Fox and Hounds Daily Says Goodbye
With this article, we end publication of Fox and Hounds Daily. It has been a satisfying 12½ year run. When we opened in May 2008, our site was designed to offer an opportunity to those who wished to engage in public debate on many issues, especially in politics and business, but found it difficult to get placed in newspaper op-ed pages.
Co-publishers Tom Ross, Bryan Merica and I have kept F&H going over this time investing our own time, funding, and staff help. Last year at this time we considered closing the site, however with an election on the horizon we decided to keep F&H going through the election year. With the election come and gone, and with no sense of additional resources, we have decided to close the site down.
Fox and Hounds will live on, at least, with my articles collected in the California State Library.
On a personal note, I have spent over 40 years in California policy and politics. There have been some incredible high moments and some difficult low points. It pains me that politics too often is a blood sport, frequently demonizing the motives of opponents and using the legal system as a weapon in public discourse. At Fox & Hounds, we tried to adhere to the practice of giving all a voice in the debate, yet keep the commentaries civil and avoided personal attacks.
F&H offered the opportunity to publish different perspectives (even ones that criticized my writings!). We had success as indicated by the Washington Post twice citing Fox and Hounds Daily one of the best California political websites and many other positive affirmations and comments received over the years.
Tom, Bryan and I want to thank our many readers and writers for being part of our journey. The publishers of Fox and Hounds Daily believe that we added value to California and its people. We hope you agree.
Post Un-Presidential Debate Wisdom
There’s an ancient Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times.”
And we do. This is an election season as brutal, polarized, nasty (and vulgar) as any we’ve ever seen. The second presidential debate is a case in point.
Donald Trump, reeling from the October Surprise video, pretty much managed to change the subject. Where he was uncomfortable and on the defensive in the first debate, he was aggressive, offensive and discomfiting in this debate. At times, he seems to be talking in tongues–about ISIS, e-mails, etc. At other times, he appeared to be following the “spaghetti strategy” of political debate: No matter what the question, just throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. It is doubtful that Trump picked up any new voters, but he probably re-energized his hard core base and managed to belie, at least for now, the impression of a sinking ship. (more…)
The Trump Anchor in CA
Even before the Washington Post reported the videotape revealing Donald Trump’s lewd comments about women, the Republican candidate was proving to be an anchor weighing down Republicans in California. Campaign pollsters say that Republicans running for assembly and senate seats that were doing well suffered a drop in numbers after a barrage of negative hit pieces tying them to Trump—whether the local candidate supported Trump or not.
Post debate, it appears many Republican voters will hang with Trump despite Trump’s braggadocio on the videotape. According to a Politico Poll taken after the tape was made public (but before the debate), Republican voters that supported Trump were sticking by him. The debate won’t change that. In fact, his debate performance might have lessened the bleeding his campaign was experiencing among some Republicans. (more…)
California’s Never Trumpers Are the State’s Only Viable Republicans
Maybe someone like Jim Brulte, the California Republican Party chairman, could save his little remaining credibility with a resignation combined with an abject groveling public apology for accommodating himself to Trump.
But probably not.
The legions of California Republicans who went along with Trump simply shouldn’t be able to get a hearing from Californians – and they won’t. Kevin McCarthy, the Bakersfield Republican who is House Majority leader and thoughtlessly became a Trump delegate to the national convention, ought to apologize and quit. Duncan Hunter, a leading Trump defender, deserves to be shunned; he’s got a safe GOP district, but is it so safe he can survive his Trump association? If he wins and sticks around, the party should make him persona non grata. (more…)
There is Integrity in That LA Initiative
Is the so-called Neighborhood Integrity Initiative really something to be feared?
I think it could be a great advancement for the city of Los Angeles. But business people seem to view the possibility that it will pass in the March 7 election with much the same kind of dread that 14th century Europeans looked upon the arrival of the bubonic plague in the nearby village.
At least, at a Sept. 22 politically oriented luncheon held by the Greater San Fernando Valley Chamber of Commerce, denunciations of the initiative got hearty applause, such as when Los Angeles City Councilmember Nury Martinez said, “This initiative is dangerous.” (more…)
Prop. 56 Kills
Taxes have consequences. One is black markets.
Vice.com’s “Black Market: Dispatches” just ran an episode on Ukraine’s “people who rely on the underground cigarette trade for survival during a time of war and economic struggle.” They smuggle smokes West into the wealth European Union. Here’s a preview.
Asks a journalist, “Do you see yourself as a criminal at all?”
“I am criminal? No,” responds the smuggler. “It’s maybe not legal, but…” (more…)
California’s New Education Architecture Is Already Failing
Is California abandoning its poorest students?
That question would be dismissed as absurd by our state’s education leaders, especially Gov. Jerry Brown and the State Board of Education. For years, they have been building a new educational architecture they say will do more for the poorest kids in the poorest schools.
But as the many elements of this architecture are put in place slowly—and I do mean slowly—they have begun to look like a Winchester Mystery House, so full of complicated rooms that the structure doesn’t fit together coherently. On its current path, the emerging educational architecture of California seems likely to undermine public accountability, resist meaningful parent and community engagement, and make it difficult to figure out whether disadvantage students and the schools they attend are benefiting. (more…)