☆ How mainstream journalism squandered its authority

If objectivity is a bourgeois notion, if language is just power all the way down, if feeling trump facts--it shouldn't be any surprise that newsrooms on board with these notions simply pump out biased pandering. The Niskansen Institute explores the nexus of bad newspapers and postmodern philosophy. An Opp Now Exclusive.

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christopher escher
In which rejecting far-left shibboleths works

SF's Mayor Lurie scores a big media win on ABC's This Week, as he distances himself from SF's extremist, left-wing past. ABC News summarizes.

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christopher escher
☆ Can't buy me votes

Lance Christensen, Vice President of the CA Policy Center, offers his perspective on the strategic decisions that influenced the arc of Mayor Mahan's gubernatorial run. An exclusive Opp Now Q&A.

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christopher escher
☆ Op-ed: the real cost of California’s mileage-tax “study”

AB 1421 is not a harmless technical exercise. It is an early-stage blueprint for a per-mile tax regime that could materially raise costs for California drivers, without any guarantee of better roads, or improved mobility. So says Los Altos Institution’s policy prodigy Athan Joshi in an Opportunity Now exclusive op-ed.

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Hayek: So-called emergencies are the pretexts by which The State takes away fundamental liberties.

With California gubernatorial candidates waving the Emergency Flag to justify even more overweening state control (lookin' at you Xavier), it's good to remember that Friedrich Hayak, Opp Now's Guiding Light, saw through the gamesmanship nearly a century ago. From the Orange County Register. 

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christopher escher
☆ The doctor is in

This gubernatorial campaign has highlighted a number of whopping contradictions, non sequiturs, and amazing flip-flops from Dem candidates who struggle with the legacy of failure of One-Party rule in CA. We play shrink and unpack the psychological dimensions. An Opp Now exclusive

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The real roots of ambivalence

A helpful lens through which to better understand the roots of indecisiveness comes from a research-based therapy approach called motivational interviewing. This technique has been successfully applied to reduce uncertainty and increase a range of behavioral changes. Dr. Valerie Hoover explains in Psychology Today. 

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christopher escher
You don't need people to agree with you all the time

What is the psychological explanation for a person wanting everyone to agree with them?  Dr. Abbie Maroño, PhD in Psychology & Human Behaviour Analysis unpacks how while it looks like narcissism—it isn’t. Rather, the need for validation, fear of conflict, underlying insecurities interact to dissuade people from taking independent positions. In Forbes magazine.

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christopher escher
Joffe: A health-care union’s ‘one-time fix’ for federal Medicaid cuts could easily become permanent.

Contra Costa County Taxpayers Association takes a look at what the SEIU wants to do with the proceeds from its coercive billionaires' tax proposal. It's not pretty. From National Review.

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christopher escher
Joffe: Contra Costa promoted Measure B with misleading math, federal cuts “less of a problem than we thought”

Contra Costa health director wildly inflated the cost of federal cuts to public health, owing to a math mix up. When CoCo Taxpayers Association corrected the record, Supervisor Candace Andersen turned her vote. Why didn’t the other supervisors? After all, says Marc Joffe, the County already has “plenty of money coming in.” The transcript of the interview with Capstone’s Jared Asch begins at minute 28:31: 

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christopher escher
Contra Costa County residents oppose extending Urban Limit Line

San Jose's Urban Growth Boundary has led to spiraling housing costs and scores of urban ills. In Contra Costa County, taxpayers are fighting the proposal to extend their county's Limit Line (Measure A).

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christopher escher
Wanting it both ways is the first step, not the end of the road

Ron Johnson of Midlands Psychological Associates explores how the contradictory nature of incompatible impulses can kick off an inner voyage of discovery.

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christopher escher