Month: August 2022

This Sunday, a bit different … Instead of a person or persons that should be deserving of honor and praise, I am nominating a company … Patriot Mobile, a Texas-based cellphone company,

The background from Epoch Share:

“In God We Trust” became the official motto of the United States in 1956 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower put his signature on a bill that gave it the force of law.

Texas state Sen. Bryan Hughes, a Republican co-authored a bill in 2003 that allowed schools to display the motto, and last year he authored the “In God We Trust Act,” which requires a school to display the motto as long as the signs featuring the motto came from private donations, at no cost to taxpayers.

The same  Sen. Bryan Hughes, a Republican, co-authored Senate Bill 797, which was passed last year and requires schools to display the motto as long as the signs featuring it came from private donations, at no cost to taxpayers.

The law states that Texas public schools and institutions of higher learning must display the national motto in a “conspicuous place,” and an increasing number of signs featuring the words have been donated to school districts across Texas.

So far it sounds as if Sen. Bryan Hughes should be given my Sunday award. Where does Patriot Mobile come in?

Patriot Mobile, a Texas-based cellphone company, donated several “In God We Trust” signs to Carroll Independent School District (ISD) campuses, saying in a statement on social media that they’re “proud to be a part of having our nation’s motto hung in our public schools.”

“Our mission is to passionately defend our God-given, Constitutional rights and freedoms, and to glorify God always,” the company added.

The company later clarified that they donated framed “In God We Trust” posters to “many other school districts in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and we will continue to do so until all the schools in the area receive them.”

“We are honored to be part of bringing God back into our public schools!” the company said.

Clearly Patriot Mobile is a company that we can all admire.

Too bad we do not have a Bryan Hughes or Patriot Mobile here in California.

8/21/22

californiacontrarian

A baseball pitcher cannot be successful if he throws only fastballs. He must also be able to throw a curveball and a change-up in order to keep the batters off balance. Similarly, when writing a blog, one cannot just fire fastballs over the plate all the time. There has to be some days when a change-up is in order, thus keeping the readers off balance. Today is that day.

Senator John Kennedy (R,LA) has a way with words, and consequently whenever I have a chance to listen to something he says, I do not hesitate.

From Fox News:

Senator John Kennedy, R-La., joined ‘Jesse Watters Primetime’ on 8/15/22 to share his views on some Democrats refusing to throw full support behind a President Biden re-election bid in 2024.

(Start counting from right now and tally up how many of those politicians on the November ballot will be asking J.B. to come to their state to campaign for them. … I am betting on ‘zero’ with no over-under.)

SENATOR KENNEDY: “Some politicians in Washington, D.C., not all of them, but some care more about their problems than yours. And the thing they want most in the world is to be re-elected. Certain members of President Biden’s own party are running from him because they think President Biden will hurt their re-election.”

(‘Are running from him’ is a gross understatement, as ‘sprinting from him’ would be a truer representation.)

“Now, why is that? In my judgment, President Biden has stepped on every rake in the yard.” (It’s hard to think of a better metaphor than ‘stepping on a rake.’ Senator Kennedy has a way with words, and this phrase paints an unmistakable picture!)

SENATOR KENNEDY: “And I don’t mean to be unfair, but it’s been cringeworthy. He has mismanagedCongress, mismanaged COVID, mismanaged crime, mismanaged the border, mismanaged Afghanistan, mismanaged the economy, mismanaged inflation, and forfeited America’s energy independence.” [The underlining is obviously my editorial commentary, as it impossible to underline a spoken word!]

(Plus, ‘cringeworthy’ is a perfect descriptive word for just about everything J.B. does. Maybe, if the country is fortunate, he will stay in his basement and keep his mouth shut until November. … those Dems up for re-election would certainly like that.)

SENATOR KENNEDY: “Now, President Biden obviously disagrees with that. He says he’s doing a swell job, and as evidence, he offers the opinions of experts like Kamala Harris and Prince Harry.  But I don’t think most Americans are persuaded. I don’t think the American people hate President Biden. I certainly don’t. But I think a majority of the voters in our country at this juncture think he would be he would be better off selling catheters on late–night TV than serving as president of the United States.”

(‘Selling catheters on late night TV!!!’ … I laugh hysterically each time I think of that PG13 insult.)

8/20/22

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In my other life I am a writer of fiction. I discovered many years ago that indeed I enjoyed penning fictional stories. In the past someone who was also a writer of fiction said something that has stuck with me over the years. He said that he liked writing fiction because he could make up and thus write anything he that wanted … because it was FICTION!

Yesterday I finished reading my thirty-eighth Stephen King book. This book was a collection of twenty short stories, and before each short story he described what had inspired him and subsequently led up to him writing that particular short story. Since I love Stephen King, I decided that perhaps my next book or short story could be drawn from an idea I had about present day events.(Before you read on, remember that in writing fiction, the author can make up whatever plot twists he wishes … because it is FICTION!)

My main character in this piece of fiction is a politician … a very smart individual as well as a very skillful politician. Granted he is not always P.C., and sometimes he rubs people the wrong way. However this particular facet of his personality is one of the many things that has caused millions to be his staunch supporters. He travels a lot, but at present his permanent residence is in Florida. 

A while back this main character was tipped off that he had an FBI-placed informant on the staff of his Florida mansion. “What to do?” His options were to fire the s.o.b., or to figure out a way to use that individual for his benefit. As I have already stated, he was very smart and so he decided to slowly and surreptitiously “leak” tidbits of mis-information to this secret informant. One day, in an off-the-cuff way, he told the mole that he had just purchased and installed a brand new safe, the combination to which, only he would know. Likewise, this new safe would be virtually impossible to break into. Furthermore because of this safe’s super-security, he was going to put most of his most prized documents into that safe. On another occasion, our hero also let it slip that he had also hidden many of his personal papers in his wife’s closet. He also let it be known on the QT that he also buried documents in drawers which contained his wife’s lingerie. In other discussions with his staff, our main character let it slip that he and his wife would be out of town in early August.

Without ruining the rest of the plot or the ending of my story, suffice it to say that the opposition informant went for the fake – hook, line, and sinker. They raided his Florida mansion on some Trumped-up charges while he was out of town, and thoroughly searched through all of his wife’s clothing, and I mean all of her clothing! Because they knew that our hero was keeping his most prized papers in his new safe, they also brought along an expert safecracker to insure that that they could gather up all that was being hidden in that super-secure safe. In addition the security cameras that were spread throughout the house were able to capture the reckless and aimless searchers scratching their heads when his wife’s chest of drawers and her closet contained nothing but her clothes and undergarments. Furthermore, the safecracker was able open the brand new expensive safe, and surprise, surprise … this safe was empty! 

Now granted this plot does not thus far measure up to Stephen King’s standards, but there will be many more plot twists before the final chapter is finished.

8/19/22

californiacontrarian

This is just one example of how various “Health Commissioners” abused their power, and how some governors went right along with this power trip like sheep.

From Epoch Times:

Until July 8, the New York Department of Health had immense power to enforce quarantine measures on citizens. It received this power from the state’s Rule 2.13.

Legislators never voted to allow the New York Commissioner of Health to put any individual into quarantine for any length of time. Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Department of Health ordered the rule’s protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, the state renewed Rule 2.13 every 90 days. The commissioner wanted to make the rule permanent, respondents told the court.

A New York judge overturned 2.13, a law that allowed the state government to place even healthy citizens in quarantine camps for an indefinite time without review.

The court barred state enforcement of Rule 2.13 because the executive branch lacked the authority to introduce it. But the court decision also condemned the rule for its failure to consider individual freedom or due process.

Previous New York laws about quarantine protected individual rights, it added. But Rule 2.13 put all power into the hands of the commissioner of health, the document stated.

But Rule 2.13 allowed the commissioner to order quarantining for anyone, anywhere, at any time.

People isolated under the rule only got a judicial review and the right to a lawyer after they were put in quarantine, the court wrote.

This order offered only “lip service” to constitutional due process.

“You can’t make laws or rules that don’t have protections built in to protect the citizens,” said pro-bono attorney Bobbie Ann Cox.

Imagine that! … The judge ruled that only the legislature can make laws. In addition the judge said that you just can’t lock people up based on some arbitrary decision by an “unelected pseudo-official health know-it-all” without some sort of hearing or trial.

New York Democratic Governor Hochul is no innocent bystander here. She is a lawyer and therefore should have realized the rules of the game. Could it be that “power” played a role in her supposed naïveté? … Duh!

Laws like the New York’s 2.13 still exist in other states, and hopefully the courts will continue strike them down.

BTW: I doubt that you will read or hear about this decision in the MSM as it goes against their preconceived opinion. Likewise you probably will not hear about it on Twitter, as Twitter that recently imposed a blockade on all content from The Epoch Times without explanation, raising further concerns about freedom of speech on the platform and drawing ire from three U.S. senators. (Because of pressure, Twitter has since reversed its stance.)

8/18/22

californiacontrarian

First off, I need everyone to know that my father worked many, many years for the IRS. He took public transportation to downtown Chicago every day, rain or shine, winter or summer, and I do not recall him ever missing a day of work. I am not anti-IRS, but rather I am pro-reality.

With that as a prelude, let’s assume that I am hired as one of the newly hired 87,000 IRS agents with the largesse provided by the $80 billion allocated to the IRS in the “Inflation Reduction Act.” (I am assuming that you are familiar with the “Inflation Reduction Act” passed by Congressional Democrats that will not actually reduce inflation.)

Anyway, let’s assume that the all knowing IRS puts me in an office, and giving the IRS the benefit of the doubt, my initial job description involves “answering phones” and “providing much needed information to bewildered taxpayers.” Now as we all are well aware probably 90% of telephone calls to the IRS come during the months of March and early April when Joe-taxpayer is struggling with trying to get his 1040 filled out. Granted I will probably be very busy during that time frame, but once April has come and gone, the high liklihood is that there will not be many phone calls or consumer questions to answer. Let’s assume that I will then attempt to look busy, and while  this may work for a while, the IRS is not going to pay me for basically doing nothing. Let’s then assume that my boss says something like, “Get to work! Find something to do! Make yourself useful! The government is not going to continue to pay you to just sit and wait for the phone to ring.” I know that he is right, and so what do I do? … very simply, I then begin to make myself useful by going over (PC words for ‘auditing’) some Joe-taxpayer returns. Since those on the upper floors are going over (auditing) the returns of the high income clients, let’s assume that by necessity I then am relegated to be a “bottom feeder” – auditing small businesses and those making less than $400,000 per year. I may not be thrilled about auditing these folks, as this is not what was sold to the public or to me … but a job is a job, and the IRS has good benefits, vacation, etc. Furthermore, if I am able to identify and corral some of these “bottom feeders,” I assume that some day I will move up to one of the upper floors.

8/17/22

californiacontrarian

There is little doubt that emotions can lead to poor decisions, but after witnessing the shenanigans that are presently going on in Washington, I seriously wonder if ‘hate’ can cause totally irrational thinking.

First witness the J6 committee, or more specifically one of the “Republican” representatives – the one from Wyoming, Liz Cheney. There is little doubt that she is pissed at Trump (DJT) because of some things that the former President said about her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney. In fact I would go further and unequivocally say that she hates DJT, and even further, that she is consumed by this hate … and thus the question … Does hate cause one to think irrationally? This J6 committee is obviously a prejudicial political set up with the only “Republican” representatives being handpicked by Nancy Pelosi. The Wyoming primary is coming very soon, and polls demonstrate that Ms. Cheney is way behind. In essence she has given up not only a promising career, but also her ability to think rationally because she is consumed by hatred of DJT.

The other D.C. example of how hate can consume one, and thus lead to irrational thinking involves our present A.G., Merrick Garland, whose situation seems to be particularly sad and tragic. Prior to his bonehead decision to raid Trump’s Mir-a-Lago home, he would have been judged favorably by history. He would have been viewed as a person who could possibly have been a Supreme Court Justice if not for Mitch McConnell’s recalcitrance. But now the only way that history will view Merrick Garland will be as a hateful, politically controlled lackey who okayed the using of 30 armed FBI agents to raid Donald Trump’s home in Mia-a-Lago to look for … what? Was this raid the product of rational or irrational thinking? Although history will be the judge, I do have my personal opinion  … i think that deep seated hate clouded the judgement of an otherwise very intelligent man.

8/16/22

californiacontrarian

When “the President” proposes some loony-tunes “mandate,” or when those under him have a preposterous opinion, I often times wonder, “WTF is that bozo or his underlings thinking?” 

I know, I know … oftentimes he isn’t thinking, but at the same time why waste all of the taxpayer’s hard earned money on frivolity? 

From the Washington Examiner:

“The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments on 8/4/22 in a lawsuit brought by nearly 20,000 religious physicians challenging the Department of Health and Human Services rule they say requires doctors to perform gender transition procedures against their conscience.

President Biden’s administration is seeking the federal appeals court to lift a lower court order that protected Christian doctors from having to perform gender transition treatment under the Affordable Care Act . The administration contends the court order, which applies solely to the Christian medical group behind a 2016 lawsuit, is contestable because the rule they initially challenged is no longer in effect.”

Now, while I do not profess to have a legal background, in my opinion this frivolous appeal by Biden’s Justice Department is obviously just to demonstrate to his far left cheerleaders that he is on their side. However, in reality it is absurd, feather-brained, harebrained, etc. How many different lawsuits have we had that were in essence a contest between one’s religious beliefs and what the government is dictating? They just keep coming … and religious beliefs seem to win just about every time. Does Biden’s Justice Department really think they are going to win here? Are they hoping for a miracle … or are they merely dumb? Hope springs eternal! If they are just merely hoping, in essence, they are really dumb.

8/15/22

californiacontrarian

In the last few days two amazing things happened … Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act and the residence of former President, Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, was raided by the FBI. Although one could speculate that this was merely a coincidence, I would suggest that coincidences are mostly things which happen in fictional novels when the author is searching for a way out of a dilemma that he has created for himself. Should a betting person suspect that “coincidences”  in government are usually not coincidental? The answer should be ‘yes,’ as in “Is the Pope a Catholic?” (Notice that I did not say, “Is Joe Biden a Catholic?” … as the answer that question would be “Perhaps a squishy one!”)

Be that as it may I do not think that these two things were merely coincidental. To start, the raid on Mår-a-Lago was obviously politically motivated. In the following few days more and more will come out that will verify that. Whether “documents” were found or not in this FBI raid is actually irrelevant, as the DOJ has obviously been politicized. (Supposedly the Clintons took $28,000 worth of furniture from the White House when they left … were they raided or even questioned about that? Err … “No!”)

That gets me to the Inflation Reduction Act which many say will not actually reduce inflation. However, it is a convincing name for something which serves as a cover for hiring 87,000 additional IRS agents. What does one think that this humongous increase in the size of the IRS will do? 

Ben Cardin, a Democratic Senator from Maryland said the following when asked that question on Fox News Sunday:

“Millions of Americans aren’t going to be impacted by that other than getting better service from the IRS, having their telephone answered, getting the questions they need in order to comply with our tax laws.”

To me the amazing thing is not that Senator Cardin spouted that line of BS, but that he may actually believe it! OMG!

It doesn’t take a fictional writer to predict that certain individuals and certain groups will be targeted by a significant portion of these new IRS agents … just as President Trump was targeted again. The main difference is that we are talking about two different government agencies, coincidentally both with three letters … the DOJ & the IRS!

8/13/22

californiacontrarian

As we are all aware by this time thirty FBI agents raided President Trump’s home in Florida in the early morning hours of 8/8/22. In addition we just heard that the U.S. Attorney General, Merrick Garland himself, signed off on this. Apparently the stated reason for the raid had to do with searching his house for “classified documents” that Donald Trump supposedly had. (The last time someone was accused of this atrocious crime … he smuggled out classified documents in his socks! … it was treated as a misdemeanor and he temporarily lost his security clearance. I do not think that he had his home raided or his socks confiscated!)

The scuttlebutt from liberal Newsweek magazine was that there was an inside informant who not only tipped off the Justice Department that Trump was hiding classified documents, but also exactly where this confidential stuff was hidden. Now here is where I have some problems. If this mole knew exactly where this confidential stuff was “hidden,” why did it take 30 FBI agents 9-12 hours to search Trump’s house. Yes, the house is certainly large, but 30 agents for 9-12 hours! Hmmm! Could it be that the entire raid was merely fishing expedition?

Also the FBI brought along an experienced safe-cracker, who successfully broke into Donald Trump’s new safe … The safe was empty! If this “inside informant” knew where this confidential stuff was hidden, why was the broken-into safe empty? Hmmm! Could it be that the raid was a fishing expedition?

In addition the closet of the former First Lady was ransacked. Was anything found in Melania Trump’s shoes? … in her expensive clothes? … in her undergarments? After all if the secret informant knew exactly where all of this confidential classified stuff was hidden, why was it necessary to go through Melania’s clothes? Hmmm! … Go Fish!

8/12/22

californiacontrarian

At the daily press briefing on 8/9/22, Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy asked press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre (KJP) about former President Donald Trump, asking whether President Joe Biden considers him a “political rival.”

To me this seemed like a straightforward question with a simple but truthful answer … “Yes.” Obviously Donald Trump and Joe Biden are political rivals. Everybody in America knows this … err, everybody, perhaps with the exception of Joe Biden and Karine Jean-Pierre! Granted KJP is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but she loses credibility when she dances around the simple questions.

From BlaseNews:

“But when Jean-Pierre refused to address Trump, Doocy got right down to brass tacks. ‘Is this White House weaponizing the Justice Department and the FBI against political opponents?’ Doocy asked.”

Again to me a straightforward question with only two simple answers … “yes” or “no.” If the White House is not weaponizing the Justice Department, then answer, “no.” End of subject. However if the White House is weaponizing the Justice Department, KJP could not say, “yes”… and so … tap-dance … and lo-and-behold, KJP started dancing, and in my humble opinion, she dances poorly.

Credit Doocy with asking a good question, but KJP demonstrated that she was overmatched and most likely, as I have said before, under-qualified for the job of press secretary. Even if tap-dancing is to be included in the job description, she comes up short.

8/11/22

californiacontrarian