California is so stupid….Golden State legislators outdid themselves by passing Assembly Bill 5, signed last month by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Effective Jan. 1, the law reclassifies most independent contractors as full-time employees. This codifies the state Supreme Court’s 2018 Dynamex decision about “misclassified” freelancers. …The new law was pitched as a simple measure to provide contract workers with benefits like sick leave and health care. Yet as the dust clears, many ugly details are emerging. But here’s something weird: Freelance journalists are limited to 35 submissions a year per “putative” employer. Wait, what? The law was aimed at Uber and Lyft drivers. Yet now scriptwriters, actors, housekeepers, gardeners and many other types of contract workers will have their livelihoods threatened by Sacramento saps.

Andy Kessler, the Wall Street Journal. (or on FB)

Andy is not one to pull punches. When reading this latest column of his, I was reminded that our headline-oriented, attention seeking media culture rarely scratches the surface and doesn’t really dig into the dirty details of the news.