What To Read About Socialism: A Critical Bibliography
Tuesday February 18, 2020 | Williamson M. Evers

A college-level bibliography on socialism is a vital necessity. I have worked with campus classical-liberal, conservative and libertarian groups for decades, most recently serving as the faculty advisor for Stanford College Republicans. This reading list for college students is highly relevant in light of the presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders, the turmoil in socialist Venezuela, and opinion polls showing young people’s growing interest in the topic of socialism. (more…)

Harriet Breathes Life into Call for Liberty
Monday February 17, 2020 | Samuel R. Staley

One of the most overlooked movies of 2019 may have been Harriet, the historical drama about American fugitive slave Harriet Tubman. The movie breathes long overdue life into Tubman’s heroic efforts to rescue her family and others from slavery. Indeed, she may be one of the most underappreciated heroines of American liberty. (more…)

Venezuela’s Fictional President May Still Offer Hope
Monday February 17, 2020 | Alvaro Vargas Llosa

Juan Guaidó, recognized as Venezuela’s legitimate president by more than 50 countries, was brutally returned to reality after a fairy-tale tour of Latin America, Europe and the United States, when hundreds of thugs in the service of his country’s dictatorship welcomed him back at the airport in Caracas by kicking him, punching him and tearing into his clothes. And that is, in a nutshell, his own and Venezuela’s truth. (more…)

SF Official Arrested for Graft Should Have Been Axed Years Ago
Wednesday February 12, 2020 | K. Lloyd Billingsley

Last month, when the FBI arrested San Francisco Department of Public Works boss Mohammed Nuru, many Bay Area residents breathed a sigh of relief. As Susan Dyer Reynolds noted in Marina Times, Nuru’s ascent started in 1991 when he became second in command at the San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners (SLUG), a nonprofit managing community gardens. Nuru came to the attention of then–California Assemblyman Willie Brown and worked for Brown’s mayoral campaign and his reelection campaign in 1999. In 2000 Brown hired Nuru as DPW deputy director of operations and “soon staff complaints rolled in about Nuru flaunting city rules and misusing public funds.” (more…)

FDA Expands Ecstasy Access to Veterans with PTSD
Wednesday February 12, 2020 | Raymond J. March

In 2006, Johnathan Lubecky was deployed to Iraq. While fighting for his country, Johnathan faced constant enemy strikes, one of which resulted in a traumatic brain injury. Exposures to the horrors of war resulted in Johnathan developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). (more…)

Trump’s Budget Proposal Stakes Unique Position for 2020 Election
Tuesday February 11, 2020 | Craig Eyermann

President Trump has released his budget proposal for the 2021 fiscal year. The first thing to say about it is this: Having just been acquitted in the U.S. Senate impeachment trial on a strict party-line vote in an election year, the president has zero chance of his budget proposal becoming law. In the current political environment, the proposal must, therefore, be treated more like a political position statement for the upcoming presidential election. (more…)

A Proposed California Constitutional Amendment to Resolve the Housing Affordability Crisis
Monday February 10, 2020 | Lawrence J. McQuillan

A Proposed California Constitutional Amendment to Resolve the Housing Affordability Crisis The People of the State of California hereby find and declare the following:

(a) Whereas, Californians are suffering from an unprecedented housing affordability crisis caused by state and local government regulations, fees, mandates, and prohibitions that have overly restricted housing supplies and increased prices to record levels; and

(b) Whereas, California needs about 4 million additional housing units merely to stabilize prices given current conditions; and

(c) Whereas, California issued about 80,000 residential building permits annually during the past 10 years; and

(d) Whereas, 50 years to stabilize housing prices is too long, and by then, California will likely need millions more housing units; therefore, be it Resolved that the People of the State of California hereby create the following constitutional right to build residential housing, known and cited as the “Affordable Housing Amendment,” to address the housing affordability crisis: (more…)