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A PRAGMATIST'S TAKE
Swastikas, censorship, false positives and kittensIncreasing efforts to block online content from hate groups and terrorists has been accompanied by an unsurprising increase in reports of perfectly legitimate content...
Original post made by Douglas Moran on Sep. 7, 2017Last comment by Douglas Moran, on Oct 23, 2017 at 9:41 pm | 4 comments | 10716 Views
A PRAGMATIST'S TAKE
Winning the battle but losing the war? Thinking strategically and recent eventsIn the time and place I grew up, we received repeated lessons about not sacrificing the ultimate victory by insisting on winning all the small battles. Sometimes...
Original post made by Douglas Moran on Aug. 18, 2017Last comment by resident, on Aug 28, 2017 at 12:39 pm | 30 comments | 16406 Views
A PRAGMATIST'S TAKE
'Google memo': a lesson on not trusting news mediaIn the 2016 Presidential primaries and the general election, much of the "Mainstream Media" (MSM) (foot#1) was blatantly partisan in its coverage...
Original post made by Douglas Moran on Aug. 9, 2017Last comment by Sea Seelam Reddy, on Aug 14, 2017 at 1:51 pm | 45 comments | 8828 Views
A PRAGMATIST'S TAKE
California Democrats seek to revive the Republican Party; Republicans expected to resistNegative partisanship describes when your voting for a particular party arises from opposition to the other parties. That is, you don't positively support...
Original post made by Douglas Moran on Jul. 16, 2017Last comment by resident, on Jul 21, 2017 at 11:17 am | 28 comments | 11571 Views
A PRAGMATIST'S TAKE
State Assembly Candidates: Links & Notes for the LWV ForumA video of the Candidates Forum for State Assembly District 24 is online.(foot#1) The primary election is June 7. These notes are...
Original post made by Douglas Moran on May. 13, 2016Last comment by caroline V., on Jul 20, 2017 at 4:00 pm | 7 comments | 9602 Views
A PRAGMATIST'S TAKE
Computer Science in PAUSDAs a former teacher of Computer Science, I am concerned about the developing curriculum for PAUSD. This was triggered by a quote from the co-chair of the committee...
Original post made by Douglas Moran on Mar. 13, 2017Last comment by Former PA resident, on Jul 15, 2017 at 11:00 am | 11 comments | 13604 Views
A PRAGMATIST'S TAKE
The "Creative Class" and "superstar" citiesTrendy young tech workers are key to the economic fortunes of cities. This is part of the urban development theory of
Original post made by Douglas Moran on Jul. 8, 2017Last comment by mauricio, on Jul 12, 2017 at 11:05 am | 48 comments | 10598 Views
A PRAGMATIST'S TAKE
Development policy: "The Market" and regulationNeo-liberal, Libertarian, Ayn Rand-ian, Progressive. Mr. X seemed to shift seamlessly and sincerely between these...
Original post made by Douglas Moran on Jun. 20, 2017Last comment by margaret heath, on Jul 7, 2017 at 1:46 pm | 11 comments | 8161 Views
A PRAGMATIST'S TAKE
Sustainability: better management neededI was trying to read the Staff report for tonight's Council decision on funding for the sustainability program. While measuring the effectiveness of these programs...
Original post made by Douglas Moran on Jun. 5, 2017Last comment by Curmudgeon, on Jun 7, 2017 at 5:07 pm | 9 comments | 10308 Views
A PRAGMATIST'S TAKE
Behind contentious local politics: Failed and toxic leadershipThe crucial threshold was crossed 4 years ago when the demonization of people with other perspectives became a deliberate tactic. This tactic, and related divisive...
Original post made by Douglas Moran on May. 30, 2017Last comment by Jerry Underdal, on Jun 6, 2017 at 5:24 pm | 33 comments | 9749 Views
A PRAGMATIST'S TAKE
Why contentious local politics? More examples from ADU at CouncilObservations from the Council discussion on ADUs (Accessory Dwelling Unit aka granny units). ----Advertising contempt for those that disagree---- If...
Original post made by Douglas Moran on Apr. 18, 2017Last comment by Gale Johnson, on Apr 25, 2017 at 10:13 pm | 50 comments | 10790 Views
A PRAGMATIST'S TAKE
Driverless self-driving car testbed issuesIn 1993 there were widespread reports of traffic inexplicably coming to a crawl where there previously had not even been hints of problems. An investigation found...
Original post made by Douglas Moran on Mar. 29, 2017Last comment by Douglas Moran, on Apr 18, 2017 at 2:32 pm | 16 comments | 15171 Views
A PRAGMATIST'S TAKE
RPP + ADUs: Winners and losersOne of the classic mistakes in politics is to become overly focused on the details of official actions at the expense of asking whether those actions support the...
Original post made by Douglas Moran on Mar. 4, 2017Last comment by Gale Johnson, on Mar 10, 2017 at 3:08 pm | 7 comments | 7115 Views
A PRAGMATIST'S TAKE
Groundwater Pumping BackgroundGroundwater pumping (dewatering) regulations are on the City Council agenda for a special meeting on Tuesday March 7 beginning at 6pm. There are two parts: incremental...
Original post made by Douglas Moran on Mar. 1, 2017Last comment by Ken Scholz, on Mar 6, 2017 at 8:35 am | 13 comments | 10119 Views
A PRAGMATIST'S TAKE
Affordable Housing: ComplexitiesThe discussions of affordable housing policy have been impeded by mythology, misconceptions, magical thinking, posturing, empty slogans, ambiguous terminology, and...
Original post made by Douglas Moran on Feb. 21, 2017Last comment by JJ, on Feb 28, 2017 at 5:00 am | 14 comments | 16381 Views
A PRAGMATIST'S TAKE
The "You're despicable" style of politicsNo I am not talking about the presidential campaign. Nor about Congress. Rather about local politics, as practiced by certain elected and appointed officials, and...
Original post made by Douglas Moran on Sep. 22, 2016Last comment by Ken Underwood, on Jan 9, 2017 at 3:48 pm | 42 comments | 21100 Views
A PRAGMATIST'S TAKE
Negative/Attack Ad? Wrong QuestionThe definition of a negative or attack ad is ambiguous. To some, it is any ad that contains any negative information about a candidate. To others, the ad needs to...
Original post made by Douglas Moran on Oct. 30, 2016Last comment by Thanks, Doug, on Nov 9, 2016 at 5:26 am | 3 comments | 10144 Views
A PRAGMATIST'S TAKE
Disputing a Council Endorsement on Attitude toward residentsI strongly disagree with one of the Weekly's endorsements...
Original post made by Douglas Moran on Oct. 25, 2016Last comment by Curmudgeon, on Oct 31, 2016 at 1:03 pm | 24 comments | 13751 Views
A PRAGMATIST'S TAKE
Council Candidate ForumsThree City Council candidate forums is a lot to plow through. These are what I regard as the most notable remarks and my significant impressions of the candidates....
Original post made by Douglas Moran on Oct. 18, 2016Last comment by Fred Balin, on Oct 23, 2016 at 4:47 pm | 7 comments | 14120 Views
A PRAGMATIST'S TAKE
No on B, Faithlessness and FecklessnessMeasure B is the 30-year half-cent sales tax increase for VTA. The arguments for it focus on what is needed, what it could fund, and what has been ==B...
Original post made by Douglas Moran on Oct. 8, 2016Last comment by Andrew Boone, on Oct 19, 2016 at 2:46 pm | 28 comments | 12438 Views
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