Can a Sin Tax on Mindless Media Save Journalism?

When CNN and Twitter Are Polluting Public Discourse, an Economic Incentive Could Stanch the Flow of Misinformation

As long as Silicon Valley and its futuristic technologies dominate our politics, we’re doomed to be stuck in the past.

The big story of the poisonous 2016 elections was how new digital media tools ended up crowding out two big topics from our conversation: the present and the future.

This phenomenon went way beyond the controversy about “fake news” on Facebook; the problem wasn’t just media quality—but excessive quantity. California and the entire country were deluged by digital tidal waves of data and information from months, years, and decades ago.

Many …

What’s Behind California’s Sudden Urge to Help the Homeless?

It’s the Rich, Now Crowded Next to the Destitute in the Housing-Crunched State, Who Are Driving Politicians’ Newfound Attentiveness

How did homelessness suddenly become such a hot issue across California? There are many reasons, and few of them have anything to do with people who are homeless.

Those reasons—economic anxiety, …

The Funniest Part of California’s 1978 Tax Revolt

How Conservative Crusader Howard Jarvis Got His Cameo in the Cult Comedy Airplane!

My guess is that few people in the audience at the Zócalo/KCRW screening of Mayor Eric Garcetti’s favorite movie Airplane! will recognize the man who hails a taxi at LAX …

Why Do Burger King and Walgreens Want to Flee the U.S.?

America’s Outdated, Imperialistic Tax Code Pushes Global Businesses Overseas

The Obama administration is not living up to its promise to move the country away from an arrogant, unilateral approach to the world. And it has not embraced a more …

The President’s Coming to Town on Your Dime

We’re Well-Aware That Obama Brings Terrible Traffic to the Southland, But Do We Know How Much His Visits Cost—and Who Pays For Them?

The typical five-hour flight from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles costs anywhere from $300 to $500. This weekend, President Obama will be making that trip to deliver a commencement speech …

The Angeleno Behind Proposition 13

Thirty-Five Years Ago, Howard Jarvis Changed the Golden State Forever

In the mid-1970s, when I was a law student at Pepperdine and California state chairman of a conservative volunteer group, the Young Americans for Freedom, we began to get visits …