Author: Californiacontrarian

On Sundays I write about someone who has demonstrated fortitude, and is worthy of our admiration. Paul Sykes is such an individual.

Last week, you may have read about a civil lawsuit that was won by the white plaintiff, Shannon Phillips, who claimed that her firing was racially motivated. She was awarded $25 million in punitive damages as well as $600,000 in compensatory damages. The loser in this case was Starbucks. The jury basically agreed that Starbucks fired Ms. Phillips because she was white. (To get further details of this case read my prior blog of 6/16/23.)

From “Coffee and Covid:”

For its part, Starbucks denied the firing was racially motivated, adding insult to the injury by telling the jury Ms. Phillips was just a terrible manager all around, just awful, nobody would want her, and her termination’s timing was pure coincidence.

One of the main witnesses during this trial was Paul Sykes. He was the assistant manager in that Philadelphia Starbucks, and it was an un-named employee under his supervision who called 911 concerning the two suspicious black men who appeared to just be loitering in the store.

At the trial, the courageous Assistant Manager Sykes testified on Ms. Phillips’ behalf, telling the jury her firing had been racially motivated. He testified that, even though he supervised the employee who called 911, and even though Ms. Phillips never even knew about it, Mr. Sykes himself wasn’t disciplined at all.

Okay, so Paul Sykes testified at a trial. That, in and of itself, doesn’t make Paul Sykes someone we should admire.

However, the rest of the story is … Paul Sykes is black!

6/25/23

californiacontrarian

 Election Irregularities . . . Hmmm! 

This was originally posted on 3/26/21, and it still holds true.

As many of you are aware, I am convinced that there was some chicanery in the 2020 presidential election. When I went to bed on 11/3/20 at 10pm, Pacific time, President Trump was way ahead. When I awoke at 7am the next morning, he was way behind – Hmmm! … what happened?

I have my opinion as to whether this chicanery involved cutting corners, walking on the tightrope of illegality on one extreme or outright fraud on the other extreme. At this point I am not 100% sure, although I suspect elements of both in varying degrees. 

With that as background, I just read and interesting article about the 2020 election that was not merely an opinion article, but rather involved numbers and probabilities.

What follows is from that article of 3/16/21 by Stu Cvrk, who was a Naval Academy graduate and has served 30 years in the U.S. Navy, both active duty and reserves.

Per Mr. Cvrk:

“Election irregularities in the 2020 presidential election continue to be uncovered through independent analysis. An expert team led by physicist and Mensa John Droz, Jr., has been relentlessly examining election-related data and lawsuits since November, uncovering significant anomalies that warrant further investigation. The team’s objective throughout has been to help ascertain that all legal votes – and only legal votes – were counted.

That team has just completed a “contrast analysis” of Biden versus Trump results in 2020 and Trump versus Clinton results in 2016 that exposes some irregularities that cannot be easily explained.

Note: as the team reports, “A statistical contrast is not proof of voting fraud, but a large contrast does point to situations that might merit closer examination.” And that is exactly the purpose of the team’s contrast analysis: to identify states in which vote tabulations could warrant further analysis, peeling the onion to the county and precinct levels as appropriate in order to forensically validate the results.

The team performed contrast analyses for 48 states (Alaska and Maine were not examined due to lack of data), with a “positive” contrast indicating that Biden scored more votes in 2020 than expected in that state, and with a “negative” contrast indicating that Trump did better in 2020 than expected in a state. The team also performed a contrast analysis for each county in each state in order to determine outliers that are good candidates for precinct-level analysis. Several outlier states were identified in which the positive contrasts for Biden could not be easily explained by population increases in those states. In addition, the ten states with the largest positive contrasts provided 3± million more votes for Biden than they did for Clinton, as shown in a table in Cvrk’s article. Is that really possible without fraud, given Biden’s unwillingness to campaign and inability to draw a crowd when he did?

Conclusion: This latest report from the Droz team adds more fuel to the fire regarding “election irregularities” in multiple states during the 2020 presidential election. It is a travesty that forensic audits are not being conducted in many states to validate the results.”

Hmmm!

There were many tables in this Cyrk article from Red State that you can peruse if you are interested. Also in that article there are many specific examples of “irregularities” in multiple states. Hmmm!

The following line from the last paragraph of this Cvrk article is the key take-away for me:

“That the Democrats have fought tooth-and-nail to prevent such audits explains much because if they were certain of Biden’s “overwhelming victory,” then the audits would prove that fact once and for all. “

Hmmm!

3/26/21

6/24/23

I would assume that pretty much everyone is familiar with the First Amendment and how it protects free speech. Are there exceptions to this First Amendment’s right to free speech? Although sometimes controversial, it appears to me that the prevailing legal opinion is “no.”

Even the often quoted example of not being able to yell “fire” in a crowded movie theater (when there is no fire), is not hard and fast law.

Lately, I am reading more and more about free speech disputes. For example just this last week, I read about two distinctly dissimilar situations that involved “free speech.” One dispute involved the wearing of a certain encrypted T-shirt in a Massachusetts school, and the other involved yelling while on a Reading, Pennsylvania public sidewalk.

Do I know the correct answer or have an opinion as to the limits of free speech? … As an infamous president once said, “that is above my pay grade!”

However, I do feel that elected officials should keep their mouths shut on these contentious free speech issues. Most of them are far from being Constitutional scholars, and sometimes I wonder if they are familiar at all with the First Amendment. 

For example, in Reading, Pa. where the mayor as well as members of the Reading, Pennsylvania city council are backing their police department despite the fact that the Berks County District Attorney’s Office dropped the disorderly conduct charges against Atkins, saying, “The charges were withdrawn after the District Attorney’s Office reviewed the videos of the incident along with applicable case law.”

Council President Donna Reed, “I believe in freedom of speech, but there are parameters of decency and civility.” With due respect to Ms. Reed, actually the First Amendment never mentions “decency and civility.” Perhaps, in this situation, it would be best to just keep your mouth shut.

Similarly, Reading Mayor Eddie Moran said in a statement days before the city council meeting that freedom of speech doesn’t apply in the case of Damon Atkins, the man who was arrested after beginning to quote the Bible at the June 3 pride rally.

Hmmm! “Freedom of speech doesn’t apply in the case of Damon Atkins.” With due respect, Mayor Moran, here is a situation where perhaps it would be best to keep your mouth shut.

6/24/23

californiacontrarian

This morning I read about two different news stories. Although on the surface these stories are seemingly unrelated, a columnist of the New YorkPost, Miranda Devine, is not so sure. …Hmmm!

First from Townhall:

“Just days after Hunter Biden reached a sweetheart plea deal with his father’s Justice Department to avoid jail time for tax and gun crimes, the House Ways and Means Committee unveiled new testimony from IRS whistleblowers alleging roadblocks were set before them to ensure preferential treatment to President Joe Biden’s son. What’s more, whistleblower testimony claims that the U.S. attorney overseeing the probe of Hunter’s alleged tax crimes had his attempts to charge hunter in 2022 denied.

“Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) confirmed on Thursday that his committee had ‘credible whistleblower testimony alleging misconduct and government abuse that is resulting in preferential treatment’ for the president’s son, Hunter Biden. 

“The multiple whistleblowers with whom transcribed interviews were conducted revealed three key “areas of focus,” according to Smith:

1. The federal government is not treating taxpayers equally when enforcing tax laws.
2. The Biden Department of Justice is intervening and overstepping when it comes to the investigation of the president’s son.
3. Whistleblowers report they have faced almost immediate retaliation.”

To me this seems like significant real news, and so I looked in my local “newspaper” on 6/23/23, and found the story buried on the bottom of page 4.

Second, from Townhall:

“The US Navy revealed that they knew the Titan submersible, which was diving to see the remains of the Titanic wreck, imploded on Sunday, 6/18/23. We have sonar detection and acoustic networks for our national defense, and this classified system picked up the moment when this craft and the five people inside it perished. So, why did we waste an inordinate amount of time rushing to rescue people some in the government knew to be dead?”

This from 6/22/23 Miranda Devine (NY Post) on Twitter:

The Biden administration knew the Titan submarine imploded Sunday, 6/18/23. But waited until today (6/22/23) to make it public. Convenient smokescreen for today’s House Ways & Means release of IRS whistleblower testimony of DOJ sabotage of the Hunter Biden investigation.”

Lo and behold on 6/23/23 in my local “newspaper”, the Titan submersible story was at the top of page 1. 

Typically, I am not a fan of conspiracy theories, but perhaps Miranda Devine is on to something. Hmmm!

6/23/23

californiacontrarian

The other day after I read some very interesting health related news, I decided that it’s my duty to pass it on to all my readers, both liberal and conservative.

First to be clear, I do not have a “fancy phone.” Yes, I still have a landline (another topic for another day!), but here specifically I am referring to my non-fancy cell phone, which is a flip-phone and I am not sure how much of the following is pertinent to flip-phone users.

What I read about was the health related consequences of cell phone usage.

First a little background. A study published in The Canadian Journal of Cardiology states that hypertension is one of the primary risk factors for heart attacks and strokes and a leading cause of premature death worldwide. According to the World Health Organization (WHO)’s estimation, around 1.28 billion adults aged 30 to 79 worldwide suffer from hypertension.

In other words hypertension (high blood pressure) is bad.

From Epoch Health:

According to a study published on May 4 on the European Society of Cardiology’s (ESC) website, compared with people who talk on their mobile phones for less than 30 minutes per week, those who talk for half an hour or longer have a 12 percent higher risk of developing hypertension. 

In this study, researchers followed 212,046 participants for up to 12 years (median time) and found that 13,984 participants (6.6 percent) were diagnosed with hypertension. Mobile phone users had a 7 percent higher risk of developing hypertension than nonusers.

( At this point, you might be saying, “7%! … not a big deal. Move on!)

Moreover, increasing weekly time spent on a cellphone was associated with increasing risk of developing hypertension … more than 6 hours per week was associated with a 25% risk.

(Now a 25% risk of developing something that may kill you is a big deal. Pay attention!)

Importantly, among mobile phone users, years of use and use of a hands-free device/speakerphone were not significantly associated with the development of hypertension.

 Now I suppose that one might say that this cellphone – hypertension risk is old news, as far back as 1998, an article published in The Lancet reported that exposure to mobile phone radiation increases the risk of cardiovascular hypertension.

However, to me, this recent study adds quantification to the risk associated with cellphone usage. In addition, it’s my duty to inform you of any data that may indicate that flip phones may make a comeback!!

6/22/23

Let’s be very clear from the beginning. I agreed with Robert Gates, former defense secretary in the Obama administration, when he said that Joe Biden has “been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.” (Aug 16, 2021)

Gates said that almost two years ago, and I think that JB has done nothing to break his streak. Since he has been President, Joe Biden has botched our withdrawal from Afghanistan, embarrassing the U.S. for the entire world to see. While Putin was lining up a myriad of forces along the Russia-Ukraine border, President Biden imitated Nero who historically fiddled … for you liberal Democrats this implies that JB basically did nothing to address the issue. As a consequence of his inaction the Russia-Ukraine War started on 2/24/22, and we have been involved in a proxy war ever since.

On 2/20/23 I read two things that just further entrenches my opinion that President Biden is trying to maintain his streak of “being wrong on nearly every foreign policy and national security issue.” 

First off from Coffee & Covid:

News emerged over the weekend that, after the Russians had nearly captured Kiev in 2022, the Ukrainians had agreed to a peace deal that would have kept their territory intact, but precluded NATO membership. A draft treaty had even been circulated.

But, according to newly-released documents, the Biden Administration interfered, and the Ukrainians were committed to endless war.

OMG? Biden kept his streak alive!

Surprised? … Not me!

Second from Daybreak Insider:

“Secretary of State Anthony Blinken gives China the green light to invade Taiwan during his visit to Beijing, China. “We do not support Taiwan independence.” What a pivot from Biden’s previous comments from just months ago. What happened? “Yes, if in fact, there was an unprecedented attack,” Biden said after being asked if he would defend Taiwan from a Chinese invasion.”

OMG! Either Blinken is independently speaking his own mind, or Biden is waffling. FYI, the initial heavy betting is on “waffling.” 

Surprised? …not me!

6/21/23

californiacontrarian

Years ago, I had this desire to own a pickup truck, specifically a Ford, F-150. This would have been my passport to Adventure-Land, as I thought of all the stuff I could move in my F-150. Now granted, I wasn’t planning on moving around multiple bags of concrete mix, but it would have been nice to transport that large volume of pea-gravel instead of paying to have it delivered. This dream of mine was well before this present EV craze. BTW, I never did get my F-150, but I will survive.

Nonetheless, at the beginning of this Tomorrow-Land craze to make every vehicle an Electric Vehicle (EV), I think that it’s important to point out some warnings as why this will never come to fruition. The latest part of this Fantasy-Land is to mandate that all trucks be EV trucks, and this includes pickup trucks.

From the Epoch Times:

The range of electric vehicles can fall by up to a quarter when made to carry heavy loads, according to a study conducted by the American Automobile Association (AAA) on Ford’s EV pickup truck F-150 Lightning.

In an unloaded state, the 2022 Lightning had a driving range of 278 miles. However, with a payload of 1,400 pounds, the driving range dropped to 210 miles, a decline of 68 miles or 24.5 percent from the unloaded range, according to the June 13 study. Such payloads are equivalent to hauling around 20 bags of concrete mix. AAA advised that prospective buyers of EVs who are likely to carry heavy loads regularly should “consider the impact this can have to their driving range.”

Now granted, most buyers will typically use the Lightning F-150 with a lighter load. As such, even though there will still be a range reduction, it will be lower than the reduction at maximum load, as Greg Brannon, director of AAA Automotive Engineering, pointed out 

EVs not only lose range when carrying heavy loads, but they also lose range during winter conditions. In December 2022, EV insight firm Recurrent published research on range loss among electric vehicles during freezing conditions, finding that the loss of range can go up to 35 percent.

Comparing 13 popular EV models in freezing versus 70 degrees Fahrenheit temperature, Recurrent found that Volkswagen ID.4, Ford Mustang Mach-E, and Chevy Bolt all lost 30 percent or more range in colder conditions.

The Tesla Model 3, Model S, Model X, and Model Y lost between 15 and 19 percent of their range, depending on the model.

So as we move into the Frontierland of this nonsensical EV mania, I guess we will just have to forgo thoughts on any winter heavy construction, or get used to a multitude of abandoned F-150s on the roads leading to potential construction sites!

6/20/23

californiacontrarian

Late last week ago I came upon a piece that should naturally make those who live in Pennsylvania very proud. On 6/17/23 Senator Fetterman (D,PA) was on the stage with President Biden,  Rep. Brendan Boyle, and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro to discuss efforts to rebuild portions of Interstate 95 that collapsed on Sunday, 6/11/23. 

Oh Pennsylvanians, you must be so proud!

Sen. Fetterman was wearing a steel blue Carhartt hoodie, athletic shorts, and sneakers to the “Rebuilding I-95″ event. The other members of the delegation were dressed more formally, in suits, with some foregoing ties. 

Fetterman has regularly been seen in wearing outfits similar to the one he wore that day while on the job in Washington, D.C.

Oh Pennsylvanians, you must be so proud!

As expected the Pennsylvania Democratic Senator gave a speech.

From BlazeNews:

At the beginning of roughly 85-second speech, he noted he had stood beside President Biden ‘ a little over a year ago’ when a different structure, Fern Hollow Bridge, collapsed in the western portion of the Keystone State in January 2022.

“That bridge was built in less than a year, well well in front of time.”

“President Biden] is here to commit to work with the governor and the delegadation [sic] to make sure that we get this fixed quick, fast, as well, too,” Sen. Fetterman said, referring to efforts underway to repair a portion of Interstate 95.

“This is a president that is committed to infrucsure [sic], yeah, and then on then top of that the jewel kind of uh, uh law,” he said, apparently struggling to pronounce “infrastructure.” It is unclear what he meant by “jewel 

“The infration [sic] infruc [sic] yeah infration [sic] bill that is gonna make sure that there’s gonna be bridges all across like this all across America getting rebuilt,” he said, possibly referring to the infrastructure bill signed in 2021 or the Inflation Reduction Act signed in December 2022..”

Oh Pennsylvanians, you must be so proud!

He ended the very short address by introducing “my friend Congressman Boya Bile [sic],” at which point Rep. Brendan Boyle took the podium.

Oh Pennsylvanians, you are probably growing more proud by the minute!

6/19/23

californiacontrarian

As is my custom on Sunday I write about individuals who should inspire us. Donal Walsh was such an individual. The story about Donal Walsh is amazing to me as it is the real life personification of the saying,

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”

(From Wikipedia: Although the expression was coined by Elbert Hubbard in a 1915 obituary, many modern authors attribute the expression to Dale Carnegie who used it in his 1948 book How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. Carnegie’s version reads: “If You Have a Lemon, Make a Lemonade.”)

We all know that this phrase is meant to inspire one to convert life’s downturns and disappointments into something good, and Donal Walsh did that in spades. Donal Walsh died on May  12, 2013 at the age of 16, and ten years later his legacy lives on.

From EWTN NEWS:

“On May 11 of this year, more than 2,000 Irish students gathered at the Knock Basilica and Shrine in County Mayo, Ireland, to honor Walsh’s memory. The students listened to several speakers who spoke about different issues that affect the world today, especially mental health.”

The background from CNA:

Born and raised in County Kerry, Ireland, Walsh was diagnosed with bone cancer in his tibia at the age of 12. He endured nine months of chemotherapy and an operation to give him a prosthetic knee. After two years the cancer returned, this time to his lung. The young boy underwent surgery again to have half of his lung removed and endured more chemotherapy.

In October 2012, Walsh was diagnosed for a third — and final — time with tumors in five different locations in his body.

“When we were told he was terminal, we turned around and started to say, ‘Why us?’ And he [Donal] changed his question to, ‘Why not me?’” Fionnbar Walsh recalled in an interview at the event with EWTN News In Depth, which aired June 2. 

“Donal was very upset for the first few days, but it only lasted a few days,” Elma Walsh added. “And he decided he wasn’t going to let cancer dictate. Whatever was left of his life, he wanted to do something.”

His mother shared that he had a “remarkable” faith. He loved to pray the rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet. Walsh asked his mother to ensure he received holy Communion every day and that he die with a “clean spirit.”

During his final months, Walsh took to writing about his battle with cancer and how his faith allowed him to persevere in what he called “climbing God’s mountains.” He also wrote about his frustration at seeing a rise in teenage suicide.

It was then that he decided to go on national television to encourage young people to value life.

With only a few weeks left to live, Walsh went on the Irish talk show “The Saturday Night Show” with Brendan O’Connor hoping to emphasize the value of life by sharing his own story.

“If I’m meant to be a symbol for people to appreciate life — it might not be just suicide — but just to appreciate life more in general, then I’d be happy to die if that’s what I’m dying for,” Walsh said during his television appearance.

Donal Walsh passed away four weeks later.

He spoke for 19 minutes, and those 19 minutes inspired a country. Months later, the coroner of County Kerry reported a decrease in suicides after Walsh spoke out.

After Walsh’s death, his parents, Elma and Fionnbar, started the Donal Walsh Live Life Foundation, which has raised more than half a million euros to date for various charities, all of which promote life. And once a year, students meet at the Basilica of Knock to celebrate Mass, to be inspired and encouraged by guest speakers, and to be reminded of the value of life.

Indeed Donal Walsh was dealt a lot of lemons, and from those he figuratively made gallons of lemonade!

6/18/23

(This is originally from my blog on 6/21/22)

Should the Nincompoops Pay ?

The answer to that question depends on which nincompoops you are referring to. If politicians decide to institute a policy that is obviously unconstitutional, should then these same politicians pay for the legal fees when their “enlightened” new policy ends up losing in court. For example when our esteemed California Governor, Gavin Newsom, unlawfully kept churches closed during Covid, while allowing big chain stores to remain open, he was obviously in the wrong. The courts ultimately found for the plaintiffs, and the state of California’s taxpayers have to pay over $2 million in the plaintiff’s legal fees. Come on, man, Gavin Newsom is loaded. Why doesn’t he pay the $2+ million?

On 6/29/21 “city leaders” in the city of San Jose did something equally obtuse. In an unprecedented move that is sure to be challenged in court by gun-rights advocates, city leaders in San Jose voted Tuesday to require gun owners in the city to pay taxpayers for the public costs incurred by criminal gun violence.

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

“In a unanimous vote Tuesday night (6/29/21), the progressive San Jose City Council passed ordinances to “require every gun owner to buy liability insurance coverage for their firearms” and “pay a fee to compensate taxpayers for the emergency medical and police responses to gun-related injuries and deaths.”

Democratic Mayor Sam Liccardo praised the measures and reportedly argued that gun owners who refuse to comply with the new rules would have their weapons seized.

At least one gun-rights group, the Firearms Policy Coalition, is already planning legal action. The gun-rights group went on to refute each piece of the 10-point plan, explaining why each specific measure of the ordinances is unconstitutional.

Let me get this straight:

The nincompoops in San Jose, including the City Council and the Mayor, passed an obviously unconstitutional ordinance. This ordinance will go to court, and the plaintiffs (the Firearms Policy Coalition) will win. In all likelihood San Jose will be required to pay court costs. In a situation as obvious as this, should the nincompoops pay? But who are the real nincompoops here? Is “nincompoopedness” limited to just these elected officials? What about those in San Jose who voted to elect both the City Council and the Mayor? Are they also nincompoops?  I say, ‘yes!’ However, in the future, those in San Jose who vote to re-elect these same uber liberal nincompoop politicians, who think that it is okay to waste the taxpayers money – these future voters will be the real NINCOMPOOPS.

7/5/21

6/17/23