Criminal Justice

U.S. Violent Crime Rate Down 5%, Showing President Trump’s Combination Of Law And Order And Criminal Justice Reform Go Together, Making America Safer

The FBI released its annual crime report a few days ago, showing the violent crime rate has dropped 4.6% since President Trump took office. Had the violent crime rate in 2018 remained at 2016 levels, almost 58,000 additional murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults would have occurred. The major property crime rate has also continued its steady...

October 10, 2019

Energy & Environment

The Lights Are Out in California, And That Was the Plan All Along

The power is out in Northern California. More than 1 million Californians are now without electricity, one of modern life’s essentials that is frequently taken for granted. The blackout was done on purpose—to prevent sparks from powerlines that could ignite deadly wildfires. Before planned blackouts are through in two or three days, as many as...

October 9, 2019

Energy & Environment

California’s Next Offshore Oil Spill Will Be Caused, Ironically, By The State’s War On Oil

California’s elected officials’ oil policy can be summed up as: leave it in the ground or under the ocean, and, if it must come into the state, don’t use pipeline or rail. The result of this policy is predictable—an increasing number of crude oil tankers are making their way to California from overseas to meet...

October 7, 2019

Taxes & Spending

Carl Icahn is leaving New York for Florida. (At age 83!) Why now? Here’s my theory

Carl Icahn, one of America’s most well-known investors, has summoned the movers, joining what, in an average year, adds up to almost a half-million New Yorkers looking for a better place to live. As with the largest share of former Empire Staters, Icahn is moving to Florida, a state with no personal income tax. Icahn...

October 5, 2019

Economy

74 Percent Of Conservative Californians Are Looking Into Leaving The State

More than half of California voters have thought about moving out of state, according to a new poll from the Institute of Governmental Studies at U.C. Berkeley. A full 74 percent of the state’s very conservative voters say they’re looking into moving, and 84 percent of those cite California’s political culture as their rationale for leaving. Unsurprisingly,...

October 2, 2019

Economy

An Obama Judge Just Threw Out New York’s Lawsuit Against The Trump Tax Cut

A U.S. district judge today dismissed a lawsuit brought by Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey and New York against the big tax cut signed into law by President Trump in December 2017. Judge J. Paul Oetken has been a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York since President Obama appointed him in 2011. The case, State...

October 1, 2019

Economy

Texas Blue Or Red? A Certain Demographic Tide? Or Just The Hard Work Of Organizing And Elections?

Demographics is political destiny. Or, at least that’s what they want you to believe. The fact is that in politics, just as in events that are eventually chronicled as a nation’s history, nothing is certain; individuals have a role to play as do other, larger factors, such as the economy and international affairs. One reason...

September 24, 2019

Economy

If Texas Turns Blue, Trump Loses — Which Explains The Persistence Of This False Narrative

A new cottage industry has sprung up among political punditry. In dozens of articles, analysis pieces and opinion columns, the new conventional wisdom is that urbanization, an influx of blue staters attracted to jobs and a low cost of living, along with international immigration are combining to inexorably turn Texas blue. The blue Texas theme...

September 23, 2019

Economy

Continued Strong Job Growth In Low-Tax States Since The Trump Tax Cut

Job growth in the 27 states with low state and local taxes continues to double the pace of employment gains compared to their high-tax peers. From December 2017, the month President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act into law, through August 2019, the 27 states with the lowest taxes on individuals generated 3.77%...

September 20, 2019

Economy

Tariffs On Goods From China Not Yet Showing Up In Inflation – But Higher Labor Costs Are

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics issued its Consumer Price Index update for August, showing prices rose 0.1% in August with prices up 1.7% from a year earlier before seasonal adjustment. This was a slowing of the pace of inflation from July when prices climbed 0.3%. Of note, given the highly publicized fears that U.S. tariffs on...

September 13, 2019

Local Government

California’s Homeless Problem Moves Out of the Shadows and Into the Realm of Public Health

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), California had about 130,000 people without a home in 2018. Oddly, Gavin Newsom, California’s governor and former San Francisco Mayor, laid the homeless problem squarely at the feet of… Texas. PolitiFact rated Gov. Newsom’s claim as “Pants on Fire” and “ridiculous.” So, what is the nature of...

September 13, 2019

Economy

Poverty And Affordable Housing – California’s New Rent Control Law Will Make Things Worse

The U.S. Census Bureau issued its annual reports on poverty in America on Sept. 10. Once again, California had the nation’s highest poverty rate, 18.2% over the last three years surveyed, using a measure of poverty that accounts for regional cost differences and a larger array of government welfare and expenses. California’s Supplemental Poverty rate was proportionately...

September 13, 2019