Why square dancing offers potential benefits for older people

• June 25, 2023

Q. Do you have any information or opinions on how square dancing affects aging? L.D.

Indeed, there is a body of research that examines the impact of square dancing on aging and particularly on cognitive functioning in later life. The findings are positive. Note that dance in almost any form is considered a plus that can significantly improve muscular strength and endurance, balance. This is particularly relevant for older adults. 

Here are the results of a few research studies. One led by a Colorado State University researcher shows that “kicking up your heels can actually be good for your noggin.” This was in reference to a study of participants in a dance class, most likely square dancing by its description and the picture accompanying the study. Researchers saw “improved white matter integrity in an area of the brain related to memory and processing speed.” White matter is made up of a large network of nerve fibers that allows the exchange of information and communication between different areas of your brain. That broadly translated into improved cognitive functioning. 

Square dancing is an emerging form of aerobic exercise in China, especially among middle-aged and older people. In reviewing the results of 24 studies, researchers explored the effects of square dancing on the physical and mental health among Chinese older adults. The results indicated significantly lower risk of coronary heart disease and increased leg muscles. A caveat is that there may be some biases in the study according to MDPI, a publisher of peer-reviewed articles.

Another study conducted by West China Hospital, Sichuan University found that among approximately 2600 participants, square dancing was positively correlated with brain function, suggesting that cognitive functioning increased. 

Line dancing in particular may be beneficial for cognition since it requires memorizing the choreography as it is danced with others in unison as the song plays. It requires memorizing the moves while with square dancing, the instructions are announced by the caller. 

The Better Health Channel owned by the State of Victoria, Australia identified several benefits to dance and specifically included square dancing. Here are just a few: increased muscular strength and endurance; improved strength, stronger bones, better coordination and agility and improved balanced. Add to that improved mental functioning, greater confidence and self-esteem as well as better social skills.

Square dancing is related to mathematics according to Krin Rabe and Gre Morre, both theoretical physicists who combine their passion for math and modern Western square dance. Both are callers and dancers. They explore the underlying mathematical structures in this form of dance and presented this as a topic for a seminar they conducted. 

I recently had a conversation with Carol, aged 78, who spends time square dancing averaging about 15 hours or more over a five-day period. She finds it exhilarating and never wants to miss a class. Here are some additional benefits she has experienced. “Square-dancing helps me think clearly given that it involves math. It gives me a chance to work with different people, often requiring patience while developing new interpersonal skills. Since it’s social have made lots of new friends.” She also finds square dancing helps her memory since she has to memorize the calls and remember the sequence, particularly in line dancing. The physical activity keeps her body in perfect shape and consequently doesn’t feel stale or old, she added. Her final comment: “If I am going to go, it’s on the dance floor with a smile on my face.” 

For those of us who are new to square dancing, writer Tyler Hughes wrote a helpful piece about it, which I am sourcing: Here are some facts that may entice some of us to try it: 

Square dances are forgiving. There typically is a beginner’s floor so folks don’t have to be afraid or be embarrassed. Also, it is not competitive.
There generally is no dress code. Cowboy boots typically are not required nor are gingham shirts or cowboy hats. 
Square dancing is for everyone. There is no concern about dancing with partners of the same sex. Welcoming organizations include International Association of Gay Square Dance Clubs and the U.S. Handicapable Square Dance Association.
Square dances are everywhere. In the early 2000s, nearly every city in the United States had at least one square dance club with larger cities having two or more. 
Square dancing is fun. That’s it! It’s a great way to connect with others with no technological filter. 

Thank you L.D. Your question may inspire some of us to engage in a new physical activity that is fun, social, helps with cognition and overall functioning. 

Stay well everyone and be kind to yourself and others—on and off the dance floor.

Helen Dennis is a nationally recognized leader on issues of aging and the new retirement with academic, corporate and nonprofit experience. Contact Helen with your questions and comments at [email protected].  Visit Helen at HelenMdennis.com and follow her on facebook.com/SuccessfulAgingCommunity

​ Orange County Register 

Virtue signaling with right to housing proposal could backfire on California

• June 25, 2023

Virtue signaling is the bane of contemporary civic life.

Politicians, political parties, nonprofit organizations and even corporations loudly proclaim support for whatever cause is either trendy or beloved by a certain segment of the population – while lacking the ability, or often even intention, to see it prevail.

While such expressions of moral support may warm the hearts of a cause’s fervent believers, they mean little in the real world where, as the old saying goes, actions speak louder than words.

Examples of virtue signaling abound, such as a bill passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to create a commission to recommend reparations for Black Californians whose ancestors were enslaved.

Newsom, et al, were enthusiastic supporters of the cause when it was proposed. As he signed the 2020 legislation, Newsom said it would correct the “structural racism and bias built into and permeating throughout our democratic and economic institutions.”

However, with the commission now on the verge of makings its reparation recommendations, which could be very expensive, enthusiasm has clearly waned.

“Dealing with that legacy is about much more than cash payments,” the governor said in an initial reaction to the commission’s preliminary report, while praising it again as “a milestone in our bipartisan effort to advance justice and promote healing.”

Another classic example of political virtue signaling is now making its way through the Legislature – a constitutional amendment declaring that Californians have a “fundamental human right to adequate housing.”

Everyone knows that California has a chronic shortage of housing, particularly for the millions of Californians with, at best, subsistence incomes. The shortage drives up housing costs, which are the chief factor in the state’s very high rate of poverty and its equally high level of homelessness.

The proposed amendment, which passed the Assembly on a 74-0 vote last month and is now pending in the Senate, declares, “It is the shared obligation of state and local jurisdictions to respect, protect, and fulfill this right, on a non-discriminatory and equitable basis, with a view to progressively achieve the full realization of the right, by all appropriate means, including the adoption and amendment of legislative measures, to the maximum of available resources.”

Noble sentiments, perhaps, but how would it affect the housing crisis?

Michael Tubbs, the former mayor of Stockton who now advises Newsom on poverty-related issues, argued in a CalMatters commentary that it would force local governments to accept affordable housing projects, require tenant-friendly laws such as rent control and making evictions more difficult, and lead to more direct government investment in housing.

Perhaps it would, but not automatically. Assembly Constitutional Amendment 10 is full of the vague language that lawyers love because it requires lawsuits and judicial interpretations to have real-world meaning.

In other words, it would invite even more litigation on an issue that is already awash in contentious legalism.

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The most bothersome aspect of ACA 10, however, is its assumption – as Tubbs suggests – that state and local governments have the innate ability to solve California’s housing dilemma.

They don’t.

Building enough housing requires, above all, lots of money, much more than those governments can muster on their own. That money can only come from private investors who must be persuaded that building homes and apartments in California will be reasonably profitable.

Officialdom’s most important role is reducing the bureaucratic hassle and costs of such investment, as Newsom and the Legislature have sought to do through streamlining legislation.

ACA 10 is not only virtue signaling but sends the wrong message to potential housing investors that California could make development even more difficult and potentially less profitable.

CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to Commentary.

​ Orange County Register 

In California Senate race, what’s the difference among 3 House Democrats?

• June 25, 2023

Adam Schiff, Barbara Lee and Katie Porter are Democratic representatives in Congress. They have similar voting records, boast their progressive bona fides and are running for California’s U.S. Senate seat.

When it comes to their voting records, Porter and Schiff agree 98% of the time so far this Congress while Schiff and Lee and Porter and Lee agree 96%, according to a ProPublica analysis of their voting records. In the 2021-22 Congress, Porter and Schiff agreed 99% while the other pairings lined up at 98%.

Certainly, even more similarities abound, including biographical — two are lawyers, two represent Southern California in the U.S. House, two are over the age of 60 and none is originally from California.

But there are stark differences, too, and with less than a year to go until the primary, how all three candidates are pitching themselves to voters, and highlighting those contrasts, is starting to emerge.

“There’s not a great deal of difference between the candidates on the issues,” said Dan Schnur, who teaches political messaging at USC and UC Berkeley. “As a result, they’re going to end up spending a lot of time trying to establish themselves as a particular type of progressive leader: Barbara Lee is the social justice warrior, Katie Porter is the economic populist and Adam Schiff is the defender of democracy.”

“For many Democratic voters, the differences between them are going to have more to do with emphasis and identity than anything else,” Schnur said.

Lee, 76, has been in Congress since 1998 when she won a special election to replace a retiring member.

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She was the only member of Congress to vote against invading Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks. The Oakland Democrat has railed against what she considers “wasteful military spending and investing in war rather than peace” and has voted against the federal defense budgets.

In contrast, Porter, 49, has only been in Congress since 2019; she was part of the wave that flipped Orange County from red to blue.

Originally from Iowa, Porter has made economic issues her bread and butter and is an acolyte of progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who was once her professor at Harvard Law School. She’s behind several viral moments, from reading a book with an expletive in the title during the House speaker vote earlier this year to hoisting her now iconic whiteboard in congressional hearings and late-night talk shows alike.

And then there’s Schiff, 63, who is perhaps most known for taking on then-President Donald Trump as the House Intelligence Committee chair — an investigation that was the catalyst for his recent censure in Congress.

Schiff, as Schnur pointed out, is the first of the three “to make a serious effort at broadening their political identity.”

The Burbank Democrat’s campaign has rolled out a consistent slate of endorsements from labor groups over the past few weeks, most recently announcing the backing of the California-Nevada Conference of Operating Engineers. This is the fourth statewide labor union to back Schiff, his campaign told the Southern California News Group, which follows the Amalgamated Transit Union, the IBEW and California IATSE Council.

“I feel really proud to be emerging as the candidate of labor in this race,” Schiff said in an interview. “These are the folks that build things, that get things done, and that’s the focus of our campaign — to get things done for California and to move California forward.”

“I think the paramount challenge facing Californians is that the economy is not working for millions of them,” he added. “I say that not because people aren’t working but because people are working, but they’re not making enough to get by. … The number of households represented by labor has fallen over the decades.”

Schiff introducing himself to voters as the pro-labor candidate in the race, Schnur said, signals that he already has an advantage in the “democracy argument” so he’s looking at other bases of support.

“Even if democracy is his main calling card,” Schnur said, “he can’t just run for the Senate for the next year and a half (by) running only as the anti-Trump candidate.”

As for Porter and Lee, both say they will underscore their records as they meet with voters throughout the race.

“I have been championing progressive values and passing progressive legislation my whole career. Californians want someone who can get things done in the Senate on Day One,” said Lee. “I am an effective legislator, appropriator and negotiator and that’s how you get things done.”

And Porter said: “I am the only candidate in this race who’s always rejected corporate PAC money, and I’m the only candidate to refuse lobbyist money. That gives me legitimacy to lead on issues like banning Congressmembers from trading stocks. Voters can be 100% confident that I work for them — not my own pocketbook and not special interests.”

But Lee is also leaning on her own lived experience as a Black woman in California.

“I can speak to the challenges facing so many Californians because I’ve lived them, too,” she said. “I escaped a violent marriage. I was a single mom on public assistance. I had an abortion as a teenager when it was illegal and dangerous for women to do so.”

Noting there have only been a couple Black women to serve in the U.S. Senate — and none currently — she added: “It is important that the Senate have all perspectives on critical issues, like voting rights, income and racial inequality, health care, childcare, poverty and homelessness. I have always fought to dismantle barriers for marginalized communities which have not had a seat at the table.”

And Porter highlights her ability to question or counter those in leadership positions.

“My questioning of the CDC director got every American free COVID tests. After I called out ‘Big Pharma’ CEOs for price gouging patients, I was able to secure a new law that recovers taxpayer dollars from drug companies that engage in outrageous price hikes, saving some Americans as much as $449 per dose on medications they need,” she said.

Of course, all that could change if the status quo is interrupted.

Former Google and American Express executive Lexi Reese is considering jumping into the race as a Democratic contender with a focus on her “outsider” status and the economy. Her website teases a June 29 announcement.

And then there’s Steve Garvey, a former Dodgers star, who is meeting with GOP officials and weighing a 2024 bid. With his name recognition, Garvey could throw a wrench into the primary for Democrats — leaving just one spot in the runoff, as opposed to two.

One final stark difference between the candidate is their choice of campaign trail provisions.

Lee is up for a couple of tacos on the road, Porter prefers Diet Dr. Pepper but in the mini cans and Schiff picks vegan options from Amy’s Drive Thru.

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​ Orange County Register 

Whistleblower retaliation allegations growing at VA, new report says

• June 25, 2023

As a congressional committee continues to probe allegations of hostile working conditions at VA Loma Linda, a new federal report highlights the proliferation of whistleblower retaliation complaints within the Department of Veterans Affairs.

From 2018 to 2022, 69% of the VA’s Prohibited Personnel Practices cases assigned to a federal watchdog agency for investigation involved whistleblower retaliation allegations, the Government Accountability Office said in a May report.

PPPs are banned employment-related activities that include discrimination, retaliation and improper hiring. The number of PPP cases from VA employees that include whistleblower allegations has risen over the past five years, according to the GAO report.

The report found that over the four-year period, the independent Office of Special Counsel took an average of about 190 days to investigate VA cases with whistleblower retaliation allegations.

During that same period, only about 5% of the VA’s PPP cases with whistleblower retaliation allegations were closed in favor of the whistleblower. A majority of whistleblower retaliation claims from VA employees are closed due to insufficient evidence, the report says.

Retaliation ‘unacceptable’

Terrence Hayes, a spokesperson for Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough, said in a statement that “any retaliation for whistleblowers is unacceptable.”

“At VA, our top priority is delivering world-class care and benefits to the veterans we serve — and that means building a culture where every employee feels empowered and unafraid to raise concerns without fear of reprisal,” Hayes said.

The VA, he said, continues “to place a heavy focus on whistleblower rights and protections training for managers, supervisors, and employees — including communicating the remedies for workers who believe they have experienced retaliation.”

“We still have work to do, and we will not rest until we ensure that every whistleblower is respected, protected, and empowered at VA, every time,” he added.

VA Loma Linda whistleblowers

However, Hayes’ promise rings hollow for some VA Loma Linda whistleblowers dismayed that grounds department supervisor Martin Robles was promoted in February 2021, about a month after a federal investigation recommended that he be fired for intimidating, bullying and threatening behavior.

“Whistleblowers fear reporting because they see how others are retaliated against,” said a discouraged VA Loma Linda employee, who asked not to be identified because of potential retribution. “It’s almost like doing the right thing is a crime in itself. The fear of knowing if one reports the problem and risking losing your job and not being able to provide for your family is a reason everyone stays quiet.”

Many VA Loma Linda employees feel powerless to file formal complaints against their bosses for retaliation, another whistleblower said.

“The VA wants to maintain its authority and control over people when anything like this happens,” said the whistleblower. “They feel that what’s the use, and that it’s not going to do anything anyway.”

The Southern California News Group has been contacted by more than a dozen more VA Loma Linda whistleblowers. However, most are fearful to discuss allegations publicly, believing it may cost them their jobs.

Activist: VA culture protects institution

Darin Selnick, a senior adviser to New Mexico-based Concerned Veterans for America, says the VA has long fostered a culture in which bad managers are protected and whistleblowers are marginalized and harassed.

“Bad VA employees don’t get fired, they get shuffled off (to other assignments),” said Selnick, who served as a senior adviser in 2018 and 2019 to then-VA Secretary Robert Wilkie. “The VA has its own culture that says, ‘we are in charge’ and everyone else is transitory. It is all about the institution, not protecting veterans.”

Last week, U.S. Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Hesperia, met with VA Loma Linda’s interim director, Bryan Arnette, and other officials to discuss new allegations of retaliation, harassment and hostile working conditions amid a widening investigation by the House Veterans Affairs Committee.

Poor-performing employees

Under the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act signed into law in 2017, the VA was given expanded authority to fire employees at all levels, shorten the removal process, and ensure terminated workers are not kept on the agency’s payroll while appealing their cases.

The legislation also made it easier for the VA to remove poor-performing senior executives and replace them with qualified candidates and established the VA’s Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection.

In April, the VA stopped using the Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act, following an Office of Inspector General report that said the legislation has “floundered.”

The VA has a long history of whistleblower retaliation, toxicity and scandal, which represents a “colossal failure of leadership,” said Joe Spielberger, policy counsel for Project On Government Oversight, a Washington, D.C., watchdog organization.

“Choosing to place the Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection within the VA only ensured a lack of independence from agency leadership and a conflict of interest in addressing these issues meaningfully,” Spielberger said.

New legislation

On Friday, June 23, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chair Mike Bost, R-Illinois, and a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced the Restore Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Accountability Act, which is aimed at strengthening the VA’s authority to quickly and fairly discipline bad employees and hold them accountable.

Specifically, the bill would:

 Ensure VA decisions supported by substantial evidence are upheld on appeal.
 Negate the requirement for a performance improvement plan prior to disciplinary action.
 Unlock expedited removal, demotion or suspension authority for use with all categories of VA employees.
Align the disciplinary authority for unsatisfactory VA managers and supervisors with the process currently in place for members of the Senior Executive Service.

“In order to best serve veterans, the VA Secretary must have the authority to quickly and fairly remove, demote or suspend bad employees who are undermining the quality of services that our veterans have earned,” Bost said in a statement. “We’ve heard from too many whistleblowers that bad VA employees are impacting care and hurting employee morale.”

​ Orange County Register 

Gov. Newsom is wrong to secretively gut California’s much-needed police reform law

• June 25, 2023

When most Californians think about the state’s yearly budgeting process they don’t expect the governor and the Legislature to shape major public policy outside the scope of spending decisions.

But that is exactly what is happening right now as Gov. Gavin Newsom is advocating for a “Trailer Bill” within the state budget that will undermine a key 2021 police accountability and transparency law just as it’s about to be put into practice.

In 2021 California closed one of the biggest gaps in police accountability by adopting the Kenneth Ross Jr. Police Decertification Act, also known as SB 2. The premise of SB 2 is simple: an officer fired in one police department for misconduct or abuse of power one day, should not have the ability to walk into a neighboring police department and get a new job as an officer the next day.

SB 2 accomplishes this by creating a process to take away an officer’s certification when they are found guilty of serious misconduct or abuse of power. This process is carried out by the California Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training (POST). In addition to the decertification process, key to SB 2’s importance in serving the public interest are its transparency provisions. Under current law, POST is also tasked with receiving and making police misconduct records available to the public, ensuring that residents and news agencies across the state are informed about problems that exist in their cities’ police departments, which tend to make up the largest portion of any given city’s general fund expenses.

It is these transparency provisions that Gov. Newsom is pushing to do away with by exempting POST from disclosing personnel files, and kicking the responsibility of making misconduct records public back to the individual police departments. This is problematic in and of itself when we consider how adversarial local police are to the release of misconduct records.

We need only look at the number of lawsuits police and sheriff associations across the state filed to keep misconduct records hidden from the public after SB 1421 went into effect in 2019, another landmark transparency law. Or we can look at how common it is for local police agencies to routinely destroy personnel records after a set number of years, as we saw with the OC Sheriff Department in 2021.

Recently, the Antioch Police Department was caught in a major scandal when dozens of officers were revealed to have been using racist slurs and making racist jokes in text conversations with one another.

In a statement to CBS 8 Antioch Councilmember Tamisha Torres-Walker said: “Had the records related to the investigation not been made public this scandal would have never been uncovered[…]and the criminal acts demonstrated by the Antioch Police Department and other neighboring law enforcement agencies would have gone unchecked and continue to target and harm black and brown members of our community.”

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SB 2 was a carefully negotiated piece of legislation between police accountability and transparency advocates and legislative leaders with close ties to the powerful police and sheriff unions that have fought every major effort at policing reform in Sacramento, and at times, it was even a contentious fight. Passing it was a multi-year effort, in which it failed to garner enough support from state legislators in 2020 before ultimately passing in 2021.

History shows us time and time again that leaving transparency decisions to local police agencies hinders the goals of police accountability and transparency reforms like SB 2.

Gov. Newsom must drop his push to weaken SB 2 through the budget process and allow California to move forward as a leader in justice reform.

Hairo Cortes is the executive director at Chispa, a leading proponent of SB 2 as well as Santa Ana’s new Police Oversight Ordinance.

​ Orange County Register 

Q&A with Orange County Register photographer Jeff Gritchen

• June 25, 2023

Jeff Gritchen has been a photographer with the Southern California News Group, which includes 11 daily newspapers, for nearly 30 years. This Q&A is edited for brevity.

Q: How did you come up with the idea for a collection of images showing the letters of the alphabet?A few years ago a friend gifted me a personalized letter art photo that spelled out my last name. It was letters made from everyday objects. One evening I looked at it and wondered if I could do that from the air. Some letters were easy to find, like O – others were very difficult, like N.

Q: How long did it take you to work on this?I worked on the project from February to June 2023, with one image coming from 2022. The pictures span 13 Orange County cities and varied in altitude from 50 feet to 375 feet above the ground.

Q: What led you to become a photojournalist?I’ve always been curious, and have never been able to a desk for eight hours. When I took a photo class in junior high, I was hooked.

Q: When did you become interested in flying?In the 1990s, I earned my private pilot license with an instrument rating. I never wanted to fly professionally, just for fun. In 2015, I got my first drone and was able to mix my love of photography with flying.

Q: What’s the most memorable aerial shoot you have done?A couple stand out: Flying over empty suburbia during the pandemic showing an eerily quiet Orange County. The coronavirus shutdown emptied beaches, closed malls and shuttered theme parks, giving the area an eerie, empty feeling. And, giving our readers a “Santa-eye view” of houses and businesses decorated for the holidays at night.

Q: What gear do you use for your drone photography?I use DJI drones – a Phantom 4, Air 2s, Mavic 3 – and sometimes a helicopter.

A variety of Os seen from the air around Orange County, CA, in 2023. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen)

More aerial work from Jeff Gritchen

Watch Newport Beach’s Wedge go wild with insane waves
8 before-and-after images show regrowth a year after the Coastal Fire in Laguna Niguel
Before and after images of Irvine Lake with a billion gallons of new water
Video: Orange County’s best Christmas lights look spectacular shot from a drone
Aerial footage shows an eerily quiet Orange County — Disneyland, beaches and malls

​ Orange County Register 

What to consider when buying a vacation home

• June 25, 2023

A wise friend once told me, “Think twice before you buy a vacation home.”

Those words were spoken by a real estate professional who owns a large portfolio of investment property. Buying a vacation home is not an idea to take lightly. It will change your life, routine and monthly cash flow until you sell the home.

Before you proceed, consider the following:

Your budget

When you purchase a vacation home, even if it is a condominium, your monthly expenses will significantly change. Often, they will not just increase but double. Even if you own the home outright, you will be paying monthly for utilities, property tax, and insurance. You will be paying these expenses even if you are not able to visit the home for months at a time. A home in the mountains may be inaccessible during the winter months. But it may be necessary to run the heater around the clock at a low temperature so that the pipes do not freeze. This can create a surprisingly high gas or electricity bill. This expense is for maintenance purposes only. It brings no joy, but it is necessary.

Before looking for a home, pencil out your budget. Can you afford to purchase the home outright, or will you have a mortgage? Have you saved enough for a down payment? Can you still live comfortably if you are paying for the additional expenses of a mortgage and the costs associated with living in and maintaining a vacation home?

While day-to-day operations can be outsourced to a property management company, you are still financially responsible for maintaining the property. Your budget should help guide you in your decisions moving forward.

Location, location, location

One of the biggest mistakes that vacation home buyers make is buying their homes in markets that are driven by second home buyers. While it might seem like a logical choice, the reality is that when the economy starts to decline, the vacation home is one of the first expenses families typically eliminate. Often, this is because they need to let go of their vacation homes to protect their primary residence.

As a result, these markets can be much more volatile and unreliable than markets with more balance between vacation homes and permanent residences. And when neighbors start selling their properties, it will impact the entire real estate market, putting your investment at risk of losing value. This may not matter to you if your property is only a private vacation home and you plan to own it forever. But if consideration is ever made to turn the property into an investment home, this may affect your bottom line.

Not all homes or neighborhoods are created equal. A home that is on the water with a beautiful view is much more desirable than a home located on a busy street or near a major highway. Also, consider whether parking is available for guests. In the mountains during the winter months, street parking is often prohibited so that snowplows can maintain the roads. In the summer months, street parking may be available at a home near the beach.

Is the lot large enough to expand the home or add an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) as your family grows? Do your research in advance so that, as a homeowner, you are not surprised by the city ordinances in this new location.

Additional factors to consider are the crime rates, transportation options, amenities, schools, and overall condition of the neighborhood. Are you considering buying the best home in a so-so neighborhood or the least desirable home in the best possible neighborhood? All factors will eventually impact the resale value of your home.

Condition and age of the home

Purchasing a 20-year-old home that will need a new roof in five years may not be a top concern when you are purchasing your vacation home. But those five years can pass quickly, and the time will come when the roof must be replaced. To minimize surprises, hire the most reputable home inspection company in the region while your home is still in escrow to address any hidden problems and future expenses that may not be obvious. If the roof is covered with snow, damage will not be visible. Someone will need to physically inspect it. The final home inspection report may also provide you with a helpful tool to negotiate the costs of future expenses with the homeowner before closing escrow. If not, at least you will be aware of future expenses and can adjust your budget accordingly.

Maintenance costs

Maintaining a home does not have to be difficult and can be outsourced to a property management company for a cost. Often though, vacation homes have characteristics that make them more difficult and costly to maintain. Many people buy vacation homes in the mountains or by the water, not realizing that there could be additional upkeep than that to which they are accustomed. They are caught by surprise when their waterfront home needs to have the deck replaced because it rotted from moisture, or that their cabin in the mountains needs to be repainted every five years due to extreme weather.

Also, since you may not be at your vacation home weekly or even monthly, small issues that you would be aware of at your primary home could go unnoticed for months, until a significant issue has surfaced, causing costly, unplanned repairs. Do a bit of research regarding home maintenance before you buy a home in a region where the weather is different than what you are used to.

Insurance

The insurance industry has changed in California due to the recent natural disasters. This, in turn, has impacted the property and casualty insurance market. Many California insurance carriers are pulling out of the state and no longer providing homeowners coverage. This could affect your ability to find insurance for your vacation home. If your home has unique features, such as a log-cabin building style, you will need specialized insurance and may have a difficult time finding an underwriter to provide full coverage. This insurance will also be costly. When you find a home that you are considering purchasing, call your insurance agent to discuss the coverage, anticipated usage, and cost of vacation homeowner’s insurance.

Never consider purchasing a vacation home on a whimsy, especially while you are on vacation in a different mindset. If you do decide a vacation home is desirable, treat it as a business transaction. Do your due diligence, evaluate the pros and cons, and become familiar with the housing market and region in which you are considering a purchase before you commit to this decision. At first thought, owning a vacation home may sound dreamy, and it can be, until you need to pay for your first major expenses. Then, the reality of home ownership sets in.

Teri Parker is a vice president for CAPTRUST Financial Advisors. She has practiced in the field of financial planning and investment management since 2000. Reach her via email at [email protected].

​ Orange County Register 

Susan Shelley: The Hunter Biden investigation was the cover-up

• June 25, 2023

Hunter Biden threw his dad’s name around in a July 2017 WhatsApp message to Chinese businessman Henry Zhao, according to an IRS whistleblower.

“I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled,” the message began, warning that it must be resolved “now,” and threatening, “I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.”

The Department of Justice would not allow IRS investigators to look further into that message.

That’s the testimony of IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley, a supervisory special agent with the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation division. Along with a special agent, also with IRS-CI, identified only as “Mr. X,” Shapley recently came forward to speak to the House Ways and Means Committee.

Hunter Biden’s long-running tax and gun scandals went under the rug this week with a sweeping announcement by his lawyers that he will plead guilty to two misdemeanors to dispose of the tax crimes and complete a diversion program to make the gun felony disappear. The plea agreement must be approved by a federal judge, and you won’t make any money betting that it won’t be. But on Thursday, the House Ways and Means Committee released the transcripts of the whistleblower interviews, in which they describe the outrageous special treatment they witnessed in the Department of Justice’s handling of the case, after which they suffered retaliation that is probably illegal.

Shapley testified that the IRS was conducting an investigation into a “foreign-based amateur online pornography platform” when “Mr. X” developed an investigative lead that resulted in the IRS opening an investigation into Hunter Biden, “code name Sportsman.” That was November 2018.

In October 2019, the FBI “became aware that a repair shop had a laptop allegedly belonging to Hunter Biden and that the laptop might contain evidence of a crime.” In November 2019, the FBI “verified its authenticity” by “matching the device number against Hunter Biden’s Apple iCloud ID.” The following month, the FBI took possession of the laptop and notified the IRS that it “likely contained evidence of tax crimes.”

This was was nearly a year before the New York Post reported on the emails that were found on the laptop showing apparent evidence of Biden family influence peddling. While former U.S. intelligence officials falsely suggested the laptop was “Russian disinformation,” the FBI knew it was all real, yet failed to mention that fact at its regular meetings with social media companies and news organizations.

Shapley’s team of experienced IRS investigators met biweekly with the FBI, the Delaware U.S Attorney’s Office and the Department of Justice Tax Division. “It soon became clear to me this case was being handled differently than any I’d seen before,” Shapley testified.

By March 2020, the IRS was ready to seek search warrants in California, Arkansas, New York and Washington, D.C., and planned to conduct 15 contemporaneous interviews. On April 1, Special Agent “Mr. X” drafted an affidavit describing probable cause for the searches. But in early April, “former Vice President Joseph Biden became the presumptive Democratic nominee for president,” and then “career DOJ officials dragged their feet on the IRS taking these investigative steps.”

Month after month, year after year, career employees of the Department of Justice denied investigative steps, rejected enforcement operations, and even tipped off Hunter Biden’s attorneys about developments. Shapley told the House Ways and Means Committee that in September 2020, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf acknowledged that there was probable cause for a physical search of the Bidens’ Delaware residence, where Hunter had stayed for a time, “but said there is no way we will get that approved.” He said Wolf stopped investigators from questioning Hunter Biden’s associate, Rob Walker, about the email that said, “Ten held by H for the big guy,” and wouldn’t allow investigators to ask about references to “dad.”

Shapley said the FBI tried to “dictate” to the IRS investigators who should be interviewed and would not give the IRS team direct access to the laptop. Later, the IRS would obtain records from an iCloud search that included relevant text messages the FBI had not produced. Further inquiry into them was blocked by the DOJ.

Early in 2022, Assistant U.S. Attorney Wolf “supported charging Hunter Biden for tax evasion and false return in 2014, 2018 and 2019, and for failure to file or pay for 2015, 2016 and 2017.” Then a new game began. “The proper venue for a tax case is where the subject resides or where the return is prepared or filed,” Shapley testified. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia had “venue” over the 2014 and 2015 tax years, but the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Matthew Graves, a Biden appointee, “personally reviewed the report and did not support it.” That meant “there was no ability to charge there.” The statute of limitations was allowed to expire.

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Shapley testified, “The years in question included foreign income from Burisma and a scheme to evade his income taxes through a partnership with a convicted felon. There were also potential FARA [Foreign Agents Registration Act] issues relating to 2014 and 2015. The purposeful exclusion of the 2014 and 2015 years sanitized the most substantive criminal conduct and concealed material facts.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland was less than truthful with the Senate when he said the investigation was being “run by and supervised by” Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney David Weiss in Delaware. Weiss couldn’t or didn’t do anything when Graves refused to file charges in the District of Columbia. And he couldn’t or didn’t do anything when, for whatever reason, Hunter Biden’s 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 tax years were brought to the Central District of California in September 2022, where Biden-appointed U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada was newly confirmed.

That’s how the trick was done. The same DOJ and FBI that made a fake Trump-Russia investigation materialize out of thin air made Hunter Biden’s shady financial crimes vanish like a magician’s elephant.

The investigation was the cover-up.

Write [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @Susan_Shelley

​ Orange County Register