California’s Troubled Community-College System Just Got Worse
California’s Troubled Community-College System Just Got Worse
The new chancellor is sure to exacerbate the problems in a network already roiled by progressive administrators. In February, when she was tapped to run California’s troubled community-college system, Sonya Christian had cheerleaders, foremost among them Governor Gavin Newsom. “Dr. Christian is one of our nation’s most dynamic college leaders, with a demonstrated record of collaboration...
By Will Swaim
The Newsom-DeSantis debate was over before it started
The Newsom-DeSantis debate was over before it started
The Thursday night debate between California Governor Gavin Newsom and Florida’s Ron DeSantis was over before the Klieg lights went up. The facts of California’s decline are evident to everyone but the most disingenuous. As the old saying goes, “Facts is facts,” and on the facts, DeSantis had the debate won by Wednesday. All that...
By Will Swaim
In public schools we trust?
In public schools we trust?
For fans of dark comedy, California politics is as good as any entertainment – shot through with grim irony, corrupt politicians, and laughable hypocrisy. Consider Attorney General Rob Bonta’s legal campaign to crush the practice of seven school districts to notify parents before gender-transitioning their children. Parent notification, as it’s called, “places transgender and gender...
By Will Swaim
Why One Lawyer Worries California’s Student-Gender Policies Create a Dangerous Environment of Secrecy
Why One Lawyer Worries California’s Student-Gender Policies Create a Dangerous Environment of Secrecy
‘You need a policy where children aren’t told to keep secrets from their parents or other caregivers,’ he says. Since late July, six California school districts have adopted a transparency policy that has state officials wigging out. On its face, the parent-notification push at the local level would seem unnecessary, embedded as it is in state...
By Will Swaim
California Pols Lose Touch with Reality over Affirmative-Action Ruling
California Pols Lose Touch with Reality over Affirmative-Action Ruling
In doing so, they ignore the real scandal in the state’s education system. * * * Among the weirdest reactions to the Supreme Court’s June 29 decisions on affirmative action, those megaphoned by California’s political class may be the most unhinged. Here’s the reality: California voters banned race-based admissions in 1996. But in the decades...
By Will Swaim
AB 421: SEIU’s Bid to Gut California’s 112-year-old Referendum and Initiative Laws
AB 421: SEIU’s Bid to Gut California’s 112-year-old Referendum and Initiative Laws
In the devil’s workshop we call the state legislature, government union leaders are hard at work — destroying another of California’s democratic institutions. Fresh off the shutdown of Los Angeles Unified schools and the overthrow of their own elected president — and facing steep declines in membership and revenue — Service Employees International Union (SEIU) activists are...
By Will Swaim
Huntington Beach’s Lawsuit Challenges Newsom’s Housing Mandates
Huntington Beach’s Lawsuit Challenges Newsom’s Housing Mandates
We’ve seen Gov. Gavin Newsom impose questionable — even dangerous and illegal — policies by declaring states of emergency or merely “crisis” with regard to Covid, climate and energy. He’s done it again on the issue of housing. The problems of housing affordability and homelessness constitute a crisis so compelling, the governor says, that they...
By Will Swaim
Factchecking the Factcheckers
Factchecking the Factcheckers
Among the most diabolical innovations of late-twentieth century newspapering was the so-called “factcheck.” The flagship of these projects, Politifact, goes to war against falsehood under a simple banner: “Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy.” Factchecking pretends that reporters are godlike – objective, neutral, free...
By Will Swaim
National Review’s Radio Free California Podcast Episode 211: Rollin’ on Dubs
National Review’s Radio Free California Podcast Episode 211: Rollin’ on Dubs
San Francisco parents run over three school-board members in a stunning recall vote. Common sense scores a huge win over Covid-19 panic at the Super Bowl in Los Angeles, and West Coast rap and hip-hop shine at halftime. Also: California and bovine flatus. Music by Metalachi. Listen to the new episode: HERE
By Will Swaim
National Review’s Radio Free California Podcast Episode 209: High-Powered Hypocrisy
National Review’s Radio Free California Podcast Episode 209: High-Powered Hypocrisy
Governor Gavin Newsom unmasked at the NFL Championship. Former California AG Xavier Becerra will take the fall for Biden’s ham-fisted Covid response. Why the state takeover of California health care died a quiet death in the Assembly. Sacramento moves ahead on a plan to manage the fast-food biz. The relationship between postmodern philosophy, identity politics,...
By Will Swaim
National Review’s Radio Free California Podcast Episode 208: Intel Outside
National Review’s Radio Free California Podcast Episode 208: Intel Outside
California-based Intel’s back-and-forth on China’s human-rights issues is largely overshadowed by its decision to build in Ohio what may be the world’s largest chip manufacturing facility. Kamala Harris gets the all-important lead-pipe portfolio, even as Joe Biden assures America that she’ll be his 2024 running mate. Never mind the parents, state senator Scott Wiener wants...
By Will Swaim
National Review’s Radio Free California Podcast Episode 207: The Great Train Robberies
National Review’s Radio Free California Podcast Episode 207: The Great Train Robberies
Biden transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg visits SoCal ports, decries infrastructure “disinvestment,” and leaves town as news breaks that gangs are ransacking rail shipments in Los Angeles. Gavin Newsom and Ron DeSantis fire cross-continent warning shots in the runup to 2024. The California Exodus is so intense that it broke U-Haul. California columnist Joe Mathews’s modest...
By Will Swaim
National Review’s Radio Free California Podcast Episode 206: California Lawmakers Propose State Takeover of Health Care
National Review’s Radio Free California Podcast Episode 206: California Lawmakers Propose State Takeover of Health Care
Assembly Bill 1400 would double California taxes and transform doctors into virtual state employees. Gavin Newsom’s new budget aims to signal his “global leadership” on global-climate issues but reveals instead his documented failures to achieve more modest goals at home. The remarkable, 21-year run of California’s standout auditor ends with a crucial fight over her...
By Will Swaim
National Review’s Radio Free California Podcast Episode 205: Under False Flags
National Review’s Radio Free California Podcast Episode 205: Under False Flags
Newsom & Co. want to kill the state’s referendum and initiative process, declaring it a danger to democracy. Lorena Gonzalez resigns from the Assembly to take a job with the California Labor Federation. LA Unified imposes mandatory Covid testing on half a million kids. A judge stops the San Diego Unified School District’s vaccine mandate...
By Will Swaim