Water and Rail in the Central Valley
California’s Central Valley has been the focus of two big issues that have grabbed legislative attention – water and the high-speed rail. Is it possible that the two could come together in a political mix? Hovering over the debate about replacing the water bond that is slated for the November ballot is the question: Will […]
How Long Will California’s Job Growth Last? (And Joan Rivers Revisited)
Last Friday’s monthly jobs report through May 2014 showed payroll jobs increasing by 18,300 over the month and 341,000 payroll jobs over the year. In the more than four years since February 2010, California has had steady monthly job gains, which through May have reached 1,327,000 added payroll jobs. How long can the job gains […]
Teaching Is Not A Right
This post was going to be about making fun of the over-the-top triumphalism among conservatives and education “reformers” about the Vergara decision on teacher tenure and seniority rules. It was going to be about the self-aggrandizing judge who cites Brown v. Board in a weakly argued 16-page decision. This post was going to be about […]
Are Politics Making Americans Boring?
America—arguably the world’s most diverse, innovative, and surprising nation—is becoming a lot more predictable. And boring. According to the most recent Pew Research Poll on political polarization, Americans are becoming more consistently liberal or conservative in their opinions, and ideological thinking is much more aligned with political party membership than before. This means that the […]
The Bratquake Decoded
The loss by Eric Cantor to Dave Brat is indeed a political earthquake with aftershocks still rippling through the congress. Is the Tea Party resurgent? What are the implications for California? That depends on candidates. But it depends more on the electoral reality. Cantor lost because he was a terrible candidate—distant, dismissive, arrogantly believing his money and […]