Blog
Gas Prices Rise like a Rocket & Fall like a Feather
The figure below displays the average monthly oil and gas prices for over three decades. It clearly shows that, on a monthly basis, oil and gas prices move in sync. Following years of relative stability during the 1990s, oil prices began rising in the early 2000s, peaking in the summer ...
Blog
Spending Watch
Spending Watch: Newsom’s Final Budget Defers the Difficult Budget Decisions to California’s Next Governor
Newsom’s Final Budget Defers the Difficult Budget Decisions to California’s Next Governor Wayne Winegarden July 2026 The FY2026-27 Budget Basics Gov. Newsom has signed the FY2026-27 budget – Newsom’s final one as governor. He claims the budget “prioritizes fiscal restraint” and promotes “long-term sustainability,” but the numbers tell a different ...
Blog
The Gordon Chang Report–China’s Regime Is No Match for Defiant Christians
READ THE PDF China’s Regime Is No Match for Defiant Christians Dozens of police and state security officers—up to 70 of them according to parishioners—raided the Early Rain Covenant Church in the southwestern Chinese city of Jiangyou on June 14. The police, some wearing body armor marked “SWAT,” eventually took ...
Agriculture
Fourth of July cookouts cost a little more this year
There are regional cost differences from the AFBF data, highlighting how different areas of the country have different living expenses. For a 10-person meal, the least expensive place to spend the holiday is in the Northeast, where you’ll pay an average of $71.35 for groceries. The Midwest comes in a ...
Blog
E-bikes are fun, but cities need to enforce reasonable traffic laws
On a fine October day in 2024 I was walking my Pomeranian show dog, Ollie, to my favorite Irvine coffee shop, the Lost Bean on Barranca Parkway. Suddenly I was on the ground. Two youths on e-bikes were riding on the sidewalk at maybe 25 mph and one cut in ...
Blog
A Tribute to The Honorable Daniel Oliver
A Tribute to The Honorable Daniel Oliver Pacific Research Institute Chairman Emeritus and Board Member since 1991 The Honorable Daniel Oliver was a rare and remarkable man—steadfast in market-based principles and freedom, generous in spirit, and deeply devoted to the people and institutions he loved. For my husband Charles Kesler ...
Agriculture
H-2A bill looks to update the program for the better
The H-2A farmworker visa program might finally be headed for the overhaul it has needed for a long time. The U.S. House of Representatives has an opportunity to take up the Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act (SAWA) currently being championed by House Agriculture Chairman G.T. Thompson. Under the current program, farmworkers ...
Blog
California’s Bad Energy Policy Is the Real Threat to the AI Boom
In early 2026, data centers consumed roughly 1,000 megawatts of electricity, about 2% of California ISO’s peak load. The California Energy Commission projects that figure will reach 4,500 megawatts, or 9% of peak demand, by 2040. That projection sits on top of overall peak demand the CEC expects to rise between 42 and ...
Blog
Alternative Catholic Education Models Gain Popularity and Attention
Recently, I had the pleasure of moderating a panel on alternative Catholic education models at a retreat conference for the Order of Malta, which is a lay order of the Catholic Church founded a millennium ago and which focuses on medical, social, and humanitarian aid projects. The panel gave insight ...
Blog
Who Wants To Ride California’s Bullet Buses?
With a grand high-speed rail project struggling to lay its first track nearly two decades after voters approved it, California seems to be moving on to its next transportation fiasco: A high-speed bus system connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco that reaches an implausibly brisk 140 mph along the way. It seems more likely ...
Gas Prices Rise like a Rocket & Fall like a Feather
The figure below displays the average monthly oil and gas prices for over three decades. It clearly shows that, on a monthly basis, oil and gas prices move in sync. Following years of relative stability during the 1990s, oil prices began rising in the early 2000s, peaking in the summer ...
Spending Watch
Spending Watch: Newsom’s Final Budget Defers the Difficult Budget Decisions to California’s Next Governor
Newsom’s Final Budget Defers the Difficult Budget Decisions to California’s Next Governor Wayne Winegarden July 2026 The FY2026-27 Budget Basics Gov. Newsom has signed the FY2026-27 budget – Newsom’s final one as governor. He claims the budget “prioritizes fiscal restraint” and promotes “long-term sustainability,” but the numbers tell a different ...
The Gordon Chang Report–China’s Regime Is No Match for Defiant Christians
READ THE PDF China’s Regime Is No Match for Defiant Christians Dozens of police and state security officers—up to 70 of them according to parishioners—raided the Early Rain Covenant Church in the southwestern Chinese city of Jiangyou on June 14. The police, some wearing body armor marked “SWAT,” eventually took ...
Fourth of July cookouts cost a little more this year
There are regional cost differences from the AFBF data, highlighting how different areas of the country have different living expenses. For a 10-person meal, the least expensive place to spend the holiday is in the Northeast, where you’ll pay an average of $71.35 for groceries. The Midwest comes in a ...
E-bikes are fun, but cities need to enforce reasonable traffic laws
On a fine October day in 2024 I was walking my Pomeranian show dog, Ollie, to my favorite Irvine coffee shop, the Lost Bean on Barranca Parkway. Suddenly I was on the ground. Two youths on e-bikes were riding on the sidewalk at maybe 25 mph and one cut in ...
A Tribute to The Honorable Daniel Oliver
A Tribute to The Honorable Daniel Oliver Pacific Research Institute Chairman Emeritus and Board Member since 1991 The Honorable Daniel Oliver was a rare and remarkable man—steadfast in market-based principles and freedom, generous in spirit, and deeply devoted to the people and institutions he loved. For my husband Charles Kesler ...
H-2A bill looks to update the program for the better
The H-2A farmworker visa program might finally be headed for the overhaul it has needed for a long time. The U.S. House of Representatives has an opportunity to take up the Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act (SAWA) currently being championed by House Agriculture Chairman G.T. Thompson. Under the current program, farmworkers ...
California’s Bad Energy Policy Is the Real Threat to the AI Boom
In early 2026, data centers consumed roughly 1,000 megawatts of electricity, about 2% of California ISO’s peak load. The California Energy Commission projects that figure will reach 4,500 megawatts, or 9% of peak demand, by 2040. That projection sits on top of overall peak demand the CEC expects to rise between 42 and ...
Alternative Catholic Education Models Gain Popularity and Attention
Recently, I had the pleasure of moderating a panel on alternative Catholic education models at a retreat conference for the Order of Malta, which is a lay order of the Catholic Church founded a millennium ago and which focuses on medical, social, and humanitarian aid projects. The panel gave insight ...
Who Wants To Ride California’s Bullet Buses?
With a grand high-speed rail project struggling to lay its first track nearly two decades after voters approved it, California seems to be moving on to its next transportation fiasco: A high-speed bus system connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco that reaches an implausibly brisk 140 mph along the way. It seems more likely ...