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.
The Cities Leading A U.S. Manufacturing Revival
Manufacturing may no longer drive the U.S. economy, but industrial growth remains a powerful force in many regions of the country. Industrial employment has surged over the past five years, with the sector adding some 855,000 new jobs, a 7.5% expansion.
Several factors are driving this trend, including rising wages in China, the energy boom and a growing need to respond more quickly to local customer demand and the changing marketplace.
To generate our rankings of the best places for manufacturing jobs, we evaluated the 373 metropolitan statistical areas for which the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has complete data over the past decade. Our rankings factor in manufacturing employment growth over the long term (2003-14), medium term (2009-14) and the last two years, as well as momentum. (more…)
Unlawful Immigrants Rush For CA Drivers Licenses
Emerging statistics have revealed that California’s extension of drivers licenses to unlawful immigrants aroused unexpected demand — with no end in sight.
“While state officials expected 1.4 million undocumented immigrants to apply for licenses in the first three years, in the first six months since the law has been enacted more than 1.1 million undocumented immigrants have so far taken the written test, and another 436,000 have taken the driving test,” reported Fox News Latino.
“During the first six months that the Safe Driver and Responsibility Act — or AB 60 — went into effect, the Department of Motor Vehicles saw more than 600,000 applications from undocumented immigrants,” the Los Angeles Daily News observed. DMV officials announced that, in the first half of the year, some 397,000 licenses have been issued to unlawfully present immigrants — half the total of roughly 759,000 licenses issued, according to the Associated Press. (more…)
Trump Impact—Overblown?
As if politics weren’t crazy enough this year, Donald Trump has brought his unreality show to the 2016 Presidential race. Trump’s buffoonery has captured the attention of the media and the hearts of more than a few grumpy voters, at least for a while. But those who worry (Republicans) or hope (Democrats) that Trump’s antics will finally, totally, destroy GOP chances of winning a viable share of Latino voters in 2016 should take a deep breath.
Comparisons of Donald Trump in 2015 to then-Governor Pete Wilson in 1994, currently bouncing around social media and cable chat shows, aren’t valid. Pete Wilson was fighting for his re-election as California’s governor–and for his political life, when he embraced Proposition 187, which would have denied health and education services to undocumented immigrants. (more…)
Regulating Marijuana
In all likelihood, California voters will be asked to decide the legal status of marijuana on the 2016 ballot. Advocates of legalization are hoping to build on the momentum in four states (Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington) and the District of Columbia that made the recreational use of marijuana legal. Two national advocacy organizations—the Drug Policy Alliance and the Marijuana Policy Project—have made California a major focus for the 2016 election year. (more…)
California Once Again Relegated To Sideshow Status
It seems almost manifestly unfair that no Californian is running for the Presidency in 2016. After all, a little over 12% of the population resides in the Golden State which keeps growing and 1 of every 10 electoral votes is cast here.
Yet California accounts for a mere 3 of our 45 presidents—Hoover, Nixon and Reagan—with Nixon the only one born here. Hoover was born in Iowa and never resided here. Reagan hailed from Illinois.
Using birthplace as the metric, both Virginia and Ohio share high honors having each contributed 8 presidents. Virginia alone produced George Washington, our first Commander-in-Chief, and 5 of the initial 10 presidents. Virginia’s latest entry, former Democratic Senator, Jim Webb, is considered a long shot.
Looking at states with which presidents were most affiliated when elected, New York can claim 6 including both Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt. (more…)
In Criminal Justice, A Life-And-Death Struggle To Get It Right
Few sights are more chilling than an empty execution chamber, with its unbuckled straps, waiting.
The death penalty gets everybody’s attention.
The National Registry of Exonerations, a project of the University of Michigan Law School, says that since 1989, 115 wrongfully convicted people were sentenced to death and later cleared of the charges against them based on new evidence of innocence. Another 1,508 innocent people were cleared after serving years or decades of the type of prison sentence that doesn’t get much news coverage.
Those 1,623 wrongful convictions resulted from 540 cases of mistaken witness identification, 367 cases of misleading or false forensic evidence, 903 cases of perjury and/or false accusation, 750 cases of official misconduct, and 206 false confessions. (more…)