We have an important problem to tackle.

I was driving through parts of Waipahu over the weekend.

Concrete pillars were sprouting from the ground.

Rail is coming.

Whether you love or hate it – it brings an unexpected issue.

Someday – whenever – our $23-billion, 7-mile rail might actually be done, guys are going to be sitting and…manspreading.

Read that word carefully.
It’s not what you first thought.

Follow me on this.

New York City is upset with guys on subways.

It’s running public service ads about guys being more dainty.

The subject is…”manspreading”.
There’s that word again.

That’s a guy sitting with his legs too far apart.

It now can get you a ticket or some pissed off old lady hitting you with her bag.

The idea is to stop rude guys from taking up more than one seat and therefore making grumpy New Yorker’s even more grumpy.

If that’s possible.

I lived in New York City for about two years a long time ago.

Yeah, you don’t want to get one of them upset.

If you’ve ever ridden the subway in New York you know the whole thing will get anyone upset.

There’s naked people, break dancing people, singing people, panhandling people and lots of pervert-type people.

So I can see the idea behind manspreading – but we need to discuss some basic anatomy here.

Guys have stuff that don’t let them keep their legs together.

To keep things delicate, we’re using a briefcase.

But you know.

Need I explain more?
Ask your mother.

And the size of these things can vary.

And we haven’t even got into fat guys yet.

New York doesn’t care.

Some guys have gotten tickets and some have gotten arrested.

This is our future on the $49-billion 5-mile rail.

You think manspreading is bad – wait until you see some 500-pound sumo-sized guy riding the $112-billion 3-mile rail.

We all make mistakes.
It’s part of life.

There’s truth in the saying that people who don’t make mistakes aren’t trying and will never accomplish much besides exist.

But then again…

Once in a while I stumble across something that’s so extraordinary, so annoying, so stupid – I must share it so you can join me in feeling superior to the people involved.

Of course I’m talking about a politician doing something incredibly dumb.

Off we go to Michigan.

State representative Todd Courser is in a whole lot of hot water with an awful lot of people.

According to the Detroit News he was trying to hide an affair he was having with one of his aides.

Yes, this is the lovely couple – each with their own spouse and kids.

Worried that he would eventually get caught he came up with this brilliant idea.

He would send out some bogus, really over-the-top emails that claimed he had sex with a male prostitute.

That way – when the real truth came out it wouldn’t look so bad.

Can you understand the logic behind that?
Me neither.

The guy gets caught because he was trying to get another of his aides to send out those bogus, over-the-top emails.

The aide was taping him because he didn’t want to do it.
The aide gets fired for saying no.

The aide releases the tape.

The stuff is hitting the fan in Michigan.

As we say in the hood – Mr. Courser is toast.

Politicians, as a whole, are interesting people.

One does not get into that line of work unless they have an oversized ego and thrive on public attention.

That’s not to say there aren’t good, decent people in politics that care about doing the people’s business.

But in my many years working in that slime pool – they are few and hard to find.

Which leads us to Donald Trump.

Outside of speaking his mind – which is a bit refreshing – what does this guy bring to the table?

It must be something since a whole lot of people seem to like him.

I can imagine him whispering to Vladimir Putin…

“Don’t mess with me. I’m rich and I’ve eaten guys like you for lunch.”

Maybe that would be a good thing.

All of this, of course, leads to football.

It’s here.

Wives are complaining and guys are happy.

Let us have our few moments of joy.

It tough being grumpy all the time.