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Welcome the ReeRomp.

In a scene from the 1993 thriller “Falling Down,” Robert Duvall’s character, soon-to-be-retired LAPD Sergeant Martin Prendergast, was told by his captain, William Yardley, “I never liked you. You know why? You don’t curse. I don’t trust a man who doesn’t curse. … Real men curse.”

Captain Yardley may have been on to something. According to a recent study conducted at the University of Cambridge, the more you curse, the more honest you are.

“There are two ways of looking at it. You might think if someone is swearing a lot, this is a negative social behavior,” study co-author David Stillwell told the London Daily Mail. “On the other hand, they are not filtering their language so they are probably also not putting their stories … through similar filters which might turn them into untruths.”

American political consultants clearly read the study, because C-SPAN is starting to sound like a loading dock.

Earlier this month at a health care forum in San Francisco, California’s junior U.S. senator, Kamala Harris, said, “Like this guy, this congressman, you might as well say, ‘People don’t starve because they don’t have food.’ What the f**k is that?”

Later on, Harris was about to swear a second time, but bit her tongue and drew laughs from the audience.

She’s not the only one who has a potty mouth. During a discussion of law enforcement and community issues, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez recently said, “If you don’t have the trust of the community as a police officer, then you ain’t got s**t,” and he told a New Jersey Working Families Alliance event in March that Republicans “don’t give a s**t about people.”

If you’re wondering how spontaneous Perez’s cursing was, by the end of the week the shop at Democrats.org was selling “Democrats give a s**t about people” T-shirts.

No word on how long it will take for them to come out with the commemorative pins.

In March, California Congressman Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, tweeted: “Mr. President: If there was a wiretap at Trump Tower, that means a fed judge found probable cause of crime which means you are in deep s**t.”

In a recent interview with New York magazine, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said: “If we’re not helping people, we should go the f**k home.”

“Andrew Dice” Gillibrand went on to add a few more f-bombs on how she didn’t know how to pass a bill when she started in the Senate, and how she recalled anxiety dreams she was having where she forgot to order Girl Scout cookies from a pal.

In her defense, I can see how the thought of missing out on a year’s supply of Thin Mints might lead to an expletive-laced tirade.

Clearly, the consultant class has told Democrats to be profane, with the assumption that it will help them sound more authentic to the blue-collar white voters who abandoned them in droves last November, and also demonstrate that elected Democrats hate President Donald Trump just as much as their base does.

Even more tellingly, it proves that Democrats are still clueless as to why they lost the election.

Trump did not win the election because voters were in love with his vulgarian behavior; he won in spite of it.

The New York billionaire won the election because both major political parties insisted on supporting free trade, endless wars and open borders, expressly against the wishes of the American people. Trump was the only candidate willing the challenge the Washington, D.C., elite consensus.

And no amount of swearing will change that reality.

John Phillips is a CNN political commentator and can be heard weekdays at 3 p.m. on “The Drive Home with Jillian Barberie and John Phillips” on KABC/AM 790.

Government has been criticized for being slow to adapt to new technologies — but not when it comes to taxing them, it seems.

And especially not in California, where the Franchise Tax Board is blasting off with a proposal to tax the fledgling private spaceflight industry. The tax would be the first of its kind at the state level.

Perhaps there is a good reason for that. Maybe other states do not want to bleed the industry dry before it can even get off the launch pad. Yet, incredibly, the FTB says its tax scheme, which would be determined by a formula based on the number of launches made from within the state and the distance traveled, would be a boon to the industry. By introducing a measure of certainty over tax treatment, the FTB says, its proposal “will lead to increased activity in the industry and will foster an atmosphere of growth and prosperity once present during the golden age of California’s aviation industry, thereby creating jobs as the industry thrives in this state.”

Because more taxes — not savings; investment; competitive markets; good, old-fashioned hard work and ingenuity; and the freedom to keep the fruits of one’s labor — is what is needed to “foster an atmosphere of growth and prosperity.” And if companies have been holding back on their investments for fear of how much of their wealth the state will try to confiscate, that does not exactly speak well to the state’s treatment of businesses — in this industry or any other.

“Yes, taxes always foster growth and prosperity — somewhere else where taxes are lower,” quipped writer Ed Straker in a post for the American Thinker. “California state government spends all its time 24/7 thinking of new ways to tax people and businesses,” he added. Sadly, that does, indeed, seem to be the case.

There is something to be said for eliminating uncertainty over government tax and regulatory policies, especially if it provides some assurance that in-state businesses will not be excessively taxed and out-of-state competitors using the same launch facilities in California will be subject to the same rules. But, given our policymakers’ propensity to heap on more and more taxes and restrictions on businesses, this can hardly be a comforting thought.

And the eagerness to be the first to impose such a tax does not bode well for encouraging or attracting private space businesses, when they could operate without such a tax elsewhere.

“States that don’t levy taxes would have that competitive advantage over states that do,” John Logsdon, professor emeritus and co-founder of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “If California puts in a tax and Florida or Texas doesn’t have a similar tax, I’m not sure that helps California in a competitive way.”

We have seen the future, and the future is more taxes. In other words, it is more of the same for California. The state prides itself on the presence of innovative companies, especially in Silicon Valley, but if it wants a brighter economic future, it should learn to take a more hands-off approach, whether it is the treatment of exciting new ventures whisking goods and people into space or the more terrestrial and mundane pursuits of other businesses that provide economic opportunities for workers and needed goods and services for consumers in California and across the globe.

Scores from Wednesday’s CIF-SS baseball playoff games, and the updated schedule for Thursday and Friday.

BASEBALL PLAYOFFS
Games 3:15 p.m. unless noted

DIVISION 1
First round, Thursday
Redondo at Huntington Beach
Servite at Cypress
West Ranch at El Dorado
Dana Hills at Harvard-Westlake
Hart at Vista Murrieta
Orange Lutheran at Corona, 4 p.m.
Mission Viejo at Riverside North
Damien at South Hills
San Clemente at Notre Dame/Sherman Oaks
Redlands East Valley at Santiago/Corona
Mater Dei at Millikan, 3 p.m.
Dos Pueblos at Valencia/Valencia
Foothill at JSerra
Los Alamitos at Gahr
Chaminade at Bishop Amat
Tesoro at El Toro

DIVISION 2
Wild-card games, Wednesday
ML King 10, Murrieta Valley 0
Beckman 3, Yucaipa 1
Santa Barbara 2, Burroughs/Burbank 1
Capistrano Valley 6, Tustin 2
Ayala 1, Villa Park 0
Oaks Christian 1, Alemany 0 (8 innings)

First round, Friday
ML King at St. John Bosco
Woodbridge at Paloma Valley
Woodcrest Christian at Glendora
Lakewood at Rio Mesa
Beckman at Etiwanda
Simi Valley at Village Christian
Laguna Beach at Trabuco Hills
Santa Barbara at Newbury Park
Capistrano Valley at Crescenta Valley
Thousand Oaks at St. Bonaventure
San Dimas at Mira Costa
Ayala at Corona del Mar
Temescal Canyon at La Mirada
Kaiser at Palm Desert
Edison at Long Beach Wilson
Oaks Christian at Moorpark

DIVISION 3
First round, Thursday
La Salle at Quartz Hill
Los Osos at San Gorgonio
Riverside Poly at Citrus Valley
Paso Robles at Cantwell-Sacred Heart
West Torrance at El Segundo
Mayfair at Troy
Sierra Canyon at Ventura, Friday
California at Walnut
Cajon at Don Lugo
Santa Fe at Torrance
Arcadia at Paraclete
Chaparral at Canyon/Anaheim
Warren at Peninsula
Ocean View at Crean Lutheran
Charter Oak at Valencia/Placentia
Culver City at Righetti

DIVISION 4
Wild-card games, Wednesday
Burroughs/Ridgecrest 8, Excelsior 1
Arroyo Grande 10, Flintridge Prep 5

First round, Friday, 3:15 p.m.
Burroughs/Ridgecrest at Tahquitz
Valley Christian/Cerritos at Segerstrom
West Covina at Santa Ynez
Wilson/Hacienda Heights at La Quinta
Schurr at Serra/Gardena
La Serna at Nogales
Burbank at Lancaster, 4 p.m.
Rancho Alamitos at Capistrano Valley Christian
Arroyo Grande at Grace Brethren
Calvary Chapel/Santa Ana at Bishop Montgomery
Fullerton at Hemet
Ramona at Linfield Christian
Sierra Vista at Sonora
Shadow Hills at Victor Valley
Glenn at Alhambra
Temple City at Maranatha

DIVISION 5
First round, Thursday
Ontario Christian at Oak Hills
Salesian at Rolling Hills Prep
Desert Christian/Lancaster at Pacifica/Oxnard
Palm Springs at Jurupa Hills
Saddleback Valley Christian at Grand Terrace
Century at Jurupa Valley
North Torrance at La Quinta/Westminster
Rialto at Chaffey
Windward vs. Katella at Boysen Park
Atascadero at Garey
Apple Valley at Academy for Academic Excellence
Calvary Murrieta at Heritage
Garden Grove at Hillcrest
Campbell Hall at Buckley
Loara at Templeton
Lompoc at La Canada

DIVISION 6
Wild-card games, Wednesday
Silverado 5, Banning 3
Southlands Christian 10, Oxford Academy 6
Santa Maria 14, New Roads 1
Yucca Valley 11, Arroyo 10
Santa Clara 4, Ganesha 3 (8 innings)

First round, Friday
Silverado at Rancho Christian
Rio Hondo Prep at El Monte
Twentynine Palms at Desert Christian/Bermuda Dunes
Southlands Christian at St. Michael’s Prep
St. Margaret’s at St. Anthony
Vista del Lago at Big Bear
Providence/Burbank vs. Foothill Tech at Huntsinger Sports Park, Ventura
Santa Maria at Dunn
Yucca Valley at Pasadena Poly
Malibu vs. Animo Leadership at Windward, Thursday
Ontario at Barstow
Santa Clarita Christian at Pomona
Nuview Bridge at Hesperia Christian
St. Bernard vs. St. Monica Academy at Scholl Canyon Ballfields, Glendale, 4:30 p.m.
South El Monte at Moreno Valley
Santa Clara at Rancho Mirage

DIVISION 7
First round, Thursday
Bosco Tech at Faith Baptist
Pacifica Christian/Santa Monica vs. Environmental Charter at Thorpe Park, Hawthorne
Packinghouse Christian at Apple Valley Christian
Upland Christian at Noli Indian
Vasquez vs. Carnegie at Riverside City College
Redlands Adventist at Riverside Bethel Christian
Valley ChristianSanta Maria vs. Hillcrest Christian at Moorpark College, 4 p.m.
Bishop Diego at Lennox Academy
Arrowhead Christian at Oakwood
La Verne Lutheran at Anza Hamilton, 1 p.m.
University Prep at Joshua Springs
Gladstone at San Jacinto Valley Academy
Shalhevet at Einstein
Trinity Classical at Coast Union, 2 p.m.
Tarbut V’Torah 13, Crossroads Christian 0 (Wednesday)
La Sierra Academy at Boron