Video Commentary on CA Dem Convention in SF -- and then IYCMI - 6 Great Columns From This Week - A Great Video - and Happy Birthday George Washington!
We featured a lot of great, original content this past week. Below are six highlights of columns, one video from the week, and at the top - a short video commentary on the CDP gatherings in Ess Eff.
This Sunday ICYMI edition is always free for all subscribers and visitors to this Substack page! Thanks for being a part of this look at CA politics!
This weekend is the California Democratic Party Convention. Where they seem to want to focus on the Issue of affordability… Seriously. I have something to say about this…
BELOW ARE SIX STORIES FROM THIS WEEK THAT YOU MAY HAVE MISSED!
FOMO? There a half-dozen other items that aren’t highlighted above. But you can read them here.
One Video…
This week I went “live” for the first time — hit a bunch of current issues in California politics — we went about 40 minutes. But if you haven’t watched it, check it out.
On This Date In 1732 - George Washington Was Born…
February 22, 1732 — George Washington was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, and over the next six decades he would become the indispensable figure of the American founding.
He began not as a philosopher or politician, but as a disciplined Virginia planter and surveyor. Mapping frontier lands in his youth gave him practical knowledge of terrain, logistics, and human nature. Service in the French and Indian War hardened him. He learned painful lessons about command, supply lines, and the realities of imperial power. By the time colonial resistance to Britain escalated, Washington was known less for fiery rhetoric and more for steadiness — and that steadiness would prove decisive.
In 1775, the Continental Congress appointed him commander-in-chief of a ragtag Continental Army. What followed was not cinematic glory, but sustained hardship. The army endured catastrophic losses in New York, brutal winters, inadequate pay, scarce supplies, and constant desertion. Washington understood that the revolution would not be won through one decisive battle but through endurance. The crossing of the Delaware and the surprise victory at Trenton revived morale. Valley Forge forged professionalism. With French naval support, the victory at Yorktown in 1781 effectively ended the war.
The moment that defined him may have come afterward. In 1783, he resigned his military commission and returned to Mount Vernon. In an age when victorious generals often seized power, Washington relinquished it. That single act established civilian control over the military and stunned observers around the world.
When the Constitution created a new executive office, there was no serious alternative for the presidency. Unanimously elected in 1789, Washington served two terms. He built the executive branch from scratch, assembled the first cabinet, supported a national financial system under Alexander Hamilton, asserted federal authority during the Whiskey Rebellion, and navigated dangerous foreign pressures from Britain and revolutionary France. Most importantly, he voluntarily stepped down after eight years, cementing the precedent of limited executive power.
He died on December 14, 1799, at Mount Vernon — leaving behind a model of leadership rooted in restraint, duty, and constitutional order.
Enjoy your Sunday!
Jon
Jon