People tend to view taxes in one of two ways. One view is that taxes are the price people pay for government goods and services. The other is that taxes are a penalty levied on people who earn income or …
Will New District Attorney Chesa Boudin “Transform” San Francisco?
Chesa Boudin has gained election as district attorney of San Francisco, beating out Suzy Loftus, favorite of the city’s establishment Democrats and backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The victory is not surprising, given the victor’s profile. Chesa Boudin is the …
Runaway Health Insurance Costs Under the Affordable Care Act
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) was supposed to make the cost of health insurance more affordable by slowing the rising trend of increases in health insurance costs. The controversial law was passed in 2010 on a strict …
Trendy California Is Not the First to Ban Tiny Hotel Shampoo Bottles
With all the fires and blackouts going on, Californians may have missed a major legislative milestone last month. As NBC News reports, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law “banning hotels from giving guests plastic bottles filled with shampoo, conditioner or …
Telemedicine Continues to Reach New Heights
Imagine you suddenly became injured and needed medical help quickly. How long would it take you to see a physician? For an increasing number of Americans, the answer may be concerning. According to a recent survey of 15 major metropolitan …
Gov. Newsom Appoints “Energy Czar” Ana Matosantos to Completely Transform PG&E
“PG&E as we know it cannot persist and continue,” proclaimed California governor Gavin Newsom last Friday. “It has to be completely transformed, culturally transformed, operationally transformed, with a safety culture first and foremost.” Embattled and enflamed Californians might wonder how …
The Current War Highlights Drama Over America’s Electrical Grid
The Current War (Director’s Cut) had a circuitous and uncertain road to American theaters but finally arrived in 2019. The 2017 historical drama depicts the fight to build and control America’s electrical grid in the 1880s, but became ensnared during the …
Meet the Federal Agency Propaganda Mascots That Cost Taxpayers a Fortune
Meet Sammy Soil. Sammy is one of the many official mascots of a federal government agency who, along with friends at other government departments like Franklin the Fair Housing Fox, Rex the Ready Kids’ Mountain Lion or Pedro the Penguin, …
“First Amendment Is First for a Reason.” The Wisdom of Dave Chappelle
On college campuses, the new film No Safe Spaces explains, the First Amendment, intellectual freedom, and the very idea of free speech are under attack with threats, bans, and even violence. That threat has come to the attention of comedian …
How Costly Are Your State’s Regulations?
Government regulations can be very costly in terms of both time and money. Though we often focus on what means in terms of federal regulations, the U.S. government isn’t the only entity generating rules that can burden individual Americans and …
Blackouts and Monopolies: Public Utilities in California
Power outages have become a way of life for Californians this fire season. Pacific Gas and Electric cut the power to nearly 3 million residents in Northern and Central California in a preemptive attempt to minimize wildfire risk during high …
Former California Governor Jerry Brown Stokes His Climate-Change Backfire
Jerry Brown has been on the quiet side since he left office, but raging fires across the state have smoked out the hereditary, recurring governor. As he told Politico, this was “only a taste of the horror and terror that …
