The Democrats in Sacramento push a prodigious amount of freedom restricting legislation. But last week, we saw something special even for them: a single bill unabashedly aimed at both your First and Second Amendment rights. It was a liberty restricting “two-fer,” a shameless double-barreled attack on the Bill of Rights.

The bill, AB 1527, bans the open carrying of unloaded rifles and shotguns on public streets in an incorporated city. It followed up a similar bill last year which outlawed the open carrying of unloaded handguns. As such, it is, like that earlier bill, an undisguised abridgment of the Second Amendment.

According to testimony in support of the bill before the Assembly Appropriations Committee, this new legislation is needed to close a “loophole” in the prior law. Said a lobbyist testifying in support of the bill, because the prior ban applied only to handguns, some citizens are now carrying rifles instead, daring the police to arrest them, and saying “neener neener” to the cops. That’s right, an adult, testifying before a Legislative committee, actually supported his testimony with the playground taunt “neener neener.” You can’t… Read More

This video of solemn, disgruntled, baffled, clueless NEW YORK TIMES writers — bitching about losing their coveted guaranteed defined benefit (DB) pension plan — looks like something the ONION would have produced — only the NY TIMES version is funnier. It’s worth a viewing.

“I’ll be eating cat food”? Living in “cardboard boxes”??

The video was made by writers/luminaries at the newspaper and intended as an internal video for fellow “Guild members.” At the NY TIMES, one joins a “guild,” not a labor union.

CAUTION: Don’t eat less than 60 minutes before watching. You’ve been warned!

It’s really hard for those of us who live outside the liberal bubble to realize how TOTALLY out of touch progressives are with fiscal reality. It seems like all those interviewed in this video live together in a hermetically sealed room, feeding off each others’ thoughts and opinions.

Everyone who still looks to the NY TIMES as a source of news needs to understand who is WRITING that news. And it shows — both in the paper’s bias and the plummeting readership.… Read More

For me, the “wedge issue” that could reverse the dreary GOP appeal to minorities is school choice. It’s something I’ve championed for decades.

No single measure could better help minorities than offering everyone options to seek better educational choices for their kids. Democrat minorities understand and appreciate this option better than white suburban Republicans, but everyone would benefit — except, of course, the labor unions.

But what has been missed in CA is that school choice IS happening in a number of other states. In the Golden State, it’s like we’ve given up our kids’ future for the benefit of CTA and the other education labor unions. It’s a concession that needs to change. The Democratic Party has chained itself to the unions — the GOP should commit itself to the parents, the kids and the taxpayers.

Here’s an excellent summary of a recent WSJ article on Louisiana’s remarkable education reforms — including though not limited to widespread school choice. It’s improving education options at both private AND public schools. And even a… Read More

City elections in San Diego are regulated by the San Diego Ethics Commission. Considered an unnecessarily aggressive local agency by most election lawyers, the Ethics Commission heavily regulates politics in the City. San Diego has added additional rules to the statewide requirements under the Fair Political Practices Commission, which are enforced by the Ethics Commission, and both agencies usually end up having simultaneous jurisdiction over election campaign issues there, sometimes causing legal fees to skyrocket. Unique to San Diego and in addition to the state election requirements of disclosure of contributions and expenditures, and criminal rules administered by the District Attorney and Attorney General, are rules that regulate the use of personal funds, imposition of personal responsibility for campaign debt, limit campaign contributions to just $500, outlaw contributions from “business entities”, allow the Commission to conduct its own “audits,” and regulates all independent expenditures of $1,000 or more. The San Diego law is so oppressive of expressive rights protected by the First Amendment that some of the provisions of the law have… Read More

We will all miss Andrew Breitbart.

… Read More

There’s a very important day this week — a day even more significant than when your taxes are due. In the state of California, Tax Freedom Day finally arrives on April 20.

Calculated annually by the Tax Foundation, Tax Freedom Day is the day on which the average Californian has finished earning enough money to pay all of his or her federal, state and local taxes this year.

So, congratulations. Just a mere 110 days into the year (not counting Feb. 29), you can finally start working for yourself instead of the government.

But before you break out the champagne, note the following:

Tax Freedom Day is four days later than last year. It would have been even later had the Governor and Legislature succeeded in their efforts to raise car taxes, income taxes and sales taxes. Californians must work longer for the government than residents of other states. The average American achieves tax freedom three days earlier than the average Californian. That’s one reason many workers leave our state as soon as they retire. If taxes were raised high enough to pay for all government spending, California’s Tax Freedom Day … Read More

Florida Congressman Allen West has taken a lot of heat for suggesting that members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus are “members of the Communist Party.” Well there are Members, and there are members. With help from Arie Dana, we thought we should look at the California congressional delegation to see how many Marxists populate the “Progressive Caucus”.

In 1952, Whittaker Chambers explained to the world in “Witness,” that there is a type of fellow traveller, “so far within the fold that his not being a Communist would be a mistake on both sides.”

For decades, Progressives in Congress have made it all but impossible for Americans to avoid making that mistake. Let’s take a look at California’s own traveling band.

In 1983, when the U.S. Invaded Grenada, one of their government documents the Americans seized detailed an unusual government meeting: “Barbara Lee is here presently and has brought with her a report on the international airport done by [Congressman] Ron Dellums. They have requested that we look at the document and suggest any changes… Read More

Today is the deadline for Americans to file their taxes. A day that is no doubt full of anxiety and trepidation for all too many families and businesses.

Do you know how much money you owe? What income bracket you are in? What percentage of your income goes to the government each paycheck? Which tax credits and deductions you are eligible to claim? Is your family or business able to manage the overwhelming process of filing without the help of an outside source? 1099, W2, 1040, W4, 3903, 2106—the forms can seem endless.

Each year, families and businesses across the country forge through mountains of forms and receipts, attempting to properly navigate their tax returns. “Tax Day” is the day where we are all made keenly aware of how complicated and broken our tax system is.

At over 72,500 pages, our tax code has become a broken maze of complexity, bureaucracy and political favoritism, and it has to be fixed. We need a tax code that is simple and… Read More