When weighing one’s exit strategy from California (all sane Californians should be giving this topic some thought), it’s important to pick a state that won’t turn zombie on you after you move there. Plan ahead.

For instance, Nevada has many attractive aspects, but it voted for Hillary in 2016. BOTH of its state legislative houses are now controlled by Democrats (the lower house by a LOT). Only a Republican governor provides some protection against the rising Democrat tide in this state. And how likely is it that the governorship will remain in GOP hands? Avoid any permanent move to Nevada — unless you are quite willing to move again when they institute a state income tax (IF an income tax matters a lot to you).

Here’s a good starting point for weighing the relative sanity and safety of states — use the 2016 presidential vote as a guide. More important than WHO won is how MUCH they won by. The higher the Trump percentage vote, the less likely that the state will later bite you.

Now I say that as a person who didn’t vote for Trump! I voted for Gary Johnson. In California with its standard “all or… Read More

An East Sacramento brewery owner who faced a very public protest of his restaurant after he posted a critique of the women’s march on Facebook, has been forced to closehis business.

Freedom of information,speech and the press is firmly rooted in western democratic thought, and protected by the U.S. Constitution. But in California, apparently that western democratic thought isn ‘t so free anymore.

“I am disgusted at all of the people and politicians that supported this anti-Trump event,” Daniel Murphy posted on his personal Facebook page in January – not on the Facebook page forTwelve Rounds Brewing Company.

“But Murphy’s post about the march was not his only political message,” the Sacramento Bee deviouslyreported. “He has made comments… Read More

Recently my wife went with a friend to a Vegan restaurant. She found it interesting, and enjoyed the experience. She tells me that even the food was good.

But it got me thinking. People value choice in their lives — even progressives. Why doesn’t some liberal group start an explicitly “progressive” restaurant chain — incorporating all the “workers’ paradise” options they so cherish? Given that most people are politically progressive (ask any progressive for verification), it would seem to be a goldmine — let’s ignore the evil of making a profit for the moment.

Liberals would flock to such an establishment. They’d be MORALLY OBLIGATED to do so. The eatery would have a intellectually PC-captive clientele!

The mind reels, thinking of all the progressive policies that could be implemented — that MUST be implemented. Here is only a partial list of the mandatory features of such a culinary establishment — in no particular order:

Writing in 2007, Los Angeles Times editorial writer Robert Greene stated, “The defining issue of the 2003 recall was Gov. Gray Davis’ tripling of the car tax, more officially known as the vehicle license fee. The defining issue of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s successful campaign to unseat Davis was his promised rollback of the said car tax.”

Greene went on to document the relationship of the car tax, the gas tax and the diversion of this revenue from transportation infrastructure to shore up a chronically unbalanced state budget. The contortions and machinations by state officials behind this diversion of funds was difficult to follow. What was not difficult to follow, however, was the public’s disdain for the car tax, a fact to which former Gov. Davis will attest.

The transportation tax package just approved by the California Legislature — greased with ample amounts of pork — is a lot more than just an increase in the car registration tax. It also imposes a 12-cents-per-gallon gas tax, and will cost the average California family of four over $250 annually. If state politicians wanted to inflame California taxpayers, they couldn’t have picked a better… Read More

Democrats just passed the largest gas tax increase in California history. The deal is so bad they needed $1 Billion in payola to buy enough votes to pass it. And shamefully, only 60 percent of the gas tax collected from SB 1, authored by Democrat Senator Jim Beall (D-San Jose), will actually be used for road maintenance and repairs. Environmentalists got plenty of taxpayer-funded payola as well including money for more public transit, and for walking and bicycling projects.

SB 1 does nothing to relieve traffic congestion or expand highway lane capacity. If Democrats and Gov. Jerry Brown are… Read More

In the late 1990’s, a Senator who represented a small portion of Riverside County sold out the taxpayers of California. He received a one time $15 million appropriation for a museum in Riverside County to get his vote on the budget. The taxpayers got stuck with a $20 billion/year increase in spending. That increase led to the collapse of the budget in the early part of the last decade. Some Riverside County elite lauded this Senator. He was, however, as shortsighted as he was irresponsible, and California has paid a price for his shortsightedness for 20 years.

The old joke tells of the guy who approached a woman in a bar, and offered her $100,000.00 to sleep with him. She said ok. He then said how about $10, she responded “what do you think I am?” The man responded, “we have already established what you are, now we’re just negotiating the price.” Of all the things that can be said about Senator Anthony Cannella, as opposed to the colleague with whom I served in the ’90’s, we already know what you are, you just got a higher price. As for Senator Roth and Assemblymember Cervantes, they negotiated like a Hollywood… Read More

Republican lawmakers, it’s your moment to prove your worth to your constituents. Especially since Gov. Jerry Brown told a legislative committee Monday his $52.4 billion gas tax increase needs to be approved immediately – especially because they have “a governor willing to sign it.”

“All the guys running for governor, all want to be president, so they’re not going to want to raise taxes,” Brown said. “You got a guy who’s going nowhere. I have no future. I only have a past.” Another bizarre statement from Jerry Brown…

The latest bill to dramatically increase California gasoline taxes and car registration fees an estimated $52.4 billion over the next decade should be a career-ending crossroad for Democrat Gov. Jerry Brown, who as a gubernatorial candidate promised that he would not raise taxes without a public vote. Ahem.

That’s just Lie #1. There are so many other lies emanating from Brown’s lips.

However, this latest round of tax increases would not be possible without a feckless Republican Party. Rather than being an effective opposition party, California’s Assembly Republican leadership appears to… Read More

I thought a long time before I wrote this. You see, I want Riverside County to be 100% Republican again, and if the Democrats in office in my home county vote for the transportation tax, it will go a long way towards achieving that goal. Western Riverside County voters have bore the brunt of the failed transportation policies began by Jerry Brown in the 1970s, and the tax increase Jerry Brown is requesting now can be traced directly back to the bad decisions he and the Democrats made in those years.

Between 1958 and 1974, the state of California built a transportation system that was the envy of the entire world. In that 16 year period, the thousands of miles of freeway system that is in place now was built. Jerry Brown took office in 1974, and set in motion a set of policies that has destroyed that system, and made California’s freeway system a national joke. Today, it takes 25 years of study to build one mile of freeway. The state of California pays thousands of people to sit around and think about building a freeway, that is, they issue study after study, but they never actually build anything.

In 1990, then Governor Deukmejian cut a deal with the… Read More