Tag Archives: California

Voting With Your Feet

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On January 12, Issues & Insights posted an article about the reaction to a proposed California tax on billionaires. It should not be a surprise that billionaires do not want to pay this tax.

The article reports:

The Billionaire Tax Act isn’t even officially on the California ballot yet, but that hasn’t stopped businessmen, entrepreneurs, and investors from fleeing the state, taking $1 trillion in wealth – along with jobs and opportunity – with them.

Tech entrepreneur Chamath Palihapitiya has been keeping track of who’s decided to leave the state in advance of this “temporary” tax.

“We had $2T of billionaire wealth just a few weeks ago. Now, 50% of that wealth has left – taking their income tax revenue, sales tax revenue, real estate tax revenue, and all their staffs (and their salaries and income taxes) with them,” he posted on X this weekend.

“In other words, by starting this ill-conceived attempt at an asset tax, the California budget deficit will explode. And we still don’t know if the tax will even make the ballot.”

Among those who’ve given up on California are Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. The New York Times reports that 10 days before Christmas, Brin “terminated or moved 15 California limited liability companies that oversee some of his business interests and investments out of the state” and “more than 45 California limited liability companies associated with Mr. Page filed documents last month to either become inactive or move out of the state.”

The Laffer Curve is an illustration of what is happening  in California:

Millionaires and billionaires have tax accountants, lawyers, and other people who help them legally avoid many of the taxes the rest of us pay. Voting with your feet is one of the easiest ways to avoid excessive taxes. Voting with your feet is one of the reasons Texas and Florida are the fastest growing states in the nation. Their tax policies make them very attractive to businessmen.

The article concludes:

This is a state, after all, that has managed in the past few years to kill its other golden goose, the film industry – the Wall Street Journal last fall said  “L.A.’s Entertainment Economy Is Looking Like a Disaster Movie.”

It’s a state that sits at the top of the list for highest tax rates, but the bottom of the list for just about everything else. (See “Do Californians Realize How Badly They’re Getting Ripped Off?”)

It’s a state that – despite idyllic weather and natural beauty – has driven more than 1.6 million residents away. (See “The Great Divorce Continues.”)

As we noted in this space a couple of weeks ago (See “California’s ‘Get Out Now’ Tax”), “Businesses and people are fleeing because lawmakers and blue voters are stuck in a Bolshevik rut.”

The question is, what will it take to get California’s lawmakers and voters unstuck?

Arresting People Who Broke The Law

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America’s justice system has softened in many areas in recent years. That has resulted in people being released from jail who have no business being out on the streets. However, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) continues to do its job to keep Americans safe.

On Monday, Breitbart reported:

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has arrested 118 illegal aliens in San Luis Obispo County and Santa Barbara County in California, a sanctuary state. Several of the illegal aliens are registered sex offenders, drunk drivers, or pedophiles, among other crimes.

“ICE ended 2025 with a surge operation in California targeting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens,” the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Tricia McLaughlin told Breitbart News. “One hundred and eighteen illegal aliens were arrested, including pedophiles, registered sex offenders, burglars, domestic abusers, and serial drunk drivers.”

The ICE operation took place from December 26 – 31, 2025, and saw the likes of Juan Perez Tello and Rogelio Sanchez Hidalgo arrested, among others.

Tello, a 42-year-old illegal alien from Mexico, has been convicted of lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years old and is a registered sex offender.

Hidalgo, a 41-year-old illegal alien from Mexico, has been convicted of lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years old, is a registered sex offender, and has been convicted of illegal re-entry.

The article concludes:

McLaughlin said illegal aliens “flock to California because they know Governor Newsom and his fellow sanctuary politicians will allow them to terrorize innocent American families.”

“In 2026, our law enforcement will continue to do what Gavin Newsom has refused to do: make California safe again,” McLaughlin said.

Our immigration procedures need to change. We need to make it easier and less expensive for people who want to come here and assimilate to immigrate. We also need to set up some sort of sponsorship program that involves individuals–not NGO’s. Americans are a generous people, and I think many of us would be willing to help resettle an immigrant into America if the immigrant planned to assimilate and be an asset to their community.

Policies Have Consequences

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Our Founding Fathers envisioned each state as a laboratory. If a program or policy worked in one state, it would soon be adopted in other states. If it didn’t work, the policy would be dropped. We seem to have forgotten that principle, but businesses are using that idea to decide where to do business.

On Wednesday, Breitbart reported:

Marcus Lemonis, the CEO of Bed, Bath & Beyond, announced on X on Wednesday that his company would no longer open stores in California because the state made it “nearly impossible” for business to succeed.

Remember, Gavin Newsom, the Governor of California, wants to be President so that he can inflict his policies on the entire country.

Marcus Lemonis posted the following on X:

The article concludes:

Lemonis’s statement is the latest pushback by industry against California, which Gov. Gavin Newsom boasts is the world’s fourth-largest economy, but which also currently has the nation’s highest unemployment rate.

The goal of a business is to provide a product or service and to make a profit. If making a profit is not possible in one place, the business will move to another. This might explain why California is losing population and Texas is gaining population. California is a beautiful state with a wonderful climate, but its tax and economic policies make it an undesirable place to live for many Americans.

Working Toward Election Integrity

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Anyone who remembers the 1960 presidential election between John Kennedy and Richard Nixon understands that Illinois (particularly Chicago) might have a problem with voter integrity. The question becomes what to do about it. Some other states have similar problems. Oddly enough, the answer may lie in the courts.

On Monday, PJ Media reported:

Federal courts have allowed two lawsuits to proceed against California and Illinois to force them to clean up their voter rolls.

Democrats have been engaging in election fraud for well over a century and a half, but I don’t think any of us understood the extent of the election integrity problem in our day until the last few election cycles. One aspect of potential fraud is the presence of ‘dirty names’ on voter rolls—individuals who are not legally allowed to be there, whether because they are illegal aliens, deceased, or disqualified for other reasons. Those are the names Judicial Watch and two other organizations are suing to remove in two deep blue states.

“The voter rolls in Illinois and California are a mess and these court decisions allow our Judicial Watch legal team to proceed in court to clean them up,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton stated in a press release. “The stakes are high—as there are potentially millions of ineligible names on the voter rolls in these two states.”

The article concludes:

Both lawsuits can now move forward thanks to the rulings from last week.

This is a good beginning.

About That Minimum Wage Increase…

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On Tuesday, Breitbart posted an article about the impact of California’s increasing the minimum wage to $20 an hour.

The article reports:

California’s new $20-per-hour minimum wage for fast food workers has resulted in a significant decline in employment in that sector, leading to 18,000 fewer jobs than would have been the case otherwise.

That’s according to a new paper released by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) this month, which said:

We analyze the effect of California’s $20 fast food minimum wage, which was enacted in September 2023 and went into effect in April 2024, on employment in the fast food sector. In unadjusted data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, we find that employment in California’s fast food sector declined by 2.7 percent relative to employment in the fast food sector elsewhere in the United States from September 2023 through September 2024. Adjusting for pre-AB 1228 trends increases this differential decline to 3.2 percent, while netting out the equivalent employment changes in non-minimum-wage-intensive industries further increases the decline. Our median estimate translates into a loss of 18,000 jobs in California’s fast food sector relative to the counterfactual.

The article concludes:

The Golden State currently has the highest unemployment rate in the U.S., though still relatively low at 5.4%.

Anyone with a basic understanding of business principles and economics would have seen this coming. Businesses are in business to make a profit. During the past four years, inflation has made it difficult for businesses to make a profit. The addition of a $20 per hour minimum wage created further  challenges. The minimum wage is for employees entering the workforce and learning the basics–showing up on time, respecting authority, dressing appropriately, etc. If you are trying to support a family on a minimum-wage job, you need to find a way to increase your skill level. Setting a minimum wage of $20 not only decreases the number of employees a business can hire, it also puts an obstacle in the way of young people who want to enter the workforce.

 

Undermining Property Rights Leads To Poverty

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In 2010, I wrote an article about the relationship between private property rights and the wealth of a country. The conclusion of the article was that enforcing property rights and the rule of law breeds prosperity. We need to remember that as a country.

On Monday, Hot Air posted an article about a recent series of events in California.

The article reports:

A pair of vacant properties in Hollywood, CA started making news 10 days ago after residents complained a large group of squatters had taken over the homes and were creating a nuisance in the neighborhood.

…The drugs, noise, nudity and criminal behavior were a nuisance but when the police were called out, nothing seemed to change. The squatters would just disappear and then come back when the police were gone. The source of all this activity was another house next door which was receiving money from the city to house the homeless. Some of the homeless would hang out all day on the porch of their free housing and then jump the fence into the abandoned properties at night. But beyond all the nuisance this created, the real danger was the fires.

…Finally, there was enough media attention that L.A. City Councilmember Hugo Soto Martinez issued a statement saying he was working to have the site declared a nuisance.

…So sometime later this month, the city would have held a vote and then eventually taken action to tear the building down. But as it turned out, the homeless squatters beat them to it. Last Thursday the building caught fire again and this time was heavily damaged.

…I can’t prove it but my guess is the city was happy to plod along at its usual pace when this was just a big nuisance for neighbors, but once the building was a danger to the homeless, who might have gone back in after the fire, they acted immediately to tear it down.

The councilman who had promised to have the site declared a nuisance got an earful when he showed up at the site after the fire.

…Meanwhile in Sacramento, just a day after the fire in Hollywood, Democrats voted down a bill which would have made it easier to evict squatters.

Please follow the link above to read the rest of the story. California is going bankrupt. Unfortunately, I suspect the rest of the nation may be forced to bail her out. The inability or unwillingness to protect the property of homeowners who live there is one of many reasons people are leaving the state. As the people who have the money to leave move to other places, there won’t be enough people who are fiscally stable to pay off the taxes and massive state government expenses. The State of California will collapse financially.

The Center Of Fraud

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On Saturday, Legal Insurrection posted an article about the location of a large part of the fraud found in unemployment claims.

The article reports:

On Thursday, the Department of Government Efficiency revealed that three deep-blue states—California, New York, and Massachusetts—were responsible for $305 million, or 80%, of the $382 million in fraudulent unemployment payments issued since 2020.

DOGE also reported that 68% of unemployment benefits paid to parolees flagged by Customs and Border Protection as being on the terrorist watchlist or having criminal records were issued in California.

The DOGE team found that $59 million in unemployment benefits was paid to 24,500 people listed as over 115 years old. Another $254 million went to 28,000 people between the ages of 1 and 5, while $69 million was distributed to 9,700 people with birthdates more than 15 years in the future.

It is interesting that California, New York, and Massachusetts were responsible for 80 percent of the fraud. Slightly less than one-third of Americans live in California, Texas, Florida or New York. Having a large population makes it more difficult to track every case and makes fraud easier.

The article also notes:

DOGE also reported this week that since 2023, the U.S. Border Patrol (under the Biden administration) has paroled over 6,300 individuals flagged on the FBI’s terrorist watchlist or with criminal records into the country with “minimal screening.” Though their paroles have now been revoked, all received Social Security numbers and could access federal benefits. Among them:

    • 905 received Medicaid, including 4 on the terrorist watchlist ($276K paid out)
    • 41 collected Unemployment Insurance ($42K total)
    • 22 received federal student loans ($280K)
    • 409 got tax refunds in 2024 ($751K)
    • An undisclosed number received SNAP (food stamps)

I believe in helping people, but I also believe that charity begins at home and ideally does not involve the government. If I want to help my neighbor, good for me. However, for the government to take what I have earned and give it to someone who didn’t earn it is not a viable business plan for a nation. As Margaret Thatcher once stated, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”

Common Sense Would Have Prevented This Tragedy

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On Wednesday, The New York Post posted an article about some of the policies that have resulted in the severity of the California fires. Frankly, I don’t know how they will rebuild from this. The losses are staggering. Many of the homes destroyed were multi-million-dollar homes. In California a one bedroom home can cost over $600,000, so the losses in every area affected are going to be monumental. However, there are common-sense precautions that could have been put in place that might not have prevented the fires, but would have made them less severe.

The article reports:

President-elect Trump, during his first administration, put Gov. Gavin Newsom on notice for his handling of repeated wildfires in the state, years ahead of the devastating Los Angeles wildfires currently raging.

“The Governor of California, @GavinNewsom, has done a terrible job of forest management. I told him from the first day we met that he must ‘clean’ his forest floors regardless of what his bosses, the environmentalists, DEMAND of him. Must also do burns and cut fire stoppers,” the former and upcoming president posted to X in 2019.

“Every year, as the fire’s rage & California burns, it is the same thing-and then he comes to the Federal Government for $$$ help. No more. Get your act together Governor. You don’t see close to the level of burn in other states,” the thread continued.

President Trump also stated:

“Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way,”Trump posted to Truth Social on Wednesday. /pal

“He wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn’t work!), but didn’t care about the people of California. Now the ultimate price is being paid. I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA! He is the blame for this. On top of it all, no water for fire hydrants, not firefighting planes. A true disaster!”

This is not playing politics–this is telling the truth. If the Governor had taken the proper action, the disaster could have been prevented.

All Americans will wind up paying for the neglect of California’s forests and California’s misplaced priorities regarding its water systems. That is the result of irresponsible leadership in the State of California.

Actions Have Consequences

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On Thursday, The National Review posted an article about the impact of the increase in wages for fast-food employees in California.

The article reports:

California’s fast food industry shed more than 6,000 jobs after Democratic lawmakers passed a bill mandating a $20 minimum wage for most fast food and counter service restaurants in the state, according to a new analysis of labor data.

The article includes the following chart:

The article explains:

The fast food minimum wage hike — a 25 percent jump over the $16 minimum wage in place for virtually every other sector of the California economy — was the result of a years-long campaign by Big Labor leaders and their Democratic allies to target an industry they’ve long struggled to organize.

In 2022, California Democrats passed the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act, or FAST Act, which would have created an unelected fast food council that could have hiked the industry’s minimum wage to $22 an hour. The restaurant industry fought back, gathering enough signatures for a ballot initiative to challenge the act. But Democrats had a fallback plan of their own; last year, for the first time in two decades, they funded what is known as the Industrial Welfare Commission, which has the authority to regulate wages, hours, and working conditions for industries across the state.

The minimum wage was established to give new workers (generally young workers) a chance to enter the workforce. The idea was that these workers would learn the basic skills needed to keep a job and advance in their careers–showing up on time, paying attention to what they were doing, developing a solid work ethic, etc. The minimum wage was never intended as a permanent state of employment. In raising the minimum wage to a supposed ‘living wage,’ politicians are keeping new workers out of the workforce because companies cannot afford to hire them. Theoretically, a worker ads value to a company–a worker is expected to create more value than the salary he receives. Artificially raising the minimum wage negates that principle.

California Here We Come (or Not)

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Author: R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D.

One way to determine where a presidential candidate will take the country is to examine their past record. Uniquely, we have clear evidence of what we can expect from former President Trump and Kamala Harris. The evidence about President Trump could not be clearer: low inflation, cheaper energy, high employment, lower mortgage rates, secure borders, and few international conflicts. One way of determining where Kamala Harris will take us is to examine what has been happening in California, which clearly reflects her socialist principles and values, where she was the Attorney General.

Let’s take a look. As a comparison to California, I will use North Carolina, which has benefitted from conservative leadership consistent with what we can expect from President Trump.

There is an old and valid saying that people vote with their feet, meaning that when able, they will choose to live where conditions are most favorable to their standard of living. California has been steadily losing population in spite of a steady influx of illegal immigrants. Over 500,000 residents of California have left the state over the past couple of years. The percentage of immigrants is California (a sanctuary state) is 27%, as compared to 9.2% in North Carolina. It is well known that a country can only absorb a small number of immigrants and still maintain their essential cultural integrity. Another issue is the destruction of their cities, like San Francisco and Los Angeles, due to the out-of-control homeless population. California, due to its lack of enforcement of vagrancy laws, has the highest number of homeless persons, at 172,000, in the entire country. North Carolina reportedly has just over 9,000 homeless. The homeless in California are notorious for illegal drug use and dealing as well as property crimes and other crimes.

Besides these population factors, there are many economic factors causing people to exit California. For example, the median price of a home in California is an astounding $807,000, compared to $336,000 in North Carolina. Similarly, the state income tax in California is 13.3%,  compared to 4.75% in North Carolina. Sales tax in California is 7.25%, and 4.74% in North Carolina. In spite of these much higher taxes, California has managed to accumulate a debt of $73 billion, whereas North Carolina has a budget surplus and a rainy-day fund. The cost of energy shows a great disparity with gas in California at $ 4.64 as compared to North Carolina at $2.96. Cost of electricity is 29.5cents per kWH as compared to North Carolina at 13.0 cents. There are also many regulations in California that have caused a closing of many businesses and retail stores.

The reality is that the conditions in California are the result of socialist policies and actions that have effectively destroyed one of the most successful and prosperous states. The facts are clear. If you want to keep this country from becoming another California, you know what to do. It is essential that you get out and vote to keep this from happening to the entire country.

Another Accomplishment By The Private Sector

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On Thursday, The American Thinker posted an article about the latest accomplishment of SpaceX. The company captured a massive 20-story booster as it broke away to return to the launch pad for reuse. The government space program has never done that. A private company is more likely to want to save money by reusing the booster. Although the government bids out contracts, it is not genuinely concerned with cost cutting.

The article reports:

The consequences of such a brilliant endeavor is truly revolutionary. A reporter for a T.V. program from India called “The Breakfast Club,” saw that right away.

Sonal Mehrotra Kapoor of “The Breakfast Club” excitedly reported on Elon Musk’s scientific and engineering accomplishment in capturing a 20-story reusable booster rocket.

…The reporting on the event is truly thoughtful fact-based journalism that accurately describes the massive achievement of SpaceX ambitious plans.

What is noteworthy is the clip also shows the SpaceX team’s heartfelt pride in their accomplishment. In essence, a team led by a visionary consisting of a diverse crew of scientists, engineers and technicians, all a product of a meritocracy-based selection process, made history and were joyous in that moment.

Meanwhile, The Daily Breeze reports:

Elon Musk‘s SpaceX rocket company has sued the California Coastal Commission, alleging in federal court that the panel’s members are biased because of the billionaire owner’s conservative political views, according to papers obtained Wednesday.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Los Angeles, alleges “unconstitutional overreach” by the commission after members criticized Musk’s political leanings during a meeting about whether to approve more frequent SpaceX launches off the California coastline.

“Rarely has a government agency made so clear that it was exceeding its authorized mandate to punish a company for the political views and statements of its largest shareholder and CEO,” SpaceX alleges in the 45-page lawsuit.

Driving Elon Musk out of California is not going to help California balance its budget.

The Often Overlooked Problem With Electric Vehicles

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On Wednesday, Hot Air posted an article about an often overlooked problem with electric vehicles. Lithium batteries are prone to catch fire when exposed to salt water. So if you live on the coast, you need to get very far away from any incoming hurricane. Unfortunately, the problem does not seem to be limited to exposure to salt water.

The article reports:

Lithium-ion batteries (LIB) going boom in the worst places and what to do when that happens.

On Thursday, the 26th of September, on the freeway outside of the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro, California, one of “those accidents” happened.

A tractor-trailer carrying large lithium-ion batteries overturned and caught on fire on a highway near the Port of Los Angeles on Thursday, snarling traffic and leading to road closures and the shuttering of several terminals at the port.

The Los Angeles Fire Department said in a statement Thursday night that the fire was expected to burn for at least another 24 to 48 hours and that a roughly seven-mile stretch of California State Route 47, from the Vincent Thomas Bridge to Long Beach,would be closed in that period.

The Port of Los Angeles, the busiest port in the Western Hemisphere, said that several terminals would be closed on Friday.

The crash in the San Pedro neighborhood on Thursday morning did not result in any injuries, but fire crews were taking precautions to block hazardous materials from potentially spreading from the batteries, one of which exploded, the department said.

The article notes:

In the meanwhile, Hurricane Helene was making a beeline for the Florida Coast, and FL officials were out with warnings about EVs and saltwater not mixing. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis urged EV owners this week to get their vehicles to higher ground before Hurricane Helene arrived. Although the problem is rare, there have been a number of instances in recent years of electric vehicles igniting after hurricanes.

Keeping electric vehicles out of standing water is the best way to avoid the possibility of a fire.

Tesla offers similar advice about avoiding letting its vehicles become submerged if at all possible, but if that does happen the carmaker suggests towing the vehicle at least 50 feet away from structures or anything combustible until it can be inspected by a mechanic.

The article also notes that the vehicle may ignite well after you thought the danger was over. There is also the issue of what fumes may be released during the fire or the fact that a lithium fire is very difficult to put out. It really is time to re-evaluate the value of the current generation of electric vehicles.

This Was Inevitable

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On Tuesday, The U.K. Daily Mail posted an article explaining how Chipotle is dealing with the new minimum wage requirements for fast-food establishments in California. This is not surprising and should give legislators in all states a reason to pause before changing the minimum wage laws.

The article reports:

Chipotle has introduced two robots that can take over tasks normally done by its workers. 

The ‘autocado’ can peel, stone and cut an avocado for guacamole in 26 seconds. Meanwhile, a ‘digital makeline’ portions up salads and bowls based on orders on the app.

The machines are part of an automation drive that Chipotle bosses hope will cut down the number of workers needed – slashing rising labor costs. 

So, it is no surprise they are being put to use first in two of the Mexican chain’s restaurants in California, the company announced on Monday. 

Recent legislation raised the minimum wage for fast food workers to $20-an-hour in the state. 

The controversial wage hike – $4 more than the minimum wage in the state for any other job – was introduced by California Governor Gavin Newsom at chains with more than 60 locations in the US, and came into effect on April 1.

Chains including Burger King have already ramped up the roll out of digital ordering kiosks to cut the number of cashiers needed in Californian restaurants.  

It is not yet clear how the production costs of using Chipotle’s new machines compares to human labor when making Chipotle menu items. 

Also, robots don’t call in sick or require vacations or sick days.

The article concludes:

Chipotle’s sales this year beat Wall Street expectations – boosted by price hikes and a jump in loyal customers. 

But the company has come under fire for its reported varying portion sizes. 

It prompted Chipotle’s then CEO Brian Nicol – who has now moved to Starbucks – to deny that he had instructed staff to scrimp with servings as he revealed the company will be instituting changes to ensure satisfaction.

He revealed Chipotle will be retraining its staff to ensure ‘generous portions’ are consistent across its more than 3,500 stores.

Last month, Wells Fargo analyst Zachary Fadem and his team tested the theory that Chipotle has been skimping on its usually-large portions, after a series of videos posted to TikTok showed employees barely filling their burrito bowls.

The team ordered and weighed 75 bowls – all with the same ingredients –  from eight locations across New York City.

They discovered that the consistency of the burrito bowls varied widely from restaurant to restaurant. Some locations served bowls that weighed up to 33 percent more than others, the study found. 

Even without the minimum wage hikes, fast food is another victim of Bidenomics.

 

Where Does Protesting End And Law Breaking Begin?

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On Monday, Breitbart posted an article about Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) objecting to a new law proposed by the L.A. City Council to bar anti-Israel protesters from the entrances to synagogues. Why should churches or synagogues be forced to let protesters into their facilities? Just for the record, CAIR is the lawfare division of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The article reports:

The proposal is a response to a rise in antisemitism in the city associated with anti-Israel protests, especially several incidents in June in which pro-Palestinian activists targeted local synagogues, obstructing entrances in one case.

City Council members Katy Yaroslavsky and Bob Blumenfield demanded action in June, calling for more resources for safety. They are the authors of the new proposal, which would require an eight-foot “bubble zone” around synagogues and other religious institutions.

The Los Angeles Times described the proposal in August, reporting that it “would make it a misdemeanor for protesters to intentionally block the entrances of healthcare facilities, schools or religious institutions — or demonstrate within 8 feet of anyone trying to get inside. The protective 8-foot “bubble” would be required within 100 feet of a facility’s entrance.” It would apply to mosques as well as to synagogues.

CAIR has objected to the proposal, alleging that it intentionally targets pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel activists

If we have bubble zones around abortion clinics, why can’t we have them around religious institutions to protect the people going there?

The article concludes with some additional information on CAIR:

CAIR’s national executive director, Nihad Awad, said that he was happy at the terror attack of October 7, 2023.

In addition, as Breitbart News has noted in the past:

In 2007-8, CAIR was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the terror financing trial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. That case, in turn, led the FBI to discontinue its work with the organization. In 2009, a federal judge ruled that the government “produced ample evidence to establish” the ties of CAIR with Hamas, the Palestinian terror organization. The United Arab Emirates labeled CAIR a terrorist organization in 2014 (a decision that the Obama administration opposed).

CAIR’s Los Angeles chapter also offered to help the family of two Islamic terrorists in nearby San Bernardino in 2015.

These are not people who care about America or the American Constitution.

 

At Least They Admitted That They Were Wrong

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There were a lot of problems with the fact-checking at the Trump/Harris debate. One problem was that all of the fact-checking was done on President Trump and there was no fact-checking on Kamala Harris. Some of the fact-checkers got it wrong. That is starting to come out.

On Thursday, Fox News reported that Time Magazine had corrected one of its fact-checks.

Fox News reports:

Time magazine was forced to correct its coverage of the ABC News Presidential Debate after implying former President Trump’s statement that Vice President Kamala Harris supported free gender-transition treatment for detained migrants was “false.”

During the debate on Tuesday night, Trump remarked on Harris’ old position as one of many left-wing issues she appeared to have walked back on since running for president.

“Now she wants to do transgender operations on illegal aliens who are in prison,” Trump said.

Though Harris pledged she would support taxpayer-funded gender care for detained migrants in an ACLU candidate questionnaire during her first presidential campaign, Time first reported the statement as “false.”

The article notes:

CNN brought Harris’ position back into the spotlight Monday night after senior editor Andrew Kaczynski reported to host Erin Burnett about the recently uncovered 2019 ACLU candidate questionnaire featuring Harris’ policy position.

“It is important that transgender individuals who rely on the state for care receive the treatment they need, which includes access to treatment associated with gender transition. That’s why, as Attorney General, I pushed the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide gender transition surgery to state inmates,” Harris pledged.

Time Magazine has admitted it was wrong. Will any other mainstream media follow suit?

A New Venture For Big Brother

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On Sunday, PJ Media reported that the California legislature has passed a bill that will require all cars built after 2030 to give a beep when the driver exceeds the speed limit by 10 MPH. Speeding would not only be considered a violation of the law–it would be considered a crime. Considering all of the things that are not crimes in California, this is an amazing law. (Shoplifting is defined under California’s penal code as “entering a commercial establishment with intent to commit larceny while that establishment is open during regular business hours, where the value of the property that is taken or intended to be taken does not exceed $950.” It is considered a misdemeanor and carries a possible penalty of up to six months in jail or a fine of up to $1,000.) And the state wants to make speeding a crime?

The article reports:

As introduced, Weiner’s bill would have made “every passenger vehicle, motortruck, and bus manufactured or sold in the state” of the 2027 model year and beyond unable to drive more than 10 miles per hour above the limit. 

Ultimately, Wiener relented and amended the bill in April. Given that modern seatbelt alarms require “repetitive, successive, or ongoing warnings each time a vehicle exceeds the speed threshold,” Californian drivers have reason to be grateful that such alarms are merely not precluded in the current bill. They also have reason to regard the bill as superfluous.

The most popular phone-based navigation apps, Google Maps, (Apple) Maps, and Waze include visual and auditory signals when drivers go over the speed limit whatsoever. Still, speed signals are optional on these apps, and not everybody is as dependent on Google Maps and CarPlay.

My car has a 6-CD player and a Garmin. I have no idea what these other things are. If this bill is passed in California, it will eventually be passed in other places. This is one more reason to ad to my list of never buying a new car!

 

 

Making The Only Reasonable Political Move

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Recently, the California legislature passed a bill providing up to $150,000 to help illegal aliens purchase homes in the state. Never mind that in California $150,000 might buy you a garage if you are lucky. Well, Gavin Newsom vetoed the bill. Aside from the fact that the State can’t afford the cost, I believe that he is eyeing a presidential run in 2028 and does not want that bill on his record.

Politico posted an article about the veto on Friday.

The article states:

The Democratic governor’s veto comes a day after former President Donald Trump said he would ban undocumented immigrants from receiving home mortgages if he returns to the White House. It also takes the issue off the table ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris’ first scheduled debate against Trump next week. Karoline Leavitt, a Trump campaign spokesperson, described the California bill last month as “fundamentally unfair but typical Democrat policy.”

The article also notes:

Newsom has repeatedly warned fellow Democrats in Sacramento not to provide cannonfire for Republicans in an election year, issuing pleas for them to tamp down the raging culture wars rather than provoke them with hot-button issues ranging from banning youth tackle football to reparations. On other proposals that were unlikely to become law, he pushed state Democrats to subordinate their virtue signaling so conservative media outlets couldn’t paint the state as wildly out of touch with America.

Newsom’s concerns have only grown since the elevation of Harris as the party’s nominee, since she hails from California. At a briefing Friday on an unrelated topic, the governor denied that he was trying to send a message to lawmakers in his party, saying he vetoed the bill on its merits.

“The bill that was sent to me was [on] a program that had no money, and it was expanding eligibility to a program that had no money,” Newsom said. “It seemed rather curious to me. So it was unnecessary and completely consistent with prior vetoes along those similar lines.”

Republican state Sen. Brian Dahle, who represents a rural Northern California district and ran against Newsom in the 2022 gubernatorial race, said in an interview that the governor did the right thing. But, Dahle said, he believes Newsom was in fact “reading the tea leaves” on the political implications of the bill.

Passing this bill will have created more scarcity in an already scarce housing market and increased the price of housing–both in rentals and in purchases. Also, at a time when crime by illegal aliens is rapidly increasing, it might not be a good idea to give them further incentives to come to America.

Who Do You Trust To Keep This Promise?

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Both the Harris campaign and the Trump campaign have pledged to stop taxing tips in the service industries. When President Trump made the suggestion, the media immediately calculated the missing tax revenue. When Vice-President Harris made the suggestion, the media praised her for the idea. That is how the media works right now.

On August 30, The Center Square reported the following:

In a mirror of national politics, California Republicans followed former President Donald Trump’s lead by proposing to end taxes on tips. While Vice President Kamala Harris, who formerly represented California in the U.S. Senate, embraced the measure, California Democrats said no, shooting down the proposed amendment in the California Senate.

“Even Trump and Harris both say we should eliminate the ‘tip tax,’” said the California Senate Republican Caucus in a statement. 

Soon after Trump announced his proposal to a crowd in Nevada, which has the highest percentage of tipped workers in the nation, Harris also came out in favor of the proposal. The Budget Lab at Yale University reports there are approximately 4 million tipped workers — 2.5% of all workers nationwide. Many tipped workers earn less than the minimum wage, and thus earn the lion’s share of their income from tips. Some higher-paid tipped professions such as barbers and hair stylists would also benefit from this rule change. 

…In the California Senate, Democrats — except for Senate President Pro Tempore Senator Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, and State Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, who abstained, voted to put aside the amendment, while all nine Republicans voted for it.

I think it is rather telling that there are only nine Republicans in the California Senate–which has forty seats. Don’t try to blame the Republicans for anything that happens in California!

Cross The Border And Get A Free House

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On Saturday, The National Review posted an article about a bill recently passed by the California legislature that would allow illegal immigrants to receive up to $150,000 in taxpayer-backed home loans. As of the time I am writing this, Governor Newsom has not yet signed the legislation.

The article reports:

“I didn’t know it was possible to make a border crisis and the housing crisis worse with just one vote, but Democrats found a way,” California Assembly Republican leader James Gallagher said on X on Thursday.

Republican assemblyman Bill Essayli called the bill “offensive,” writing on X that “California democrats love illegal immigration so much they offer many incentives for them to come here.”

But it’s unclear that Governor Gavin Newsom will sign the legislation, which could provide ammunition to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, a border hawk who has consistently blamed Democrats — including Vice President Kamala Harris, a California native — for the border crisis.

And even if Newsom does sign the legislation, it’s unlikely that any illegal immigrants will receive money from the program anytime soon: the program is broke, and lawmakers haven’t approved new funding.

Democrats, who have a supermajority in the California legislature, passed Assembly Bill 1840 on Wednesday. The aim of the legislation is to prohibit discrimination for the California Dream For All home loan program on the basis of immigration status, according to a bill analysis.

The program offers prospective first-time homebuyers loans of up to $150,000 for down payments or closing costs. At least one borrower must be a first-generation homebuyer. Eligible prospective homebuyers are selected for vouchers via a random lottery.

The obvious question is, “What kind of a house can you buy in California for $150,000? Can you even buy a garage in California for that? What about all of the veterans living on the streets in California? Is anyone going to offer them free housing?

Positive News From California

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Andy Ngo has been reporting on Antifa for years. He has paid a heavy physical price for his reporting–he has been beaten and attacked with dangerous substances on numerous occasions. However, he continues to report.

On July 1, he posted an article at The New Millennial about a recent trial in southern California.

The article reports:

Eight convicted rioters were sentenced to varying prison and jail terms last week for their role in a So Cal Antifa attack in southern California in 2021.

The sentencing in San Diego Superior Court on June 28 brought the conclusion to more than three years of investigations, a secret indictment, plea deals, and a dramatic trial. This marks the first time in U.S. history that prosecutors have broken up an Antifa cell with a string of multiple convictions. In fact, all 12 defendants related to the case were convicted.

…Both White (Jeremy Jonathan White, 41) and Lightfoot (Brian Cortez Lightfoot Jr., 27) were found guilty of felony conspiracy to riot. Lightfoot was additionally found guilty of five charges of unlawful use of teargas. He was acquitted of one assault charge, and the jury deadlocked on nine assault charges. 

White was sentenced to two years custody in state prison. He submitted a statement to the court standing by his actions and comparing himself to slavery abolitionist John Brown as well as anti-apartheid figure Nelson Mandela.

“I was asked to write a conciliatory statement about the so-called victims in this trial,” White wrote. “Fascism is here, mask off with a gun and a badge, criminalizing anti-fascists to clear the playing field of any opposition.”

Judge Daniel Goldstein later responded: “Mr. Briggs, your client is unapologetic and he labels people without knowing them.” The judge chastised White for suppressing the First Amendment rights of others through the use of violence. The judge said he would have found White guilty of the assault charge of which he was acquitted by the jury.

Please follow the link to read the entire article. Antifa has been a problem in America for a while. They are reminiscent  (and probably descendants) of some of the violent groups of the 1960’s and 1970’s. When people who are obviously misled become violent, the only recourse our country has is to lock them up and hope that they begin to see the advantages of acting in a civilized manner.

What You Need To Register To Vote In California

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On Tuesday, The Federalist posted an article about voter registration in California. The article illustrates the reason Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are trying to pass a law requiring proof of citizenship to vote.

The article reports:

In California, voters with no government ID can still vote so long as they show a gym membership, credit card, utility bill, or other low-security identification.

Individuals wishing to register to vote in California are prompted on the secretary of state’s website to provide their driver’s license identification number and/or the last four digits of their Social Security number. But both sections give applicants the option to select a box indicating they lack that form of identification.

If an applicant checks both boxes, he would later be prompted to provide other identification, the California secretary of state’s office told The Federalist. Upon further inquiry, an office representative said individuals could provide proof of identity by showing items such as a credit card, a utility bill, or their gym membership.

When I called back for additional clarification, the woman told me she had been informed not to speak to the press, and gave me an email address to try.

In response to my email, the secretary of state’s press office affirmed that if “an applicant cannot be validated [using his driver’s license number or SSN], they are required to show ID at the polls the first time they vote.”

The email directed me to a state statute that lists acceptable documents with which voters who have no SSN or driver’s license may prove their identity. The list includes a “health club identification card” or other “identification card provided by a commercial establishment,” a credit or debit card, student ID, a bank statement, a utility bill, an insurance card, or even a sample ballot, among other options.

The article notes:

Once a prior license is terminated, the prior state can also cancel the individual’s voter registration associated with that license. In contrast, gym cards, or non-photo IDs like utility bills, don’t tell election officials anything about whether that voter is already registered to vote in another state.

Remember Smokey The Bear saying, “Only you can prevent forest fires”? Only you can prevent the obliteration of our republic at the hands of those who do not want to hear the voice of the people.

This Did Not Go As Planned

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On Friday, The Gatestone Institute posted an article about the impact of legalization of marijuana has had on California.

The article reports:

Six years after California legalized marijuana, the bodies keep piling up. Earlier this year, six men were murdered in the Mojave Desert. Four of the men had been burned after being shot with rifles. In 2020, seven people were killed at an illegal pot operation in Riverside County.

Violence like this was supposed to disappear after legalization. Legalization advocates argued that making the drug trade legal would end the grip of the cartels. Instead, the legal market has failed, and the cartels are taking over sizable parts of California and the rest of the country.

California’s legal drug revenues have fallen consistently, as have those in other legal drug states including Colorado, whose model helped sell the idea that drug money would fix everything.

Despite falling revenues, Colorado legislators brag about $282 million in drug revenue. That number may sound high, but it’s a drop in the bucket considering the money that the state and cities like Denver are spending on homelessness, drug overdoses and law enforcement.

While the legal drug business is also collapsing in California, the state is spending a fortune fighting marijuana even as it tries to tax it. Gov. Gavin Newsom paradoxically promised to close the budget deficit with $100 million in drug revenue, meant to be used to fund law enforcement and fight substance abuse. The state seized over $300 million in illegal pot this year and uses satellite imagery and heavily-armed raids to fight untaxed marijuana.

The article concludes:

Legalization advocates still argue that if the government lowered the high taxes on legal pot, the business model could turn around again, but even without a single penny in taxes, no amount of legal labor is going to be able to compete with illegal aliens smuggled across the border and forced to work for free by gunmen. Legal businesses can’t compete with organized crime.

Drug legalization increased homelessness and drug abuse. It boosted illegal migration and organized crime. It made life worse in every state and city where it’s been tried without delivering tangible benefits to anyone (including weed users who still get theirs the old-fashioned way) except for a few politicians who temporarily have a few million more to pass around to special interests, donors and lobbyists.

And all they had to do was hand over half the country to organized crime.

America does not need another legal, mind-altering drug. There is no evidence that legal marijuana improves the quality of life for anyone. For regular users, it simply numbs them to their responsibilities and makes them less likely to pursue worthwhile goals. That is not good for society as a whole or the people involved.

You Might Want To Ask Your Doctor Where He Went To School

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On Thursday, The Washington Free Beacon posted an article about the results of racial preferences in higher education.

The article reports:

Up to half of UCLA medical students now fail basic tests of medical competence. Whistleblowers say affirmative action, illegal in California since 1996, is to blame.

Long considered one of the best medical schools in the world, the University of California, Los Angeles’s David Geffen School of Medicine receives as many as 14,000 applications a year. Of those, it accepted just 173 students in the 2023 admissions cycle, a record-low acceptance rate of 1.3 percent. The median matriculant took difficult science courses in college, earned a 3.8 GPA, and scored in the 88th percentile on the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT).

The article notes:

As the demographics of UCLA have changed, the number of students failing their shelf exams has soared, trends professors at the medical school say are connected.

Between 2020, the year Lucero assumed her post, and 2023, when the first classes she admitted were taking their shelf exams, the failure rate rose dramatically across all subjects, in some cases increasing tenfold relative to the 2020 baseline, per internal data obtained by the Free Beacon.

“UCLA still produces some very good graduates,” one professor said. “But a third to a half of the medical school is incredibly unqualified.”

The collapse in qualifications has been compounded by UCLA’s decision, in 2020, to condense its preclinical curriculum from two years to one in order to add more time for research and community service. That means students arrive at their clinical rotations with just a year of courses under their belt—some of which focus less on science than social justice.

First-year students spend three to four hours every other week in “Structural Racism and Health Equity,” a required class that covers topics like “fatphobia,” has featured anti-Semitic speakers, and is now the subject of an internal review. They spend an additional seven hours a week in “Foundations of Practice,” which includes units on “interpersonal communication skills” and, according to one medical student, basically “tells us how to be a good person.” The two courses eat up time that could be spent on physiology or anatomy, professors say, and leave struggling students with fewer hours to learn the basics.

“This has been a colossal failure,” one professor posted in April on a forum for medical school applicants. “The new curriculum is not working and the students are grossly unprepared for clinical rotations.”

Nearly a fourth of UCLA medical students in the class of 2025 have failed three or more shelf exams, data from the school show, forcing some students to repeat classes and persuading others to postpone a different test, the Step 2 licensing exam, that is typically taken in the third year of medical school and is a prerequisite for most residency programs.

Forgetting your actual mission can lead to getting lost on the road to success. The first problem we need to look at is to figure out why minority children are not getting the basic educational foundation from kindergarten to high school that they need to be successful in medical school–is it cultural or a failure of our schools? The second thing we need to look at is the fact that the medical school has lost its focus. A medical school needs to train doctors to practice medicine. Social justice and racial equality are fine, but if the doctor doesn’t know how to solve a problem, it really doesn’t matter what race the patient is.

We all need to strive for equality, but let’s not lose standards and practical knowledge in the process.

 

Actions Have Consequences

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It sounds really compassionate to insist that the minimum wage be a wage you can actually live on, but is that really the purpose of the minimum wage, and what are the consequences of raising the minimum wage? California just found out.

On Tuesday, The Washington Examiner reported:

California’s fast-food minimum wage hike has been in effect for just one month, and the consequences are proving to be fewer hours and potentially fewer jobs for workers.

Pollo West Corporation, the largest franchisee of El Pollo Loco restaurants in California, has said that its franchises went from profitable to losing money overnight when the fast-food wage hike went into effect. It also said that the franchises have reduced worker hours by 10%. Meanwhile, the restaurants had raised prices in February to prepare for the wage hike, leading to a 3% decline in business.

In total, fast food prices have gone up in California by 10% since September, a larger increase than in any other state. Restaurants have already passed those prices on to consumers, as was expected, and are cutting hours and adding kiosks. Fewer hours for employees means less money, fewer sales to consumers means less business, which means fewer hours for employees, and automated kiosks mean a reduced need for employees, which means fewer hours (or jobs) for employees.

For those of us who are mathematically challenged, if you work 30 hours at $15 an hour, you make $450. If your hours are cut back to 20 hours but you make $20 a hour, you only make $400. That is not an improvement.

The minimum wage was never intended to be a living wage. It was intended to be an way for unskilled workers to enter the workforce and learn good work habits–showing up on time, dressing appropriately, being nice to customers, etc. Ideally a minimum wage job provides an opportunity to learn skills that will enable a person to get a job that pays more than minimum wage. Somehow California has missed that concept.

Why Are Chinese Crossing Into America Illegally?

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In an article posted Sunday, The Daily Signal lists six reasons why so many Chinese are crossing into America at our open border.

These are the six reasons:

1. San Diego Infrastructure

2. Money Motivates Cartels

3. Because They Can

4. ‘A Better Life’

5. Chinese Influence on America

6. Marijuana Farms

There are some things to keep in mind when reading this list. Urban San Diego is a very easy place for illegal migrants to blend in. The Mexican drug cartels are selling immigration packages to the Chinese–for a little more money, the Chinese illegal migrants get legit legal travel documents so that they could fly on domestic airlines in Mexico. Because the Biden administration has left the southern border wide open, there is nothing to stop Chinese illegal aliens. The Chinese economy is struggling, so many Chinese are coming here for better economic opportunities. With an increasing Chinese population, Chinese influence on America will increase. Finally, China is running drug-producing factories in Mexico and marijuana farms in America. The legalization of marijuana in some states has made it a taxed product., The higher taxes have resulted in a flourishing black market.

The bottom line is simple–some Chinese are coming here simply to find a better economic life, but some are coming for nefarious purposes. Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing at this point which are which.