Even before November, the once trendy concepts of DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) and ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) were already sinking. Now the election of Donald Trump all but guarantees their accelerated decline. The DEI push gained momentum during the 2020 George Floyd riots, after being nurtured for years on most college campuses. Many companies, including Walmart, adopted its associated practices. But new research from The Conference Board indicates that over half of executives anticipate continuing the pushback of DEI initiatives. Among the firms stepping back from D ..read more

With the recent BRICS conference, President Ramaphosa referred to Vladimir Putin as "our valued ally." While I have defended, and still do defend, South Africa’s non-aligned stance regarding the war in Ukraine, because of the obvious contribution of NATO expansion to the conflict, it appears that Ramaphosa is interpreting non-alignment as being "pro-Russian”. By implication, this suggests that BRICS is by definition "anti-Western." This position might reflect the ideological leanings of certain senior ANC members, who are always eager to make anti-Western statements without recognizing South A ..read more

In The Sound of Music, the nuns worry “how do you solve a problem like Maria?” when considering an obstreperous member of their convent. After Donald Trump’s convincing victory in the US election, the Democrats will now be asking themselves: “how do you solve a problem like Kamala?” Except some Democrats don’t think Kamala is an electoral problem. Remarkably, there’s already talk among her aides that she could run for governor of California in 2026, and then return to the national stage in 2028. It’s hard to believe that the Democratic establishment would allow this, but the Harris campaign ha ..read more

With this holiday season following a hotly contest election, some Americans fear that political disagreements among family will boil over like a pot of poorly watched potatoes. In North Dakota, where the plains meet the prairie and the spirit of the old country lives on, the secret to peace at the family table may be found in prioritizing lefse over politics. Norwegian immigrants began arriving in North Dakota in the 1870s. According to World Population Review, Norwegian Americans are predominantly concentrated in the Midwest, with North Dakota having the highest percentage of Norwegian ancest ..read more

As is the case with most Thanksgiving dinners, families will discuss politics. Before and after Thanksgiving, we will see chatter about how insufferable and intolerant family members can be as they discuss the 2024 election. PBS ran a long piece before the election presenting narratives showing “there are a lot of issues . . . dividing Americans now, and that makes it harder for people who are Republican to . . . live with their Democratic family members, and vice versa.” Political differences are challenging to navigate, especially within families. However challenging these disagreements may ..read more

Like many transit agencies, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (Muni) is facing a big budget deficit, and its response is to employ the Washington Monument Strategy. For those who don’t know, back in 1969 President Nixon tried to reduce the National Park Service’s budget and the Park Service responded by shutting down the Washington Monument. Tourists who wanted to ride the elevator to the top of the monument were directed to the senate and house office buildings and told to ask their elected representatives to restore the agency’s budget. Congress restored the funding, but Nixon fi ..read more

I thought I was done with my own 2024 election introspection, but I’m not. There were plenty of reasons why Donald Trump was able to post his best electoral showing in 2024. Immigration policy, inflation, and just general economic insecurity despite what Wall Street and the unemployment rate say. A case could be made, however, that Trump and the GOP made gains by making people forget all about the dysfunction of his first term, including his ineffective COVID response and brazen attempt to overturn the 2020 Presidential election results. Instead, he dug in with his supporters and amped up the ..read more

For much of their political history, particularly since the Enlightenment, Jews have identified with the progressive Left. Israel itself, although funded by oligarchs, was launched largely as a socialist experiment, epitomized in the kibbutzim. Today the political Left has betrayed that loyalty, becoming prime movers against Israel and Jews on the ground. In America, as many as 19 Democratic senators voted with Bernie Sanders to block America from sending several types of weaponry to Israel. Even though most still identify as Democrats, many American Jews are finding that their former “safe sp ..read more

In the center of the American Sun Belt lies the eighth-largest economy in the world, home to nearly one out of 10 Americans. After decades of sustained economic and population growth, Texas is in the early days of a demographic shift that will profoundly shape its future. As states and countries around the globe grapple with declining populations, Texas is defying the trend by continuing to expand. Such growth is likely to continue. While it will bring many benefits, however, a more populous Texas will also present challenges – challenges that must be addressed if the state hopes to secure the ..read more

California Governor Gavin Newsom refuses to address the hydrocarbon elephant in the room, namely that The End of Oil Would be the End of Civilization as the products manufactured from crude oil played a major role in building the world from one billion to eight billion people in the past 200 years. With his narrow focus on the useless transition to so-called renewables, no matter what, Newsom is apparently unable to understand that renewables of wind turbines and solar panels cannot manufacture anything. Today’s dangerous emphasis on wind and solar power for intermittent electricity is creatin ..read more