Pen-pricks
• Walt Disney Company raised the ticket price to Disneyland to $125 for the holidays. All the Disney theme parks this week will host a celebration of the 118th anniversary of the birth of Walt Disney. I can’t wait to see his reality show, Unfrozen.
• Melania Trump opened up the White House to cameras to display the beautiful Christmas decorations. She said it took her days to hang the hundreds and hundreds of Christmas bulbs on the various trees. Of course, when Hillary Clinton was First Lady, they hanged themselves.
• Nancy Pelosi snapped at a TV reporter who asked if her desire to impeach Trump is driven by hatred. She declared that she doesn’t hate, that she’s a good Catholic, and she prays for the president every day. The Inquisition she’s running against him is just part of a religious tradition.
• President Trump took jibes from France’s Macron and Canada’s Trudeau at NATO meetings while House Democrats plotted his demise. It would all wear me down. Nowadays, when parents tell their kids they could grow up to be the president it’s just a threat to get them to eat their vegetables.
Argus Hamilton is the host comedian at The Comedy Store in Hollywood and a speaker. His email address is argus@argushamilton.com.
While some disagreement may exist with her rationale, Christine Flowers was exactly right that the continued pursuit of the Navy to punish Chief Petty Officer Gallagher for the “picture violation,” after being found not guilty of all other charges, was purely political.
The Secretary of the Navy, a political appointee, pursued removing Gallagher from his Seal status instead of allowing him to quietly retire. This was obviously a “no-win” situation as the now single violation of the “picture” would never, by itself, have required resolution at court martial level; a consideration of which the secretary was apparently unaware.
The secretary then met privately with President Trump, without the knowledge of the Secretary of Defense, in an attempt to broker a deal that included removing Gallagher from his Seal status. This political maneuver resulted in the only two members of the United States Armed Forces chain of command at federal level taking action. The Commanderin-Chief, President Trump, ordered that Gallagher would retain his Seal status upon retirement and the Secretary of Defense fired the Secretary of Navy for violating the chain of command.
My view is that this blatant, politically motivated, action of a purely military situation was resolved appropriately by the military chain of command.
What separates many good golfers from becoming great golfers is their inability to sink the putt and hole the ball. Almost half the strokes on the score card are putting strokes. Once on the green you must have the confidence that you can make the putt. Like they say “it’s all in your head.”
Case in point. I recently found myself on the putting green of the first hole at Las Barrancas Golf Course without my putter. You see, I had transferred my clubs to a carry bag and neglected to include my putter. Realizing this I asked one of the golfers (Mike) if I could use his putter. Being a gentleman (term used loosely), he said I could use his Ping mallet putter. I recall that day, I made 7 one putts and won low gross in the men’s club. I asked Mike if he would sell me his putter. Mike said, “He** no.” I took pictures of the model and where it was purchased. I ordered the exact model and when it arrived, the mallet head had a light silver color as opposed to a charcoal gray color. I was disappointed because it was not the charcoal gray color. I asked Mike, kidding, if he would take $1,000 and my putter in trade for his putter. Again he said “He** no.”
Several weeks later on the 3rd hole putting green, Mike (feeling sorry for me) said, “Give me your putter and $100 dollars and it’s yours.” I quickly approached him, before he could change his mind, shook his hand and handed him my putter and a C-note. Now I can putt with confidence. After all, it’s all in the head, it’s in the Ping mallet putter head.