Blog
Deficits may save cities from democratic socialist pipedreams
Deficits may save cities from democratic socialist pipedreams By Sarah Downey | January 23, 2026 In New York City, the newly elected mayor, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, has pledged to make free or subsidize everything from rent to groceries, straining the city’s deficit to a projected $12 billion in 2027. ...
Blog
Trump and Newsom are odd bedfellows on housing policy
Now that many populist Republicans have largely abandoned free-market conservatism, it’s getting hard to distinguish dopey Democratic policy ideas from dopey Republican ones. Apparently, the Horseshoe Theory — where each end of the political spectrum is separated by the distance between the ends of a horseshoe rather than at the ends ...
Blog
Newsom’s ‘Sunny California Tale’ Masks Nightmare of Thousands Leaving the State
That splashy headline was based on the U-Haul company’s growth index, which each year “ranks states by their net gain (or loss) of customers who rented a one-way truck, trailer or U-Box® moving containers in one state and dropped off their equipment in another state.” Despite its world-renowned natural beauty, its reputation as ...
Blog
Sexual Assault at California’s Colleges and Universities: A Policy and Public Safety Issue
California Campus Data Clery data from California’s largest universities illustrate the scale of the issue: UC Berkeley and UCLA each reported 61 rapes in 2023. When adjusted for student population, this equates to rates of 184.5 per 100,000 students at UC Berkeley and 164 per 100,000 at UCLA—approximately four to six times the statewide ...
Blog
Newsom’s Proposed Ed Budget: Big Spending, Little Results
Under Newsom’s proposed budget, state and local education funding under Proposition 98 would come to $121.4 billion. If one combines funding from all sources, including federal dollars, then the budget would include $149.1 billion in total funding for all TK (transitional kindergarten)-12 education programs. These huge budget amounts translate into ...
Blog
Privatized cities are experiments in freedom, not feudalism
Privatized cities are experiments in freedom, not feudalism by Sal Rodriguez | January 16, 2026 As long as there have been people and organized societies, there have been people who want to break out of existing jurisdictions to form new ones governed by different ideas and different rules. A recent ...
Blog
How are California cities prepping for the World Cup and Olympics?
Things are quite a bit different in California from 1984, when Los Angeles last hosted the Olympics. I was a journalist in Washington, D.C., and enjoyed watching the games on a 19-inch black-and-white TV. Californian Ronald Reagan was president, fellow Republican George Deukmejian was governor, Steve Jobs and Apple had ...
Blog
“Nice Try” Won’t Really Lower Prices at Pump for California Drivers
The law required input from the California Air Resources Board to take effect, which recently said the blend “does not pose a significant adverse impact on public health or the environment compared to” the blend that it is replacing. The new blend, E15, is made with up to 15% ethanol, a biofuel produced ...
Blog
The Gordon Chang Report–Is This the End of the Atlantic Alliance?
READ THE PDF Is This the End of the Atlantic Alliance? BYD Co., the world’s largest maker of electric vehicles, reported that sales in August increased 0.2% from the same month last year. That rate was down from July’s year-on-year increase of 0.6% and the 12.0% jump in June. The company’s ...
Blog
Spending Watch
Spending Watch: California’s Budget Delusion
Spending Watch: California’s Budget Delusion Wayne Winegarden January 2026 Governor Newsom has released his final state budget and for the fourth year in a row, the state is facing a large budget deficit that it must close. This prolonged period of persistent budget deficits was entirely predictable. For the upcoming ...
Deficits may save cities from democratic socialist pipedreams
Deficits may save cities from democratic socialist pipedreams By Sarah Downey | January 23, 2026 In New York City, the newly elected mayor, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, has pledged to make free or subsidize everything from rent to groceries, straining the city’s deficit to a projected $12 billion in 2027. ...
Trump and Newsom are odd bedfellows on housing policy
Now that many populist Republicans have largely abandoned free-market conservatism, it’s getting hard to distinguish dopey Democratic policy ideas from dopey Republican ones. Apparently, the Horseshoe Theory — where each end of the political spectrum is separated by the distance between the ends of a horseshoe rather than at the ends ...
Newsom’s ‘Sunny California Tale’ Masks Nightmare of Thousands Leaving the State
That splashy headline was based on the U-Haul company’s growth index, which each year “ranks states by their net gain (or loss) of customers who rented a one-way truck, trailer or U-Box® moving containers in one state and dropped off their equipment in another state.” Despite its world-renowned natural beauty, its reputation as ...
Sexual Assault at California’s Colleges and Universities: A Policy and Public Safety Issue
California Campus Data Clery data from California’s largest universities illustrate the scale of the issue: UC Berkeley and UCLA each reported 61 rapes in 2023. When adjusted for student population, this equates to rates of 184.5 per 100,000 students at UC Berkeley and 164 per 100,000 at UCLA—approximately four to six times the statewide ...
Newsom’s Proposed Ed Budget: Big Spending, Little Results
Under Newsom’s proposed budget, state and local education funding under Proposition 98 would come to $121.4 billion. If one combines funding from all sources, including federal dollars, then the budget would include $149.1 billion in total funding for all TK (transitional kindergarten)-12 education programs. These huge budget amounts translate into ...
Privatized cities are experiments in freedom, not feudalism
Privatized cities are experiments in freedom, not feudalism by Sal Rodriguez | January 16, 2026 As long as there have been people and organized societies, there have been people who want to break out of existing jurisdictions to form new ones governed by different ideas and different rules. A recent ...
How are California cities prepping for the World Cup and Olympics?
Things are quite a bit different in California from 1984, when Los Angeles last hosted the Olympics. I was a journalist in Washington, D.C., and enjoyed watching the games on a 19-inch black-and-white TV. Californian Ronald Reagan was president, fellow Republican George Deukmejian was governor, Steve Jobs and Apple had ...
“Nice Try” Won’t Really Lower Prices at Pump for California Drivers
The law required input from the California Air Resources Board to take effect, which recently said the blend “does not pose a significant adverse impact on public health or the environment compared to” the blend that it is replacing. The new blend, E15, is made with up to 15% ethanol, a biofuel produced ...
The Gordon Chang Report–Is This the End of the Atlantic Alliance?
READ THE PDF Is This the End of the Atlantic Alliance? BYD Co., the world’s largest maker of electric vehicles, reported that sales in August increased 0.2% from the same month last year. That rate was down from July’s year-on-year increase of 0.6% and the 12.0% jump in June. The company’s ...
Spending Watch
Spending Watch: California’s Budget Delusion
Spending Watch: California’s Budget Delusion Wayne Winegarden January 2026 Governor Newsom has released his final state budget and for the fourth year in a row, the state is facing a large budget deficit that it must close. This prolonged period of persistent budget deficits was entirely predictable. For the upcoming ...
