COMMUNITY CHEST… Squid stayed off the roads this past holiday weekend, and did little else but ooze down to the beach to get some color in Squid’s disturbingly translucent complexion. Squid likely would have fallen asleep and been sunburned had not one of Squid’s besties showed up with Squid’s favorite new board game: the Monopoly-inspired Carmel-opoly.
Why does Squid love it so? Because it’s the only way Squid can pretend to acquire real estate in posh Carmel. The game also brings home a reminder: Even if you’re rich – or say, your town is rich – more is always better.
That human quality is very much on display right now among Carmel elected officials, and at the heart of the issue is a proposed 30-year, three-eighths of a cent sales tax being floated by Transportation Agency for Monterey County. During the life of the tax, it would generate about $600 million to be divided among the county and cities for regional transportation improvements. The county wants the split to be 50/50, and the amount each city gets to be based on population and lane miles. But the Carmel City Council isn’t having it, and feel that Carmel – while small – brings in 2 million tourists annually and should be getting a bigger piece of the road-building pie.
Because even if Carmel coffers are flush with treasure – unlike other cities in the county – there still isn’t enough cash to pave Park Place with Carmel stone.
DICK PICS… With the presidential primaries in full swing and campaigns trying to reach out to as many constituents as possible, Squid still can’t figure out what the hell is up with Snapchat. It’s a platform that Squid thought was only used for sexting.
Squid knows comics and the body politic might do better if a few presidential candidates self-destructed by pulling an Anthony Weiner and have a non-discrete pics surface that was sent in poor taste. While men behaving badly is an ever-present comedic trope – or trap that even Squid just fell into – there’s nothing funny about men with power thinking they can prove their virility by sending woman pics of their swollen members.
On Feb. 9 the U.S. Army paid $820,000 to former Presidio of Monterey police trainee Luda Starkey after she was subject to sexual harassment by her supervisor, Sgt.Wayne Lords, and then terminated after she presented the evidence of the harassment to POM Police. The settlement reached at the U.S. District Court in San Jose is unheard of for sexual harassment in the military. Yet Lords – who sent multiple dick pics captured on email and text – still has a job in the military, while Starkey, does not.
The unfortunate thing is that if, say, Donald Trump were to send a dick pic to Fox News’ Megyn Kelly it would likely boost his poll numbers as he vies for the Republican presidential nod.