One hazard of the LA TIMES now owning the SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE is that my paper now mindlessly publishes LA TIMES stories. It’s a ballyhooed “efficiency” of one paper buying the other. But the hazard is that the fabled LA TIMES liberal news bias now regularly appears in my previously right-of-center San Diego paper. The story below is definitely newsworthy — written by the “news” reporters for the LA TIMES. California’s years of restricting our state’s refinery capacity — coupled with regulations that pretty much block gasoline being imported from other states — have resulted in periodic windfall profits for the very oil companies everyone loves to hate. But this article is deceiving — and given the paper’s strong liberal bias — I’m sure it’s intentional. The paper uses “gross profits” as a benchmark. But that term is both undefined, and mis-defined in the article. Here’s the proper accounting definition of “gross profit”: A … 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 Rohit Joy, Chairman of the Republican Party of Contra Costa County.]

The Republican Party of Contra Costa County held a special election last Thursday to fill the vacancy in the chairmanship and I am honored and humbled to have been elected county party chairman by the members of the central committee for the remainder of the 2015-2016 term.

First, I would like to thank Nyna… Read More

Part lll – ALRB Credibility Lacking in Gunlund Case. Part l is here, Part ll is here.

The Agricultural Labor Relations Board is lacking credibility in the H&R Gunlund Ranches case.

Despite the transcripts from the ALRB v. Gunland Ranches case showing the Agricultural Labor Relations Board administrative law judge Mark Soble had doubts about crucial parts of ALRB Regional Director Silas Shawver’s testimony against the ranch, the judge still ruled against Gunlund Ranches.

During the course of the case agains Gunlund Ranches, Shawver’s status… Read More

“The six-year bull market is admittedly long in the tooth.” CalSTRS Chief Investment Officer Chris Ailman,Sacramento Bee, July 17, 2015

If what Mr. Ailman really means is equity investments may not be turning in double digit returns any more, that makes the recent performance of CalSTRS and CalPERS all the more troubling. Because according to their most recent financial statements,CalSTRS only earned 4.8% last year, andCalPERS only earned 2.4%. That leaves CalSTRS 68.5% funded, and CalPERS 77% funded.

Are we at the top of a bull market? Take a look at this chart:

S&P 500, Last Twenty Years Through June 21, 2015

… Read More

This week, the animal rights activists of “Mercy for Animals” are staging protests, decrying the tortured chickens at Foster Farms in Modesto, CA, while Planned Parenthood is selling aborted baby organs and tissue to the highest bio-tech bidder.

The misleading name ‘Planned Parenthood’ may make abortion-seekers feel better about their “choice,” but it’s time to start accepting what this organization was founded on, and what it really does.

The revelation of last week’s video catching a senior director for medical services atPlanned Parenthood’s explaining how the abortion clinics sell aborted baby’s fetal organs and tissue to biotech firms, while munching on salad and sipping red wine, should have elicited nationwide outrage and disgust at such moral depravity.

It was not only shocking to realize that licensed “health care professionals” are illegally selling aborted babies, known as “fetal harvesting,” the hypocrisy of the pro-abortion movement is astounding and now on full display. Pro-abortion advocates have… Read More

Two weeks ago, a Democrat on the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee defiled the legislative committee process again by forcing another job-killing bill through without full debate.

Senate Bill 3 by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, calls for repeated automatic increases in the state’s minimum wage, and is just one of his many attempts to force costs on employers that their businesses cannot bear.

Committee Chairman Assemblyman Roger Hernández, a Democrat from Los Angeles, abruptly cut off a witness midsentence. Before taking another breath, Hernándezquickly called for a vote on the bill, even though members of the public had not testified, and other lawmakers on the committee wished to speak.

When Committee Vice Chairman, Assemblyman Matthew Harper, R-Huntington Beach, tried to speak, Hernandez shut off Harper’s microphone. When Harper objected, Hernándezreached across the desk of an Assembly staff member, and physically tried to shut off Harper’s microphone. Then Hernándezordered Assembly Sergeants to remove Harper’s microphone. Hernándezimmediately forced the vote on the bill, ending along party lines.

Assemblyman Jim… Read More

PART ll in ALRB Series:The Sordid Story of the Radicals at the CA Ag Labor Board.Click here for Part l

The ALRB’s Regional Director in the Central Valley, Silas Shawver, has a history as a union organizer, as do other ALRB employees. Shawver describes himself as a “union organizer turned lawyer.” (see graphic at right), and on his Linkedin page, Shawver lists “Organizer” as one of his jobs with UNITE HERE (graphic below).

“The California Agricultural Labor Relations Board was created in 1975 to ensure peace in the fields of… Read More

The shocking murder of Kathryn Steinle on San Francisco’s Pier 14 has been attributed to Juan Sanchez, a felon who has been deported from the United States five times. Sanchez, however, could not have committed this crime by himself. Many public officials served as accessories by enacting the policies which led to his release. San Francisco is a sanctuary city which provides refuge for foreign nationals who may otherwise face deportation. Under the policy, San Francisco has developed into a safe haven for convicted felons. In their zeal to frustrate U.S. immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE), city leaders willfully released known felons who are facing… Read More