Author: Californiacontrarian

The suspicion many years ago was that smoking was bad for one’s health, and indeed this proved to be true. In 1964, the U.S. Surgeon General released the first report on the health effects of smoking. After reviewing more than 7,000 articles in the medical literature, the Surgeon General concluded that smoking caused lung cancer and bronchitis. 

However, back in the day lawmakers did not totally ban cigarettes, but issued warnings about the dangers of smoking cigarettes. This then led to a concept that is apparently foreign to some in positions of authority today. Back then they informed individuals of the risks and then let the individual decide what he/she wants to do. They decided either to stop smoking or to continue to smoke. Whatever they chose, they made their own decision. After all this is America … or rather it was back in the 1960s.

Nowadays however, “those that know best” have not only decided that they absolutely know what is best for everyone, but they also feel empowered to make choices for the rest of us. In California the Dems in Sacramento feel that it is their duty to decide what foods and candy the citizens of California will be allowed to legally purchase within the authoritarian state of California. This is not recognizable as the America I once knew.

Nationally, the latest “we know what is best for everyone” is about gas stoves.

From The Epoch Times:

“The Department of Energy on Feb. 1 proposed a rule that would be a first-ever efficiency regulation for cooking appliances in the United States, setting new standards for both electric and gas cooking tops. The proposed rule was followed by an updated DOE analysis in late February that said about half of gas stove models currently being sold in the country wouldn’t be in compliance.

The DOE has not been the only Biden administration entity that had been targeting gas stoves.

In December 2022, Richard Trumka Jr., chief of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), said the federal government should ban gas stoves due to health concerns. He repeated the sentiment in January when he also said his agency was considering banning gas stoves.

A leaked memo showed that Trumka, who was nominated by President Joe Biden, wanted to ban gas stoves as early as October 2022.

‘There is sufficient information available for CPSC to issue [a notice of proposed rulemaking] in [fiscal year] 2023 proposing to ban gas stoves in homes,’ Trumka said in the memo.

Republicans have introduced bills to preemptively block any laws that would restrict gas stoves—the Save our Gas Stoves Act (pdf), introduced by Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.), and the Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act, introduced by Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.).

These bills make it clear that Americans should decide if a gas stove is right for their families, not the federal government.”

This is more like the America I once knew!

4/3/23

I actually like the concept of noting and promoting acts of kindness and integrity. That is what initially prompted me to identify and praise those individuals who display either kindness or integrity on my Sunday blogs. 

Briar Poirier, 28, who’s worked for Market Basket for the past 8 years, was on checkout duty on a Friday afternoon when he encountered an older man paying for his groceries.

Renee Falcioni, an emergency room nurse from Killingly, Connecticut, was in another checkout lane and overheard an exchange between Briar and the man, who was dressed in veteran’s attire.

“The veteran attempted to pay for his groceries with a gift card, but he did not have enough money on the card, so Briar immediately took out his wallet and said ‘Don’t worry, I got this,’” said Renee.

Meanwhile, the cashier, who is autistic, recalled telling him, “You fought for my rights and my freedoms, it’s the least I can do for you.” He then thanked him for his service.

Renee said the veteran’s face lit up with a broad smile as he shook Briar’s hand.

Renee explained how, on returning to her car, she sat for a moment thinking how more people like Briar were needed in the world; and decided to spread the word on social media about his kind act, in an effort to help him get the recognition he deserved.

“[Renee] asked if she could write a review about me on social media, my response was ‘go for it,’ and ‘thank you miss,’” Briar said, adding, “As long as people are trying to help each other out now regardless of differences, that is what is important to me.”

Hats off to Renee!

Uber kudos to Briar Poirier !

4/2/23

Today I have taken the liberty to reproduce something that I recently read that was written by Kathy H.L. Since I do not know Kathy H.L. and do not know how to contact her, I could not ask her permission to put her essay on my blog. However since it was so good, I took the liberty to pass it on to you, my readers.

“As a child and adolescent therapist, I cringe when I see children in restaurants watching TV on their parents’ phones. Babies in grocery baskets are often engaged by I-pads instead of the sights and sounds around them. Teens in cars so rarely look out the windows while riding that they are afraid to drive because they don’t know how to get around in their own towns. We are stunting an entire generation. 

By not allowing our kids to experience the slightest period of boredom, we deny them the chance to learn to self-soothe or to discover their own imagination. If my childhood best friend and I were inside playing video games, we never would have hollowed out the big bush in our backyard to make a clubhouse. We never would have dug up my parents’ garden with spoons looking for buried treasures. How sad that would be, because those are my favorite memories of my childhood. 

“I find myself worrying most that when we hand our children phones, we steal their boredom from them. As a result,  we are raising a generation of writers who will never start writing, artists who will never start doodling, young chefs who will never make a mess in their kitchen, athletes who will never kick a ball against the wall, musicians who will never pick up their dad’s guitar and start strumming.” (Glennon Doyle)

Instead, we will create another generation of socially stunted young adults who are depressed, physically unhealthy and lacking motivation, imagination, and social skills. 

Electronics serve a purpose, but are being abused by parents and children alike. Please do your kids a favor and teach them to live in the moment. Sometimes, turn the electronics off.”

4/1/23

We all realize that bad things can happen to good people. This is not what many of us might call “fair,” and although most might rightfully feel bad for that individual … “c’est la vie,” or “that’s life.” On the other hand, sometimes bad things happen to bad people, and although some may not wish that bad things happen to anyone, it might be said, if it’s going to happen, it couldn’t happen to a “nicer” guy. Well the same things can happen to companies, e.g. Disney Corp.

From Breitbart:

Entertainment giant Disney is set to eliminate up to 4,000 jobs as part of CEO Bob Iger’s $5.5 billion budget cut plan as the company faces repeated box office bombs, billions in losses over its streaming service, and political setbacks due to its radical left-wing policies in Florida.

The 4,000 layoffs may be just the beginning. In Feb., it was reported that Iger was looking to end up to 7,000 jobs, or more than 3 percent of the workforce.

It was also reported that the company is scaling back spending on new programing, marketing, and owned enterprises such as ESPN and other entertainment divisions.

Disney’s financial worries come as the company has increasingly embraced the extreme woke agenda, transgenderism, and critical race theory, especially in its entertainment aimed at children. As Breitbart News recently reported, the Disney+ streaming channel series The Proud Family: Louder and Prouderstirred controversy by pushing reparations for slavery, claiming in its latest episode that America was founded on “white supremacy” and “still has not atoned” for its racism.

All these pressures are compounded by repeated box office disappointments as woke features including Lightyear, Enchanto, Mulan, Strange World and others fail to live up to expectations at the theater. Not to mention that its much ballyhooed streaming service is still not making a profit.

The company has also lost a string of political battles in Florida, home of its Disney World theme park, after attempting and failing to force Florida to allow young school children to be exposed to radical gender politics by opposing the state’s recent education laws, and losing its special taxing and self-governing status.

I feel bad for the thousands that are going to lose their jobs. However, whereas my response to these Disney Corp. travails could be c’est la vie, more appropriately it is, “it couldn’t happen to a nicer company!”

3/31/23

One of things I wondered after reading a recent news update … “does living at high altitude affect one’s thinking.” Consider the following out of Louisville, Colorado, which is a Denver suburb. Denver is located at about 5280 feet, “the mile high city,” and I have to assume that Louisville is at approximately the same elevation.

From The Daily Mail:

The blue-run city of Louisville, Colorado will ban all new gas stations as local lawmakers say they feel an ‘obligation’ to fight climate change. 

City councilors in the town of 21,000 approved a proposal on 3/21 to cap the number of gas stations for their constituents to just six. 

‘We have an obligation to take every step possible to address the changes to our climate that are ravaging our planet and directly impacting the health, well-being and livelihoods of the constituents we represent in Louisville,’ council member Maxine Most told Fox News. 

Speaking before the vote, councilwoman Most admitted that the move wouldn’t stop climate change, but said the small community should continue with the plan anyway. … Smart?

‘We should be taking whatever incremental steps to not create additional fossil fuel infrastructure,’ said the councilmember, who also serves on the city’s Economic Vitality Committee. 

Louisville’s green policies are intended to meet several of its climate change fighting goals, including meeting the entire city’s municipal electricity needs with carbon-free sources by 2025. … Smart?

This last sentence tells one all that he needs to know about the looney-tunes in the Louisville city council. But just in case there is any doubt, let’s think logically. If you work in Denver and commute back and forth to Louisville, you will probably stop somewhere on your commute rather than risking longer lines at the limited number of gas stations in Louisville.  In this situation the involved individual will continue to work in Denver, and the gas tax money will go to someplace other than Louisville. (Not too smart, Louisville City Council!)

Similarly if one chooses to fill up on the weekend, longer lines at fewer gas stations will lead to longer idling times and thus increased air pollution in Louisville itself! (Not too smart, Louisville City Council!)

3/30/23

How has the liberal push of ESG investing turned out thus far? 

From CNS News:

While powerful asset managers, such as BlackRock, are pressuring companies to cater to liberal environmental, social and governance (ESG) agendas, a new analysis finds that companies that aren’t influenced by politics outperform those that are.

During the period from June 30, 2021-January 31, 2023, companies were far more likely to be liberal than either neutral or conservative.

In a Wall Street Journal commentary, “Is ESG Profitable? The Numbers Don’t Lie,” veteran investment industry experts Mike Edleson and Andy Puzder present the findings of their study of the effect of ESG politics on company fortunes.

The study uses a ratings firm’s five-point sale (1 = most liberal, 5 = most conservative) scoring of U.S. large and midcap companies’ social and political involvement regarding the following six issues:

1. Environment,
2. Education,
3. Abortion,
4. Second Amendment rights,
5. Other basic constitutional freedoms, and
6. Support for a safe civil society.

When the performance of politically-neutral companies (those with a composite score of 3) was compared to that of either the overall market (S&P 500 and Russell 1000) or ESG-registered funds, the non-political companies came out on top.

The overall market and ESG indexes were down:

• S&P 500 down 1.8%,
• Russell 1000 down 3.2%
• ESG funds performed worse, with most losing 2.5% to 6.3%.

In contrast, a simple index composed of only neutral companies gained 2.9%, “significantly outperforming both broad-market and ESG indexes in up and down markets,” Edleson and Puzder report.

They also note that the performance-gap between neutral and politically-driven companies began to widen in 2017-2018, about the same time that powerful asset managers like BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard began to wield their considerable influence to pressure companies to embrace ESG, at the expense of profit.

Other studies appear to support their finds. A Bloomberg analysis found that, over the past five years, an ESG portfolio would have garnered a 6.3% return, while a non-ESG one would have increased by 8.9%.

One of my readers recently commented that she was going to get out of her Black Rock investments because of the politics involved  – a principled decision. If this present trend continues it appears that she has also made the right financial decision.

3/29/23

A question recently came up as to whether the savings on gas for an electric car paid for the increased cost of insurance for that EV. Obviously the saving on not having to purchase gas would depend on the number of miles driven. The more miles driven, the more savings on gas. However, does the cost of insurance on an EV also depend on the number of miles driven?

The average cost to insure a Tesla Model 3 is almost 30 percent higher than the national average for car insurance, Nerdwallet said.

It’s not like people aren’t paying to protect their Teslas. In late 2022, Nerdwallet reported that the average Tesla owner with a good driving history and good credit could expect to pay about $2040 a year for a Model Y and as much as $3044 for a Model X. 

Owners of certain automotive brands know that expensive repair bills come with the territory. But that doesn’t mean insurance companies want to play that game, and some of them are increasingly deciding to write off low-mileage Tesla electric vehicles because they are too expensive to fix, according to a new report from Reuters.

A recent article from 1/23/23 Car and Driver titled, “Tesla EVs, Even Mildly Damaged, Are Being Written Off by Insurance Companies” pointed out that:

• There were 120 Tesla Model Y electric vehicles listed in two large salvage auction houses recently, and the “vast majority” had under 10,000 miles on them, according to a report from the Reuters news service.
• The insurance companies that covered these vehicles decided that even with so few miles on them, these Teslas aren’t worth the $50,000 or so they sometimes cost to repair.
• Reuters was not able to determine the types of incidents that caused the damage in these cases but did note that multiple well-known insurance brands, including State Farm, Geico, and Progressive, all decided the fix wasn’t in.

If the insurance company deems that the EV is not fixable, how much do they reimburse the owner? Enough to buy a new EV? … I doubt it.

Hmmm! … Just another few things to think about before buying an EV.

3/28/23

This issue is a common sense issue … do parents deserve to know what their children are learning? To the Dems in the U.S. House of Representatives the answer is, “No!” On 3/24/23 all of the Dems in the House voted against H.R. 5, known as the “Parents Bill of Rights” to protect parental rights in education. 

From Townhall:

“The legislation gives parents the right to know what’s being taught in schools and to see school reading materials, the right to be heard by school officials, the right to see the school budget and spending, the right to protect their child’s privacy, and the right to be updated on any violent activity at school.”

So far this seems like common sense, as every good parent wants to know what is happening at their children’s school. Why would the Dems be against this? Perhaps, it had to do with an amendment to the bill, sponsored by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), says that parents have the right to know if their child’s school operates, sponsors or facilitates athletic programs that allow transgender athletes to join a team that aligns with their gender identity instead of their biological sex, The Hill reported. This same policy also goes for school restrooms and locker rooms.

Typically, Dems play a lot of attention to polling, but they missed it here.

A new poll recently found that the majority of registered voters believe that schools should not keep information surrounding a child’s gender identity from parents. And, the majority of voters supported legislation requiring schools to inform parents if their child wants to change their identity at school.

It will be interesting to see what happens to this bill in the Senate, as a few RINOs will actually have to decide what is actually important to middle Americans. Of course, in the end none of this will matter as our squishy President will veto anything that is important to the average citizen.

However, come 2024, parents will realize who is basically on their side, and as we all learned from last year’s Virginia’s governor’s race, parents vote.

3/27/23

As is my custom on Sunday I devote an entire piece to someone who I consider praiseworthy. James Reimer fits perfectly into this category.

From the Daily Wire: 

On a recent Saturday night  NHL’s San Jose Sharks goalie James Reimer opted not to wear the team’s specially designed warmup jersey before a game as the team celebrated Pride Night.

Reimer issued a statement explaining his decision which the NHL franchise shared on its Twitteraccount:

“For all 13 years of my NHL career, I have been a Christian — not just in title, but in how I choose to live my life daily. I have a personal faith in Jesus Christ who died on the cross for my sins and, in response, asks me to love everyone and follow him,” he said. “I have no hate in my heart for anyone, and I have always strived to treat everyone that I encounter with respect and kindness. In this specific instance, I am choosing not to endorse something that is counter to my personal convictions which are based on the Bible, the highest authority in my life,” Reimer continued. He concluded that “every person has value and worth” and should be “welcomed in all aspects in the game of hockey.”

I never thought that I would be praising the words and thought process of a hockey player, but to James Reimer, I say, “Right on, James. I admire you for taking a principled stance based on your beliefs. Hopefully, more athletes will have the courage to follow in your footsteps.”

3/26/23

The other day I was wondering whether Biden and his fellow Dems are evil in disguise, and that reminded me of something I wrote about two years ago.

Was Presley Prescient ?  

Ever since I was a kid, I have been an Elvis Presley fan. I can remember watching him on the Ed Sullivan Show on CBS at 7:00 pm central on a Sunday night back in the late 1950s.(At that time my dad predicted that he would never make it . . . I guess that my father was not prescient.)

For those not as old as myself, the Ed Sullivan Show was where many of the new singing sensations made their American debut in the 50s and the 60s. This included not only Elvis, but also The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Supremes, and The Beach Boys, to name but a few.

I have many Elvis favorites . . . All Shook Up, Too Much, Don’t Be Cruel, Love Me Tender, In The Ghetto,and The Devil in Disguise, to name but a few. However lately, for some reason recently, I have been recurrently singing the lyrics of The Devil in Disguise to myself. Why would I be singing the lyrics to this 1963 Elvis Presley hit now?

Perhaps a review of some of the lyrics will help:

You look like an angel

Walk like an angel

Talk like an angel

But I got wise

You’re the devil in disguise

Oh yes you are

The devil in disguise

Could it be that Elvis Presley was prescient? Could it be that I am recurrently singing this song because the lyrics remind me of someone in the limelight today? Could it be that these lyrics remind me of Joe Biden? Hmmm!

He certainly looks like an angel, albeit an old angel, with his white hair and nice suit. He walks like an angel – err, except when going up stairs.

He talks like an angel with his soft melodious voice, and although he talks very little, he does read well. In addition, he does not do “mean tweeting.”

But like Elvis in the song sings, “I got wise.” (Is he the devil in disguise?)

In contradistinction to his immediate predecessor, he is certainly the most pro-abortion president since  . . . Barack Obama under whom he was VP. To me, this sounds like the devil. 

In contradistinction to his predecessor, he is very pro-Trans and in being so, he is basically denying high school girls the ability to compete in sports, and thinks it’s okay for boys to be in the Girls’ bathroom. To me this sounds like the devil.

He is doing his best to turn the USA from an energy exporter to an energy importer. Certainly not angelic – at least to those of us who live in the USA. Shutting down the Keystone XL Pipeline has cost thousands and thousands of jobs. To me purposely making individuals unemployed sounds like the devil.

Is he The Devil in Disguise?

Was Presley prescient?

3/31/21

3/25/23