Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury: Galileo before the Holy Office. Image in Public Domain Magistrate Judge Christopher Baker’s new 44-page report advises that CA Community Colleges and Kern Community College District (both of which face a lawsuit from Bakersfield prof Daymon Johnson) stop requiring faculty to submit to DEI ideology. Judge Baker explains that mandating DEI/anti-racist “proficiency” really…

by Josue Torres (NewsBreak) Photo by Jose Rago on Unsplash In a new move impacting tens of thousands of Californians, a prominent insurance provider associated with Farmers Insurance Group, the second-largest property and casualty insurer in California, has decided to relinquish its Certificate of Authority. This decision, as seen in a recent filing with the California Department of Insurance,…

Image by The Free Press on X This week, Stanford junior and Free Press intern Julia Steinberg testified before Congress about rising antisemitism on college campuses. Her verdict? The hate didn’t magically materialize on October 7th. Steinberg traces rampant anti-Israeli discrimination to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion ideologies that “pit groups of students against each other.”…

Image by Charles W. Bailey Jr A recent Merc article observes that some developers are invoking the “builder’s remedy” to downsize or downzone SJ projects, while the provision was intended to encourage and expand affordable housing options in NIMBY jurisdictions. Yet, YIMBY Law’s executive director Sonja Trauss is all in favor of (what she frames…

Image in Public Domain University leadership that celebrates free speech selectively—i.e., for students chanting for Hamas to “smash” Israel, but not for scientists disproving school lockdowns or judges speaking at club meetings—is either part of the Woke mob or afraid of it, says the Wall Street Journal’s Ruth Marcus. Marcus recalls Stanford’s ousting of president…

Bartolomeo Manfredi: Midas Washing at the Source of the Pactolus. Image by Regan Vercrysse In a Reform California webinar, chairman Carl DeMaio breaks down the five key tenets of proposed Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act (starting with requiring voter approval of all State tax increases). San Jose CM Doan is the City’s lone supporter…

Georgia O’Keeffe: Sun Water Maine, 1922. Like SJ’s system that reroutes street water into the SF Bay, LA’s urban runoff heads straight to its county beaches. Currently, many of these beaches are warning residents to avoid the water at all costs, due to high fecal-indicator bacteria (FIB). City Journal connects LA’s surging FIB numbers and…

Carlo Bossoli: Ruins of a Large Genoese Fortress at Sudak, 1856. Image in Public Domain In a hard-hitting Free Press piece, Neighbors Together Oakland’s founder Seneca Scott observes that the Left assumes wealth/race divide people’s perspectives on criminal justice, with only affluent white folks wanting fortified police forces. Instead, says Scott, minority residents in poorer…

Pierre-Auguste Renoir: Houses in a Park, c. 1911. Image in Public Domain For local jurisdictions to reach their Housing Elements’ lofty targets for new affordable housing units, private investors must perceive reduced risk and a higher potential for payoff, says SF real estate firm director K. Cyrus Sanandaji. Sanandaji proposes in the SF Business Times…

Théodore Chassériau: Spectre de Banquo, 1855. Image in Public Domain The Legislature and Gov. Newsom’s panicked attempt to disqualify the Taxpayer Protection Act from 2024’s ballot only adds to Big Gov’t’s pattern of stifling democratic rights/processes, says the OC Register’s Jon Coupal. He goes on to argue that eliminating Prop 13 protections—which ensure that approving…

Two San Jose AI companies—A-CX and InfoObjects—and UC Berkeley finance prof/AI researcher Anastassia Fedyk comment on Mayor Mahan and CM Cohen’s initiative to promote local artificial intelligence innovation. Making AI “approachable,” they explain, involves tapping into population density, university talent, and civic problem-solving. An Opp Now exclusive. Ilpo Niva, A-CX CEO and co-founder: Population density…

Rembrandt, The Return of the Prodigal Son, 1661–1669. Image in public domain. SJ’s City Council bestowed generous increases on the unions representing about half of its employees. Up to $20 million may need to be removed from the 2025/26 budget to bring things into balance. Where should this come from, asks Pat Waite of Citizens…