Quick update on California (and Texas) unemployment. I include Texas simply because it’s the state most hated and denigrated by smug progressives. A state that is deep in a petroleum recession (54% price drop inside three years), Texas was widely predicted by MSM pundits to be sliding back into the ooze. Then when the deluge hit in August, much of the Lone Star State supposedly washed out to sea. Well, liberals HOPED that such was the case.

So, how did the Texas unemployment rate fare? Let’s check on both states.

The CA unemployment rate (August, 2017) has stopped improving and slipped a bit. We are now the 7thworst state – 5.1% (up a full 3/10th of a percent in one month) – largely due to a declining percentage of people seeking work in CA.

The national unemployment rate is steady at 4.4%. The CA unemployment rate is 18.5% higher than the average of the other 49 states. Texas? 4.2%.

http://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm

and… Read More

Gerald Meral’s Back…With a New Ballot Initiative…and a New Associate.

In Part l, it was revealed thatGerald (Jerry) Meral, and Joseph Caves (Tom Steyer’s Proposition 65 money man) both submitted proposition language for water bond ballot initiatives a couple of weeks apart, in July 2017. The two initiatives are remarkably similar — even have the same wording in numerous places — and suggest coordination to ensure passage of one or the other. Meral’s ballot initiative would raise $8.4 billion, while Cave’s is for $8 billion, according to the state’s Office of the Legislative Analyst.The LAO offers modest fiscal analysis but did acknowledge it will take $17.3 billion to pay off principal ($8.9 billion) and interest ($8.4 billion) on bonds over a 40-year… Read More

In 1996, at the end of the legislative session that year, I received a briefing on the electricity deregulation bill. I was being told that the bill would lead the state to a free market based power system. As I listened, I couldn’t see that outcome, but I knew so little about electricity distribution, and even less about free market principles. I knew I preferred free markets over government, taxation, and regulation, but I couldn’t articulate the principles, or how they should apply in that situation. I decided to study up.

One of the books I read was Socialism by Ludwig Von Mises. Late in the book, Mises wrote, in 1932, that it was unreasonable to expect an association of entrepreneurs, or an organization that relies on entrepreneurs as its principal basis of support, to take a principled stand against socialism. Since I had known every business organization in the state capitol to sell out the long term principles of small government and free markets for their personal short term interests, I had a moment of clarity. I thought to myself, from that point forward, I would never described myself as pro-business. I am pro-freedom,… Read More

I know that, from time to time, we all see these amazing examples of widespread public ignorance of fundamental facts about America. But this one jumped off the U-T editorial page at me: Only about one in four American adults can name all three branches of government.

Stated differently, three-fourths (actually 74%) of Americans — and presumably American voters — don’t know the three branches of our federal government. Of course, this means that most Americans don’t understand America’s “separation of powers” principle, or what “checks and balances” are about.

Naturally as a geezer I am now compelled to point out that “back in my day,” we learned all this in a JUNIOR HIGH “government” class. Sex-obsessed squirrel that I was in 8th grade, I still was inculcated with these all-important facts at that time. Today it appears that most college grads can’t name these three branches.

The decline in citizen familiarity with this fundamental tenet of American government has been ongoing, and even accelerating.T… Read More

In a stunning court rebuke of the state Attorney General’s Office, a Sacramento Superior Court Judge announced Friday that Xavier Becerra’s title and summary for the Repeal of the Gas Tax initiative is “misleading and is likely to create prejudice against the measure”— and that he’d “do a rewrite himself” to make it clear the measure would repeal Jerry Brown‘s increases gas taxes and vehicle fees.… Read More

Back in 2010 I wrote a piece about how terrorists would LOVE California’s High Speed Rail (HSR). It appeared in several places, including SDRostra.com (see the link below). It generated an unusual number of comments — with several commenters ridiculing the idea. I strongly recommend you review the article — the comments are also instructive. https://sdrostra.com/richard-rider/terrorists-will-love-california%E2%80%99s-high-speed-rail/

Fast forward to August 2017 and the WASHINGTON POST publishes a disturbing article about howal-Qaedahas come out with a manual for how to attack trains in America. Suddenly it’s not such a farfetched idea after all.… Read More

Introduction from FlashReport Publisher Jon Fleischman

This is the 12th year that we have presented for your viewing displeasure the worst pieces of legislation sitting on the Governor’s desk. Of course there are a great many bills on the Governor’s desk – most of them worthy of a veto. Thus the task of trying to cull through those bills and single out just the twenty worst is not easy. For the second year in a row, our list comes to us courtesy of both State Senator John Moorlach and Assemblymember Matt Harper. I will add that this session in particular was over-the-top with noxious legislation, and limiting this list to twenty bills was no easy task. – Flash

The FlashReport Top 20 Bills Worthy Of The Governor’s Veto

As compiled and described by State Senator John Moorlach and Assemblyman Matthew Harper… Read More

SAARBRUECKEN, GERMANY — This week I’m observing the final days of the German federal election campaign that will wrap up when the polls close Sunday evening, September 24 — Election Day in the European Union’s most populous nation.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU party with its Bavarian CSU counterpart is currently projected to again win the largest single block in the Bundestag, and that’s good news. The real drama involves which of the smaller parties will place third, thus giving shape to the governing coalition that will follow.

Under the leadership of Merkel’s CDU/CSU, Germany’s economy is booming, it’s running a strong trade surplus, and its… Read More