Tag: California

Heres’s a Reminder Why You Shouldn’t Listen Too Closely to What Critics Say

BACK WHEN I TAUGHT college part-time, I told my opinion writing students about the struggle I had with movie and television reviews. I was usually disappointed when I watched something after reading a positive review because it seemed whatever the critic praised was never quite as good as they said it was. Bad reviews just

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Only in California: You’ll Never Guess Who Belongs to a Labor Union Now

I’M NOT SURE ABOUT the rest of the world, but here in the U.S. there has been an ongoing battle over just what an independent contractor is. It’s become a bigger issue over the last few years because of businesses like ride-sharing giant Uber, a company built on the premise that its drivers are simply

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Tom Plate: a great journalist and my good friend. Life will not be the same without him

WE CONNECT WITH MANY people in our journey through life, but the few we truly cherish are the ones who, as the famous quotation noted, understand our past, believe in our future, and accept us just the way we are. There have been a few people like that in my life, but I don’t think

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I Can Thank the U.S. Supreme Court for That Extra $8.37 I’ll Get in My Paycheck

I SUPPOSE I SHOULD offer up a big “thank you” to the United States Supreme Court. That’s because one of their decisions impacts me directly — to the tune of $8.37 per month. In the final decision of their 2017-2018 term, the court ruled “that teachers, police officers and other public employees cannot be forced to

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Another Stupid and Forgettable Trend From California — Splitting It Into 3 States

LOTS OF NEW IDEAS come out of California, and although some are revolutionary and game-changing, a lot of them are just stupid and dumb. This idea easily qualifies as one of the latter. Here it is, as reported by the Los Angeles Times: California’s 168-year run as a single entity, hugging the continent’s edge for

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Retiring in Your 30s? It’s Just Another Bad Idea Coming Out of Silicon Valley

THE GENERAL CONSENSUS has been that it’s hard to find highly skilled job candidates. But what if a number of the best and the brightest decide they just want to stop being the best and brightest and retire while still in their 30s? This is the latest big idea coming out of California’s Silicon Valley, a

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The “Sanctuary State” Pushback Ratchets Up a Notch as Orange County Jumps In

IT TOOK A WHILE, but I finally have some faith in some of our elected officials. I’ve been pretty blunt in my criticism of them, particularly the State Legislature. We send them to Sacramento to solve the many problems the less-than-Golden State is facing, only to find that once they get there they waste time

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One Brave Little California City Doesn’t Want to Live in a “Sanctuary State” Either

IT LOOKS LIKE I’m not the only one who doesn’t want to live in a sanctuary state. Last October, after Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law a bill that designated California as a so-called “sanctuary state,” I wrote a long blog post here — titled Dear California Legislature: What if I Don’t Want to Live in

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Surfing as Our “Official” State Sport: Is That What We Send People to Sacramento For?

HERE’S ALL YOU NEED to know about what’s wrong with California: There are actually state legislators who seems to think that designating surfing as the state “sport” is what voters sent them to Sacramento for. Raise your hand if you wonder, as I do, “Why do we put up with this nonsense from the idiots

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Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and a Promise to Be a Better Blogger in 2018

DEAR PATIENT and loyal readers, I know there aren’t a lot of you out there just yet, but I rejoice in every one of you who is there and for your attention to this humble blog. Although I’m a veteran editor, writer, and media executive who knows how to meet a deadline, my efforts to

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