President Barack Obama offered the desperate farmers and farmworkers of the drought-stricken Central Valley a desultory relief package last week: $1 billion for a “climate resilience fund,” plus “summer meals” and various other kinds of aid. For a president who
The Egyptian military is reported to be creating a 500-meter buffer zone on its own side of the border with Gaza, and is already destroying tunnels used by Hamas to smuggle goods and weapons. (Several Palestinian homes have apparently been
A friend pointed out an obvious contradiction in the Obama administration’s policy towards terrorism. In a series of “goodwill” gestures aimed at enticing the Palestinians to keep negotiating, President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have forced Israel
On Friday, Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, TN dealt a major blow to the United Auto Workers (UAW) and to Big Labor in general when they voted 712-626 to reject the union. The loss is only the latest setback for the
My two-bedroom apartment in Santa Monica overlooks a sort of courtyard/alleyway that is surrounded by several dozen other apartments. On still summer nights, there is a couple–no one knows quite who they are–who make love with their windows open. They
No, not there. Rather, a better use for the $1 billion that President Barack Obama pledged today to a “climate resilience fund” would be to invest in a desalination plant that could help alleviate some of California’s periodic water shortages.
Covered California, the Golden State’s Obamacare exchange, was meant to be a model of how well the policy could work under the best conditions. “By proving it can work here, that will be a beacon to the nation,” said an
Larry Summers, who once chaired President Barack Obama’s National Economic Council, criticized the current economic recovery on Thursday evening, telling an audience at Harvard that while the Obama administration helped the country avoid a “depression” in 2009, the pace of
Attention broken-hearted and lonely Americans: President Barack Obama feels your pain. He’s happily married, of course, but in solidarity with the lovelorn–those victims of romantic inequality–he’s spending Valentine’s Day alone. Well, not entirely alone–he’s set to enjoy a guys’ weekend
As predicted, President Barack Obama is making climate change the central focus of his visit with farmers today in the drought-stricken Central Valley of California. Rather than address the central grievance farmers have with the federal government, which is that
In 2009, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) apologized profusely to the White House for shouting, “You lie!” as President Barack Obama told Congress that Obamacare would not cover illegal immigrants. Now it would appear that the White House owes Wilson an
President Barack Obama will arrive in Fresno, California today to meet local communities to discuss the severe drought-one of the worst in recorded history. California has seen water allocations to farmers cut to zero. Analysts have puzzled over why the
More than twenty years ago, President George H.W. Bush pledged a “new world order” as he sent U.S. troops to the Persian Gulf: a world “freer from the threat of terror, stronger in the pursuit of justice, and more secure
Richard Baehr has published a masterful analysis of the decline of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which recently had to back away from Iran sanctions for the first time in two decades. It did so to preserve the
The remarkable victory by Kevin Faulconer in the special election for San Diego mayor on Tuesday–by a margin of nine points, far more than almost anyone had expected–raises questions about the state of the Republican Party in California. If the
On Friday, President Barack Obama will travel to Fresno, California, the heart of the state’s hard-hit farming region. Usually, when the president travels to California, it’s to raise money. So observers are scratching their heads. The president “can’t make it
The California High-Speed Rail Authority released its draft business plan last week, and opened public comment on the plan on Tuesday. Among the more interesting revelations is a projection, in comments of the official Peer Review Group appended to the
Illinois state treasurer and gubernatorial candidate Dan Rutherford, one of the few Republicans to hold statewide office, is facing new accusations that he had inappropriate relationships with male subordinates. One manager sued Rutherford for sexual harassment Monday, and on Wednesday
I receive dozens of emails from publicists every week. I answer about one or two a month. Until recently, the last one to which I responded was from SeekingArrangement.com’s in-house publicist about how the high cost of Obamacare premiums was
President Barack Obama, supposedly the smartest man ever to hold the office and often described as a “professor” of constitutional law, described one of the most important political thinkers of the past three hundred years as “Alex” de Tocqueville yesterday
Kevin Faulconer is the new mayor of San Diego, and the only Republican mayor of a large American metro area. He did not just win Tuesday’s special election against Democrat David Alvarez–he won in a landslide, upsetting the expectations of
11:06 p.m. PST: Faulconer’s lead narrows very slightly, to just under 10 points, 55.24% to 44.76%, with 85.9% of precincts counting. It’s not just a win for the Republican: it’s an unexpected landslide victory. The San Diego Union-Tribune has called the
National Public Radio’s Scott Horsley had the opportunity to ask President Barack Obama a question Tuesday about the latest White House-ordered delay in Obamacare–namely, to excuse businesses with 50 to 99 employees from the employer mandate. At the press conference
Centinela Valley High School District superintendent Jose Fernandez earns more in total compensation than President Barack Obama–$271,000 in salary, plus nearly $400,000 in benefits (Obama earns $569,000.) The taxpayers and the unions are outraged, but the school board unanimously approved
Tennessee Republicans, who control a two-thirds supermajority in the state legislature and essentially govern alone, have warned Volkswagen that if the United Auto Workers (UAW) win an election this week to represent VW’s new plant in Chattanooga, the company cannot
