Elon Musk’s Hyperloop, Part 2, Musk and Hyperloop
I noted in Part 1 that Elon Musk doesn’t plan to actually build Hyperloop. Rather, he has thrown down a gauntlet to other visionaries—in technology, business, finance and in government. Musk has “crowdsourced” his dream. Traditional power centers find this absurd, but it may be a brilliant guerilla strategy against entrenched CAHSRA bureaucrats, unions, crony […]
Elon Musk’s Hyperloop, Part 1, Backgrounder
In a series on CA high speed rail published earlier this year (here, here and here), I ended with a whisper echoing the whisper to Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate. Plastics… plastics! I said that ETT (evacuated tube transport) was the plastics of a coming revolution in transportation. Apparently, Elon Musk agrees. Now the whisper […]
G8 in CA, A Taxonomy and Strategy, Part 2
In Part One, I detail some of the full-throated national debate on the G8 immigration bill. Despite spending hours on the Facebook and comment boards—and having a dozen google alerts— the action is so fast and furious it’s difficult to keep up. Organizing the CAGOP congressmen by Latino CVAP (Latino citizen voting age population; a […]
G8 in CA, The Scorecard, Part 1
The Gang of Eight Immigration Reform (G8) bill is in full-throated national debate. Breitbart trumpets, “The Wheels Are Coming Off the Bill” while shrieking about “Marco-Phones.” Mark Levin is thumbs down after interviewing Marco Rubio. Ann Coulter calls Rubio a “liar.” Sessions shouts at Schumer in a hearing. Ted Cruz, taking on Rubio mano a […]
California High Speed Rail: Part Three, Synthesis
In Part One of this HSR series, I made a conservative-Republican argument for California high speed rail. In Part Two, I sketched a portrait of the CHSRA (the Authority) as an out-of-control agency that must be shut down, immediately. In this final piece, I will sketch a vision for a reformed California system so that […]
California High Speed Rail: Part Two, Arguments Against
In Part One, I made a conservative-Republican argument for California high speed rail (HSR). The argument boiled down to millennial demographics, coalitions and a vision for the future. While I believe that HSR is inevitable and deserves support—all those nations building HSR around the world are not experiencing mass hallucinations that only American conservatives have […]
California High Speed Rail: Part One, Arguments For
Fox & Hounds has given me a huge opportunity— a three part series on California high speed rail (HSR). HSR is so complex and important that the blank canvas—wonderfully large— is still inadequate, but I’ll do my best. I will assume basic knowledge of the facts. In Part One, I’ll argue a Republican-conservative case for […]
Of Data and Dinosaurs, Part Two
In Part One, the need to move rapidly on data-analytics is discussed with the admonition that we need to leap frog the Democrats, not just catch up. The new RNC Growth and Opportunity Project Report hammers the importance home and suggests policy, most of which make sense. However, there are glaring problems with the RNC […]
Of Data and Dinosaurs, Part One
Four months after the 2012 presidential debacle enough articles have been written about Obama’s data-analytics driven win to make it clear to those paying attention that the GOP needs to radically alter course. In the leap frog competition on political technology, the GOP has often been ahead. Now more than ever it is time to […]
Gay Hopes, Demographic Realities
My good friend Christopher L. Bowman made the front page of the SF Chronicle recently in an article titled, Gays in California GOP see hopeful signs. Chris and I were the Odd Couple of the redistricting battles two years ago. He was the map-maker demographer and I the Don Quixote who lead the futile charge. […]