California

El Monte, California is a city of roughly 100,000 residents in East Los Angeles, many of whom struggle to make ends meet with a median household income of ~$39,000 and nearly 25% of people living below the poverty line.  But while most of the people of El Monte struggle to meet monthly expenses, the city's public employees are living the high life courtesy of one of the most egregious taxpayer funded pension plans in the country.  Just ask the retired City Manager, James Mussenden, who told the LA Times that he gets paid $216,000 per year in retirement to tour the w

Back in September we wrote about what we thought for sure would be the wackiest new state law passed in 2016.  The law came from the state of California (of course) and demanded a 40% reduction in methane gas from cow flatulence by 2030.  Here's what we had to say about the bill:

Ten years after one of the largest asset corrections in history nearly brought down the entire global financial system, house flippers are making a comeback in a big way.  Just ask Eduardo Axtle, a 35-year-old former telecom entrepreneur (which we assume means Verizon store clerk) in Oakland, California, who say that "the floodgates have opened" and allowed him to take out 50 home loans over the past couple of years.  But we're sure Yellen & Co. were right, 0% interest rates for nearly a decade were a fantastic idea.

As Democrats continue to slowly come to terms with their stunning defeat on November 8th, one coping mechanism that has helped them to deal with the grief is getting a head start on a list of most likely new saviors who can defeat the evil Donald Trump in 2020 and restore "Hope" to America.  As such, Niall Stanage of The Hill has compiled a list of the 15 most likely challengers.  Most of the list is not terribly surprising and includes a number of establishment politicians which, given how the 2016 election cycle evolved, would almost certainly result in another Trump victory.

Submitted by Mac Slavo via SHTFPlan.com,

The window is closing on freedom in the Golden State, as liberal government leaders and increasingly bureaucratic laws are being used to strip away the rights of the people.

Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a slew of new laws, seen by many as unconstitutional, that will make it incrementally more difficult for Californians to keep and bear arms.