Peter-Astrid Kane

24 Mar 2020

Men Named Richard Who Really Shouldn’t Go By Dick

There’s only one name more phallic than Peter, and that name is Dick.  With the news that the 2020 Tokyo Olympics are postponing, the name Dick Pound has been trending on Twitter. He’s a member of the International Olympic Committee and former swimming champion who’s long been an anti-doping advocate

Peter-Astrid Kane 0
18 Feb 2020

A Bloomberg Presidency Would Be a Shadow Puppet with a Compound Fracture

In Gary Shteyngart’s Lake Success, the protagonist, a soulless hedge-funder named Barry, meets his wife at a “cultural art thing” attended by none other than New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. It is an almost religious experience for a finance guy who becomes physically aroused when he sees a Bloomberg

Peter-Astrid Kane 0
28 Jan 2020

Why Does the GOP Want a Second Civil War So Badly?

A decade ago, CNBC’s Rick Santelli launched the Tea Party movement with a cry of “Can you hear me now, Mr. President?” from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. That was the era of tri-corner hats, contrived 18th-century verbiage, occasional Obama-hanging-in-effigy displays, and deep concerns about the national debt

Peter-Astrid Kane 0
23 Jan 2020

Sí Se Puede: Let’s Rename South Van Ness Avenue for Dolores Huerta

Like a lot of other streets — Geary, Bryant, McCoppin, Bartlett — Van Ness Avenue is named for a 19th century mayor of San Francisco. James Van Ness was the seventh head of the city government, but he served for only a year and a week, from July 1856 until

Peter-Astrid Kane 0
17 Jan 2020

California’s $220 Billion Budget is Doing What Trump Refuses to Do

As recently as 2009, California was virtually broke. Facing a $24 billion deficit on a budget of approximately $100 million, the state furloughed employees, paid I.O.U.’s instead of tax refunds, and used every type of financial chicanery to move stuff around. At one point, the deficit was feared to be

Peter-Astrid Kane 0
14 Jan 2020

Giant East Bay Ranch May Become California’s Next State Park

Governor Gavin Newsom unveiled California’s $220 budget for 2020-21, and among the many line items is $65 million to expand the state’s state park system. CalMatters noted that that figure includes $20 million toward the purchase of an unspecified parcel of land, whose specific identity the governor declined to mention

Peter-Astrid Kane 0
07 Jan 2020

Donald Trump Is Tweeting Us into WWIII. But Is It Even Him?

“There’s always a tweet” has been the axiom of the Trump era, the definitive proof that almost any ridiculous thing the president says or does will have been preceded by an accusation that someone else was doing it. It’s as true as “There’s always a bigger fish” or “There’s always

Peter-Astrid Kane 0