Skateboards on streets, sidewalks spell trouble
We have a serious problem on the streets and sidewalks of San Francisco. Skateboards. I’m not talking about kids doing annoying tricks on the curbs or park benches. I’m talking about boarders who roll down crowded sidewalks from the Financial District to the Mission, much the way bicycles move through the streets.
I’ve nearly been run over three or four times in just the past few days.
And it’s not just the sidewalks. They’re on the streets as well, weaving through traffic. You can’t hear them and often you can’t see them, especially at night.
I actually got into an argument with a couple of them along Grant Avenue after they were stopped by
a red-jacketed street ambassador. Four skateboarders were cursing out this little brother and generally giving him a hard time.
I noticed a couple of brothers nearby and said to them, “Let’s give this guy a hand.” “How?” “Just follow me,” I said. The four of us walked across the street, lined up behind the ambassador, and just stared at the kids. End of argument. But I tell you, someone is going to get hurt.
Democrats have been uncharacteristically silent about the president’s call for intervention against ISIS. So far, all they’re saying is that they want to be part of the “discussion” and get a clear set of parameters, in and out dates and funding sources.
Start time. End time. No overtime. That’s one strange way to conduct a military operation.
I can understand their confusion. On one hand, you have beheadings, the Jordanian pilot being burned alive and the death of Kayla Mueller.
On the other hand, you have the American public’s reluctance to get into another Iraq or Afghanistan.
So everyone wants it to be all done with this before the presidential and congressional elections heat up next year.
And all of this is being played out while “American Sniper” is the hit movie of the season.
NBC News anchor Brian Williams’ biggest mistake was trying to be like a politician.
Inflating stories to make ourselves look better is just part of the job. And for the most part, the public accepts our doing it. But unlike journalists, credibility isn’t a politician’s stockin-trade. Our job is to get the job done and deliver the goods for the public.
But I do find it interesting that NBC appears to be concentrating its investigation on the accuracy of what Williams said over the years, and nothing on what the network knew or did about it.
The hard hats renovating and expanding the Museum of Modern Art tell me they’ll be shutting down Howard Street for a day and a half in the next week or two so they can move a giant Richard Serra sculpture into the place. The thing is so big that they’re leaving a wall open until it’s installed.
Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, had a fundraiser for her documentary production outfit the other night at Graff Diamonds on Post Street. At one point, she asked all those who worked with her to raise their hands for a round of applause.
As the hands went up, so did Gavin’s, and when everyone looked at him he smiled sheepishly and said, “Hey, I’m staff too.”
The event was just a couple of hours after Newsom announced he was raising money for the 2018 governor’s race. The move was much like Attorney General Kamala Harris’ early entry into the 2016 campaign to replace Sen. Barbara Boxer. Both are trying to make a big splash to ensure no one else gets in.
Now former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has a real problem: There are big fish in both ponds where he was looking to swim.
Villaraigosa no longer has the luxury of being able to take his time to decide which race to enter. He’s going to have to jump soon or wait until Sen. Dianne Feinstein moves on — and while that could happen in 2018, there’s no guarantee.
Movie time: “Still Alice.” Julianne Moore turns in a wonderful performance in this tale of a college professor with early onset Alzheimer’s who goes from someone at the top of her field to not being able to remember where the bathroom is in her own house.
It is very cleverly done and has a great supporting-role performance by Alec Baldwin as her husband. You won’t cry at the ending, but you won’t be in a rush to have dinner or a drink after. You’ll probably just want to take a walk and think about it.
“Black and White.” Kevin Costner does a great job as a successful but troubled lawyer who winds up raising the mixed-race child of his dead daughter and a crackhead from Compton (Los Angeles County).
But wait, this is not a race movie. It’s a family movie, a human movie and at times a very funny one. Octavia Spencer does a great job as the crackhead’s mom who wants a say in her granddaughter’s life.
Presidents Day weekend always reminds me of a night I spent at the White House with the Clintons.
In the middle of the night, President Clinton shows up dressed in a bathrobe, shorts and flip-flops and starts talking about Hillary’s troubles with Travelgate. It was one of those flash-inthe-pan “scandals” about the use of the White House travel operation.
“I’ve been thinking about getting her some legal representation. Do you have any recommendations?” the president asked.
“How about Johnnie Cochran?” I suggested. His eyes went wide. “Johnnie Cochran? I didn’t say she was guilty!”