Why My Kids Loathe Mike Bloomberg
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has broken through. He’s united all three of my young sons—ages 11, 9, and 6—on one political stance. They hate Bloomberg. The reason has nothing to do with politics, about which my boys could care less,and everything to do with the annoyances of saturation advertising. Bloomberg’s barrage of […]
Disinformation in Political Debate
Further to our recent note about disinformation in California politics, another illustration was provided earlier this week by an article about a debate among participants in a Bay Area race for State Senate. One candidate said that one of her top priorities is “moving California from the bottom 10 states in per-pupil spending for K-12 […]
California’s Progressive War on Suburbia
For three years in a row, California’s progressive lawmakers have attempted to legislate higher density housing by taking away the ability of cities and counties to enforce local zoning laws. And for the third year in a row, the proposed law, Senate Bill 50, was narrowly defeated. But eventually, inevitably, something like SB 50 is […]
State Economy Strong, But the Forecast is Not as Bright
In the State Capital, Governor Gavin Newsom gave his State of the State speech yesterday boasting about California as an economic powerhouse. While at the same time down south, the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) revealed its annual economic forecast predicting that the rosy picture will likely pale. In announcing the economic forecast, […]
Steyer Should Quit the Race and Buy the Sacramento Bee
Tom Steyer should stop spending his money on a presidential race he can’t win—and start spending it on California newspapers. Since he got in the race last year, Steyer has spent more than $100 million on his campaign, even though he has no chance of winning. That is far more than it would cost to […]
Despite Pressure Building on AB 5, It Will Stand with Some Changes, as It Should
In April 2018, the Supreme Court of California (SCOCAL) unanimously held in Dynamex that the twelve-factor Borello test and subsequent wage orders by the defunct Industrial Welfare Commission were not consistent with the prevailing California Labor Code. Instead, they applied a stricter A-B-C test for when companies must consider those performing work as employees and […]
George Gascón Spins As Attempts To Explain the Failures of Prop 47
In a devastating investigative series titled “Meth Mayhem,” Fox 11 examined the drug and homeless crisis on L.A. streets, as well as Prop 47’s contribution to that crisis. George Gascón, one of the authors of Prop 47, was given extensive airtime to respond to the series and one of his statements caught our eye. Gascón […]
Ignoring the Promises Made for High-Speed Rail
A new business plan has been issued for California’s high-speed rail and the only thing that is moving fast is the bullet train moving away from the promises made to voters when the bond supporting the train was on the ballot. The promises made to California taxpayers and voters in 2008 about costs and completion […]
The California Way of Coaching
Californians have failed to contain the autocratic excesses of our technology executives. But we have made progress in curbing another group of would-be dictators: Little League coaches. For two decades, Silicon Valley has been the headquarters for a national nonprofit—the Positive Coaching Alliance—that is changing how youth sports are coached. Based in Mountain View, Positive […]