| Date/Time | Moderator | Story/Comment/User, Action, Reason |
|---|---|---|
| 2020-03-25 17:59 -0500 | declan | Tag: emergencyabuse |
| Action: Created new tag with id '75', with tag 'emergencyabuse', with description 'Abuse of power during coronavirus or other "emergency"', with privileged 'false', with is_media 'false', with inactive 'false', with hotness_mod '0.05' | ||
| 2020-03-20 22:01 -0500 | declan | Story: Boxes, Trailers and Hammers: On California's addiction to Utopiosis |
| Action: changed tags from "redoubt california economics socialism taxes essays donkilmer" to "redoubt california economics socialism taxes donkilmer" | ||
| 2020-03-10 21:30 -0500 | declan | Story: Politicizing Coronavirus Will Cost Dems the House |
| Action: changed title from "Politicizing Coronavirus Will Cost Dems the House | The American Spectator | Politics Is Too Important To Be Taken Seriously" to "Politicizing Coronavirus Will Cost Dems the House" | ||
| 2020-03-09 19:21 -0500 | declan | Story: Socialist Reactions: Head of N.Y. Port Authority Tests Positive for Coronavirus |
| Action: changed tags from "economics health preparedness socialism announce pandemics" to "economics health preparedness socialism pandemics" | ||
| 2020-03-08 19:44 -0500 | declan | Story: Boxes, Trailers and Hammers: On California's addiction to Utopiosis |
| Action: changed description from "\r\n\r\n**Boxes, Trailers and Hammers: On California's addiction to Utopiosis**\r\n\r\n*By [Don Kilmer](/u/don) | Published March 6, 2020 11:30 AM PT*\r\n\r\nMy exodus from California finished in December 2019. The moving company picked up the last of the pods from my Idaho driveway in the middle of January. I still return to California for work or leisure. I already attended a conference in southern California without nostalgia. It's true that coastal California's balmy nights—even in January—are seductively surreal. But seduction requires an underlying attraction. For me, California no longer holds anything that I want.\r\n\r\nDistance lends perspective. Southwestern Idaho suits me and my wife. It's colder, but sweaters and warm socks are sufficient. It snows sometimes, but not enough in the \"banana belt\" west of Boise to be inconvenient. Snow tires on the SUV keep me between the curbs and ditches. I spent my high school years in New York's Niagara region. There are regions of Idaho that rival Niagara's blizzards, but so far the snow I've seen is more ornamental and refreshing than intimidating.\r\n\r\nI'll probably live with (and out of) boxes for a few more weeks, which has given me a new appreciation for this simple invention. Packing up your life in cardboard cubes for transportation to a new home can be an exercise in your philosophy of life. You must compartmentalize and reexamine everything that you have. Some items got abandoned in San Jose. But, surprisingly, I'm finding it easier to prune stuff as I unpack. Not everything is necessary for the new adventure.\r\n\r\nOne very large box cabins the others. Most of our stuff was shipped in pods. (Consider this an unpaid endorsement of [that wonderful company](https://www.pods.com/).) But several items were too valuable or fragile to ship that way. The cost of renting a one-way trailer out of California was close to the cost of buying a used trailer of the same size. So I bought one, and inadvertently acquired a status symbol. Everyone in Idaho has trailers. They use them for work. They use them for part-time jobs. They transport horses, small livestock, and produce. They haul ATVs, snowmobiles and camping gear. They're a symbol of vitality and exuberance for outdoor activities, or at least mobility. I might convert mine into a tag-along kitchen, camping gear storage, and toy-hauler to drag behind my RV when exploring more of my new home in the intermountain west.\r\n\r\nThere's a poignancy about this move. Now that I see California from a distance, it reminds me of watching a relative or loved one choose a path of self-destruction. The vice doesn’t matter. It could be drugs, alcohol, gambling, or promiscuous sex. Obsessive, compulsive abuse and addiction decays the spirit. California is addicted to what I call Utopiosis—a compulsion to create a Utopia.\r\n\r\nThe state's political culture could not be satisfied with the land's near-Garden of Eden fertility, the west's breathtaking coastline, the east's majestic mountains, and a climate that nears paradise on earth. Its politicians forgot that government’s duty is to preserve life, liberty and property; and that this is best achieved by establishing a equilibrium within and among the polis. People must be able to predict what laws and policies that will affect their lives, and because we live three score and ten years, predictability in government must extend beyond the week, month, and election cycle. Unfortunately when government is both the disturber of equilibrium and its proposed remedy, the cycle becomes an abusive downward spiral.\r\n\r\nAs an example, the San Francisco Bay Area is notorious for land use restrictions. Whether you believe these policies actually preserve open space or believe they are a conspiratorial graft machine for politicians, developers and existing home owners to elevate housing prices, the result is the same: People are priced out the housing market. The true motivation doesn’t matter. Government policies have distorted the equilibrium in the housing market. When someone is hitting themselves in the head with a hammer, the usual remedy would be to propose putting the hammer down. But Utopiosis inspires the political class to propose a new hammer, or a different hammer, or a hammer with a different shape or weight. They can't bring themselves to put it down.\r\n\r\nThe City of San Jose placed [Measure E](https://www.sanjoseca.gov/your-government/appointees/city-clerk/elections/2020-elections/measure-e) on the March 3, 2020 ballot. It implements a transfer tax on homes that are sold for more than $2 million within the city’s boundaries. The revenue raised is supposed to reduce homelessness in San Jose, with particular attention paid to the elderly, veterans, and low-income residents. How long the threshold will remain at $2 million, and how long the amount skimmed from the sale will remain around 1 percent, are exercises [left to the reader](http://www.taxhistory.org/thp/readings.nsf/ArtWeb/C82515A4B6B7A24C85257D1B0041C86E?OpenDocument).\r\n\r\nThis is a hostage tax. The City of San Jose wants to tax you for selling your home and leaving. What else can it be called? Local government policies have distorted the housing market, and now those distortions are taxed for the benefit of the people harmed by the original distortion. You can check out the Santa Clara County Registrar’s website for the other [obsessive-compulsive urges](https://www.sccgov.org/sites/rov/Info/Mar2020Info/Documents/List%20of%20Local%20Measures.pdf) of the political class to tax and spend themselves into Utopia with bond measures. As this essay was written, the California Secretary of State still hasn’t tallied all the votes for another spending measure called [Proposition 13](https://voterguide.sos.ca.gov/propositions/13/index.htm). Even if all these self-abusive taxes fail, the margins will be close enough to prompt the Utopiosis-addicted political class to try again next time.\r\n\r\nThe Utopiosis addiction is not limited to state measures. A disturbing number of Californians embraced [Socialism](/s/foxtto/don_kilmer_democrats_are_no_longer_shy) in the recent Democrat primary. Approximately 1.5 million Republicans [cast](https://electionresults.sos.ca.gov/returns/president/party/republican) a primary ballot for incumbent Donald Trump. But Socialist Bernie Sanders [won](https://electionresults.sos.ca.gov/returns/president/party/democratic) his party's primary with nearly 1.1 million votes. Semi-Socialists Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg and fascist Michael Bloomberg brought the left-leaning vote total (including Bernie) up to 2.9 million. Californians are demanding that the government give them Utopia by a 2:1 margin.\r\n\r\nI can’t hope for California’s demise. The land is beautiful and many Californians are inventive, productive, and virtuous. But I am grateful for boxes and trailers that let me escape. I'm also grateful for real-world, non-Utopian hammers. I still need to hang some pictures.\r\n\r\n______________________________________\r\n\r\n*[Don Kilmer](https://dkgunlaw.com/) is a [Second Amendment litigator](https://dkgunlaw.com/services) living in Idaho and an [editor of Talking](https://talki.ng/about). See Don's [previous essays](https://talki.ng/t/donkilmer) on Talking.*" to "\r\n\r\n**Boxes, Trailers and Hammers: On California's addiction to Utopiosis**\r\n\r\n*By [Don Kilmer](/u/don) | Published March 6, 2020 11:30 AM PT*\r\n\r\nMy exodus from California finished in December 2019. The moving company picked up the last of the pods from my Idaho driveway in the middle of January. I still return to California for work or leisure. I already attended a conference in southern California without nostalgia. It's true that coastal California's balmy nights—even in January—are seductively surreal. But seduction requires an underlying attraction. For me, California no longer holds anything that I want.\r\n\r\nDistance lends perspective. Southwestern Idaho suits me and my wife. It's colder, but sweaters and warm socks are sufficient. It snows sometimes, but not enough in the \"banana belt\" west of Boise to be inconvenient. Snow tires on the SUV keep me between the curbs and ditches. I spent my high school years in New York's Niagara region. There are regions of Idaho that rival Niagara's blizzards, but so far the snow I've seen is more ornamental and refreshing than intimidating.\r\n\r\nI'll probably live with (and out of) boxes for a few more weeks, which has given me a new appreciation for this simple invention. Packing up your life in cardboard cubes for transportation to a new home can be an exercise in your philosophy of life. You must compartmentalize and reexamine everything that you have. Some items got abandoned in San Jose. But, surprisingly, I'm finding it easier to prune stuff as I unpack. Not everything is necessary for the new adventure.\r\n\r\nOne very large box cabins the others. Most of our stuff was shipped in pods. (Consider this an unpaid endorsement of [that wonderful company](https://www.pods.com/).) But several items were too valuable or fragile to ship that way. The cost of renting a one-way trailer out of California was close to the cost of buying a used trailer of the same size. So I bought one, and inadvertently acquired a status symbol. Everyone in Idaho has trailers. They use them for work. They use them for part-time jobs. They transport horses, small livestock, and produce. They haul ATVs, snowmobiles and camping gear. They're a symbol of vitality and exuberance for outdoor activities, or at least mobility. I might convert mine into a tag-along kitchen, camping gear storage, and toy-hauler to drag behind my RV when exploring more of my new home in the intermountain west.\r\n\r\nThere's a poignancy about this move. Now that I see California from a distance, it reminds me of watching a relative or loved one choose a path of self-destruction. The vice doesn’t matter. It could be drugs, alcohol, gambling, or promiscuous sex. Obsessive, compulsive abuse and addiction decays the spirit. California is addicted to what I call Utopiosis—a compulsion to create a Utopia.\r\n\r\nThe state's political culture could not be satisfied with the land's near-Garden of Eden fertility, the west's breathtaking coastline, the east's majestic mountains, and a climate that nears paradise on earth. Its politicians forgot that government’s duty is to preserve life, liberty and property; and that this is best achieved by establishing an equilibrium within and among the polis. People must be able to predict what laws and policies that will affect their lives, and because we live three score and ten years, predictability in government must extend beyond the week, month, and election cycle. Unfortunately when government is both the disturber of equilibrium and its proposed remedy, the cycle becomes an abusive downward spiral.\r\n\r\nAs an example, the San Francisco Bay Area is notorious for land use restrictions. Whether you believe these policies actually preserve open space or believe they are a conspiratorial graft machine for politicians, developers and existing home owners to elevate housing prices, the result is the same: People are priced out of the housing market. The true motivation doesn’t matter. Government policies have distorted the equilibrium in the housing market. When someone is hitting themselves in the head with a hammer, the usual remedy would be to propose putting the hammer down. But Utopiosis inspires the political class to propose a new hammer, or a different hammer, or a hammer with a different shape or weight. They can't bring themselves to put it down.\r\n\r\nThe City of San Jose placed [Measure E](https://www.sanjoseca.gov/your-government/appointees/city-clerk/elections/2020-elections/measure-e) on the March 3, 2020 ballot. It implements a transfer tax on homes that are sold for more than $2 million within the city’s boundaries. The revenue raised is supposed to reduce homelessness in San Jose, with particular attention paid to the elderly, veterans, and low-income residents. How long the threshold will remain at $2 million, and how long the amount skimmed from the sale will remain around 1 percent, are exercises [left to the reader](http://www.taxhistory.org/thp/readings.nsf/ArtWeb/C82515A4B6B7A24C85257D1B0041C86E?OpenDocument).\r\n\r\nThis is a hostage tax. The City of San Jose wants to tax you for selling your home and leaving. What else can it be called? Local government policies have distorted the housing market, and now those distortions are taxed for the benefit of the people harmed by the original distortion. You can check out the Santa Clara County Registrar’s website for the other [obsessive-compulsive urges](https://www.sccgov.org/sites/rov/Info/Mar2020Info/Documents/List%20of%20Local%20Measures.pdf) of the political class to tax and spend themselves into Utopia with bond measures. As this essay was written, the California Secretary of State still hasn’t tallied all the votes for another spending measure called [Proposition 13](https://voterguide.sos.ca.gov/propositions/13/index.htm). Even if all these self-abusive taxes fail, the margins will be close enough to prompt the Utopiosis-addicted political class to try again next time.\r\n\r\nThe Utopiosis addiction is not limited to state measures. A disturbing number of Californians embraced [Socialism](/s/foxtto/don_kilmer_democrats_are_no_longer_shy) in the recent Democrat primary. Approximately 1.5 million Republicans [cast](https://electionresults.sos.ca.gov/returns/president/party/republican) a primary ballot for incumbent Donald Trump. But Socialist Bernie Sanders [won](https://electionresults.sos.ca.gov/returns/president/party/democratic) his party's primary with nearly 1.1 million votes. Semi-Socialists Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg and fascist Michael Bloomberg brought the left-leaning vote total (including Bernie) up to 2.9 million. Californians are demanding that the government give them Utopia by a 2:1 margin.\r\n\r\nI can’t hope for California’s demise. The land is beautiful and many Californians are inventive, productive, and virtuous. But I am grateful for boxes and trailers that let me escape. I'm also grateful for real-world, non-Utopian hammers. I still need to hang some pictures.\r\n\r\n______________________________________\r\n\r\n*[Don Kilmer](https://dkgunlaw.com/) is a [Second Amendment litigator](https://dkgunlaw.com/services) living in Idaho and an [editor of Talking](https://talki.ng/about). See Don's [previous essays](https://talki.ng/t/donkilmer) on Talking.*", changed markeddown_description from "<p><img src=\"https://ucarecdn.com/3314fcb9-58fc-4826-8196-9ebc391f3ba1/bigsur3.jpg\" alt=\"California’s Big Sur coast\"></p>\n<p><strong>Boxes, Trailers and Hammers: On California’s addiction to Utopiosis</strong></p>\n<p><em>By <a href=\"/u/don\">Don Kilmer</a> | Published March 6, 2020 11:30 AM PT</em></p>\n<p>My exodus from California finished in December 2019. The moving company picked up the last of the pods from my Idaho driveway in the middle of January. I still return to California for work or leisure. I already attended a conference in southern California without nostalgia. It’s true that coastal California’s balmy nights—even in January—are seductively surreal. But seduction requires an underlying attraction. For me, California no longer holds anything that I want.</p>\n<p>Distance lends perspective. Southwestern Idaho suits me and my wife. It’s colder, but sweaters and warm socks are sufficient. It snows sometimes, but not enough in the “banana belt” west of Boise to be inconvenient. Snow tires on the SUV keep me between the curbs and ditches. I spent my high school years in New York’s Niagara region. There are regions of Idaho that rival Niagara’s blizzards, but so far the snow I’ve seen is more ornamental and refreshing than intimidating.</p>\n<p>I’ll probably live with (and out of) boxes for a few more weeks, which has given me a new appreciation for this simple invention. Packing up your life in cardboard cubes for transportation to a new home can be an exercise in your philosophy of life. You must compartmentalize and reexamine everything that you have. Some items got abandoned in San Jose. But, surprisingly, I’m finding it easier to prune stuff as I unpack. Not everything is necessary for the new adventure.</p>\n<p>One very large box cabins the others. Most of our stuff was shipped in pods. (Consider this an unpaid endorsement of <a href=\"https://www.pods.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">that wonderful company</a>.) But several items were too valuable or fragile to ship that way. The cost of renting a one-way trailer out of California was close to the cost of buying a used trailer of the same size. So I bought one, and inadvertently acquired a status symbol. Everyone in Idaho has trailers. They use them for work. They use them for part-time jobs. They transport horses, small livestock, and produce. They haul ATVs, snowmobiles and camping gear. They’re a symbol of vitality and exuberance for outdoor activities, or at least mobility. I might convert mine into a tag-along kitchen, camping gear storage, and toy-hauler to drag behind my RV when exploring more of my new home in the intermountain west.</p>\n<p>There’s a poignancy about this move. Now that I see California from a distance, it reminds me of watching a relative or loved one choose a path of self-destruction. The vice doesn’t matter. It could be drugs, alcohol, gambling, or promiscuous sex. Obsessive, compulsive abuse and addiction decays the spirit. California is addicted to what I call Utopiosis—a compulsion to create a Utopia.</p>\n<p>The state’s political culture could not be satisfied with the land’s near-Garden of Eden fertility, the west’s breathtaking coastline, the east’s majestic mountains, and a climate that nears paradise on earth. Its politicians forgot that government’s duty is to preserve life, liberty and property; and that this is best achieved by establishing a equilibrium within and among the polis. People must be able to predict what laws and policies that will affect their lives, and because we live three score and ten years, predictability in government must extend beyond the week, month, and election cycle. Unfortunately when government is both the disturber of equilibrium and its proposed remedy, the cycle becomes an abusive downward spiral.</p>\n<p>As an example, the San Francisco Bay Area is notorious for land use restrictions. Whether you believe these policies actually preserve open space or believe they are a conspiratorial graft machine for politicians, developers and existing home owners to elevate housing prices, the result is the same: People are priced out the housing market. The true motivation doesn’t matter. Government policies have distorted the equilibrium in the housing market. When someone is hitting themselves in the head with a hammer, the usual remedy would be to propose putting the hammer down. But Utopiosis inspires the political class to propose a new hammer, or a different hammer, or a hammer with a different shape or weight. They can’t bring themselves to put it down.</p>\n<p>The City of San Jose placed <a href=\"https://www.sanjoseca.gov/your-government/appointees/city-clerk/elections/2020-elections/measure-e\" rel=\"nofollow\">Measure E</a> on the March 3, 2020 ballot. It implements a transfer tax on homes that are sold for more than $2 million within the city’s boundaries. The revenue raised is supposed to reduce homelessness in San Jose, with particular attention paid to the elderly, veterans, and low-income residents. How long the threshold will remain at $2 million, and how long the amount skimmed from the sale will remain around 1 percent, are exercises <a href=\"http://www.taxhistory.org/thp/readings.nsf/ArtWeb/C82515A4B6B7A24C85257D1B0041C86E?OpenDocument\" rel=\"nofollow\">left to the reader</a>.</p>\n<p>This is a hostage tax. The City of San Jose wants to tax you for selling your home and leaving. What else can it be called? Local government policies have distorted the housing market, and now those distortions are taxed for the benefit of the people harmed by the original distortion. You can check out the Santa Clara County Registrar’s website for the other <a href=\"https://www.sccgov.org/sites/rov/Info/Mar2020Info/Documents/List%20of%20Local%20Measures.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">obsessive-compulsive urges</a> of the political class to tax and spend themselves into Utopia with bond measures. As this essay was written, the California Secretary of State still hasn’t tallied all the votes for another spending measure called <a href=\"https://voterguide.sos.ca.gov/propositions/13/index.htm\" rel=\"nofollow\">Proposition 13</a>. Even if all these self-abusive taxes fail, the margins will be close enough to prompt the Utopiosis-addicted political class to try again next time.</p>\n<p>The Utopiosis addiction is not limited to state measures. A disturbing number of Californians embraced <a href=\"/s/foxtto/don_kilmer_democrats_are_no_longer_shy\">Socialism</a> in the recent Democrat primary. Approximately 1.5 million Republicans <a href=\"https://electionresults.sos.ca.gov/returns/president/party/republican\" rel=\"nofollow\">cast</a> a primary ballot for incumbent Donald Trump. But Socialist Bernie Sanders <a href=\"https://electionresults.sos.ca.gov/returns/president/party/democratic\" rel=\"nofollow\">won</a> his party’s primary with nearly 1.1 million votes. Semi-Socialists Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg and fascist Michael Bloomberg brought the left-leaning vote total (including Bernie) up to 2.9 million. Californians are demanding that the government give them Utopia by a 2:1 margin.</p>\n<p>I can’t hope for California’s demise. The land is beautiful and many Californians are inventive, productive, and virtuous. But I am grateful for boxes and trailers that let me escape. I’m also grateful for real-world, non-Utopian hammers. I still need to hang some pictures.</p>\n<hr>\n<p><em><a href=\"https://dkgunlaw.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Don Kilmer</a> is a <a href=\"https://dkgunlaw.com/services\" rel=\"nofollow\">Second Amendment litigator</a> living in Idaho and an <a href=\"https://talki.ng/about\" rel=\"nofollow\">editor of Talking</a>. See Don’s <a href=\"https://talki.ng/t/donkilmer\" rel=\"nofollow\">previous essays</a> on Talking.</em></p>\n" to "<p><img src=\"https://ucarecdn.com/3314fcb9-58fc-4826-8196-9ebc391f3ba1/bigsur3.jpg\" alt=\"California’s Big Sur coast\"></p>\n<p><strong>Boxes, Trailers and Hammers: On California’s addiction to Utopiosis</strong></p>\n<p><em>By <a href=\"/u/don\">Don Kilmer</a> | Published March 6, 2020 11:30 AM PT</em></p>\n<p>My exodus from California finished in December 2019. The moving company picked up the last of the pods from my Idaho driveway in the middle of January. I still return to California for work or leisure. I already attended a conference in southern California without nostalgia. It’s true that coastal California’s balmy nights—even in January—are seductively surreal. But seduction requires an underlying attraction. For me, California no longer holds anything that I want.</p>\n<p>Distance lends perspective. Southwestern Idaho suits me and my wife. It’s colder, but sweaters and warm socks are sufficient. It snows sometimes, but not enough in the “banana belt” west of Boise to be inconvenient. Snow tires on the SUV keep me between the curbs and ditches. I spent my high school years in New York’s Niagara region. There are regions of Idaho that rival Niagara’s blizzards, but so far the snow I’ve seen is more ornamental and refreshing than intimidating.</p>\n<p>I’ll probably live with (and out of) boxes for a few more weeks, which has given me a new appreciation for this simple invention. Packing up your life in cardboard cubes for transportation to a new home can be an exercise in your philosophy of life. You must compartmentalize and reexamine everything that you have. Some items got abandoned in San Jose. But, surprisingly, I’m finding it easier to prune stuff as I unpack. Not everything is necessary for the new adventure.</p>\n<p>One very large box cabins the others. Most of our stuff was shipped in pods. (Consider this an unpaid endorsement of <a href=\"https://www.pods.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">that wonderful company</a>.) But several items were too valuable or fragile to ship that way. The cost of renting a one-way trailer out of California was close to the cost of buying a used trailer of the same size. So I bought one, and inadvertently acquired a status symbol. Everyone in Idaho has trailers. They use them for work. They use them for part-time jobs. They transport horses, small livestock, and produce. They haul ATVs, snowmobiles and camping gear. They’re a symbol of vitality and exuberance for outdoor activities, or at least mobility. I might convert mine into a tag-along kitchen, camping gear storage, and toy-hauler to drag behind my RV when exploring more of my new home in the intermountain west.</p>\n<p>There’s a poignancy about this move. Now that I see California from a distance, it reminds me of watching a relative or loved one choose a path of self-destruction. The vice doesn’t matter. It could be drugs, alcohol, gambling, or promiscuous sex. Obsessive, compulsive abuse and addiction decays the spirit. California is addicted to what I call Utopiosis—a compulsion to create a Utopia.</p>\n<p>The state’s political culture could not be satisfied with the land’s near-Garden of Eden fertility, the west’s breathtaking coastline, the east’s majestic mountains, and a climate that nears paradise on earth. Its politicians forgot that government’s duty is to preserve life, liberty and property; and that this is best achieved by establishing an equilibrium within and among the polis. People must be able to predict what laws and policies that will affect their lives, and because we live three score and ten years, predictability in government must extend beyond the week, month, and election cycle. Unfortunately when government is both the disturber of equilibrium and its proposed remedy, the cycle becomes an abusive downward spiral.</p>\n<p>As an example, the San Francisco Bay Area is notorious for land use restrictions. Whether you believe these policies actually preserve open space or believe they are a conspiratorial graft machine for politicians, developers and existing home owners to elevate housing prices, the result is the same: People are priced out of the housing market. The true motivation doesn’t matter. Government policies have distorted the equilibrium in the housing market. When someone is hitting themselves in the head with a hammer, the usual remedy would be to propose putting the hammer down. But Utopiosis inspires the political class to propose a new hammer, or a different hammer, or a hammer with a different shape or weight. They can’t bring themselves to put it down.</p>\n<p>The City of San Jose placed <a href=\"https://www.sanjoseca.gov/your-government/appointees/city-clerk/elections/2020-elections/measure-e\" rel=\"nofollow\">Measure E</a> on the March 3, 2020 ballot. It implements a transfer tax on homes that are sold for more than $2 million within the city’s boundaries. The revenue raised is supposed to reduce homelessness in San Jose, with particular attention paid to the elderly, veterans, and low-income residents. How long the threshold will remain at $2 million, and how long the amount skimmed from the sale will remain around 1 percent, are exercises <a href=\"http://www.taxhistory.org/thp/readings.nsf/ArtWeb/C82515A4B6B7A24C85257D1B0041C86E?OpenDocument\" rel=\"nofollow\">left to the reader</a>.</p>\n<p>This is a hostage tax. The City of San Jose wants to tax you for selling your home and leaving. What else can it be called? Local government policies have distorted the housing market, and now those distortions are taxed for the benefit of the people harmed by the original distortion. You can check out the Santa Clara County Registrar’s website for the other <a href=\"https://www.sccgov.org/sites/rov/Info/Mar2020Info/Documents/List%20of%20Local%20Measures.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">obsessive-compulsive urges</a> of the political class to tax and spend themselves into Utopia with bond measures. As this essay was written, the California Secretary of State still hasn’t tallied all the votes for another spending measure called <a href=\"https://voterguide.sos.ca.gov/propositions/13/index.htm\" rel=\"nofollow\">Proposition 13</a>. Even if all these self-abusive taxes fail, the margins will be close enough to prompt the Utopiosis-addicted political class to try again next time.</p>\n<p>The Utopiosis addiction is not limited to state measures. A disturbing number of Californians embraced <a href=\"/s/foxtto/don_kilmer_democrats_are_no_longer_shy\">Socialism</a> in the recent Democrat primary. Approximately 1.5 million Republicans <a href=\"https://electionresults.sos.ca.gov/returns/president/party/republican\" rel=\"nofollow\">cast</a> a primary ballot for incumbent Donald Trump. But Socialist Bernie Sanders <a href=\"https://electionresults.sos.ca.gov/returns/president/party/democratic\" rel=\"nofollow\">won</a> his party’s primary with nearly 1.1 million votes. Semi-Socialists Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg and fascist Michael Bloomberg brought the left-leaning vote total (including Bernie) up to 2.9 million. Californians are demanding that the government give them Utopia by a 2:1 margin.</p>\n<p>I can’t hope for California’s demise. The land is beautiful and many Californians are inventive, productive, and virtuous. But I am grateful for boxes and trailers that let me escape. I’m also grateful for real-world, non-Utopian hammers. I still need to hang some pictures.</p>\n<hr>\n<p><em><a href=\"https://dkgunlaw.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Don Kilmer</a> is a <a href=\"https://dkgunlaw.com/services\" rel=\"nofollow\">Second Amendment litigator</a> living in Idaho and an <a href=\"https://talki.ng/about\" rel=\"nofollow\">editor of Talking</a>. See Don’s <a href=\"https://talki.ng/t/donkilmer\" rel=\"nofollow\">previous essays</a> on Talking.</em></p>\n" | ||
| Reason: fixing two typos | ||
| 2020-03-06 13:01 -0600 | declan | Story: Boxes, Trailers and Hammers: On California's addiction to Utopiosis |
| Action: changed tags from "donkilmer" to "donkilmer california economics essays redoubt socialism taxes" | ||
| 2020-03-06 12:58 -0600 | declan | Story: eensy-weensy-essay |
| Action: changed tags from "socialism essays" to "socialism essays donkilmer" | ||
| 2020-03-06 12:58 -0600 | declan | Story: Don Kilmer on the progressive left: They now openly call for wealth redistribution, socialism |
| Action: changed tags from "culturewars democrats socialism essays" to "culturewars democrats socialism essays donkilmer" | ||
| 2020-03-06 12:58 -0600 | declan | Story: Thought experiment on BigTech bias: Can manipulation of data be morally wrong? |
| Action: changed tags from "bigtech culturewars essays fixbigtech" to "bigtech culturewars essays fixbigtech donkilmer" | ||
| 2020-03-06 12:58 -0600 | declan | Story: Don Kilmer: An open question on open borders and the current crisis |
| Action: changed tags from "immigration politics socialism essays terrorism" to "immigration politics socialism essays terrorism donkilmer" | ||
| 2020-03-06 12:58 -0600 | declan | Story: Don Kilmer: The Truth Ain’t In Kamala Harris |
| Action: changed tags from "democrats health politics essays" to "democrats health politics essays donkilmer" | ||
| 2020-03-06 12:58 -0600 | declan | Story: Don Kilmer: Reason or Force. Pick One |
| Action: changed tags from "civilwar2 culturewars essays" to "civilwar2 culturewars essays donkilmer" | ||
| 2020-03-06 12:58 -0600 | declan | Story: Don Kilmer: Kill Collectivism, Not Technology |
| Action: changed tags from "civilwar2 culturewars politics technology essays" to "civilwar2 culturewars politics technology essays donkilmer" | ||
| 2020-03-06 12:57 -0600 | declan | Story: Don Kilmer: The enforcement problems with gun-grabbing ‘red flag’ laws are even worse than you think |
| Action: changed tags from "california firearms gunrights" to "california firearms gunrights donkilmer" | ||
| 2020-03-06 12:57 -0600 | declan | Story: Don Kilmer: A Level Playing Field for Bad Guys is Dumb |
| Action: changed tags from "law gunrights essays" to "law gunrights essays donkilmer" | ||
| 2020-03-06 12:57 -0600 | declan | Story: Don Kilmer's Friday Essay: The Dogs of War? -or- How Much is that Rifle in the Window? |
| Action: changed tags from "firearms military gunrights essays war" to "firearms military gunrights essays war donkilmer" | ||
| 2020-03-06 12:57 -0600 | declan | Story: Don Kilmer's Friday Essay on Immigration: Space, Walls, Gates |
| Action: changed tags from "california culturewars elites immigration politics essays" to "california culturewars elites immigration politics essays donkilmer" | ||
| 2020-03-06 12:57 -0600 | declan | Story: When eternal vigilance fails, what will happen to our republic? |
| Action: changed tags from "civilwar2 elites firstamendment gunrights essays" to "civilwar2 elites firstamendment gunrights essays donkilmer" | ||
| 2020-03-06 12:57 -0600 | declan | Story: A Tale of Two Harriets: Lessons For Our Republic Today |
| Action: changed tags from "civilwar2 libertarianism essays history" to "civilwar2 libertarianism essays history donkilmer" | ||
| 2020-03-06 12:55 -0600 | declan | Tag: donkilmer |
| Action: Created new tag with id '74', with tag 'donkilmer', with description 'Don Kilmer's original essays', with privileged 'false', with is_media 'false', with inactive 'false', with hotness_mod '10.0' | ||
| 2020-03-04 13:06 -0600 | declan | Tag: police |
| Action: Updating tag police, changed description from 'Police' to 'Police, sheriffs, law enforcement' | ||
| 2020-02-26 10:05 -0600 | declan | Story: Conservative Activist Targeted by Mob at Ohio University |
| Action: changed title from "Conservative Activist Targeted by Mob at Ohio University - Frontpagemag" to "Conservative Activist Targeted by Mob at Ohio University", changed tags from "education" to "education campusspeech culturewars" | ||
| 2020-02-21 19:11 -0600 | declan | Story: Local Newspapers Are Dying Because They Don’t Represent America |
| Action: changed title from "Local Newspapers Are Dying Because They Don’t Represent America - Frontpagemag" to "Local Newspapers Are Dying Because They Don’t Represent America" | ||
| 2020-02-15 16:00 -0600 | declan | Story: A Tale of Two Harriets: Lessons For Our Republic Today |
| Action: changed tags from "civilwar2 libertarianism essays" to "civilwar2 libertarianism essays history" | ||
| 2020-02-14 12:13 -0600 | declan | Tag: pandemics |
| Action: Updating tag pandemics, changed description from 'Pandemics, infectious diseases, coronavirus' to 'Pandemics, infectious diseases, coronavirus, COVID-19, 2019-nCOV' | ||
| 2020-02-14 10:34 -0600 | declan | Tag: politics |
| Action: Updating tag politics, changed description from 'Politics' to 'Politics, elections, 2020 campaign' | ||
| 2020-02-11 17:54 -0600 | declan | Story: Jacksonville, FL - Man arrested for driving through Trump campaign voter registration tent |
| Action: merged into bmixh0 (Where's the Outrage? Suspect Who Drove Van Into Trump Campaign Volunteers Admits Political Motive) | ||
| 2020-02-11 14:40 -0600 | declan | Tag: socialism |
| Action: Updating tag socialism, changed description from 'Socialism, Communism, Leftism' to 'Socialism, Communism, Marxism, Leftism' | ||
| 2020-02-08 11:47 -0600 | declan | Story: Dems demand Twitter, Facebook take down edited video of Pelosi ripping up State of the Union speech posted by Trump |
| Action: changed tags from "democrats" to "democrats bigtech" | ||
| 2020-02-08 01:29 -0600 | declan | Tag: family |
| Action: Updating tag family, changed description from 'Family and parenting' to 'Family, children, and parenting' | ||
| 2020-02-08 01:29 -0600 | declan | Tag: environmentalism |
| Action: Updating tag environmentalism, changed description from 'Environmentalism, EPA & regs' to 'Environmentalism, climate change, EPA & regs' | ||
| 2020-02-07 12:25 -0600 | declan | Story: Our Elites Are Steering Us Towards Civil War |
| Action: changed tags from "civilwar2 deepstate politics" to "civilwar2 deepstate politics elites" | ||
| 2020-02-05 14:53 -0600 | declan | Tag: civilwar2 |
| Action: Updating tag civilwar2, changed description from 'Civil War 2.0' to 'Civil War 2.0, Secession, Partition' | ||
| 2020-02-02 12:56 -0600 | declan | Story: Seattle and the State Supreme Court Wage War on Property Rights |
| Action: changed tags from "economics" to "economics paywall" | ||
| 2020-02-02 09:44 -0600 | declan | Story: The Economics of Pandemics and Quarantines |
| Action: changed tags from "economics essays pandemics" to "economics pandemics health" | ||
| 2020-01-31 14:10 -0600 | declan | Story: Spain jails Catalan separatist leaders, sparking protests |
| Action: changed tags from "politics" to "politics europe" | ||
| 2020-01-31 14:10 -0600 | declan | Story: From Sussex, England, to New England, Gender Activists Are Losing |
| Action: changed tags from "feminism" to "feminism europe" | ||
| 2020-01-31 14:10 -0600 | declan | Story: Civil War Preview? Future of England Survey reveals public attitudes towards Brexit |
| Action: changed tags from "civilwar2 terrorism war" to "civilwar2 terrorism war europe" | ||
| 2020-01-31 14:10 -0600 | declan | Story: Why Britain’s Divorce From the EU Requires 115 Pages |
| Action: changed tags from "economics" to "economics europe" | ||
| 2020-01-31 14:08 -0600 | declan | Story: EU Vice President Orders British Flags Removed From Parliament After Rousing Farage Brexit Speech |
| Action: changed tags from "elites" to "elites europe" | ||
| 2020-01-31 14:08 -0600 | declan | Tag: europe |
| Action: Created new tag with id '73', with tag 'europe', with description 'Europe, U.K., Brexit', with privileged 'false', with is_media 'false', with inactive 'false', with hotness_mod '0.0' | ||
| 2020-01-31 13:24 -0600 | declan | Tag: pandemics |
| Action: Created new tag with id '72', with tag 'pandemics', with description 'Pandemics, infectious diseases, coronavirus', with privileged 'false', with is_media 'false', with inactive 'false', with hotness_mod '0.01' | ||
| 2020-01-30 13:52 -0600 | declan | Story: Pseudo-Psychiatrist "Diagnoses" Trump Supporters with Mental Disorders |
| Action: changed title from "Pseudo-Psychiatrist \"Diagnoses\" Trump Supporters with Mental Disorders | Christopher DeGroot" to "Pseudo-Psychiatrist \"Diagnoses\" Trump Supporters with Mental Disorders" | ||
| 2020-01-27 10:49 -0600 | declan | Story: Fake Atomic Scientists Warn Not Believing the Media Will Destroy the World |
| Action: changed title from "Fake Atomic Scientists Warn Not Believing the Media Will Destroy the World - Frontpagemag" to "Fake Atomic Scientists Warn Not Believing the Media Will Destroy the World" | ||
| 2020-01-23 15:33 -0600 | declan | Story: Ten Reasons Left-Wingers Cut Trump Voters from Their Lives (2016) |
| Action: changed title from "Ten Reasons Left-Wingers Cut Trump Voters from Their Lives" to "Ten Reasons Left-Wingers Cut Trump Voters from Their Lives (2016)" | ||
| 2020-01-16 13:19 -0600 | declan | Story: AP: FBI says it has arrested three white supremacists ahead of pro-gun rally in Virginia |
| Action: changed title from "The Associated Press -- FBI arrests three white supremacists ahead of pro-gun rally" to "AP: FBI says it has arrested three white supremacists ahead of pro-gun rally in Virginia" | ||
| 2020-01-10 14:17 -0600 | declan | Story: The Culture War Comes to the Old Dominion |
| Action: changed tags from "civilwar2 culturewars gunrights" to "civilwar2 culturewars gunrights virginia" | ||
| 2020-01-06 10:01 -0600 | declan | Story: New Hampshire Democrat Dodges Libel Suit with More Lies |
| Action: changed title from "New Hampshire Democrat Dodges Libel Suit with More Lies - Frontpagemag" to "New Hampshire Democrat Dodges Libel Suit with More Lies", changed tags from "socialism" to "socialism litigation" | ||
| 2020-01-04 12:13 -0600 | declan | Story: Texas Shooting Leaves Two Churchgoers, Gunman Dead |
| Action: changed tags from "gunrights paywall" to "gunrights paywall crime" | ||
| 2020-01-04 12:13 -0600 | declan | Story: Texas Shooting Leaves Two Churchgoers, Gunman Dead |
| Action: changed tags from "gunrights" to "gunrights paywall" | ||