The editors at California Political Review are grateful for our loyal readers – and readership is breaking record levels right now!  CPR posts links of its articles from this website to its Facebook page, and that page is going through the roof with activity!  Earlier this week we crossed over 21,000 fans at www.facebook.com/CAPoliticalReview!  Our reach on Facebook for the month of September is more than 186,000, with close to 30,000 post engagements, almost entirely what is termed “organic” activity, meaning, our Facebook fans are sharing articles and that helps us grow!  If you are on Facebook and have not visited the site, please do and give us a “like” too!

Meanwhile, CPR continues to send a daily email to close to 30,000 subscribers on our email list (if you are not on the list, you can also look over to your right on this page and sign up!) and in the last month CPR had over 200,000 total Page views on this site according to our website hosting service.  CPR’s readership is larger and more highly ranked at Alexa.com than most any other comparative commentary/news services in our state.

We are dedicated to publishing commentary and news often overlooked by the main stream media in California and so very thankful at the great response and interest we are receiving from YOU, our readers!  Thank you!

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick should be disciplined for not standing during the national anthem at a recent game.  In a football league where Christian quarterback Tim Tebow was cut by a team for, in part, being too religious, there ought also be a consequence for disrespect of our nation.  Kaepernick’s complaints about people of color not getting a square deal in America are greatly diminished by the fact he was raised by adoptive white parents, that Government spending in poor urban areas is in the trillions of dollars since LBJ declared his “War on Poverty” with little effect, that white voters have helped elect a black President twice during Kaepernick’s short lifetime.  What Kaepernick ought to be protesting is that not enough black kids stay in school and advocate ways to fix that, or express sympathy for the tragedy of the 2,800 people that have been shot in Chicago already this year, many of them blacks, shot by other blacks.

As for me, I’m officially a Los Angeles Rams fan now.

If was great to see the New York Giants football team respond by honoring our nation at their last game.  See it here: http://ijr.com/2016/08/682245-ny-giants-send-loud-clear-message-to-america-after-kaepernick-refuses-to-stand-for-national-anthem/

The San Francisco Giants seem to be doing their “every-other-year” championship magic, as Sports Illustrated terms it, as they are in the lead, pretty solidly, in the National League’s West Division as the last half of the 2016 Major League Baseball season gets underway.  The Giant’s are ahead of mortal rivals the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are in solid second place and also a potential Wild Card pick for the playoffs, by 6 1/2 games.

The Giants have a great pitching staff, with Madison Bumgarner (known as “MadBum” in the sports pages of the San Francisco Chronicle) ending the first half with a 1-hit shutout and 14 strikeouts.  Johnny Cueto, another fine pitcher and the league leader in wins (13), unfortunately started in and got the loss in the 2016 All Star Game just played, so the American League will have home-field advantage in the World Series, and that is a big advantage.  Dodger pitcher Clayton Kershaw has the lowest starting ERA in all Major League Baseball at 1.79, followed by…MadBum at 1.94.

Speaking of the American League, California baseball fans can pretty much “tell it goodbye!” to the Oakland Athletics and Los Angeles Angeles, who share the bottom two slots in the league’s West Division and are both about 16 games out of first place already.  Ugh!

But we CAN look forward to much more of the historic Giant/Dodger rivalry for the balance of the season.  Californians from both north and south will love to watch!

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Santa Clara hosting Super Bowl 50 is a miracle along the lines of the Catch. Before the 49ers moved their practice center here in 1988, it would have been hard to fathom the N.F.L. champion being crowned here, even for someone with an imagination like mine, which grew as wild as the cottontail plants along the Guadalupe River trail.

Growing up in Santa Clara in the 1970s, when it was still populated by orchards, I felt at once fixed to the earth and rootless. Those were the years when the city produced bumper crops of fruit, Jesuit-educated college graduates and Olympic swimmers but somehow failed to register with outsiders.

No one knew the way to Santa Clara. I grew accustomed to identifying my hometown in relation to San Francisco, an hour’s drive north, and neighboring San Jose. I always did so through gritted teeth, of course, because the air in Santa Clara was perfumed with pride (and also with honeysuckle and apricots).

Read the rest of the story here: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/27/sports/football/super-bowl-spotlight-on-santa-clara-reveals-how-it-has-changed.html?_r=0

The news that 6.4 billion gallons of rain water filled and raised Lake Tahoe by two inches December 20/21 might be considered a “Christmas miracle” in water rationed California.  The “wetness” during this holiday season, bringing welcome precipitation up-and-down the state, from San Francisco to Los Angeles to San Diego, and plenty of snow to the Sierras, should go a long way to refresh the state’s lakes, reservoirs and acquafirs, and may be the introduction to an historic “El Niño” weather phenomena that sends all the state’s water rationers back to their drawing boards.  We shall see, but for now, let’s enjoy the wetness!  Happy Holidays for the editors at California Political Review!

When I left the game at half-time, the Los Angeles Clippers were beating the “San Francisco” Warriors, the reigning NBA champions, by 60-47.  The Clippers had opened the game with a roar and about 40 points in the first quarter. They were hitting all their shots.  I thought the game was in the bag and got into my car and fumbled around with my radio controls to hear the end of the game, but decided instead to listen to satellite radio and updates on the situation in Paris on my drive home to Dana Point.  Imagine my surprise this morning to read that the Warriors made a stunning reprise in the second half of the game and won it, 124-117, to maintain their undefeated status for the first dozen or so games of the season.

The Clippers were not actually at “full strength,” as starting shooting guard J.J. Redick was sidelined with back spasms.  It is clear any NBA team that is going to take on the new Warriors will need to be on top of their game for all four quarters.  But the resurrection of the Warriors as a team to be respected has been great to watch.  For decades relegated to the lower rungs of the league and seemingly a team without a town behind it, winning has made all the difference for the Bay Area basketball team.  After playing in locations all across the Bay, now a strong proposal for a permanent arena in San Francisco, backed by local politicians and undoubtedly well-heeled Silicon Valley fans and money that respond well to victories, are fueling this new era of great baseball and a basketball team finally to be re-anchored in San Francisco.  Not to mention a football team that has a history of winning.

J.J. Redick, Clipper’s shooting guard