I watched the trial today. I started on Fox but by about 8 p.m., I switched to CSPAN2. Fox was interrupting with handoffs between shows and other news. I am sure it was important to many viewers, but I was trying to listen carefully to the president’s defenders.

Starr was good, Dershowitz was great. Philbin did an outstanding job of previewing the clusterfark coming if the Senate decides to call Bolton/Mulvaney or anyone else subject to Executive Privilege. I hope Romney/Collins got the message. Don’t think they have, yet. But McConnell did because if they go down that road the Senate will be in session through the Convention this summer.

Taz Venegas was a quiet guy, mostly. He had a great sense of humor and was well-liked, but few thought of him as a great leader among the officers in the squadron. Marines are a cult of leadership, and although I have joined in that cult and studied and discussed the topic ad nauseam all my adult life, I confess I still don’t know what qualities make a man a great leader.

We were in an A-6 squadron and it was the very early 1990s. Our squadron was designated to transition to the F/A-18D, and along with that change that we would no longer have the mission to deliver nuclear weapons. The Marines didn’t want nukes in any unit anymore, and the A-6 was one of the last methods left to use them. But before we got rid of our nukes, we had one last Nuclear Technical Proficiency Inspection (NTPI). Somehow Taz was tapped to be in charge, a choice that surprised most of us because the NTPI was an extremely high profile and very difficult inspection, and Taz was not among the favored sons among the air crew. Taz was a quiet guy.

I think we can all agree that today’s 18-year-olds are not as adult or responsible as the 18-year-olds of the 1930s, ’40s, ’50s or even the ’80s. Today’s 18-year-olds often do not have driver’s licenses, have not held a single job, do not pay their own bills, and have little experience supporting themselves by doing laundry or cooking meals. Years ago, at 18, these young adults held down jobs or went to college and studied. Some of them got married and started families.

I would propose the following: we move the drinking and smoking age to 18. We move the voting age to at least 21, if not 25 (when people are out of college). This would give people more time to grow up, since they apparently need it, and would save them from the consequences of their under-developed brains’ machinations. Let’s move adulthood to 25. The FAFSA already holds a parent’s income against a student until age 24 or unless married, has a dependent of their own, or is in the service. Let’s take the next logical step.

I’ve been an HOA board member for about eight years now, and only became a member after we had a horrible issue with some residents trying to bully a young couple they didn’t like. Those of us who took over the board have followed an agenda aimed at leaving people alone, and since our covenants are minimal so it’s pretty easy. It got me to thinking, however, about the handful of residents who complain about their neighbors.

The most recent issue was someone complaining about their neighbor’s kids riding dirt bikes on the property. They didn’t like the noise and dust but it’s not an activity prohibited by the covenants. I told the woman complaining that she needed to contact the neighbors directly before we would even consider getting involved. She refused. Another neighbor talked to them and worked it out (keep in mind these are three- or five-acre tracts). The other thing we hear about often is someone not liking their neighbor’s yard clutter. We always tell them to find us where the activity is prohibited in the covenants (and, of course, it’s not).