Last December, California governor Jerry Brown signed AB 1570, authored by former Republican assemblywoman Ling Ling Chang. Chang’s measure alters the state’s “autograph law,” formerly limited to sports memorabilia, to include any signed item worth more than $5, including books. As Anastasia Bolden of the Pacific Legal Foundation notes, this makes it “extremely risky,…
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As anybody looking for a house or apartment can easily verify, California is in the throes of a housing crisis. In Oroville, for example, many low-income residents live in 1960s-vintage housing built for dam construction workers. Across the state, home ownership rates are the lowest since the 1940s and according to California’s Housing Future:…
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As of May 11, 2017, the total public debt outstanding of the U.S. government exceeds $19.8 trillion. Political Calculations provides a summary of the major interests to whom the U.S. owes all that money, as of the end of the U.S. government’s 2016 fiscal year on September 30, 2016, when the national debt total…
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Everybody’s talking about President Trump’s firing of FBI director James Comey, and some consider the dismissal improper. On the other hand, as Michael Corleone might say, “Where does it say you can’t fire the head of the FBI? I am talking about an FBI boss who overstepped his authority, who got mixed up in…
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When the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico filed for bankruptcy last week, we took the opportunity to identify the most likely candidates among U.S. states to follow the new legal precedents that are now being set by its example. The editorial board of a leading newspaper in one of those states, Illinois, argues that…
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“House Approval Of Health Care Bill Represents Major Victory For Trump,” ran the headline on a National Public Radio story, and the Washington Post said the new bill was a “major victory” for Republicans. Whether the measure, yet to face the Senate, is a victory for the people is dubious at best. The Affordable…
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One of the little known perks of being appointed to head one of the major departments of the U.S. government is that you can have your official portrait painted to become an immortal part of the government’s growing collection of artwork. James Varney of RealClearInvestigations reports on the downside for U.S. taxpayers of that…
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The U.S. territory of Puerto Rico is the oldest colony in the world. Part of the United States since 1898, the Caribbean island with a predominantly Spanish-speaking population of over 3.7 million has often been promoted as a candidate to become the nation’s 51st state. But May 3, 2017 marked the beginning of a…
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Randal Mills is stepping down as president of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, but that’s not the news. The $3 billion state stem-cell agency is running out of money and according to David Jensen of the California Stem Cell Report, founder Robert Klein “is talking about asking California voters for another $5 billion.”…
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The filing deadline has passed so taxpayers might take inventory of what government is doing with their money. By the April 28 order of U.S. District judge Jon Tigar, taxpayers will be paying for undergarments known as binders or compression tops that flatten the chest of transgender inmates at women’s prisons. Such inmates at…
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