California’s Greatest Scourge? Camping

Bipartisan Leaders Are Bravely Going to War Against Unhoused People in Tents and Students in Sleeping Bags

Lock up your tents, California!

Toss out your old camping gear!

Hide your pillows and blankets where the cops will never find them!

Because the people who run California have finally seen clearly that the greatest scourge in today’s Golden State is not climate change and not crime, not COVID and not corruption, not the rising cost of living nor grinding poverty.

No, what most threatens our way of life is people who camp.

And so, in this the year 2024, the great state of California has gone to war against campers and their encampments.

This …

by Joe Mathews | October 1, 2024

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My Late Uncle Jim’s Life of Tomorrows

He Found Meaning and Wisdom in Looking Ahead

by Joe Mathews | September 24, 2024

When I think of my Uncle Jim, I often remember him as Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Jim Mathews, who died earlier this summer at age 77, loved to perform in community theater …

It’s the Best and Worst of Times in Oakland

As Presidential Hopeful Kamala Harris Reaches New Heights, Her Hometown Is Filled With Despair

by Joe Mathews | September 17, 2024

If Dickens were to rise from the grave tomorrow, I bet he’d head straight to the East Bay.

Because we are watching a tale of two Oaklands.

One Oakland is advancing on …

California Officials Can’t Build By Their Own Rules

An Addition to the Capitol Is Over Budget and Behind Schedule—While Sacramento Keeps Exempting Itself From State Law

by Joe Mathews | September 2, 2024

At the very center of state government, you’ll find a hole in the ground demonstrating that the people who make California laws can’t live by them.

That hole is, for now, …

Who Will Defend Us From the Body Snatchers?

The Pod People Are Back. This Time, Our Overworked Local Officials Are Even Less Prepared to Protect Us

by Joe Mathews | August 27, 2024

Maybe I’ve been watching too many old movies.

Or maybe the body snatchers are back.

We’ve seen them twice before in my home state of California. Both invasions—of pod aliens, who secretly …

Is This the Most Dysfunctional City Council in California?

Santa Clara’s Conflicts Include Letterhead Battles, Midnight Meetings, and a Threatening Reading of a Picture Book

by Joe Mathews | August 20, 2024

During a Santa Clara City Council meeting last year, Councilmember Kevin Park gestured to a local business owner in the audience and started reading aloud from the illustrated …

More In: Connecting California

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