by jpitney | Dec 21, 2025 | Civility, Polarization
On her “Reasonably Optimistic” podcast, Megan McArdle recently interviewed Colorado governor Jared Polis. ( The Dreier Roundtable gave him its Civility Award this past year.) At 31:20, the governor discusses civility and his friendship with Utah’s...
by jpitney | Dec 20, 2025 | Europe, Foreign Policy, Russia
Ron Nehring at FlashReport: There is an active effort underway, amplified daily by our foreign adversaries, to split the Western alliance by driving wedges between the United States and Europe. This is not new. Since NATO’s founding in 1949, Russia’s central...
by jpitney | Dec 19, 2025 | Economic Policy, Taxes, Trade
Don Wolfensberger: It was one thing to think that tariffs on foreign imports was a foreign policy issue, not directly affecting average Americans. It was quite another to realize it was really a tax on goods purchased by U.S. businesses and consumers. While both...
by jpitney | Dec 18, 2025 | California Politics, Infrastruture, Los Angeles, Transportation
The American Society of Civil Engineers: On December 3, 2025, ASCE Region 9, which encompasses the state of California released the 2025 Report Card for California’s Infrastructure, giving the state an overall grade of C-, consistent with the grade it received in...
by jpitney | Dec 17, 2025 | California Politics, Local Government, Los Angeles
David Zahniser at LAT: The setting looked almost cozy: Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and a podcast host seated inside her home in two comfy chairs, talking about President Trump, ICE raids, public schools and the Palisades fire. The recording session inside the library...
by jpitney | Dec 15, 2025 | Civility, Technology
Jonathan Martin at POLITICO: While he first drew widespread national attention for his remarks after the Kirk killing, Cox has been aggressive as governor: Utah is suing Snapchat, has banned phones in classrooms and is now, I’m told by a source close to Cox, crafting...
by jpitney | Dec 14, 2025 | California Politics, Transportation
Robert Lewis and Lauren Hepler at CalMatters: Over the past decade, nearly 40,000 people have died and more than 2 million have been injured on California roads. As an ongoing CalMatters investigation has shown this year, time and again those crashes were caused by...
by jpitney | Dec 13, 2025 | Civility, Congress, Uncategorized
On the Understanding Congress podcast, political scientists Kevin Kosar and Brian Alexander discuss congressional norms: Kevin Kosar: One thing that pops into my mind is a member of Congress being condemned for conduct unbecoming of a member; not so much that they...
by jpitney | Dec 12, 2025 | Congress, House of Representatives
Don Wolfensberger: A bipartisan group of roughly three dozen House members, led by Reps. Don Beyer (D-Va.) and Don Bacon (R-Neb.), have introduced a resolution to change House rules and require that a censure must be approved by 60 percent of members voting, not just...
by jpitney | Dec 10, 2025 | Civility, Violence
Colby Itkowitz and Yasmeen Abutaleb at WP: Josh Shapiro and Spencer Cox know firsthand what happens when political violence comes home. Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor who is widely expected to run for president in 2028, was asleep with his family when an...
