At every public meeting of city councils in Orange County, whenever the subject of sanctuary cities comes up, there seems to be a lot more heat than light. As I write this, […]
Retorts: Sift SB 54 facts from rumor
Calm down and make a better case
The biggest thing in Orange County this week – other than Shohei Ohtani – is the struggles surrounding SB 54, which bars local law enforcement from communicating in some ways with federal […]
Retorts: An early season election primer
It’s only March, but the political season is already underway. Huge signs are popping up at every street corner advertising the two-word platform of the candidate: MY NAME. A little later in […]
Retorts: Missing snowballs in the spring
The coming of baseball season always leads to a singing of that most popular of sporting songs, “Take Me Out To the Ball Game.” Estimated to be the third most-commonly sung tune […]
Retorts: Blaming past is easy, but in vain
The Americans took California from the Mexicans. The Mexicans took it from the Spanish. The Spanish took it from the natives. Those natives took it from … does it matter? America used […]
Umberg vs. Nguyen in senate battle?
If it’s an even-numbered year, it must be time for election mania. Candidates are throwing their baseball caps into the ring, and interesting matchups are developing. On Wednesday, former state Assemblyman Tom […]
Retorts: Cruel dilemma of guns in the U.S.
Editor’s note: Jim Tortolano wrote this column in October 2017 after the Las Vegas killings. He thinks it’s still appropriate in the wake of today’s mass shooting at a school in Florida. […]
Retorts: Maybe it’s time to pay to play
Sometimes what you don’t see is more intriguing than what you do. On Wednesday, at the “State of the City” address by Garden Grove Mayor Steve Jones, much was made of the […]
Retorts: Fighting cold with old medicine
The nation is in the grip of a flu epidemic. Always preferring to do things on a small scale, I’ve got a pretty persistent cold. In each case, although there’s only so […]
Retorts: Welcome to your Bizarro World!
If you ever read comic books as a kid – or do now – you might be familiar with “Bizarro World.” That’s a place in the Superman stories in which a mutant […]
