Older readers will recall that our Founders, worried that the Constitution wouldn’t be approved unless they sweetened the deal, amended the first draft. They added Ten Amendments known as the Bill of Rights, not to be confused with the Ten Commandments, seen by many... Continue
Snark Infested Waters
Congress may have its AOC but Sonoma has its HHH, and that promises to be every bit as exciting. Unlike Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, their Congressional generational counterpart, City Council’s new majority of Amy Harrington, Rachel Hundley and Logan Harvey aren’t yet the sujet du jour of cable news but... Continue
Back in the day, it wasn’t possible for kids to grow up without their parents warning: “Be careful of the company you keep!” Cautions abounded that even if we were very good (B+ good), hanging out with The Wrong Crowd -- the Lazy, the Losers... Continue
Affordable housing is a many-faceted issue that makes it challenging to fashion quick solutions that a majority of voters can support. Absent my winning the next big Powerball and writing a check to cover the cost of 200 new low-rent apartments, the core solution (as... Continue
Our tourism bureau heavily advertises Sonoma County around the globe as a welcoming, educated, chic, beautiful, wine-savvy, progressive, suave and debonair place to visit. In so doing, it artfully avoids even the slightest mention of our Dirty Little Secret: Sonoma County is home to 51,408... Continue
With Labor Day behind us, the curtain is rising on another season of the award-winning drama series, “City Council Elections.” Candidates and Residents alike may want to take note that City Council’s record of accomplishment periodically attracts the attention of leading academics and Nobel Laureates.... Continue
It’s almost September and three-quarters of the year will soon be gone. As with any responsibly run enterprise, it’s not too early to ask: How are we doing on last year’s New Year’s Resolutions? Any progress since all that Happy Holidays Hope-y Change-y stuff? Just... Continue
Between breathless announcements of even more winery openings, readers may have missed all the brouhaha in the news about immigration, borders, “illegals,” and people climbing over walls and on the Statue (not ‘Statute’) of Liberty. Even those paying attention could be forgiven for thinking that... Continue
City Council certainly comes in for its share of criticism, but if Council never showed up for work it could not match the ineptitude of North Carolina legislators. Readers may recall that a while back, North Carolina enacted HB2, a law barring transgender citizens from... Continue
Nothing draws crowds like a parade. Bang a drum, toot a horn, wave a flag, fill the streets with orderly lines of people and other people will line up to watch and cheer. Parades laid the foundation for today’s “Look At Me!” culture and were... Continue