Santa, California children need more this Christmas than you can fit in the sleigh. But could you at least give every Californian under 18 their very own barstool? Why universal barstools? If our kids are going to get back to education and socialization anytime soon, their best shot lies in restaurants and bars—the places that […]

It’s a difficult year to pick a Black Bart, at least among the living in California. Gov. Gavin Newsom made a good start against homelessness and COVID-19, only to strike a deadly blow to his own career with one wine-fueled dinner in the Napa Valley. U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein lost her way, and appeared on […]

Gov. Gavin Newsom has governance problems. He’s struggled with finding a consistent response that local officials will follow. He’s failed to fix the state department that handles unemployment. He hasn’t rallied sufficient support for the unemployed and distressed businesses. He’s failed to re-open schools.  But Newsom seems to think his problems are primarily about politics […]

This is the 12th annual edition of the California Office Pool. It was inspired by the late, great New York Times columnist William Safire, who made a habit of writing an annual column he called Office Pool. In it, Safire offered, multiple-choice style, a series of possible news events that could take place in the […]

Hello, Palmdale. Planet Earth calling. You ever coming back here? You, a struggling working-class exurb of 160,000, may be located in the Antelope Valley, in north L.A. County’s. But your civic head lives in outer space. Is it your hot desert air, your elevation (2,657 feet), or all your psychedelically orange poppies? I don’t know, […]

The much-discussed contest over who Gov. Newsom names to fill Kamala Harris’ Senate seat—a contest in which I remain the best choice—is about far more than one appointment. In fact, it’s starting to look like the governor will get to make a Big 4 of appointments to elected office. And on top of those, he’s […]

The much-discussed contest over who Gov. Newsom names to fill Kamala Harris’ Senate seat—a contest in which I remain the best choice—is about far more than one appointment. In fact, it’s starting to look like the governor will get to make a Big 4 of appointments to elected office. And on top of those, he’s […]

We completely screwed up California’s election system, and all we got was one lousy independent. After a decade of the miserable election experiment known as the top-two, the election to the state assembly of Chad Mayes, a former Republican turned independent, is the only consolation prize. That ought to embarrass backers of the top-two system. […]

Joel Fox was right in this space when he predicted that legislative Democrats may offer proposals to curb the power of the initiative and referendum process.  He was  right to say that Democrats may use phony reforms to attack a process that saw voters go against them on property taxes, ending cash bail, and regulating […]

Late in this year’s strangest California film, “Palm Springs,” middle-aged Roy (J.K. Simmons) sits in his Irvine backyard and advises Nyles (Andy Samberg) on coping with an apocalyptic reality.  “You’ve gotta find your Irvine,” says Roy, surveying his Orange County idyll.     “I don’t have an Irvine,” replies Nyles, who is in existential despair. “We all […]