http;//www.Californiacontrarian.com

As many of us are aware President Biden often does things dependent on polls and will prostitute himself to get votes. For example he put on hold his restrictions on Menthol cigarettes … out of principle? … oh no-no, he did this because Blacks are the main consumer of Menthol cigarettes, and he does not want to antagonize Black voters before the coming election.

Likewise, even after the Supreme Court ruled that his initial college loan forgiveness program was not legal, he is back with round 2 of a similar program. … out of principle? … oh no-no. He is obviously attempting to buy the votes of these young indebted individuals. 

As the election gets closer is there something else on which he could prostitute himself?

From CV NEWS FEED // 

“According to a new poll, a majority of voters in seven hotly-contested battleground states oppose the Biden administration’s proposed regulations on traditional gas-powered vehicles.

CRC Research conducted the poll on behalf of the 85 Fund, a nonprofit that supports conservative causes. 

National Review reported Thursday that 57% of the poll’s respondents “somewhat or strongly opposed” the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) “tailpipe emissions regulation imposing stricter standards on gasoline-powered vehicles.”

Thirty-seven percent “strongly oppose” the controversial policy, National Review added:

Less than a third of respondents, or 31 percent, strongly or somewhat support the tailpipe regulation, with 10 percent strongly supportive. 

These results came in response to a question that posed arguments from proponents and opponents of the regulation.

“The poll surveyed 2,800 registered voters in mid-April. Its respondents were equally distributed throughout the swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

The poll also found that 57% of its respondents “strongly or somewhat oppose paying more for cars and trucks and having fewer options if it means promoting climate emissions goals,” National Review stated.

The poll found that Democrats stand alone in favor of “paying more for cars for the sake of climate goals,” according to National Review. Both Republicans and independents oppose this so-called ‘trade-off.’”

 Most of us who are paying close attention to this November election realize that these swing states will be the key, and furthermore the independents, especially in these states will be critical in deciding who the winner will be.

Now with only six months to go before the Presidential election … Is it only a matter of time before JB caves on his EV mandates?

5/11/24

By now I am used to it, and we should all be used to it. What am I talking about? … Joe Biden’s gaslighting! When he says X, and the general public knows that X is not true, who does JB think he is fooling? 

In the wide-ranging interview on May 8, the president was provided with various facts about the current economic landscape, from real (inflation-adjusted) income being down since January 2021 to housing costs doubling over the past three years.

JB’s response … The American people are “personally in good shape” and the United States has “the strongest economy in the world,” President Joe Biden told CNN host Erin Burnett in a rare sit-down interview touting his administration’s economic record.

The American  people are “personally in good shape.”

Who’s foolin’ who?

The annual inflation rate was 1.4 percent in January 2021 and peaked at 9.1 percent in June 2022. Cumulatively, the consumer price index (CPI) has climbed by approximately 19 percent over the past three years. The CPI rose to a hotter-than-expected 3.5 percent last month and is expected to remain unchanged when the next inflation report is released next week.

“They have the money to spend,” President Biden said in response to Ms. Burnett’s reporting that grocery prices are up by 30 percent.

Who’s foolin’ who?

“It’s also true right now, Mr. President, that voters, by a wide margin, trust Trump more on the economy. They say that in polls,” the CNN host said. The same ABC News–Ipsos poll reported that more Americans trust former President Trump to handle the economy and inflation than President Biden.

In March, a CBS News–YouGov poll showed that 65 percent of respondents thought the economy was “good” under President Trump, while 28 percent said it was “bad”; 38 percent of U.S. voters say the current economy is “good,” and 59 percent believe it is “bad.”

Even though I no longer drink Coke, I heard that a 12oz bottle of Diet Coke costs $3.50 at 7-11. How does that match up to Biden’s fantasy-world where he never has to actually buy anything? 

I guess that we will see who’s foolin’ who in November!

5/10/24

If you haven’t yet been acquainted with a  transgender issue confronting some family member or friend, odds are that it is just a matter of time, as the  transgender issue is a hot topic just about everywhere. What is the best thing to do for these gender confused children and adolescents?  As best I can tell up to this point there has been no scientific study examining this subject … that is until just recently.

From Epoch Health:

In April, England  published the Cass Review, “most comprehensive summary on transgender-youth medicine,” psychologist Erica Anderson, who identifies as transgender and has a doctorate in clinical psychology, told The Epoch Times.

The review was chaired by Dr. Hilary Cass, British honorary physician, consultant in pediatric disability, and former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.

The Cass Review is based on the work of 237 papers, including 214 studies, 21 guidelines, and two position statements, which covered data of over 113,000 children and young people. The authors also analyzed anonymized data from over 3,700 children diagnosed with gender dysphoria, survey responses from professionals, and numerous interviews and testimonies from stakeholders of the issue.

Additionally, Dr. Cass also interviewed numerous transgender youths, adults, parents of these children, advocacy groups, psychologists, pediatricians, and related clinicians, both British and international, though the number of interviewees was undisclosed. She also wanted to do a follow-up with 9,000 patients referred to England’s Tavistock Centre, but that could not be done due to the lack of cooperation from all but one adult clinic.

The Cass Review is not about “rolling back on people’s rights to healthcare,” Dr. Cass wrote in the review’s foreword. “It is about what the healthcare approach should be.”

The review stated that there is insufficient evidence to demonstrate the long-term benefits of medicalizing children who want to identify as a different gender. Instead, the review recommends focusing on psychotherapy. In addition the review found insufficient and inconclusive evidence demonstrating the effectiveness and benefits of gender reassignment treatments for children. Additionally, many of these children are on the autism spectrum and share mental comorbidities often overshadowed by the medicalization model.

Dr. Cass hence advised cautionary psychological interventions, while also leaving room for children to explore their identities.

The review presented the following findings and recommendations:

1. Psychotherapy Is Recommended

There is evidence that psychotherapy can help address mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety, common among transgender youths, and hormone interventions often overshadow these therapies. The review highlighted that psychotherapy is not the same as conversion therapy, as it is not about changing a child’s perception of who they are but exploring the cause of their concerns and experiences and helping alleviate distress.

2. Partial Social Transitioning Is Preferred

The systematic reviews did not show clear evidence of the positive or negative effects social transitioning has on mental health. Social transition generally refers to a person making only social changes, including altering hair and clothing and changing names and pronouns, instead of medical changes to live as a different gender.

While it is unknown whether social transitioning contributes to gender dysphoria, the review authors speculated that a partial transition may be more advantageous and offer greater flexibility to help children explore and express their gender identities.

3. Hormonal Treatments Not Recommended Except Under Research Conditions

Effectiveness and risks: The review showed no significant improvements in gender dysphoria symptoms or body satisfaction from medicalization. While some reports showed short-term improvement in mood when patients began hormonal treatment, the magnitude of such improvement was small.

Hormonal treatment, which refers to the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, is not recommended for minors due to the permanence of its effects. 

As a consequence of the Cass Review, England may be the third country to withdraw from a “gender-affirming” treatment pathway due to recommendations from this long-awaited report. (Finland and Sweden made similar changes in 2023.)

In closing, if someone relates that a physician said, “would you rather have a dead daughter or a live son,” caution is advised before acting on such a threatening obviously guilt ridden statement. Notably, the Cass Review did not support the claim that hormonal treatment reduced the risk of suicide.

5/9/24

I think I have been fairly consistent in my feeling about Jan. 6th. As I implied in my 8/5/23 blog, there is much more to Jan. 6th than is presently known or being revealed. Now, it appears that there is some substance to further add that suspicion.

On 4/17/24 there was a Congressional hearing having to do with January 6th and the testimony of four whistleblowers. Interestingly I did not read about what transpired at that Oversight Subcommittee Hearing  in the Main Stream Media. (To be fair the NYT may have noted something about this hearing on the bottom page 26, but I do not read the NYT on a daily basis.)

Four members of the National Guard testified that they were ready to be deployed on January 6 but THE PENTAGON held them back!

National Guard whistleblowers: Command Sgt. Major Michael E. Brooks, Colonel Earl G. Matthews, Aaron Dean Retired, and Captain Timothy Nick stepped forward and testified before Congress to correct the record on January 6.

From The Gateway Pundit:

“As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser were both warned about the security situation prior to January 6th, and both turned down National Guard troops at the US Capitol that day.

“Chris Wray’s FBI also refused to notify the Trump administration and his cabinet secretaries that they believed there could be violence like the mass protests at the Capitol that took place that day.

“Capitol Police Chief Steve Sund said he asked House and Senate security officials for permission to request that the D.C. National Guard be placed on standby in case he needed quick backup. But they both turned him down.

“But now there is more disturbing news on the military leadership on January 6th. According to Colonel Earl Matthews, who testified before Congress in April, US military leaders revoked President Trump’s Commander-in-Chief powers that day and refused to move in the National Guard – because it might look bad.

“He claims that Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time, and then-Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, were plotting to disobey any orders handed down by Trump because they ‘unreasonably’ assumed the then-president was going to break the law and try to use the D.C. National Guard (DCNG) to stop certification of the 2020 presidential election results.

“But Matthews says that senior military leadership essentially stripped the president of his authority as commander-in-chief by preemptively planning to go against orders because they didn’t like the optics of uniformed soldiers at the Capitol.

‘I think a very plausible argument can be made that through no fault of his own, President Trump’s command authority over both the D.C. National Guard and the U.S. Army itself had been surreptitiously curtailed by the senior leadership of the Army on January 6, 2021,’ Matthews told DailyMail.com.”

As I have mentioned before I think that the Jan. 6th insurrection was a set up engineered by the left. The testimony from this 4/17/24 hearing, now three years later, appears to further confirm my prior suspicion.

5/8/24

Who of you are familiar with a “writ of certiorari?”

For those not familiar with this essential part of the rulings of the Supreme Court, I will try to explain. In practical terms there is no way that the Supreme Court can deal with all of the cases that it is petitioned to hear. Ergo there must be some kind of screening process … this process is the writ of certiorari. 

The word certiorari comes from Law Latin and means “to be more fully informed.”  A writ of certiorari orders a lower court to deliver its record in a case so that the higher court may review it.  The U.S. Supreme Court uses certiorari to select most of the cases it hears. 

In order for the SCOTUS to hear a case, it must first be okayed by at least four of the nine justices. If a the hearing of a case does not achieve approval of at least four, then the decision on the case goes back to what the highest prior court, often the Appellate Court, has ruled. ( For those of you who desire to read a fictional mystery in which the writ of certiorari is central, I refer you to Amazon … “The Keneally Chronicles” by Daniel R. Collins)

Why bring up the writ of certiorari now? 

It is because SCOTUS just considered an important case out of Texas 

From the Epoch Times:

“The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a legal challenge to a Texas law that requires voters under the age of 65 to provide justification to vote by mail, meaning that the Democrat-aligned attempt to sharply expand “no-excuse” mail-in ballots in the Lone Star state has failed, with implications for other states.

According to an April 22 order list, the high court denied petition for a writ of certiorari in a case that stems from a federal lawsuit filed in 2020 on behalf of the Texas Democratic Party and several voters who requested that Texas lift its age-based limitations on no-excuse mail-in voting.

Texas law only allows individuals to vote by mail without a qualifying excuse, like sickness, if they are 65 years or older. In their original complaint, which made its way through a number of lower courts before ending up before the Supreme Court, the petitioners alleged that the Texas voting law violates the 26th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits denying the right to vote due to age.”

However, the refusal to hear this case has even more importance than just in Texas as it establishes precedent.

The high court’s decision not to hear the appeal has broader implications, however, since six other states–Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee–have similar laws on the books that let older voters to request absentee ballot without having to provide any justification.

In my opinion … score one for the good guys!

5/6/24

On many of you are aware on Sunday I write about someone we can all admire. Melika Ghanaati, now 19, is such a person. 

From Epoch  Bright:

Melika Ghanaati hasn’t been able to walk unaided since 2013 due to four debilitating medical conditions.

She was born with a severe form of scoliosis—a curved spine—as well as congenital myopathy, a disorder that has caused weakness in her muscles, severe club feet, and recurring kidney stones.

Growing up, she either used a walker or a wheelchair and needed various surgeries to correct her curved spine.

After the final surgery in 2016, doctors told her she was “banned” from walking.

It took Ms. Ghanaati three years to find the confidence to visit a physiotherapist. She realized her graduation would be the perfect time to take her first steps.

By July 2022, she was doing physiotherapy, and her last year of high school was very chaotic.

Describing her time doing the physio as “like a baby learning to walk,” Ms. Ghanaati’s progress was gradual—she had to take one step at a time.

She was given exercises such as holding on to the wall and putting one foot in front of the other.

“Graduation was the goal,“ she said. ”I had to keep going.”

Wanting to keep it a surprise, she didn’t tell her friends or parents that she was practicing walking for graduation. However, she informed the graduation committee about her plans in case something went wrong.

“I kept saying to myself in my head, ‘Don’t fall, don’t fall, don’t fall.’”

She looked down at her feet because she knew she would get distracted if she looked at the audience.

Ms. Ghanaati was given the Vision of the Future Award for achieving good grades and the School Board Award for academic and extracurricular involvement.

She walked across to get her awards and only discovered afterward that her parents, Marjan Simi, 49, and Masaud Ghanaati, 56, were a crying mess.

“It was a big success, I saw my dad wiping tears with his jacket sleeve.”

She also didn’t realize she’d received a standing ovation from the audience.

If anyone deserved a ‘Standing O’ it was Melika Ghanaati!

5/5/24

By this time most of you are aware that I am a Trump guy.

One of the reasons that he is hated by many on the left is that much more often than not, it turns out that he is right in what he says. The most recent example is this ridiculous trail in New York City. Trump has stated many times that there is no case here, and that this charade is only going on to prevent him from hitting the campaign trail. After hearing snippets of what is happening in the courtroom, I can only say that DJT is right again. At this point, any legitimate prosecutor would be embarrassed at what is going on in the courtroom, and at this point “legitimate” is not a word that I would apply to D.A. Alvin Bragg or this case.

The last two witnesses for the prosecution are … I am trying to think of a kind way to describe each of them, but I cannot! … both of these witnesses are sleaze balls. 

First Michael Cohen:

In 2018, Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and tax evasion and served time in prison. In March, a federal judge refused to terminate his supervised release conditions, after Cohen “accidentally” filed an AI-generated motion citing three made-up cases. 

Next came California attorney Keith Davidson, whose practice seemingly was mostly made up of false allegations against famous individuals who went along with non-disclosure agreements because it was less expensive.

From C&C:

“The sordid picture that emerged between the two scheming lawyers’ testimony seems more than anything to help President Trump, who is starting to look more and more like the victim of a con rather than a presidential criminal meriting historic prosecution.”

At this point it appears that Trump is right again. This case is a farce!

In addition, if the judge, Juan Merchan  was legitimately non-partial, soon he could soon just dismiss the case, and save New York a ton of money. However, this would never happen since, if he did that, then Trump would be back on the campaign trail.

5/4/24

Many many years ago I was trying to recruit a physician, Peter F. to join our medical group. It turned out that he decided to join some of his ex-Navy physician friends in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Although I did not verbalize it to him, I thought to myself, “choosing Arkansas over California, what a mistake!”

I had not thought about Dr. Peter F. until last night when I happened to see the Governor of Arkansas, Sarah Huckabee Sanders on U-tube. I must say that she was quite an impressive speaker, and she certainly made Arkansas seem like a good place in which to live … an inflation rate of only 1.6%, the highest teacher salaries anywhere in the nation, plans to phase out the state income tax, etc.

She was appalled at some of the things that were coming out of Washington, especially at Joe Biden’s “revision of Title IX.”

She noted that Arkansas already had state laws on the books to protect actual women and girls from those who “think” they are women, and forcibly stated that Arkansas will not only not comply with JB’s nonsensical 459,000 word revision of Title IX (FYI: the original Title IX, which was designed to protect women, was 37 words!), but also that Arkansas will sue the Federal Government if it tries to take away any funds from Arkansas.

Perhaps Dr. Peter F. made the right decision many years ago when he chose Fort Smith as a place to live. While he has Sarah Huckabee Sanders as his Governor, we in California are stuck with Gavin  Newsom! 

5/3/24

The other day at the gym my stationary bike was situated in front of the TV that had Fox News, and as luck would have it The Five was on. While I was unable to hear what was being said I could read some of the closed captioning, and so what I am going to say is far from being verbatim. 

Although I do not consistently watch The Five, I do not recall ever seeing Kevin O’Leary on that show before. As some of you might be aware Kevin O’Leary is a very successful Canadian businessman often seen on Shark Tank

It seemed that he was saying that these college protests are going to follow these protestors for a long time, perhaps for the rest of their lives. As he pointed out, whenever he hires someone, he does an extensive background check on them. He also pointed out that these days one can learn much more about individuals than it was possible in the past. With cameras just about everywhere pictures of these protestors are readily available. Compared to pictures taken in the past, the quality of these present day pictures is eons better. Consequently, he noted that these protestors will readily be identified.

For himself and his companies, these protestors will never be hired, and they may never know exactly why. Similar things will happen with other employers. Likewise many graduate schools will want nothing to do with them, and they may never realize why.

And actually, this will apply not only to the student protestors, but also to those protestors who hired and paid to protest Unfortunately, both groups may well have their future ruined … and they will never really know why!

5/2/24

Let’s play a little, What if” followed by the more difficult …”How?”

To start this soirée, “what if Donald Trump gets elected in November.”

If this happens I would guess that he will begin at some point to start to fulfill some of his campaign promises. He has repeatedly vowed the “largest domestic deportation operation in American history” starting on day one after he returns to the White House.

How do the American people feel about this? 

From the Epoch Times:

“More than half of Americans—including 42 percent of Democrats—said they would support mass deportations of illegal immigrants, according to a new Axios Vibes poll released on Thursday, 4/25/24.

The online survey also found that 46 percent of Republicans and 30 percent of Democrats said they would end birthright citizenship guaranteed under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. The Harris Poll conducted for Axios surveyed 6,251 adults between March and April 2024.

Participants included Republicans, Democrats, and independents across multiple generations, from Baby Boomers to Generation Z. The poll has a margin of error of 1.5 percentage points.”

However, if Trump gets elected, the more practical and the more difficult question is, “how is he going to achieve this mass deportation? 

I can see public opinion being pretty straight-forward when it comes to men from Venezuela, similar to the one that is accused of recently murdering that young Georgia nursing student. As best I can tell it seems that only Joe Biden, perhaps while making another sign of the cross, and his Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas would be opposed to that. However, what about a young Hispanic family, including two young children from Honduras or El Salvador? How would the public respond to the news that they are being deported? I will guarantee that the response from most Americans, including both Republicans and Democrats would  be a heartfelt, “they are not hurting anyone; do not deport them even though they are illegal; they should have a chance at achieving the American Dream.”

As most readers know I am politically a staunch conservative,  but nonetheless that is probably what I would also say, as I have witnessed real poverty in Central America up close and personal. I would probably agree with “just leave them alone,” with one caveat … because they are not citizens, they should not be allowed vote. This is similar to my opinion on “ the dreamers,” who as children, were brought into this country illegally by their parents. Both the dreamer-children and the parents should never be allowed to vote. Again I can envision a lot of Americans agreeing with this, as every vote by someone who is not a U.S. citizen potentially disenfranchises the vote of an American citizen. However, in a more practical vein, how could this ever be enforced? 

Certainly, they could be threatened with immediate deportation if they ever voted, but again in a practical sense how would this ever be discovered and enforced?

I have my ideas on how to practically approach this issue … however, I predict that no one will like it.

Ergo, I am interested in hearing any other solutions on how to handle this issue.

5/1/24