Leadership Roles Go Through California
Los Angelinos—I was briefly one in my early years—can recall complaints about the persistent smog blackening much of the air and getting into lungs. On bad days the city’s skyline is still shrouded in thick layers. We are learning that this is but one manifestation of global climate changes along with environmental degradations that are […]
Californians Want Law and Order But They Also Want Orderly Law
Police tactics are once again under the microscope in California and around the nation as violent clashes between those who wear the blue uniform and lawless rioters is resulting in predictable calls for sweeping police reforms. “Black Lives Matter” has been followed by “Defund the Police!” Over the years California has seen its fair share […]
A New Crisis Rages On Top of the Pandemic
We are once again grappling with national outrage as well as lamentable and inexcusable violence ignited by the video-captured killing of a black man in Minneapolis over the passing of a $20 bad check. In Los Angeles, Santa Monica, San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland Sacramento and cities across the nation, black, brown, white people, young […]
California Lawmakers have Clashing Views Regarding Proxy Voting
California lawmakers participated in history-making the other day as a majority of House members voted by proxy for the first time safely ensconced in their homes during the coronavirus pandemic that is changing all the rules of normal life. The legislation to add millions to the “paycheck protection” program especially for small businesses that have […]
Could California Be Setting a Model for the Nation?
There are three coronavirus response models being offered for general public consumption with varying degrees of popularity. None are particularly comforting. Each has fallacies. For purposes of discussion I will call them (1) the Utopian Model; (2) the Science-Based Model; and (3) the Doomsday Model. California’s preference hews closer to the second model with some […]
Has the “New Normal” Already Arrived?
“I see a lot of light at the end of the tunnel….and the light is getting brighter and brighter every day. People want to get back to their jobs.” Thus spake the president at a recent Task Force briefing. California and the majority of other states are apparently shining a different flashlight with a higher […]
Gov. Newsom Faces Big Decisions: Some Will Not be Easy!
California Governor Gavin Newsom and other state leaders will have a couple of critical decisions to make in the coming weeks and months which could challenge Donald Trump’s notion that the president has “absolute powers.” A coronavirus task force press briefing began with video highlights tantamount to a campaign ad patched together to justify Trump’s […]
Our “Splendid Isolation!”
Californians alive then and others on the East Coast can still remember the black-outs that were ordered after the infamous attack on our troops at Pearl Harbor which cost thousands of lives. As a nation far removed from the wars already long raging in Europe we did not see a need to bunker down in […]
California is Showing the Way with Minimal Federal Assistance
We are hearing a lot about “modeling” —something leading epidemiology experts use to explain the ever-changing scenarios in the novel coronavirus’s up-and-down curves. The fact is no one really knows when we can expect a dramatic downturn in either the infections or the death rates. The dangers are escalating regardless of what the graphs are […]
Look Out Californians: We Could Be Next!
The rolling surge of new COVID-19 infections will soon hit Californians as surely as the tides washing up daily on our shores. You can take it to the bank! There is no escape from its deadly onslaught which observes no boundaries. The belated arrival at Los Angeles harbor of the 1,000-bed naval hospital ship “Mercy” […]