OPINION: Wine country wildfires + Golden 1 Center’s free days + Trump’s tirades

Oct. 17--Our take

Jack Ohman sees a terrible new California normal. See the cartoon here.

Columns

Foon Rhee: Why aren't Sacramento taxpayers getting more out of arena deal? Under the 35-year lease with the Kings, the city gets to hold nine days of civic events a year, free of charge. But so far in 2017, the city has used only three event days -- for the Sacramento State commencement in May. At this point, there are no other events scheduled this year. The days can't be carried over into next year, so it's use it or lose it.

Andres Oppenheimer, Miami Herald: President Donald Trump's tirades against the media are doing great harm to this country, and to the world. His suggestion to look into the license of NBC will help legitimize attacks against the media by Russia's Vladimir Putin, Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro and other dictators.

Trudy Rubin, Philadelphia Inquirer: President Donald Trump put forward two sets of demands: nuclear and non-nuclear. The first set seeks to force Iran to revamp the nuclear treaty without further negotiations. The non-nuclear demands include curbing Iran's missile program and its destabilizing activities in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere in the Mideast.

Op-eds

John Doherty and Lisa Rickard: About 36 percent of all of the food-related class-action lawsuits in the nation are filed in California because the state's laws are so biased the lawyers believe they can file meritless claims and get away with it -- and sometimes they do. If the state doesn't limit them, it will cost jobs.

Bill Magavern: Don't forget about carpets in the climate change fight. Carpets, which are 99 percent plastic, are made from fossil fuels. Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a first-in-the-nation measure, Assembly Bill 1158, that requires manufacturers to increase carpet recycling.

California Forum

Erwin Chemerinsky: Trump's gutting of Obamacare is as illegal as it is cruel. Presidents can't unilaterally make such a significant policy change on such short notice, or defy federal spending law.

Brian P. Kelly: Gas tax opponents want you to think California's transportation tax hike is a leftist conspiracy, writes the CalSTA secretary. But more than half the states are raising taxes or fees to fix roads. And the majority aren't blue.

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Their take

Los Angeles Times: Among the arguments against the use of airborne camera-wielding drones by the Los Angeles Police Department, a statement made by one critic at a recent Police Commission meeting stood out: "Drones should not be talked about." That's the most extreme position: that law enforcement drones pose such a serious threat of police surveillance and militarization that the subject should not even be broached. But of course it's far too late for that. Technology steadily advances, and inexpensive drones will become more common. Drones must be talked about, often and in depth.

Orange County Register: A few weeks ago, the Los Angeles Times published a hit piece on Disneyland predicated on a misguided question: Is Disney paying its fair share in Anaheim? While the story raises some provocative questions about deals made between Disneyland and the city, the article had a seemingly predetermined narrative. Given Disneyland and Anaheim are in Orange County, and we analyze both the city and the company regularly, we thought we'd help the Times answer its own question: Yes, Disneyland pays its fair share to the city -- if not more.

San Francisco Chronicle: A bill to give the wireless industry largely unchecked access to public property across California brought loud objections from local officials in the Bay Area and beyond. Can the industry hear them now? Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed the legislation Sunday, acknowledging the value of deploying wireless technology "rapidly and efficiently" but adding that he favors "a more balanced solution than the one achieved in this bill."

San Jose Mercury News: The Santa Clara Valley Water District Board will vote Tuesday on whether to commit to raising ratepayer taxes by at least $1 billion to pay for its share of the Big Dud -- Gov. Jerry Brown's $17 billion plan to build two massive, 35-mile, 40-foot-high tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta that won't add a drop of new water to California's supply. It would be irresponsible to pin that level of commitment on ratepayers when no one -- not the governor and certainly not the water district's board of directors -- knows what the final cost will be.

Santa Rosa Press Democrat: Hurricane Harvey hit the Gulf Coast six weeks ago. Damage is still being tallied for Hurricane Irma. Next came Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico in mid-September, followed by Nate, which blew through Alabama and Mississippi last week. Now, wildfires are burning in Northern and Southern California. The scale of each of these disasters is so vast that no single state can manage them alone. Only the federal government can muster the resources -- human and financial -- required for the immediate response as well as the lengthy recovery that would follow any of these natural disasters, much less this fall's succession of calamities.

Bloomberg View: There is no easy way to police President Donald Trump's expansive and unprecedented conflicts of interest. California Gov. Jerry Brown has recognized that unfortunate fact by vetoing legislation to require presidential candidates to make their tax returns public in order to appear on the state ballot.

Syndicates' take

Charles M. Blow: Donald Trump can't hold a candle to Barack Obama, so he's taking a tiki torch to Obama's legacy. Trump can't get his bad ideas though Congress, but he can use the power of the presidency to sabotage or even sink Obama's signature deeds.

David Brooks: Upswingers believe in progress and feel that society is still fitfully moving upward. Downswingers have lost faith in progress and feel everything is broken. Both right and left are dividing into upswinger and downswinger camps.

Michael Gerson: Rather than confidently and persistently representing a set of distinctive beliefs, religious right leaders beg to be a part of someone else's movement. In this case, it is a movement that takes advantage of racial and ethnic divisions and dehumanizes Muslims, migrants and refugees.

Paul Krugman: The Republican tax plan does indeed favor the wealthy -- overwhelmingly, undeniably. It's shocking that as many as 40 percent of Americans don't realize this.

David Leonhardt: President Trump will probably accomplish at least part of the short-term goal and take health insurance away from some people. But it is possible to minimize the damage, through an effective political response.

Eugene Robinson: Blaming the 1960s and 1970s has become the first refuge of abusive creeps. But those of us who lived through that time can recall -- yes, perhaps through a slight haze -- that "the culture" never approved of the kinds of things Harvey Weinstein is accused of doing.

Mailbag

"I love us California. Here we are bucking the trend and doing right by those who are poor and vulnerable." -- Carol M. Rubin, Newcastle

Tweet of the day

"I was recently asked if Crooked Hillary Clinton is going to run in 2020? My answer was, 'I hope so!' " -- Donald J. Trump?, @realDonaldTrump

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