The Chief – Really Right

Dominic “The Grapist” Foppoli Gets Off

Blogger note: This blog has been pretty harsh on Dominic and we will admit he was not charged with a crime. We were threatened with a lawsuit by one Martin Woods, more on that later. While we admit he should have been charged with rape, we will retract any statements on this space claiming him to be guilty.

That being said, this blogger is taking no prisoners today.

Dominic Foppoli was not charged with a crime. Our weak-kneed Attorney General Rob Bonta (or his staff) put out statement as such on 3/28.

“At this time, we don’t have enough evidence to warrant filing charges on the cases not barred by the statute of limitations,” a spokesperson for Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a written statement. “However, our investigation remains open, and we urge anyone who believes they may be a victim or who has evidence to come forward.”
Former Windsor Mayor Dominic Foppoli, accused by multiple women of sexual assault, will not face charges, says California Attorney General

That word salad makes Dominic think he is innocent. Not by a longshot. It simply put means they didn’t meet a standard where they feel they can achieve a conviction. In essence they punted and I guess are waiting for more survivors to come forward.

I will say I have more questions than answers at this point. Why did the investigation take 3 years? Why did it take 7 months to get a search warrant? Everyone was left twisting in the wind; both survivors and the accused. The police seized several items in the search of his home that day… none of it could lead to charges?

I think I have the answer, but no facts to back it up.

Dominic was a very large fish in a small town. He throws a great party for the elite. I’m sure he had political and social relationships with those in the Sheriff Department and the District Attorney (not Ester Lemus) office. If it was anyone but a sitting Mayor wouldn’t they be in handcuffs? (real ones not what could be used in the bedroom). Likely locked up in a county jail, likely with a very high bail amount? Would the search warrant take 7 months? An investigation 3 years? I’m not going to point the finger at anyone in particular but anyone think it’s odd the sitting DA (at the time) punted the investigation to the Attorney General? The conflict of interest cited to me doesn’t pass the smell test.

I do wish to point this out to Dominic.

I do not think you truly knew how great you had it. You got elected Mayor of Windsor. You had a lot of good press locally during the wildfires. You got appointed to the Golden Gate Bridge District. That’s a plum job where you get exposure to the highly populated parts of the Bay Area, not the sparsely populated North Bay. A State Assembly or Senate career was likely within your grasp. You have massive personal wealth you inherited. You own a winery and an estate among other businesses. You could be on various elected clubs and boards that don’t pay because you don’t need the cash. Your wealth would scare away potential opponents in your path.

Then you threw it all away.

I’m not sure you understand the optics of the accusations against you. The allegation made by the intern at your winery is gross at best, and predatory at worst. The allegation from the than 18 year old in Montana is gross as she would be 20 years younger than you! The taking off of the woman’s bikini top or bottom at your estates spa is disgusting. The allegations against you from the 20-30 active club are something else! You used a social networking group as a menu for who you wanted sex with! A fellow Mayor accused you of unwanted sexual acts! A fellow councilmember as well.

Sure you were not charged but the stories all paint a bad picture of you.

Dominic, I think you could learn a lot from self-reflection on the last 20 or so years of your life. You have a lot of money and assets. Everything you wanted in life you got, you either had the status, the AMEX black card or some other form of currency to make it happen. You are proud of your Tesla; I must admit the idea of having all those cool things appeals to me. You never realized your assets were also your biggest liability in life. You have always gotten what you want, as mentioned above, but you have no luck with the ladies. This bothers you… so much so you decided you would revert to your only way of knowing how to get what you want. Use any means necessary. No is not an acceptable result for you. Whether you think these encounters were consensual or not, the stories tell a bigger story… you are a loser with the opposite gender. When you were in college you always went after females much younger than you… there was a reason you got older every year, but the freshman coeds stay the same age. Not every girl who smiles or says hi to you wants to have sex, but who am I to change your perception.

You made a comment about coming back to Windsor and rebuilding old relationships and friendships… yeah ok. Good luck, you are now damaged goods in a way you will never understand. Your fellow Democrat electeds jettisoned you for a reason, you are an untalented barnacle on the whale of society. You needed to be gone. Your lack of self-awareness was on full display when you decided to still chair a zoom meeting as Mayor even after everyone wanted you gone. Your smug look the entire night was next level… your constituents hate you and dragged you to filth. It appeared to be the first time in your life you told a lie and no one actually believed it. Also understand active 20-30 is now being dragged by your actions… pretty cool you are taking other groups down as well. . Sure you may have a collection of friends, drifters or loners who buddy back up to you. However the joke will be on you, most will find you politically and personally toxic to be around. Your political career is toast, and the stories about your demise will be on the internet far longer then you will be on this earthly plane. Google dot com is now a mortal enemy of you. Sure, you were never charged, but the stories paint an ugly portrait. One that even your vast net worth cannot change.

As far as your political career getting a reboot, maybe in Windsor you can carve out a district for yourself as a city councilman, but you are done. Your family business is in ruins. Your best friend sic’d an attorney on me and I didn’t even know his last name!!!! His attorney Martin Woods could have remained silent and had folks think he isn’t too bright… yet he opened his mouth and removed all doubt. Check the blog folks, I never named his client’s last name. Woods did in the comment he left.

I’ll leave you with a comment from Dominic’s brother….

The accusations were too much for his older brother Joe Foppoli, chief operating officer of the family’s Christopher Creek Winery, who announced that Dominic had been relieved of his CEO duties at the winery, expressing disgust at his younger brother’s “promiscuous lifestyle” and lack of “moral character.”

Lack of moral character…. promiscuous lifestyle. That’s the real Dominic. Oh, by the way, we had another survivor reach out recently. We look forward to hearing her comments on this as well.

The Chief

Editor’s Comment: Why does this situation with Dominic Foppoli make me think of Alex Murdaugh? Money, wealth, power, small town, unspeakable acts, favorable (special) treatment by law enforcement; guess its just coincidence. Dominic, there is a reckoning coming, either in this life or the next. “For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.” Luke 8: 17.

Troubling Future for our Medical Field (USA)

This blog has admittedly been a long time coming but now that my doctor has retired and moved back to his home country, I feel I can get away with it. I had this doctor for about 20 years of my life. He is from a part of the world where most of our doctors came from 20 or so years ago. I am trying to conceal his identity as most of the items I list in this blog were told to me by him verbatim and I wish no ill will on him. He chose to retire, not to a different state, or part of the US but back to a country I do not hold in high esteem as developing.

My doctor and I grew to be friends, and I value his wisdom, I ask you to really set aside any preconceptions you have and listen to his commentary.

Our best and brightest no longer want to be doctors. Six/seven figure student loans are the norm, then you must either: buy a practice (adding more debt) or join a health network and be an employee.
Medicine is dictated from the top down, not via peer reviewed research. You may remember the Covid-19 shot, and if you refused you were a whacko. No dissent is allowed. If you speak out your medical license could be revoked. Worse yet, if you are an employee, you get muzzled and terminated.
Don’t believe point #2? Most hospital boards are run by lawyers now. Check it out yourself.
The debt issue: my doctor was never really in debt, so he could bill for only needed expenses. New doctors must bill for “extra services, not likely essential” knowing your insurance will pay. As my doctor states, this is now routine practice not an outlier.
Distribution of prescription drugs is at unsustainable levels. Go to your doctor, tell him you are experiencing pain/anxiety/depression etc. He will find a pill for you. We have a current shortage in Adderall pills right now. Adderall is used for focus/attention disorders. I have read zero about an increase in folks with diagnosed ADD/ADHD.
Mental Health Blarney: Again, his words, we have folks walking in wanting a diagnosis simply to essentially “pull the mental health card” at work or at school. He had a client who didn’t like his answer in diagnosing so this person traveled all the way to Modesto (3 counties over) to get a medical pot prescription.
Prescription drugs = lawsuit. Ever see the ad on TV…ask your doctor if_____ is right for you? Kinda weird right? You go to a guy with a medical license and you’re trying to tell him what to prescribe to you? Well, I guess that’s why you pay for internet and cable right? Yup. The bad part about those “ask your doctor ads”? The ad that comes later is “did your doctor prescribe ____ and you experienced any of these symptoms? Call 1-800-bad-drug now!” Yep, that “ask your doctor” drug got sued and now a 10-figure settlement has been reached.
Medical Malpractice Insurance is too expensive: it’s easier and cheaper to settle than litigate. My doctor was sued 10 times in the past decade for largely dubious claims; however, in each case the lawsuit was settled for literally pennies on the dollar, it got too expensive. Again, it’s a lawyer thing, settle and save $$, fight and we could lose more money. In one case the plaintiff signed the settlement papers, and the following day scheduled a physical with my doctor. Yep, the same one she had for 15 years and sued for “inappropriate touching.” Yep, after claiming to be victimized, she was so mad and angry that she wanted to go back the next day for more.
Too many idiots trying to play doctor. I know at least one. They Google or watch the TV for affirmation about what they believe. This person was convinced he could get off his anti-depression pills because “it was time,” he didn’t. While this person didn’t go to my doctor, he told me numerous stories as well. Folks, when you tell your doctor about mental health issues; especially suicide, you don’t ever get off the pill; no matter what Google or your cable news channel host says.
His 2 children are going to law school. Yep, the family business is over. They would rather sue and collect than research and listen. It broke his heart, but it’s a change in America and it isn’t good.
There are 2 genders. This actually is science; you know like the Covid vaccine was marketed as? Check out what puberty blockers are. BTW you are being a colossal dickhead for trying to make any doctor sign off on this procedure. Just go to the local murderer of the unborn, at least you won’t be putting someone’s medical license in jeopardy. Don’t believe me? If you are here in California and approach your doctor about this, watch them squirm and get uncomfortable really quick. Said California doctors will not stick their neck out to save your child when such action will cost them their medical license.

Not an exhaustive list but you see the point. The independent doctor is now a thing of the past. Say hello to large corporations buying up and creating “in house” options to save $$ and overhead. Get off your damn computer, put the remote down, and quit listening to doctors like Anthony Fauci who don’t practice medicine. We have a massive crisis coming here and it’s not going to get better. I want a free-thinking doctor who researches, not a mindless dolt who is scared to be sued. And my god quit this mental health BS.

The Chief

CA Super Tuesday Thoughts

Thoughts? Well, we will still be counting ballots until 4/12 or so due to our ridiculous primary and general election rules that allow mail in ballots to be accepted and counted up to a week after election day!

However, most races have been essentially “called” and I want to provide some commentary on the results and where things could head in The General out here.

The Senate Race: Beware to all who think a “top two” primary is a smart idea. In this republic the top two vote getters regardless of party affiliation advance to the general. This is blatantly unconstitutional in my understanding of the laws here, but the Democrats love it, and the GOP figures it must be good since they refuse to challenge the legality of it. You in essence had 5 “major” candidates. Republican former LA Dodger baseball player Steve Garvey, and republican perennial candidate Eric Early. I swear to all forms of God, I have seen Early on my ballot no less than 4 election cycles now for some office. The Democrats had 3 major candidates, all congressmen. Adam Schiff from LA, Katie Porter from Orange, and Barbara Lee from Oakland. I listed the 3 in order of sanity from most sane to least. Or, if you are a Republican operative, who I would vote for in a “top two” of just Democrats. I understand Schiff led the impeachment of Trump but compare his voting record to Porter and Lee and he looks like a watered-down Democrat, but I digress.

Garvey and Schiff advanced to the runoff comfortably, and both played the election correctly. Garvey has some name ID from his time as a baseball player down south, this is huge in a state like California. Schiff had a national profile and decided he would “take Garvey with him” to the general.

Porter had a similar strategy it involved Eric Early. Barbara Lee is likely still ranting about her $50 an hour wage minimum wage to an auditorium of no one except friends and family; so I will not include her in my analysis. Schiff comes from Hollywood-Burbank LA, it’s a wealthy, mostly white part of the most populous county in California, so he had a massive built in advantage in name ID. Porter from a similar demographic in neighboring Orange, but a much smaller voter universe. My point is, let’s say Porter and Schiff made the runoff. Porter is far more popular with the far left than Schiff, and as a result it’s a risk Schiff couldn’t take. Schiff knows that a top two in November with a hated Donald Trump on the ticket will drive up the far left’s numbers and likely give the race to Porter, so he helped Garvey.

Here is 1 of 2 glossies Schiff sent me, in essence propping up Garvey.

Since Schiff helped secure a top two finish from Garvey, he is a “shoo-in” to win the general. Garvey also played this right, he raised 2 million (a sum that is very small, not even congressional campaign worthy) and spent about 0 since Schiff was propping his up. Why spend money when your likely opponent will do it for you?

Katie Porter went completely unhinged after losing, so much so Troll has a blog in the chamber.

Big picture this is a good thing for Republicans in November. We are defending a lot of marginal GOP seats, Trump will be a drag on the ticket, the absence of a Republican for Senate will destroy the ticket. Garvey will get around 38% or so in my estimation, maybe closer to 41. My point? The extra turnout he draws will likely be from the LA area where we are defending the vulnerable House seats. The extra several thousand votes could very well mean we keep a congressional majority.

Another thing worth watching, we had but 1 statewide proposition on the ballot it dealt with a bond for several billion for mental health treatment. Out here we allow the mentally insane to roam the streets, even dodge traffic and can do nothing sense they aren’t technically breaking a law. The proposition which Gavin Newsom campaigned for, and I believe raised over 13 million is barely passing. 50.3% to 49.7%. Yup you read that right, still a pant load of ballots to count and anything can happen, but this may be finally a sign of Californians wising up. We have spent trillions out here on various grifts like homelessness and affordable housing, none has worked. We know have Democrat mayors and legislators trying to change prop 47 aka the “shoplift ‘til you drop law” to jail serial shoplifters. These things happen when you start losing the narrative. A Garvey win in November? No chance, but he could set the wheels in motion of a turn around. That proposition damn near losing when all signs point to Republicans voting late like usual could mean it fails. A big blow to Newsom and the political elite out here.

(Please don’t take my above comments on Newsom as implying that I think the seventh recall attempt against Gavin has a snowball’s chance in hell of happening.)

A word on Trump if I may.

He is now the inevitable nominee. It has been written how the bloggers here have soured on him. He will be getting our votes in November, but with a jaundiced eye. He is putting a family relative in a high-ranking post at the RNC who has been open about using the cash to pay Trump’s legal bills. The RNC has not raised much cash at all compared to prior cycles; we are late in the cycle right now. The cash will be needed in swing states for get out the vote operations. We also have a slim majority in congress, and a chance to pick up seats in the senate, but with Trump who the heck knows. I foresee a Trump presidency but a Democrat-controlled congress. Trump will get nothing, and likely be impeached another 2-5 times just because.

CRA motivational flyer as seen at Stop Trump call center

Trump is also scaring me on the campaign trail. His remarks about the judge in New York, the DA in Atlanta, and the various Democrats he doesn’t like come off as dictator-like. Frankly he comes off as a jilted former lover and having an axe to grind, but in this case the axe could very well be the DOJ and IRS, two very scary agencies to be up against. His threats to leave NATO are somewhat scary. Joe Biden may come off as a senile old man, but man Trump comes off as an unhinged whacko at times. The debates could be legendary (if they are allowed) Joe could well wonder off, or fall asleep, while Trump could spontaneously combust.

The Chief

How Panera Bread got exempted from $20 an hour wages

Ah, the People’s Democratic Republic of California was exposed again last night. You may remember a blog done here a few months ago about the $20 an hour minimum wage for fast food workers? You may also recall how we thought it was odd Panera Bread was excluded since “they bake bread on site that can be sold for sale?” Yep, the truth came out last night.

Bloomberg reported that the exemption is the result of the governor’s relationship with billionaire and Panera franchisee Greg Flynn, who was initially a major opponent of the bill. Multiple sources told KCRA 3 that the governor pushed for the exemption in the late stages of the bill’s negotiation in 2022 with Flynn’s influence.

Yes, fellow sheep living in this Republic, Flynn is a billionaire who owns quite a few Panera Bread stores in California. Flynn was able to get his way, and it didn’t really cost him that much….

According to state campaign finance data, Flynn donated $100,000 to Newsom’s campaign against the 2021 recall and $64,800 to his reelection campaign in 2022. He told Bloomberg he did not play a role in crafting the exemption. He did not respond to KCRA 3’s request for comment Wednesday night.
Report: California’s fast food law exempts Panera because of Gov. Newsom’s relationship with billionaire franchisee

I can understand why he wasn’t answering his calls that night.

At least the loyal opposition weighed in on the issue….

The California Assembly’s Republican Minority Leader James Gallagher called for an investigation Wednesday night. “Can any franchisee get an exemption from the $20 minimum wage law or do they need to donate more than $150k to Newsom first? This crooked deal needs to be investigated,” Gallagher said.

I wonder what will take longer folks, Troll getting Hope Hick’s phone number, or Gavin addressing this “leader” of a few folks in the opposition party. There will be no investigation, trust me on this one. Gavin will go on TV and try to explain this away, and his friends in the state-run media will talk it into existence…just wait.

Oh wait….

“This legislation was the result of countless hours of negotiations with dozens of stakeholders over two years,” said Newsom’s office spokesman Alex Stack in a statement on Wednesday. “Staff in the Governor’s Office met with dozens of business owners as well as union representatives, as is expected when policies of this consequence are moving through the Legislature.”

Alex Stack is this jabronis name? What an adorable last name…. Stack. Would be even funnier if he had a Ph.D. However, I wouldn’t refer to it as a doctorate, I would refer to it as…Piling it High and Deep.

The article also quoted this nugget from the two “leaders” of the Democrat Party in the Capital.

KCRA 3 reached out to the offices of Speaker of the Assembly Robert Rivas and Senate Pro Tem Mike McGuire for comment on Wednesday night. Neither responded.

The understanding I have is Rivas needs his staff to make up que cards on sturdy card stock, and McGuire was looking over blueprints for the “non-binary” bathrooms being constructed in the Capital renovation. Both have an acute fear of being “spayed and neutered” by Newsom and his staff I have been told.

Again, this goes back to when Newsom signed this trash into law…but no one asked the tough questions then, and they still aren’t now.

When Newsom finally signed the agreement into law in 2023 at a news conference in Los Angeles, KCRA 3 asked why the exemption was there in the first place and why Panera and other bakery counter service restaurant workers won’t have the same protections.

“That’s a part of the sausage making,” Newsom replied. “We went back and forth, and that was part of the negotiation, that’s the nature of negotiation. It’s not just Jack in the Box, it’s not just McDonald’s, there are a lot of different players, and this affects a lot of different franchises and different models as it relates to that and different conditions and environments. That was all part of the give and take and that was the collective wisdom of the Legislature and ultimately led to my signature.”

Final thoughts:

Folks if you live outside California and are wondering why there is no outrage, the reason is 90% of the voters here are low information voter types. They like being told what to do, and how to think. Google Gavin Newsom and Plump Jack Winery, or Gavin Newsom and French Laundry Restaurant. This fool lived the way he wanted too while destroying the lives of his own citizens during Covid. A governor in any reasonable thinking state would have been recalled…. but the sheep love this guy. I actually saw a vehicle this AM on my way to work, no one in the vehicle except the driver, driver was wearing a mask. She had a bumper sticker on her car saying something to the effect of “Thanks for keeping us safe from Covid Gavin!” Yep. The plandemic is long over yet these folks still are masked up. You even see folks walking in the public parks wearing masks…. again with no one around them! These are far more common than uncommon. The socially awkward introvert I know still refuses to touch the door know with his hands…. while still going to a casino. He claims to be a card-carrying conservative…. yep.

This is why the national media is pushing Gavin to replace Joe. Gavin has a very large personality disorder; he is a complete narcissist. He will quite literally lie through his teeth about any issue and have his state-run media friends speak it into reality. When he messes up it’s a mistake…likely by someone else…at French Laundry restaurant he blamed a staffer for leaking the photos. The deficit? Well, it’s not nearly as bad. Go watch the Newsom vs DeSantis debate…. Gavin literally lied the entire time, but he has said it so many times he believes it to be the truth.

The Chief

The bottom line, these political types are always looking after their donors. Get ready for your Big Mac, fries, and coke to run about $22.99. Good thing you can go to Panera and get a meal cheaper…because politics.

Oh, one last line from Gavin’s donor buddy about the state of his business…

“Our margins, our profits have gone down from 9% to 3.5%,” Flynn told KCRA 3 in an interview in 2022. “We’re barely hanging on. And when I think about the creation of a state council that is designed specifically to add more costs, I don’t know if we can make it.”

Yup, he can’t make money at $20 an hour for staff…but I guess other fast-food places can? I thought Democrats were the ones who took care of poor people? Fast food is likely the only choice for most of that demographic….I doubt this will be helping them much.

Barbara Lee: $50 an hour minimum wage

Barbara Lee, a current congressman from the New Orleans part of California (Oakland), is running for U.S. Senate. Barbara Lee is someone I do have a slight amount of respect for as she was the only member to vote against using force to invade Iraq after the 9/11 attacks. That is where my respect for her stops.

Lee is a total kook and is always good for a few completely wild ideas. Her latest is $50 an hour minimum wage. To her defense, she did cite most parts of California, specifically the Bay Area, is not considered affordable unless the combined household income is about $150k a year. She is not wrong, due to the tech companies that were hiring there, it did make that area drastically unaffordable. Increasing the minimum wage however will not change this, as resulting prices go up in proportion to the wage increase. Recently McDonalds went viral because a burger, fries and coke resulted in a $18 ticket for lunch! A radio show I listen to in the AM stated hash browns at McDonalds are running $3…. for a stupid potato cake patty! Trust me, at $50 an hour that meal will run about $32, and hash brown will run about $7. Things do not get cheaper when wages go up, the business just makes a choice; reduce quality, reduce employees, or raise prices. There is a limit to how much money can be saved, and a limit to how much labor can be eliminated, price is the hardest, at what point does fast food (a cheap, quick meal) become unaffordable and not worth it anymore? I guess minimum wage starter jobs are no longer starter jobs, they are a career in the eyes of the political elite. This doesn’t fix any problem.

Alright Troll, get her!!!!!

Her qualifications for Senator are as follows: She attended Mills College; an all-girls college and has a degree from University of California Berkeley. The latter degree makes her always the smartest person to enter any room. Berkeley is held in the highest regard by people who protest things, live in trees, shut down freeways, burn buildings, riot, and support crime. Lee was also involved in the New Black Panther Party making her a solid choice and dually qualified for any political office in California! Like most running for office, they always tout their experience. Lee has served as a State Assemblyman from 1990-1996, and then moved to State Senate from 1996-1998. She ran to replace Ron Dellums, the congressman who was retiring to become Mayor of Oakland. Anyone who wants to be Mayor of Oakland needs to agree to donate their brain to science upon their death if not before, but I digress. Lee has proudly served the most dangerous part of California ever since 1998 and somehow it has gotten worse. This is literally a situation where the bar keeps getting set lower and lower to the point that I think the bar is buried underground yet still Oakland exceeds expectations! Career politicians are the worst type of people, and Lee could have been congressman from Oakland forever!

I look forward to Lee playing the race card when two white males, Adam Schiff and Steve Garvey make the top 2 run off. Thanks for playing Barbara. One does wonder how many extra votes Lee could have gotten if Oakland didn’t do their nightly purge of voters on a daily basis (murders). Lee will be finding out a valuable lesson, the dead do vote Democrat but only for the establishment types like Schiff.

Also, as a side note, In N Out Burger, who has never closed a location, will be closing their Oakland store due to heavy crime in the parking lot. Citing the safety of their customers and associates as the reason… damn Barbara, those $50 an hour jobs do no good when the store closes down!

Liberalism is a brain disease, and folks like Lee are the worst cases of it. There were a bunch of bumper stickers on cars when I was in college depicting “Barbara Lee Speaks for Me!” in regard to her politics. Let me wonder aloud, if your minimum wage job gets eliminated, does Barbara still speak for you? If California is too expensive you can always do what several hundred thousand have done recently and move! Or get a budget and cook at home? Who am I kidding? Credit card debt is at an all-time high. Wanna bet Lee will ask Biden to forgive credit card debt just like they did for student loans?

Chief & Troll

Here are photos of confirmed hottie and Troll favorite Carli Lloyd

A Libertarian Weighs in on Transgender Folks

A family member who reads this blog reached out to me and queried the question “If you are a libertarian shouldn’t you accept trans folks?” This person is not wrong, but here are my thoughts.

I want to asterisk my thoughts with this disclaimer. I do not agree with this lifestyle, nor do I accept the LGBTQ lifestyle. I merely tolerate it. The LBGQ group is folks who in my opinion ditched God and decided to live a life of sin. However, their lifestyle can easily be reversed, corrected, or changed. It simply involves who you like taking to bed/private with you. I have 2 members of my extended family who live that lifestyle, one is married, and the other is not. I harbor no ill will toward either…. funny enough, both are from the same parents.

The trans thing is a horse of a different color. The gay/lesbian lifestyle has been around a long time, the trans one has not. Caitlyn (Bruce) Jenner brought light to it, and Fox News gave it a platform. Now it seems to be a trend, it reminds me of the trend to come out as gay in my childhood. But again, this is different.

My actual take?

If you are over the age of 18, and want to change your gender, I’m not against it. I just want you to have an understanding of what you are doing to your body. Sadly, I think most do not know, and never will actually know. This fad is new. I think a course/class should be offered; you need to know what you are actually doing to your body. You are changing your body’s chemical makeup and that is a big deal. One that is casually left out of the discussion regarding trans folks. I also feel you should have a mental health exam.

If you take the course/class and pass a mental health exam then by all means, go for it. If you are over 18 you are legally an adult as far as I am concerned. By all means you can change your gender, I don’t like it, but I’m ok with it.

Just one thing to think about. How far are you willing to go as a transperson? Think it out. It’s easy to dress up/down as the other gender, but what about your body? Sure, you can change your plumbing, wear makeup etc. but what about your Adam’s apple? Your voice? Chest? Caitlyn Jenner is a bad example; she has a lot of money and found the right doctors/surgeons to get it done. Will you? Can you change back to your birth gender? Will insurance cover that?

The Chief

PS it’s one thing to want to cosplay the other gender or have a drunken tryst with the same gender, but this trans thing scares me. I think most of those who choose to change their gender will live to regret it later.

Editor’s Comment: As The Chief pointed-out, Bruce Jenner spent way more money than your average 18-year-old will ever have to alter his body. In the photo above, the person behind the camera used a bucket load of tricks to make Jenner look that feminine. It took multiple people and several manhours in a studio to get a photo that makes him look like a girl; however, no amount of lipstick on the pig or bodily mutilation can actually make Jenner a female. Genetically, Jenner will always be male. Bruce is a broken dude and I refuse to normalize his mental illness by calling him “Caitlyn”.

Nikki Haley Explained

William wrote a very good blog exposing Nikki, I agree with all his points. I wanted to take it a step further and show you who she really is. Haley was a congressperson from South Carolina, she ran for governor as a “Tea Party” nominee in 2011. She won. She then was appointed by Trump to be United Nations Ambassador, as payback for her embracing “MAGA.” She stepped down after about a year of service. She is now running for President with a strange anti-Trump, quasi establishment, globalist, war Mommy campaign.

She also continues to insist she has never lost an election, which is odd as that tells folks you have no backbone or spine; you simply change colors to match the room you walked into. This seems to be a theme with her.

There is a statement popular in certain circles called “read the room.” Haley appears to be quite good at that. Just look how she has morphed over the years…. Tea Party was basically cut taxes, eliminate government workers, and government spending (among other things), MAGA was to become a nationalist, law abiding and hardworking society (among other things) and now she has embraced the “Bush/McCain/Romney” doctrine of “if it polls good, do it”. In other words, she makes a fine politician.

Nikki Haley’s biggest problem is she reminds me of someone I know with a personality disorder. She is a socially awkward introvert. You can tell when she talks about her campaign (from the little I see on TV…I don’t have cable) she is delusional. She actually thinks she can win despite getting molly whopped in the primary so far…oh as William pointed out another, she is destined to get blown out in her home state of South Carolina. Oh, her appointed senator and one time candidate Tim Scott won’t endorse her, as he knows she is toast. Her entire campaign seems to revolve around making people happy and liking her. This is a main problem with introverts. They have few friends so being accepted is more important than having any actual beliefs.

Some big money donors are behind her, and it’s fueling her insanity. Folks, in politics, money is required to continue the campaign and unless you are personally wealthy like Trump, you have to rely on fundraising to make it work. Haley appears to have “old guard” donors like Koch industries behind her and as a result their $$$ is changing her beliefs. She has nothing good to say about Trump, yet she worked for him as UN Ambassador? Rough look toots. She now is in full establishment mode and is finding out the numbers will not add up. She is pressing on only because the $$$ is telling her to. Watching her circle the drain is rough.

What should she have done? Easy answer is not run for president. But I will offer my thoughts, rather than re-making yourself (Haley is finding out politics isn’t like make-up voting/track records are hard to cover up) I would have identified the correct lane to run in. What I mean by that is this: Trump is MAGA, and he announced prior to the midterms going down. MAGA is Trump, good luck trying to take that over. DeSantis, was, is, and always will be MAGA light. He had zero chance with Trump in the running, as such he is out. Vivek ran as “MAGA but outsider” and again is out of the race. MAGA had 3 folks running, none of which did much. Chris Christie, mostly due to his size, takes up the entire “Trump is a criminal” lane. So as such she could have picked a better position than “I’m a non-white woman, who has never lost an election.” Not only is that extremely pandering, but it also comes off as it being “her turn” which sounds very much like the Democrat Party to me. She could have staked out a conservative position, based on her voting record. She didn’t, she went full globalist. She could have backed up her positions by drawing on things she knows from her time in Congress (presidential powers, war powers, budget, etc.) Instead…. yikes.

This isn’t going to end well; I predict Trump by about 40% in South Carolina. I believe Florida is next…. they may need to have a disclaimer on the TV to hide the woman and children when those results trickle in. Super Tuesday is after that…you get my drift. She will be politically irrelevant in about 1 months’ time. Nikki will be the female equivalent of Jeb Bush where everyone will wonder how she failed so badly with all her experience?

Like William pointed out, Nikki got caught with her pants down…. maybe that should be her next campaign move try to get support amongst the young male vote? She is already going out of her way to court Democrats, so why the heck not?

The Chief

PS. Just remember eight short years ago Trump, Kasich, and Cruz were splitting the vote fairly equally during primary states (Trump would get about 5-8% more than each) so my point about their being a lane to run in makes sense. She just never found it, and as such this race is over.

Editor’s Note: I also think Haley believes that if Trump gets in legal trouble (i.e. convicted of a bogus felony), since she is in the race, she will be the heir apparent for the Republican nomination. Dream on baby!

Special Counsel Ruins Presidential Hopeful’s Chances

Much to the chagrin of Democrats and Never Trumper’s, Special Counsel Robert Hur who was investigating Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. and his stealing of confidential documents dropped a bombshell Thursday. In just one sentence he may have destroyed ole Joe. He called him a “well meaning, elderly man, with a poor memory.”

This is something William and I tried to warn you all about. The Democrats needed Joe 4 short years ago to beat Trump. Joe is the same then as he is now. He is a fragile, senile old man who should be enjoying a beverage (maybe warm milk?) after playing a round of golf with friends. Hur also added Biden “with his advancing age and diminished faculties, would be seen as a sympathetic figure to a jury.” In essence the man is in steep mental decline and punishing a man like that with potential jail time is mean. Biden had a long-distinguished career in government and was seen as a foreign policy expert, even though Robert Gates, an Obama era defense secretary called Joe wrong on all foreign policy decisions in his career.

But it gets worse….

In the report there is more damning news:

The special counsel’s report was surprisingly blunt. It described Biden’s memory as appearing to have “significant limitations,” characterized an interview he recorded in 2017 as “painfully slow” and said Biden did not remember some key dates of his vice presidency or “when his son Beau died.” Yup, no clue when his term as Vice President started or ended, and no idea as to when his son Beau died…. which by the way, even though his son died of brain cancer, Joe insists he was killed on a battlefield in Iraq.

How could it get even worse? It somehow did!

Rather than waiting for the news cycle to restart the following morning, the Democrats thought it would be a smart idea to try to go on the offense. In a letter to the Special Counsel, Biden’s lawyers called the numerous references to Biden’s memory “gratuitous,” as well as “prejudicial and inflammatory.” Ah yes, the old, that attorney is a know nothing, hack. It won’t work, that attorney actually absolved your client of any wrongdoing…no charges will be filed. In this case it worked to Joe’s favor, if Joe came off as a perfectly competent human then charging documents would have been filed, or at the very least it’s a damning report but no charges are filed. This is the typical offense I expect from the Democrats, how dare you use personal attacks against us. In this case they attacked a non-partisan Special Counsel, sure Mr. Hur is not a mental health expert nor a psychologist but again, charging decisions have a lot to do with mental state of mind.

Somehow Joseph Robinette Biden Jr’s day got even worse.

Yes, you read that right, the Democrats thought it was a smart idea to wheel out old Joe and have him give a press conference in response to the report. It backfired, big time. Instead, a visibly angry Biden made the exact type of verbal flub that has kept Democrats so nervous for months, mistakenly referring to the president of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, as the “president of Mexico” as he tried to address the latest developments in the war in the Gaza Strip. Yep, somehow Mexico is a border country to that part of the world. And Biden himself, with visible frustration, expressed disbelief at the idea he did not know when his son had died: “How in the hell dare he raise that?” He raised it because you said it and it’s very material Joe. Sadly, you came off as an angry white male, who is drunk on power. Like someone else I know, your only playbook is to lash out and declare you are completely and totally fine. Sadly, for you and your campaign, the attack ads from Trump and other parties write themselves.

He had a couple other good one’s too this week….

First, during a campaign swing in Nevada, Biden confused François Mitterrand, a former French president who died in 1996, with the country’s current president, Emmanuel Macron. Then, on Wednesday, he referred twice to having met in 2021 with Helmut Kohl, a former German Chancellor who died in 2017, instead of with Angela Merkel, who led the country three years ago.

Don’t believe me? Check out James Carville’s comments…

“The public does not view his age as — that’s not a Fox News issue,” he said in an interview after the news conference. “It’s not a Taylor Swift rigging the Super Bowl kind of thing. So — I don’t know how you get out of this.”

“The whole day,” he added, “was confirming an existing suspicion.”

Yikes. How about David Axelrod, the guy who ran both of President Obama and VP Joe Biden’s campaigns.

“Fair or not, you can’t un ring the bell,” said David Axelrod, the former strategist for Barack Obama who has emerged as one of the Democratic Party’s leading figures warning about how voters view Biden’s age. Axelrod said the Special Counsel’s report was so troubling for Democrats because it “goes to the core of what is plaguing Biden politically now, which is a widespread fear that he’s not up to it.”

He added: “The most damaging things in politics are the things that confirm people’s preexisting suspicions, and those are the things that travel very fast. It’s a problem.”

These are not quotes from a far-right wing website. The toothpaste is out of the tube, you have a scenario where Democrats are panicking behind the scenes. Ballots have been printed in 80% of the states for the primary, so no one will be able to “out delegate” Joe. The only way is to whack him at convention…. seems like maybe the wheels could be in motion? Carville may be the “old guard” of the party, but Axelrod is very much well connected and informed. Bill Mar said the same thing, Joe will be replaced at the Democrat Convention; something we have been saying for over a year now.

I think Joe is finished, it’s just a matter of how the Democrats do it and with whom?

Oh, by the way, for the second year in a row, Joe will not be doing the traditional pre-Super Bowl interview. Yup, the one day most folks around the world sit in front of the TV all day, and he won’t be on it. This could have been a chance to show a contrast between him, and whacko Donald Trump who will nuke everyone and join us with Russia…but alas, the staffers decided Joe can’t do the interview. They are scared he will say something equally dumb.

And Thursday night’s news conference was an example of the political dangers for Biden, whose missteps are magnified in part by the White House team’s tight control over his media exposure. His aides are so risk averse that they passed even on a pre-Super Bowl interview this weekend before one of the nation’s largest annual television audiences.

Joe didn’t deserve this…. but he is the fall guy for the Democrat party right now.

The Chief

Commercial Real Estate Will Sink Biden’s “Economy”

The jobs “report” was great Friday….it really was. We added 345,000 or so “jobs.” Why am I using air quotes you may ask? Well in the recent few weeks we have had layoffs from Meta (formerly Facebook), UPS, Microsoft, and Macy’s to name a few. My understanding is Alphabet aka Google is laying off folks too. The jobs at all of these are from management positions, not from closing stores or low-level employees. My point here is the jobs I see opening are in the fast food, gas station, retail, and government work. These are jobs at the very low end of the wage scale, even after factoring in California’s $20 an hour wage. If the economy was so healthy, why have we so many homeless in these parts? Why do they come here?

The truth is the economy is not well. But the danger is not lurking where you think it is. The danger is in commercial real estate and some sectors of the banking industry. Follow along I’ll tell you.

Commercial buildings and the loans they have are the problem. They differ from your mortgage in a few ways. On your mortgage, you pay principle and interest every month. (I’m leaving out insurance and taxes to prove my point since they are not relevant here). So, your outstanding balance goes down, the principle each month, maybe not by much but you are paying it off. On commercial loans you pay interest only…yup kind of like the financial crisis circa 2008 on home loans. You may ask what do they do when the loan comes due in 20, 30 years? Well, they simply “recast it.” That’s a finance term for re-financing and maybe pulling out the additional equity (remember folks, real estate only goes up LOL) and buying your next shopping center.

Truth be told, if the shopping center is about 80% capacity, the loan payments can be made each month without much issue. Sure, you may have a pizza place, burger place, clothing store, etc. go under but they are usually easy to re-constitute the property to suit the new tenant. The problem that arises is when the anchor tenant closes up shop. I will use the example of a shopping center located near my office; one this blog is familiar with. The anchor tenant is a Target store. There used to be a OSH (Orchard Supply Hardware) but it closed and was rebuilt into a Ross, Ulta!, and something else. When that happened, the food stores located near the OSH had about 3 turn overs into something else. No real loss because Target is the store that drives business in that center. There used to be a Save Mart grocer, it turned into a wine store, a baby store, and a surplus type store. A couple of those have since changed over but again, the center is pretty much full. The issue is what happens if the Target leaves? No chance you say. But what if it did? The car traffic would decrease by at least 50%. Other food stores would close. The boutique shops would re-locate. It will be hard to sell burgers at Smash Burger when the parking lot is empty. The mall would be a ghost town.

If you think this scenario is a fantasy land, tin foil hat idea, check this out.

Park Hotels own(ed) two very upscale hotels in San Francisco. In May, they decided to stop paying the loans and give the keys back to the lender. Yup they walked away. The hotels were not Motel 6 where Troll has told me you can pay by the minute or some “extended stay bull shoot” they were the Pac 55 and the Hilton Union Square. Think tourist areas. Combined, both hotels had about a 3,000 room capacity. These are very nice hotels, rooms are about $250 a night at a minimum. The parent company walked away. These were two crown jewel hotels. Now the lender is stuck because a hotel is not easily convertible into something else. San Francisco will likely house their illegals or criminals there since it makes sense to make them comfortable on the taxpayer’s dime. But I digress.

For Park Hotels, there is not much repercussion for them. They get out of a couple of underwater loans but have to give up the revenue (loss) each month of these properties. The ones holding the bag are the banks. You may ask why you should feel bad for a bank? They got a property, banked the interest all these years, and now they can sell it. The reason is banks do not use a mark to market accounting rule, they value the asset based on the appraisal from when the loan was issued/refinanced. That could be from a decade or so ago. A good example would be the Aon Center Tower in LA. In 2014 it was bought for 269 million, for a 1.1 million square foot building on Wilshire Blvd, an icon in LA. In 2023, it sold for 148 million. Over 100 million evaporated in 10 years. Sad! In these cases, the bank has to write off the loss on its balance sheet.

Just this past week, New York Community Bank, a highly respected conservative bank as far as lending goes, took a major loss and had a massive write off of bad commercial loans, such as the above. While you may not recognize the name, the regional banks will be the ones to suffer from this crisis. The reason being, regional banks have to take more risk, their larger peers, think Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, etc., have large credit card portfolios, deposit accounts, and home lending to fall back on. The regional banks must take on risk, this comes with commercial loans which were typically very lucrative. New York Community bank is not the first and will not be the last. A tip to watch is this; when a bank fails, watch the price movement of Bitcoin, we do not endorse that here, but the price will shoot up as a hedge against the dollar/bank failures.

A word of advice “when you have a short-term loan (car loan) you are at the mercy of the bank, loan could be refused to be refinanced/underwater etc. If you have a large long-term loan (mortgage, commercial) the bank is at your mercy.”

Good luck

The Chief

China Could Invade Taiwan….

The sounds of saber rattling you hear in the China-Taiwan part of the world is in my opinion frustration with Russia. You see, Taiwanese people are happy with the current arrangement. They are essentially an autonomous zone off the coast of China. China on the other hand views Taiwan as a breakaway province that is part of China, not separate. Xi Xinping, the leader of China, has been ratcheting up the rhetoric lately and has been using his military to scare the Taiwanese people.

What I do not understand is this. What does China really want here? Taiwan is only really known for semi-conductors, think the chip in your computer, car, etc. While this is a large booming sector of the world economy, couldn’t China just copy the IP and mass produce on the cheap? They do this with literally everything else. The US will never support that you say? Every CEO in America is looking to cut costs by even $.01 to meet or beat quarterly numbers. Trust me, China would be inundated with orders for their semi-conductors. Sure, our military will still order from Taiwan but let’s be honest, we have a hell of a lot more computers and cars than we do military items.

A military conflict seems increasingly likely, but is it necessary? The US has stated we will defend Taiwan. I would assume South Korea, Japan and the Philippines may get involved too. But is it necessary? Taiwanese people are likely ready to fight to the death, it sounds like they have the island fortified the best they can. (Far better than Ukraine ever was). They seem to have advanced military capabilities, (again better than Ukraine) as they have always figured a day will come when China will swallow them up.

If I am Taiwan, I have a plan set up, so the second Chinese war planes approach I evacuate all the engineers, scientists etc. to a safe haven. I make sure all IP, files, etc. are evacuated or destroyed as well. These are what I feel China really wants. I do not think they really want the land. I would also make sure any buildings or other structures were rigged to blow upon China encroaching. My opinion? Take the land, but it will be proven useless over time.

In my opinion, China is very angry at Russia behind the scenes. The war in Ukraine has dragged on, now it appears likely to have a long stalemate. This is not the way the plans were drawn up. The plan was to occupy the US and its allies, and while Russia marches on toward NATO borders China would take Taiwan. It didn’t happen. China is now having to assist Russia much like we are assisting Ukraine. We are now re-positioning ships and other war machines in the Pacific as a counter to China, exactly what they do not want. China is now watching Russia go to North Korea and Iran to re-stock their military and it’s been uncovered that Russia’s military is ripe with corruption.

In summation, I believe China does take Taiwan. I think the US and others essentially secure a “peace agreement by bending the knee to Xi.” It’ll be a classic US split the baby in half and hope both sides are ok with it. With the goings on in the middle East, Russia-Ukraine, and the usual unrest in Africa, I do not think the American people have the stomach for another conflict. I do not think many bullets will be fired, but as a warning to China, do not underestimate a populace who does not want to be occupied/governed by an adversary. The US never learned its lesson in the Middle East, and we lost many a service member/contractor to needless occupations. I also believe China has a very corrupt military as well. They may not be as powerful with weapons as we think. They do, however, have a large supply of bodies. The supply of bodies, also like Russia, contains hundreds of thousands if not millions of “expendable” bodies. Think slave labor types, political prisoners, ethnic minorities, opposition forces, rural areas, and you know North Korea will supply ample bodies as well. My point being China’s folks in the mainland may not even know a war is going on.

The Chief