Editorials, commentary and opinion pieces - San Francisco Chroni

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Opinion Opinion Home Local US & World Sports Biz & Tech Opinion Style Food+Home A&E Lifestyle Membership Sections Sections Home Local US & World Sports Biz & Tech Opinion Style Food+Home A&E Lifestyle Membership San Francisco Bay Area Crime Environment Politics & Policy Health Obituaries Columnists US World Politics & Policy Environment Science 49ers Raiders Giants A's Warriors College Sharks Earthquakes High School More Sports Technology Real Estate Markets Stocks Watchlist Editorials Letters to the editor Op-ed columns Insight City on the Edge Scene Fashion Shopping Weddings Restaurants Wine Recipes Top 100 Restaurants Top 100 Wines Bargain Bites Home Design Gardening Movies & TV Arts & Theater Music Books Bad Reporter Horoscopes Comics Games Movie Listings Style Health Outdoors Travel About Membership Exclusive offers Join Now Manage my account Archive Featured Columnists Debra J. Saunders San Francisco’s land-mine law for landlords San Francisco is a cauldron of rights, unless you own a home. Buy a property here, and you might as well paint a target on your back. That’s what Dan and Maria Levin discovered after they bought a two-unit North Beach home in 2008. Continues in Opinion Continue Reading John Diaz Behind the scenes of Chronicle’s election endorsements The endorsements listed on the editorial page represent many hours of researching the issues and meeting with scores of candidates and advocates for and against ballot measures. It’s a fascinating, but not always exciting, process for the editorial board that began before Labor Day. Continues in Opinion Continue Reading Featured Columnists Lois Kazakoff Tweet with Oakland's next mayor With the 17th candidate stepping into the Oakland mayor's race last week, voters will have a bewildering number of choices in November. This electoral bedlam comes at a time when strong and accountable leadership is crucial to the future of the rapidly changing city. Continues in Opinion Continue Reading Caille Millner Upstart social networks may fall on their face Everyone is so tired of Facebook. Everyone has always been so tired of Facebook. In the years since Facebook grew from being a digital college yearbook to a global octopus of connectivity, the only thing as reliable as the service’s ubiquity was the avalanche of stories about how the service was on its way out. Continues in Arts & Entertainment Continue Reading Featured Columnists E.J. Dionne Jr. Four facts of why Democrats have clout in this election There’s a hidden history to the nasty midterm election campaign that will, mercifully, end on Nov. 4. What’s not being widely talked about is as important as what’s in the news. Continues in Opinion Continue Reading By Robert Reich, ©2014 Robert Reich Ebola isn’t a crisis in U.S.; hysteria is We have to get a grip. Ebola is not a crisis in the United States. One person has died, two people were infected with his body fluids, and a doctor contracted the virus after treating Ebola patients in West Africa. Continues in Opinion Continue Reading By Andres Martinez Stop pretending nothing happens in August The headlines these days all seem to demand exclamation marks. Iraq is teetering on the brink! Russian troops are massing on the Ukrainian border! Gaza lies in ruins! World’s worst Ebola epidemic afflicts Africa! Continues in Opinion Continue Reading Ruben Navarrette Jr. Obama lets us down again President Obama has a new foil. He spent his first term blaming George W. Bush when things went wrong. Now that he broke his promise to take executive action on immigration this summer, and left many of his supporters disillusioned, he's pinning the blame on - of all people - those child refugees from Central America who came across the U.S.-Mexico border to escape violence at home. Continues in Opinion Continue Reading Op-Ed Submission Form Send us your op ed Open Forum San Francisco should support equal pay for women — here’s how By Noreen Farrell and Rachael Langston Imagine working at a job for years before learning by chance that you have been paid less than a co-worker for the same work. Women, and their households, lose hundreds of thousands of dollars over their lives to a gender wage gap that’s caused by discrimination. These are earnings that could have been used for housing, education and retirement. We support a legislative fix to this problem proposed by San Francisco Supervisor David Campos. Among other important provisions, Campos’ Equal Pay Ordinance would require employers who do business with San Francisco to report data on pay equity, including a summary of compensation paid to employees identified by sex and race. Continue Reading Today's Letters Letters to the editor, Oct. 27 San Francisco Chronicle With all the laws in San Francisco about plastic bags and charging for paper bags, why are there no laws banning the posting of all those wasteful political signs, pamphlets, door hangers. Can you imagine how much waste and reduction in landfills banning the posting of election paraphernalia would result in? It would be workable: In each county there could be a website that all interested in the elections could go to. There they could go to read about the candidates and see their campaign information. No wasteful and ugly paper/cardboard tacked and blowing all over our city. Get serious, San Francisco: If you are going after the shopping bags then go after the kind of pollution electioneering creates with all those wasteful signs! Continue Reading Chron Quiz Chronicle news quiz, Oct. 26 By Marshall Kilduff 1 How much is San Francisco billionaire Tom Steyer dumping into next month’s national political races? A: $14 million, way less than expected B: $24 million, only to match GOP donations C: $55 million, serious change D: $100 million, breaking all records 2 Cuba and the U.S. are becoming quiet allies on what issue? A: Stopping North Korea’s weapons sales B: Coordinating Ebola medical aid in Africa Continue Reading Sunday Insight Grow your own marijuana law By Robert MacCoun Retail marijuana sales for adults are now legal (at least at the state level) in Colorado and Washington. Next month, voters in Alaska and Oregon may decide to follow suit. It is nearly certain that marijuana legalization will make it onto the California ballot in 2016, during a presidential election season that will generate enormous interest among young voters. It is less certain whether that proposition will succeed; right now, support is above 50 percent, but propositions tend to lose support as election day approaches. Much may depend on how outcomes look in Colorado and Washington next year, and whether Alaska and Oregon build or end the momentum next month. Sunday Insight Top About Our Company Ad Choices Careers Terms of Use Advertising Privacy Policy Your Privacy Rights Your California Privacy Rights Contact Customer Service Frequently Asked Questions Newsroom Contacts Connect Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Google+ Connect © Hearst Corporation