“When I see someone attacking the benefits the Fire Department receives or the Police Department receives, my concern is: Why wouldn’t you expect the same for yourself? We should act as a beacon.” – Mike Mohun, president of the San Ramon Firefighters Union, quoted in theNew York Times, March 2, 2017

There are many compelling reasons to examine this statement by Mr. Mohun, since pension benefits for state and local government workers are consuming ever increasing percentages of tax revenue. For starters, using the term “attack” is unfair. More accurate might be “counter-attack,” since the costs for these pensions are what has become extreme, not our reaction. If these pensions were financially sustainable, California’s citizens would not beunder attack by continuously escalating taxes, and continuously diminishing public services.

But why shouldn’t we expect the same for… Read More

California’s employment figures have definitely improved from the depths of our disastrous recession. Our Left Coast state suffered worse from the downturn than the rest of the country, and have until recently lagged in the recovery. Democrats like to paint California today as experiencing a “miracle” rebound, with CA leading the nation in the employment surge. They are in some ways right. And dead wrong.

Let’s drill down a bit into the numbers to get a more complete picture. The devil is in the details, as they say. After lagging for years, we had a surge in CA jobs in 2015. But that surge seems to be petering out, as the numbers below indicate.

First, let’s be clear. We have NOT fully recovered from the recession. Nor are we doing better than the country’s average unemployment figures. But we have had a recent surge to narrow the gap. Here’s my latest figures from the BLS:

Several hundred members of the Vietnamese American community traveled to the State Capitol in SacramentoMondayto demonstrate their support of Sen. Janet Nguyen (R-Garden Grove), including more than 100 Vietnamese Americans who rode the bus from Nguyen’s Orange County district.

Nguyen was forciblyremoved from the Senate Floor Feb. 23, 2017 for speaking about the late Senator Tom Hayden, and his involvement with communists in Vietnam. Hayden’s memory triggers outrage in the Vietnamese community.

The rally Monday was a patriotic event, with most of the Vietnamese carrying American flags, and the flag of Vietnam, and many wearing American flag clothing. As the rally officially… Read More

As an earlier supporter of President Trump’s candidacy, it was such a great sound to hear the introduction of “Mr. Speaker, the President of the United States of America.” President Trump being escorted into the Chamber by Congressmen Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise, the President wearing a very fashionable blue stripe tie received a warm standing ovation.

Putting aside my bias, I must say that we heard a very Reagan style speech, he stared by celebrating the end of Black History month, condemning hate and evil, the threats of violence and vandalism against Jewish Community Centers .

He spoke about patriotism; “Each American generation… Read More

In an astonishing violation of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, California State Sen. Janet Nguyen (R-Garden Grove), was forcibly removed from the Senate last Thursday morning for challenging the sycophantic Senate memorial of the late Sen. Tom Hayden, a Democrat with a well-known and lengthy history of communist sympathies.Sen. Nguyen and her family escaped communist Vietnam and came to the United States in search of freedom in 1981 during Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Sadly, what Nguyenexperienced last week was communistic suppression of dissent inside the chambers of the California State Senate, in the state she thought epitomized freedom. … Read More

Deep State: A body of people, typically influential members of government agencies or the military, believed to be involved in the secret manipulation or control of government policy. – Oxford English Dictionary

The term “Deep State” has been around for at least a decade, but it has emerged into common parlancein reference tothe alleged opposition by elements of the U.S. intelligence community to the presidency of Donald Trump. An insightful analyst who has written extensively about the deep state on his blog “Of Two Minds,” is Charles Hugh Smith. In onerecent commentary, Smith created a diagram of the deep state, showing how it encompasses far more than just the intelligence agencies, but constitutes the entire so-called “establishment,” where virtually… Read More

Former Senator Isadore Hall, a Democrat who marched with the President of the United Farm Worker’s labor union, and publicly declared his solidarity with the UFW campaign against the Gerawan Farming employees, has been appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown to the Agricultural Labor Relations Board. Hall’s confirmation hearing is March 1.

After losing a race for Congress in November 2016, Hall has announced he will make another run in 2018… while he is on the ALRB?

Much Opposition to Hall’s Appointment

“The ALRB wields extraordinary powers over California’s agricultural workers and growers,” said Dan Gerawan in a letter addressed to the Senate Rules… Read More

A Whittier cop was killed last week. A Palm Springs cop was killed three months ago. These crimes were avoidable. We, as a state, are paying the price for our own foolishness. Our crime rate is rising, after 20 years of falling. Violent felonies are rising, after 20 years of falling. Minor crime is out of control. Store owners will tell you it is impossible to get anyone to protect their property from petty thieves. After years of record decreases in crime, we are watching it rise again. Police are paying a price, and people are starting to fear again.

Very simple. I had a small role in the passage of three strikes in 1994. We had one simple principle — if someone committed two serious or violent felonies, the third felony, no matter what it was, was a basis for removing the criminal from society for his or her entire life. Why should we wait for a third victim of a serious or violent felony? Why should one more person suffer at the hands of someone who refused to conform to the rules of civil life, that is, don’t hurt or steal from your neighbor? With its passage, we saw a 50% drop in crime in a year, after 35 years of increasing crime… Read More