The dark strand on my lit tree while Sugar Pie DeSanto plays on

It’s the holidays, and I want to stay in the spirit, but it seems every time I look at my lit tree, there’s always an ominous sign.

At least one strand of lights that don’t work.

That’s what watching the news is like these days.

There’s always a strand of bad lights.

But let’s start with one good thing.

Your government checks will keep flowing. A shutdown has been averted. Congress found more room in the chimney to allow for a skinnier budget Santa to get through for the holidays. It’s just for three months and then the threat will come again. And under a Trump administration, it could get dark fast. That’s true for those on death row. Trump, who executed 13 in his first term, wants to resume federal executions.

Outgoing President Joe Biden did what he could in the name of mercy and forgiveness. On Monday, with Vice President Kamala Harris looking on, he commuted the sentence of 37 of 40 federal  death row inmates, all murderers. They won’t be set free, and will continue to serve time without possibility of parole. They just will be allowed to live.

Three of the most heinous murderers, however, were not spared: Dylann Roof, the white supremacist who killed nine people in a Charleston, S.C. church in 2015; Robert Bowers, who gunned down 11 at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the Boston Marathon bombers in 2013. I can still remember the day of each of their crimes.

And so the political limits of forgiveness have been defined for now. But you can bet Trump will do his best to put his stamp on right and wrong in America.

Trump Justice

The convicted felon of 34 counts, the president-elect was shamed on Monday, when a House Ethics committee report skewered Matt Gaetz, the former congressman and the man Trump wanted to head his “justice” department.

The report said Gaetz paid “tens of thousands of dollars to women for sex and drugs at least 20 times. One of the women was a 17-year-old girl in 2017, a violation of statutory rape laws.

Gaetz was forced to withdraw from consideration as US attorney general. But he is said to be looking to run for the US Senate, or maybe for governor of Florida.

Who’s to stop him when Trump, a man held liable in civil court for sexual assault deemed tantamount to rape, and who was still able to win the presidency.

When Trump defines the limits of public good and evil, there are no limits. He sets the tone and the standard, after all.

Justice is justice when it suits him. Will that work for the rest of us in America?

Sadness for Rickey and Sugar Pie

I was already feeling bad after hearing of the passing over the weekend of two Oakland legends, Rickey Henderson and Sugar Pie DeSanto.

Henderson, 65, was simply the most electrifying baseball player I saw that came closest to my childhood hero Willie Mays.

He was a marvel to watch for his combination of speed and power. With one swing, he’d crush you with a homer. Or he’d get on base and steal bases, the game, and your heart.  I remember as a young boy in San Francisco when Mays got a standing ovation every time he stepped to the plate. I never saw anyone like that. But Rickey was close. The memory of him taking a lead off first makes me smile.

FILE PHOTO – Rickey Henderson waves to the crowd during a presentation after he stole third base against the Toronto Blue Jays in the seventh inning to break Ty Cobb’s career stolen base record, at Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., May 30, 1990. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

Same goes with hearing Sugar Pie DeSanto, a name my Filipino American musician friends would always mention. But I had never heard her until recently with Etta James on the record “In the Basement.” Or on her own on the album “Love So Strong,” which features the bluesy “Flippin and a Floppin.” Listen to her on YouTube.

Umpeylia Marsema Balinton, dubbed “Sugar Pie” by Johnny Otis, was that blend of Filipino and African American soul who was ready to break barriers as a world-class R&B and Blues singer.

Jasman Records in Oakland was her base through the ‘90s until her death, but her music first hit the scene in 1959, with “I want to Know.” That led to a contract with Chess Records where she became the label’s top composer, writing songs for artists like the Whispers, Fontella Bass, Minnie Riperton and the Dells.

But she had her own albums too, and performed in legendary venues like New York’s Apollo theater.

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Her brother Domingo confirmed on Facebook that she died on the 20th while sleeping.

“My sister was one of a kind and you will never see anyone like her again,” he wrote. “She was full of energy and commanded respect when she walked on stage as well as in life.”

Born Oct. 16, 1935 in Brooklyn, Sugar Pie is another marker for Filipino American History Month.

Photo from fanhs_national/Instagram

I grew up listening to soul music and R&B in the Bay Area on  KDIA and KSOL and can hum Fontella Bass’ “Rescue Me,” to this day. But  I regret not knowing one Sugar Pie song by heart, though “Flippin and a Floppin” is on my speakers for the umpteenth time right now. As her life ends in her 89th year, I’m making up for it now for Christmas.

Happy holidays to all, wherever the diaspora finds you.

Emil Guillermo is a veteran Bay Area journalist and commentator. He writes a column for the Inquirer.net’s US Channel. Join him on www.patreon.com/emilamok or on YouTube.