Presidential campaigns are unpredictable, as the sudden national debate about the Confederate flag that flies over the South Carolina state capitol demonstrates. At a time when America is threatened by ISIS, expansionist Russia, and China, plus a dreary economy who would have guessed we would be thrust into a discussion of flags and symbols from a long concluded conflict?

Yet, when a story like this makes it into the national headlines there’s a reflexive struggle to define the narrative. Republicans who fail to engage in the debate risk being defined by our opponents – just ask Mitt Romney.

This isa great opportunity to discuss and compare the history of the two political parties. If we’re going to have a debate about history, that’s one our team will win if we have the courage to do so.

First, let’s remind people of how the Republican Party came to be. At its origin, the Republican Party was a single issue party founded on the idea of abolishing slavery across the entire nation. We fielded our first Presidential candidate in 1856 with Californian John Fremont (yes, the city of Fremont, California is named for him). Something of a… Read More

Recently there’s been a nationwide effort to get some overseas manufacturing jobs “reshored” to the United States, apparently with modest success. But California has received only 2.4% of those jobs — a pretty dismal result.

It’s particularly distressing when one considers that CA holds 12.18% of the nation’s population. That means that, per capita, on average the other 49 states got more than 5.5 times the “reshoring” jobs that California received.

http://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2015/06/california-attracts-2-4-of-u-s-reshored-jobs/

By… Read More

Owning your own home is a part of the American dream. And if you cannot own your home, having affordable rent is the next best thing but sometimes legislation is introduced with the best of intentions but has the opposite impact from what was intended. The bill AB 1335 has been introduced by Assemblywoman Adkins with the intent of providing affordable housing, however, the funding mechanism is profoundly flawed.

AB 1335 proposes a new $75 tax on certain recorded documents, of which only 20% would go directly to fund affordable housing. The current base fee to record… Read More

Nearly every climate change and clean energy expert admits that California will achieve the legislatively mandated policy goals of AB 32, California’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, which said the state has to reduce carbon emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020.

So why is the California Air Resource Board and Legislature seeking to move the target before the deadline?

The Assembly Select Committee on Clean Energy was asked to address how Californians can reduce on-road petroleum use by 50 percent, by 2030. Assemblyman Bill Quirk, D-Hayward, the Committee Chairman,… Read More

“We thought [the employees we fired] were inappropriate to be employees of the city.” – Los Angeles Police ChiefBernard Parks(ret.), in reference to the termination of corrupt police officers,Rampart scandal (late 1990’s)

About a year ago we published an editorial asking this question, “How much does professionalism cost,” using as an example the tragic death of Kelly Thomas. In that case, six police officers repeatedly struck with batons and tased an unarmed man, who died a few days later of his injuries. Since that tragedy back in 2011, numerous cases of police misconduct have surfaced, many of them with equally tragic consequences. The latest one, while inexcusable, is more farce than tragedy, involving a team ofSanta Ana police officers who… Read More

[Publisher’s Note: As part of an ongoing effort to bring original, thoughtful commentary to you here at the FlashReport, we are pleased to present this column from Thomas Del Beccaro.]

When is enough – enough – when it comes to taxes? In California, the answer seems to be never. Despite persistently ranking among the highest taxed states in the nation and consistently ranking last as a place to start a business, in part because of taxes, new tax schemes abound. In my view, it is time to stop threatening Californians with new taxes.

In… Read More

A few years ago I wrote a column on the Orwellian practice of politicians who deceive voters by perverting the English language. For example, the benign sounding terms “investment,” “new revenue,” “budget solution,” and “fair share,” are all euphemisms for “higher taxes.”

A horrible bill dealing with California’s controversial high speed rail projects just cleared the Legislature. It compels us to reexamine the lexicon politicians use to create a very clear impression in the mind of the listener that what is being said is benevolent and true, when, in fact, it is not.

This week’s featured terms are “government transparency,” which to normal people means “open and honest,” and “government oversight,” the plain meaning of which is “watchful and responsible supervision.” To political insiders, however, the meaning of both these terms is “bury it.”

To read the entire column click here http://www.hjta.org/california-commentary/move-along-theres-nothing-to-see-here/… Read More

State superior court delivers a stunning rebuke to Agricultural Labor Relations Board’sTop Staff Attorney Sylvia Torres Guillén, citing “deficiencies in its investigation” and staff “embroilment” in worker termination.

An employee whistleblower at the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board has exposed wrongdoing by the activist attorneys in the state agency responsible for protecting the rights of farmworkers. The charges, made by an insider who participated in an ALRB investigation of Gerawan Farming, were brought directly to the office of the Board’s chairman, William B. Gould IV. The whistleblower employee alleges that the ALRB General Counsel and staff submitted false or misleading sworn statements to the Board in order to get agency authorization to file enforcement proceedings against Gerawan.

These charges could reveal the extent to which theGeneral Counsel TorresGuillénand staff manipulated evidence in administrative and legal proceedings in order to tip the scales – even perhaps illegally – in favor of the United Farm Workers.

The ALRB General Counsel’s… Read More