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 […]
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 […]
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 – […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Angelenos Face $1.6 Billion Tax Bill … If All the November Ballot Measures Pass
We need to send a loud and clear message to Mayor Eric Garcetti, the Herb Wesson led City Council, the County Board of Supervisors, the Los Angeles Community College District, the Los Angeles Unified School District, Governor Jerry Brown, and our representatives in Sacramento that we are not their ATM. If all the taxes on […]
Four California Ballot Measures Worthy Of A ‘Yes’ Vote
Most of the oxygen in the room for this November’s election is being sucked up by the prolific and particularly vitriolic presidential showdown between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. You may be focused on that race because of your desire to make everything great again, or just a morbid fascination with reality TV-meets-American politics. That […]