California
Blog
Can Newsom’s Project Homekey End Homelessness?
In 2001 due to a job change, I moved from Baltimore to San Francisco. It was the Dot.com Boom, and like everyone else who was moving to the City by the Bay, I was desperately hunting for an apartment. Back then, it was common for two dozen people to be ...
Blog
Transparency as a Political Principle
In the Declaration of Independence, sandwiched between the bold announcement of regime-change and an affirmation of natural rights, Thomas Jefferson penned an often-overlooked phrase, “a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.” To justify separation from England, ...
California
Gavin Newsom’s License to Misinform on Covid
Last summer, while trying to survive a recall effort, California governor Gavin Newsom claimed that Texas middle-class families “pay more taxes than middle-class families in California” and challenged doubters to “look that up.” A few months later, he swore that “violent crime and property crime” is “higher in Texas than ...
Blog
Mixed Messaging by Public Officials Cloud COVID Return to Normal
Mixed messaging by elected officials and government health experts have continued to cloud efforts to finally “turn the corner” on the COVID-19 pandemic. Until now, Californians were supposed to wear masks in their offices when around colleagues, in grocery stores and restaurants except when eating, and at theaters. Yet, tens ...
Blog
No More Games – Return the Surplus to CA Taxpayers
Last year, I got a kick out of playing CalMatters’ Spend the Surplus Game. This year, not so much. CalMatters created a clever online game that lets you decide how California should spend its surplus. This year, it’s projected to be $45.7 billion. Of that amount however, I only get ...
Blog
The Cost Of Going Green Keeps Going Up
About that transition to all-renewables energy sources by 2045: Californians who are already punished by record-high electricity prices should be prepared to pay more than ever over the next two decades. Either that, or leave, a choice that many have already made and many more will. Recently published research by ...
Agriculture
Practical Life Skills Answer to Food Waste Woes
Inflation across the United States is still surging (up 7% from a year ago). Rising food costs are of concern as well: a 6.5% increase across the board – with a 16% increase for meat and dairy and a whopping 25% for red meat. Despite rising grocery bills, the U.S. ...
Blog
Biden’s Second Chance to Put a Black Woman on SCOTUS
In his bid for the White House, Pres. Biden promised to appoint the first Black woman to the U.S. Supreme Court. As a senator, however, he did everything possible to prevent it from happening. In 2003, then-Senator Biden used the filibuster (what progressives are now calling racist) to block the ...
Business & Economics
NEW STUDY: Bad Policy Choices Zap Californians with $1450 Average Electricity Bills
Californians are being zapped with higher electricity bills – averaging $1450 per year – thanks to state government energy regulations, taxes, and subsidies, finds a new report released today by the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute. Repealing or reforming these costly policies could save the average household $517 per year, ...
Blog
What Crime Reports and Rates Don’t Tell Us
Last week the San Francisco Police Department issued its crime statistics report for 2021 also known as COMPSTAT. Modeled on the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (UCR) and divided into two parts graded by seriousness they give us a picture of reported crime in the City of San Francisco. Unlike the ...
Can Newsom’s Project Homekey End Homelessness?
In 2001 due to a job change, I moved from Baltimore to San Francisco. It was the Dot.com Boom, and like everyone else who was moving to the City by the Bay, I was desperately hunting for an apartment. Back then, it was common for two dozen people to be ...
Transparency as a Political Principle
In the Declaration of Independence, sandwiched between the bold announcement of regime-change and an affirmation of natural rights, Thomas Jefferson penned an often-overlooked phrase, “a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.” To justify separation from England, ...
Gavin Newsom’s License to Misinform on Covid
Last summer, while trying to survive a recall effort, California governor Gavin Newsom claimed that Texas middle-class families “pay more taxes than middle-class families in California” and challenged doubters to “look that up.” A few months later, he swore that “violent crime and property crime” is “higher in Texas than ...
Mixed Messaging by Public Officials Cloud COVID Return to Normal
Mixed messaging by elected officials and government health experts have continued to cloud efforts to finally “turn the corner” on the COVID-19 pandemic. Until now, Californians were supposed to wear masks in their offices when around colleagues, in grocery stores and restaurants except when eating, and at theaters. Yet, tens ...
No More Games – Return the Surplus to CA Taxpayers
Last year, I got a kick out of playing CalMatters’ Spend the Surplus Game. This year, not so much. CalMatters created a clever online game that lets you decide how California should spend its surplus. This year, it’s projected to be $45.7 billion. Of that amount however, I only get ...
The Cost Of Going Green Keeps Going Up
About that transition to all-renewables energy sources by 2045: Californians who are already punished by record-high electricity prices should be prepared to pay more than ever over the next two decades. Either that, or leave, a choice that many have already made and many more will. Recently published research by ...
Practical Life Skills Answer to Food Waste Woes
Inflation across the United States is still surging (up 7% from a year ago). Rising food costs are of concern as well: a 6.5% increase across the board – with a 16% increase for meat and dairy and a whopping 25% for red meat. Despite rising grocery bills, the U.S. ...
Biden’s Second Chance to Put a Black Woman on SCOTUS
In his bid for the White House, Pres. Biden promised to appoint the first Black woman to the U.S. Supreme Court. As a senator, however, he did everything possible to prevent it from happening. In 2003, then-Senator Biden used the filibuster (what progressives are now calling racist) to block the ...
NEW STUDY: Bad Policy Choices Zap Californians with $1450 Average Electricity Bills
Californians are being zapped with higher electricity bills – averaging $1450 per year – thanks to state government energy regulations, taxes, and subsidies, finds a new report released today by the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute. Repealing or reforming these costly policies could save the average household $517 per year, ...
What Crime Reports and Rates Don’t Tell Us
Last week the San Francisco Police Department issued its crime statistics report for 2021 also known as COMPSTAT. Modeled on the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (UCR) and divided into two parts graded by seriousness they give us a picture of reported crime in the City of San Francisco. Unlike the ...
