Residents and visitors alike know that getting around the Bay Area is not exactly a walk in the park. A $2.4 billion Transbay Transit Center is slated to open in December, but as San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross note, this highly touted “Grand Central Station of the West,” will wind up…
Read More »
The day before his inauguration, The Hill
February 28 marked 20 years since bank robbers Larry Phillips and Emil Matasareanu engaged in a full-blown firefight with police outside the Bank of America on Laurel Canyon Boulevard in North Hollywood. Both deployed fully automatic rifles illegal to possess at the time. They sprayed anything that moved, firing even at television news helicopters….
Read More »
In all the excitement over the election last fall, a surging government intrusion failed to get the attention it deserved. In late September, the White House Office of Management and Budget, of all places, proposed a new racial classification: MENA, standing for Middle East and North Africa. It covers the area from Morocco to…
Read More »
On March 15, 2017, the U.S. government’s statutory debt ceiling for its total public debt outstanding will go back into effect at whatever level of accumulated national debt is on the books as of that date. CNBC has marked the date on their calendar. After a 15-month hiatus, Congress is once again warming up…
Read More »
Last week, on February 22, 2017, President Trump spoke to the press for the first time about the budget and the national debt while attending an informal federal budget meeting at the White House. Here are some quick quotes that stood out during his introductory remarks, first off, covering his impression of the overall…
Read More »
As we noted, California has made it difficult for veterans to apply their medical skills in civilian life. Like many others, these veterans must contend with the labyrinth of state boards and commissions. According to the state’s Little Hoover Commission, a watchdog agency of sorts, one out of every five Californians must receive permission…
Read More »
As this column makes clear, governments at all levels abuse the public, trample human rights, and waste taxpayers’ money on a massive scale. Sometimes government abuses its own and the public at the same time. Witness the recent smackdown on free speech at the California capitol. On February 21, the state Senate held a…
Read More »
Last week saw two significant developments at the scandal-ridden U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: The U.S. Senate voted unanimously to confirm President Trump’s selection of David Shulkin to assume the top leadership post of the VA, replacing the often out-of-his-depth Robert McDonald. The U.S. Government Accountability Office released a 700-page report on federal government…
Read More »
The U.S. military trains medics and tasks them to attend those shot, bombed or blown up, sometimes including civilian victims. This is about the most rigorous duty any medic could experience but veterans have a hard time applying their skills in civilian life. As Foon Rhee notes in the Sacramento Bee, the California legislature…
Read More »
 |
 |
 |