Category: Politics

Last week, Facebook had a company-wide, Mao/Pol Pot-style public humiliation and apology session after one employee attended a Kavanaugh hearing. And, here we are, the Cambodian killing fields of the 1970’s transported to California – let a thousand poppies bloom! How did we get here? Well, when the Internet was built and the web-economy exploded, the […]

The kids are back from the holidays and are already misbehaving. That new kid, Alexandria, the enfant terrible, got green crayons for Christmas and is running through the halls of Congress scribbling on all the walls. Does she not know that the bossy it-girl who peaks early fades quickly. Probably not, since she gets such low marks in history and self-awareness.

The heart of California politics is water. Anyone who has studied California history or seen the movie “Chinatown” knows that. While “there will be blood” over oil drilling and many California highways are named after State Assemblymen, the big issue is water. Water turned LA into an oasis. Water makes the San Joaquin Valley an American breadbasket. Water gives Northern California beautiful lakes and rivers. Water is a powerful political weapon.

Opponents of the Republican Tax bill have roundly criticized it as favoring the rich and “unfair.” Unfortunately, they fail recognize the complex, and, yes, existential, moral dilemma they face with that outcry.

Calling it a “Great Game” is a crude metaphor, given the human stakes, but foreign policy has always been our strategy in complicated global games, and, at this stage, the Administration seems to have no idea what the games are and no strategy for playing. Endless failures over the last six years suggest the White House has put in some of the worst players we have ever had.

oe Biden, really? The polls show Biden well ahead, but there’s little real enthusiasm. Biden’s lead comes from name recognition – the other candidates have done little in their careers to gain serious attention. And, to a large degree, Biden’s lead shows how much the majority of Democrats want to avoid the losing path of choosing extremists, and especially a socialist/Marxist like Bernie Sanders.

Dragons are on everyone’s mind this week. Paralleling the climax of Game of Thrones, a far more high stakes game (with real dragons) is taking place with consequential stakes for America. Trump is hunting Chinese dragons.

I’m not a lawyer (although neither are many TV pundits), but I thought Mueller’s legal reasoning in his now infamous press conference was great … for opening up a 50 gallon oil drum of worms, legal and political. He could not confirm that Trump was “not not guilty” of obstruction of justice. Well that’s going to become a great standard for legal and political discussion.

During the past few weeks, we’ve all been treated to a drumbeat from the Democratic Congress and cable news that the President is a traitor and should be indicted, convicted, and jailed for who knows what. All of this based on the thinnest evidence, which could not even bring an indictment after 2 years. Well, OK, let’s play that game.