Politics

Transit $60 Million in the Hole? Build a Monorail!

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In case anyone believes that transit advocates haven’t completely lost their grip on reality, take a look at Memphis. The new CEO of the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) has “discovered” a $60 million deficit in the agency’s budget that “prior leadership was unaware of.”  read more »

Progressive Geography's Intellectual Dead End

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Americans are familiar with steep political divisions on issues like race, class, and gender. Perhaps less understood, but arguably more definitive, is the widening gap between the cognitive elites concentrated in big cities and the rest of the country.  read more »

Trudeau, Biden Paying Political Price as the West Turns Against Immigration

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U.S. President Joe Biden, in one of his regularly inept utterances, recently castigated Japan and other East Asian countries for being “xenophobic,”  read more »

If Trump Wants to Win the Election He Must Reject MAGA Sycophants

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The wannabe Trump vice-presidents have made a sad spectacle of themselves, genuflecting in support for their morally deficient leader in what has to be one of the least edifying trials in history.  read more »

Jews Cannot Afford to Be Divided Over Israel

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Jews, like elephants, tend to have long memories. We see in the past warnings of the future. As Israel marks its 76th birthday on 14 May, perhaps the most relevant and terrifying precedent comes from the days of the Roman Empire.  read more »

Public Policies to Empower Latinos in California

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The Gonzalez family’s immigrant journey from Mexico to California began in the late 1970s with a modest corner market in Anaheim. Today, Northgate Gonzalez Market has evolved into a billion-dollar food retailer that operates 47 stores  read more »

Shortchanging The Future: California Fails Its Latino Students

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In 1983, the National Commission on Excellence in Education declared that “the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a nation and a people.”  read more »

The Future is Latino: Part I

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From the earliest days of European settlement, Latinos have played a crucial role in the remarkable ascendancy of California. However, as they become the majority of the state’s population, workforce, and students, the trajectory of Latinos is being blocked by policies hostile to traditional middle-class values  read more »

Some Truths About Higher Education

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Over the past decade, I have been affiliated with Columbia University as a professor, collaborator, and, most recently, a visitor. There was often an undercurrent of antisemitism throughout the campus that was overlooked by the Jewish community, but sat just under the surface.  read more »

Beyond the Two State Solution

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The Two State Solution to end the Gaza/Israeli War is dead for a simple reason. There no longer is a “state” in Gaza. The tunnels have largely been destroyed with explosives. When the tunnels collapsed, the apartments, stores, schools, and hospitals above them were destroyed.  read more »

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