Author: Californiacontrarian

Larry Farris Jr. is a bus driver in Lexington, Kentucky. On one particular day he saw a need and did what an exceptional person would do.

“Normally, when I pull up, Levi is standing there waiting for me with a big smile, but on this day, he was sitting on the ground with a jacket over his head and tears streaming down his face. I asked him, ‘Hey buddy, what’s going on? What’s wrong?'”

Levi, a first-grader at Engelhard Elementary School, explained through sobs that he didn’t have pajamas for Pajama Day at school.

Larry’s heart sank as he watched Levi’s disappointment, knowing the young boy wanted to participate but couldn’t. After finishing his morning routes, he made a special trip to a Family Dollar store and purchased two pairs of pajamas for Levi. With pajamas in hand, Larry headed to Levi’s school to deliver the heartfelt gift.

As Larry Farrish Jr. presented the pajamas to Levi, the young boy’s face lit up with joy, his tears replaced by a radiant smile. Levi hugged the “All-Star” football pajamas close to his chest, overwhelmed with gratitude for Larry’s kindness.

“I said, ‘You were hurting this morning, you were crying, so I got you these pajamas,” Larry explained. “He was so excited – you should’ve seen how his face lit up.”

Reflecting on his calling as a bus driver, Larry humbly expresses his love for building bonds with the children he serves. 

Larry Farrish Jr. reminds us that God creates heroes out of ordinary people, showing us that even the smallest acts of kindness can make a world of difference in someone’s life. 

Yes, Larry Farris Jr. is a hero in the eyes of Levi, and in my eyes also.

6/9/24

In my continuing attempt to occasionally bring my readers some medical news that is most likely likely not commented on by the MSM.

In just the past few years I have known three individuals with Parkinson’s Disease, and so this piece in Neurology was of special interest to me 

From Epoch Health:

While previous research highlighted caffeine’s benefits like increased energy and enhanced cognitive performance, a recent study in the journal, Neurology, adds to the evidence that caffeine may help prevent Parkinson’s disease, a progressive movement disorder. The new study examined coffee intake and future Parkinson’s risk in 184,024 participants across six European countries.

Unlike prior studies, it quantified caffeine biomarkers years before Parkinson’s onset. Researchers identified 351 Parkinson’s cases, matched with controls by age, sex, study center, and fasting status during blood collection.

Results showed that higher caffeine consumption and the presence of key metabolites like paraxanthine and theophylline were linked to reduced Parkinson’s risk.

The neuroprotective effects were exposure-dependent, with the highest consumption group having nearly 40 percent lower Parkinson’s risk compared to non-coffee drinkers.

The “sweet spot of coffee consumption” is probably two to four cups per day, Dr. Jack Wolfson, a board-certified cardiologist in Scottsdale, Arizona, not associated with the study, told The Epoch Times. Above that amount, “there is probably not much benefit,” he added.

The scientific evidence linking coffee consumption to a decreased risk of developing Parkinson’s disease is quite strong, Dr. Hwai Ooi, a neurologist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York.

In addition to coffee consumption, experts say there are other lifestyle factors and habits that could play a role in reducing the risk of Parkinson’s disease.

The most important is aerobic exercise, “which has clearly been shown to be neuroprotective effects in Parkinson’s disease and can slow down progression of the disease,” Dr. Ooi said. Current guidelines recommend a minimum of 2.5 hours of aerobic activity per week for those with Parkinson’s.

My take on this is to have a couple of cups of JOE in the morning followed by thirty minutes of walking or any other type of loco- MOtion.

6/8/24

Does Being Liberal Mean Never Having To Say, “I’m Sorry?”   

Many of us, like me, who were paying attention to the news back in 2021, were shocked when the reports out of Canada alleged that many unmarked Indian children’s graves were found near and in former residential schools.

from BlazeMedia:

The residential schools were part of a federally mandated campaign to both educate Indian children who had no alternative local school options and to assimilate them into contemporary Canadian society.

These schools operated from the 1880s until the second half of the 20th century.

While neither the Catholic Church as a whole nor the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops were associated with the system, various Catholic dioceses helped administer a plurality of the schools. The Anglican and Presbyterian churches were also involved. An estimated 150,000 children attended the schools over the course of a century.

Years after the last school was shuttered, a grievance industry began to grow around claims of abuse and so-called “cultural genocide” in the schools.

The formerly called Kamloops Indian Band — announced in May 2021 that it had confirmed the discovery of children’s remains in an apple orchard near a former Catholic-run residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia.

The apple orchard was originally selected for a survey partly on the basis of “Knowledge keepers’ oral histories” and a tooth belonging to a juvenile found nearby. The chief of this tribe said that ground-penetrating radar surveys had uncovered the remains of 215 “missing children” whose deaths were “undocumented.”

Not unexpectedly, liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded to the alleged discovery, stating he was “terribly saddened.” The Canadian leader suggested further that the supposed unmarked graves served as “a shameful reminder of the systemic racism, discrimination, and injustice that Indigenous peoples have faced.”

Not to be outdone, the Canadian Parliament observed a moment of silence to “mark the discovery of the remains of 215 children at a former residential school in Kamloops.”

When I read about this back in 2021, I was horrified. However, … there is “the rest of the story … “

Maxime Bernier, the leader of the People’s Party of Canada, told Blaze News, “Three years after a moral panic broke out following the supposed discovery of ‘mass graves’ at the Kamloops residential school, we now know that it was all a hoax. No bodies were found even after $8 million was spent to find them.”

Hundreds of millions of dollars have been blown on the other investigations — ostensibly also fruitless pursuits.

“But like other moral panics, this one was instrumentalized by far left activists and the Trudeau government to demonize Canadian history and Canadian society,” continued Bernier. “Among the awful repercussions of this demonization is the fact that it likely motivated hateful criminals to torch over 80 churches across the country during these three years, with new ones being added almost every week.

Any apologies from Canadian officials? … err, no apologies yet!

Any apologies from Trudeau? …err, no apologies yet!

Perhaps when we Adam Schiff apologize for his lying about the stuff he had on Trump, we will hear something from the mendacious Canadian liberals, but … don’t hold your breath!

6/7/24

Baksheesh ?

 I learned a new word today  … “baksheesh,” which means “a tip, present, or gratuity,” or in modern day vernacular, a “bribe.” In the Middle East marketplace, the souk culture is all about the baksheesh.

As everyone recalls, Egypt would not let any of those civilians trapped in Gaza escape into Egypt. The suspicion was that Egypt was worried that it would not be able to control those innocents fleeing the war in Gaza. To me that explanation was always suspect. Why not let them temporarily find safety in Egypt, and then when the conflict in Gaza was over, over time, escort all of them back to Gaza.

But could something else be playing a role? 

Remember that age-old adage … “follow the money!”

From Townhall:

“Egypt built a formidable border wall  It is impenetrable, militarized, and closely guarded with Egyptian troops and security forces. The way through it for Gazans seeking to get out of Gaza? Baksheesh. Upwards of $5,000 per person. It has also been a gateway for international aid and smuggling into Gaza resulting in over $88 million in profit to the holder of the border keys. 

The holder of those keys is a Bedouin tribal leader named Ibrahim al-Organi, now the wealthiest man in northern Sinai. He has extremely close ties with Egyptian President al-Sisi, and more significantly, with al-Sisi’s son, General Mahmoud al-Sisi , the Deputy Chief of Egyptian intelligence.

“Every day there is additional evidence  of Egyptian smuggling in Gaza. Intelligence on May 31, 2024 uncovered surface to air missiles smuggled into Rafah from Egypt. The large cache purportedly would have been used to take down IDF helicopters. How much money changed hands  for Egypt to have turned a blind eye (or been complicit) in these types of smuggling operations?”

On the IDF’s first day of entry into Rafah in mid-May they discovered hundreds of tunnels with over 50 two-way underground tunnels between Rafah and Egypt. Dozens more cross-border tunnels have been discovered since, along the Rafah-Egypt border. Some tunnels were paved and wide enough for passage of full-sized cargo trucks.

Beyond hostage remains, the IDF seized hundreds of weapons and war materiel They discovered UN relief packages, food, cash, electrification, housing, office space, etc. An underground metropolis was built by Hamas in Rafah. 

Assuming all of this is true, could it be that Joe Biden and cronies have been completely taken in by Egypt? I would rather believe that it is Biden’s naïveté as to what Egypt is doing, rather than believe his complicity with Egypt involved some baksheesh.

Hmmm!

6/5/24

Although many of you were not alive back in 1960, I think it is safe to assume that today everyone has heard of Martin Luther King Jr.(MLK). Back in 1960 I was in high school, and oblivious to what was happening in Alabama … oblivious to what the Democrats tried to do back then to MLK, a good man!

The following is from the Mississippi Today, May 28, 1960 via the New York Times: 

As the above is difficult to read, the following from Jeff Childers C&C, 6/1, summarizes it pretty well:

“In 1960, Alabama’s democrat officials indited Dr. Martin Luther King on charges of perjury, related to alleged underpayment of his state income taxes in 1956 and 1958. Dr. King’s intial charges were misdemeanor tax evasion. But democrat prosecutors later upgraded the charges to felony perjury — for lying on his tax returns — with a possible prison sentence of two to five years for each count.

Boosting misdemeanor tax evasion — which requires dishonest tax reporting — into a felony required some very creative prosecutorial thinking.

The technical basis for charging Dr. King with felony perjury instead of misdemeanor tax evasion was the Orwellian allegation that he had perjured himself in signing his evasive tax returns. Note that, like with Trump, Dr. King’s alleged unreported Alabama income was related to political donations.

And as with the Trump (DJT) prosecution, it was the first time in Alabama history that any defendant was ever charged that way.

Both cases were brought by democrats against their political enemies. Both cases involved charges for victimless process crimes.  Both cases involved creative bootstrapping of misdemeanors into felonies. Both cases included unprecedented interpretations of the law, charging prominent political figures with crimes never brought against others. Both cases involved charges deeply intertwined with their political activities and public roles: campaign donations in Dr. King’s case, and “legal expenses” argued rather to be campaign expenses for Trump.”

In May, 1960 MLK was acquitted; in May, 2024 DJT was not. I would assume that the all-white jury slept very well after that 1960 MLK trial was over. I wonder how the Manhattan jurors are sleeping today.

6/3/24

On Sundays I write about someone who warrants our praise. Osvaldo Lugo is such a person.

From Epoch Bright:

Originally from Puerto Rico, 47-year-old Osvaldo Lugo is now based in Hartford, Connecticut, and owns LookSharp barber shop.

Around 11:30 a.m. on 4/10/24, as Mr. Lugo was busy working on his third customer of the day, his colleague Rafael Santana looked out the window and saw it—a little girl running toward the middle of the busy street.

Concerned at seeing the child without an adult, Mr. Santana took a second look. He then quickly voiced his concern, questioning why an unaccompanied child was playing in the middle of the street.

“I’ve been in this area for three years, in business, and I have never seen kids play in the middle of the street,” Mr. Lugo told the Epoch Times.

Seeing how fast the girl was running, he put his clippers down and took off after her.

The quick-thinking barber remembered telling himself, “You make sure you run as fast as you can. Because you only got one shot.”

“Once I opened the door [of the shop], all I remember is running and running,” Mr. Lugo said. “And I felt that I was running the fastest I ever have.”

As he got hold of her “she was alarmed” and looked at him with suspicion.

Mr. Lugo scooped her into his arms, and she began calling for her mother. Mr. Lugo looked around, searching for the child’s parents.

It wasn’t long before he found her mother.

Many have hailed the barber a hero for his swift action, to which he said: “The word hero is too big, the responsibility behind that word, it was too big. But all I know is that I’m proud of myself for getting involved.”

The barber, who served in jail for 10 years and was released six years ago, has worked hard to better himself. While in jail he took business and psychology courses and values the education he received that allowed him to learn about himself and the human mind.

“I have changed my ways and now God blessed me with a business, a house, a property, and a community to serve,” he said.

Kudos to Osvaldo Lugo not only for his rescue of the little girl, but also for turning his life around.

6/2/

For those not familiar! “Crossing the Rubicon” means “making an irrevocable decision.” It comes from the name of the river Julius Caesar crossed with his army, thereby starting a civil war in Rome.

Did the Dems essentially cross the Rubicon with the nonsensical Manhattan Trump trial?

Some Republicans in the Senate seem to think so … Republican Sens. Michael S. Lee (Utah), J.D. Vance (Ohio), Tommy Tuberville (Ala.), Eric Schmitt (Mo.), Rick Scott (Fla.), Marco Rubio (Fla.), Roger Marshall (Kan.), and Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.) issued a statement Friday, noting, “The White House has made a mockery of the rule of law and fundamentally altered our politics in un-American ways. As a Senate Republican conference, we are unwilling to aid and abet this White House in its project to tear this country apart.”

“To this end, we will not 1) allow any increase to non-security related funding for this administration, or any appropriations bill which funds partisan lawfare; 2) vote to confirm this administration’s political and judicial appointees; and 3) allow expedited consideration and passage of Democrat legislation or authorities that are not directly relevant to the safety of the American people,” said the statement.

But others are saying that this is not enough, and suggest that what the Bible says, should be considered:

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is a biblical concept spoken by Jesus in Luke 6:31 and Matthew 7:12; it is commonly referred to as the “Golden Rule.” 

Or similarly:

“The saying Jesus quotes in Matthew 5:38, “Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth” occurs not once, but at least three times, in the Old Testament (Ex. 21:23-25; Lev. 24:19-20; Deut. 19:21).

From BlazeMedia:

UC Berkeley law professor John Yoo made clear this week that President Donald Trump’s convictionbefore a Democratic judge in a Democratic enclave on charges brought by a Democratic prosecutor effectively obliterates any remaining pretense that the justice system is a means for resolution and restitution. The courtroom is now instead apparently a vehicle for seeking retribution and political advantage.

With this transformation, Yoo says it’s high time for “retaliation in kind” by Republican district attorneys.

Ahead of President Donald Trump’s conviction, Yoo noted in National Review that it was abundantly clear the hush-money case was built around “farcical charges” and aimed not at delivering justice but at protecting a decrepit Democratic president from facing his top competitor in November.

“The superficiality of the facts and the vagueness of the crimes magnify the harm that Democrats have inflicted on our political norms,” wrote the former deputy assistant attorney general. “Make no mistake, Democrats have crossed a constitutional Rubicon.”

6/1/24

These days just about everyone is suffering from inflation, and yet the Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, in answers to questioning from Sen. John Kennedy on 5/30/24 insisted that Bidenomics is working. 

How out of touch is Janet Yellen?

Recall that years back she was the same person who tried to convince everyone that inflation was going to be temporary.

(From The Hill, 5/27/21, quoting Janet Yellen: “My judgment right now is that the recent inflation that we have seen will be temporary. It’s not something that’s endemic,” Yellen said at a hearing held by a House Appropriations subcommittee.”) 

After reading what Janet Yellen said three years ago and again now in response to Sen. John Kennedy (R,LA), I concluded that at least she has been consistent … consistently “out of touch.”

Last night was my monthly poker game. It is a very low stakes game with an eclectic group. One of the unwritten rules is that politics are not discussed as the group is composed of both far-left and far-right participants. The game was to begin only few hours after the Trump verdict was announced, and I vowed to myself that I would not say anything about that trial, etc. Almost immediately after walking in the far-left player announced that it was a monumental day in U.S. history, and he had brought a bottle of Prosecco to toast the occasion. FYI: I refused to participate in any toast, and I kept my vow of silence when that same individual proclaimed that the guilty verdict would certainly sway voters never to vote for a “convicted felon!” My initial response to myself was, “how out of touch is he?”

It wasn’t until this morning that I realized that he was monumentally way out of touch. After the verdict a few interesting things happened.

From The Daily Caller:

“Following the verdict, the former president’s campaign donation page displayed a 500 error stating “something went wrong.” After the news of the verdict and the site crashing, the Trump campaign announced that it had raised $34.8 million. This was in large part due to “ small donors.

Not only was the amount historic, but 29.7% of yesterday’s donors were brand new donors to the WinRed platform,” Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles, Trump campaign senior advisors, said in a statement.”

In addition to contributions from small donors, there were some big chunks of change donated to the Trump campaign.

“Following the former president’s guilty verdict, the campaign site received major influxes in donations. Among those was Sequoia Capital partner Shaun Maguire, who said on Twitter that he donated $300,000. Former Republican New York gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin said that he “secured a $800k donation from someone for President Trump’s Joint Fundraising Committee.”

What about polling?

From C&C:

First of all, in the Verdict’s wake last night, the betting markets — the people silently staking real money, not Times-approved witless gasbag ramblings — have increased the odds of Trump’s re-election (currently standing at 54% likely):

Wow a ten point jump in just two weeks! 

Perhaps those who declared 5/30/24 to be a monumental day in U.S history are not so out of touch after all.

Looking forward …  Would it be uncouth for me to bring a bottle of Prosecco to our November game to toast a Trump victory?  … Just askin!

5/31/24

 My answer to the question posed in the title is “Hell Yes!”

“Lawfare” is a term that I was unfamiliar with until just recently. For those not aware, “lawfare” is the use of legal systems and institutions to damage or delegitimize an opponent, or to deter an individual’s usage of their legal rights.

In general, if you answered, “no, Lawfare is not unfair,” then pretty much you have identified yourself as a liberal Democrat, and furthermore you have categorized yourself as being anti-Trump. However at this juncture in our political history, Donald Trump is only one individual who is being attacked by lawfare. The dilemma for progressives is that Donald Trump can afford to fight against the accusations against him because he is uber rich. But what about those individuals who are not uber rich, and  whose reputations are being damaged and whose careers are being 

delegitimized? 

In the case of Trump these various cases against him are basically meant  to attempt to somehow damage his reputation and simultaneously to keep him from campaigning. Everybody knows this and AOC just admitted it to be true, when she said that the legal cases against former President Donald Trump are effectively serving as a “legal version of an ankle bracelet,” affecting his campaigning ahead of the November elections.

As an aside, how many of you are familiar with Lavrently Beria?

He was Stalin’s most ruthless and longest serving head of his secret police. Beria once infamously said, “Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime.” He was confident that he could convict any person he chose to take on, and would make up any charge needed to do so.

If the tactics of Beria sound familiar it is because they are comparable to the lawfare being used by our present day progressives.

While Trump can afford the cost of the Democrat-inspired frivolity directed at him, what about others who are victims of Dem lawfare?

For instance, what about John Eastman?

Mr. Eastman is being indicted by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes. even though he had nothing to do with challenging election results in Arizona. He is not on any of the legal filings in that state. He never spoke with any electors in Arizona about Trump’s challenges. He never had any communication whatsoever with any of the contingent electors in Arizona.

And yet, he is accused of various felonies including conspiracy, forgery, tampering with a public record, presentment of a false instrument for filing, and other crimes.

What abhorrent thing did John Eastman do to be accused of these felonies? … He lawfully supported Donald Trump’s effort to bring forth his concerns about election irregularities in the 2020 presidential election.

To any reasonable individual Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is trying to bankrupt John Eastman.

Are these types of indictments fair for the individual? Granted in the end he may be exonerated of all charges, but at what cost? While Mr. Eastman is scrambling to dig up money to pay his legal expenses, Kris Mayes is content to have the people of Arizona pay for her obviously political prosecution. To me, that hardly seems fair. These lawfare cases will continue until these D.A.s and Attorney Generals have some skin in the game.

To my way of thinking, impeachment is not enough … fines or prison time needs to happen for Kris Mayes in Arizona as well as for the 

Soros-DA and the prejudiced  judges in  the Trump pseudo-trials in New York .

Ideas anyone?

5/30/24

Houston, we have a problem!

Texas, we have a problem!!

USA, we have a problem!!!

From Wikipedia:

“Houston, we have a problem” is popularly quoted as a phrase spoken during Apollo 13, a NASAmission in the Apollo space program and the third meant to land on the Moon. After an explosion occurred on board the spacecraft en route to the Moon at 55:54:53 (03:07 UTC on April 14, 1970),[1] Jack Swigert, the command module pilot, reported to Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas: “Okay, Houston … we’ve had a problem here.“

The 1995 film Apollo 13 used the slight misquotation “Houston, we have a problem”, which had become the popularly expected phrase, in its dramatization of the mission. The phrase has been informally used to describe the emergence of an unforeseen problem, often with a sense of ironic understatement.”

Well it wasn’t an understatement to describe what recently happened in Houston, Texas, as those who live in Houston had a real problem … a big real problem, that could be disastrous if it recurred in the future.

From the Daily Signal:

“We live in a world with more and more devices that require charging. Nothing shows the downside of that better than the recent storm that hit Houston, where thousands of residents still lack power.

Houstonians with electric stoves can’t cook, those with electric water heaters lack hot water—and those with electric cars can’t charge them.

The range of an electric vehicle without electricity is zero.

 From the Daily Caller:

And again on 5/2824, over 600,000 customers in northern Texas have been affected by power outages created by powerful storms raging through the region Tuesday, according to Oncor’s Storm Center.

Oncor, the largest energy delivery company in Texas, stated that thunderstorms accompanied by hail and 80-mph winds were detected in the area, according to their Storm Center.

The company’s Storm Center said that there were about 14,000 active outages so far. “Following this morning’s destructive storms, Oncor teams & resources are out in force working to assess damages, & clear displaced debris & vegetation, & access areas to perform repair work across impacted areas. Work began as soon as it was safe & will continue around the clock,” Oncor tweeted.

Officials said that they expected the outages to last for multiple days in the Dallas area.

But President Joe Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation are requiring that, by 2032, 70% of new cars and 25% of new trucks sold will be electric.

Imagine the state that Houston and the Dallas area would be in if the number of EVs on the road today met those standards.”

“Biden’s Energy Department has issued final regulations that most stoves sold must be electric by 2028, and most water heaters must be electric by 2029.

If these rules were fully phased in, many Texans would be worse off today. These appliances not only are more expensive, they don’t work without electricity—unlike natural gas stoves and water heaters.”

So in a Joe Biden world not only would a whole bunch of people be stuck in there homes with their nonfunctioning Electric Vehicles, but while stuck at home they would not be able take a hot shower, or cook any meals with the mandated electric hot water heaters and electric stoves.

Meanwhile, the  latest report from the Institute of Energy Research, released earlier this month, shows that the United States has 4 quadrillion cubic feet of natural gas, enough for 130 years; 1.7 trillion barrels of oil, more than five times the reserves of Saudi Arabia, enough for 227 years; and 470 billion short tons of coal, enough for 485 years, and 50% more than Russia.

As we are all aware Houston and Dallas can get quite warm and quite humid in the summer. What would those who live in Houston/Dallas say concerning the lack of air-conditioning or even electric fans!  There would certainly be a lot of cursing of Joe Biden at that time.

All of these major misfortunes could happen and get worse if J.B. gets re-elected this November. 

5/29/24