Category: Opinion

‘Right to Join a Union’ Constitutional Amendment Will Sail Through California Legislature

Last month, California state Senator Tom Umberg (D-Santa Ana) introduced Senate Constitutional Amendment 7 (SCA 7), the Right to Organize and Negotiate Act, which gives all Californians “the right to join a union and to negotiate with their employers,” among other changes. An SCA can be introduced at any time during the legislative session and allows…


Beijing’s Saber-Rattling Masks China’s Big Problems

Commentary Chinese leader Xi Jinping and his fellow communists know how to leverage Chinese xenophobia to distract rising discontent among the Chinese people. With a nod to lucky No. 3 in Chinese numerology, Beijing frequently plays three cards in its geopolitical card game to focus on long-standing foreign adversaries (enemies) to distract the masses from…


CCP Tightens Control Over Chinese Economy

Commentary The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intensifies control over the economy with a new vice premier and new supervisory bodies. Under Xi Jinping, the CCP has continuously tightened its grip on the economy, including finance and banking. Now, newly-appointed Vice Premier He Lifeng and several new party-led bodies will ensure the country’s financial system aligns…


Special Counsel’s Indictment Raises Questions of Election Interference

Commentary Donald Trump is right that the special counsel’s 37-count indictment against him for holding classified documents is federal law enforcement’s latest effort to interfere in a presidential election, as they did in the last two. But there’s something else, too. For the 2016 and 2020 elections, there was alleged evidence of the Democratic Party…


China Has a Serious Youth Unemployment Problem

Commentary For years the world stood in awe at the number of science and engineering degrees earned at Chinese universities. Now it seems China cannot find meaningful work for these graduates. Youth unemployment has gone off the charts. Matters are so severe that it threatens the economy’s growth potential, even the social contract between the…


AI for the Win: A Dissenting Perspective

Commentary The explosive adoption of the AI language model ChatGPT has been accompanied by a proportionate increase in alarmist assessments of the dangers of artificial intelligence. The alarm is sounding across the political spectrum, from the New York Times to Steve Bannon’s War Room, with concerns ranging from widespread job losses, to more effective disinformation…


​​​​Softball and Wildfires

Commentary Both the sport of softball and the devastation of wildfires were prominent in the news last week. The University of Oklahoma Sooners won their third consecutive national title, finishing the season on an astonishing 53-game win streak and with a final record of 61–1. Meanwhile, farther north, air quality was so bad as a…


John Robson: With Johnston Gone, We Need a Real Public Inquiry With Teeth

Commentary So it looks like there’s going to be a public inquiry into Chinese communist meddling in our elections after all. At least Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc is hinting as much. Who saw that one coming? Not David Johnston, evidently. He finally stepped down from his untenable position, which I greet with the same…


Normalizing the Taliban Would Endanger Global Security

Commentary Recognizing the Taliban goes against what the United States should stand for in the 21st century. Recently, a former CIA officer Douglas London wrote in Foreign Policy arguing that the United States should bite the bullet and recognize the Taliban. Reports from intelligence community sources suggest this has been actively discussed on the inside; consequently, London isn’t…


Nuclear Is the Energy Policy Australia Needs for the Productivity Puzzle

Commentary This is not a good time to be treasurer. Productivity in Australia has recorded its largest recorded quarterly drop ever; total GDP growth was positive but anaemic while GDP per capita went backwards, and interest rates, wages, and housing are all simultaneously rising. Not that Treasurer Jim Chalmers bears all the blame. Prime Minister…