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Shape-shifting pol: It’s dirty pool to mention my shape-shifting
The saga of Nathan Fletcher — the 90 percent conventional Republican assemblyman who became a righteous, holier-than-thou independent before ending up a 90 percent conventional Democrat, all in 14 months — took a fun twist Friday. In the first debate
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CA auditor demolishes Jerry-Brown-saved-state narrative
The eagnerness of national media to lionize Gov. Jerry Brown as the guy who saved California amounts to an extreme form of cherry-picking. In some ways, Brown has done a better job than his two immediate predecessors in forcing some
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LAUSD offers reminder of pervasiveness of government incompetence
As John Seiler noted, it was completely predictable that students in L.A. Unified would figure out how to get around restrictions on their taxpayer-provided iPads. But another point that needs to be made is the sheer stinking stupidity of a
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Who pays for LAUSD’s broken or stolen iPads?
I’ve written a couple of things on the Los Angeles Unified School District’s gift of iPads to its students. In July, I predicted the kids would “jailbreak” the iPads. They did. Remember, these iPads are costing taxpayers $1 billion. That’s
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Jim Rogers: big recession coming
As regular readers of this site know, I’ve long pointed out that recessions hit every 4-6 years. The last one began in Dec. 2007. That’s almost 6 years ago, so we’re due. Here’s a YouTube of famed investor Jim Rogers.
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LAUSD kids ‘jailbreak’ iPads
When the Los Angeles Unified School District announced it was giving iPads to its students back in July, I predicted: “The iPads themselves might allow the kids to break out of the system and find Web sites that teach something
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Creating a permanent poverty class with minimum wage increases
Assembly Bill 10 to raise the minimum wage in California, is sitting on Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk. Brown has indicated he is in a signing mood, and will likely sign the bill. However, should AB 10 by Assemblyman Luis Alejo, D-Salina, be
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History suggests Fletcher in trouble in San Diego mayoral special election
The Tuesday night decision by members of San Diego’s Democratic Party central committee to endorse City Councilman David Alvarez over Republican assemblyman-turned-independent-turned-Democrat Nathan Fletcher appears to substantially improve the chances that the Nov. 19 mayoral special election to replace departed
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State, local taxes at record highs
Governments everywhere, especially in California, say they need more money. Budgets have been cut. But here’s the truth: Revenues from state and local individual income taxes, general sales and gross receipt taxes, motor fuel taxes, motor vehicle taxes and taxes
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CA's richest company sees smartphone future more clearly than critics
I am not an Apple cultist. I like the Silicon Valley icon, California's richest company, a great deal and agree that Steve Jobs is a transcendent historical figure. But I gave up on my iPhone 4 when I saw that Google's
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