In the United States the number of deaths from drug overdoses has more than doubled in the last 16 years. Prevention magazine published a report October 2017 stating more than 52,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2015, that figure is 211 percent higher than the 16,849 in 1999. Drug overdoses now kill more people than suicide, homicide, car crashes or firearm deaths.

States with the most auto fatalities for 2015

Texas 3516

California 3176

Florida 2939

Georgia 1430

North Carolina 1379

Pennsylvania 1200

New York 1210

Ohio 1110

There seems to be so many economic meetings this year that our Secretary of State better get a new passport. The World Economic Forum in Davos (January 23-26); world Economic Forum on Latin America in San Paulo, Brazil (March 13-15); The International Monetary Fund (October 12-14).

So, what’s happening with Donald Trump’s wall? Perhaps the money is funny, since Congress hasn’t provided the funds and Mexico won’t contribute.

The semi-annual Piper Jaffray survey on teen spending lists the top six places where they like to eat.

1. Starbucks

2. Chick-Fil-A

3. Mc Donald’s

4. Olive Garden & Chipotle (Tied in 4th place)

5. Buffalo Wild Wings

How many times have you tried to find a place to park on the street, and after going up and down looking for a spot you discover it has a meter that is broken? That’s right you put coins in, and nothing happens, so you whip out your visa and get the same result. So, the Howard Jarvis people worked to get AB1625 not only signed by the Governor, but on January 1, 2018 it went into effect and it said, “The cops could not give you a ticket if the meter was broken. What an interesting concept.

Can you believe in 2017 there were 144 skyscrapers built which was more than any other year in history?

It’s flu season and their medical people claim more people are catching the virus even if they are immunized. What’s even more worry -some is the flu and its related illnesses claim up to 600,000 people per year globally.

The Pew Research Center asked nearly 43,000 people in 38 countries, “Is life better now than it was 50 years ago?” The percentage of people who said yes:

Countries Percentage

Vietnam 88 %

South Korea 68 %

Russia 50 %

United States 37 %

Italy 23 %

Venezuela 10 %

Our property and yours as well has so many taxes attached to it that it is ready to fall into a sink hole! I’m old enough to remember years and years ago the sink hole was the size of a pin hole, then it became a pothole, eventually a fox hole and now it a sink hole. Oh, my I just wonder when they will put it on the ballot to modify Prop 13?

The postman recently pushed six magazines through our mail slot. A recent issue of Los Angeles Magazine had the most enticing cover, “The Top 10 New Restaurants and turning to page 80 Vespertine is ranked number 6. The food and everything else must be the very best as they are open only for dinner, closed Sunday and Monday. It’s $350 per person and the meal can take 4 hours. 3599 Hayden Avenue (323) 320-4023.

For those of us who love art the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd, near Fairfax (323) 857-6010 is free after 3:00 p.m. weekdays for L.A. County residents. On January 15th and February 19th, you can enjoy free admission to all exhibits all day. .

GOP Alabama Senate loser Roy Moore stunned some listeners when he said he thought America was, “great” during the era of slavery. These comments were made at a campaign rally in Florence, Alabama in September as reported by the Los Angeles Times. At the same rally he referred to Native Americans and Asians as “reds and yellows”.

Has anyone seen the former speaker of the House of Representative Newt Gingrich or Karl Rove lately?

Have you read the HuffPost article concerning the Secretary of Education Betsy Devos suggesting voucher schools that are spending tax dollars to teach “Creationism, racism and sexism? News flash- The Veteran’s Administration (VA) decided it was probably a bad idea to cut a program that helps homeless vets.

All weekly commentaries may treat the news with humor and satire. For those who missed an article, all my commentaries can be found at http://www.culvercityobserver.com; strolling down the page and underneath Opinion look for Rubenstein.