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[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.0.3″ custom_padding=”0px||0px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.0.3″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Author” _builder_version=”4.0.1″ header_4_text_align=”center” header_6_text_align=”center” header_6_font_size=”13px” custom_margin=”||2px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.6.0″ module_alignment_tablet=”” module_alignment_phone=”” module_alignment_last_edited=”on|phone” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.0.1″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.11.3″ hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
N<\/span>o one was more surprised than I\u2014and a handful of snide actuaries\u2014to discover, via Facebook, that today\u2019s my birthday. I won’t reveal my age but will allow that it somewhat rhymes with “heavenly fun.”<\/p>\n While I\u2019m one of those people who are almost painfully grateful for each day, what I\u2019m really celebrating today is the second anniversary of this column, which rose from the ashes of a daily one I wrote for eight years for the Sacramento Business Journal. <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”@ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoicG9zdF9mZWF0dXJlZF9pbWFnZSIsInNldHRpbmdzIjp7fX0=@” alt=”Edgy Cartoon” title_text=”Kitchen Confidential” show_in_lightbox=”on” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.9.7″ _dynamic_attributes=”src” width=”80%” width_tablet=”93%” width_phone=”95%” width_last_edited=”on|phone” max_width=”95%” max_width_tablet=”” max_width_phone=”” max_width_last_edited=”on|desktop” module_alignment=”center” border_width_all=”1px” box_shadow_style=”preset3″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption” _builder_version=”4.11.3″ text_font=”Georgia||on||||||” text_font_size=”14px” text_orientation=”center” custom_margin=”-16px||||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ text_font_size_tablet=”” text_font_size_phone=”” text_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Computer Terror<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.11.3″ hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding=”||0px|||” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n That was a casualty of State Assembly Bill 5, which was sponsored by California’s unions and designed to ensure that if you were a contractor but not an employee, you probably didn’t know how unhappy you were, you silly fluff. <\/p>\n So, when your client feared you’d sue to demand back wages and unpaid benefits\u2014even if suing anyone is usually the farthest thing from your mind\u2014you were cheerfully escorted to the figurative exit. (I say “figurative” exit because I visited the newspaper’s offices perhaps four times in eight years.)<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.11.3″ hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n And so, on November 15, 2019, two months and two days after the Business Journal put the kibosh on my column, I created The Goldman State. It now has readers in 20 states (and one European country), many of whom are curious about (but very few who are enchanted by) how we do things here in California.<\/p>\n California, which I’ve taken to calling The Initiative State\u2014and I don’t mean that people here are always peppily innovative\u2014sometimes appears to be a satellite office for the Democratic Party and labor unions. But I repeat myself. Yet even with our quasi-liberal brand, we actually have a fairly robust share of anti-vaxxers, survivalists, gun owners, racists, homophobes and would-be secessionists peopling our nearly 155,800 square miles, 58 counties and 482 municipalities.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_code disabled_on=”off|off|off” admin_label=”Adsense Horizontal” _builder_version=”4.10.7″ width=”90%” width_tablet=”90%” width_phone=”” width_last_edited=”on|desktop” max_width=”90%” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin=”|0px||0px|false|false” custom_margin_tablet=”” custom_margin_phone=”|0px||0px|false|false” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|desktop” global_module=”1433″ saved_tabs=”all” global_colors_info=”{}”]