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‘Kaustrodamus’: The L.A. journo who saw Cantor’s demise coming
Mickey Kaus is a very smart L.A. pundit whose Kaufiles was one of the original news blogs that mattered. He now writes mainly for the Daily Caller. In 1992, he wrote “The End of Equality,” a powerful book-length analysis of
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Post-Vergara: Civil war possible among CA Dems
The Vergara storm is coming, and I’ve got a feeling that it’s going to be gigantic. The ruling’s potential impact on California public education — and public education nationally — could be immense. Even if it doesn’t stand, it will
Read MoreRail board chair Dan Richard responds to critical post
Dan Richard, the chair of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, sent this to Cal Watchdog in response to my Monday morning post: “In his campaign to stop California from building the nation’s first high-speed rail system, Chris Reed (calwatchdog.com, June 9, 2014)
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CA air board may invalidate 1.3 million pollution-offset credits
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s repeated punishment of an Arkansas waste disposal firm has led the California Air Resources Board to consider invalidating 1.3 million environmental offset credits bought from the Arkansas company by California firms to offset the effects
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State’s Bay Bridge follies will have bullet train encore
When the first stories came out about the problems with the $6.5 billion San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge construction project, there was a faintly surprised tone to some of the coverage. They can’t get stuff like welds right? Really? But I
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Light-rail love affair: CA pols, media stuck in 1980s
Californians with a green streak are in love with mass transit — at least when it involves rail. Buses are far better at helping people, especially poor people, to and from work. But there’s something about rail and how it
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Changing CA politics: What’s the biggest potential shift?
The open-primary success of relatively moderate GOP candidates in statewide races has prompted lots of thumbsucker punditry lately. For example, Dan Walters sees Tuesday’s results as suggesting a mild GOP comeback. There’s also the evidence that the Legislature isn’t as
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Why did Brown take high road and pass on fixing GOP race?
In the summer of 2001, Gov. Gray Davis was in trouble for a trillion reasons, only starting with his feckless response to the winter 2000-01 rolling blackouts and energy crisis. He was facing a formidable 2002 re-election challenge from Los
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Why Swearengin’s finish in controller’s race is deceptive
The fact that Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin finished first in the state controller’s primary and that another Republican — David Evans — was running a strong third surprised just about all California GOPers and may lead them to unrealistic confidence
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CSU ‘student success fees’ an obnoxious surcharge
California lawmakers of both parties have long been upset that UC and CSU leaders look to raise tuition as option number one during budget headaches instead of scrutinizing their operating budgets for fat. But for poor students, at least tuition
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