Can you believe the people he is picking to be in his cabinet? There are so many billionaires. They have not worked for the departments or agencies for which they could possibly helm. Do they even have a college education? And if they have a college education, did they go to the right schools? Have you even heard of some of these colleges? Barbarians are storming us. He thinks they are going to overhaul the departments that they are appointed to oversee. How are they going to do that without having worked in them for years and have known all the players? You know if they are outsiders the people who run these departments will not listen to them and neither should they. They don’t understand how things operate in Washington. Can you believe this Musk guy wants to cut two trillion dollars out of the budget? He can’t do that. And he wants to demand that government employees work from their government offices instead of home. He is going to ruin their lives. If they make cuts, then my state will not get its promised allocation of funds. How will we exist? “I talked to and argued with groups from academia, from the media, from the financial… Read More

The beauty contest for whom to name the person of the year is always open to debate. Time Magazine, the most prominent publication to bestow this honor, named Donald Trump. Certainly, he is a logical and reasonable choice. Another might be Mr. Trump’s newest sidekick, Elon Musk, who could be chosen for many reasons including his energizing the Trump campaign to a new level. I have a different choice, and I feel quite confident mine is the best choice. That person is Daniel Penny. On May 1, 2023, Daniel Penny was taking the New York subway like he often did at that time in his life. He was a 24-year-old man who had already spent four years in the United States Marines which he left in good standing. He was currently seeking a degree in architecture from the New York City College of Technology. He was living in an apartment in the East Village section of New York City. He had two jobs — teaching swimming lessons at a gym and working at a restaurant in Brooklyn. When he entered the subway, he assumed his day would go along normally without anything more than the typical challenges of traversing New York City in 2023. Then a man who he later… Read More

Politicians from California’s Ruling Party make clear they want to get Golden State drivers out of their cars and into government transportation. The state’s own policies explicitly aim to reduce car ownership, and now it appears if they can’t persuade enough drivers, they’ll just make the experience more annoying until people give up.

I got a taste of this next-level government-imposed nuisance while visiting Germany over the holidays to visit my family. The rental car agency provided me with a nice new government-compliant Audi A6.

And it was the most obnoxious driving experience I’ve ever had.

In a preview of the new California law which will require mandatory beeping whenever one drives over the posted speed limit, the German-compliant Audi would immediately and incessantly start beeping whenever my speed exceeded the most recent speed limit sign by as little as 1 km/hr.

This would be fine, but for the fact that the system doesn’t take into account that speed limit signs were never intended to provide the level of granular micromanagement of drivers that is now being forced upon anyone who gets behind the… Read More

Upon returning from our trip to frozen Antarctica after Thanksgiving, while others were busy rushing around trying to get bargains on sweaters and toys, I took out my ever-burgeoning collection of Christmas music to listen to through December. My collection, amassed now over many years, continues to grow each year as we jointly enjoy one of the great aspects of being an American. The collection includes a wide range of music from classical to pop to rock to country to folk to soul to blues and even punk rock. When you become a fan of Christmas music, you find that just about every major artist (and most minor ones) has a Christmas album. Of course, one must have Frank, Dino, and Sammy, not to mention A Rat Pack Christmas. A must is to include the King (Elvis) and Phil Spector’s A Christmas Gift for You, and of course the All-American group – The Beach Boys. One could just go on forever. This year I added some new friends, Samara Joy and Jennifer Hudson. I also added some more country CDs by Little Big Town and Brett Eldredge. The country stars often get into it and write some new songs to go along with the Christmas classics. Seth MacFarlane, (yes… Read More

Since The Beautiful Wife and I have been to 89 countries and all seven continents, we get asked two questions – where won’t you go and where would you go again. I tell people I will not go to any country where I can get kidnapped. One key place I want to go again and is under discussion for 2027 is Amsterdam. After recent actions we have to seriously consider that decision. Amsterdam can be a pretty wild city on any occasion. Our first visit coincided with Orange Day. It is a national holiday on April 27th known as King’s Day, but it is particularly celebrated in the capital of the country. It is a wild day of partying. The celebration is typical of a city that has a famous Red Light District offering legal prostitution and drugs. These activities are counterbalanced by the Van Gogh Museum and Anne Frank Guided Walking Tour through the Jewish Quarter. The Muslim population centered in the largest cities in Holland has been there in growing numbers since the 1960’s. They now constitute an estimated 5% of the population. There has been a growing revolt by the Dutch against strict observance of Islam exemplified in 2019 where face coverings… Read More

California politicians have a new excuse for wildfires: “Climate change.”

One can bet that following every major wildfire in California in the year ahead, some politician will invoke this new universal explanation for destructive wildfires, including those whose destruction could have been prevented or mitigated.

In reality, it is the failure of federal, state, and local governments that are directly contributing to elevated wildfire risk in many California communities, threatening homes, lives, and property, and causing insurance companies to stop writing policies in the state.

In my community, government is a major contributor to wildfire risk. It increases the likelihood of catastrophic wildfires in three ways.

First is by allowing an unacceptable buildup of fuel to accumulate on our public lands. Politicians love to send out press releases taking credit for “protecting” land by having the government acquire it, only to dedicate inadequate resources to maintaining that land. The result is continuous buildup of fuel awaiting the right conditions to spread fire into surrounding communities. For example, in 2020,… Read More

By now I am sure you are familiar with DOGE – The Department of Government Efficiency – established by President Trump and run by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. The idea is to strip down our bloated federal government. They announced the first proposed policy in the Wall Street Journal, and it is exciting. It states that if you want to work for us, the American people, you must return to your office. I could not be happier. I have been skeptical about all this work-from-home done by employees. There are so many distractions at home and so many ways to avoid doing work that I believe it is difficult for most people to stay focused as they would in an office. Additionally, there is a lack of comradery and common purpose co-workers share. I have had discussions with many businesspeople about how telecommuting works for them. Some attorneys have told me they have seen no loss of productivity among their staff. They have defined cases and deadlines. They should be able to tell if someone is backsliding fairly easily or is being distracted in their home work environment. I have one client who has a technology-based company with around 50… Read More

When you are in business it is particularly important to try innovations for enhancing your success. Some of those innovations work but some do not. Some that work do so for a time and then stop working. As a business operator it is important to recognize when to terminate your project and move on. However, the government doesn’t often know when to move on from a promising idea. Diamond lanes have outlived their benefit and should be retired. The first diamond lane (actually known as “high-occupancy lane” or “HOV”) was introduced in 1976. It was on the Santa Monica (I-10) freeway in California. The lane was dedicated to buses and cars with three or more passengers. There are now HOV lanes in 20 states covering thousands of miles of highways. They operate under different rules depending on the state. One of the annoying rules in California is you can only merge into the lane at specific points that often don’t make sense. That causes many people to merge in and out against the rules, breaking a law that is never enforced. Why is it time to ditch them? The simple answer is they don’t work. It is rare when you see the… Read More