George Rebane
NPR reported this morning that the state’s Legislative Analyst Office has concluded that California’s housing shortage is primarily caused by an insufficient number of “market priced” (i.e. low cost) houses being built due regulatory impediments and the state’s mandates for requiring ‘affordable houses’ that must integrated into regular developments and subsidized with non-existent funds. Hence CA housing prices continue to be highest in the nation due to the government caused housing shortage which keeps the low and middle income workers from owning their own homes because demand for existing homes has pushed prices out of the range for which they can qualify for financing. But RR readers have known this for years; it’s only the dolts (aka progressive elites) in Sacramento who don’t have a clue (or do they?).
February is Black History Month, and a time to again acknowledge how a certain political coalition keeps those blacks on the perennial plantation to assure a reliable block of votes come election time. Abetting that liberal contingent is a cohort of professional straw bosses of Sharpton (with whom Sanders had breakfast today) and Jackson ilk whose diligent work, in the “lucrative industry” that keeps their flocks ignorant, is appreciated with considerable recognition, perks, and income.
Columnist and scholar Jason Riley clarifies matters in ‘An Alternative Black History Month’ that describes this industry as “using racial identity to advance groupthink and to discourage black individuality. It is about presenting the history of blacks as the history of their victimization by whites up to the present day—which explains racial disparities in areas ranging from school achievement and household income to rates of unemployment, incarceration and single-parent homes.” Riley cites eye-opening statistics about black progress and the existence of its large ante-Great Society middle class. But today “you don’t hear much about this black history during Black History Month (or any other month, for that matter) because it undercuts the dominant narrative pushed by the political left and accepted uncritically by the media.” Gotta keep ‘em grumbling and compliant.
The ‘Left-Right Revolt’ continues to be the ideological gorilla in the nation, demonstrating to the tin-ear Purple Purveyors that we definitely are no longer the America that emerged from the Great Depression after WW2. I believe that still-tarnished yet golden age, the one before the Great Society kicked in, to have been perhaps the pinnacle of how human society could manage positive change without fracturing. Today we have two populist champions with large dedicated followings that could not be more apart in their vision and hopes for our country’s future. The muddled middle remains an ideological wasteland with a rare politician (Kasich?) wishing to again assemble us there while outlining principles and policies that neither pole can digest, and that remind many of Rodney King’s exhortation.
Multiculturalism's latest pushback. The Dutch parliament is putting new laws in place that recognize the damage their 6% and growing Muslim population is doing to their culture and way of life. Besides halting unregulated in-migration, they are introducing new criteria for foreigners assimilating into their society – learning Dutch is key. Meanwhile Pope Francis will visit Mexico and stick a thumb in America's eye by celebrating mass to promote borderless migration 90 yards from our border. What a guy!
[11feb16 update] Here's an Exhibit A on the newest generation of voters about whose intellect and knowledge base I have been reporting to you in recent weeks – I give you the millennials: TaDaaa!!
[12feb16 update] And now we present Venezuela where "dying infants, chronic power outages and empty shelves mark the world’s worst-performing economy" as the harbinger of the country Bernie Sanders promises to create for us (here).
rebanesruminations.com 
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