Rights and Liberties

VIDEO: Our self-made immigration mess

We’ve made immigration so difficult, that we’ve created the incentives to break the law. Reason Magazine’s Editor Matt Welch joins CalWatchdog’s James Poulos about some solutions to our state’s illegal immigrant problem.

Are benefits of Prop 1 being oversold?

Chris Reed October 25, 2014

Proposition 1 — a $7.1 billion state bond to pay for a variety of water projects — was billed as a huge improvement over bloated past proposed water bonds when it emerged from the Legislature this summer. Now Gov. Jerry

San Francisco rebuked for ‘fundamental’ abuse of property rights

Chris Reed October 24, 2014

In an era in which eminent domain is routinely used to reward the wealthy and politically connected — to the detriment of poor and middle-class property owners — it’s easy to forget that property rights as conceived of in the

Fiasco at all-minority L.A. high school validates Vergara argument

Chris Reed October 16, 2014

The immense fiasco at 100 percent minority Jefferson High School in Los Angeles underscores the findings of Judge Rolf Treu in the Vergara case that minority students are treated awfully in the L.A. Unified School District. This is from the

Dems make Peters-DeMaio race a referendum on Tea Party

Chris Reed October 15, 2014

The nationally watched race for a swing seat between Rep. Scott Peters, D-San Diego, and former San Diego Councilman Carl DeMaio is currently in a roiled state because of lewd allegations made against DeMaio by a former staffer whom DeMaio

CA bans state cooperation with warrantless spying

John October 8, 2014

From new regulations on ride-sharing to a ban on plastic bags, Californians lost plenty of liberty this legislative session. But freedom in the Golden State scored at least one small victory in 2014. Gov. Jerry Brown recently signed into law a

Noted liberal pundit: CA ‘affirmative consent’ law a ‘radical experiment’

Chris Reed October 8, 2014

The problem of sexual violence and abuse on college campuses is a huge one. But California’s new “affirmative consent law,” which requires college students having sex to obtain “affirmative, conscious, and voluntary agreement … throughout a sexual activity,” is certain

Post-Stockton, Democrat job-retention myth certain to be exposed

Chris Reed October 3, 2014

Both parties have bogus canards that they trot out when convenient. The worst example of this among Republicans is the idea that tax cuts always pay for themselves — that they lead to higher revenue. It could well be true

Gov. Brown rebuilds redevelopment

John September 30, 2014

Reversing his 2011 abolition of redevelopment, on Monday Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law two bills that will revive it, Senate Bill 628 and Assembly Bill 229. He also vetoed a third redevelopment measure, AB2280, he believed went too far by codifying

Apple and Google snub FBI snoops

John Seiler September 29, 2014

In good news for Californians, Silicon Valley companies are getting some backbone in rebuffing government snooping. The Washington Post reports: FBI Director James B. Comey sharply criticized Apple and Google on Thursday for developing forms of smartphone encryption so secure that