In a jaw-dropping display of big-government panic, New York Governor Kathy Hochul has sunk to openly begging the wealthy residents she once drove out of the state to please come back from Florida. Not because she suddenly cares about their success or the American Dream — but because she desperately needs their tax dollars to keep funding New York’s unsustainable “generous social programs.”

Across California's tourism hotspots, local governments are effectively extorting visitors and convention-goers through aggressive hotel-specific minimum wage laws. These mandates – sold as “living wage” protections – are designed to extract higher room rates, fees, and taxes from out-of-town travelers to fund dramatic pay hikes for hotel workers. The result? Early data show clear job losses and reduced hours, and mounting evidence that cost-sensitive tourists and business groups are taking their dollars to more affordable destinations such as Nevada, Arizona, Texas, and Florida.

California, once celebrated as the Golden State and an economic powerhouse, has devolved into a textbook welfare state. Here, a shrinking minority of productive citizens shoulders the burden for a disproportionately large share of residents who consume public resources through an ever-expanding web of entitlements. With a population of approximately 39.5 million, only about 17.5 million Californians file and pay state personal income taxes. The rest — including children, low-income non-filers, dependents, retirees on fixed incomes, and millions on government assistance — contribute far less or nothing to the primary revenue stream that funds the state's operations.

As the 2026 midterm elections approach, the debate over election integrity remains front and center in American politics. Voter identification requirements and access to mail-in ballots vary dramatically from state to state, reflecting a federal system in which election rules are largely set at the local level rather than in Washington. A comprehensive review of current laws reveals that 36 out of 50 states already require or request some form of identification at the polls — a clear majority that undercuts claims voter ID laws are unusual or burdensome.