[Publisher’s Note: As part of an ongoing effort to bring original, thoughtful commentary to you here at the FlashReport, we present this column from Brian Johnston. Johnston is the Director of National Right to Life’s Western Office]

“The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-viewand mental habits proper to the devotees… but to make all other modes of thought impossible…. Newspeak was designed not to extend but to diminish the range of thought…. Any word in the language …could be used either as verb, noun, adjective, or adverb.”

George Orwell, The Principles of Newspeak

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Neel Kashkari will be the Republican candidate for governor of California against the incumbent, Jerry Brown, in November. The primary, on the GOP side, was largely interpreted as a battle between moderate Kashkari and the far-right candidate, Tim Donnelly. Now that the moderate has won, it’s time for him to change his campaign to deal with the prospects in November.

Those prospects are not good: Brown finished with 55% of the primary vote, Kashakari with 19%. According to the L.A. Times, “…Brown is poised to all but ignore Kashkari.” The article quotes Brown advisor Don Sipple: “The best mode of campaigning for him (Brown) is to govern the state…and not even give rise to the notion that there’s a competitive election.”

What can Kashkari do so that Brown cannot ignore him? One thing is for sure- Kashkari will spin his wheels and waste our time if he campaigns now the way he did in the primary. Coming on the scene in January as a hopeful dark-horse, Kahskari made an immediate … Read More

Several months ago when my friend Peter Kuo asked me to assist with his State Senate race in the heavily democratic District 10, I never imagined I’d be asked how to respond to claims that he talked to someone who had died 2 years ago, however that very thing happened yesterday.

We all remember the 1999 drama “The Sixth Sense” where Haley Joel Osment’s character saw dead people, however even in the movies he never talked to them (except for Bruce Willis.) Now Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski is claiming his opponent Peter Kuo, is talking to them!

Kuo advanced to the November election in the South Bay Area senate district last Tuesday riding momentum against SCA 5 and general disdain for Sacramento. Apparently Asm. Wieckowski felt a sense of urgency to put out a press release differentiating himself from Kuo on education. Afterall, Wieckowski ought to be a little defensive that much of the billions California has spent on education ends up outside of the classroom and has delivered dismal results for California students. California ranks among the bottom in the nation on educational achievement, and Wieckowski’s party has controlled… Read More

Many of today’s young people have been brought up to have very libertine attitudes on sex – free love, free sex, whenever, wherever, with whoever. It’s known as the Hook-up culture. This attitude, unencumbered by morals, comes from the left. This hook-up culture has led to big problems on college campuses.

Legislative Women’s Caucus

Rather than educating students about abstinence and self-respect, the Legislative Women’s Caucus chairwoman and vice chairwoman, Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, and Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, and Sen. Kevin de Leόn, D-Los Angeles, are the authors of Senate Bill 967, which will require California colleges and universities to deal with campus sexual violence by requiring each school to adopt Legislature-approved “victim-centered sexual assault response policies and protocols that follow best practices and professional standards.”

Jackson, Lowenthal andde Leόn however, are not addressing the hook-up culture; they are declaring sex a… Read More

Last Tuesday’s election results are still being pondered, analyzed and examined by the pundits trying to make sense of it all. But few of these prognosticators attempt to read the tea leaves with a view toward answering this question: What did last week’s election mean for taxpayers?

As virtually all those who pay more into government than they receive are aware, California remains exceptionally hostile to taxpayers. So in judging whether statewide election results are “good”… Read More

Inone of the most significant labor relations fights in the country,California farm workers have made history again. But this fight is about trying to get their votes from a November election counted, in order to boot the farm labor union out of their place of business.

The Agricultural Labor Relations Board has steadfastly refused to count the ballots from the Nov. decertification vote.

Ironically, this same group of people – Hispanic farm laborers – are the very demographic the Democratic Party is so eager to register to… Read More

Proposition 209 – the California ballot initiative to prohibit discrimination and preferential treatment on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin – has been a source of controversy in California since its passage in 1996. The primary opponent of 209 is an aptly named organization – the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN). Yes, that is the true name!

BAMN has protested, demonstrated and filed a seemingly endless series of lawsuits, all with the objective of overturning Proposition 209 or Proposal 2 in Michigan, the subject of the recent decision of the United States Supreme Court. This case, Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, involved the question of whether it is constitutional for a white majority electorate to approve a ballot initiative to prohibit race preferences. Schuette was decided 6-2 with one justice, Elena Kagan, not voting because of her association with the case in her prior position with the Obama administration.

The Schuette case represents, quite likely, the last legal challenge to be brought against… Read More

These days, it’s hard to talk about Sacramento without bringing up the ethics challenges confronting the State Senate. Criminal charges that include everything from perjury to bribery to influence peddling have been leveled against three Democratic members of this body. Faced with those facts, facts that have triggered their indefinite suspensions, legislators on both sides are busy figuring out what steps to take in response.

Throughout all of this, however, one thing has been crystal clear: it is not enough… Read More