Right Wing Granny

News behind the news. This picture is me (white spot) standing on the bridge connecting European and North American tectonic plates. It is located in the Reykjanes area of Iceland. By-the-way, this is a color picture.

Right Wing Granny

Finally Addressing The Obvious

On Thursday, PJ Media posted an article about the difference between the way the ‘summer of love’ Antifa protestors who burned down buildings and killed people were treated and how the January 6th protestors who did nothing but walk through the Capitol were treated. Evidently there are some people in our judicial system who want to restore equal justice under the law.

The article reports:

Finally a federal judge who believes in justice or something close to it. Could this be a crack in the dike of the tyranny of the DOJ? Is this the beginning of the end of Antifa pattern of violence and silence? We can hope.

To understand what’s at stake, let’s take you back.

At UC Berkeley in 2017, Antifa and their local black bloc franchisees set fires and rioted to prevent Milo Yiannopoulos from speaking on campus. 

The anti-free speech violent protesters set off munitions, broke windows, beat people, and scared the university away from allowing any right-wing speakers to be heard on campus—unless they paid for their own security. Antifa radicals, calling themselves By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), framed themselves as brave and heroic for silencing speech of people they detested at the very birthplace of the campus free speech movement.

It was the first round of the speech wars between people on the right who were trying to speak and those on the left who called them “fascists” while calling themselves “anti fascist” and using violence to literally shut them up. 

Several people were arrested for the melee, but guess who were the only ones prosecuted? 

In an opinion issued February 21, California Federal District Court Judge Cormac J. Carney stiff-armed the DOJs Terrorism and Export Crimes Section out of Los Angeles and nailed them for selective prosecution. The decision to dismiss the federal charges against two men who at some point became members of a group characterized as “white supremacist” was based on the fact that Antifa did as bad or worse that day and at other events where both groups were represented and Antifa wasn’t prosecuted.

This pattern continues as charges were dropped against those who participated in the ‘summer of love’ and Vice-President Kamala Harris asked people to contribute to the bail of the people who were arrested. We need to restore ‘equal justice under the law’ if our country is to survive.

Don’t Mess With Mother Nature

On Tuesday, Just the News posted an article about the most recent efforts by the State of California to save the salmon.

The article reports:

“In my opinion, any salmon we’re producing this year are likely dead, and if they get to the main stem, they won’t be able to migrate out. I’m more concerned at this point with how do we rebuild the populations in those rivers,” Siskiyou County Supervisor Ray Haupt said.

Environmental groups are celebrating extensive efforts to remove dams across the United States, some of which produce carbon-free electricity. According to American Rivers, an anti-dam advocacy group, 65 dams were removed in 2022, and another 80 were removed in 2023.

Groups like American Rivers argue the dams are killing salmon and steelhead trout populations, encroaching on indigenous cultures, and harming water quality for people and wildlife.

The largest dam removal project in the history of the U.S. began on Northern California’s Klamath River last summer, with the removal of Copco No. 2, the first of four hydroelectric dams to be removed, also called “breaching” or “drawdowns.”

In January, the state began draining reservoirs behind the three remaining dams. The draining is not going well, especially for the fish the projects are supposed to be protecting.

Large amounts of salmon have been stranded on mud that is also trapping deer, Oregon Public Broadcasting reports. Officials are warning people not to try to walk through it, as it can be very dangerous. According to California Globe, a two mile sediment plume extends into the Pacific Ocean.

“We’ve been told we’re the experiment,” Siskiyou County Supervisor Ray Haupt told Just The News. “Eyes wide open. It’s coming to a neighborhood near you.”

The article also notes:

Another major dam-removal effort on the Snake River in Idaho took a major step forward recently with the signing of an agreement between the four Columbia River Basin tribes, the governors of Oregon and Washington, and the Biden administration.

While Congress would have to authorize the dams’ removal, Biden administration officials say that removing the dams would help boost “clean energy” and restore wild salmon populations, and the energy produced by those dams will be made up by “the build-out of at least one to three gigawatts of Tribally-sponsored renewable energy production.”

Why are some states removing dams that create clean energy, particularly when they are killing the wildlife they claim to be preserving in the process? I am willing to bet that at some point in the future these states will decide that they need these dams for energy and rebuild them at an exorbitant cost. Hopefully they will at least build them with fish ladders.

I Hope This Becomes A Trend

On Wednesday, Politico posted an article about two ballot measures that were approved by voters in San Francisco.

The article reports:

Mayor London Breed has convinced voters to approve a pair of ballot measures that will move the city strikingly rightward by requiring drug screening for welfare recipients and easing restrictions on police officers.

Breed, who faces a tough reelection fight this November, banked her political future on a hard pivot toward more conservative policies aimed at appealing to residents’ frustrations about the city’s fentanyl addiction crisis and concerns about crime. Her bet appears to have yielded results — voters were on track Tuesday to approve at least two of the three measures she sponsored.

“Enough is enough. We need change,” Breed told supporters at a jam-packed bar in the Hayes Valley neighborhood.

The success of the mayor’s proposals is notable given San Francisco has long been considered the most progressive major city in America. Breed’s shift comes as she faces devastatingly low approval ratings and two moderate challengers in her reelection fight, former interim Mayor Mark Farrell and Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie.

Perhaps the most controversial Breed-backed proposal approved by voters was Proposition F, which requires recipients of locally funded welfare to undergo drug screenings. Those who have addiction disorders will have to accept treatment in order to receive cash assistance, which Breed argued would make subsidies contingent on personal responsibility. She said the city cannot continue business as usual when more than 800 people died of drug overdoses last year.

…Voters also appeared to approve an additional Breed-sponsored proposal, Proposition E, which eases restrictions on the police department, including allowing officers to engage in more vehicle chases and use public surveillance cameras and drones to combat crime.

In February 2022, The California Globe posted the headline, “Mass Retail Chain Store Closures Continue in San Francisco.” Part of that may be due to the economy, but a large part of the closings are due to the rising crime rate. Hopefully the two ballot measures the voters passed will begin to change things. It would be nice to see other Democrat-controlled cities follow suit. If you have to pass a drug test to work in many companies, you should have to pass one to collect money from the people who work.

What An Incredible Coincidence

On Wednesday, The New York Post posted an article about the new minimum wage law in California.

The article reports:

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law that exempts Panera Bread from a new $20-an-hour minimum wage hike for fast food chains after the billionaire owner of several of the chain’s locations donated to his campaign, according to a report.

In September, Newsom, a Democrat, signed into law a measure that raises the minimum wage of food fast workers from $16 an hour to $20 an hour.

But the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act (FAST Act) includes an unusual carve-out that exempts “chains that bake bread and sell it as a standalone item,” according to Bloomberg News.

Newsom reportedly sought the exemption, which benefits among others Greg Flynn, the billionaire CEO of Flynn Restaurant Group, the company that owns some two dozen Panera Bread locations in the state.

Flynn, who attended the same high school as Newsom, has been involved in business dealings with the California governor, according to Bloomberg News.

He has also contributed to Newsom’s political campaigns.

…The governor’s office told Bloomberg News that the law was the “result of countless hours of negotiations with dozens of stakeholders over two years.”

Flynn was publicly critical of the legislation when it was first floated in 2022.

He said that raising the minimum wage of fast-food employees would have an adverse business effect on franchise owners.

Flynn quietly lobbied Newsom’s aides to reconsider whether Panera Bread can be considered fast food, according to Bloomberg News.

The exemption for bread sellers was inserted into the legislation after the union that was pushing for the hike in minimum wage accepted it as a concession aimed at getting the governor’s support, the report stated.

I would not be disappointed if In-N-Out Burger decided to get out of California and come east!

The Danger Of An Open Border

America is a land of immigrants–legal immigrants who came here to build a better life and were vetted before they were allowed in. Currently we are being overrun by people seeking access to our welfare system and an easy life. I don’t begrudge anyone seeking a better life, but I do have a problem with seeking a better life at someone else’s expense. As American cities pour money into housing, feeding and providing medical care for people who are here illegally, our own citizens who are struggling economically are being ignored. Our homeless are on the streets–they are not getting hotel rooms and three meals a day. Aside from the misplaced priorities of our current border policy (or lack thereof), there is the national security aspect.

On Friday, The Daily Caller reported:

  • Federal immigration authorities released for one day a Pakistani man who illegally crossed the southern border into California whose name appeared on the terror watchlist, according to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) memo reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
  • Border Patrol apprehended the Pakistani national on Nov. 10, 2023 in Tecate, California, according to the memo.
  • “Imagine how many cases like this one get through without us knowing,” a DHS official told the DCNF on the condition of anonymity because they’re not authorized to speak publicly.

The article continues:

The Pakistani national entered the U.S. illegally on Nov. 9, 2023 and was nabbed by Border Patrol the next day in Tecate, California, according to a memo the DCNF received from two different Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sources. While in Border Patrol custody on Nov. 22, the Terrorism Screening Center (TSC) confirmed he was a positive match on the terror watchlist, according to the memo.

Despite this, the memo says the terror suspect was released from the custody of ICE San Diego on Jan. 23. ICE served him with an “Order of Release on Recognizance” with tracking technology through the Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program during that time.

Border agents served him with an expedited removal order on Nov. 11, after which he expressed that he had a credible fear of going back to Pakistan, according to the memo.

On Jan. 24, however, the ICE office in San Diego informed the agency’s office in Los Angeles of his presence on the terror watchlist, along with his “mandatory detention requirement,” and had him report on his own to the ATD check-in office. ICE Los Angeles was able to arrest him when he showed up for the check-in.

Imagine how many cases like this one get through without us knowing,” a DHS official told the DCNF on the condition of anonymity because they’re not authorized to speak publicly.

I fear we have reached the place where ordinary Americans are going to have to be responsible for their own safety. Terrorist do not generally value their own lives, and that fact makes them very dangerous. Because so many of the people who have crossed our southern border are military-age men, we may all have to be prepared to defend ourselves from a major attack within our country.

 

Failure To Provide Public Safety

On Monday, The Daily Caller reported the following:

Federal authorities caught a terrorist at the U.S. southern border and released him into the country, where he roamed freely for nearly a year before being arrested in Minnesota just days ago, according to an internal federal memo exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The unnamed individual, who the memo only identifies as a member of the Somali terror group al-Shabaab, was released shortly after being caught illegally crossing the southern border near San Ysidro, California on March 13, 2023, according to the memo, which the DCNF is not publishing in order to protect the identity of a confidential source. The Terrorist Screening Center “deemed him a ‘mismatch’” after running his name through the terror watchlist, according to the memo, which was sent to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials.

However, on January 18, 2024, the Terrorist Screening Center “made a redetermination” that the individual was “a confirmed member of al-Shabaab” and was involved in the use, manufacture or transport of explosives or firearms, the memo states. Two days later, ICE nabbed the al-Shabaab member in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The article concludes:

The U.S. government has considered Al-Shabaab a foreign terrorist organization since 2008. The terrorist group operates in Somalia and has also committed attacks in Kenya and Uganda, according to the National Counterterrorism Center.

U.S. forces killed three al-Shabaab terrorists in a self defense air strike on Jan. 21 at the request of the Somali government

Al-Shabaab has carried out bombings, including suicide attacks, and the group has assassinated Somali peace activists, international aid workers, journalists and numerous civil society figures, according to the National Counterterrorism Center. The terror group carried out a 2013 attack on Westgate mall in Nairobi, killing 67 people, and in 2017 killed hundreds of civilians in Mogadishu through two suicide attacks.

After Hamas’ attack on Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, federal authorities warned Border Patrol to be on alert for Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah terrorists attempting to illegally cross the southern border, according to an internal memo exclusively obtained by the DCNF at the time.

“It is clear that our safety is dependent on enforcing our immigration laws and securing the border,” Fabbricatore said.

ICE didn’t respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

It is probably time for every American to take the class to get their concealed carry license. It is becoming very obvious that our government does not have our backs. We need to be responsible for our own safety.

Less Freedom In The Name Of Safety

Americans are generally used to being responsible for their own actions. If you choose to smoke, you may have heath problems. If you engage in certain sports, you risk injuries. If you buy a house, you are responsible for keeping it in good repair. Generally speaking, we understand that actions have consequences. Sometimes in our litigious society, you can sue people for your own stupidity, but that is the exception rather than the rule. California has now decided that they will control one more aspect of your freedom.

On Thursday, The Hill reported the following:

California could become the first state to require certain new cars to be equipped with a device capable of limiting speed, if legislation proposed this week ultimately becomes law.

San Francisco-based state Sen. Scott Wiener (D) introduced a bill mandating many new vehicles — beginning with the 2027 model year — contain a so-called “intelligent speed limiter.”

This device would restrict the speed of the car to 10 mph above the speed limit — with specific exceptions as indicated by the bill. Emergency vehicles, for example, would be exempt, and the California Highway Patrol could authorize the system’s disabling in certain other cases.

…The National Transportation Safety Board, Wiener’s office stressed, has repeatedly recommended the installation of such technologies in all new passenger vehicles. These devices will also be required in all cars sold in the European Union beginning this July.

“Preventing reckless speeding is a commonsense approach to prevent these utterly needless and heartbreaking crashes,” Wiener said.

In addition to its focus on intelligent speed limiters, S.B. 961 would also require the installation of side guards on trucks and trailers. Such guards, according to Wiener’s office, could help “reduce the risk of cars and bikes being pulled underneath the truck during a crash.”

This equipment — which would be installed on every truck or trailer that weighs more than 10,000 pounds — would need to be able to provide crash protection for a midsize car at any angle and any speed up to 40 mph, per the bill.

A variation of this has already been introduced in America with some insurance companies offering you a discount if you allow them to put a device in your car that tracks your speed and driving. I don’t endorse speeding, but I believe this is just too intrusive. I would also note that there are many roads in California where the traffic is so bad that being able to go the speed limit would be a blessing.

Common Sense Scores A Small Victory

In many schools across the nation, teachers are told not to share information with parents if a child is identifying as a gender different from their birth sex. The child can change clothes in school and be addressed by their ‘new’ name. Teachers are specifically told not to share this information with parents. In California, two teachers were fired for telling parents.

On Thursday, Red State reported:

In December, our Jeff Charles brought you the story of how two teachers from the Escondido Union School District teachers were placed on administrative leave after they refused to hide the gender identities of students from their parents, citing their religious beliefs. The pair sued, and in September 2023, Roger Benitez, Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, issued a preliminary injunction against the district and barred it from enforcing such policies.

The “new policy appears to undermine their own constitutional rights while it conflicts with knowledgeable medical opinion,” he wrote. 

On Wednesday, Benitez weighed in on the matter again and told the school to get the teachers back in the classroom:

The order from Judge Roger Benitez says the teachers, who haven’t been allowed in their classrooms since last May, must be allowed to return by next Tuesday, Jan. 15. In September, Benitez blocked their employer, Escondido Union School District, from forcing them to comply with their policy to socially transition kids to different gender identities behind their parents’ backs.

“Both sides are expected to work in good faith going forward to resolve this matter,” Benitez wrote Wednesday. 

The article concludes:

The issue boils down to rights: whose should be primary, the parent’s or the student’s?

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the 14th Amendment of the Constitution gives a lot of deference to parents regarding their children’s upbringing, education and care. But under California’s Education Code, students have certain privacy rights.

“That is the crux of the issue — what is more superior, a child’s right to privacy or a parent’s right to know about their child’s life?” said Jillian Duggan-Herd, a family law attorney.

More and more parents around the country are sounding off and making themselves heard, declaring that the answer is simple: the parents should parent, not the government, not schools. In my view, official policies at schools or businesses or government agencies requiring employees to lie or misinform are quite simply unethical, regardless of what subject they’re instructed to be dishonest about. 

Families are one of the foundations of our society. To exclude parents from such an important issue in their child’s life is to undermine that foundation.

In What Universe Does This Make Sense?

On Tuesday, The Daily Caller reported that the Medi-Cal program in California will now cover healthcare for illegal aliens. It is not a surprise that California has one of the highest tax rates in the country and one of the highest cost of living.

The article reports:

The state of California’s program providing taxpayer-funded health care to illegal immigrants covers sex change surgeries and hormones, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation review of the program.

The program, which is known as Medi-Cal, covers hormone therapy and surgical procedures “that bring primary and secondary gender characteristics into conformity with the individual’s identified gender, including ancillary services, such as hair removal, incident to those services,” according to a state memo from May 2022. Roughly 700,000 illegal immigrants in the state between the age of 26 and 49 qualify for full coverage as of Jan. 1, California State Sen. María Elena Durazo said in May of the state’s latest move to expand the program.

I have no problem providing necessary medical care to anyone who needs it. However, the cost of sex change surgery and the drugs necessary to keep up the pretense should not be paid by the taxpayers–particularly when the people requesting the surgery are not here legally.

The article concludes:

In recent years, there’s been a massive surge in illegal immigration at the southern border, where federal authorities recorded more than 2 million encounters of migrants crossing the southern border illegally in fiscal year 2023 and more than 2.2 million in fiscal year 2022, according to federal data.

“In California, we believe everyone deserves access to quality, affordable health care coverage – regardless of income or immigration status,” Newsom’s office told ABC News of the latest expansion. “Through this expansion, we’re making sure families and communities across California are healthier, stronger, and able to get the care they need when they need it.”

At some point, Americans need to realize that the cost of illegal aliens and the disrespect many of these illegal aliens are showing to our laws will destroy the country as we know it.

If You Wanted Your Pizza Delivered…

Beginning in 2024, California’s new minimum wage law passed by the Democrat legislature will go into effect. The new law sets the fast-food minimum wage at $20 an hour. That’s a pretty good place to start if you are a worker. However, what does it do to the bottom line of a company who is in business to make a profit (most companies are in business to make a profit)?

On Thursday, Issues & Insights posted an article detailing the impact the law, which will go into effect in April, has already had.

The article reports:

The state will raise its overall mandated minimum-wage rate from $16 an hour to $16.50 an hour overall, starting in 2024. But some industries will get an even bigger wage shock: fast-food minimum wages go up to $20 an hour starting in April. Meanwhile, workers in the health care industry will see their minimum wage rise to $18, $21 or $23 an hour, depending on the job.

It’s about time, you say?

Let’s start by saying we’re not against anyone getting a raise. But raises should come from the companies themselves, not from government decrees. As study after study in recent years show, government-mandated minimum wage hikes usually hurt those they’re meant to help.

It’s an irony that seems lost on California’s leftist political class, now in total control of the state, continues to “help” those at the bottom rungs of the economic ladder by making it more expensive for businesses to hire them and keep them working.

Already, with California’s looming minimum-wage tax on fast-food chains in the state, employers are tweaking costs by reducing hours, laying off workers and charging you more for that cheeseburger, fries and a drink that you crave.

Though the calendar says it’s still 2023, franchisees of the Pizza Hut chain have announced this week they’re laying off 1,200 drivers who used to deliver their piping-hot pies door-to-door. With the new higher wages, they can’t afford to keep drivers working.

The article points out some other consequences:

So who will suffer?

“Every time we raise the minimum wage, kids lose their jobs,” Ohanian explains. “This isn’t efficient, and it isn’t right. We should not be implementing policies that prevent people from being able to work.”

As for the argument that the hike is needed to “keep up with inflation,” whose inflation are we talking about? Just the workers? How about the businesses? With three-quarters of their costs being labor-related, they have to take immediate action, or go out of business.

And then there are the customers. They, not the businesses, will foot the bill when they buy a suddenly-much-pricier cheeseburger or a pizza. Prices will go up, as they inevitably do, when higher costs can’t be offset by gains in productivity.

For the curious, there are literally dozens of studies and reports out there (including our own) that explode the myths of raising minimum wages, ranging from Walter B. Williams’ 1977 landmark study for Congress that showed minority youths suffered most when minimum wages rise, to more recent studies showing that non-wage losses after a minimum-wage hike offset any gains for workers.

What will now happen, no doubt, is that there will be more automation (robots already prepare food at McDonald’s, Chipotle, White Castle, Panera and other outlets), more self-service terminals, and fewer workers overall.

And, oh yes, stores will close. Marginal stores that can’t make up the higher costs will simply shut down, thanks to inflation and higher wages.

Sometimes when the government aims to help, it simply makes things worse for the people who are struggling to make ends meet already.

 

 

This Day In History

(Originally posted on December 7, 2020.)

From The American Patriot’s Daily Almanac:

Pearl Harbor

Sunday, December 7, 1941, began as a serene morning at the U.S. Navy base on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. The warships of America’s Pacific Fleet rested at anchor. Many sailors were preparing for church or relaxing, and all was quiet at Pearl Harbor.

At about 7:55 a.m. a buzz from the sky broke the calm as a dive-bomber bearing the red symbol of the Rising Sun of Japan dropped out of the clouds. Seconds later, a swarm of Japanese warplanes followed. Sirens wailed as explosions sounded across the harbor and black smoke poured into the sky.

American sailors scrambled to battle stations while the Japanese planes screamed in for the kill. The main targets were several huge battleships moored in the harbor. Antiaircraft guns roared to life, but they did little good. Bombs and torpedoes hit ship after ship: the Arizona, the Oklahoma, the California, the West Virginia, the Utah, the Maryland, the Pennsylvania, the Tennessee, the  Nevada.

Sailors fought to save their ships, their comrades, and their own lives. Much of the California’s crew abandoned ship after flames engulfed its stern. When the captain determined the battleship might be saved, Yeoman Durrell Conner hoisted the American flag from the stern. At the sight of the colors, the sailors returned to fight the fires and keep her afloat.

Despite such heroism, the attack reduced much of the fleet to smoldering wreckage. The Japanese planes disappeared into the sky, leaving 2,400 dead, 1,200 wounded, and 18 ships and more than 300 American planes destroyed or damaged.

News of the disaster left Americans stunned, but not for long. A remark attributed to Japanese admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who planned the attack, sums up the result of Pearl Harbor: “I fear we have awakened a sleeping giant and instilled in him a terrible resolve.”

A New Contender In The California Senate Race

On Tuesday, The Daily Caller reported that former Major League baseball player Steve Garvey has announced that he will run for the late Diane Feinstein’s Senate seat in California as a Republican.

The article reports:

Garvey, 74, won a World Series in 1981 with the Los Angeles Dodgers and played with the team for fourteen years. He also played with the San Diego Padres for five years. He was even awarded National League MVP during his time in the MLB. Garvey has been debating a run for politics and is now actually throwing his hat into the ring.

“A Giants fan came up to me and said, ‘Garvey, I hate the Dodgers, but I’ll vote for you,’” Garvey told The Los Angeles Times.

“In those 20 years that I played for the Dodgers and the Padres, played up in cold Candlestick Park, I never played for Democrats or Republicans or independents,” Garvey said. “I played for all the fans, and I’m running for all the people.”

In an interview with Fox News, he said he sees himself as a concerned citizen who wants to change the dynamic of Washington D.C.

“I like to think of myself as a concerned citizen. I started seeing a severe dysfunction in Washington. Career politicians were focusing on the business of politics and not the people,” he told the outlet. “And I decided if there isn’t a voice in California, then I should take a few months and see if there’s a pathway for Steve Garvey to run for the U.S. Senate.”

“I think the quality of life is stagnant in California,” Garvey continued. “I think the economy with inflation has caused families to rethink how they live their daily lives, how they take care of their children. Can they save for the future? Can they afford better housing? Young couples in California can’t afford maybe the greatest single investment of their lives, and that’s a home, because of high interest rates and mortgages. I think inflation is causing tremendous stress on families.”

This could be an interesting race. If the election becomes a popularity contest rather than Democrats vs. Republicans, he could win.

It Pays To Be The Son Of “The Big Guy”

On Saturday, Breitbart reported that a fourth IRS whistleblower has come forward claiming that prosecutors in Washington, DC, and California previously blocked now-special counsel David Weiss from charging Hunter Biden in those jurisdictions.

The article reports:

“Mr. Weiss went to the U.S. Attorney’s Office — I can’t recall the dates — and they did not agree to prosecute the case in D.C.,” Waldon (IRS agent Darrell Waldon) told the House Ways and Means Committee during a transcribed interview in September, the Washington Examiner reported.

“I’m aware that it was presented to the District of Columbia and, at some point, the Central District of California, I believe,” he added.

…As the investigation progressed, Weiss never charged Hunter Biden in the jurisdictions of Washington, DC, or California. Instead, he formed a sweetheart plea agreement with Hunter Biden that collapsed in July under judicial scrutiny. Shapley’s testimony in April reportedly triggered the plea deal, filed in Delaware. Weiss later brought three gun-related charges in Delaware against Hunter Biden.

This testimony is interesting because of the way it relates to the testimony of Attorney General Merrick Garland.

The article reports:

The recent testimony by Waldon, who was Shapley’s boss, is notable because Attorney General Merrick Garland testified Wednesday that nobody had the authority to block Weiss from charging Hunter Biden, though “they could refuse to partner with him.”

“You said [Weiss] had complete authority, but he’d already been turned down. He wanted to bring an action in D.C. and the US Attorney there said, ‘No, you can’t’ — and then you go tell the U.S. Senate, under oath, that he has complete authority?” House Oversight Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) asked.

“No one had the authority to turn him down; they could refuse to partner with him.” Garland replied.

“You can use whatever language — ‘refuse to partner’ is turning down,” Jordan replied.

“It is not the same under a well-known Justice Department practice,” Garland claimed.

Waldon previously confirmed Shapley’s notes presented to Congress regarding an October 7, 2022, meeting between Waldon, Shapley, and Weiss, among others. “Darrell asked me to shoot an update from today’s meeting. Darrell — feel free to comment if I miss anything,” the top line of the email read.
The level of corruption in our current Justice Department is breathtaking.

A Lot Of Information In One Place

On July 1st, The Gateway Pundit posted an article detailing all of the fraud discovered in the various investigations of the 2020 election. It is a long, well-documented article and should be read by every American. Please follow the link to read the entire article. If we don’t fix 2020, our future elections will be fixed!

Here are a few highlights:

Examples of ENR (Election Night Reporting) anomalies include one viewer noticing an exact 19,958 vote switch from Trump to Biden that occurred in Pennsylvania, and another observing 351,000 votes disappearing in the vote totals during the recall election of California governor, Gavin Newsom.

But what became the most famous and unexplainable ENR phenomenon were the datasets showing thousands of votes being injected for one candidate, while simultaneously showing a negligible or nonexistent increase for the other candidate. This became known as the “F- Curve” or “Fraud Curve” in election integrity circles because of the shape the curves made in the plot of total votes for each candidate over the election count:

Unsurprisingly, after the F-Curve materialized in the ENR datasets, the losing candidate would leap ahead to victory – typically in the middle of the night.  The swing states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, and Pennsylvania all exhibited an F-Curve after each had stopped counting at around 10 pm on November 3, 2020.

At the TCF Center in Detroit for example, Michigan, surveillance video showed a white van delivering thousands of ballots in the middle of the night, well after the delivery deadline, at the same time an F-Curve showed up in Michigan’s ENR data.

The article also includes testimony from a postal worker who transported ballots from New Jersey to Pennsylvania in late October and other odd occurrences involving the post office’s handling of ballots.

The article concludes with information on the connection between the Secure Online Voting and Innovative Election Solutions | Scytl , a Spanish provider of electronic voting systems and election technology, and Konnech.

The article notes:

Scytl also has an unfortunate connection to Konnech through a man named Luis Nabergoi-Puente who lives in Spain and has been Konnech’s Worldwide Technical Director as well as a program manager at Scytl.

…Konnech is an election company who claims to have distributed its software to “thousands of election offices across North America,” but have also been proven to be storing sensitive election worker information in China, as well as giving Chinese nationals full access to their software. (https://open.ink/konnech)

Konnech’s illegal connections to China were discovered by True the Vote.  After the information reached the Washington D.C. FBI headquarters and after the D.C. office got involved, the FBI did everything possible to shut down the investigation into Konnech and implicate the researchers who discovered the breach.

There is a powerful force behind Scytl, Edison and Clarity. How they ever obtained influence in US elections is not clear.  Their activities in US elections are suspect at best as well. 

Please read the article.

 

 

Further Attacks On Our Economy And On Our Freedom

On Friday, The Daily Caller reported that the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has finalized the Advanced Clean Fleet rule.

The article reports:

California regulators voted Friday morning to implement a ban on new combustion truck sales after 2036, and mandate all trucks be zero emission vehicles by 2042, significantly tightening the state’s already strict trucking emissions rules.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) finalized the Advanced Clean Fleet rule, which would mandate that 50% of all state and local government vehicle fleet purchases be 50% zero-emissions by 2024, and 100% by 2027, and create a registry for drayage trucks. The rule — which comes one day after the board voted to implement the state’s first-ever rules to limit train emissions — would go even further than recent California rules approved by President Joe Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency, which would cut diesel truck sales in half by 2035.

The measure has received pushback from the trucking industry, which expressed concerns about electric vehicle charging infrastructure and widespread deployment, according to The Washington Post. Mike Tunnell, director of environmental affairs at the American Trucking association, told the outlet that industry actors “would rather see the technology be proven and work,” before any action was taken.

Most of us would like to see the technology proven before we move forward.

The article concludes with a reminder of past history:

Eight other states, which along with California represent 25% of the national trucking market, are poised to implement similar rules, according to the Post. Following the EPA’s approval of California’s previous rules, several experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation that California’s economic size would likely prompt truck electrification nationwide, because it would be uneconomical for truck manufacturers to manufacture two types of trucks for two different markets.

California previously implemented rules that would ban the sale of gas passenger cars in the state by 2035. One week after the rules were implemented in late August, the state warned electric vehicle owners not to charge their cars amid a significant heat wave to prevent the possibility of blackouts.

No wonder people are moving to Texas.

Whose Children Are They?

My heart goes out to parents trying to raise children in today’s culture. Back in the age of dinosaurs when I was a teenager, it was much simpler. There were gay children then, but transgender was not yet on the radar. I will also admit that there was bullying although not to the degree that it seems to happen now. Also, we are more aware of it now because of the media, so there may or may not be an increase. At any rate, when you walked through your front door, the bullying ended–there were no cell phones, chat rooms, etc. Basically for many of us in the 60’s, it was a live and let-live culture. Our parents were in charge and guided us according to their beliefs, and generally speaking, we accepted their guidance. The government was not involved unless there was actual child abuse going on. My, how things have changed.

On Thursday, The Washington Examiner reported the following:

Legislators in California are considering a bill that would allow state officials to separate children from their families without letting the parents know until after the fact.

Government authorities could do this for children who struggle with gender identity problems but whose parents are not being “ affirming ” of their new identification as the opposite sex, or as nonbinary, gender fluid, pansexual, or one of the other made-up genders or sexual orientations.

Not allowing your child to permanently mutilate his or her body is not abuse and should not be subject to government oversight. Parents have the right to discourage their children from taking drastic chemical and surgical measures to change their biological sex. Parents have the right and responsibility to seek psychiatric help for children suffering from gender dysphoria. The state should have no role to play in these situations.

The article concludes:

So then the fair question is, why does he want parents cut out of the picture? Children who are the victims of abuse can already access regular anxiety or depression counseling.

This is clearly about making sure children confused about their gender can be transitioned and affirmed in their delusions without their parents’ knowledge. In fact, it sounds similar to the plans by a Virginia LGBT group called the Pride Liberation Project to help gay youth get a new home with gay couples if their parents are not on board with their same-sex attraction and choices.

Children who are legitimate victims of abuse already have avenues to report their parents and seek real counseling and assistance. This bill severs the important ties between parents and children and aims to impose Wiener’s value system onto all families instead of letting the actual parents make the best moral and legal decisions to help their children.

Keep you hands off of our children!

Good News For Covid Patients In California

On Thursday, Ed Morrissey posted an article at Hot Air about a recent ruling by US District Court Judge William Shubb on enforcement of AB 2098.

The article reports:

Can the state of California enforce its own idea of “scientific consensus” on doctors who treat patients for COVID-19? Not after last night, when US District Court Judge William Shubb slapped an injunction on enforcement of AB 2098. This undoubtedly sets up a showdown at the Ninth Circuit, but for the moment the gag rule on doctors has been shut down.

After reading Shubb’s opinion about how badly the state legislature crafted the law, however, Gavin Newsom might want to think twice about further exposure. In the first place, the law forces doctors to only convey the “scientific consensus” on COVID-19 rather than their own judgment, when no one — not the legislature or its attorneys — can provide a definition of that term in relation to COVID-19:

…Shubb agrees with the plaintiffs in this action, noting that the “scientific consensus” regarding a novel virus only under study for three years is at best an aspirational concept. In practice, as Shubb notes, the “consensus” — as defined by California’s reliance on public-health officials — has changed repeatedly in that time. That puts every doctor at risk for prosecution in California no matter what they might say in any given moment, a standard so unreliable as to practically embody the terms “arbitrary” and “capricious”:

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. Physicians know their patients better than the government. A physician is much more able to look at a patient, understand the degree of risk that person will have in dealing with Covid. There doesn’t seem to be logic in the way different people react to Covid, and doctors should be allowed to do what they think is best for their patients. For example, the doctors at Frontline Doctors had a very high success rate in treating Covid patients, yet the government did everything possible to silence them and to prevent them from successfully treating patients.

Hopefully this case is the beginning of patients and doctors reclaiming the rights of Americans to good medical care.

Taxing People Who Don’t Live There Anymore

Margaret Thatcher famously said, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” We are seeing that principle currently illustrated in the formerly great State of California.

On Monday, Fox News reported the following:

California lawmakers are pushing legislation that would impose a new tax on the state’s wealthiest residents — even if they’ve already moved to another part of the country.

Assemblyman Alex Lee, a progressive Democrat, last week introduced a bill in the California State Legislature that would impose an extra annual 1.5% tax on those with a “worldwide net worth” above $1 billion, starting as early as January 2024.

As early as 2026, the threshold for being taxed would drop: those with a worldwide net worth exceeding $50 million would be hit with a 1% annual tax on wealth, while billionaires would still be taxed 1.5%.

…The current version just introduced includes measures to allow California to impose wealth taxes on residents even years after they left the state and moved elsewhere.

Exit taxes aren’t new in California. But this bill also includes provisions to create contractual claims tied to the assets of a wealthy taxpayer who doesn’t have the cash to pay their annual wealth tax bill because most of their assets aren’t easily turned into cash. This claim would require the taxpayer to make annual filings with California’s Franchise Tax Board and eventually pay the wealth taxes owed, even if they’ve moved to another state.

The article includes a wonderful quote:

“A wealth tax could be particularly destructive in California, home to so many tech startups, because the owners of promising businesses could be taxed on hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of estimated business value that never actually materializes,” said Walczak (Jared Walczak, vice president of state projects at Tax Foundation). “Very few taxpayers would remit wealth taxes, but many taxpayers would pay the price. The only people who should genuinely love a California wealth tax are the ones who work in Texas’ economic development office.”

This is another really bad idea to come out of the State of California. I believe we fought a war to end ‘taxation without representation.’ If people no longer live in the state, they no longer vote in the state and are therefore not represented.

Good Advice For Parents

The world does not seem to be as safe for children as it used to be. There are adults in powerful positions that are supposed to protect our children that have in fact been putting them in danger. Some of the things our children are learning in school are not helpful for them and may actually be harmful in the long  run.

On Saturday, The Epoch Times posted an article written by child crimes investigator Terra Avilla, 36, of the District Attorney’s Office in Susanville, California.

The article notes three things parents can do to protect their children from predatory adults:

Number One–No Sleepovers

“I would not let them attend sleepovers,” she said. “This always draws a huge backlash, but after 11 p.m., there is nothing productive and good happening there.

“While I may trust the parents of my children’s friends, I have no control over who else may ‘pop’ in while my kid is there. The friends’ of their siblings, friends’ of the parents, neighbors, etc.”

Number Two–No Snapchat

“Nothing good comes from this app,” she shared in a video.

“Put all of their social medias on private and … refrain from talking to strangers on any social media platforms,” she told the newspaper. “Predators utilize fake accounts, pictures, even fake videos, phone numbers etc., to persuade young minds into thinking that they are their peers.

“Once they feel like this ‘person’—predator—is their friend, they have groomed them into sending photos and other personal information.

Number Three–No Keeping Secrets with Outside Adults

“Children need to know that an adult should never tell them to keep a secret,” she said. “Also, children should be told that they can tell you anything, and that no matter what anyone else says, you will love them no matter what.

“I have taken many heartbreaking cases where the perpetrator threatened to harm the victim’s family, pet sibling, etc.

“The victims are often told that the suspect’s behavior is their fault, that they will go to jail if they tell, etc.”

In a video, she also shared, “There’s a big difference between having a secret and keeping a surprise.”

There were also some other rules:

Number FourDon’t Force Your Kids to Hug or Kiss People They Don’t Want To, Not Even Family Members

…Number FiveKids Shouldn’t Use ‘Silly Names for Their Private Parts’

This is good advice for anyone raising children in today’s world.

Insanity In California

I suppose saying insanity is running rampant among California lawmakers is redundant, but it seems as if they are doing things to destroy their state’s economy on purpose.

On January 1, The Gateway Pundit reported the following:

Big rigs and buses made before 2010 are now banned from operating on California roadways.

The law, which went into effect on New Year’s Day, was part of a set of clean air regulations the California Air Resources Board passed nearly 15 years ago.

According to truck lobbying groups, the new law will prohibit about 10 percent of the commercial motor vehicles that are operating in the state.

“The rule applies to diesel vehicles that weigh at least 14,000 pounds. The air resources board said there are an estimated 200,000 vehicles that have yet to comply with the rule just days before the new year, including roughly 70,000 big rig trucks, or about 10% of the commercial motor vehicles operating in the state, according to trucking lobbying groups,” KCRA reports.

The board argued that newer engines are better at “filtering out harmful particulate matter.”

“When we passed the regulations in 2008, it was to reduce community exposure of toxic air contaminants, it is 100% to protect public health,” Gerald Berumen, spokesman for the air resources board, told the station.

The article notes:

A truck older than 2010 will be exempt if the engine is replaced with a model made in the last 12 years.

Those who drive fewer than 1,000 miles per year in the state can also apply for a low-use exemption.

The law making things more difficult for many truckers to operate comes as supply chain shortages are still a problem in many areas.

The article concludes:

“Many of us would have thought the consequences of California’s goods movements could be severe,” Rajkovacz (Joe Rajkovacz, director of government affairs for the Western States Trucking Association) said. “You can’t take that big of a percentage of the vehicles off the road, but with the slowdown in the economy, it remains to be seen what the impact will be.”

I understand the desire for cleaner air–most of us share that desire. However, to take 10 percent of the trucks off the road abruptly is going to create some serious supply-chain problems. I really wonder if Californians are happy with their elected officials.

Making Statistics Say Whatever You Want Them To

On Wednesday, The Washington Examiner posted an article listing the three most unsafe states in the country. The states listed were Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas. I wondered how New York, California, and Illinois didn’t make the list, but then I saw the criteria.

The article reports:

The results of the study were formed by taking 53 key safety indicators that were grouped into five categories, then comparing how all 50 states fared in each of these indicators. The data examined included the percentage of people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 , assaults per capita, and the unemployment rate, all of which fell under five categories: personal and residential safety, financial safety, road safety, workplace safety, and emergency preparedness, according to WalletHub.

Just for my own entertainment, I decided to look up some crime statistics for Chicago.

A website called vanlifewanderer reported the following:

Statistically speaking, Chicago is an slightly unsafe place to visit. In 2020, Chicago reported 26,583 violent crimes and had a violent crime rate of 967.93 per 100,000 people. Chicago’s violent crime rate is more than twice the national average and is on par with cities like Philadelphia, Houston and Cincinnati.

The same website reported the following about New Orleans:

In 2021, New Orelans reported 201 homicides, 712 rapes, 1,106 robberies and 3,196 aggravated assaults.New Orleans had the 14th highest violent crime rate in the country in 2020.New Orleans’s violent crime rate is 2.1x greater than the state average.New Orlean’s has a similar crime rate to Albuquerque, Baltimore and Kansas City.

The article at The Washington Examiner reported:

“There may be countless threats and hazards for folks to consider when considering areas to where they might remain or relocate,” said Rebecca Rouse, a professor at Tulane University in Louisiana. “Hazards include weather, climate, air quality, natural disasters, technological failures, accidental events, and more.”

The safest states included in the survey were Vermont, Maine , New Hampshire, Utah, and Hawaii . Vermont and Maine were in the top three states for personal and residential safety, while Maine ranked as the best state for emergency preparedness, the study found.

Based on the number of cases of people fully-vaccinated against Covid who have contacted the disease, I don’t think the rate of vaccination should be considered in calculations involving the safety of a state. The recent spike in subway crime in New York City and the amount of gun violence during an average weekend in Chicago would be much more concerning to me than whether or not the person standing next to me was vaccinated.

 

 

Cherry Picking The Facts

I belong to a few liberal groups on Facebook–it helps me understand some of the thinking that is going on among liberal Americans. Sometimes I am amazed by what I read. Today was one of those times.

The following comment appeared:

Proof positive that leftist policies and socio-cultural norms (both legislatively and socially)are not only ideal, but a proven success.
That’s right republicans, states you run are economic failures , that’s a proven fact.
Toss that bible and take a lesson from the left coast. We moving on up to 4.

The comment was in reference to an article that appeared in Bloomberg with the following headline:

California Poised to Overtake Germany as World’s No. 4 Economy

Contrary to popular belief, the Golden State has proven resilient, outperforming its US and global peers.   

Note–the article at Bloomberg is an opinion piece–not a news article!

The article notes:

Gavin Newsom is as familiar as anyone with the media narrative of earthquakes, persistent wildfires, droughts, homelessness and companies fleeing California to Texas for a tax- and regulation-free lifestyle. This is nothing new. California’s governor recalls a 1994 Time Magazine cover story citing “a string of disasters rocks the state to the core, forcing Californians to ponder their fate and the fading luster of its golden dream.”

And yet, “the California dream is still alive and well,” the state’s 40th governor said in a Zoom interview a month before his probable reelection.

Attention–gaslighting alert!

Please follow the link if you choose to read the rest of the article. Meanwhile, here are a few facts.

The California Department of Justice reports:

Facts for 2021:

Crime Rates per 100,000 Population
*
The violent crime rate increased 6.7
percent in 2021 (from 437.0 in 2020 to
466.2 in 2021) (Table 2).

*
The property crime rate increased 3.0
percent in 2021 (from 2,114.4 in 2020 to
2,178.4 in 2021) (Table 2).

*
The homicide rate increased 9.1 percent
in 2021 (from 5.5 in 2020 to 6.0 in 2021)
(Table 2).

*
The burglary rate decreased 5.3 percent in
2021 (from 365.4 in 2020 to 346.2 in 2021)
(Table 2).

*
The rape rate increased 8.6 percent in 2021
(from 33.8 in 2020 to 36.7 in 2021) (Table
2).

*
The motor vehicle theft rate increased 8.2
percent in 2021 (from 422.4 in 2020 to
457.1 in 2021) (Table 2).

*
The arson rate decreased 4.4 percent (from
29.6
in 2020 to 28.3 in 2021) (Table 2).

In January 2022, Channel 10 News in San Diego reported:

A story you may have seen claims so many people are leaving California that U-Haul ran out of trucks in our state.

It’s apparently true.

U-Haul put out a news release in which it said California was the state that saw the biggest loss of one-way U-Haul trucks in 2021.

…California’s population has been steadily declining as more people leave the state while the number of people moving here has dropped.

The California Health Care Foundation reported the following in June 22:

The number of people experiencing homelessness served by California’s homelessness response system (Continuums of Care) increased from 188,000 in 2017 to 255,000 in 2020.

The Public Policy Institute of California reports:

The gap between high- and low-income families in California is among the largest in the nation—exceeding all but four other states in 2020. Families at the top of the income distribution earned 11 times more than families at the bottom ($270,000 vs. $25,000 for the 90th and 10th percentiles, respectively).

None of this sounds like a great place to live. Between crime, homelessness, and the income gap, it doesn’t sound like a socialist paradise. California is beautiful and has a wonderful climate–why do you think so many people are leaving?

Does North Carolina Need Medical Marijuana

In the past, my objection to medical marijuana has been based on the abuses I have seen in other states. Before California legalized recreational use of marijuana and after California legalized medical marijuana, the last four or five pages on the newspapers in California were filled with advertisements from doctors who were willing to prescribe marijuana for pretty much anything from dandruff to a hangnail. The medical marijuana clinics were simply supporting the recreational uses by placing a very thin veneer over the recreational use of the drug. Now, some other problems with marijuana are coming to light. Even as we learn that marijuana has some valid medical uses, we need to look at the downside of legalizing medical marijuana.

On Wednesday, The Carolina Journal posted an article that contained some warnings about legalizing medical marijuana.

The article reports:

Dr. Christian Thurstone, director of behavioral health at Denver Health and professor of psychiatry at University of Colorado, held a media event in October warning North Carolinians not to repeat Colorado’s mistakes surrounding medical marijuana. He was invited to speak by the Triangle Christian Medical and Dental Associations in reaction to N.C. Senate Bill 711, the N.C. Compassionate Care Act.

The bill passed the state Senate 36-7 on third reading in June but did not move in the state House before session ended. A similar bill is likely to be introduced next session and could be considered in 2023.

Thurstone spoke for about 45 minutes and then gave those attending a chance to ask questions.

Thurstone’s main criticisms were that SB 711 allows marijuana in any form for patients, including powerful food products; allows marijuana as a treatment for too many conditions; allows for more than one caregiver to handle the drug; spreads distribution throughout the state, so counties don’t have the option of opting out like they do in Colorado; permits distributors to own more than one center, which led to commercialization of the marijuana business elsewhere; and allows those under 18 to receive marijuana if they have a signature from guardian without specifying safeguards to prevent forgery of signatures.

He said, “This bill is about creating an industry,” and is less about creating a compassionate new form of treatment available.

…Thurstone went through a number of slides showing data about the immediate but temporary bump in those under 18 using marijuana after their bill passed and the more sustained increase of those 18-25 using marijuana (which is now at 32% compared to 23% in the U.S. overall).

Later he spoke about the boom in new powerful products like gummies and drinks that were legally available and advertised. Many of these products and strains have 20-30% THC, which is 10 times stronger than traditional marijuana which had 2% or 3% THC.

The “concerns” section of the speech was subtitled “cars and kids,” as those were the two main areas he said N.C. should keep in mind. For cars, he mentioned a spike in traffic accidents where the driver tested positive for marijuana, rising from 9% in 2009 to 21% in 2019 in Colorado. And despite jokes that high drivers are better because they drive slower, he said the evidence shows they have twice the risk of car accidents, due to difficulty staying in lane, slower reaction times, more weaving, and worse attention and distractibility scores.

Medical marijuana is not compassionate. It creates more problems than it solves. The explosion of vape shops in the state in recent years has as much to do with the increase in vaping as it does the idea that when marijuana becomes legal for medical use (and then for recreational use, which will follow), the shops will already be in place.

Make no mistake–medical marijuana will follow a path very similar to Oxycontin–it may begin well, but it will not end well.

Making A Bad Situation Worse

As of April of this year, California had the highest gasoline taxes in the nation [51 cents per gallon (article here)]. Now Governor Newsom is going to do something that will increase the pain at the pump for Californians.

On Sunday, Townhall reported:

Just when Californians thought they were getting a break on high gas prices, they shot up again, hitting $7 in some areas. 

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif) called for an emergency session of the state legislature to propose a tax that will rip off what he calls the “greed of oil companies.” 

“I’m calling for a Special Session to address the greed of oil companies. Gas prices are too high,” Newsom tweeted, adding “time to enact a windfall profits tax directly on oil companies that are ripping you off at the pump.” 

The oil companies are not ripping you off at the pump. The higher gasoline prices are caused by the Biden administration’s war on fossil fuel and by The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) deciding to reduce production in order to keep prices high. The Biden administration has done what it could to limit lending to oil companies while also limiting their ability to drill for oil. It has also stopped pipelines that cheaply and safely move oil from one place to another. The rise in prices at the gas pump are simply a reflection of the economic principle of supply and demand. Governor Newsom either never studied economics or chooses to ignore what he learned.

Remember, corporations do not pay taxes–their customers do.

The article notes that the Governor was mocked on Twitter for wanted to raise the tax on oil companies. At least some people on Twitter understand the economics of the issue.

The article concludes:

Meanwhile, California Assembly GOP leader James Gallagher and Vince Fong, the Assembly Budget Committee vice chair argued for Newsom to not call for the special session. 

They said that lawmakers should suspend the state’s gas tax if the governor does take this action. 

Stay tuned.

What Parents’ Rights?

On Sunday, Just the News posted an article about a law Governor Newsom of California signed on Thursday.

The article reports:

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Thursday allowing California to take “temporary emergency jurisdiction” over a child that traveled to the state for transgender drugs or operations, stripping parents of their authority over their kids.

“States across the country are passing laws to demonize the transgender community, especially transgender youth and their parents,” Newsom wrote to the California State Senate upon signing the bill, adding that “82% of transgender individuals have considered killing themselves, and 40% have attempted suicide, with suicidality highest among transgender youth. This is unacceptable – we must fight for our youth and their parents.”

The law has been a major source of controversy. Parental rights groups around the country raised the alarm about then-bill SB 107, arguing it violates the Constitution by wrongly claiming jurisdiction over families from other states.

This is totally insane. The statistics the Governor cites regarding suicide are related to the mental problems these children are having–thinking they are trans and wanted to surgically altar their bodies is part of mental illness. Children who believe they are trans should be strongly encouraged to hold off on any permanent body changes until they are over 25. Science tells us that their brains are not developed enough to make that decision before the age of 25.

The article concludes:

“SB 107 makes California akin to the Pied Piper, enticing minor children nationwide to leave their families and run away in pursuit of harmful drugs and sterilizing surgeries, all of which cause irreversible harm to the minds, bodies, and family relationships of America’s precious children,” the letter said. “According to the American College of Pediatricians, 80 to 95 percent of children who experience gender confusion will ultimately embrace their biological sex if they are not encouraged to pursue gender identity treatments. Children experiencing gender confusion need the love, support, and guidance of their parents.”

Newsom, though, signed the legislation, which passed along party lines and will take effect at the beginning of the year.

“With the signing of this bill, California will ensure these kids and their families can seek and obtain the medical and mental health care they need,” Newsom said.

This is not the medical and mental health care they need! First of all, children who believe they are trans need to be taken off of social media where it is ‘cool’ to be trans. Then, objective mental health professionals need to spend time with them helping them sort out the reasons they are feeling this way. At one point, a therapist who was dealing with a young boy who wanted to be a girl learned that the boy had a younger sister who was handicapped and the boy simply wanted his parents to pay as much attention to him as they did to his sister. It would have been a horrible mistake to encourage that child to undergo medical procedures that would forever alter his life.