An article in the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE details the hiring and retention problems of my San Diego city police department. These problems ARE real, but explainable — and solvable. SDPD hasn’t had a pay raise since 2009. The officers are still well paid, but LOWER paid than just about any other police department in the region. Supply and demand is indeed the PRIMARY problem the city faces. But not the only problem.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/public-safety/sd-me-police-hiring-20170613-story.html

What first annoyed me about this story is that the reporter seeks insights from a police “expert”– a guy from some flakey outfit that I suspect is funded by the police labor unions. Their board of directors are ALL police chiefs or police commissioners — hardly a reliable source of objective information. This guy makes a false claim about how police work has suddenly become quite risky compared to previous years. The paper says he asserts that “large numbers… Read More

Members of the California Legislature apparently believe they have the power to change outcomes they don’t like. This is like awarding the NBA Championship to Cleveland by retroactively mandating that all of Golden State’s three point baskets be counted as only two.

While basketball is not on the minds of lawmakers, they are working to interfere with something of much greater value to average Californians, their constitutional right to recall elected officials. The Sacramento politicians think they have found a way to derail what appears to be a successful grassroots effort to recall state Sen. Josh Newman, who cast a key vote imposing a new $5.2 billion annual gas and car tax on already overburdened taxpayers.

The power of recall is a powerful tool of direct democracy. The secretary of state’s website says, “Recall is the power of the voters to remove elected officials before their terms expire. It has been a fundamental part of our governmental system since 1911 and has been used by voters to express their dissatisfaction with their elected representatives.”

In the 29th Senate District, covering parts of Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino… Read More

There is great evil afoot in this country. The left is imploding before our very eyes. But it is a rot from within, and it is self-imposed. The Democrat Party has no substantive platform any longer other than obstruction, “resist,” foul-mouthed vulgarity, violence, anger, and excessive whining.

This rot is manifesting itself in some very public displays:

Campus snowflakes are working overtime at colleges and universities across the country to shut down speech. They are rioting, destroying property, and openly fighting professors who’s’ curriculum offends their sense of social justice. If that isn’t enough scurrilous behavior, these pathetic snowflakes are now demanding racially segregated graduation ceremonies, dormitories, and white students and professors are told to leave campuses for a “day without whites.” I remember when desegregation was worth… Read More

Thanks to AB 1887 California bans state-funded travel to states that pass religious liberty laws like Tennessee’s law that allows counselors to refer potential clients to other counselors who can better help them with their goals.

In response, the Tennessee Senate passed a resolution encouraging their state’s leaders to communicate with fellow governors and legislative leaders and “…urge these state officials to refrain from imposing moral judgment on their sister states as California has done in order to prevent escalating foolishness”

I took the opportunity to read Tennessee’s resolution on the Senate Floor to my colleagues who support the travel ban, and asked them to keep an open mind and be tolerant of others views, and the 10th Amendment rights of other states to govern themselves as they see fit so we’re not limiting opportunities for our public university students.

… Read More

For decades, it has been nearly impossible for ordinary citizens to pierce the veil of legislative secrecy in our state capital.

Of course, California is not unique — legislative bodies have sought to conceal their activity for millennia. This is inherent in the differences between rulers and subjects. But we all know too well that mischief feeds on secrecy. The Roman poet Virgil wrote more than 2,000 years ago, “Evil is nourished and grows by concealment.”

In California, the citizens have tried repeatedly to force legislative activity into the sunlight. So last year, to counter the common practice in the Legislature of introducing new bills and passing them within hours, often in the dead of night, voters approved Proposition 54. That important reform requires legislation be in print and available for public review for at least three days prior to final passage.

Passed as a constitutional amendment, Proposition 54 is not stated in discretionary language — its provisions are mandatory. And complying with its terms hardly places an onerous burden on lawmakers. Honestly crafted legislation should easily withstand a few days of public… Read More

On a trip to China to meet with the Communist dictator President Xi Jinping, California Governor Jerry Brown is signaling to the world hisfidelity to the unratified and dubious Paris Climate treaty, in spite of President Donald Trump’s recent withdrawal from the pact. Brownshould be investigated for colluding with a known foreign enemy upon his return to the United States — a federal republic of 50 states of which he is but one governor.

It is unconstitutional for a state to supplant federal powers and act on its own when dealing with other nations. Brown’s latest trip to China to enter into a treaty as a sovereign nationis unconstitutional on several levels, and violates the Logan Act. However, the left is claimingthat the agreement Brown signed with President Xi Jinping is “non-binding,” and therefore legal. “Non-binding?” How non-binding is it when it… Read More

Maglite flashlight inventor Anthony Maglica founded his machine shop in 1955 as a one-man operation. Never did he dream of the success he would have, or the 200+ patents he would eventually hold for his inventions. Maglica also would never imagine that the State of California would be adversarial to his business.

‘Made in America’ still stands for American quality with many consumers, but California’s politicians are another story.

I first met Magliteflashlight founder Anthony Maglica in 2012, and followed his attempts to reason with California politicians over an obscure law hurting his business.… Read More

After the Legislature imposed billions of dollars in new car and gas taxes on Californians last month, a friend emailed me to register his disappointment and disgust: “It’s like we live in an apartheid society where the politically powerful live in luxury and laugh at the working people of our state.” Sadly, his point is accurate. The separation between the ruling class and the rest of Californians is becoming more extreme by the day. So much so, in fact, that California is beginning to resemble a society based on a caste system, meaning a formal structure of social stratification (usually associated with India) deriving from the hereditary division of the population into the highest caste (Brahmins) and various castes below.

California’s high cast Brahmins reside primarily in coastal enclaves including the San Francisco Bay Area, Santa Barbara, Malibu and the west side of Los Angeles but they are also numerous in the Silicon Valley and Hollywood. These elites tend to be high income or wealthy and can afford to separate themselves from the trials and tribulations suffered by average citizens. This immunity from “real world” problems allows them… Read More