Syndicated Columnists

Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy is one of the Democrats urging his party to more aggressively resist President Donald Trump across a broad range of issues. “Mr. Murphy has seemed to

This week is a personal milestone, marking a half-century of writing about California’s ever-changing political ambiance. My move into the Sacramento Union’s Capitol bureau on March 3, 1975, was part

I was talking to a friend the other day about another friend, who has been going through a difficult period ever since Hamas massacred peaceful Jews in Gaza a year and

Since when did bureaucrats become a victim class? The answer to that one is easy – as soon as Donald Trump began his crusade to reduce their numbers. Before Trump

President Donald Trump is obsessed with how California manages its water supply, demanding changes as one price of giving the state billions of dollars in aid to cope with Southern

As wildfires swept through Los Angeles County last month, the New York Times published a commentary by former insurance commissioner Dave Jones, who suggested that oil companies should pay for

A proverb said to have arisen in 16th-century England postulates that “too many cooks spoil the broth.” When too many people are working on a project without clear accountability, it

All over America that Friday in November 1963, college football teams boarded airliners for their Saturday games. They took off in one country, where John F. Kennedy was president and

When Gov. Gavin Newsom issues one of his periodic boasts about California’s superiority vis-a-vis other states — particularly those with conservative politics such as Texas and Florida — he conveniently

If the Democrats are really as battered, bruised and confused as recent reports indicate, they should act immediately to remove Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. After the 2024 drubbing that

The timing could not have been better — or worse. The horrendously destructive and deadly Los Angeles wildfires erupted in January just as Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara’s historic and very

The housing crisis and subsequent financial crisis in 2008 was caused in large part by politicizing loan eligibility criteria, advancing social justice objectives over sound economics. Unfortunately, the Dodd-Frank law

California’s Capitol has seen countless conflicts between economic interests, but few match the intensity of a duel between the fast food industry and labor unions that seemingly ended two years

This week, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, raised the prospect of impeaching President Donald Trump over the Justice Department’s decision to withdraw

Pope Francis and I are not often on the same page about the world. Since his elevation over a decade ago, I have been a very vocal critic of what

Just how desperate can Donald Trump’s enemies get? Last week, Democrats like Sen. Elizabeth Warren were in full meltdown mode because President Trump and Elon Musk were being so mean

Former President Joe Biden left a terrible legacy: the border catastrophe, chaos and disorder abroad, increased crime, oppressive wokeness. But for today’s purposes, consider the damage done by Biden’s economic

When President Donald Trump signed an executive order preventing trans girls and women from competing in women’s sports, I wrote a post on Facebook that I thought was fairly simple

Abolish the Department of Education. Control the Panama Canal. Defang the mullahs of Iran. Do those issues sound familiar? I’m not talking about what’s on Donald Trump’s “to disrupt” list

With Donald Trump back in the White House, he’s resuming his long-running feud with California and its political figures, most prominently Gov. Gavin Newsom. Trump refers to Newsom as “Newscum”