The Amazing Presidential Race Of 2016

In politics optics is everything and at the moment Hillary Clinton is facing stormy seas. After barely squeaking out a win in Iowa, a trouncing in New Hampshire, and no better than a draw in the last debate, the Hillary Clinton juggernaut is noticeably stalling on the unfamiliar terrain being laid down by a previously […]

The Importance of the New Hampshire Primary

The big story going into the New Hampshire primary—the first in the nation—is the shifting dynamics of one of the strangest presidential campaigns in American history. Iowa’s caucus results are often not predictive of the final outcome—certainly on the GOP side where neither of the previous winners—Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum—received their party’s nomination. But […]

Will House Speaker Paul Ryan be called Upon to Save the Party?

The 2016 presidential race just got even wackier —if it could— with former New York City Mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg now toying seriously with making a run. This comes on the heels of rumors that a Stop-Trump movement is quickly gaining steam. Founder of a media empire, Bloomberg could easily match bankrolls with Trump and vows to […]

Of Robot Cars & Dispensable Humans

Ok, call me a hopeless Neanderthal—a throwback to earlier times when steering wheels and brake pedals seemed like a reasonable idea for controlling a few thousand tons of steel hurtling down our streets and highways. That could be changing with the advent of the robot car—an invention that might dispense with these handy devices we […]

Will California Lead the Nation in Trying to Overturn the Citizens United Decision?

California is famous for sparking rebellions over public policy with actions that later become the law of the land. One such undertaking was the decade-long battle whose origins are traceable to San Francisco’s embattled former Mayor, now Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom, to give same sex marriage constitutional standing which last year culminated in the U.S. […]

Are We Ready For Driverless Cars?

It is not always easy to say good things about California’s Department of Motor Vehicles which specializes in long waiting lines and often insensitive window agents who are doing you a favor by taking your money. But the agency showed some signs of common sense. It has ordered at least a temporary moratorium on the […]

Trump’s Vitriolic Pursuit of Greatness

As the 2016 high velocity presidential campaign rumbles on—a kaleidoscope of dizzying images which seems to have no central focus but plenty of entertainment value—past presidential races are beginning to look like ho-hum affairs that we might just as well have skipped entirely. During most of them we knew pretty much who the nominees would […]

Will Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom be Once Again on the Winning Side of History?

Once again we are confronted with a horrific episode involving multiple casualties and at least fourteen dead in a mass shooting at a San Bernardino center housing people with developmental disabilities. The investigation continues as this is being written. And once again there will be loud outcries for sterner measures to keep lethal weapons from getting […]

The Paris Massacre Has Made National Security Our Central Concern

Candidates for governor of states such as California with large metropolitan populations as well as big city Mayoral hopefuls are not generally asked questions about national security issues. These are typically addressed to congressional candidates and presidential hopefuls. That may change in light of the Parisian massacre, the bombings in Beirut a day earlier, the […]

Does Hillary Clinton Have Ownership Rights in California?

When Hillary Rodham Clinton won the 2008 California Presidential Primary going away with 51.5% against 43.2% for Barack Obama, there was little question about who the state’s voters favored. In 2016 California will still be solid Democratic (ergo Clinton) territory with no foreseeable opponent that could muscle her out—although Bernie Sanders will draw some votes […]