The midterm elections are proof that we are still a democratic constitutional republic. President Trump is afraid that our free and fair election process will actually work and deprive him of control of Congress.  If Republicans retain control over the House of Representatives and the Senate, Trump will praise the electoral process as being fair […]

Election seasons are the winter fall of our discontent when politics rears its ugly head and hypocrisy runs amok. We are in the middle of that discontent as we approach the mid-term elections. Billions are spent in the scramble for power. Politicians offer vague platitudes as solutions while they accuse their opponents of things they […]

We are closing in on the November 3 midterm elections, and you know what that means. Welcome to the circus! Endless political ads. Useless debates. Polls that will be mostly wrong. Talking heads. Shock. Dismay. Claims of a mandate. Blah, blah. You might want to ignore it until the day after, November 4, to see […]

At a September 1 Santa Barbara City Council meeting, in a 6-1 vote, the Council approved the State Street Master Plan, which converts a once-thriving main street to a playground. I was surprised since the City has no money for this $96 million project. The Master Plan, a 495-page report including appendices, was drafted by […]

I have yet to encounter any Progressive or socialist with a well-rounded knowledge of history, economics, and philosophy. They don’t seem to be open to ideas other than socialism as Marx-Lenin-Marcuse-Piketty espouse it. They have little understanding of the ideas of Aristotle-Spinoza-Locke-Adam Smith. As a result, their circular reasoning gets things wrong and, when reduced […]

This actually happened recently with OpenAI’s most advanced programs, but before the mob breaks out the pitchforks and torches, the incident requires some explanation.  First, the programs’ task was to test certain security functions in a controlled environment. Second, it’s just a machine and doesn’t have intent other than to do what it’s told. Third, […]

Like many of us, I use AI programs a lot. I’ve worked with ChatGPT since it was first released. Now with version 5 it has improved immensely. I’ve used other programs, but this one is my current favorite. I use it for research, and I’ve had a lot of interesting conversations with it. It “knows” […]

Recently a new word just popped up courtesy of the NY Times: “microlooting.”  Microlooting is a word that justifies petty theft (shoplifting) as a political statement. The idea is that as long as you are stealing from “big corporations” it is a protest. NYT reporter Nadja Spiegelman interviewed The New Yorker writer Jia Tolentino and […]

“Most of what passes for ‘investment advice’ is nothing more than speculation about an unknowable future.” – Joe Calhoun III, Alhambra Investments. “Economics is an entire scientific discipline of not knowing what you’re talking about.” – P. J. O’Rourke. “What passes as sensible economic commentary by politicians, pundits, and preachers is but a torrent of […]

On April 15 in a smugly gleeful video staged in front of investment CEO Ken Griffin’s $238 million Manhattan penthouse, NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani proposed an annual tax on pied-à-terre (second) homes, especially those owned by billionaires like Griffin. Mamdani thinks billionaires are what’s wrong with America and he’s going after them.  Alexandra Ocasio Cortes […]

The purpose of commercial streets is to facilitate commerce. That is why commercial streets are lined with commercial buildings rented to commercial enterprises. State Street is a commercial street with commercial buildings. Now it is viewed as a playground, an open space that everyone can use for recreation. That is a commerce killer. I have […]

The only war objective that the Administration has had success with is the degradation of Iran’s military capabilities. The other goals have not been achieved.  – There has been no regime change and the people have not risen up in rebellion. – We have not eliminated Iran’s nuclear threat. We have degraded their programs, but […]

The mind of your Independent Mind columnist has been adrift this week. Too much going on to take it all in. So, I am going to report on two things I can’t get out of my head.  Rent Control The City of Santa Barbara ignored my generous offer of help on the issue of rent […]

On the day this article reaches the newsstands it will be the 19th day of the WAR in Iran. Things are still uncertain and moving fast. My Part I article on the war yielded a lot of comments, good and bad. I’m accused by critics of a lot of things – mainly that I ignored […]

Since my last column two weeks ago a lot has been going on in the world, but nothing as significant as the war against Iran. At the time of writing this article (Sunday) it’s moving too fast and it’s far too early to come to any conclusions as to its outcome. Regardless of what you […]

I want our political leaders to succeed in making our lives better. That is their job. One wonders why they seem to fail at this task and just make things more complicated for us. After all, when our political leaders make mistakes, it is we citizens who bear the consequences. They rarely have skin in […]

I just interviewed a very interesting man. Bret Stephens is a world-famous Op-Ed columnist with the New York Times. Among many awards, Stephens won a Pulitzer Prize for his writing while he was at the Wall Street Journal. I watched several of his talks and he is a very engaging and inciteful speaker. Stephens will speak […]

I thought I knew Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s new mayor, but I didn’t. My hope was that he was just another Bernie-clone promising free stuff who would move more to the less toxic liberal wing when he took office. I was wrong. He’s the real deal socialist, disturbingly so. He revealed his true colors in […]

Making prognostications about the future of 2026 is, I admit, a stupid thing to do. No one can predict the future. Those who say they can are mostly just lucky. But, what the heck, maybe my guesses are just as good as anyone’s. We will see on January 1, 2027. Here goes. Mid-term Elections and […]

I just finished watching Ken Burns’ The American Revolution. I urge you to watch it. Like everything he does (The Civil War, Vietnam, Baseball, Jazz, et cetera) it’s a deep dive into the subject. I thought I knew a lot about our nation’s founding but after watching his series on the Revolution I realize I […]

Recent politics looks like a bad movie we’ve seen too many times. Not quite a disaster movie, and some of it borders on comedy, but more like the Gong Show (for those of you who can remember it). I realize this may sound like disgruntled sarcasm on my part. Mea culpa. But, how could one […]

American politics has devolved into a meaningless Red and Blue Punch and Judy show. You know, the puppet show where all Punch and Judy do is argue and beat each other with sticks. Look at it as a metaphor for contemporary politics.  Politicians at the state and federal level can’t get beyond their need to […]

“Newspeak” is a term from George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 by which a word means something other than what it says. For example, in newspeak “ungood” was substituted for “bad.” In 1984 it was a means of thought control. Our bureaucrats often use newspeak words like “revenue enhancement” instead of tax increase. People hate tax […]

President Trump, casting himself as the nation’s top investment guru and seeing opportunity in Intel, announced the government’s $8.9 billion investment in Intel for a ten percent stake in the company. The money comes from Biden’s Chips Act, the purpose of which was to create more onshore chip manufacturing. Intel had already received $2.2 billion […]

This is a follow-up to my recent articles (“The Kids Don’t Know…” and “Barbarians at the Gate”). The “Kids” article decried the fact that critical thinking skills are not being taught to our children which has led to fuzzy thinking about socialism. “Barbarians” was the political manifestation of that fuzziness with a Democratic Socialist receiving […]

Donald Trump is everywhere in the news lately. He dominates the daily headlines. Thus the title to this article (yes, I stole it from the movie). He’s hard to avoid. The fact that Trump is in the news constantly is an important issue. He is the news. That is because of powers relinquished by Congress […]

The idea that many of my fellow citizens think favorably about socialism astounds me when I consider the sad tale of socialism’s history. I’m looking for reasons why that is. Here’s some background. I think most of it is because of what we teach our children. They are not taught to think critically. It starts […]

New York City Democrats just nominated a very woke socialist, Zohran Mamdani, for mayor. They say he has a good shot at winning.  I’m not surprised. After all, NYC is a liberal/progressive bastion. They’ve already got AOC (Andrea Ocasio-Cortez), the Congresswoman representing much of the Bronx.  Most democratic socialists want free stuff like health care, […]

In the 1968 sci-fi classic, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Hal is a conscious computer guiding a mission to the planet Jupiter who goes insane. He kills all the crew except Dave who is stranded outside the ship and asks Hal to open the pod doors to let him in. “Open the pod doors Hal.” Hal […]

I like Elon Musk. He’s one of the greatest innovators of our time. He revolutionized the automobile industry with Tesla, outpaced NASA with SpaceX, created a global wireless network with Starlink, and is on the cusp of a brain-computer interface with Neuralink. Think Thomas Edison. Musk – supposedly the world’s richest man – is a […]

Recent media coverage has focused on the battle of conservative philosophies within the Trump Administration and in conservative circles. In the darker corners of the Internet, radical commentators, so-called “influencers,” are gaining the attention of the rich and powerful and Administration insiders. It’s actually rather fascinating.  The Wall Street Journal recently published an important article […]

Kilmar Abrego Garcia was sentenced to jail without due process of law. You cannot look at it any other way. It is one thing to deport an illegal immigrant, it is another thing to put him in jail without a trial. It does not matter that the government outsourced the jail.  The issue is one […]

I watched the entire inauguration ceremony, and this article is written on that day. You would have to be dead to not appreciate the ceremony and its symbolism. Yes, it was mostly a Trump lovefest, but it was more than that. It was another peaceful transition of power of our Republic. No riots or coups […]