Since The Beautiful Wife and I have been to 89 countries and all seven continents, we get asked two questions – where won’t you go and where would you go again. I tell people I will not go to any country where I can get kidnapped. One key place I want to go again and is under discussion for 2027 is Amsterdam. After recent actions we have to seriously consider that decision. Amsterdam can be a pretty wild city on any occasion. Our first visit coincided with Orange Day. It is a national holiday on April 27th known as King’s Day, but it is particularly celebrated in the capital of the country. It is a wild day of partying. The celebration is typical of a city that has a famous Red Light District offering legal prostitution and drugs. These activities are counterbalanced by the Van Gogh Museum and Anne Frank Guided Walking Tour through the Jewish Quarter. The Muslim population centered in the largest cities in Holland has been there in growing numbers since the 1960’s. They now constitute an estimated 5% of the population. There has been a growing revolt by the Dutch against strict observance of Islam exemplified in 2019 where face coverings… Read More

California politicians have a new excuse for wildfires: “Climate change.”

One can bet that following every major wildfire in California in the year ahead, some politician will invoke this new universal explanation for destructive wildfires, including those whose destruction could have been prevented or mitigated.

In reality, it is the failure of federal, state, and local governments that are directly contributing to elevated wildfire risk in many California communities, threatening homes, lives, and property, and causing insurance companies to stop writing policies in the state.

In my community, government is a major contributor to wildfire risk. It increases the likelihood of catastrophic wildfires in three ways.

First is by allowing an unacceptable buildup of fuel to accumulate on our public lands. Politicians love to send out press releases taking credit for “protecting” land by having the government acquire it, only to dedicate inadequate resources to maintaining that land. The result is continuous buildup of fuel awaiting the right conditions to spread fire into surrounding communities. For example, in 2020,… Read More

By now I am sure you are familiar with DOGE – The Department of Government Efficiency – established by President Trump and run by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. The idea is to strip down our bloated federal government. They announced the first proposed policy in the Wall Street Journal, and it is exciting. It states that if you want to work for us, the American people, you must return to your office. I could not be happier. I have been skeptical about all this work-from-home done by employees. There are so many distractions at home and so many ways to avoid doing work that I believe it is difficult for most people to stay focused as they would in an office. Additionally, there is a lack of comradery and common purpose co-workers share. I have had discussions with many businesspeople about how telecommuting works for them. Some attorneys have told me they have seen no loss of productivity among their staff. They have defined cases and deadlines. They should be able to tell if someone is backsliding fairly easily or is being distracted in their home work environment. I have one client who has a technology-based company with around 50… Read More

When you are in business it is particularly important to try innovations for enhancing your success. Some of those innovations work but some do not. Some that work do so for a time and then stop working. As a business operator it is important to recognize when to terminate your project and move on. However, the government doesn’t often know when to move on from a promising idea. Diamond lanes have outlived their benefit and should be retired. The first diamond lane (actually known as “high-occupancy lane” or “HOV”) was introduced in 1976. It was on the Santa Monica (I-10) freeway in California. The lane was dedicated to buses and cars with three or more passengers. There are now HOV lanes in 20 states covering thousands of miles of highways. They operate under different rules depending on the state. One of the annoying rules in California is you can only merge into the lane at specific points that often don’t make sense. That causes many people to merge in and out against the rules, breaking a law that is never enforced. Why is it time to ditch them? The simple answer is they don’t work. It is rare when you see the… Read More

Taking a page from the successful “Contract with America” thirty years ago, today I’m unveiling our Contract to Reform California — a 10-point agenda that offers bold proposals to fix the state’s pressing problems.

The Contract with America was a plan advanced by Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and House Republicans in the 1994 midterm election, which promised specific legislation on government reform and gave Republicans control of the House for the first time in 40 years. In California, Republicans have been in the minority in the Legislature for nearly 30 years — and are in a similar position to offer voters a change in the state.

And the 2024 election shows California voters are hungry for change, but to satisfy that demand, California Republicans must get their act together ASAP and become a real and functioning opposition party. Our first priority must be to unite under a single… Read More

There is certainly a broad reaction to the election of Donald Trump since November 5th. There is a radiating joy that continues unabated but in a subliminal manner by his supporters and an unhinged, irrational, self-harming response from those who refuse to accept the reality they lost, and the others will be in charge for the next four years. Let us focus on two aspects of the aftermath – the Democrats’ maneuvers and the Trump cabinet choices. Elected leaders in the premier left of center states have had a fairly universal response. They are going to fight the Trump Administration by making new policies in their own legislature and challenging the new Administration in the courts. This on its face is a civil and legal manner very much in accordance with our federalized system of government. The question is whether that is a wise path. The victory of the Republicans was deep and wide. Though not every U.S. Senate candidate prevailed in states Trump won, the vote for Trump in each of these deep red states swung dramatically toward the Republicans. Instead of recognizing the depth and breadth of that movement, these elected leaders have decided to… Read More

Some people go to work for the federal government to represent their country with the idea they are going to help their government provide the services that citizens are paying to obtain. Mark Moyar was one of those people. He is a highly qualified individual brought in during the first Trump Administration. He soon found out there is a deep state, and it attempted to destroy his career and livelihood. He chronicles that in a riveting book, Masters of Corruption. I received his book right before election day and started to read it, thinking it would be meaningful. His book became an important guide with Trump’s victory for making sure career bureaucrats do not crush the efforts of the political appointees in the second Trump Administration. Moyar is someone you would think would be on the road to a roaringly successful life based on his resume. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from Harvard with a degree in history. By the age of 26 he had published his first history book which was on Viet Nam. He then headed to obtain his Ph.D. in history from Cambridge with his young wife and first child by his side. He returned to the U.S after receiving his… Read More

“There is nothing new under the sun” goes the old saying, and the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) is no exception. While I love the idea, and applaud the effort, a warning is in order. The bureaucracy will do everything they can to destroy the effort, and they are a formidable opponent.

Governor Schwarzenegger, in 2004, had the same idea. He called it the “California Performance Review” and his idea was to “streamline government,” and it generated a 2500 page document with suggested California government reforms. He promised to make full use of the report in overhauling California government. The California Performance Review died a quiet death less than a year after its drafting, and we never heard of it again.

I have one story to tell about how the project was co-opted by the bureaucrats and killed. I helped a friend who worked for state government get on one of the panels formed to study ways to reform government to make it more efficient. That person’s job was to cut down the costs of maintaining state buildings, and they were a big proponent of privatizing janitorial services.… Read More