Let me be clear from the outset.I have a political objective as I write this.One of my closest friends in the world, Scott Baugh, made a decision not too long ago to run for Congress where he lives in coastal Orange County. I’m hoping that by spending a little bit of time telling you about Scott that you will do one of two things.If you happen to live in California’s 48th Congressional District, I’m urging you to vote for him.Otherwise, if you know anyone who might living in that district, I’m hoping you can drop them a note, or share this. While I have supported many people for Congress over my years of active political involvement, I think it may be since another close friend of mine, Ed Royce, ran successfully for Congress in 1992 that I have felt this strongly about supporting someone for federal office.

I first met Scott in 1995 when he ran for office when the entire GOP establishment circled the wagons to recall turncoat Assembly Speaker Doris Allen.Scott ran in the recall election and replaced Allen.Scott went on to serve five years in the State Assembly and as fate would have it just a few years later, during his final term, he… Read More

The explosion of California homelessness can be directly linked to the radical left’s determination to empty out the jails and prisons through legislation and ballot initiatives, claiming to be for safe neighborhoods and the well-being of our children. Combine that with the outrageous housing costs and lack of available affordable housing, and California is ground zero for a homeless explosion comparable only to colonies of feral cats.

The Democrat-dominated California Legislature has pushed and legislated policies that do nothing to decrease homelessness, and instead invite more of it to the Golden… Read More

UPDATE: Droughts are naturally occurring; water shortages are government-created and political. Examples of this can be found in every water bond in recent history, put on the ballot by politicians, and passed by emotional voters.

California voters will be facing two more ballot initiatives claiming to be water bonds this year, totaling $13 billion. But the overall cost will be much higher for taxpayers. One water bond is on the June 5 ballot and a second one is on the November 6 ballot.

The most recent 2014 Proposition 1 water bond funding has not even been fully spent, and will not be spent by the end of 2018,… Read More

It’s happened before: Some vile racist or anti-Semite runs for an office they have no chance of winning in the hopes of drawing attention to themselves, or their cause. This is exactly what happened earlier this year when Holocaust denier Arthur Jones ran for Congress as a Republican in the heavily Democratic 3rd Congressional District of Illinois. He has been denounced by the Republican Party but will still appear on the November ballot as a result of winning the uncontested GOP primary in the district.

Well, now we have another one of these guys. This time it’s here in California. Today’s vile anti-Semite is John Fitzgerald, who is running for Congress in the heavily Democratic 11th Congressional District in Contra Costa County. The district, in which Hillary Clinton won 71.% of the vote in 2016, is currently represented by Democrat Mark DeSaulnier.

Fitzgerald has zero chance of winning this seat, yet he currently has the official endorsement of the California Republican Party by virtue of being the only Republican running for the office. Under rules adopted by the party following the passage of California’s deeply flawed top-two primary system, the… Read More

I received a jury summons in the mail last week. Whenever this happens, I stare at it for a few days or weeks, and then try to dream up an exotic excuse why I cannot possibly serve. I’m not trying to get out of my civic duty; I paid my civic debt years ago on a death penalty jury – and I was a casualty of jury tampering.

In 1991, I was assigned as a juror to the death… Read More

Following Starbucks’ corporate announcement that anyone can use the store’s restrooms, even without buying anything, I posted on Twitter: “Starbuck’s: A national public bathroom chain which serves mediocre espresso coffee topped with a frothy whip of white privilege, and an extra shot of millennial attitude.”

What prompted the post? While Starbucks’ executive chairman Howard Schultz travels the country on an apology tour for racial insensitivity, the Starbucks in my Sacramento… Read More

After the first of this year I contacted an old friend at the Tax Foundation, Executive Vice President Joe Henchman, a Californian who I’ve known to be a tax fighter since I first met him at age 16. I suggested that his well-respected nonprofit prepare an online federal income tax calculator.

What was needed — and the Tax Foundation subsequently built — was a website calculator for people to be able to input their own tax return numbers. Then the website would grind out the resulting federal income tax for 2017 AND 2018 — side by side. Of course, 2018 shows the effect of the remarkable federal income tax reform.

The MSM continues to claim that the tax reform doesn’t help “the little guy.” TOTAL BS, but a bogus assertion that is widely accepted by the public as fact. Granted, not EVERYONE benefits. But the OVERWHELMING majority — probably 90% or more — do end up better off in 2018 compared to 2017. The people who get hurt by this reform are the rich who live in batshit-crazy progressive strongholds — which usually have high state income tax rates.

California is the worst with its 13.3% top… Read More

Since the 1999 school shooting inColumbine, CO, it appears that a typecast of the shooters has emerged: teen boys who are depressed, isolated, medicated, jilted, have absentee or divorced parents, and play violent video games.

The latest school shooter opened fire at Santa Fe High School in Texas on last Friday, killing 10 and wounding 13. Police arrived on scene and engaged in a 30-minuteshootout. The shooter targeted and murdered a teen girl who rebuffed his advances.

The media has engaged in non-stop reporting on this. The media was still reporting on the Parkland, Fla.,Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in February, when Friday’s shooting happened. It’s as if the media’s incessant reporting is encouraging more demented teen boys to emulate the previous shooter.

Where Are the… Read More