Trump yields world stage to science-friendly Brown
For all his denunciations of President Trump over pulling the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord, Gov. Jerry Brown is in political heaven right now.
Brown is front and center on the global stage as he pushes the world’s sixth-largest economy away from the federal government’s new science-denial stance. It doesn’t hurt that his foil is a cartoon character straight out of Looney Tunes central casting.
The governor just happened to have a trip to China scheduled for the day after Trump made his announcement. Now he’s off to forge his own climate change deal with Beijing.
None of this would have happened if Hillary Clinton had been elected president. With an environmentalist-oriented Democrat in the White House,
Brown would have been relegated to the choir singing her praises.
With Trump, Jerry is a reborn warrior with a cause that will keep him in the spotlight even after he leaves office.
Trump may be the president. But to those 194 other nations that agreed to the Paris Agreement and are looking for someone in the U.S. who gets climate change, Brown is going to be our premier.
Those of you who thought the Clinton machine was going to shut down after Hillary Clinton lost the election, think again. The Clintons are still very much in the game.
The first hint I had that they were not ready to retire was the personalized birthday card from Bill Clinton that arrived in my mailbox in March. In the political world, if you aren’t interested in keeping the fires burning, you send out generic greetings — if you send anything.
The average height of guests at the St. Regis hotel in San Francisco shot up more than a foot with the arrival of the Cleveland Cavaliers for the NBA Finals.
The crowd at the bar has swelled as well, with every seat taken by 3 p.m. by high rollers and gorgeous women looking to be in on the action.
Outside, the cops have set up barricades between the front door and where the team bus pulls up on Third Street. Behind the steel line are the crowds of fans and autograph collectors clutching posters and jerseys in one hand and Sharpies for signing in the other.
And about a dozen motorcycle cops hang around outside to escort the team bus to the Bay Bridge.
Movie time: “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.” After seeing this latest installment of the Disney franchise, I would add that not only do dead men tell no tales, they don’t make good movies either.
If you’re looking for a story, great acting, great script or great special effects, you’ll be disappointed. But if all you want to see a digitally enhanced Johnny Depp, this is the ticket.
“Baywatch.” This movie version of the long-running TV series is worth seeing if only to catch a glimpse of the show’s original stars, David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson. As brief as their appearances may be, they’re the highlight of the movie.
The water antics outshine the clunky attempts at race-based humor. I give it one star. Dwayne Johnson gets two for keeping his body shining for his more than two hours on the screen.
I counted at least two dozen empty storefronts in the Union Square shopping area on a recent walk — a sign that rocketing rents are taking a toll on even the highest-end fashion shops.
Meanwhile, just a couple of blocks away, new stores are going in along Grant Avenue between Geary and Sutter streets.
Let’s hope the Union Square landlords come to their senses, drop the rents and lure back the glamour stores and their great window displays for all to see.
Otherwise, Union Square may become just another mall of discount outlets and T-shirt shops.
Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, was in town the other night for a fundraiser at the home of Tom and Teresa Hui on Jackson Street.
Hirono noted that she was the first woman to be elected senator from Hawaii, the first Asian American woman anywhere to be elected to the Senate and the first U.S. senator born in Japan.
At which point, a man raised his hand and asked, “Are you gay?”
“Well, no,” Hirono said. “But you know, I can’t be perfect.”