Droughts and Not Enough Water: California’s Silent Crisis
California is known as earthquake country but nature poses more insidious threats which can go undetected until too late. Among them are the recurrent droughts and chronic lack of water. As I wrote in California and Its Water, Time to Re-think State’s Failing Water Policies, and Drought and Denial, “……so far the proposals coming out […]
Election Security is Not an Idle Threat
Democrats are fixated on replacing Donald Trump next year. That was a given the day he took office. There is an equally pressing need to ensure that the next presidential election is conducted in accordance with rules America sets rather than by the Russians or some other nation. If the Mueller investigation and his testimony […]
The Mueller Hearings: Many Questions, Few Surprises
After the eight hours of mostly low-key and some closing moments of emotional testimony by former Special Prosecutor, Robert Mueller, before the House Judiciary and Intelligence Commitees, the case for impeachment of this president may not yet have persuaded enough Democrats who would have to be the ones to bring it. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi […]
Racism, Name-Calling and the 2020 Election. How Will CA Congressional Delegation Respond?
With blatantly racist tweets now spouting from the mouth of the President of the United States we have may reached a new low for insensitivity to the vast majority of Americans who find such rhetoric abhorrent. At a North Carolina rally just the other day, urged on by the president’s special ire aimed at Minnesota […]
A Journey Into the Past
California has always been a place for dreamers and as the state grows the dreams continue to grow bigger along with it. Teeming concrete megalopolises were one result spurred on by four elements that were predictive of lightening growth: plenty of water, favorable climate and unlimited amounts of open space. Another ingredient no less important […]
The Hard-Charging Californian Nailed It!
Sen. Kamala Harris stole the show in the second presidential debate and did much to enhance her standing before a national audience. She did so by very adeptly combining her well-honed prosecutorial skills as the state’s previous Attorney General and San Francisco’s former District Attorney with a bit of spontaneous peace-keeping at exactly the right […]
Putting Conscience Over Party Politics
California Republicans do a much better job of displaying unity around their candidates than their counterparts. It is at least one reason why, even in this bluest of states, a few have broken thorough to claim the governorship and a couple of them rode the Golden State wave right into the presidency. Ronald Reagan was […]
Impeachment: The California Factor
Like so much in politics the modern history of impeachment runs through California. Richard Nixon, a Republican and the nation’s 37tth president born in Yorba Linda, chose to resign before he would most certainly have been impeached. House Speaker and Democrat, Nancy Pelosi, a San Franciscan by adoption and second only in line to the […]
Speaker Nancy Pelosi is proceeding wisely
The impeachment drums are growing louder but at least one Californian has remained steadfast against taking that fateful step. She is House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, who even after rising calls to begin the process coming from at least 53 House Democrats—nearly one third of her delegation—she has continued to urge patience. “Nothing is off the […]
Sports Talk and the Future Legacy of California Cities
Oakland has much to crow about today—–more specifically the Golden State Warriors who have played all of their championship seasons there and may be on the verge of another. This scrappy blue-collar city about which the writer, Gertrude Stein, once groused “there is no there, there,” is better known for teams that have made a […]