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LOONEY TUNES LEFT-WING ASSEMBLYMAN ALEX LEE FILES A “WE DON’T WANT TO GO INTO THE OFFICE” BILL ON BEHALF OF PUBLIC EMPLOYEE UNION
It was reported this weekend in CalMatters that Bay Area Assemblyman Alex “Lefty” Lee (my nickname for him, not the publication’s) has a new bill that would “require state agencies to offer work-from-home options to the fullest extent possible’ and provide written justifications when they require employees to work in person. So work-from-home would become the default.
After the pandemic forced an unprecedented shift to remote work, many people discovered the comfort and flexibility of working from home. That remote era wasn’t just a logistical experiment — it reshaped expectations. But as businesses large and small have since brought employees back to offices, especially in the private sector, one lesson has become clear: work is more than a task; it is a human activity that thrives in person. Physical proximity enhances mentoring, spontaneous collaboration, and the transfer of skills that are hard to replicate through screens.
In his book Full-Time: Work and the Meaning of Life, my friend David Bahnsen argues that work is intrinsic to identity, purpose, and human flourishing, not just a way to earn a paycheck, and that face-to-face engagement helps cultivate those deeper aspects of vocation. While remote work offers flexibility, in-person work remains indispensable for building culture, strengthening relationships, and nurturing the next generation of professionals — something especially evident now that most private-sector employers require office attendance while many public-sector roles lag behind. If it worked well, everyone would still be doing it.
But as I have said many times, the public employee unions have purchased the legislature, so let’s see if they get this benefit, like they get so many others…
ICYMI - SIX GREAT PIECES FROM SDIM IN THE LAST WEEK
Born in 1932, John Williams turns 94 this year, and his influence on modern music — especially in film — is almost impossible to overstate. For more than half a century, his orchestral scores have shaped how audiences experience adventure, wonder, fear, and triumph. At a time when Hollywood was drifting toward pop-influenced soundtracks, Williams helped restore the power of the grand symphonic score, drawing on the traditions of late-Romantic composers and pairing them with a sharp instinct for storytelling.
His landmark scores include Star Wars, Jaws, the Indiana Jones adventures, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Superman, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. With five Academy Awards and more than fifty nominations, his career stands among the most celebrated in cinematic history, and his music remains the gold standard for what movie magic sounds like
Since we are in the midst of the Winter Olympic Games, this is a great day to watch Williams conduct the Berlin Symphony in his composition “Olympic Fanfare and Theme,” which he wrote for the 1984 games and has since become an iconic melody for the Olympics as an institution.
Thank you for being a part of the So, Does It Matter? Family!
Jon
