There's a lot going on here...

Ever wish your annoying neighbors would just up and leave? 50 years ago, there’s a better chance they might have done just that. Today? Don’t hold your breath. This week, we’re serving up a fascinating conversation between two intellectual heavyweights musing about Americans’ reduced mobility. We’re also celebrating California’s latest Texas import (a new UC President!), and reviewing a few Trump related items (because of course we are) and surfacing some words of political wisdom from Jerry Brown. Plus, California’s European Doppelgängers, a new mission for Beale Air Force Base and a rare look inside the cavernous San Jacinto water tunnel.

Lets do this...

A NATION ON HOUSE ARREST
In a conversation that could easily double as an obituary for the American Dream, journalists Yoni Appelbaum and Jerusalem Demsas of The Atlantic dissect how the U.S. went from a nation of movers to a country stuck in place. In 1970, one in five Americans moved every year. Today, it’s one in 13. Appelbaum and Desmas paint a dispiriting picture: With housing costs soaring and zoning laws locking out the less privileged, the freewheeling pioneer spirit that once peppered the American West with fortune seekers and innovators from every walk of life has now become a luxury for the moneyed few. Americans now chase affordability, not opportunity — a shift that quietly gutted social mobility and hardened inequality, all while the ladder of success rotted from the bottom. As goes California, so goes the country...

WATCH | LISTEN | READ

🤫 Everything you should know

🎓 🤠 👋 -  TAKE THAT, TEXAS  — It appears that Interstate 10 goes both ways! In a reversal of timeworn tales of Californians headed to the Lone Star State, the University of California system has named James Milliken, the chancellor of the University of Texas, as the system’s next president. Milliken, a respected veteran administrator with tours of duty in New York, Nebraska and North Carolina, brings his talents to the world’s premier public university system during a time of historic uncertainty. Janet Reilly, chair of the UC Board of Regents, said in a statement that Milliken “embodies the qualities and leadership experiences the University of California community needs at this moment.” We’re rooting for him! —  Politico

🧑⚖️ 🛑 👮  -  JUDGE TO BORDER PATROL: FOLLOW THE LAW —  A federal judge slapped down the Border Patrol for playing cowboy in California’s Central Valley, halting warrantless arrests and racial profiling during a January roundup called “Operation Return to Sender.” The court found agents were harassing Latino residents without cause—often ignoring basic legal requirements like probable cause or flight-risk assessments. With 78 arrests and just one criminal record, the sweep looked less like law enforcement and more like intimidation. The injunction forces accountability, for now. — Courthouse News

🗓️ 💯 🫠  -  CALIFORNIA’S 100 DAYS OF TRUMP 2.0 — President Trump's second-term opening act has been a scorched-earth campaign against California — the state he both loathes and longs for. Governor Newsom, caught within a maze of political/governing rocks and hard places, has dialed down his anti-Trump rhetoric to secure federal wildfire aid, even while quietly suing over tariffs and authoritarian executive orders. Meanwhile, Trump’s attacks on DEI, immigrants, and public education have triggered a lawsuit tsunami. Toss in some truly bizarre salvos in the water wars, economic sabotage, and Elon Musk playing DC demolition man, and it’s been one heck of a ride, if nothing else.  — SF Chronicle

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🎧 🔊 🎧 ON THE POD: THE POLITICAL MIND OF JERRY BROWN

We’re reaching into the vault for this week’s recommendation: In 2020, veteran KQED reporter Scott Shafer released “The Political Mind of Jerry Brown,” an eight-part series sculpted from more than 40 hours of Shafer’s interviews with the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. It’s fascinating listening for anyone who wants a crash course in California politics from one of the state’s titans. - The Political Mind of Jerry Brown

🤩 🇪🇺 🤩  - CALIFORNIA’S EUROPEAN TWINS

Settled by waves of intrepid fortune seekers with roots in every corner of the earth, it’s no surprise that parts of California evoke distant lands. The exchange goes both ways, of course, with Sergio Leone’s Italy standing in for the chaparral-dotted California foothills in countless spaghetti westerns. Travel & Leisure has produced a short list of eight European twins for California cities. Some, like Denmark-aping Solvang (pictured above) are obvious. Others less so.

🏃‍♂️ 💨 ✋ FAST FIVE

1. 🤖 LA is using AI to predict who might become homeless
   - NPR
2. ✈️ Beale Air Force Base selected for high-tech new mission
   - U.S. Air Force
3. 🔥 Fires decimate LA’s natural environment, silence wildlife- Washington Post
4. 😯 Inside the San Jacinto tunnel, SoCal’s most critical water artery- LA Times
5. 🚨 San Francisco Bay’s Only Marine Lab on Verge of Closing
   - KQED

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