Why is Steve Garvey running for Senate?’

McClatchy News Service is asking the question. The answer is he needs a job. He has name recognition and baseball fans love their favorite players even if they have been long gone from the sport.

Garvey played four seasons for the Dodgers and one more with the San Diego Padres. All that ended in 1987.

What has he done since then? It appears the answer is nothing.

Garvey has made a living as a motivational speaker, local radio show host, celebrity endorser, sports commentator and founder of a marketing firm. At one point, his speaking fee was listed as $25,000.

His February 2024 federal disclosure form, required of all Senate candidates, shows he has income from four sources.

They include GEP Talent of Burbank, Fox News, the Topps Company and IPG DXTRA of Omaha. He lists Topps and IPG DXTRA as paying him for memorabilia signings and “corporate entertainment.”

To political strategists, Garvey had potential as the latest in a line of California celebrities with no need to explain who they were to a constituency smitten with fond memories of their triumphs.

Garvey, the thinking went, could be another George Murphy, the song-and-dance man who won a Senate seat in 1964, or Ronald Reagan, the TV and movie star first elected governor in 1966 and president in 1980. Or more recently, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Terminator turned governor, the last Republican to win statewide in California.

Recently, Garvey has been actively tweeting, though he offers few concrete solutions to issues he raises.

“Unaffordable gas prices are hurting Californians’ quality of life every day. I see people putting $10 in at the pump instead of 10 gallons. Join my campaign if you believe California deserves better,” he said in a post on X April 5.

“I am driven by a commitment to every Californian’s dream for a better tomorrow. Let’s move onward together,” he said in another X post.

His speeches are filled with baseball references, stretched to show that he’s not tied to ideology. Just the nice guy who Californians cheered and celebrated on the ballfield.

“In a federal position like U.S. Senate you can get those answers. On that stage, on that platform, I’ll get answers,” Garvey said.

He had nothing specific.

The Homeless in California

California has failed to adequately monitor the outcomes of its vast spending on homelessness programs, according to a state audit released earlier this month. It was reported that $20 Billion in the past five years have been spent on the homeless. Much of that money was spent on shelters and subsidizing rent. Still, homelessness grew 6% in 2023 from the year prior, to more than 180,000 people. This was reported in the Los Angeles Times on April 9, 2024.

A homeless encampment in San Francisco in 2023. (Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)

Now, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is asking L.A.’s wealthiest Angelenos for help. On Monday in her State of the City address, she unveiled a new campaign that asks business leaders, philanthropic organizations and others to donate millions of dollars to an effort to acquire buildings so they can be used as apartments for the city’s homeless population.

Clearly the programs to help the homeless have failed. More money for programs that have not worked is a waste of money. Who is asking what are the causes of homelessness? Publicly no one. Simply throwing more money at the problem in the same fruitless way will not stop this growing problem.

I do not know the answer. We do not need politicians taxing us for programs that do not work.

She didn’t look ‘pretty enough.’ 

Even in the year 2024 the author of this article says it all. Appearance makes all the difference for women of every age. Even plain doesn’t work! Beauty contests will never end. A little plastic surgery for women can make all the difference.

I’d never heard of the term #prettyprivilege until this week – apparently the hashtag has over 250 million views on Tik Tok, and it’s a phrase coined by the internet to describe the benefits of being the kind of ‘pretty’ that conforms to society’s so-called beauty ideals.

I first came across it after reading comments about a viral Tik Tok  loaded by 30 year old New Yorker, Melissa Weaver. Melissa had gone for an interview for the job of her dreams. One that she knew she was qualified for, and one that she was told by the recruiter, fitted her skillset perfectly. 

However, Melissa was rejected for the vice presidency role because she didn’t look ‘pretty enough.’ 

In the video, Melissa explains that after thinking that the interview was a huge success, she was told that she didn’t get the job because she hadn’t put enough effort into her appearance.

“I did a blowout for my hair. I had on a nice top, a blazer and some earrings, but I only had on Chapstick,” Melissa explains in the video. “I didn’t have any makeup on because I don’t really wear a lot of makeup – not to be quirky, I just don’t”. 

Which begs the question as she asked her followers, does not wearing makeup really make it seem like women aren’t putting as much effort or care into their job? 

I was astonished that as a society we are still conditioned to believe that we have to conform to a set of out of date beauty ideals that require us to look a certain way in a job interview. Yes, as a matter of respect – to ourselves as well as our colleagues – we should look presentable and of course be clean. But is a lack of lipstick really reason enough not to hire someone? Is corporate America still that behind? 

This appearance-fixed society, makes me, yes even me, the de facto Beauty Editor, take a deep breath of dismay. And now add the barrage of overly perfect filters on Tik Tok and Instagram, I fear that the pressures of looking a certain way will just get worse. 

 

In this so-called age of inclusivity and diversity, we should be putting those archaic societal beauty standards to bed. Do men get turned down for a job if they don’t use concealer to cover up their dark circles? Pah! Of course not! 

Yes, wearing lipstick can make a lot of us feel better. Makeup often gives us a coat of armour. A spring in our step. An extra jolt of confidence. And of course, for that reason, wear it! But it should be about choice.

You might say that this opinion is a bit rich coming from a Beauty Editor, working in an industry that relies on lipstick sales. However, during my career, I have always worked hard to encourage women to celebrate what makes them unique and if that’s going makeup free, then so be it. 

Lipstick or no lipstick, we should be looking at the traits that make us clever, caring, honest, brave…Not whether we look like a sexy, polished and glossy character from Suits. 

It’s up to society to challenge these internalised biases. We must all be on a level playing field. Whatever we look like.

Pretty privilege? It’s time we made it stop!

Story by Donna Francis

Today in History: April 4, Martin Luther King is assassinated in Memphis at age 39

On April 3, 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. delivered what turned out to be his final speech, telling a rally of striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, that “I’ve been to the mountaintop” and “seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land!” (About 20 hours later, King was felled by an assassin’s bullet at the Lorraine Motel.)

Did King have a premonition of his death?

Mike Pence says he ‘cannot in good conscience’ endorse Trump

The former vice president’s comments mark a stunning repudiation of his ex-boss and the president he served with.

Pence did not reveal who he’ll vote for in the 2024 general election, saying that he’ll keep “my vote to myself.” He, however, said he will “never vote” for President Joe Biden. Pence also suggested that he would not back a third-party candidate.

It is a good bet that he will vote for Trump. Pence showed he has no spine and couldn’t even stand up for his conservative principals.

Top Democrat Schumer calls for new elections in Israel, saying Netanyahu is an obstacle to peace

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday called on Israel to hold new elections, saying he believes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “lost his way” and is an obstacle to peace in the region amid a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Schumer, the first Jewish majority leader in the Senate and the highest-ranking Jewish official in the U.S., strongly criticized Netanyahu in a 40-minute speech Thursday morning on the Senate floor. Schumer said the prime minister has put himself in a coalition of far-right extremists and “as a result, he has been too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza, which is pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows.”

“Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah,” Schumer said.

—

The problem is that Israel’s “religious right” hold the view that they have a divine right to all of Gaza. Some of those people have blocked the roads to stop the delivery of food and medical supplies to Palestinians.

Biden projected a vision of strength that’s been missing from his presidency but will be needed in 2024 campaign

“Sleepy Joe” is no more. At the State of the Union address on Thursday night, the 81-year-old president set out to defuse his biggest liability: deep-seated fears among millions of Americans that he’s too old to serve a second term.

The New York Times reported “Verbal swings at Donald Trump, though not by name. A spirited back-and-forth with G.O.P. lawmakers. And a loud and feisty delivery.”

Reuters reported “President Joe Biden on Thursday laid out his case for re-election in a fiery State of the Union speech”

Associated Press reported “President Joe Biden delivered a defiant argument for a second term in his State of the Union speech”

CBS posted “In defiant 2024 State of the Union, Biden fires opening salvo in likely rematch with Trump”

Can the president keep up this start of the campaign in the defiant and feisty way he started all the way to November 5? He will have to if he hopes to win.