Author: Californiacontrarian

(This one from 1/21/21.)

A Vendetta or Just Poor Judgment    

For a long time I have considered a dilemma which possibly troubles some politicians from time to time . . . “Should a politician be responsive to his/her voters?”

The issue involves whether or not a representative of the people should follow the will of the people who elected him/her or whether that representative should follow his/her own leanings on an issue if his/her opinion is different from those who voted for him/her. 

(Whew! That last sentence sounds like something that would come out of a politician’s mouth . . . no, I am not running for anything.)

In some situations I think that one can argue both sides of this question. For example, if the voters in a certain state are split 52-48 on an issue, I think that the representative could reasonably go either way. He/she often doesn’t usually have the time, the proclivity, or the predisposition to take a poll to see what the populace in his/her state favors. In this type of situation I think that the representative should make a decision, after all “you can’t please all of the people all of the time.”

However, what if those who voted for him/her feel strongly about an issue (e.g. 80-20 against). In this circumstance it seems to me that the elected representative of the people should follow the will of those who elected him/her. 

Last week Rep. Liz Cheney had to make a decision when she had to vote to again impeach President Trump. Did she ask herself, “what would the people of Wyoming want me to do? Is it close (52-48) in my district, or is there an overwhelming preponderance one way or the other?” 

Did she have a vendetta against Donald Trump?

Did she vote the way her constituents felt on this issue?

Apparently she not not consider what her constituency would want her to do when she voted for impeachment. 

The Wyoming Republican Party blasted her decision, saying it has prompted a torrent of angry calls and emails from those who “vehemently disagree with Representative Cheney’s decision and actions,” a statement said.

Following the outcry, the Republican Party Central Committee in Carbon County, Wyoming, unanimously voted to censure Cheney, according to The Washington Times. The Committee also demanded her presence before them to explain herself.

“Our representative did not represent our voice,” said Carbon County GOP Chairman Joey Correnti IV.

According to the Times, he said she’s been completely nonresponsive so far. 

The obvious solution to this kind of issue should be left to the voters.

To me it appears that she has ridden the coattails of her father, Dick Cheney, long enough.

“Vote the bum-etta out.” 

1/21/21

N.B. Justice was done, as Liz Cheney no longer represents the state of Wyoming.

1/20/23

Some would say that Mexico is a third world country and the U.S. is not, and for the most part this is indeed true … except when it comes to the integrity of elections. A few years back I took a Spanish class for seniors, and the teacher commuted on MWF from across the border in Tijuana. At one point voting and elections came up, and she wisely took her voter ID card out of her purse and passed it around so that all could see it. What I recall was that it was a laminated picture I.D. and it included a fingerprint. She told us that each individual had to get fingerprinted and have a photo taken at the same time at either a fire-station or a post-office ( I cannot recall which) … no exceptions. She also commented that Mexico takes voting very seriously and that the penalties for voter fraud are quite severe.

Mexico has one of the most secure ID documents in Latin America, the new voting ID card used in Mexico includes multiple security features and state-of-the-art verification methods that have so far foiled every counterfeiting attempt. Since 2013, the card has been produced by G+D and Veridos and has been available for Mexico’s citizens – including the 12 million who live abroad. At last, all of the country’s citizens can finally benefit from the technology without the risk of identity fraud.

Rolando Colchado, the Managing Director of Veridos Mexico said, “Since we started with voter ID production in 2013, we’ve managed to improve and enhance the product to become one of the most secure documents in Latin America.”

Now compare this to what we have here in the U.S. … chaos, fraud, chicanery, and consequently stolen elections. Having a picture I.D. card in order to vote is somehow misconstrued as racist by leftists. Since, to me, it is obvious that the lack of voter verification/identification in the U.S. is a convenient off-ramp to facilitate multiple variations of voter fraud, it must be that those who call a picture I.D. in order to vote as somehow racist must want to facilitate voter fraud. 

There you have it … a simple explanation!

So now tell me which is the third world country when it comes to election integrity … Mexico with its secure voter I.D. card system, or the U.S.non-system which facilitates and even encourages fraud.

1/20/23

When I was a kid, we used to have breakfast for dinner about once a week, and in Lent breakfast for dinner was common Friday night entree. Breakfast for dinner was economical, easy to fix, and my brother and I both liked it.

While my wife is recovering from her injury, I have been doing some of the things that she usually does. Yesterday, I took my wife’s grocery list to Von’s, and was cruising along except for “eggs” which I was having trouble finding. I was not going to flunk grocery shopping, and so I made a second trip up and down all of the aisles. It turned out that there was a reason that I could not find eggs … Von’s had no eggs! The handwritten sign read, “No eggs, due to supply shortages.” This morning I went to Albertson’s to complete my list and get some eggs. Yes, Albertson’s did have a very sparse choice, and I nabbed the last dozen of medium sized eggs at $6.99. After proudly returning home, my wife informed me that I had paid way more than double, as typically eggs were less than $3.00 a dozen.

As we all are aware, Joe Biden’s inflation has raised the price of different foods from 10-20%, but the price of eggs has gone up well over 100%. 

What caused these record-breaking egg prices? Experts largely point to last year’s record-breaking outbreaks of deadly bird flu, which wiped out more than 52 million birds across the country as flocks were culled to keep the virus from spreading.

Egg prices fluctuated throughout 2022. But they reached record-breaking highs at the end of December, when wholesale prices surpassed $5.30 per dozen of large eggs in the Midwest and reached $7.50 in California, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

Supply and demand … a marked decrease in the number hens has led to a marked decrease in the supply of eggs, and thus to a significant rise in the price.

But why is the cost of a dozen eggs so much higher in California ? $7.50 vs. $5.30! Again, supply and demand. (At first I was going to say, “because of the stupidity of California voters,” but I have vowed to be much kinder in this new year.) 

Back on November 6, 2018, California voters approved Proposition 12, the Farm Animal Confinement Initiative, which basically states that all eggs sold in California must be laid by cage-free hens, and consequently every person with a brain should have realized that eggs were going to be more expensive in California. Certainly, the hens would have more freedom to roam around, but at a cost to the California consumer. Throw in another issue, like the bird flu, and BOOM, the price of eggs skyrockets. Even though neither my wife nor myself like paying $6.99 for a dozen eggs, we can afford it. But what about those in the lower economic strata who regularly count on having breakfast for dinner a few times per week? 

In an October, 2021 article titled, “THIS IS WHAT PROP 12 MEANS FOR ANIMALS.” from The Humane League website, less than one in three egg-laying hens currently live in cage-free housing.

By necessity this had to change because back in the beginning of 2022, all egg-laying hens must live in cage-free housing systems. Again another basic economic principle kicks in: if the cost to produce something goes up, this cost will be passed on to the consumer, and the price of the product will inevitably go up.

My question is has the Humane League ever considered “what does prop 12 mean for poor children in California? Is it okay for poorer children in California to now have water and one egg for dinner, instead of two eggs, because their parents now have to pay the present exorbitant price for eggs?

1/19/23

It is possible that the cold weather is doing something adverse to the brains of “those that know best” in Minnesota? A lot of prior residents of Minnesota are now ex-residents of Minnesota, as those whose brains are resistant to clouding/freezing by the cold, having already fled to warmer less liberal locales. Seemingly many of those that remain are uniquely susceptible to brain freeze, especially “those that know best!”

First off, from Townhall:

“Beginning in 2025, the rules of the state Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board will require that, ‘A teacher ensures student identities such as race/ethnicity, national origin, language, sex and gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical/developmental/ emotional ability, socioeconomic class, and religious beliefs are historically and socially contextualized, affirmed, and incorporated into a learning environment.’

People who believe in the God of the Bible or the God of the Quran will be forced to affirm an ideology that is contrary to their faith. This is not a recommendation; it’s a requirement for employment. 

This is inconsistent with Minnesota statutes, which plainly state, ‘It is the public policy of this state to secure for persons in this state, freedom from discrimination in employment because of race, color, creed, religion…’”

This is obviously a blatantly unconstitutional requirement for employment in Minnesota. Do “those that know best” in Minnesota not recall that there is a Constitution. Perhaps being “woke” in Minnesota implies that rational thinking is not allowed in that state!

Second, from BlazeNews, from the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota:

“A video captured a confrontation involving a Mall of America security guard telling a man wearing a ‘Jesus Saves’ T-shirt that his shirt is ‘offending’ shoppers at the famously large mall in Bloomington, Minnesota — and the guard ordered the man to remove the shirt or leave the mall.

The back of man’s shirt reads ‘Jesus is the only way’ and includes the well-known ‘coexist’ symbol crossed out. 

‘Jesus is associated with religion, and it’s offending people,’ a security guard tells the man in one clip, adding that ‘people have been offended.’

The guard adds, ‘Again … I’m giving you a couple options: take the shirt off, and you can go to Macy’s, and you can do your shopping — or you can leave the mall, OK? Those are your only options right now.’

The guard adds, ‘We’ve had guests come up saying that they’ve been offended by your shirt … take the shirt off, and you can go shopping!’”

Now granted, the security guard is probably  a “rental cop,” with no real authority, and I would surmise that he is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. FYI, the Mall of America is totally indoors, and I would think that it would be unlikely that brain freeze would occur indoors. However, if he works in the Mall of America, he is likely a local, and consequently the odds are that he was “educated” in the same Minnesota public school system that thinks it can dictate what religion is okay for future teachers. The gentleman with the “Jesus Saves” T-shirt was not preaching nor proselytizing. He was merely shopping. 

Whether anyone was actually offended is beside the point … as wearing a religious T-shirt is certainly not contrary to any edict by the Mall of America or any law in the state of Minnesota … at least not yet!

What makes this absurd mandate by the security guard even worse is that the guard is white, and the Jesus Saves T-shirt guy is black … Hmmm!

1/18/23

One of the things that is absolutely necessary for this “fossil fuel is bad” craze to succeed is successful battery storage. Not cognizant of what that means, or what the plan is … could that be because there does not seem to be a plan?

Solar power can only provide electricity when the sun is shining, and this presents a real problem during the winter when the the days are shorter. Or similarly, in the northern latitudes on rainy or cloudy days in the summer. Wind power can only provide electricity when the wind is blowing. Sure the wind does blow most of the time in certain areas, but what about in those areas that have little or no wind on most days? 

As I sit writing this piece, I am looking outside. It is perfectly calm without a wisp of wind, and it has been cloudy and overcast all day. Surely those who are promoting the sun and the wind as our sole source of electricity have thought of what will be done on days like this. Obviously, just store the energy that was acquired on prior sunny and windy days until it is needed. And that, my friends, is the crux of the problem … how is that solar/wind power energy going to be stored? 

Note: The electric grid is not a storage device. Electricity on the grid must be consumed in the moment in which it is produced.

Surely those who are promoting the sun and the wind as our sole source of electricity have thought of this storage issue. Err, … maybe not, because at this time, there is no way to store the amount of electricity generated by sun and wind for when we will need it.

An interesting article by John Hinderaker in Energy Policy points out the folly of energy storage. 

“Francis Menton has just published a paper on energy storage. He summarizes his findings at his web site:

The main point of the paper is that an electrical grid powered mostly by intermittent generators like wind and sun requires full backup from some source; and if that source is to be stored energy, the amounts of storage required are truly staggering. When you do the simple arithmetic to calculate the storage requirements and the likely costs, it becomes obvious that the entire project is completely impractical and unaffordable. The activists and politicians pushing us toward this new energy system of wind/solar/storage are either being intentionally deceptive or totally incompetent.”

The amount of energy storage that Germany is planning for 2031 is between 0.016% and 0.036% of what it actually would need. This does not qualify as a serious effort to produce a system that might work.

This absurd situation is duplicated in every other jurisdiction that has purported to mandate wind and solar energy. 

For example, in California, a report from Utility Dive states that the California Public Utilities Commission has ordered the state’s power providers to collectively procure by 2026 some 10.5 GW (or 42.0 GWh) of lithium-ion batteries for grid-scale storage:

The additional 10.5 GW of lithium-ion storage capacity, translating to at most about 42 GWh, would take California all the way to about 0.17% of the energy storage it would need to fully back up a wind/solar generation system.

In conclusion from Hinderaker’s article:

Not only is there no working demonstration project anywhere in the world of the wind/solar/storage energy system, but there is none under construction and none even proposed.

The whole green energy project is a gigantic fraud. A handful of shysters are getting rich, along with some activists and politicians, while the rest of us will be left holding the bag, and holding the bag in the dark! 

1/17/23

As of today, 1/16/23, it has been two full weeks since Damar Hamlin of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills collapsed during a MNF game on national television before over 20 million viewers. As we are all now aware Damar Hamlin had a cardiac arrest and was resuscitated on the field, and taken immediately to a hospital in Cincinnati where he spent time intubated in ICU. Subsequently, after some days he was transferred to a hospital in Buffalo, and has since been discharged home.  

The Damar Hamlin story was of national interest for a week or so, and has since fallen completely off the radar. The sudden disappearance of anything related to Damar Hamlin, etc. seems a bit unusual to me. What was the final diagnosis? Why is this not public knowledge?

To my way of thinking, other than the NFL possibly putting the kibosh on the story because the playoffs are starting, there are only two possibilities. First, either no definitive diagnosis has been made, or, second, for whatever reason, it has been decided that Hamlin’s diagnosis should remain a secret.

First: Is it possible that all of the involved cardiologists at two different hospitals have not been able to arrive at a definitive diagnosis? Certainly, this could be, but at least, there should be some sort of a tentative diagnosis. For example … “based on the numerous negative tests that have been performed on Mr. Hamlin, we think that the most likely diagnosis is Commotio Cordis.” (FYI, Commotio Cordis refers  to the sudden arrhythmic death caused by a low/mild chest wall impact. It is seen mostly in athletes between the ages of 8 and 18 who are partaking in sports with projectiles such as baseballs, hockey pucks, or lacrosse balls.) Now granted Damar Hamlin is older than 18 and was not hit by any  projectile, but rather was involved in a relatively low impact collision while making a routine tackle. Those who are at all familiar with Commotio Cordis know that the likelihood of this happening to anyone is very rare, because of the precise time on an EKG that the impact has to occur. Could this be what happened? Although rare, yes this is possibly what happened. But why is this not coming out in the Main Stream Media?

That leads me to the second possibility … could it be that a susceptibility to Commotio Cordis could be related to something else? Interestingly, I just happened upon an article in European Heart Journal from March, 2021, entitled “Sudden cardiac death risk in contact sports increased by myocarditis: a case series” 

Granted this was a very limited case study of two rugby players with myocarditis diagnosed by both MRI and by autopsy. This study concluded that myocarditis may increase the risk of life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias caused by blunt impact to the chest, particularly in contact sports.

However, this study does raise an interesting possibility in that the Covid vaccines are known to be associated with a risk of myocarditis, especially in young males, and nearly 95% of players in the NFL have been Covid vaccinated.

Again I am still waiting on the results of all the cardiac tests done on Damar Hamlin. … What is the diagnosis ?

1/16/23

William Cassoday, 39, was on his way with his wife to visit his mother on Monday afternoon to show her their new car. While driving, he noticed a Porter County Sheriff’s Office patrolman being punched in the face and he immediately pulled over to help the brutalized cop.

Cassoday came up from behind and put his arm around the felon’s neck, then used his other arm to tighten the grip in a rear-naked choke.

Cassoday pinned the man within 15 seconds, and the police officer recovered to handcuff the suspect.

The Porter County Sheriff’s Office identified the suspect as 37-year-old Christopher Delgado. Porter County Sheriff’s Office patrolman Jamison Smith noticed Delgado walking down the street and stopped him for an outstanding warrant for auto theft. Delgado allegedly attacked Smith during the confrontation.

Cassoday’s wife – Marisa McDaniel – said, “Not a lot of people would have done that. He was very courageous. He didn’t have to think twice, he did what he had to do.”

Law enforcement officials said they “cannot thank Mr. William Cassoday enough for his courageous actions.”

“Putting his own safety aside, he ran into harm’s way, assisting Officer Smith in taking a felon into custody,” said Porter County Sheriff’s Office Cpl. Benjamin McFalls said, according to the Lake Geneva Regional News.

“Mr. Cassoday willingly jumped into a fight, in which our officer was being violently attacked,” McFalls added. “Mr. Cassoday exemplified what it means to be a resident of Porter County. We will be honoring him in the near future.”

Kudos to Mr. Cassoday for doing something without giving his heroic action much thought. He saw … he acted!

 However, in the guise of honesty, I must tell you “the rest of the story.”

Cassoday is an ex-MMA fighter and a Brazilian jiu-jitsu trainer who is working on getting his black belt. Even so … Kudos to Mr. Cassoday!

1/15/23

In 1966 The Supremes had a hit song titled “The Happening.” The chorus went like this:

“One day you’re up, then you turn around

You find your world is tumbling down

It happened to me, and it can happen to you”

I thought of this song when I read about what is happening to Jordan Peterson in Canada. Peterson is a clinical psychologist who has just been mandated by The Ontario College of Psychologists to undergo “re-education” program over his past comments and speech that “may cause harm.”

Reeducation about what? Well apparently Jordan Peterson has said some things that have upset “those that know best” in Canada. Things that “those that know best” do not politically agree with.

Note that none of what he has said has anything to do with his twenty year practice of clinical psychology. None of the complainants were his patients … not now, not ever.

Peterson is to work with another professional to “review, reflect on, and ameliorate [his] professionalism in public statements” and complete a “Coaching Program.”

According to a Wall Street Journal op-ed, the College of Psychologists of Ontario last March appointed an investigator to examine complaints about Peterson’s Twitter comments as well as things he said on a Joe Rogan podcast.

More from the Journal:

What are these comments? Calling Elliot Page, the transgender actor, by his former name, “Ellen,” and the pronoun “her,” on Twitter. Calling an adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a “prik.” A sarcastic crack at antigrowth environmentalists for not caring that their energy policies lead to more deaths of poor Third World children.

Calling a former client “vindictive.” Objecting to a Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover of a plus-size model: “Sorry. Not Beautiful. And no amount of authoritarian tolerance is going to change that.” In Canada even offenses begin with “sorry.”

The complaints against him, he says, are due primarily to his views on politics. He identifies four specific complaints, including making a joke about New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, retweeting Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative party leader, criticizing Trudeau and his former principal secretary Gerald Butts, whom Peterson last February called a “stunningly corrupt and incendiary fool,” prompting threats of legal retaliation from Butts.

So in summary what we have is a well known clinical psychologist whose political views do not agree with “those that know best.” What are the “woke” politicians and psychologists threatening to do? … They are threatening to suspend his license to practice, unless he undergoes “re-education,” such that his new enlightened viewpoints agree with theirs. The frightening thing is that if they are successful here with Jordan Peterson, what is to stop them from threatening other professionals, e.g. doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc. who do not agree with their political views in Canada? 

As the Supremes sang:

“It happened to me, and it can happen to you”

1/14/23

Now that the new House reps are in and doing their job, I thought that this may be appropriate. This blog was from January,2021:

“We Do Not Want Riots In the Streets, Do we?”

On 12/13/20, I wrote a blog titled “If Not This, Then What?” 

It had to do with why isn’t the Supreme Court getting involved in the 2020 election controversy?

When I went to bed late on the evening of 11/3/20, President Trump had a comfortable lead, but when I woke up the following morning, it was a totally different story. What happened? There are multiple suggestions as to what happened. Multiple accusations. In the days that followed, there were multiple examples of very suspicious behavior in multiple states. Of course multiple accusations do not necessarily translate into multiple transgressions. Some were probably true and some were probably not true.

The gist of my commentary back on 12/13 was that because any outcome would be very contentious, an impartial arbiter was going to be necessary. Because there were basically innumerable  accusations of wrong doing, and outright law breaking, who was going to decide if there was some serious lying and cheating? Who was going to have to be that impartial arbiter? Was the outcome of the election fraudulent?

As I said clearly back on 12/13, the Supreme Court was going to have to be involved, but the Supreme Court ducked. In one of the most contentious elections ever, the Supreme Court chickened out. There is no other polite way to say this . . . the Supreme Court led by the Chief Justice was a coward. 

Rumor has it that Chief Justice John Roberts was overheard screaming at his colleagues that getting involved would lead to riots in the streets, and “we don’t want that, do we?” So they basically sat on the sideline when the American people were pleading for them to get in the game.

The learned nine basically said, “We can’t have riots in the streets!” 

Well today in Washington, D.C., Mr. Roberts, there were riots in the streets surrounding the Capitol. There were hundreds of thousands there who felt that the election was fraudulent. Where were the arbiters? Perhaps home sitting on their hands chanting, “Hear no evil; see no evil; speak no evil . . . don’t look at us!” Mr. Roberts are your hands still blue from sitting on them for weeks? Do you feel any guilt about what happened today? Are your mouth and the mouths of your eight colleagues still proudly shut.

Now I do not condone the violence that occurred at the Capitol today, but come on . . . Why did the nine learned Justices not see this coming? Millions of Americans think that this election was stolen by the Dems. For years to come close to fifty percent of Americans will not trust the results of elections, and a lot of them will forever refer to 2020 as the year that the Robert’s Rules of Order turned into the Robert’s Rules of Disorder because of a lack of a spine.

1/14/23

Whether one is pro-  or anti- abortion there are a few basic moral tenets that we should all go along with. I say this because as opposed to Al Qaeda, most reasonable and rational individuals will agree that murder is wrong. Other than in self-defense, murder cannot be justified. It doesn’t matter what the age of the victim is. It doesn’t matter if the victim is an adult or a child, murder is wrong and cannot be tolerated by a society. If you do not agree with that you might as well stop reading and go back into your cave.

Note that here I am not talking about abortion, but rather, the killing of an out of the womb human being.

From Fox News and Life News from earlier in the week, “House Republicans have introduced new legislation that would stop infanticide and protect babies who survive abortion. This is a similar measure to one that pro-abortion former Speaker Nancy Pelosi blocked 80 times when she ran the House. It would also penalize doctors who allow such infants to die or who intentionally kill a newborn following a failed abortion. The Born-Alive Act ensures that infants born alive after an attempted abortion receive the same protection of law and degree of care as any newborn (Life News). Family Research Council: After four years of trying to force a vote on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, Republicans are finally in a position to hold one themselves. The House is scheduled to vote on Wednesday, 1/11/23.”

Now ask yourself why Nancy Pelosi would block a vote on a similar measure 80 times? Here we are not referring to abortion, but to the murder of a live newborn. Did she do this to protect certain Democratic representatives? If so, was she worried that they would vote ‘yes’ or vote ‘no?’

Whether one thinks that abortion is okay or not-okay, murder is not okay, despite what despicable Nancy Pelosi thinks!

On 1/11/23 a Republican bill ensuring that human beings born after failed abortion attempts receive the same protection of law and care as other newborns passed in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill passed in the House with the support of 219 Republicans and one Democrat.

The lone Democrat who supported the rights of abortion survivors was Rep. Henry Cuellar (Texas); 210 Democrats voted against the bill.

[For what it’s worth I just gained a lot of respect for Henry Cuellar … not only did he vote against murder, but he had the fortitude to be his own man and not follow the rest of the Democrat lemmings over the cliff.]

Various Democrats had some ridiculous comments on this bill, including the usual cast of ne’er do wells:

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) voiced opposition to the bill, claiming, “It directs and mandates a certain medical care which may not be appropriate, which may endanger the life of an infant in certain circumstances.”

Vice President Kamala Harris bemoaned the possibility that America would respect the personhood of abortion survivors, tweeting, “House Republicans passed an extreme bill today that will further jeopardize the right to reproductive health care in our country. This is yet another attempt by Republican legislators to control women’s bodies.”

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who recently lost her speakership, similarly lost her cool on Twitter, denouncing Republicans for pushing “their extreme anti-choice agenda.”

(Democrats in the Senate are poised to make sure this bill does not become law.)

Meanwhile Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.), a co-sponsor of the bill summed it up nicely when she suggested that “a child who survives an abortion attempt — who is outside the womb, breathing and struggling for life despite all attempts to end it” deserves equal protection under the law.

“Murder is illegal,” she added. “That shouldn’t be a controversial position.”

1/13/23