We Americans travel to Europe more than any other place on earth outside the United States. We do it because it is still the closest to us culturally, politically, and militarily. We feel more comfortable jetting off to London or Florence than we do in other parts of the world. The Beautiful Wife and I try to mix it up more than most people we know, and travel to all the continents somewhat “in rotation.” This year it was Europe, but we focused on an area to which many don’t typically travel — the Balkan countries. We ended up in 12 countries although three of them were just a passing glance. Those being Croatia to exchange cars, Italy for a quick trip to Trieste (BW spent more time in Italy as she stuck around attending a cooking school in Tuscany) and our separate overnight Heathrow stays on our way back to the States. All three countries were previously visited. One thing that was quite noticeable while walking around the various countries (especially the seven new to us) is everyone kind of looked the same. While walking the streets and attending local restaurants, you really could believe you are in the United States. The people dress… Read More

The Legislature is required to adopt the budget by June 15, according to the Constitution. With that deadline quickly approaching, one would think that the press would be doing a countdown, telling us what is going on in Sacramento and telling us all about the meetings and proposals about the budget. It should be a daily update. Except it is not. Why not? Because the Democrats, who run everything in Sacramento screwed up the last three or four budgets, and the chickens are coming home to roost. They are trying to figure out how to solve the problem without cutting their pet programs or raising taxes in an election year. Their past actions have created this screw up of monumental proportions and the entire Sacramento power structure and their sycophants in the media are doing their best to hide the size of the problem or the depth of their incompetence that led to this situation.

Up to this point, behind closed doors, they have tried to blame the federal government for delaying the filing of tax returns in 2023 and unpredictable fluctuations in revenue receipts in the last three years, but the fact is the legislature and the governor’s office have been… Read More

There are many lies that Americans are told either by our government or by the compliant press that wants to manipulate us. There are two in our modern society that override all others. The first we have reviewed many times – that a college education is essential for your success in modern society. The second that has been foisted upon us since 1960 is that presidential debates are crucial for our electoral process. It is unclear which lie is worse. The latter has been perpetuated ever since the Kennedy-Nixon debates. There were four debates, and they were consequential to that razor thin election. An estimated 70 million Americans watched the first debate versus a projection that 30 million will watch Trump vs. Biden despite a near doubling of our population. The 1960 debates did nothing to create a demand such that there was not another presidential debate until 1976, four election cycles later. It was not until three election cycles after that in 1986 when the Commission on Presidential Debates was formed. There were, however, debates in 1980 and 1984. To tell you how stale this concept continues to be, Frank Fahrenkopf has been co-chair since the… Read More

I decided to read a book on Stalin. He was possibly the evilest person in history. He had the good fortune of being in power concurrently with another more notoriously evil person – Hitler. Thus, his starving and murdering tens of millions of people evaded the spotlight it deserved. I contacted my resident Russia expert, Dennis Prager, and he recommended a highly regarded newer biography which had access to information on Stalin released from the archives after the fall of the Soviet Union. The book is Stalin by Oleg V. Khlevniuk. Here I am walking around countries that were formerly part of the Communist Bloc while reading this book on this very “uplifting” topic while on vacation. I am sure most of you are thinking I must have a screw loose somewhere. But, no; I was getting a lot of clarity. For example, Czar Nicholas abdicated eight months before the Bolsheviks got anywhere near power. It was one of the two periods Russia had a democratic government. The other being after the fall of the Soviet Union and Boris Yeltsin was in charge before the current authoritarian took over. And then they had a three-year civil war. Near the end of that… Read More

Once again, it is that time of year when I know I am on vacation. There are no keys in my pocket, no TV on all day and no cellphone invading my life because it is locked in the safe. This year we are doing what most people would not think of doing. Arguably most people think of going to Europe as Paris, London, Amsterdam, and Florence. No, we are touring the Balkans. So far, we have had a marvelous time. We started in two familiar spots. First Prague, which is a uniquely beautiful city and a joy to visit. Worthy of a return visit. So was Vienna, one of the most sophisticated places on the planet. It was there we encountered our first challenge. Just two days before arriving we received notice from our hotel that the Vienna marathon was going to block most roads to our hotel. Our plans, which had been in place for months, were being put in jeopardy — especially since the evening of our arrival we had opera tickets. You mustn’t be late for the opera. They will not allow you in until intermission. We cancelled our rental car and hired a driver. We then had to arrange another rental car for our departure from Vienna onward. We did get to the… Read More

As a proud Air Force veteran, I’ve witnessed firsthand the tremendous sacrifices made by our nation’s heroes. Unfortunately, upon returning home, I experienced the harsh reality that many others face—long wait times at the Department of Veterans Affairs and challenges getting the assistance many of us need.

With over 1.2 million veterans residing in California, providing comprehensive care and support should be a top priority. Yet, Senate Bill 1124 (SB 1124), championed by Senator Menjivar, has the potential to eliminate the many services we depend on.

SB 1124 aims to create new strict penalties on any organization or private entity that assists a veteran with their VA disability benefits while not being accredited by the VA on the federal level. While trying to shield veterans from deceptive practices and bad actors is an admirable goal there are many unintended consequences of this proposed law, the largest being that it will cut off access to private firms’ that play a vital role in filling the gaps left by overwhelmed Veterans Service Organizations (VSOs). Often founded by fellow veterans, these companies offer personalized,… Read More

Every administration makes plans nearing the end of their term. It can either be if they are seeking reelection and want to make sure they have all their bases covered if they don’t win, or they are nearing the end of an eight-year term and wish to complete some projects. I myself was part of such a plan as the Bush Administration appointed me to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council in mid-October 2004 just in case their plans for November did not come to fruition. The Biden Administration is doing this on steroids as they dread the thought of their work being destroyed by the evil Orangeman. A perfect example is the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) recent ruling outlawing non-compete clauses with a few exceptions. FTC Chair Lina Khan has set this as a major objective and moved forward with only a 3-2 vote in favor of the rule. The dissenting members said the FTC does not have the authority to promulgate such rules. The commission was immediately sued to stop the proposal on that basis. Ms. Khan took the position it was now or never; and, if you don’t like it, sue me. Of course, she is using our money to defend against the lawsuit while the… Read More

The definition of a grifter is a con artist; someone who pulls confidence games; a swindler, scammer, huckster, hustler, and/or charlatan. It is also said if there’s one type of person you don’t want to trust, it’s a grifter: someone who cheats others out of money. Grifters are also known as chiselers, defrauders, gougers, scammers, swindlers, and flim-flam men. A recent study showing how many college graduates work long-term in a job warranting a college degree leads me to conclude America’s grifters are those people who run our colleges. One doesn’t go to college simply to improve one’s path to earn a living. I am one who has consistently applauded my education — especially the first two years — for expanding my mind. I took such courses as philosophy, cultural anthropology, and speech. They taught me to think and analyze life from different perspectives. I also always had direction to graduate with an accounting degree and become a CPA. My first two years cost ten dollars per college unit, and I graduated debt-free while paying my own way. It seems clear that accumulating debt in the tens of thousands would… Read More