This is how censorship begins
In this last election season, it was impossible not to notice how the local Left was trying to move the goalposts regarding acceptable political speech—at least for their opponents. While local progressive arguably indulged in race-baiting and homophobic rhetoric themselves, they contorted language and logic to claim, absurdly, that fair-minded critiques of far-left policies from centrists were beyond the Pale. Daniel Henninger at the Wall Street Journal unpacks the phenomenon of creeping censorship from the Left.
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☆ Halliday’s perspective: Historical literacy necessary for school district-level improvements
With 44.4% of the votes, Elisabeth Halliday was recently elected as a member of the Campbell Union High School District board (Area 2). Here, she sits down with Opp Now for an exclusive look at her Hopes & Fears moving forward — in particular, why ignorance of the past endangers local school boards. If “those who control the past control the future,” those who know the past can advocate for positive change.
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Reminder for Newsom: Modern CA lifestyles depend on crude oil
As Newsom ambitiously envisions Life Without Petroleum for California, America Out Loud’s Tom Harris offers a reminder: Crude oil derivatives, to be banned as non-renewable energy sources, are needed to create thousands of products CA’ns utilize in everyday living. Ban petroleum? Watch for shortages, inflated prices, and disastrously altered—much less modern—lifestyles.
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☆ Perspective: College degrees over-valued in local hiring market
A recent Campus Reform video chronicles how myriad prominent companies are no longer requiring the “golden ticket” of a four-year university degree. CA School Choice Foundation president Michael Alexander discusses the dangerous implications of employers over-prioritizing college education in applicants, especially as a proxy for actual skills. An Opp Now exclusive.
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(Crude) oil and water: Analyzing CA’s self-imposed “products crisis”
In America Out Loud, policy advisor Tom Harris breaks down California’s “hydrocarbon elephant in the room” — the inescapable fact that renewable power can’t replace crude oil. While “green” energy sources create intermittent electricity, there are still 6,000 everyday products that require crude oil for manufacturing.
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☆ SJ Libertarian leader “cautiously optimistic” for Mahan’s market-oriented model
Sal Robles, membership chair of the Libertarian Party of Santa Clara County, breaks down his Local Gov’t Hopes & Fears in this Opp Now exclusive. Robles emphasizes that SJ should cut unnecessary mandates, taxes, and initiatives to allow local businesses to flourish — and cultivate safety for all residents.
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How SF's Woke Nonsense Housing First protocols subsidize and encourage substance abuse
While the Fair Housing Act forbids rewarding housing based on race, HUD in 2020 encouraged cities to change their scoring systems to “dismantle embedded racism,” which, they said, can lead to disparate impacts based on race. Judge Glock surveys the disastrous results for our northern neighbor in City Journal.
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☆ Smith: Council appointment process stifles diversity, embraces bureaucratic groupthink
Disenfranchisement. Voter suppression. Lack of transparency. Backroom deals. The list of concerns about SJ Council’s wrongheaded moves to deny District 8 and 10 citizens the right to vote continues to grow. Irene Smith, head of Bay Area Housing Network—SJ adds a new critique: The appointment process aims to erase the city’s much-vaunted diversity. From an exclusive phone chat with Opp Now’s Christopher Escher.
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A call for a more decentralized city government
The snatching of citizen voting rights by SJ City Council has some people wondering if our deeply centralized, bureaucratic model of city governance has gone too far. Irene Smith, former candidate for D3 (and critic of the council appointment process, see here) laid out a new way of looking at municipal governance that focused on a more bottoms-up, "deconcentrated" approach, excerpted below.
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Budget cuts disrupt CA’s zero-tailpipe dream, state may issue bonds
Charging stations and electric car rebates were supposed make the 2035 plug-in mandate easier on working-class Californians. But now these programs are running on fumes. Voters, after all, didn’t want to raise income taxes to pay for electrification. To keep the dream alive, Newsom hopes to juice the state with federal money, and may ask the legislature for a bond issue. CalMatters explores.
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☆ 7 reasons SJ's council appointment process crashed
Bad ideas often reveal themselves in time—and so it is with SJ City Council's rushed decision on 12.5.22 to appoint CM's to open seats, bypassing historic precedent and citizen rights for a district vote. In the six weeks since council's poorly-crafted resolution was passed, what looked like a dubious idea has turned into a train wreck, as promises of transparency and competence have gone off the rails. The Opp Now team surveys the wreckage and the unsound nature of the appointment undertaking. An Opp Now exclusive.
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Analysis: Why Asian-American voters are abandoning progressive Dems
The surprise election of Bien Doan in SJ’s District 7 highlights a significant national trend: Asian American voters are increasingly rejecting the extremist Woke policies embodied in the progressive wing of the local Democratic Party for more common sense politics. Kenny Xu examines what’s behind this development in the National Review.
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