How mobster’s son Dr. Cappy Rothman became a fertility pioneer

• March 27, 2023

If you only covered the first three decades of Cappy Rothman’s life, you’d still have enough for a movie.

That film would be about the handsome, playboy son of a midcentury mobster – his father was Norman “Roughhouse” Rothman – and a life that involved hanging out in swanky Havana nightclubs and driving around Miami Beach with his pet monkey.

But those early years have little to do with the legacy that the 85-year-old from Pacific Palisades ultimately built after finding his calling in medical school.

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In the ’70s, through talent and luck, Rothman found himself on the leading edge of andrology, then the still little-known field of male reproductive and sexual health. With a restless curiosity and the willingness to try anything to help his patients, he became a pioneer in male infertility.

“God of Sperm” is the eye-catching title of a new book on Rothman’s life. Written by Joe Donnelly with Rothman’s assistance, it’s a fascinating look at an American original whose work as a doctor aided the conception of hundreds of thousands of children.

“When I started, there was no field of andrology. I felt like I was walking into a cave with a candle,” he says. “The cave is now filled with people and floodlights, and the information just seems to be extraordinary, algorithmic, the way knowledge is being added.”

Rothman says of his life in medicine, “I miss it greatly.”

Donnelly, a longtime journalist who worked at the LA Weekly when it first referred to Rothman by the book’s title, says that when he was first approached to write Rothman’s story he wasn’t sure a book set in the world of male reproductive health was a good fit for him.

“At first glance, it’s interesting,” says Donnelly, now a Whittier College professor. “But it’s not in my wheelhouse or a topic I feel any closeness or affinity for.

“But once I got into it, I felt both a duty to the story and to Cappy and to try and do my best to tell that story,” he says. “And to put it into context, you know, that this is one of those great American tales from the post-war era.”

Living the life

“It was absolutely fantastic growing up in Miami Beach in that magical period of time,” Rothman says. His father had relocated from the Bronx to Miami for a new job when Cappy was 10.

Rothman says he doesn’t have many details of what his father’s work entailed. From the ages of 12 to 17, Cappy was away for school at the Valley Forge Military Academy in Pennsylvania, so time spent at home in Miami or in Havana was vacation.

“I had the most marvelous time in Miami Beach because of my father,” Rothman says. “When I went to the University of Miami, I had a Cadillac convertible with air-conditioning. I had a monkey. I had access to an airplane and I was learning to fly.

“I was able to see, through my father’s influence, the Rat Pack whenever they were in the Fontainebleau,” he says the entertainers that included Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. “Not only see them but actually have almost front row seats.”

Life was a joyride thanks to the access and accommodation he got from being the son of Roughhouse Rothman.

“Everything was comped,” Rothman says. “They all knew my father. They loved my father. In Cuba, people would call him ‘Mr. Normie’ walking down the street. The guy that did his shoes – ‘Hi, Mr. Normie!’ – the guy that had the coffee shop.”

In Cuba, Rothman met the soon-to-be-deposed dictator Fulgencia Batista. In Miami Beach, he partied with the sons of the Cuban elites, trailed from nightclub to nightclub by their bodyguards.

As for what he knew of his father’s work, Rothman says he thought he might be a bookie since some of his duties involved running the cocktail lounge at the Albion Hotel, a reputed gangster hangout in the ’50s and ’60s, according to the book. He did attend some of the U.S. Senate hearings where his father was called to testify about Mafia activities such as plots to kill Castro.

But for the most part, his father’s business just wasn’t a big deal to him.

“My friends envied me because at this time the heroes of the day were Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, George Raft,” he says, reeling off the stars of various mob movies. “The gangsters seemed to be the heroes. My friends would say, “Wow, your dad’s in jail.’ So I was a hero in a way.”

Rothman says he learned more about his father’s criminal activities from the information Donnelly found through Freedom of Information Act requests and FBI files. But his father never said much at all until his dying day.

“I remember when he was dying, in the hospital,” Rothman says, recalling that he’d asked his father if he’d talk to a reporter friend about his life. “He said, ‘I never talked when I was alive. I’m certainly going to talk when I’m dying.’

“I even asked him, ‘Well, do you know who killed Kennedy?’ He said, ‘Forget about it.’”

Moving into medicine

For his military service, Rothman served in the Coast Guard, signing up to be a corpsman, that service’s name for a medic, mostly because he heard they’d let you wear civilian clothes and work alongside WAVES, the women’s division of the Navy.

He found he had a passion and talent for medicine that – after six months working for Teamsters’ boss Jimmy Hoffa in Washington D.C. – led him to medical school, and after graduation in 1969, a series of internships and residencies that eventually led him to the University of California, San Francisco hospital where urologist Frank Hinman Jr. became his mentor.

Rothman, who by then had married his wife Beth, with whom he has three sons, worked on several studies assigned by Himman during that time. Rothman still thought he’d end up an endoscopist, but after working at Loma Linda Medical Center to become board-certified in urology, he landed a job at the Tyler Clinic, where founder Ed Tyler was one of the earliest pioneers of American infertility medicine.

“I spent a year there learning a great deal and becoming fascinated with this incredible cell, the sperm,” Rothman says of the clinic. He left after Tyler died in 1975, having had a falling out with a more senior clinician.

“In 1975, urologists weren’t trained for infertility,” he says. “There wasn’t even the field of microsurgery. There wasn’t even a field of andrology. But within six weeks, I became booked up for six months.

“I was overwhelmed because I was the go-to guy for infertility, or any issues with testicular dysfunction that was not cancer, that was not an infection, that was not congenital,” Rothman says.

At the time, infertility was almost entirely considered to be a female problem, he says. If a man had sexual function, the majority of doctors believed he was fertile.

“I dedicated myself to exposing the fact that men can be infertile,” Rothman says. “And it’s now recognized that 50% of infertile couples it’s [due to the] male factor.”

Rothman’s willingness to explore previously underused or unknown procedures to address male infertility made him not only the doctor of choice for many couples seeking to have children, but it also led him to create or popularize new treatments that today are taken for granted.

One of them – retrieving and freezing viable sperm from a man after death – had never been done before. But in 1980  Rothman agreed to try at the request of the former U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston of California, whose son had been badly injured and declared brain dead in an accident.

“The resident called and asked me, ‘Can you do it?’” Rothman says. “There was no literature, there was no research. But it was both a desire to help as well as my incredible curiosity: Could I? The senator asked, ‘How much are you going to charge?’ and I said, ‘I’m not going to charge anything. I don’t know if I can do it.’”

The procedure Rothman tried proved successful, and upon returning to his office and looking through his microscope. “I noticed millions of sperm in the testicle and epididymis and I knew it could be done,” he says.

Take that to the bank

That procedure, though it received plenty of headlines and a good measure of controversy, was rare, a curiosity, when compared to the much bigger impact Rothman’s work with sperm banking and the use of donor sperm, Donnelly says.

“There are conceivably no barriers to reproduction from the male side as long as you’re not sterile,” Donnelly says.

More significant was Rothman’s popularization of donor sperm through his early work at the Tyler Clinic to his cofounding of the California Cryobank, which is either the first- or second-largest sperm bank in the world.

“He took it out of the shadows,” Donnelly says. “Using donor sperm had been around a long time but it became furtive. And Cappy came along with his big personality and his frankness and just talked about sperm in a down-to-earth way.”

Donor sperm and the sperm bank also gave agency to single women and gay couples who wanted children, and also showed how microsurgery – “He was arguably one of the best microsurgeons in the world,” Donnelly says – could advance urology and infertility treatment.

Rothman agrees that his impact on fertility has been greatest through sperm banking, something he took on as a side service to his urology practice only to watch it grow and keep growing.

“When I sold the company the first time in 2014, I was responsible for the birth of 240,000 children,” he says. “Now the number is well over 400,000. And I figure in two generations, and it’s happening, there are going to be millions.”

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Diana Ross is coming to Agua Caliente Rancho Mirage in June

• March 27, 2023

Legendary Motown singer Diana Ross is coming to Agua Caliente Resort Casino Spa Rancho Mirage on Saturday, June 10, as part of her Music Legacy Tour.

Tickets are $95-$225 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, March 31 at aguacalientecasinos.com. Some of Ross’ biggest hits, and undoubtedly part of her tour, include “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” “I’m Coming Out” and “Stop! In the Name of Love.”

Ross began her career as the singer of The Supremes, an all-female soul group that became one of the most well-known acts signed to Motown Records in the 1960s. Following her departure from the group, Ross embarked on a solo career and ventured into film. Her first role was in the 1972 film, “Lady Sings the Blues,” where she portrayed jazz and swing singer Billie Holiday. She also recorded the film’s soundtrack, which peaked at number one on the Billboard charts for two weeks.

In 1988, Ross was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Supremes. Ross is also the first woman to have won the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award twice, as a solo artist in 2012 and with The Supremes in 2023.

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5 planets will parade across the sky in rare astronomical event

• March 27, 2023

By Theresa Braine

More than half the solar system’s planets will align Monday in a rarely seen spectacle, arcing across a corner of the night sky.

Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Uranus will parade across the sky, accompanied by the moon and a possible star cluster. While the scenario will be visible to the naked eye, astronomers recommend breaking out the binoculars or a telescope for a more detailed view.

The planets will be arrayed across the western horizon in an arc about 20 to 25 minutes after Monday’s sunset, according to Space.com, starting with Mercury and Jupiter. However, twilight’s brightness could mask them, Space.com warned, adding that the viewing window is only about 25 to 30 minutes.

The planets will also be so close to the horizon that any structure or sightline glitch could obscure them. “Your best option is looking out over a westward-facing shoreline that is perfectly flat and wide open with nothing to block your view,” Space.com said.

Slightly higher, but more discernible and with a longer viewing window, will be Venus, and above it to the left will be faint, greenish-hued Uranus. Mars is next on the list, higher up and cozying next to a crescent moon, according to Starwalk.

Monday is the best day to observe this phenomenon, but the alignment will be visible in the days leading up to and following the high point.

​ Orange County Register 

Students learn about compassion, the world and so much more … Bravo!

• March 27, 2023

GATE Talent Academies cultivate creative connections

Some 100 students from Fullerton School District learned about ideal communities during this year’s GATE Talent Academies at Hermosa Drive School. The focus of the academies is cultivating creative connections through fostering creativity, solving problems and developing talent.

The students brainstormed what makes up an ideal community, what components, structures and people are important to include, and then they created visual representations of their community.

Past GATE Talent Academies focused on identity in the community and the impact of communication and the use of arts to better understand one’s inner self.

More information about GATE Talent Academies is available on the FSD website.

– Submitted by Fullerton School District

Buena Park School District students learn about compassion during kindness week

Buena Park School District students learned about charity, friendly attitudes and helping others during the district’s second annual Kinder Kindness Week celebration.

Some 375 kindergarten students were given medals and superhero capes for learning ways to make their campus, community and homes better by spreading kindness. Students also created artwork about how they’re reaching out to make new friends, planting trees, cleaning up their neighborhoods and being polite.

Each elementary school in the district is showcasing the artwork in multipurpose rooms and classrooms to spread goodwill to the rest of the student body and visiting parents. The Kinder Kindness art exhibit can also be viewed online at bpsd.us/parents/kinder-kindness.

– Submitted by Buena Park School District

Huntington Beach High School alumni help students attend model U.N. conference

Some teachers you never forget. Lynn Aase at Huntington Beach High School, who started an award-winning Model United Nations (MUN) program 50 years ago, is one of those teachers.

When Aase died in April 2021, alumni wanted to honor him and came up with the idea of establishing the Aase Fund, which would help send current HBHS MUN students to top national MUN conferences.

At the end of January, the group’s dream came true when the Aase Fund paid half the costs for two of 30 students to attend the Harvard MUN conference in Boston, where they represented Kuwait and Mozambique. Recipients were chosen based on merit and need.

“Mr. Aase would be proud that his students launched a new legacy of HBHS MUN alumni supporting current HBHS MUN students,” said Doug Bradley, president of the nonprofit. “Aase not only built the top Model United Nations program in the country, but behind the scenes, he also personally helped many students struggling to pay costs.” Costs include travel, lodging, meals and registration.

After Aase, then a new teacher at Huntington Beach High School, started the school’s MUN program 50 years ago, he quickly led it to national dominance. Now, the alumni are trying to raise $50,000 by the program’s 50th anniversary in July to help ensure that future qualified students can participate – regardless of their families’ ability to pay the costs.

Model United Nations is a simulation of the United Nations where students play the role of delegates from different countries, debating and attempting to solve real-world issues. Conferences are held at colleges and high schools throughout the world.

The current HBHS program, one of the largest in the country, has about 350 students each year ranging from freshmen to seniors.

For more information, go to aaselegacy.creativezazz.com.

– Submitted by Lynn Aase MUN Legacy Foundation

University High reclaims victory at JPL-hosted National Science Bowl

A team from Irvine’s University High School prevailed over teams from 19 other schools at the regional competition of the National Science Bowl, hosted for the 31st year by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Pasadena.

The victory marked a return to form for the school, which won four years straight until its streak was disrupted in a narrow loss at last year’s tournament.

More than 100 Southern California high schoolers competed in the tense, fast-paced academic challenge after months of preparation.

University High team captain Benjamin Fan revealed the secret to the team’s success: He and his teammates simulated the event during sessions when they practiced with a buzzer like the one Science Bowl competitors use to signal they’re ready to answer, “Jeopardy!”-style.

The team also attended an invitational science competition at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and participated in online scrimmages against other schools, said David Knight, a science teacher who is in his 19th year coaching University High teams.

Teams are composed of four students and one alternate, plus a teacher who serves as coach. Schools from Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties competed at the event, which is so popular that teams are selected by lottery. Round-robin and double-elimination rounds led to final matches, where Troy High School in Fullerton earned second place and Santa Monica High placed third.

Students have mere seconds to answer difficult science and math questions, such as “What intermolecular force is responsible for the secondary structure of proteins?” and “What is the sum of the squares of the first 19 positive integers?”

In the final rounds, students’ answers often provoked a quiet murmuring of appreciation from fellow competitors in the auditorium.

Now, University High students will go on to compete against winners from dozens of other regional competitions across the country at a national tournament in Washington April 27 through May 3. The National Science Bowl is coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy.

– Submitted by JPL

Trabuco Hills High School student named semifinalist for prestigious scholarship

Trabuco Hills High School student Dain Kang was recently selected a semifinalist for the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation College Scholarship Program.

Kang is one of 626 high school seniors competing for the highly selective scholarship, which provides high-achieving students with financial need up to $55,000 each year to cover the costs of college.

The scholarship semifinalists were selected from a pool of over 5,600 applicants. The recipients will be announced in March. The scholars are selected based on exceptional academic ability and achievement, financial need, persistence, service to others, and leadership.

Among Kang’s accomplishments is the study of the human brain. She wrote and published the book “A Dive Into the Human Brain: For Young Students to Learn About Brain Science.” As part of her community project, she has been involved in bringing information about the U.S. health care system to immigrants through a multilingual website.

The Bravo! section highlights achievements of our residents and groups. Send news of achievements for consideration to [email protected].

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LeBron James’ defiance of Father Time keeps us watching

• March 27, 2023

Editor’s note: This is the Monday, March 27, 2023, edition of the Purple & Bold Lakers newsletter from reporter Kyle Goon. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.

The closest I ever got in five years to seeing LeBron James as he is – and not merely as he wishes to be seen – was three years ago.

The NBA bubble had a bizarre kind of closeness (even as we were masking and following certain distancing guidelines) sort of like a high school drama production: You could always get a glimpse backstage. “Locker rooms” were sometimes curtained-off parts of the court that NBA teams were playing on feet away. There was very little privacy; vulnerabilities that can often be shrouded by closed doors in huge sprawling arenas were largely out for scrutiny.

It was in this setting that I watched James, then 35, work out with assistant Phil Handy for half an hour, which isn’t itself unusual. What was unique about this session was how poorly he shot, missing looks left and right, looking tired, sweating through his hoodie. During the early days of the pandemic, James had grown the beard of a mountaineer, and he had let gray seep into its fringes.

Writers look for poignant scenes and moments, and to me at the time, this was one of those. This workout was on the cusp of the NBA Restart, and truly no one knew how the top-seeded Lakers were going to play – not to mention if the entire bubble might collapse in a week. The gray hairs, the weary workout, James lying on his back on the court, swearing in frustration – it captured the sense of uncertainty at the time, as well as the star’s toughest one-on-one he’ll ever face, against Father Time.

So I did what any writer would do – I wrote it. And as vulnerable as I found that moment for LeBron, it was even more telling what I noticed in the media session before the first game that would count: He dyed his beard. All those white hairs that subtly suggest a kind of sageness or worldy experience were blended to look just like the others.

What I’ve come to understand about LeBron James is that he does not age gracefully. He ages defiantly. He kicks back. He relishes his still profound physical gifts at age 38, maybe even more loudly on social media than he ever did before. You think you can peg when he’s coming back from an injury? No, he says, only he decides when he’s coming back.

The latest battle of James’ career has summoned forth that brazenness once again. James’ latest four-week return from a torn tendon in his right foot is indeed a feat. But his willingness to trumpet the achievement in superlative terms is, well, very LeBron of him.

When did he get a sense that he could return earlier than most thought? “When the doctors told me I was healing faster than anybody they’ve seen before with the injury,” he said.

Faster than anybody? I’m sure they called Guinness to check the record book.

But past some declarations that can cause involuntary eye-rolling – like James’ description that he got his final medical recommendation from “the LeBron James of feet” – there’s something very compelling in his saga, now 20 years long.

Unlike many men feeling the onset of middle age doldrums setting in, James seeks to shake off the feeling like a musty winter coat. Unlike many of us, he has the ability to work out three hours a day on a torn tendon that two other doctors said he should get surgically repaired. And if he has to do tireless work around the clock to do it, he can. And he will.

James understands the work of being an NBA star – not just a great player, but a 24/7 face-of-the-league celebrity – in a way that few others have ever been able to grasp. One of the things he understood early on was that his body was his ticket, and if it failed him, that would diminish every other great ambition he had in his life. That’s why he reportedly spends $1 million or more on his body every year. It also helps frame why he can be so furtive about his physical vulnerabilities, which he treats as high-level corporate secrets.

When asked if he would eventually need surgery on his foot, James said the most he knows is that he doesn’t need surgery right now. But he added: “If I end up having to get surgery after the season, you guys won’t know. I don’t talk to you guys in the offseason, and by the time next season starts, I’ll be fine, I’ll be ready to go.”

James understands that his brand represents not just winning, but a kind of physical invincibility. That has been undercut in recent years by his injury struggles: In five seasons as a Laker, he’s only played more than 60 games once. The foot isn’t even his most serious injury he’s had in L.A. – his 2018 groin tear was the predecessor to a litany of injuries that followed, and at times he’s given us reason to believe that it still bothers him in some unknowable way.

But possibly the most human trait I’ve observed about LeBron is how he fights the idea that he’s getting older – whether it’s reposting his sky-high dunks, or doing a commercial where he plays the embodiment of Father Time. He spits in its face. He suggests that he’s still young at heart, perhaps the reason why he still gets a kick out of playing basketball against teenagers who played against his oldest son, or who have fathers who guarded him two decades ago.

At times, James’ struggle to stay ahead of the sands of time have gotten him into trouble. His support of the trade for Russell Westbrook can be seen, in one sense, of him trying to jumpstart a new super team, and it failing miserably. As defiant of time as he may be, James has a sense of how his championship contending window is closing – maybe most accurately, how time is limited for him to be the best player on a championship team – and it draws him to impulsive choices, like his desire for the Lakers to trade for Kyrie Irving earlier this season.

But outside of his dubious personnel judgment, James is driven to do other incredible things. Blowing past the NBA’s all-time scoring record might have felt, to some, a little hollow amid a season on the brink, but I suspect the passing of time and James’ continued distancing from the field will provide perspective to the achievement that was and is. Even before that, when he scored a season-high 47 points on his 38th birthday, he astounded and shook the dust off a team that was headed to oblivion – the start of a five-game win streak.

What we can lose sight of is that these days will end. That’s what ultimately gives sports such value: We watch highly trained, highly focused human beings perform physical feats no one else can. No game is ever perfectly duplicated – there’s a level of improvisation, a kind of script-less drama to every night that makes it compelling. And LeBron James is more fun to watch than most.

The reason I’m writing this is because I’m out of time. After five years covering the Lakers, this is my final day at Southern California News Group. I’ve watched LeBron and the Lakers play hundreds of times live, watched them win a championship that almost no one still can fully appreciate, watched them tumble from the top due to mistakes of their own making. It’s been a journey of triumph and grief.

After those tightly packed years, you’re filled with the urge to mark the moment. One impulse I have is to simply list all the things I wish I had communicated better as a day-to-day beat reporter, or weigh in on the pressing issues the franchise finds itself in now.

I will say I find Anthony Davis to be underappreciated, miscast by pundits trying to compare him to Michael Jordan instead of comparing him to Scottie Pippen. If the Lakers ever were to trade him (as many fans tweet over and over), they’d be hard-pressed to ever find someone with as much two-way value in return.

I think those who rushed to give two thumbs up to the Lakers at the trade deadline might want to wait until the season plays out, then ask themselves if saving a first-round pick was worth punting away half the season on a Westbrook experiment that had already played out.

I’ll say I think the Lakers, as a franchise, have to think hard about whether they’re growing the business and the brand in a way that sets them up for the future, rather than simply trading on their winning past and assuming that approach will keep carrying them.

But time and time again, I’m drawn to LeBron – who on the day of my final game covering the Lakers, made himself the story. And while the Lakers lost, watching him play was a fitting epitaph to my time on the beat. LeBron James agreed to join the Lakers on July 1, 2018. I agreed to cover the Lakers on July 2.

There are times when James seems like a “superhero,” as Jeanie Buss once told me. There are times when he seems like his celebrity has taken him out of touch or left him with a lack of perspective. But what we can find in those contradictions, I think, is that part of the human spirit that feels the drag of time and lashes back. There’s a human being in there, one who is still subject to the ravages of age, but he does everything in his power to push past those limits and keep the show going.

When I started covering the Lakers, I assumed I would be watching the gentle decline of James’ storied career. It’s been anything but: He rages against the dying of the light. Now, he’s outlasted this scribe – and I’m not going to be the one to take a guess at how many more minutes are left.

Only LeBron James can say when he’s done.

Editor’s note: Thanks for reading the Purple & Bold Lakers newsletter from reporter Kyle Goon. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.

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Skydiver freed from electrical lines in Lake Elsinore

• March 27, 2023

Firefighters freed a skydiver who became entangled in power lines Monday afternoon, March 27, during a landing attempt near Skydive Elsinore.

A Southern California Edison crew cut the electricity after the accident in Lake Elsinore, which was reported just before noon.

At about 1 p.m., Cal Fire/Riverside County firefighters using a ladder truck freed the skydiver. She was taken to a hospital.

Her condition was unclear.

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This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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Larry Elder: Alvin Bragg’s bogus case against Donald Trump

• March 27, 2023

Former President Donald Trump, citing “illegal leaks” from the Manhattan district attorney’s office, posted the following on social media: “…WITH NO CRIME BEING ABLE TO BE PROVEN, & BASED ON AN OLD & FULLY DEBUNKED (BY NUMEROUS OTHER PROSECUTORS!) FAIRYTALE, THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK…”

If true, this represents a 180-degree switch from when Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg entered office. In February 2022, two prosecutors, described as leading the Manhattan DA’s criminal investigation of Trump, resigned over Bragg’s decision not to proceed with the case. According to The New York Times, the then-new Manhattan D.A. “indicated to them that he had doubts about moving forward with a case against” Trump. CNN reported: “One person familiar with the investigation by the district attorney’s office told CNN that Bragg appeared ‘disinterested’ in his office’s investigation into the Trump Organization…”

A former Manhattan assistant D.A., Mark Pomerantz, who resigned over the office’s failure to prosecute Trump, wrote a book asserting that Trump committed felonies, including a $130,000 payment to a former porn star. But in an NPR interview, Pomerantz conceded: “I am not suggesting to you that there were no legitimate reasons to stand down. People could conclude that bringing the case and losing the case would promote enormous disrespect for the law.”

Bragg, since entering office, has reportedly come down with an acute case of the second thoughts. On Jan. 30, 2023, the New York Times reported: “The Manhattan district attorney’s office on Monday began presenting evidence to a grand jury about Donald J. Trump’s role in paying hush money ($130,000) to a porn star during his 2016 presidential campaign, laying the groundwork for potential criminal charges…”

Yet even the Times wrote: “A conviction is not a sure thing, in part because a case could hinge on showing that Mr. Trump and his company falsified records to hide the payout from voters days before the 2016 election, a low-level felony charge that would be based on a largely untested legal theory.” It also hinges on the testimony and credibility of Michael Cohen, the former Trump lawyer, now disbarred, who pleaded guilty to and served time for criminal tax evasion and campaign finance violations. Some star witness.

Why use an untested legal theory? Falsifying business records is generally a New York state misdemeanor. This poses a problem because the state misdemeanor statute of limitations is two years. So, what to do? Bragg argues that the falsification occurred to further a second crime, in this case a federal campaign finance violation, so, voila, this becomes a felony illegal campaign contribution with a five-year statute of limitations. The argument goes that the payment to silence the porn star was to advance Trump’s presidential campaign, as opposed to avoid personal embarrassment and possible damage to his marriage. And the payment came from Trump’s personal finances, not from campaign funds.

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But even under this untested theory and its five-year statute of limitations, time has still expired. But wait! The New York Times writes: “..New York law extends those limits to cover periods when a defendant was continuously out of state, as Mr. Trump was while living in the White House or at his home in Florida. In addition, during the pandemic, New York’s statute of limitations was extended by more than a year.”

Keep in mind that the Federal Elections Commission voted 4-1 in 2021 to close its investigation, failing to find that Trump “knowingly and willfully” broke the federal campaign finance law Bragg claims Trump violated. As to the Department of Justice, in July 2019, the Associated Press wrote: “…(DOJ) prosecutors revealed in a court filing this week that they had closed their investigation (of alleged Trump campaign finance violations.)”

George Washington Law Professor Jonathan Turley, a Democrat, called Bragg’s case against Trump “legally pathetic” and accused the George Soros-backed D.A. of “struggling to twist state laws to effectively prosecute a federal case long ago rejected by the Justice Department against Trump.”

Apart from that…

Larry Elder is a bestselling author and nationally syndicated radio talk-show host. To find out more about Larry Elder, or become an “Elderado,” visit www.LarryElder.com. Follow Larry on Twitter @larryelder.

​ Orange County Register 

Chasing Waterfalls

• March 27, 2023

What is 2,425 feet high and full of water?

If you guessed Yosemite Falls before seeing this sentence, not only are you right, it’s pretty impressive that you knew that. For the rest of us who had no clue, it’s true! Yosemite Falls is the tallest waterfall in North America and after recent record shattering rainfall in California, it’s flowing more than ever.

With more waterfalls than you can count on your hands and toes, Yosemite National Park is home to Yosemite Falls. Seasonal rainfall and melting snow send water plunging to the valley floor below from November through July, but the best time to see this epic wonder in action is during the Spring before running dry by late summer.

Yosemite Falls: With three separate drops, Yosemite Falls wows visitors as they take the easy trail up to the bottom of Lower Yosemite Fall.

Yosemite Falls might be the star of the show, but there’s many lesser known waterfalls as well that are worth spending a day to discover. Back-to-back storms that continue to soak us all are providing more water than expected this season and have seemingly turned on every fall in the park which makes this the year to visit.

For those planning an adventurous getaway to Yosemite this spring, you’ve got the right idea. And with this short list of co-starring waterfalls to check out after seeing the big show Yosemite Falls, you’ll go from being a casual tourist to a cascade connoisseur in a day.

Bridalveil Fall

Bridalveil Fall: This stunner is the welcoming committee to Yosemite Valley, previewing the amazing waterfalls throughout the rest of the Valley.

The first waterfall you’ll see is this stunning 620-foot head-turner. Bridalveil Fall can be seen as you enter Yosemite Valley from Highway 140 or Highway 41, so prepare to be greeted by this beauty when you arrive.

Vernal Fall & Nevada Fall

Yosemite’s most famous hike, The Mist Trail, climbs up hundreds of steps carved into the side of a mountain. This is where you’ll be able to see these two waterfalls that flow year round. Nevada Fall which sits at 594 feet is directly above the 317 foot Vernal Fall and also features a pair of beautiful pools called Emerald and Silver Apron. For safety reasons, there’s no swimming permitted.

Sentinel Fall

Sentinel Falls: Be on the lookout for Sentinel Falls which ripples through the rocks near Sentinel Dome.

Located on Yosemite Valley’s southside, next to Sentinel Rock, is Sentinel Fall. A confluence of cascades that range from 50 to 500 feet make up this elusive site to see that only flows March-June during peak waterfall season. Sentinel Beach Picnic Area also allows for an extended view and a great place to linger.

Chilnualna Falls

Chilnualna Falls: At one of the five cascades along Chilnualna Falls, visitors rest on the long hike to the top.

One of Yosemite’s lesser-known waterfalls is Chilnualna Falls. Located in Wawona, this series of cascades require a strenuous 8 mile hike that begins at an elevation of 4,200 feet. Views of the small village of Wawona and Wawona Meadow can be seen after tackling this hidden gem.

Lodging within Wawona is also available. For those planning on visiting, The Redwoods in Yosemite is a great stay. With 125 fully-equipped cabins, and luxury homes within this quiet town, you’ll be conveniently located next to a variety of travel-worthy destinations including Chilnualna Falls, Mariposa Grove, and more.

The Redwoods in Yosemite: Located inside Yosemite in Wawona, The Redwoods in Yosemite includes private cabins that range from rustic to luxurious.

If lodging within the park isn’t a top priority, another great stay is Tenaya at Yosemite. This full-service resort is just 2 miles from the park’s South Gate Entrance, and offers modern suites and hotel rooms that keep you close to restaurants, activities and other amenities.

Tenaya at Yosemite: Near the southern entrance to Yosemite, Tenaya at Yosemite encompasses three different lodging experiences: Tenaya Lodge, the Cottages and the Explorer Cabins.

​ Orange County Register