to do. We roll based on our own experience and what we learned from it.  Real life experiences that put real life in perspective. Clearly some were better than others, but each experience affirms this every day takeaway. You will have good days and bad days and just, unremarkable days. Enjoy the highs, deal with the lows and know that neither one can make you or break you or define you.

 We sometimes think in our high tech 21st century world that we are better, smarter and more enlightened than any generation before us. Really?

 I don’t know if we have the collective will to beat a Hitler. No way would we have Truman’s resolve on the issue of atomic war. What passes for culture, mixed martial arts, rap music  and the Kardashians will not usher in a second Renaissance.  We are told how to think, how to speak, how to treat the planet. We may not know it, but we are being drafted to fight a class war, and the enemy is us. At the University of North Carolina, where the fight song should be Kumbaya, students are lectured about routine conversation. 
MORE.... to complete the story, click here https://ed

You probably heard it in kindergarten, maybe even earlier, the acronym myob.  Mind your own business. It’s a lesson most of us have learned to some degree and think about, if you ever did meddle in some one elses business...it didn’t usually end well did it?

There are hundreds of californians who didn’t learn the lesson or are ignoring it. Those people are called liberals and legislative staffers who work for liberals or Governor Gavin Newsome, who tows the liberal line to the point of absurdity.

These folks seem to think they know whats best for us even if it isn’t. They have turned California into a such a nanny state they should replace the bear on the state  flag with a picture of Mrs. Doubtfire. The word majority means absolutely nothing. It’s bad enough they bully us with laws and edicts we don’t need, building special bathrooms or cutting gym fitness testing to accomodate the teeny tiny population of transgender kids. They tell us what kind of bags we can put our groceries in, what kind of straw we can sip our drinks from. They make it hard to exercise the right to bear arms. Side with criminals over cops and interfer in the right to work as we choose.. With AB 5 Gavin and the nannies aren’t just meddling in our business, they’re trying to put independent folks out of business with rules that make the term independent contractor an oxymoron. The nanny morons limiting how we work, how long we can work and in some cases putting us out of work because employers can’t afford the extra costs of hiring a full time staff employee, or pay a living wage disguised as a minimum wage.

It’s irrational and probably unconstitutional although to the California nannys, a document drafted by a bunch of old white fools a couple of centuries back means nothing.

 Bad as it is for us, the nanny’s are exporting their wacky views across state lines, banning California workers from traveling to 10 states that don’t coddle gay and transgender folks the way they do.  Why doesn’t Governor Doubtfire ban travel to states that don’t have ridiculous fuel prices or ban the homeless from defecating on the streets or refuse to saddle businesses with so much green law they operate in the red or have timber management policies that actually prevents wild fires.

 About the only freedom we really enjoy in California’s nanny world is the freedom to leave and a lot of Californians are voting with their feet.

Driving through the town of Fair Oaks in northern California the other day, two signs caught my eye. They were advertisements, not related to each other except in the sense that they could be viewed as warning signs for some rough economic times ahead. One sign a help wanted ad posted in the window of an In and Out  Burger joint advertised jobs, with a starting wage of $16-18 dollars per hour. Keep in mind that the minimum federal wage is $7.25 cents. It hasn’t been raised in ten years, and you can make the argument that maybe it should. 

In California, a company with more than 25 employees like In and Out , has to meet the minimum wage of $13 per hour.

But for a burger chain that offers its customers some of the lowest prices in the fast food sector, that fact that it’s willing to go $3-5 dollars more than the minimum, tells me two things. One, help—good, bad or indifferent is hard to come by --and 2...it can’t sustain those high wages without raising prices. It also tells me that stimulus payments and pandemic related unemployment benefits are adequate enough to keep some people--perhaps the pool of lesser skilled or part time workers from looking for work. Banking $450 a week…$1800 a month for doing nothing, it’s hard to justify frying potatoes and flipping  burgers for say even $15 bucks an hour, since most fast food jobs are part time, and probably won’t generate enough hours to meet what the federal and state government are paying workers for doing  nothing but filling out a claim form from time to time.

Here’s what’s likely going to happen. Because they have to pay more for help, service industry companies like restaurants or department stores will have to raise prices, which depending on the business, could lose customers, or see a reduction in the number of times customers go out for a meal or buy a new blouse or a pair of jeans. 

Once the wage war is set, you can raise it, but it’s rare that it’s lowered. So what happens at year's end, when the number of pandemic allowed jobless weeks run out. Will the jobs still be available? Probably not.

The other warning sign was one of many advertising office spaces for lease. But one in particular caught my eye. One that offered office space at under $1.00 per square foot. That tells me landlords are becoming desperate. Empty offices or stores, primarily in strip malls become a magnet for squatters, graffiti, in some cases arson. They become an eyesore, a blight that knocks down the curb appeal or stores or other businesses that are trying to operate--and will lose customers if they feel the location is dicey or visually unappealing.

The pandemic, because of safety concerns created a climate where millions were told to work from home or opted to, and business owners in many cases, realized they could conduct business in the zoom economy without all those pesky costs like rent, office furniture, overhead and security. So what becomes of the people who own zillions worth of Office Space?  Then there’s Joe Biden and/or the democrats who are probably telling him what to do. They didn’t learn much from how inflation cratered Gerald Ford’s presidency and brought down Jimmy Carter’s administration with ridiculous interest rates. 18 percent for a mortgage and 20 percent or more for a new car. And that was if you have good credit. Biden and company are throwing eye popping numbers of dollars in what they think is economic stimulus. The $2 trillion dollar CARES ACT, a near one trillion dollar covid relief bill, a proposed $3 trillion dollars infrastructure overhaul that only calls for five percent in ACTUAL infrastructure improvements. This is money the U-S does not have. It’s money being borrowed. Between that excessive borrowing and pent up demand for goods, prices are beginning to fly.   more...
You can find the complete script at www.edcranemedia.com under the blog tab.

Our non-profits around the country have been hit particularly hard during this pandemic especially if the purpose of your organization is to grant wishes that are, more often than not, travel in some way.  I'm joined today by Jennifer Stolo. President and CEO of the Make-A-Wish chapter serving Northeastern & Central California and Northern Nevada.  And while her story of survival for the organization is interesting, it's even more compelling to hear the second challenge she was faced with over the past year.  Jennifer was diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer.  If the stories of wishes granted for children in need don't move you, than Jennifer's story of her personal battle with a disease will. An incredible woman and leader of an organization I have been proud to be a part of for more than 20 years, her stories, both professionally and personally, speak loudly to the tenacity, resilience and attitude to pull thru and thrive.  

For more information about Ed Crane and his services and podcast guests, visit www.edcranemedia.com.  To learn more about Make-A-Wish and how you might be able to help visit www.wish.org/canv

My wife and I were watching the NFL Draft the other night, with very different perspectives. I love football and was glued to the broadcast, fully immersed in who my team, the NY Giants would select. Barbara would have preferred some Hall Mark Channel Chick flick, but being a good sport, watched with a little less enthusiasm. After 35 years together, she’s firmly in the ‘if you can’t beat em join em’ camp. 

While I was making calculations as to which of the college stars would be available by the time the Giants were on the clock with pick number 11, Barb was starting to feel sorry for one player I knew the Giants wouldn’t pick, Alabama Quarterback Mac Jones, He reportedly would go to the 49ers at pick 3. He didn’t. He didn’t go 4th or 5th or 6th and as each pick was made---the cameras would focus on a stoic Mac Jones and Barbara began to feel sorry for him. OK I did too. After all he led his team The Alabama Crimson Tide to an undefeated 13 win season and the National Championship. Almost every game was a blowout. So why, pick after pick was Mac The Undefeated being ignored? Turns out he really wasn’t. The two quarterbacks picked ahead of him were running QB’s and meshed better with the teams that took them, the 49 ers and the Chicago Bears.

 Jones on the other hand is a classic drop back quarterback and extremely accurate. When he fell to the New Englad Patriots, the light went on. He was perfect for the Bill Bellichek offense that Tom Brady ran so well for nearly 20 years. How impressed was New England? The last time the Pats took a quarterback in the first round, Mac Jones hadn’t been born, the year was 1993. Suddenly we didn’t feel sorry for Mac Jones. In fact I envied him. He was going to a storied NFL Franchise, with a Hall of Fame Coach. Reportedly his contract will exceed 15 million dollars, All of which is pretty amazing.

This to me, is even more amazing. Did you know exactly what you wanted to be when you were 7 years old. Did it work out?

When Mac Jones was 7, a 2nd grader in Jacksonville Florida, his teacher asked each of the students what they wanted to be when they grew up.Figure there were a few wannabe firemen, nurses, doctors cowboys and garbagemen.

Mac Jones drew the teacher a picture and wrote what he planned to be.

An NFL quarterback.

Add confidence, determination, and fortune telling to that undefeated football resume. 

No need to feel sorry for Mac Jones. Feel sorry for defense that will, have to play against him.

These are crazy times. The Global Pandemic seems to be finally winding down here, but in India, people are dying hundreds by the minute. Things are still a mess at our southern border, even as Joe BIden quadruples the refugee quota to enter the U-S, There’s some compelling evidence that UFO’s are out of Roswell and fling recon---around US Navy Ships. And among those seeking to replace our governor is one of the greatest olympic athletes of our time, whose grown out the hair and traded gym shorts for a sensible dress.

 Among other changes.

 Not being reported until now --The great  California  cheese crisis.

 It’s not a political statement, but here in the quickly tarnishing Golden State, the cheese long known as “American” is hard to come by. OK---you can find it at most self respecting grocery stores and warehouse clubs, and I suppose American is the cheese of choice at Mcdonalds...and In and Out, but just try to find it in most sit down establishments. Choose any ten---and I’ll bet you won’t find that tasty yellow slice in 9 of them. What would be a routine order on the East Coast----BLT with a slice,---Grilled Cheese---Ham and Cheese omelette---  Philly Cheese steak ..made without question...and without cheddar or jack… American  Cheese. Period. Unless you request otherwise. 

 In California….good luck.  

 Thank you for offering ...but do I look like I want Grilled Havarti or a Monetery Jack Omelette? Even at some joint where they pompously offer artisanal cheese---like you have to be Rembrant to put milk curds through their paces….any chef whose any gouda will tell you the secret to good macaroni and cheese---is of course in the American cheese family, …..that slab designed to survive nuclear war...brand name Velveeta.  High melting point...and a certain chemical creaminess.

 I have debated the issue with servers, managers and even some chefs..with little satisfaction. I’ve given up  The Beach Hut Deli where I swear the gals get a commission for every sandwich served with cream cheese. Maybe Californians just don’t like American Cheese. Maybe the health conscious balk at the label’s...where in some cases so there’s so little real cheese it’s labeled a processed cheese food. Call it what you will. I like the stuff--and so do many transplanted compatriots. 

I suppose there are worse things than a ham and cheddar sandwich or a  Swiss Cheese omelette---but until they start serving Kraft Singles with Craft Beer----I’m demanding an investigation..maybe it’s a job for The House Un American Activities committee, or maybe we should call in California’s smartest dairy farmer...The guy they call---The Cheese Whiz.

 Crane’s Corner….News and Comment