How a deal could bring fast reform to Proposition 47
Ask almost any police chief the reasons behind the last year’s rash of well-organized and orchestrated “smash-and-grab” robberies around California and chances are they will say it’s largely because of...
View ArticleNewsom remains critical of California’s local response to homelessness. He...
Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom reiterated one of his favorite complaints – that local government officials aren’t doing enough to reduce California’s scourge of homelessness. While renewing the annual...
View ArticleLos Angeles Metro has sacrificed safety on the altar of appeasement to...
Condolences and deepest sympathy to the family and friends of the woman who was fatally stabbed in the throat with two small kitchen knives on a Metro train as it approached the Universal/Studio City...
View ArticleSen. Laphonza Butler’s disappointing six months in office
After longtime Sen. Dianne Feinstein died in office last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Laphonza Butler as her replacement. It was a surprise because she was not a politician, but a lobbyist. That...
View ArticleJohn Phillips: California’s fast food follies
On April 1st, California’s brand new $20-an-hour minimum wage for fast food workers took effect, and surprise surprise fast food chains are jacking up their menu prices across the board. According to...
View ArticleJohn Stossel: Capitalism versus racism
Capitalism and racism go together? I hear it all the time. “Racism is intricately linked to capitalism,” says famous Marxist Angela Davis. “It’s a mistake to assume that we can combat racism by leaving...
View ArticleStop the ’emergency spending’ charade already
This week, Congress advanced four separate bills with $95 billion in funding for Ukraine, Israel, Indo-Pacific allies and the domestic submarine industrial base. This funding has been debated for...
View ArticleCalifornia charter school battles intensify as education finances get squeezed
California’s public schools, with nearly 6 million students, are feeling the financial impacts of a quintuple whammy. Billions of federal dollars to cushion the impacts of COVID-19 have been exhausted,...
View ArticleIsrael-Hamas war: Has Hamas bet correctly?
What to say about the widespread pro-Hamas protests? Protesters block the highway leading to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. Protesters stop traffic on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. A mob...
View Article‘Equity’ grading is latest destined-to-fail education fad
SACRAMENTO – Modern public-education history is littered with novel education theories that have failed so spectacularly that the terms are now used as pejoratives. For instance, when I was in...
View ArticleCalifornia once led in government transparency. It descended into secrecy and...
California once was a national leader in making government more transparent, requiring state and local agencies to conduct their business in public meetings and giving Californians easy access to...
View ArticleJon Coupal: Enough bonds already!
Back in 2010, then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, said that “the most significant threat to our national security is our debt.” At the time, our national debt was “only”...
View ArticleLarry Wilson: Spy vs. Spy: Why no spy will ever cop to it
“It is the oldest question of all, George,” a colleague says to English spymaster George Smiley in John le Carre’s brilliant novel “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.” “Who can spy on the spies?” But I have...
View ArticleYou are living in an epistemic bubble
An epistemic bubble is a network of information where some relevant information is missing – either because information is merely omitted or because some forces in the network are intentionally...
View ArticleSusan Shelley: How will the U.S. Supreme Court handle Grants Pass v. Johnson?
Last Monday, the question of when and if cities may enforce an anti-camping ordinance finally came before the U.S. Supreme Court. It has been a long wait. The smallest details of homelessness policy in...
View ArticleKamala Harris for governor of California? It could happen.
For most of the early and teen years of this century, Kamala Harris was one of the weakest of vote-getters in Democratic-dominated California, even while she held three electoral offices in succession....
View ArticleJohn Phillips: Steer CLEAR of Josh Newman’s latest bad idea
Here’s some more bad news for air travelers. And for once it has nothing to do with Boeing. Of all of the problems currently facing the state of California, Democrat state Senator Josh Newman of...
View ArticleQatari money and the pro-Palestinian campus takeovers
The current spate of campus takeovers by pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli and often anti-Semitic protesters turns out to be neither an accident nor, for the most part, spontaneous . This first became...
View ArticleLarry Wilson: Opening a window to more Pasadena al fresco dining
Hooray, hooray, it’s the first of May, outdoor … Well, never mind. But here in the springiest of the spring months, the time has also come for al fresco dining to get a boost, and thanks to a decision...
View ArticlePresident Biden doesn’t know how to make government work
President Joe Biden says, “I know how to make government work!” You’d think he’d know. He’s worked in government for 51 years. But the truth is, no one can make government work. Biden hasn’t. Look at...
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