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Sen. de Leon defends kingly swearing-in ceremony

Being king means never having to say you’re sorry. That’s sure the attitude of new California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles. He’s still defending the lavish swearing-in ceremony, paid for with private funds (from those hoping to

Meet the Mother Jones staffer who thinks the bullet train is nuts

Chris Reed December 9, 2014

There are bullet-train apostates among California Democrats, starting with Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, and bullet-train fans among state GOPers, starting with Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin. But by and large, the bullet-train debate in the Golden State is a partisan affair.

Are Democrats still relevant?

John Seiler December 8, 2014

Ronald Reagan became a lame duck after his 1984 election landslide. His Republican Party, thanks to the incompetent leadership of Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, even lost control of the U.S. Senate in 1986, leaving Democrats in charge of both houses of

If CA can’t build bridge, what about bullet train through mountains?

Chris Reed December 8, 2014

If the state of California can’t build a bridge, how can it handle the huge technological and engineering challenge of building a bullet train through two mountain ranges laced with seismic faults? Such questions are inevitable after the latest Sacramento Bee

Remember Pearl Harbor — 73 years ago

John Seiler December 7, 2014

Most of us remember where we were on 9/11. Older baby boomers remember where they were when JFK was shot. The Greatest Generation, now almost all passed into eternity, remembers where they were on Dec. 7, 1941, when the Japanese

San Jose police union stalls officer cameras, cites ‘privacy’

Chris Reed December 7, 2014

Basic concepts of police professionalism were more or less born in Northern California, courtesy of a reform-minded police chief, as a history of law enforcement notes: August Vollmer, police chief in Berkeley, California, from 1905 to 1932, advocated the hiring