Author: Californiacontrarian

As is typical for my Sunday blog, I highlight individuals who are worthy of our praise. My new hero is Maureen Martin.

While working for housing company L&Q, Maureen Martin, 57, had risen from a temp position to become a manager overseeing staff.

From Epoch Times –

The views that got her in hot water with the company had less to do with the insights she drew regarding the challenges facing minorities, including her own demographic, and more to do with the solution she proposed, as a mayoral candidate interested in bettering the lives of Londoners.

What insights were those? She cites that a staggering 75 percent of black children in the UK are born out of wedlock, which she calls “atrocious.” Similar statistics in the U.S. show some 73 percent of black children grow up in unwedded households. “We have more of our young black boys in prison, joining gangs, knife crime, failure in the academic arena—it shows in the results,” said Martin, president of the Christian People’s Alliance political party.

And her solution? This naturally concerns Martin, who aspires to represent London’s constituents. As a Christian minister, she credits the traditional family model—the nuclear family—with producing the most favorable results in raising children. “That model was created by God. He knew what he was doing,” she said, adding that this model is “the foundation of our Western culture.” “Any society where the family is broken down is doomed to failure.”

During her mayoral campaign, Martin published the following statement in her “six-point plan” leaflet:

I pledge to cut through political correctness and simply state the truth that natural marriage between a man and a woman is the fundamental building block for a successful society, and the safest environment for raising children.

That didn’t go over well with heads at L&Q.

Shortly thereafter, despite her exemplary performance in the workplace, Martin was handed a letter of dismissal for “gross misconduct,” resulting from the statement in her manifesto. Rather than back down, though, Martin doubled down. Recanting her words didn’t even cross her mind. “It was a no brainer. They violated my rights on every level,” she said, citing the European Court of Human Rights’ enumeration of religious expression and free speech rights. “They’ve violated both articles—Article 10 of the European Human Rights Act.”

Lacking means to mount a legal solo offensive, she allied with Christian Concern, an organization that offers legal support in cases of religious discrimination. They put L&Q on notice that they would be defending themselves in court. “I accused them of unfair dismissal and discriminating against me because of my religion,” Martin said, adding that political speech in the UK is also protected. “My statement comes out in the category of political speech, because I was running legitimately in an electoral campaign.”

Ultimately doubling down proved very effective. The company folded. In January, L&Q chose an out-of-court settlement rather than battle it out—it would cost far more to litigate in the long run—in particular because Martin’s case was so strong.

Martin calls it “a massive win” for Christians. “If I hadn’t launched a campaign and just walked away, there’d be nothing,” she said. “So it’s important to challenge these cases and make sure that the perpetrators are put on notice: ‘You’re not going to get away with this.’”

Maureen Martin is my new hero!

5/28/23

This was written by yours truly on 5/1/21 and the title still holds true today.

First right off the top . . .  No, I did not watch president biden’s first formal address to a joint session of Congress on the evening of 4/28/21. At that time (6pm pacific) I was watching a soccer game (Columbus vs. Monterey). You see, I knew that the soccer game would be exciting . . . it was. A 2-2 tie with the tying goal scored in the last thirty seconds. In addition, I knew that j.b.’s spiel would probably be . . .  what’s the right word? . . . soporific, and I heard it was.

According to the New York Times (NYT) and Nielsen’s, j.b.’s address drew 27 million viewers. Not too bad, some might say, as the recent Oscar’s drew only 10 million viewers. (To me that’s like comparing a root canal to an outdoor ice cold shower in February . . . which is more appealing?) Anyway 27 million is impressive, isn’t it? Err, actually ‘No,’ as j.b. is no D.T. The audience for j.b. was significantly smaller than TV audience for President Donald J. Trump’s first formal address to Congress in 2017, which drew 48 million viewers (almost twice as many) . . . indeed j.b. is no D.T. when it comes to interest, enthusiasm, and innumerable other things.

Also the television audience for Mr. Biden’s address also fell shy of those for equivalent speeches by other recent presidents – Barack Obama in 2009; George W. Bush in 2001; and Bill Clinton in 1993.

Perhaps if I lived on the east coast I would have been more inclined to watch j.b., as some nights I have a bit of difficulty falling asleep, and j.b.’s lullaby would probably have been perfect. Do I wish that I had recorded it to use on those inability-to-sleep future nights … err, no, I think I might rather have another root canal.

Come to think of it even though I watched many D.T. speeches I have never dozed off during any of them . . . in this respect D.T. is no j.b.!

5/1/21

5/27/23

I have always supposed that becoming the CEO of a company is not a random event. I always assumed that these individuals have risen through the ranks of their company because for the most part they are among the smartest and the wisest. Each one has individually climbed up the company pyramid to reach the top. In addition, I have thought that CEOs would demonstrate competence when it comes to hiring and promoting similarly competent individuals. 

At this point perhaps one should ask, “what is the main purpose of a CEO?” To me the answer is intuitively obvious … to make a profit for his/her company. Hand in hand with making a profit for the company is keeping the shareholders happy. Shareholders are typically interested in the security of their investment. They either want a steady dividend or they want the price of the company’s stock to increase over time.

Companies pay their individual CEOs big bucks to achieve these purposes. What should be obvious is that companies do not pay their CEOs to lose money. They do not pay their CEOs to make decisions that will inevitably make the shareholders unhappy. Shareholders should be confident that the CEO will neither make poor decisions nor promote individuals who make poor decisions. 

So what are we seeing now? 

First Target:

From BlazeNews:

Target has lost billions in market value since the controversy stemming from the retailer’s rollout of its eyebrow-raising LGBTQ Pride collection.

Last Wednesday, Target’s stock closed at $160.96 a share — giving the big-box retail chain a market capitalization of $74.3 billion. However, Target’s stock was trading at $141.76 — dropping the market capitalization to $65.3 billion. Within a week, Target dropped by 12% and lost $9 billion in market share.

$9Billion! … Wow!

Second Anheuser-Busch:

Investor’s Business Daily reported that the market value of Anheuser-Busch InBev has dropped $15.7 billion since April 1 on account of the Bud Light boycott. That figure is based upon data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Jared Dinges, beverage analyst at JPMorgan Chase, revealed to clients that Bud Light sales were down more than 23% as of the week ending May 6, reported Investor’s Business Daily.

23Billion! … Double Wow!

CEOs that make decisions based on “wokefullness” are proving that they are ineffective leaders. Since “trans” individuals make up less than 1% of the population, CEOs that make decisions that are meant to please 1% or less of the population and simultaneously anger the vast majority of others should be fired.

To the CEOs of both Target and Anheuser-Busch, “Since you have proven to be an ineffectual leader …. ‘good riddance!’”

5/27/23

We have all heard the saying, “the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing.” This saying implies that there is some innate confusion on an issue, such that contradictory statements are made on that same issue by parties that should be saying the same thing.

Today I read about a somewhat obscure case in North Carolina that initially had to due with gerrymandering, but is really about a much more critical issue, especially when it comes to elections. 

This is a bit complicated so bear with me. 

The disputed North Carolina doctrine ( the heart of the case, Moore v. Harper, that is currently being deliberated by the Supreme Court justices after it was argued in December 2022) is basically which branch of government is designated to make the laws.

Years back the Republican legislature in North Carolina drew the lines which determined the electoral map districts. However, the State Supreme Court (then predominately Democrat) reversed the new gerrymandered lines (Harper 1). The case now before SCOTUS has to do with whether a judicial branch of government can reverse a decision made by a legislative branch. To further complicate this critical issue, the Supreme Court of North Carolina subsequently reverted to a Republican majority, which reversed the initial Harper 1 ruling. Now since the original gerrymandered lines are back in play, the Democrat-controlled DOJ wants SCOTUS not to make a ruling as Harper 1. The DOJ contends that Harper 1 is now moot!

At this point two basic things bother me about this.

First, why is the Department of Justice getting involved in this? To me the DOJ is only getting involved because it suspects that SCOTUS is going to rule that the legislative branch of government makes the laws … not the judicial branch of government. Again, from my perspective, even though Harper 1 is now indeed moot, a much more basic Constitutional issue is involved … who makes the laws?  I believe that the Constitution specifies that it is the legislative branch of government that makes the laws.

Second, as we saw in the 2020 Presidential election, the judiciary in some states arbitrarily changed some of the longstanding voting rules, and this may well have changed the outcome in that state, and hence in the nationwide result of that election. “Que sera, sera,” “Don’t cry over spilt milk,” etc. is what the Democrats will say when this topic comes up in reference to the 2020 election. However, remember that the Supreme Court in Wisconsin is now Democrat controlled, and Wisconsin could well be a critical state in the 2024 Presidential election.

To me Harper 1 is not a moot point. The Constitution specifies that the Legislative branch (the left hand) makes the laws, and thus it is critically important that any court, (the right hand), cannot intervene for potentially political reasons.

5/26/23

The other day I came across two sayings by two intelligent men … each seems to be particularly relevant in today’s political atmosphere.

The first is from Albert Einstein who wrote, “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them “.

The second is from Edmund Burke who wrote “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to stand by and do nothing”

Think about the central message contained in both of these quotes, and then consider the following form a piece by E.P. Unum on Rip McIntosh’s site concerning these two quotes:

“Their thoughts and words were prescient. I fear that we are watching the slow, painful destruction of America, its principles and ideas, sacrificed on the altar of Marxism and tyranny.  And, because we are good and decent people, we refuse to believe it, much less do anything about it.  It is still not too late, but time is not on our side.”

In this last soliloquy by Unum, I was struck by the part that contends that those on the right and also many in the middle “are good and decent people.” The implication here is that this good and decent group are prone to doing nothing, whereas those on the left as has been seen repeatedly will lie, cheat, and steal at every opportunity.

In order to come out on the winning side of this good/evil contest, all of us, more specifically each one of us, need to step up in some way. My contribution is writing this blog, and would hope that this and any other tidbits of conservative info are passed on by all of you individually. I implore each of us individually to pay attention to what Einstein and Burke said, while at the same recalling the end of JFK’s famous quote, “… , it’s what you can do for your country.”

5/25/23

Today a frightening story about the future of Chicago which used to be “my kind of town.” For those of you who are not aware, I am from Chicago. I was born at St. Anne’s hospital on Chicago’s west side as was our first child. Back in the day I drove a cab in the city in order to make ends meet. Within the past ten years my wife and I have visited Chicago as tourists and five years ago brought three grandchildren to Chicago to celebrate their graduations.

But no more! 

We also considered purchasing a time-share at the Drake Hotel on Michigan Ave. But no more! Covid saved us! Whew! 

We used to fly into Chicago’s Midway airport, but when Southwest began to fly to O’Hare, we began flying there. That switch was because our friends and family lived north of the city, and O’Hare was much closer to our destinations than Midway.

But, no more!

From now on we will fly to Milwaukee. … Why?

The new ultra-progressive mayor of Chicago just came out with his plan to destroy, err “save” Chicago.

From Tom Bevan on POWERLINE on 5/17/23:

Progressive allies of Mayor Brandon Johnson have released a financial blueprint titled – and I’m not joking – “First We Get the Money” calling for $12 billion in new taxes, including:

“Head tax” of $33 per worker for companies with 50+ employees

Quadrupling the tax on jet fuel.

3.5% income tax on households making $100K+

0.4% “wealth tax” for the top 10% of city earners.

$1-2 transaction tax for financial exchanges.

If the plan was to destroy businesses in Chicago, then this plan might work quite well! “If you tax them, they will leave!”

However, the coup de grâce:

The plan also calls for eliminating all current vacant positions at the Chicago Police Department AND cutting the CPD budget by 9%!

How frightening is that! What does the new enlightened mayor think will happen with even less police? … Hmmm!

5/24/23

As I was scrolling through different articles, I came across something which could be a hint of things to come. This piece was about Pontiac, Illinois, a small town of about 11,000 about 60 miles southwest of Chicago. As I am sure that all are aware, Illinois is an extremely blue state, but when the rubber hit the road, the citizens of Pontiac said “No, NIMBY” (Not In My Back Yard) to an immense solar farm in their town.

From CFACT:

“In a stunning setback for solar, the City of Pontiac, Illinois has scuttled plans to construct a solar energy project that would transform a vacant lot in town into a shiny solar desert.

At an emotional Feb. 13 hearing before the City of Pontiac Planning and Zoning Board, city official denied the application of Bundleflower Solar LLC to rezone the property so that as many as 5,568 photovoltaic solar panels could be installed there. A few days later, Bundleflower Solar withdrew its application altogether, putting an end to a project that had garnered fierce opposition from the city’s residents.

To add insult to injury, the owner of the 49-acre property, where the thousands of solar panels were to be installed, changed his mind and came out in opposition to the project.

The dramatic turnaround shows what can happen when citizens are well informed about how harmful solar (and wind) projects are, and then mobilize to stop deep-pocketed renewable-energy developers from ruining their communities.

“Zoning board hearings are usually won by people who show up, and the solar project’s few local supporters were steamrolled by Bundleflower Solar’s well-informed opponents.

Based on information supplied by CFACT, residents pointed out that solar power is intermittent and cannot supply electricity 24/7. They knew that the thousands of solar panels would produce zero power at night, zero power on cloudy and rainy days, and zero power when covered with snow during northern Illinois’s long, cold winters. As a sign of how unserious the project was, the developer didn’t even plan to install backup batteries to provide electricity when the sun was absent. Those batteries, of course, have their own environmental problems and are another reason communities should avoid solar and wind projects that include them.”

When the residents of a small town in a blue state can say NIMBY when they recognize the absurdity of going green as far as their electricity is concerned, I can only view this as a good sign. To me it means, that all of Illinois is not brain dead!

5/23/23

To me it continues to be amazing how seemingly wrong some of the things that the Democrats seem to be proposing and fighting for are  answers to the question  … how should I put this politely … “what would the Devil do?”

If you do not believe in the devil, then there is probably little need for you to continue reading. If you do not think that there is both good and evil in the world, then likewise your time could be better spent watching the grass grow. I used to think that some things would be considered evil by just about everybody … eg. child molesters = evil; repeat criminal offenders & mass murders = evil. However, these days pedophiles are considered a normal variant by some groups, and repeat violent criminals are not jailed and often not charged.

If I were the Devil, George Soros, Alvin Bragg and other similar leftist District Attorneys would be my buddies. Likewise as I think about what is happening across the US, I am finding multiple apparent answers to the question, “what would the Devil do?” “What would the Devil want?”

Since I believe that the time-honored family structure is one of the most important things that we have, just about anything which goes against this answers the question, “what would the devil do?” Would the devil encourage single parent families? Absolutely! What better way could there be to insure that unsupervised adolescents join gangs, take drugs, commit crimes, and often end up in jail. This total waste of innumerable young lives is exactly what the Devil would want.

Certainly the devil would want success for those who basically go against the Ten Commandments to achieve success. For instance, a chronic liar would be encouraged to run for the Senate, perhaps in California. Some teachers would be encouraged by the Devil to “stand up” for youth by keeping secrets from their parents. A spokesperson for the President would make a statement that individual children belong to us all. In each of these latter situations the implication is that the parents should have little say in what happens to their children … and this would be exactly what the Devil would want in these situations.

What would the Devil do in a situation where someone has come forth to try to right wrongs? Would he treat them with scorn, and do whatever is possible to unfairly tarnish their reputation? Yes, he would! Isn’t this precisely what some Democrats did during the recent House FBI whistleblowers testimony?

Would the Devil open the border so that abused children could be smuggled across? YES! Would the Devil open the border so that convicted criminals and terrorists could come into the U.S.? YES! Would the Devil open the border so that an almost unlimited amount of drugs could be smuggled into the U.S.? YES! 

Would the Devil want our leaders on his side? Yes, without a doubt!

With all that is happening in the US  these days, I have to wonder if Joe Biden is “the devil in disguise”?

5/22/23

I never thought that I would ever come to point that I would be singing the praises of a Democratic politician on a Sunday, as Sunday is the day in my blog that I reserve for someone who deserves our praise.

From BlazeNews:

Mesha Mainor is a Georgia Democratic General Assembly member, who slammed members of her party recently, accusing them of “lying about their address” to send their own children to better schools while simultaneously rejecting a school choice bill.

It takes a lot of fortitude for a Democratic politician to buck the trend and go against her fellow Democratic politicians.

She angered her fellow Democrats when she stood with Republicans in support of Georgia Senate Bill 233, which would have provided $6,500 vouchers to parents with students performing in the bottom 25% in the state. The vouchers could have been used to pay for private school tuition and homeschooling expenses.

Mainor, a supporter of “parent choice,” was the only Democrat to vote in favor of the legislation.

“Why is no one fighting for young Black minds? Why isn’t that one of the things that we’re fighting for?” Mainor told Fox News Digital. “I actually say you’re a hypocrite. That’s what I tell them directly. You are being a hypocrite. There are state lawmakers right now where their children are in schools that they’re not even zoned for … They’re lying about their address, state lawmakers, but they won’t vote for this bill.”

“I support parent choice because some parents have children in schools where their needs are not being met,” she continued. “In my district in particular, we have schools with 3% reading proficiency, 3% have obtained math proficiency by the eighth grade. And so to say that this is just how it is and that the kid needs to just suffer these consequences, I don’t agree with that. And I don’t think that all parents agree with that either.”

But her fellow Dems did not appreciate her sticking up for poor black children.

Again from BlazeNews:

Mainor’s fellow Democrats came after her after she failed to vote along party lines. Democratic state Senator Josh McLaurin offered $1,000 to anyone willing to run against Mainor. McLaurin posted a photograph of a check on his Twitter account with the caption, “All I need is a name.”

Mainor stated that there is a “collective effort” by her Democratic colleagues to get her out of office. She called the pushback “ludicrous.”

“I think my fellow Democrats – and not all of them, I hate to say that because it’s not all of them – some of my colleagues will march in the streets for abortion rights. I’m pro-choice. They were crying on the floor for transgender rights. They were very outspoken about antisemitism. My problem is, why is no one fighting for young Black minds? … And so to say that all these other issues are important, but a child living in poverty that’s of color is at the bottom of your totem pole of priorities, that’s a problem with the value system if you ask me,” she added.

Mesha Mainor is one tough lady! Sticking up for what is right against formidable opposition takes courage. I would vote for her in a New York minute!

5/21/23

This was written and posted on my blog over two years ago, and now we are seeing the long term consequences of belittling our police, especially when the rubber meets the road in big cities.

Shortage ? . . . “Duh!”

Many US cities are having difficulty keeping police officers.

Is this a surprise after all the anti-police rhetoric lately? … Duh!

From the Blaze:

Philadelphia:

The Philadelphia Police Department currently has 268 vacancies and is expecting even more shortages in the near future.

“From Jan. 1 through Apr 22, 79 Philadelphia officers have been accepted into the city’s Deferred Retirement Option Program, meaning they intend to retire within four years, according to Mayor Jim Kenney’s office,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. “During the same time period last year, just 13 officers had been accepted into the program, the office said.”

“It’s the perfect storm. We are anticipating that the department is going to be understaffed by several hundred members, because hundreds of guys are either retiring or taking other jobs and leaving the department,” Mike Neilon, spokesperson for the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police, told the newspaper.

New Jersey:

New Jersey is facing a “recruiting crisis,” according to Pat Colligan, president of the New Jersey State Policemen’s Benevolent Association.

Col. Patrick Callahan, the acting superintendent of the New Jersey State Police, said the state’s largest police agency received a “historically low” number of applications this year. In some years, the New Jersey State Police would usually receive between 15,000 to 20,000 applications – this year they only received 2,023 qualified applicants as of 4/22,21 according to NJ.com.

Baltimore:

The Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3 said there were “recruitment and retention issues,” which prompted the “topic of closing police district(s).”

“Our Patrol numbers are now below 700 officers which is about 300-400 below what is needed,” the Baltimore FOP said, according to WBFF-TV. “This creates huge safety issues for our officers and for the citizens of Baltimore.”

Los Angeles:

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti (D) is proposing to increase the budget of the Los Angeles Police Department amid skyrocketing violent crime and increased vacancies within the department.

From Fox News:

Louisville:

Statistics provided by LMPD on Tuesday show the department has hired 26 new members so far this year, while 43 have left. The 1,069-person department falls 255 people short of its “authorized strength” of 1,324 — the number of personnel it is authorized to employ, statistics show.

Meanwhile as of 4/25/21 there had been 84% more non-fatal shootings so far this year, with 201, compared to the 109 instances reported during the same time in 2020, LMPD statistics show. There were 56 murders reported as of Sunday — a 75% increase from the 32 reported by April 25, 2020.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Minneapolis:

In Minneapolis, about 40 officers retired last year, and another 120 took leaves of absence. That’s nearly 20% of a police department with about 840 officers in the city. Police officials are waiting to see whether the leaves of absences in the Minnesota city become retirements.

Chicago:

In Chicago, 560 officers retired in 2020 in a police department that had about 13,100 sworn officers as of March, records show. That’s about 15% more cops retiring than during the previous year, when the number of retirements rose by nearly 30%.

John Catanzara, president of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police union, said he can’t see how the police department’s recruiting can keep pace with the retirements and pointed to Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s latest budget, which eliminated 614 police vacancies.

“They have just made policing in this city and state near-impossible,” the police union boss said. “They have given control to the criminals.”

And from FreedomWire the coup de grâce:

New York:

In New York City, the nation’s largest metropolitan area, cops are retiring from/quitting the NYPD at alarming rates following last summer’s anti-policing riots, which have continued unabated this year.

The New York Post reported, “More than 5,300 NYPD uniformed officers retired or put in their papers to leave in 2020 — a 75 percent spike from the year before, department data show.

The exodus — amid the pandemic, anti-cop hostility, riots, and a skyrocketing number of NYC shootings — saw 2,600 officers say goodbye to the job and another 2,746 file for retirement, a combined 5,346.

In 2019, the NYPD had 1,509 uniformed officers leave and 1,544 file for retirement, for a total of 3,053.

The departures and planned departures of 5,300 officers represents about 15 percent of the force. Already, as of April 5, the NYPD headcount of uniformed officers has dropped to 34,974 from 36,900 in 2019.

All of these cities and many more are losing cops. Is it going to be a long deadly summer this year . . . “Duh!”

5/20/23