A personal note

August 15, 2024

My wife and I are taking the day off to celebrate our 43rd Anniversary. This note was written in the morning and scheduled for “auto-send” at 10:00 pm Pacific. If anything major happens in the interim, it will not be addressed in this newsletter.

I wanted to use my platform to thank my wife, Jill Bickett, for a shared lifetime of love, partnership, joy, and sorrow. We met in the First Grade in 1961 at St. Patrick’s Grammar School in North Hollywood. We are a rarity in Los Angeles. The priest who baptized us in 1956 presided also baptized two of our daughters in the 1980s. We were born, raised, and still live in the San Fernando Valley. We have been at each other’s side for our entire lives. Everything I am today is a direct result of my lifelong relationship with Jill. For that, I owe her immense gratitude, respect, and love.

We “went steady” in the 7th Grade—which consisted of exchanging “St. Christopher” medals and little else. We have never looked back. Yes, there were some rough times. The unfortunate incident at the “couples skate” at the Valley Plaza Ice Rink in the Seventh Grade is better left in the past. From humble beginnings, we have created a life filled with family and friends—which is the true measure of wealth.

After busy lives as professionals raising three daughters (and now helping with our three granddaughters), this newsletter has been an unexpected blessing. Although we are both retired, we devote much of our day to “the newsletter,” so much so that our three-year-old granddaughters know what it means when we say, “Grandpa has to leave now; he has to write the newsletter.”

Even in my non-retirement retirement, Jill is by my side, giving unerring advice about this endeavor. She is in the background, but her presence infuses every newsletter.

We have been blessed to meet and become friends with hundreds of readers, and we feel like we “know” thousands more. We thank you for becoming part of this latest chapter in our journey through life.

We look forward with confidence and hope for ourselves, our daughters, sons-in-law, and granddaughters, and all Americans. It is a great time to be alive, and we are privileged to be part of this consequential moment in history. Let’s move forward together in friendship, joy, and determination.

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Opportunities for Reader engagement.

One of my favorite organizations is VoteRiders, which ensures voters have the appropriate ID to vote. Thirty-eight states have passed voter ID laws in the last two decades—primarily as voter suppression efforts. Even if you are registered, some states attempt to deny you the right to vote by imposing arcane, complex rules about voter ID. Please watch this brief video with Kathleen Unger and Lauren Kunis about the vital work and valuable resources provided by VoterRiders. If you want to donate to or volunteer for VoteRiders, click this link: VoteRiders.

Join me in support of Jessica Morse for Congress!

I will be hosting a virtual fundraising event for Jessica Morse, who's running to represent the 3rd Congressional District of California! The event will take place on August 20th, at 5 PM PST on Zoom. The link to with all the details and the option to donate is here!. Feel free to RSVP directly to chailuv@morseforcongress.com.

Jessica’s experiences at USAID, the Department of Defense, and most recently, working on wildfire prevention issues for communities across California motivated her to run for Congress.

I meet many candidates who are running for office, and I want you to know that Jessica is one of the most impressive candidates I have had the privilege of meeting.

CA-03 is a true toss-up. It was a Trump +1 in 2020 and has picked up + 3 points in Democrat voter registration since then. It is expected to be a Biden +1 or +2 in 2024. Let’s send Jessica to Congress!

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Concluding Thoughts.

I highly recommend Margaret Sullivan’s excellent essay, Here's an urgently needed, pre-election reform plan for the media (substack.com).

Sullivan’s essay builds on this important letter by (among others) Norman Ornstein and Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Open Letter Demands ‘Newsroom Reset’, Pushes for Adoption of Pro-Democracy Election Coverage Guidelines.

Talk to you tomorrow!

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In honor of our 43rd wedding anniversary, a photo of the Ring Nebula is below. I used my first paycheck as a summer associate at the law firm of Beardsley, Hufstedler & Kemble for a down payment on an engagement ring. We continued to pay $50 a month for a year, so the ring was paid for in full by the wedding date! The “ring” below is free for everyone! Enjoy!