It's not fair.

If you're really good at what you do you're held to a higher standard than those that aren't.

Take basketball, for example. Several times each game, someone guarding LeBron James hits him hard and illegally, and yet LeBron still manages to maintain his poise and score.

LeBron James is not only (to avoid arguments let's say) one of the best players in the game. He's a big guy.

The foul doesn't seem bother him. At times he hardly seems to be aware that he was hit. His play continues besides being hit.

As a result, refs tend to officiate him differently.

They don't blow their whistle when LeBron is fouled nearly as often as they do for other players.

But the rule book says nothing about the player's ability to deal with the beating they get on the court. The rule book talks about what one player is allowed to do to another player.

Here's the rule from the NBA playbook (Rule 12 B - Personal Fouls):

"Contact initiated by the defensive player guarding a player with the ball is not legal."

This rule is followed by explanations and exceptions but none of them mitigate the call based on the ability of the offensive player to withstand the foul.

LeBron is being punished for his size and his skill level.

We actually see this every day.

Kim was an exceptional speech therapist. Early in her career, she worked with two doctors. One was very good and one wasn't. The good one was very secure and would listen to those around him. The bad one was insecure and wouldn't listen.

The bad one would order tests on patients in comas because he got reimbursed for every test he ordered whether or not they were medically justified.

Kim would complain about having to perform a test that would just cost the insurance company and the patient's family money but not benefit the patient.

When she was called in to the hospital administrator's office, the administrator told Kim that of course she was right but she would have to "put on her big girl pants" and appease the doctor.

The other day, Apple took a hit in the news for stories that they had slowed down performance of phones with old and failing batteries. The decision was that it was more important that your phone last longer so that it is available for urgent calls than that your apps perform at their best.

This feels like a reasonable decision.

Also, you could replace the battery in your three year old phone for less than $80.

I don't imagine the devices I buy will run for ever without slowing down or needing some maintenance. If I don't want to buy a new phone, then $80 for a battery feels reasonable to me.

Nope. It was the end of the world. Apple is forcing us to buy new phones. It's a plot. It's typical corporate greed.

Of course, I'm an Apple fan-boy but I don't think it was any of that.

As a result, Apple will offer new batteries for under $30.

As an Apple fan, I'm certainly biased, but I watch them get beat up for things such as eliminating the headphone jack that Android phones get a pass for a year later.

I mentioned this to Maggie and she said, "if Apple wants to be the best, then people will hold them to this standard."

LeBron

It feels as if it's not fair.

But basketball and phones aren't that important in the long run.

I worry more about the world of politics.

We spent years investigating Hillary for email servers. It was a story that was partially responsible for her losing the presidency.

What are we worried about with a private email server?

We're worried about two things - (1) there may not be a record of important emails and (2) the server may not be secure. Our enemies might gain an advantage by accessing these emails.

But we weren't really worried about this.

The current administration uses private email servers and they have passed information directly to our enemies.

No outrage by the very people outraged by Clinton's behavior.

When President Obama went golfing we heard about how he was taking too much time away from the serious work of the presidency.

When President Trump takes many times that much away, we hear no objection.

A president should be allowed to take time away from his office, but where's the consistency in the outrage?

When President Obama got something wrong he was called out as a liar even though he would often correct his misstatement and apologize for it.

We get no corrections and no apologies from this president and the frequency with which he lies eclipses all presidents that came before him.

Republicans attacked President Obama for not being sufficiently supportive of the military, the justice department, and law enforcement.

Where is their outrage for this president who is dismissive of his generals, attempts to thwart justice investigations, and denigrates the FBI?

Republicans oppose gay marriage because it undermines the sanctity of marriage but they nominate a candidate who is on his third marriage and was dating others while still married.

As we approach the new year, look back at the rules you think are important for you to live by.

The rules should be simple.

You should be able to capture them like this:

"Contact initiated by the defensive player guarding a player with the ball is not legal."

There may be explanations and exceptions but the rule should be simple. The infraction should be easy to spot.

Once you have those, add the LeBron rule.

"The enforcement of a rule should not depend on the person breaking it."

If you apply the rule differently to Republicans and Democrats, Christians or Muslims, young and old, black and white, those who are really good at what they do versus people who are not, ...

you are in violation of the LeBron rule.

It's not fair.