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1 week ago | 
independent.org | Kristian R. Fors
Realism is one of the prominent international relations theories for explaining the behavior of states.
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1 month ago | 
blog.independent.org | Kristian R. Fors
This month is the five-year anniversary of the COVID-19 lockdowns in California. In March 2020, I was studying abroad in Saint Petersburg, Russia. I had heard rumors about lockdowns in the West, but nothing had changed in Russia. People continued to move about without a mask, and people certainly were not locked down. Life was normal. Amid the normalcy, I suddenly received a shocking email: my study abroad had been canceled by my university in the United States.
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2 months ago | 
sfchronicle.com | Kristian R. Fors
The horrific wildfires that devastated the Los Angeles area - and necessitated a $1 billion bailout of the FAIR Plan, California's insurer of last resort - have many people asking why so few homeowners harden their homes against wildfires. Home hardening is how homeowners reduce their wildfire risk by retrofitting their homes with fire-resistant materials and removing excess vegetation.
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Jan 23, 2025 | 
blog.independent.org | Kristian R. Fors
As a child, I was told by many people that the United States was the only free country in the world, the land of the free, which implicitly suggested that every other country was somehow not free. I thought that other countries were tyrannical states, which subjugated their citizens and treated them like slaves. As I grew older, I realized that nothing was further from the truth.
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Sep 17, 2024 | 
independent.org | Lawrence J. McQuillan |Kristian R. Fors
Land in its natural state is not owned by anyone, argued John Locke in Two Treatises of Government, but after land is transformed by an individuals labor, that person earns a right to own the land and any improvements. In the mid-1800s, the U.S. government put Lockes property-rights theory into practice with the Homestead Act. Russia replicated the act in recent years. Today, America needs a modern version to create new opportunities.
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Sep 16, 2024 | 
mises.org | Kristian R. Fors |Lawrence J. McQuillan
Land in its natural state is not owned by anyone, argued John Locke in Two Treatises of Government, but after land is transformed by an individual’s labor, that person earns a right to own the land and any improvements. In the mid-1800s, the U.S. government put Locke’s property-rights theory into practice with the Homestead Act. Russia replicated the act in recent years. Today, America needs a modern version to create new opportunities.
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Aug 14, 2024 | 
catalyst.independent.org | Kristian R. Fors
Benjamin Franklin once famously wrote that there are only two things certain in life: death and taxes. For American citizens, this is especially true. The American tax-net extends far beyond the country’s borders and applies to Americans who are living abroad, even those who have not been in the United States for decades. The United States is one of only two countries in the entire world with a global taxation policy, the other being the East African country, Eritrea.
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Jul 31, 2024 | 
blog.independent.org | Kristian R. Fors
The California Department of Education reports that in the 2021-2022 school year, there were more than 10,000 teaching vacancies in the state. Moreover, the number of people pursuing teaching credentials has gone down year after year. According to by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, the number of new teaching credentials issued in California has decreased from 19,184 in 2020-2021 to only 14,309 in 2022-2023—a sharp 25% decrease in only two years.
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Jul 18, 2024 | 
heartlanddailynews.com | Kristian R. Fors
Don’t believe Gavin Newsom: California has one of the heaviest tax burdens and worst business climates of any state. (Commentary)by Kristian ForsIn his “State of the State Address,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said, “California is not a high-tax state” when comparing the tax burden on low-income residents in California to those in Florida and Texas. But Newsom is not telling the whole story.
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Jul 15, 2024 | 
independent.org | Kristian R. Fors
In his State of the State Address, Gov. Gavin Newsom said, California is not a high-tax state when comparing the tax burden on low-income residents in California to those in Florida and Texas. But Newsom is not telling the whole story.
According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, low-income residents in Florida and Texas pay larger portions of their income in taxes than high-income residents pay in California. Newsom relied on those numbers.
