ICYMI: 6 Stories From Last Week and a Mini-Column That Will Get Your Goat!
We featured a lot of great, original content this past week. Below are 6 highlights of columns from the (short) week that was, and a mini-column by yours truly. Plus who was born today… in 100 BC?
Below is a quick “mini-column” - then the ICYMI stuff below…
Sacramento Has Finally Gotten Our Goat
Leave it to California lawmakers to find a business using goats to reduce wildfire danger and decide the real crisis is that the herders are not making nearly a quarter-million dollars a year.
A new state law requires goat herders to be paid as though they are working 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Green Goat Landscapers in Gilroy says that would take annual compensation from about $64,000 to $240,000 per herder.
Perfectly reasonable — provided the goats have recently acquired medical degrees.
The company says it can not absorb the increase. Other grazing businesses are warning they may go bankrupt, lay off their herders and sell their goats for slaughter. Sacramento’s latest effort to “protect” workers could leave the workers unemployed, the businesses closed and the goats dead.
Quite an achievement.
The herders already receive salary, housing and other benefits under arrangements they agreed to. Does anyone honestly believe they would prefer a theoretical $240,000 job that disappears over a real $64,000 job that pays the bills?
You do not need an economics degree to figure that one out. Apparently, though, you do need to explain it to the California Legislature.
And then there is the wildfire issue. These goats clear brush in terrain where machinery can not go and where crews would struggle to work safely. At a time when California should be encouraging more vegetation management, Sacramento may regulate one of the most practical tools right out of existence.
This is the problem with politicians dictating contractual terms between private parties. They imagine they are improving the deal. In reality, they often destroy it.
The employer loses the business. The employee loses the job. The public loses a useful service.
And Sacramento holds a press conference about how much it cares.
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BELOW ARE SIX STORIES THAT YOU MAY HAVE MISSED!
DO NOT MISS THIS ONE - SO VERY IMPORTANT!
Worst Week In California Politics For The Week Ending 10/10
Editorial Note: For a long time we have published a “Top Ten Winners & Losers” weekly column — it turned out with all of the things I want to do, that endeavor sucked up too much of my time. So with a tip of the hat to my friend Chris Cillizza who does a Worst Week In DC Politics, we are shifting to this new feature. Hope you enjoy it! And suggestions a…
The Great California School Downsizing
Our morning content is free for all subscribers and guests! Usually our afternoon content is behind a paywall… If you are not yet a paid subscriber, consider upgrading — you are missing a significant portion of what we produce each week, and your support makes it possible. If you want to get it all and support my efforts, please consider a paid subscription! Today there is exclusive content below this column for paid subscribers.
Reject Prop. 4: Sacramento Wants Your Tax Dollars To Pay For Political Ads. Again.
Typically, our afternoon content is behind a paywall — or there is something extra for our paid subscribers. If you are not one, please consider upgrading. You are missing a significant portion of what we produce each week, and your support makes it possible. I will try to work my way through all of the November ballot props in time to create a voter guide of sorts.
California’s Winery Shakedown Tests Limits of Free Speech, Association
Our morning content is free for all subscribers and guests! Usually our afternoon content is behind a paywall…. If you are not yet a paid subscriber, consider upgrading — you are missing a significant portion of what we produce each week, and your support makes it possible. If you want to get it all and support my efforts, please consider a paid subscri…
Supreme Court Upholds The Fourth Amendment In Major Digital Privacy Ruling
Typically, our afternoon content is behind a paywall — or there is something extra for our paid subscribers. If you are not one, please consider upgrading. You are missing a significant portion of what we produce each week, and your support makes it possible. Today, there are three additional, strong political cartoons on this topic below the paywall.
On This Date in 100 B.C…
THE BIRTH OF JULIUS CAESER
One of history’s most influential figures was born in Rome in 100 B.C. Although historians continue to debate the exact date—most commonly July 12 or July 13—Julius Caesar’s impact on Western civilization is beyond dispute.
Born into a respected but not especially powerful Roman family, Caesar rose through military brilliance, political skill, and relentless ambition to become Rome’s dominant leader. His conquest of Gaul dramatically expanded Roman territory and made him a national hero, while his daring decision to cross the Rubicon River in 49 B.C. ignited a civil war that forever changed the Roman Republic.
As dictator, Caesar implemented sweeping reforms. He reorganized government, reduced debt, expanded Roman citizenship, settled veterans on new lands, and introduced the Julian calendar, a remarkably accurate system that became the foundation for the calendar much of the world used for more than 1,600 years.
But Caesar’s accumulation of power also alarmed many Roman senators, who feared he intended to make himself king. On the Ides of March—March 15, 44 B.C.—a group of conspirators assassinated him inside the Senate, believing they were saving the Republic.
Instead, his death accelerated its collapse. The civil wars that followed ended with his adopted heir, Octavian—better known as Augustus—becoming Rome’s first emperor.
More than two thousand years later, Caesar’s influence still echoes through history. His name gave rise to titles such as “Kaiser” and “Tsar,” his military campaigns remain subjects of study, and his life inspired one of William Shakespeare’s greatest plays. Few individuals have shaped politics, government, and history as profoundly as Julius Caesar.
Hope you’re having a great weekend!
Jon