Issues
State Politicians
California's 2026 gubernatorial race is heating up as billionaire Tom Steyer faces scrutiny over his labor record, with new evidence showing his hedge fund invested heavily in private prisons and anti-union companies while he now campaigns as a pro-labor populist. Meanwhile, San Francisco teachers launched what appears to be an unlawful strike this week, walking out without completing required legal procedures in what sources say is coordinated political theater by the California Teachers Association. These developments highlight the massive influence of public sector unions that collect nearly $1 billion annually in dues to control Sacramento politics, even as the state faces an $18 billion deficit despite record revenues.
Wealth & Billionaire Taxes
California's wealth tax debate exploded into the governor's race as billionaire Tom Steyer attacked San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan for having tech support—while Steyer himself has spent $27 million on his campaign. Even Governor Gavin Newsom is now warning that the proposed wealth tax will backfire and drive wealthy taxpayers out of state, breaking with his own party's progressive base as the Bay Area's $154 billion startup ecosystem hangs in the balance.
Budgets & Fiscal Policy
California cities are extracting $300 million annually in fees from affordable housing projects—money that could have funded 1,250 additional homes for low-income families each year, according to a new UC Berkeley study. Meanwhile, San Francisco teachers are striking Monday despite union sources confirming they'll accept the same contract offer after disrupting 30,000 families, and BART is threatening to close ten stations unless voters approve a tax bailout in November rather than address $96 million in overtime abuse. These fiscal crises are hitting simultaneously as California faces an $18 billion deficit despite record revenue, with basic government services held hostage by bureaucratic dysfunction and political theater.
Merit & Excellence
New York City's new mayor is moving to eliminate gifted programs starting in kindergarten while the city's top private schools break the $75,000 tuition barrier—creating a luxury escape hatch that only wealthy families can afford. Meanwhile, NYC kindergarten enrollment has already collapsed 15% since 2019, with parents citing "lack of rigor" as their top reason for leaving public schools. This is the same playbook that destroyed San Francisco's school system, and it's happening right now to hundreds of thousands of working-class kids who can't write a $75,000 check.
State Capacity & Accountability
California cities are extracting $300 million annually in fees from affordable housing projects—money that could have funded 1,250 additional homes for low-income families each year, according to a new UC Berkeley study. Meanwhile, BART is threatening to shut down 10 stations and end service at 9 PM unless voters approve a bailout tax in November, despite spending $96 million on overtime abuse in 2023 alone. These aren't isolated problems—they're symptoms of a government that taxes poverty to fund parks, holds commuters hostage instead of fixing corruption, and burns through record revenues while still running $18 billion deficits.
Housing & YIMBY
California cities are extracting $300 million a year in fees from affordable housing projects—money that could have built 5,000 additional homes for low-income families over just four years, according to a devastating new UC Berkeley study. Meanwhile, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan proved YIMBY policies actually work, going from zero market-rate homes built in 2024 to 2,000+ units breaking ground in 2025 after slashing construction fees and taxes. The contrast is stark: economists have calculated that NIMBY housing constraints cost every American worker $8,775 per year in lost wages, yet some cities are finally choosing abundance over scarcity.
SF Politicians
San Francisco's teacher's union called a strike for Monday that likely violates California labor law, skipping required bargaining steps in what appears to be coordinated political theater with 32 other districts statewide. Meanwhile, a progressive nonprofit championed by supervisors faces fraud charges for stealing $115,000 meant for homeless families, and violent criminals are flooding SF's drug treatment courts to avoid prosecution—exposing how the city's progressive policies are failing on multiple fronts.
This Citizen's Union Is Throwing a Party March 4 in Mountain View, California
Feb 11, 2026
Monday's SF Teacher's Union Strike Is Probably Unlawful
Feb 09, 2026
SFUSD's "Equity" Lottery Backfired Spectacularly
Feb 04, 2026
SF ‘Progressives’ Protect Accused Sex Assaulter — Then Attack Scott Wiener for Saying No
Feb 03, 2026
Homelessness & Drug Crisis
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, who cut his city's homelessness by 25% through a "recovery first" approach, is running for California governor on a platform of competence over politics. Meanwhile, a progressive nonprofit championed by San Francisco Supervisor Dean Preston faces fraud charges for allegedly stealing $115,000 meant for homeless families, highlighting the corruption plaguing California's $24 billion homelessness spending spree that actively bans the drug-free recovery housing that actually works.
Public Safety & Policing
An Atlanta detective solved 35 homicides last year using Flock Safety cameras—7 times what elite detectives typically achieve—while San Francisco faces a lawsuit trying to ban the same technology that caught a hit-and-run driver who injured a local resident. Meanwhile, violent offenders are flooding SF's Drug Court program at unprecedented rates, with defense attorneys moving to divert cases nearly four times more often than in 2023, and the city's worst-performing judges are poised to win reelection unopposed unless qualified challengers file by the February 4 deadline. The contrast highlights a stark choice between cities embracing proven crime-fighting technology and those where legal loopholes and unaccountable judges are undermining public safety.
Atlanta solved 35 Homicides with Flock. A good detective does 5 to 8 in a year. The Math Is Obvious.
Feb 04, 2026
Lawsuit Wants to Ban the Tech That Caught My Wife's Hit-and-Run Driver
Jan 31, 2026
Matt Mahan Just Blew Up the Governor's Race
Jan 29, 2026
SF's Drug Court Is a Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Scam
Jan 28, 2026
Elections & Voting Integrity
Tom Steyer is under fire for his labor hypocrisy as his gubernatorial campaign ramps up—while claiming to "always stand with labor," his hedge fund Farallon Capital invested millions in private prisons and other anti-union operations that displaced public sector jobs. Meanwhile, SF Democrats are fracturing over accountability issues, with Scott Wiener boycotting the Latinx Democratic Club over their handling of sexual assault allegations against their leader, and AOC's former chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti burning through $1.5 million of his own money only to receive zero votes from local Democrats in his bid for Pelosi's old seat. These fights reveal deeper tensions within California's Democratic establishment as 2026 campaigns heat up and party leaders clash over who represents authentic progressive values.
This Citizen's Union Is Throwing a Party March 4 in Mountain View, California
Feb 11, 2026
Tom Steyer's Labor Record Is a Fraud
Feb 10, 2026
SF ‘Progressives’ Protect Accused Sex Assaulter — Then Attack Scott Wiener for Saying No
Feb 03, 2026
AOC's Money Man Burns $1.5M, Gets Zero Votes
Feb 01, 2026
Media & Narrative
George Clinton just demolished the cultural appropriation debate by telling Rolling Stone that artists should "bite off" each other because "it's all one world, one planet and one groove"—then pivoted to aliens with multiple genitalia to make his point about getting along. Meanwhile, Stanford's fake disability crisis has hit 38% of students gaming the system for single dorms and extra test time, while Asian American families face a new wave of "grind culture" backlash as white families engage in "educational flight." The information war is escalating with AI agents flooding social platforms at inhuman scales, making personal OSINT defenses essential for anyone trying to separate real discourse from manufactured narrative.
Business Taxes & Prop M
California politicians are considering policies that could kill the Bay Area's $154 billion startup ecosystem—the largest in the world—while San Francisco's union-backed "CEO tax" heads to the June 2026 ballot with an 800% gross receipts tax increase that doesn't actually tax CEOs. With one-third of downtown SF still vacant and major companies like Stripe and Square already fleeing due to crushing tax burdens, these policies could determine whether the next generation of tech giants are built in California or somewhere else.
Pro-Technology & Innovation
A developer just used AI to port the entire 37-year-old SimCity codebase to run in browsers in just four days—without reading a single line of the original code. This represents the arrival of "vibe coding," where 25% of Y Combinator startups now have 95% of their code written by AI and are reaching $10 million in revenue with teams under 10 people. The old rules of software development are collapsing in real time.
Criminal Justice
A lawsuit seeks to ban the Flock license plate cameras that helped catch a drunk driver in a hit-and-run case, while San Francisco's Drug Court is being flooded with violent offenders seeking diversion from prosecution—with petitions nearly quadrupling in recent years. Meanwhile, most of the city's worst-performing judges face automatic reelection without opposition, as the February 4 filing deadline for challengers approaches with few candidates stepping forward to give voters a choice on public safety.
CA Ballot Measures
California's proposed wealth tax includes "safeguards" that critics say are actually bureaucratic traps—forcing billionaires to pay upfront while spending years and hundreds of thousands in legal fees to challenge the state's valuations. The bill's architects dismiss liquidity concerns from startup founders as "made in bad faith," even as a real exodus of tech billionaires like Larry Page and Peter Thiel is already underway.
Techno-Optimism & Innovation
A developer just used AI to port the entire 1989 SimCity codebase to run in browsers in just 4 days—without reading a single line of the original 37-year-old C code. This represents a breakthrough in "vibe coding" where AI handles the heavy lifting while automated tests ensure accuracy, part of a wave where 25% of current Y Combinator startups now have 95% of their code written by AI. We're witnessing the death of the old software development rules in real time.
Tech & Startup Regulation
New research on Moltbook, an AI-only social platform, reveals what happens when thousands of AI agents interact without humans—creating a bizarre ecosystem where 34% of messages are exact duplicates and conversations barely extend beyond surface-level exchanges. As millions of AI agents begin flooding real social media platforms, experts warn that navigating online information without your own AI defense tools will be like "going into a warzone without body armor." The findings offer a glimpse into how AI agents will reshape the information landscape that millions of Californians rely on for news, politics, and social connection.
Federal Politicians
AOC's former chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti just burned through $1.47 million of his own money trying to buy Nancy Pelosi's congressional seat—and received zero votes from local California Democrats at their pre-endorsement conference. Meanwhile, Silicon Valley is turning against Rep. Ro Khanna as he pushes for a federal wealth tax while 96% of his campaign funding comes from outside his own district, with former supporters now organizing to defeat him in 2026.
Transit & Safety
BART is threatening to close 10 stations as early as January 2027 and end service at 9 PM system-wide unless voters approve a half-cent to one-cent regional sales tax in November. The transit agency is using the "doomsday scenario"—which would gut half the yellow line and eventually kill the blue line entirely—to pressure taxpayers into a bailout despite spending $96 million on overtime in 2023 and refusing to address endemic waste and mismanagement.
SF Ballot Measures
San Francisco's union-backed "CEO tax" is heading to the June 2026 ballot with misleading branding—it doesn't actually tax CEOs but instead imposes an 800% gross receipts tax increase that will hit grocery stores, pharmacies, and everyday consumers. The measure comes as one-third of downtown office space sits empty and $400 billion worth of major companies have already fled the city, making San Francisco startups pay millions more in taxes than identical businesses just 30 miles away in Silicon Valley suburbs.
Skilled Immigration
A new wave of anti-Asian sentiment is targeting high-achieving students, with conservative commentators claiming Asian "grind culture" is driving white families to flee schools—the same exclusionary rhetoric that historically barred Asian immigrants from America. Meanwhile, blanket visa restrictions are blocking even model immigrants like a SF family who literally fights crime in their neighborhood from getting a visitor visa for grandma to meet her newborn grandson. These cases show how immigration policy is failing to distinguish between America's best potential citizens and actual security threats.
Small Business & Regulation
San Francisco's last major downtown mall is now evicting its final three tenants—a bar, shoe repair shop, and salon—marking the complete collapse of what was once the city's biggest shopping center. While the San Francisco Chronicle blames remote work and the pandemic, critics argue the real culprit was rampant shoplifting and open drug dealing that made the Powell Street area unsafe for shoppers, pointing to thriving malls in other Bay Area locations as evidence that e-commerce alone didn't kill retail.
CA Prop 36 (2024)
California lawmakers are refusing to fund voter-approved Proposition 36, effectively sabotaging the criminal sentencing reform measure that passed overwhelmingly in 2024. San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan is calling out Sacramento for ignoring the will of voters, arguing that budgets reflect values and the state is choosing "dysfunction over results." This funding fight is emerging as a key issue ahead of the 2026 governor's race, with Mahan gaining support as a potential challenger to the Democratic establishment.
SF Prop M (2024)
San Francisco progressive groups are pushing an 800% gross receipts tax increase that critics say would devastate downtown businesses already fleeing the city's high costs. The proposed "CEO tax" comes as downtown vacancy rates remain at one-third, with business leaders arguing that punitive taxation—not lack of public art—is driving the economic exodus that has left areas like Embarcadero Center empty.