by jpitney | Nov 1, 2025 | California Politics, Local Government, Los Angeles
Paul Pringle and Alene Tchekmedyian at LAT: Firefighters mopping up a small brush fire that authorities say reignited as the Palisades fire five days later were ordered to leave the original burn scene even though they complained the ground was still smoldering and...
by jpitney | Oct 31, 2025 | Congress, Senate, Separation of Powers
Don Wolfensberger writes that there are four key things to consider in determining how much the Senate has deviated from its originally planned track. First, the Senate is not, as it might claim, the world’s greatest deliberative body. Deliberation has gone the way of...
by jpitney | Oct 30, 2025 | Journalism, Public Opinion
Kirsten Eddy and Elisa Shearer at Pew: Overall, 56% of U.S. adults now say they have a lot of or some trust in the information they get from national news organizations – down 11 percentage points since March 2025 and 20 points since we first asked this question in...
by jpitney | Oct 28, 2025 | civic virtue, Education, Religion
How Religious Schools Strengthen Our Republic Religion and the American Experiment, Volume 1 Written by Samuel J. Abrams, Sutherland Institute October 2025 There are at least four mechanisms through which religious schools cultivate democratic virtues: 1....
by jpitney | Oct 27, 2025 | Civic Education, Higher Education
Benjamin Sotrey and Jenna Silber Storey at AEI: Schools of Civic Thought are entirely new academic units, with the same powers as other departments, dedicated to offering university-level civic education. Since citizenship is always exercised in a particular time and...
by jpitney | Oct 26, 2025 | California Politics, Law, Local Government, Los Angeles, Uncategorized
Rebecca Ellis at LAT: Fesia Davenport, L.A. County’s chief executive officer, received a $2-million settlement related to Measure G, according to a letter released by the county counsel. Davenport had sought damages over “reputational harm, embarrassment, and...
by jpitney | Oct 25, 2025 | Civility, Polarization, Violence
A Pew Research Center survey of 3,445 U.S. adults conducted Sept. 22-28 finds that, overall: 85% say politically motivated violence is increasing. This includes nearly identical shares of Republicans and Republican leaners (86%) and Democrats and Democratic leaners...
by jpitney | Oct 24, 2025 | Canada, Reagan, Trade
Ronald Reagan, Radio Address to the Nation on the Canadian Elections and Free Trade Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/253108 This week, as we prepared for Thanksgiving, Canada held an...
by jpitney | Oct 23, 2025 | Civic Education, civic virtue, Civility
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:. NPR Morning Edition The Trump administration is pouring money into civics education ahead of the country’s 250th birthday. It recently awarded more than $150 million to dozens of colleges, universities and other groups. Now, the goal is to...
by jpitney | Oct 22, 2025 | Bipartisanship, California Politics, Civility, Congress, Dreier, House of Representatives
From UCLA: On Oct. 14, the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, in partnership with the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, hosted a compelling panel discussion titled “Is Bipartisanship Dead?” The event brought together some of the nation’s top policymakers to...
