Bravo! Works on so many levels.

Uh, Ben Gazzara would like a word. 😜

He went from one of millions of WWII veterans figuring out what to do after the war to being elected Vice President in just six years. That’s some meteoric ascent right there.

Reps in the Cal Legislature have been trying to do that for decades. I would love it if they finally pulled it off.

I didn’t say they couldn’t. I said it was extremely difficult. The track record in terms of positive outcomes wasn’t promising when I retired five years ago. If it’s improved since then, I am glad to hear it.

part of that is listening in a deep way — in a way that you won’t capture with issue polling. you have to ask yourself what is the underlying concern? is it that voters have a firm view of, say, the deficit? or does the deficit represent a set of larger worries. if the latter, you speak to *that*.

Maybe not in Cal. Suing to block a merger in federal court under fed antitrust laws is extremely difficult for non-feds, and California does not have a state anti-monopolization law. The Cartwright Act lacks that text, and Cal courts have rejected using other state statutes to that purpose.

“When the Court has exercised sole power to interpret the Constitution, with rare exceptions it has used that power to obliterate Americans’ constitutional rights, uphold white supremacy, and protect abusive corporations from unions and the regulatory state.” prospect.org/2022/07/11/t...

If it was a post all about Puerto Rico, I would have. Having three words to reference Puerto Rico in a checklist of five items with a completely different theme didn’t allow for it. But rest easy. Your credentials in language policing are duly burnished.

I was too cryptic trying to meet the word limit. I’m not saying anyone should force Puerto Rico to be a state. I’m saying that, if Puerto Ricans choose to be a state, Democrats should make that happen at the federal level. If Puerto Ricans choose some other status, then that should govern.