Category: Uncategorized

Last month I wrote about Damon Atkins and the Scranton Police. To refresh everyone’s memory … from the Epoch Times:

On 6/3/23 a street preacher was arrested by police shortly after arriving at a June 3 LGBT pride event sponsored by the city of Reading, Pennsylvania.

The group Reading Pride Celebration partnered with the city for a ceremonial raising of the rainbow flag at Reading City Hall for the start of LGBT pride month, followed by a short parade to a park where there was a rainbow pride celebration with speakers and free food.

Across the street, a handful of people gathered to protest the event, none with loudspeakers. Police stood in the street between the groups.

Damon Atkins 41, arrived at the event carrying a sign with a slogan that showed his opposition to the event, police said in the criminal complaint describing the arrest.

The offending two-sided sign had Bible verses. On one side it said, “Jesus said go and sin no more,” and the other side said, “Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life.”

The officer approached Mr. Atkins and told him to be respectful and to “let them have their day,” referring to the LGBT pride gathering.

“Oh, I’m respecting,” Mr. Atkins said in the video. “You know who is cheering for us? The people that are in hell. So, you do you, and I’ll do me. This is public property.”

The officer turned his back and walked a few steps into the street. Mr. Atkins raised his voice and got out part of a sentence.

“Yo. God is not—,” Mr. Atkins began saying, but the officer turned back to Mr. Atkins, put him in handcuffs, and had him transported to a police processing center where he spent a few hours in police custody.

The Berks County District Attorney’s office withdrew the charges four days after the arrest citing insufficient evidence and prosecutorial discretion.

Well, to no intelligent person’s surprise, Damon Atkins is suing the police, the city, and Reading Mayor Eddie Moran, whose comment was some namby-pamby comment basically saying that Damon Atkins does not have any First Amendment rights as he was trying to disrupt an organized event.

Joel Ready, Damon Atkins attorney said the following,

“That should disturb any American, that the police can come and say, because your message is unpopular, we’re going to—in front of a crowd—declare on behalf of the government of the city in which you live, that your words are not welcome here, that your particular viewpoint is wrong. And that is what I think is particularly chilling.”

Was Damon Atkins being courteous? … No.

Was Damon Atkins within his First Amendment Constitutional right to free speech? … In my mind, yes.

My prediction here … Scranton, etc. will settle, as this is the only way for them to get away relatively cheap.

I hope to follow-up on this as it moves forward.

7/27/23

californiacontrarian

The sports world was shocked on 7/25/23 when Bronny James, son of LeBron James, apparently suffered a cardiac arrest during a USC basketball practice. He was resuscitated on site, and then hospitalized.

Initially, to me, this was somewhat reminiscent of what happened to Hank Gathers back in 1990. He was 23 when he collapsed during an LMU college basketball game, and died before reaching the hospital. Hank Gathers had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (IHSS), and had stopped taking his medication because it made him feel sluggish. Back there was no paucity of information as to what had exactly happened to Hank Gathers.

Compare that to Damar Hamlin who suffered a cardiac arrest during a Monday Night Football game. This episode was witnessed by millions of viewers across the nation. There are major differences between the Hank Gathers situation and the Damar Hamlin situation.

-Hank Gathers died, while Damar Hamlin is still alive. 

-Whereas we knew basically everything about Hank Gathers cardiac condition, we know basically nothing about the heart structure or function of Damar Hamlin.

-Hank Gathers’ cardiac arrest was due to his IHSS. At present the party line is that Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest was due to commotio cordis.(From Science Direct: Commotio cordis, a rare syndrome in which young healthy individuals suddenly suffer cardiac arrest after blunt chest trauma traditionally related to a sports activity such as baseball, hockey, or lacrosse, is characterized by a sudden disruption of cardiac rhythm in the absence of demonstrable signs of significant heart injury that is induced by a direct blow to the chest.)

Let’s be clear … is it possible that Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest was due to commotio cordis? Yes, it is possible. However, is it likely? No … unless there is an increased susceptibility to commotio cordis in those athletes who have received Covid vaccinations. 

-Hank Gathers obviously did not receive a Covid vaccine, while the vaccine status of Damar Hamlin is kinda hush-hush and is not commented on.

To me, it is interesting that what happened to Bronny James was not in our local “newspaper” the following day. Certainly it can be categorized as news, but nothing, zero, zip, nada. 

I wish Bronny James a full recovery, and I hope that the cause of his cardiac arrest is treated openly, more like that of Hank Gathers, and not secretively like that of Damar Hamlin.

7/26/23

californiacontrarian

As I have said many times and have alluded to over and over again, I think that California voters are either dumb or uninformed. Being uninformed, or perhaps better stated, mal-informed, is in large part due to the extremely liberal newspapers in this state. For example, if you are a conservative and write a well thought out letter-to-the-editor, the chances of it being are about as close to zero as it gets. Whereas, if your first name is “Bunny,” you can anticipate a published letter monthly … guess what  political side “Bunny” is on!

Again this morning I read something that merely reenforced my “stupid California voter” position. From whatsupwiththat:

“Nearly half of Californians — and more than half of Inland Empire residents — said they’ve been affected by such a weather event in the past two years. That’s compared with one in three adults nationwide who in March told Gallup pollsters that they’d been impacted by extreme weather. The PPIC poll also shows that nearly three-quarters of all Californians link such events to climate change.

As a result, more than six in 10 residents told the PPIC that they believe the state’s stricter environmental laws and regulations are worth the cost, even if the rules put jobs or economic growth at risk.”

While I know that logic is not something that is used in California very much, let’s try it for a change. Consider first the statement: ‘strict regulations are worth the cost, even if the rules put jobs or economic growth at risk.’ To me there is only one logical reason to put people out of work, and that would be if there was a true imminent emergency and taking away someone’s livelihood would make a dramatic difference. Unfortunately, the world is composed of many nations, and what California does is like the proverbial “pissing in the ocean.”

The Energy Institute recently released its statistical assessment of global energy use and emissions in June 2023 updating global energy and emissions statistical data through year 2022.

In other words while the world’s energy consumption is basically not changing in both OECD & Non OECD nations (led by China and India), the World CO2 Emissions Increase is dramatically occurring in Non OECD Nations.

A second table from the Energy Institute shows:

While the U.S, EU and other OECD nations reduced CO2 emissions by over 2 billion metric tons between 2005 and 2022 the non-OECD nations hugely increased CO2 emissions by over 8.2 billion metric tons during this period resulting in the world’s emissions climbing by over 6.1 billion metric tons between 2005 and 2022. 

In other words what the U.S and other OECD Nations do does not amount to a hill of beans when the overall global picture is considered.

Furthermore,

California’s CO2 emissions are trivially insignificant compared to the global non-OECD nations emissions levels.

So, of course, putting California jobs at risk by doing things that make but a trivial difference on the world stage makes sense only to those who do not seem to be able to think logically … and these dumb or uninformed dum-dums seem to be concentrated here on the west coast!

californiacontrarian

7/25/23

Last week a friend of mine was describing what an uplifting experience he and his wife had distributing food to the needy. He pointed out that the recipients of these charitable food handouts were not what we typically would refer to as “the homeless.” Yes, a fair number of those in line for food were without a home, but they were not individuals who we might see living in squalor on the sidewalks of our downtown area. According to my friend, a lot of these were families who were just not able to make it on our present economy. Some living in their cars. Some living in apartments, but no longer able to afford enough food to feed themselves and/or their families. Indeed this is very understandable, as with inflation of 10-15+%, driving up the cost of everything including food, those living on the margin just cannot make it. 

As we all realize, the inflation that appears to be the scourge of just about everyone is recent. It is a new phenomenon over the past two plus years. It wasn’t an issue back in 2020 … hmmm, what happened to change what wasn’t a problem in 2020 into a huge problem today? 

Actually two main things have changed here in the U.S.:

First, increased government spending. Government spending has not just merely increased recently, but it has skyrocketed. 

From I&I.

In its recent updated report the Congressional Budget Office

(CBO) finds that overall spending this year is running 10% higher than last year. In June alone, spending was up $97 billion compared with June 2022, 

Looking a little deeper and the numbers are even more disturbing. The CBO notes that the huge increase in spending this year came despite the fact that COVID-related outlays – tax credits, grants to states, and public health spending – plunged $265 billion.

What’s more, the CBO shows that a huge portion of the spending increases are directly the fault of the Biden administration.

Second, the purposeful cutting back, limiting, and in some cases, prohibiting the production of energy.

Anyone with any common sense should realize that when the price of energy is purposefully increased, the price of just about everything will subsequently increase. Back in 2020, the U.S. was energy independent, but now the supply of gas/oil is significantly limited. In what is basic economics … when the supply of something is restricted, the price of that ing will inevitably go up. (A similar thing is happening in Europe where the Europeans basically put their energy supply inexplicably at the behest of the Russians. When a large portion of that Russian supply was cutoff, then the price went way up. Again basic economics.)

Ergo, because of the two above American issues, many individuals who were self-sustaining back in 2020 are now struggling, Consequently, we are now handing out food to individuals who are unable to cope. Because of Biden induced, out of control inflation, many just cannot make it now.

7/24/23

californiacontrarian

Written over two years ago, but the question still remains?

As background, Californians pay 79.6 cents per gallon in gas taxes in addition to fees. These fees, a lot of which are related to climate change,

come to an additional 38.9 cents per gallon for a combined total of $1.19 per gallon of gas. Not only does California have the highest gas tax in the country, but as of last week it also had the highest gas price in the country. As the last gas tax hikes were in 2017 and 2019, one might ask …”with all due respect, who is proposing and encouraging gas tax hike after gas tax hike?” The short answer is: the politicians in Sacramento, most of whom, … and I am going out on a limb here … most of whom do not drive. ( I just cannot imagine a state politician driving on I-5 between Stockton and Bakersfield with the tule pronounced “too-lee”) fog in the winter or the 100+ temperatures in the summer.) For sure our last few governors here in California do not drive, but yet are happy to sign on to increasing gas taxes. Does anyone besides me think that in order to impose higher gas taxes on everyone else, the voting politician must drive? When can we expect some reporter to the Governor, “With all due respect, sir, do you drive a car?”

Similarly at a national level should a president who reflexively immediately canceled the Keystone Pipeline with a resultant increase in gasoline prices across the country for everybody, should he himself be a driver? Realistically, probably not, but should he at least have a driver’s license?

Likewise should a President and a Vice President make proclamations about our southern border without having actually viewed the problem in person? Most rational people would say, “no,” and this leads me to the real purpose of this essay . . . Should politicians be pro-abortion without actually having seen an abortion? Can Democratic politicians be staunchly pro-abortion if they have never witnessed an abortion? It has always been interesting to me that pro-abortion politicians are never asked that question. I postulate that the reason for this is because the answer would undoubtedly be “No, I have never witnessed an abortion.”

Someone should ask the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, Xavier Beccera, if he has ever witnessed a partial birth abortion. For all intents and purposes his answer would most likely be … “err, not actually.”

Why are pro-abortion politicians never asked, “With all due respect, sir (or ma’am) have you ever personally witnessed an abortion?” 

Actually the answer as to why this question is never asked to national politicians is the same as to why no Sacramento reporter would ever ask a Governor of California if he ever drives a car and is forced to pay gas taxes. 

When will some news reporter with fortitude have the chutzpah to publicly ask that question? Will anyone ever be allowed to ask the most pro-abortion President in history that question? (“With all due respect, Mr. President, in light of your overwhelming support of abortion policies, have you ever witnessed a live abortion?”) 

I can imagine that his answer would be akin to … “Come-on, man!”

6/22/21

www.californiacontrarian.com

Last month I read a piece about Doug Brignole. At this point you might be asking, “Who is Doug Brignole?” Prior to reading about what he said, I had absolutely no idea who he was. I say “was,” because Doug Brignole is no longer with us.

FYI from Wikipedia:

“Doug Brignole was an American bodybuilder, fitness coach, biomechanics expert, and author. He attained fame as a multiple-time winner of the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) Mr. Universe and Mr. America titles. Known for his long competitive career, Brignole was the oldest man to win the title of Mr. Universe. Beyond his bodybuilding achievements, Brignole was well known for his research and application of biomechanics principles to resistance training and for his use of cables, dumbbells, and isolation exercises rather than the barbells and compound exercises most commonly used by other titled bodybuilders.”

No! I have no interest in bodybuilding, but I bring up Doug Brignole because of something he said in 2021, and the manipulation that occurred after he died in October, 2022.

Back in April, 2021 Doug  Brignole said the following,  “I have enough confidence in the vaccine, based on my research, to get it done.” 

Brignole replied to a Facebook user who questioned his decision. “Those of you who think the vaccine kills people can use me as a test. If I die, you were right. If I don’t die, and have no ill effects, you were wrong, and should admit it – at least to yourselves.”

In October, 2022 Brignole died one week after taking a pre-travel booster shot.

From “Coffee and Covid:”

“The coroner ruled Brignole’s death was caused by covid-19 — because his body tested positive for covid.

Brignole was found face down AT HOME by his housekeeper, and as far as anyone knows, covid has never killed anyone like that. It makes you unable to breathe and you die from pneumonia, kidney failure (remdesivir), or the ventilator. You definitely don’t catch covid then keel over suddenly and unexpectedly, like Brignole did.”

I found this story about what actually happened to Doug Brignole  interesting for two reasons.

First: I got Covid fifteen days after getting a Covid booster prior to traveling. No one talks much about getting Covid in close temporal approximation to getting a Covid booster. In my mind there is no doubt that it was my booster that somehow made me more susceptible to Covid, and it seems likely that the same temporal relation was the case with Doug Brignole.

Second: I find it intriguing that Brignole’s “cause of death” was supposed to be Covid! This sounds like the poppycock that was occurring years back when if the deceased tested positive for Covid, then Covid was listed as the cause of death even though the individual died as a result of something else, e.g. an auto accident.

As far as I am aware, Covid is not a cause of sudden death. Mr. Brignole most likely died from a cardiac arrhythmia. Could this presumed arrhythmia have been due to his recent Covid booster? Possibly. Perhaps to paraphrase Brignole’s own words, “If I die, you were right … do not get the booster!”

7/22/23

californiacontrarian

Has anyone else noticed that if Democrats do not agree with something or someone, that they seem to do whatever they can to either file criminal charges in order to attempt to silence that person or they resort to ad hominem attacks to discredit the individual without actually debating the issue.

Lately I have been having increasing interest in RFK Jr. … what he says and what he believes, and I just watched part of the questioning of him in the 7/20 hearing of the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.

The  Democrats sought to deplatform Mr. Kennedy both before and during the hearing. They tried to censor him, but thankfully it was Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who said, “The hearing that we have this week is about censorship. I don’t think censoring somebody is actually the answer here.”

Several Democrats called on Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) in a letter to disinvite Mr. Kennedy. Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) declined.

Still, Democrats on the panel continued their attacks on the witness from the start of the hearing, attempting several procedural motions to limit his time to speak or end the hearing altogether.

Setting the tone for the hearing, Ranking Member Stacey Plaskett (D-V.I.) opened her remarks with attacks on Mr. Kennedy, accusing him of “hateful, evidence-free rhetoric.”

In response to the issue of discussing more pertinent topics, Kennedy said, “We can’t do that without the First Amendment, without debate.”

To illustrate the point, he cited his removal from YouTube after his speech announcing his run for president, where he discussed all those issues, and was “deplatformed” five minutes into the speech.

“I didn’t talk about vaccines in that speech, I didn’t talk about anything that was a verboten subject,” he said, but emphasized that he was removed nonetheless.

Mr. Kennedy then referenced a copy of the letter signed by fellow Democrats calling for his appearance before Congress to be canceled.

“This itself is evidence of the problem this hearing was meant to address,” Mr. Kennedy said. “This is an attempt to censor a censorship hearing.”

Mr. Kennedy decried the proliferation of a relatively new term, “malinformation,” which he said was “invented to censor people like me.”

Malinformation, according to a definition from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, “is based on fact, but used out of context to mislead, harm, or manipulate.”

Mr. Kennedy gave an alternative rendering of the term as “information that is true but is inconvenient to the government.”

I do not agree with everything that RFK Jr. says, but I do agree that he should be allowed to say whatever he wishes. RFK Jr is a Democrat, and by doing whatever they could in order to shut him up, the Democrats attacked one of their own, … and that makes me like him even more!

californiacontrarian

7/21/23

A while back I heard a quote attributed to Edmund Burke, included by John F Kennedy in a speech in 1961: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” 

Earlier this week I read part of Tucker Carlson’s speech at Turning Point, and it struck me that now basically anyone who goes against what the mainstream media is touting is disregarded and furthermore is labeled  as a troublemaker. If one speaks out about what happened on January 6, that individual is anti- law enforcement even though it is coming out that the crowd was loaded with undercover agents. Even Republican Mike Pence cannot come around to see what was apparently taking place there.

If one comes out and questions the prudence of our military involvement in Ukraine, then that individual is labeled as pro-Russian and anti-American. Why are all of those who are supposed to represent us keeping their mouths shut when it comes to Ukraine? Isn’t there anyone who is saying, “how and when is this going to end?” Just today our President basically admitted that he had no answer to that question.

If one comes out and states that this transgenderism craze is nonsensical, then that individual is prejudiced and anti-whatever! If an individual refuses to be a part of this “you need to call me what I want to be called” absurdity, then it is that individual who is chastised for not partaking in this psychosis. I realize that some may feel that the term, ‘psychosis” is harsh, but a psychotic person is one who believes in things that are not reality. Hmmm, how does “I am XX, even though my chromosomes are XY,” not meet the definition of ‘psychosis?’

I will say, “God bless Tucker Carlson for speaking his mind so that evil doesn’t triumph!” … (see Edmund Burke’s quote above.)

7/20/23

californiacontrarian

CV News Feed :

The White House staff budget has exceeded $158.8 million during the first three years of the Biden administration, the largest White House payroll since 1971.

Joe Biden is the first president since Richard Nixon to employ over 500 employees on the White House payroll.

“Biden employs 108 more staffers than Trump (416) (FY2019) and 70 more than Obama (454) (FY2011) at the same point in their respective presidencies,” reported Adam Andrzejewski of OpenTheBooks.com.

The large Biden White House payroll had been a leading indicator of his commitment to expand the federal bureaucracy at all levels,” Andrzejewski pointed out. “In the first nine days of his presidency, Biden issued many executive orders expanding the size, scope, and power of the federal bureaucracy.”

While Biden officially declared the COVID-19 pandemic “over” in September 2022, the White House still retains 19 employees whose titles include “COVID.” Those titles include “Director of Economic Policy and Budget for the COVID-19 Response,” “Deputy Coordinator of the COVID-19 Response,” and 17 others. These COVID positions collectively receive over $2 million in salaries.

Speaking of Covid we are now seeing the consequences on children of the policies pushed by the federal government as well a lot of state governments. I wonder … “what were these at least nineteen White House “Covid” employees doing during Covid?” Why didn’t any “experts” on Joe Biden’s staff realize the immense harm that was inevitably going to come to children because of  their “wise” policies involving school closures, masking, and lockdowns? Could it be that these “Covid experts” were in fact appointed because of their political affiliation, and not their Covid expertise?  Hmmm!

Developmental disability among children between the ages of three and 17 rose to 8.56 percent during 2019–2021, according to a report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published this month. 

Almost one in ten children in the United States have a developmental disability, with their rates rising during the pandemic period when students were isolated and faced numerous restrictions.

In September, the “Nation’s Report Card” published by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) found that the average scores for students aged 9 years old fell by five points in reading and seven points in math last year compared to 2020. This was the first-ever score decline in math and the biggest average decline in reading since 1990.

In February last year, Stephen Miller, the founder of America First Legal, warned about the issue. “Until Biden’s CDC calls for the end of all forced masking of children—recognizing the immense developmental harms they inflict—the Administration continues to be guilty of child abuse,” he said in a Feb. 26, 2022, post on Twitter.

While Joe Biden can deny the existence of a granddaughter that was fathered by his son, Hunter, he and his “expensive experts” cannot deny that their Covid policies have significantly harmed the children of our nation.

7/19/23

californiacontrarian

The year 536 A.D. is popularly known as “the worst year to be alive.”

What was so bad about it? Well, there was darkness for 18 months. And what was the cause of it? It was unknown for most of history, but climate change scientists have since discovered it was caused by a volcanic eruption.

As Science reported in 2018, the Climate Change Institute of The University of Maine discovered that a massive volcano in Iceland erupted in 536 A.D. and spewed ash across the Northern Hemisphere. It was followed by two other massive eruptions in 540 and 547 A.D.

Science cites medieval historian Michael McCormick, who noted that “Snow fell that summer in China; crops failed; people starved. The Irish chronicles record ‘a failure of bread from the years 536–539.’”

It also was cited as a likely cause of a deadly plague that killed around 50 million people. The Sun reported in 2019 that the eruption in 536 also led to “famine and a collapse of the global economy” while “Some experts even believe the eruptions are linked to a major plague pandemic. The Justinian Plague started in 541 A.D. and killed around as many as 50 million in just 12 months as it spread across the Mediterranean.”

Let’s be clear. I did not know the details about 536 A.D. until I read a piece by Joshua Phillips, titled, “Solar Geoengineering—What Could Possibly Go Wrong?”

As Mr. Phillips notes:

The United States is now investigating how to inject chemicals into the atmosphere in order to block out the sun.

The idea is to use a “stratospheric aerosol injection” to essentially mimic the effects of the aftermath of a volcanic eruption. Interest in the concept started after a volcanic eruption in 1991 in the Philippines. Mount Pinatubo blasted 20 million metric tons of sulfur aerosols into the atmosphere. This sparked interest among climate change enthusiasts, because the natural disaster caused a cooling in global temperatures that lasted for two years.

Remember, the technology is meant to mimic the solar dimming effect of a massive volcanic eruption. If they did that using chemicals, it would last at least a year, and current proposals would drag this out for around 15 years. 

Keep in mind that if this “blocking out the sun” insanity takes hold, it will not be reversible, and we could all be taken back to the darkness of 536 A.D., and subsequently be in for “the worst year to be alive” reincarnated!

7/18/23

www.californiacontrarian.com