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EDITORIAL & OPINION
THE POLITICAL NOTEBOOK From the Democrats of Hemet-San Jacinto
EMPTY CHAIR
Does anyone remember Clint Eastwood doing his shtick at the 2012 Republican National Convention? From the People website “Eastwood has used spectacle and Hollywood showmanship in his own political activity before — most famously (or infamously, depending) at the 2012 Republican National Convention when he gave an improvised speech to an empty chair that was meant to represent then-President Barack Obama. Eastwood endorsed Mitt Romney against Obama”. This article also says he has abandoned Trump and is supporting one of the Democratic candidates still in the race. While I was disappointed in his previous political choices, my family knows first-hand what a kind and compassionate man Mr. Eastwood is. My niece auditioned for a part (one of the Andrew Sisters) in Mr. Eastwood’s film “Flags of our Fathers”, a story about the WW2 battle at Iwo Jima. When he told her she had won the part and was told the shooting would start the following Monday morning, my niece asked if it could possibly be rescheduled. Surprised at such a request from someone who had just been chosen for a bit part, he asked why. Her response was “I have my chemotherapy on Monday”. His response was “Will Tuesday work for you”. To reschedule a shoot on a major film is not an insignificant thing but he didn’t hesitate for one moment. I refer to the “empty chair” shtick because it symbolizes what the Trump administration is doing now. It is talking now to a whole lot of empty chairs. Dozens and dozens of governmental positions that are normally filled by Presidential appointments have gone unfilled since Trump took office, many not even needing congressional approval. Trump has also fired several from positions normally held over from the previous administration because they are not political but technical in nature. The Global Pandemic Response team within National Security Council was disbanded by the Trump administration in May of 2018. From Snopes.com “It’s thus true that the Trump administration axed the executive branch team responsible for coordinating a response to a pandemic and did not replace it, eliminating Ziemer’s position and reassigning others. The team responsible for planning and responding to a national health crisis is now an “empty chair”. And this is not the only “empty chair”. The Partnership for Public Service and The Washington Post have determined that the White House has not even bothered to nominate people for 150 out of 705 Senate-confirmed positions. The effect is a lack of planning, a lack of preparedness. A perfect example of this occurred in nearby Costa Mesa. The CDC and the U.S. Department of Health were planning to transfer as many as 50 patients who have tested positive for Coronavirus from Sacramento to the city’s Fairview Developmental Center. From CBS Los Angeles “We have a lot of activity in the area,” she said. “So, it’s not the kind of area that’s isolated and that would be appropriate for quarantining people who have an infectious disease.” A federal judge Friday granted the city of Costa Mesa’s temporary restraining order requesting to block the transfer. The largest concern was the lack of information, despite the fact that the patients were expected to arrive in a matter of days, said the Costa Mesa Fire Chief Dan Stefano. “There has not been an information flow, and in a situation like that, for us, it creates the greatest concern”. The bottom line is there was no planning, no preparation. A site for those who needed to be quarantined was hastily chosen because it was available, not because it had been evaluated and determined to be adequate to protect the surrounding population. The lack of management skills in the Trump’s administration is putting your health at risk. It is time to vote for someone who cares I hope the Corona virus does not leave your chair “empty”.
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the administration’s response, returned to Capitol Wednesday afternoon to separately brief House Democrats and Republicans. Also Wednesday, top congressional leaders met to discuss what additional steps may be needed to ensure the safety of the Capitol complex — for lawmakers and staff, as well as the annual influx of visitors this spring. Afterward, Pelosi said it was a “good, positive meeting about unity, and how we want to protect the Capitol and have continuity of operations for the Congress.” Asked whether the Capitol and its visitors center and galleries will
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undercut Biden’s frequently spotlighting his closeness to Obama. Trump took to Twitter on Wednesday to call Biden’s strong Super Tuesday showing “a perfect storm” and amplify his long-running argument that the Democratic Party would move to stop Sanders from winning the nomination. “The Democrat establishment came together and crushed Bernie Sanders, AGAIN!” Trump tweeted. Trump also called Warren “selfish” for staying in the race because it “hurts Bernie badly.” Biden’s victories were powered by Democratic voters who broke his way just days before casting their ballots — a wave of late momentum that scrambled the race in a matter of hours. In some states, the late-deciders made up roughly half of all voters, accord-
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KOTYUK’S ECONOMY REVIEW
Super Tuesday Transition ANDREW F. KOTYUK | COLUMNIST
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ear of the Corona Virus in the United States shot to the ceiling sending the market reeling and opening the trap door in the market. This added extreme volatility and massive swings in the market. All domestic indices fell into correction territory. A correction, as I have shared before to you all, is a drop of more than 10%. If you remember this has been a long time coming and we were way overdue for it. COVID-19, the Corona Virus, breached across the globe and into our comfort zone area. There are now two different strains. 93,000 people worldwide are infected and deaths are at 3,100. The President has weighed in and government funds are being deployed to strengthen the firewall against any outbreak in the United States. It seems imminent that this is going to heavily impact the global economy as China’s factories shuttered. With this coming at the U.S. economy the Federal Reserve cut Fed Rates by a half a percent in a proactive way to bolster the economy. More cuts maybe on their
way. There is uncertainty now on how the earnings outlook will be for corporations and this raises the risk of a recession. I suggest that based on your portfolio and discipline that you start nibbling at your buy list and adding to your positions. Remember, the lower you buy them more risk you take out of them and the more upside you have. In addition, if you have any defensive positions against the market, I would urge you to reduce or eliminate those positions. The same goes for any fixed income positions you took to park your cash. Bonds should be up in value due to the Fed’s dropping rates. Take the profits. Lastly, if you have losers a down market is no-brainer to sell these and rotate them into a growth position. I would recommend to take your base positions in the broad indices such as the S&P500, the Dow Industrials, and the NASDAQ. You will have diversity and performance similar to the market. Use this Super Tuesday to transition your portfolio. Lastly, my friends it’s time for me take a break from my weekly writings. I have enjoyed discussing my thoughts and it was during
ANDREW F. KOTYUK, CIMA*| File Photo. an exciting time of lows and highs and lows again in the market. Hopefully you have some new tools in your toolbox. I am a candidate for State Assembly to represent a good portion of the San Jacinto and need to dedicate my time to this and winning. I look forward to representing you all in Sacramento. If you have questions on a particular company or investment and would like our feedback, contact us at my email below. Our team will research and respond to you with our recommendation and opinion. Andrew F. Kotyuk, CIMA* is CEO and Principal of Alpha Wealth Management LLC. For questions or investment topics please email me afkotyuk@alpha-wealth.com.
A DIFFERENT POINT OF VIEW
Corona Virus MUHAMMAD NAEEM | COLUMNIST
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remain open, Pelosi said, “Yes, at this time yes.” Separately, the Department of Health and Human Services said Wednesday it is providing $35 million to 28 states and localities to help their public health departments respond to the outbreak and also increase their surveillance for the virus. Washington state, which has seen 10 deaths, will get $2.75 million, while California will get $4.5 million. The money should be available to the states by early next week, federal officials said, and comes from more than $135 million that HHS Secretary Alex Azar transferred from other department accounts to help with the coronavirus response.
have family members who live in Corona. You know where I am going with this. I am afraid to go visit them, because, you know, of the Corona Virus. Yes, I know it is Coronavirus, but I am using proper grammar. Heheh. What is even worst, my brother lives in Norco, which stands for North Corona, which I guess must be a mutation of the Coronavirus. No amount of soap or alcohol-based hand rubs will help me there. I kid, of course. This is a serious disease and we all must be weary of its spread and transmission. But, my favorite part of being an American is that we can find humor in any kind of situation. I mean, you must have heard of people joking that they will never catch this virus because they don’t drink Corona bear. I had to take my son, yet again, to ER because he was having strong fever. I think my son does the ER thing every now and then just to bother his mother. It always happens on the days that she wants to relax and enjoy her day off. Of course, the first question they asked at the ER was if we had traveled to China. The two doctors that attended him were Chinese. Is it wrong of me to see irony in this situation?! I am with the President. This virus is going to disappear, almost magically, come April. It is made in China. As all my fellow Walmart shoppers know, made in China means it won’t last. But we must do something if it affects my shopping experience at Walmart. Of course, there are some conspiracy theories that claim that this virus was created to bring down the Chinese empire and ruin its financial success. Or worst, that it is a form of population control that has gotten out of control. Well, people say such things pretty much all the time when something starts trending. I guess we can assume that Democrats had a hand in it. They couldn’t impeach the President, so they resorted to other ways of affecting his reelection. I guess, politics has morphed into something vicious. Of course, I kid again. We all know that Democrats don’t have the wisdom or the know how to bring about such diabolical conspiracy. They were hung up on the world ending in 12 years. Ha, the joke is on them. It may end sooner. There is a positive side effect of this epidemic. Or is it a pandemic? I can never tell the difference. Wait, I
ing to AP VoteCast, surveys of voters in several state primaries. He drew support from a broad coalition of moderates and conservatives, African Americans and voters older than 45. Sanders’ success proved he could deliver in perhaps the greatest test of his decadeslong political career. His success was built on a base of energized liberals, young people and Latinos. But he was unable to sufficiently widen his appeal to older voters and college graduates who make up a sizable share of Democratic voters, according to AP VoteCast. Biden’s strong finish punctuated a dramatic turnaround in the span of just three days when he leveraged a blowout victory in South Carolina to score sweeping victories on Tuesday that transcended geography, class and race. And lest there be any doubt, he cemented his status as the standard-bearer for the Democrats’ establishment
wing. The former vice president showed strength in the Northeast with victories in Massachusetts and Maine. He won delegate-rich Texas in the Southwest, Minnesota in the upper Midwest and finished on top across the South in Virginia, Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas — in addition to Oklahoma. Sanders opened the night as the undisputed Democratic front-runner and hoped to claim an insurmountable delegate lead. That didn’t happen. And while he scored the night’s biggest delegate-prize in California, he won just three other states: his home state of Vermont, Utah and Colorado. Biden racked up his victories despite being dramatically outspent and out-staffed. Moderate rival Bloomberg, for example, poured more than $12 million into television advertising in Vir-
Dick Gale, President of the Democrats of Hemet – San Jacinto
CORONAVIRUS
Thursday | March 5 - 11, 2020
think I can. A p andemic is an epidemic on international scale. So, yes, there is a positive side effect of this pandemic. Some people call it disaster capitalism. Some companies take advantage of disasters to make money. There is a vast array of products being sold with Coronavirus as the main theme. Main product being T-Shirts with Coronavirus related memes and jokes. I know that some people frown upon this way of making money, but humor does allow us to cope with the said disaster and helps change the mood for better. My favorite shirt is with Baby Yoda using the Force to fight the virus. I think it is cute. Then again, anything with Baby Yoda on it is cute. Best advice to avoid catching this virus is to not shake hands with anyone and to not make physical contact with those that may show symptoms of anything resembling the resultant flu. But I think we should never shake hands with anyone regardless of the epidemic, sorry, pandemic. I don’t know about you, but I have seen people do weird and scary things with their hands before they shake them with me. Some are just sick, but others are very cringe-worthy. Just think of people handling money and all that we hear about money bringing to the table. Imagine where those hands have been before you shake them. Coronavirus spreads through human contact. Well, eliminate human contact. Why do we need to even touch anyone? What is in it for us? Yes, some people consider it a form of greeting, or even showing affection. But such greeting can get us killed. Such affection can be deadly. Forget about all those sold- out face masks. Order gloves and a lot of them. There are way too many people trying to touch us, one way or another. We must be on guard, for our own good!
ginia, while Biden spent less than $200,000. In a statement announcing his departure, Bloomberg vowed to stay engaged in the 2020 election and his ultimate goal to ensure Trump is defeated this fall. “I’ve always believed that defeating Donald Trump starts with uniting behind the candidate with the best shot to do it. After yesterday’s vote, it is clear that candidate is my friend and a great American, Joe Biden.” Biden aides said they didn’t immediately know what to expect out of Bloomberg’s endorsement moving forward. The former New York mayor has committed to turning his massive campaign operation toward the Democrats larger goal of defeating Trump this fall. It was not immediately clear if Bloomberg would use his resources and organization to help Biden in his nominating fight against Sanders.
Biden’s deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield said Biden is “thrilled” to have Bloomberg’s support. But she said conversations about what Bloomberg’s endorsement means in practice are ongoing. With votes still being counted across the country, The Associated Press has allocated 566 delegates to Biden, 501 to Sanders and 61 to Warren. The numbers are expected to shift as new states report their numbers and as some candidates hover around the 15% vote threshold they must hit to earn delegates. The ultimate nominee must claim 1,991 delegates, which is a majority of the 3,979 pledged delegates available this primary season. Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Will Weissert and Brian Slodysko in Washington and Kathleen Ronayne in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
DISCLAIMER: The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the various author’s articles on this Opinion Section or elsewhere in the Newspaper where we have articles with the header “COLUMN” do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints or official policies of the Publisher, Editor, Reporters or anybody else in the Staff of the Hemet and San Jacinto Chronicle Newspaper.
