In all the excitement over the election last fall, a surging government intrusion failed to get the attention it deserved. In late September, the White House Office of Management and Budget, of all places, proposed a new racial classification: MENA, standing for Middle East and North Africa. It covers the area from Morocco to…
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As we noted, California has made it difficult for veterans to apply their medical skills in civilian life. Like many others, these veterans must contend with the labyrinth of state boards and commissions. According to the state’s Little Hoover Commission, a watchdog agency of sorts, one out of every five Californians must receive permission…
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As this column makes clear, governments at all levels abuse the public, trample human rights, and waste taxpayers’ money on a massive scale. Sometimes government abuses its own and the public at the same time. Witness the recent smackdown on free speech at the California capitol. On February 21, the state Senate held a…
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The U.S. military trains medics and tasks them to attend those shot, bombed or blown up, sometimes including civilian victims. This is about the most rigorous duty any medic could experience but veterans have a hard time applying their skills in civilian life. As Foon Rhee notes in the Sacramento Bee, the California legislature…
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Despite contrary claims by law enforcement, looting did take place during the evacuation of more than 150,000 people in the wake of the spillway failure at the Oroville Dam. As the Los Angeles Times reported, in one case looters blasted the doors of a market with a shotgun and attempted to ransack the business….
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Bridge tolls are high in the Bay Area but rapid transit bosses are worried that they are not quite high enough. As Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross note in the San Francisco Chronicle, a $3.5 billion bond approval has BART bosses panting for another $1.5 billion in toll hikes on the area’s seven state-owned…
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A massive spillway failure at Northern California’s Oroville Dam prompted an evacuation order that sent 200,000 people running for shelter anywhere they could find it. As the Sacramento Bee reported, the dam itself “has not been compromised. But experts say that if the emergency spillway collapses, it wouldn’t be much different than a total…
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Back in 1999, under governor Gray Davis, the State of California boosted pensions and allowed most government employees to retire at the age of 55. This led to a surge of unfunded liabilities, and even Jerry Brown pushed for minor reforms. State employees hired after January 1, 2013, would have to work to…
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In his State of the State address, California governor Jerry Brown went off on President Trump with unusual fury, but he also extended an olive branch of sorts. California has “roads, tunnels and railroads” that the president “could help us with,” Brown said, and that will “create good-paying American jobs.” Before he gets on…
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The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) is in the news again, but this time it’s not slick ad copy masquerading as journalism, with the goal of shaking down taxpayers for more money. This time its Joe Rodota, former cabinet secretary to Gov. Pete Wilson, and Bernard Munos of the Innothink Center for Research…
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