In California and Silicon Valley, local leaders and activists in cities like Oakland push a deceptive decarceration narrative that downplays public safety concerns and puts residents in danger. The book Mass Incarceration Nation by Jeffrey Bellin perpetuates the false notion that America over-incarcerates, but Zack Smith at the Heritage Foundation explains how the book's thesis is flawed and how it ignores the roots and impacts of crime.
As ever with the free market, many Silicon Valley companies are now dropping their DEI depts, initiatives, and language. But education—from Kindergarten to college—is a whole different story. Free speech advocates Kenny Xu and Dr. Tabia Lee analyze in this Opp Now exclusive.
County and SJ City homelessness rates are rising. The majority of our. homeless neighbors are unsheltered. Yet local officials, say SV GOP David Johnson, refuse to respond in a businesslike manner to the scope of the crisis. From svgop.com.
It can be done. Rent prices are falling fast in a number of pro-housing cities in the U.S. Reason magazine explores what they're doing right {Spoiler alert: Deregulating housing market & dramatically upping permitting are key}.
Three California economics professors (with the Hoover Institution and the Mises Institute). Three perspectives on cultivating better economists in the next generation—not students who just regurgitate models and, you know, progressive talking points. An Opp Now exclusive.
They fall into the "sunk cost trap," says leadership consultant Gustavo Razetti. And become entangled in defending, spinning, and desperately holding onto ideas that simply don't work anymore {See Silicon Valley city and county gov'ts denial re: homelessness strategy failure}. Fearless Culture unpacks the psychological dynamics.
Poet Jonathan Krogh, with a soft touch, lays bare the awkward process of coming to realize that he's been mistaken, and has unfairly otherized those who had disagreed with him. From the Pastor's blog, First Presbyterian Church, La Grange, IL, website.
The funny thing about mistakes, suggests Dr. Hashim Al Zain (in his review of Joseph Hallinan's book, Why We Make Mistakes) is that they often look right the first couple of times around. They fit established ways of thinking. The data seems to support them. And hey, everybody agrees with you. It often takes unconventional, counterintuitive perspectives to break through deceptive systems of seeing and interpreting to get to the truth. From Medium.
Councilmembers Mulcahy & Casey, along with Mayor Matt Mahan, have disappointed the local business community by coming out in favor of making it easier to tax already tax-burdened San Joseans. D3 CM-elect Anthony Tordillos appears to be a likely addition to the tax-happy team, at least from his campaign statements (via SJ Spotlight). Also: a primer about regressive taxes for the council newcomer from onemoneyway.com.
