Three stories that make a difference that were buried in the last few days.
California is fulfilling their role as a take no prisoners, authoritarian regime. In the latest moves to ban the internal combustion engine and anything else that uses fossil fuels, California has created another list of politically incorrect people that are to be avoided. This time the list includes automakers that will not be allowed to sell to the State. First on the list are GM, Chrysler, Nissan, and Toyota.
Mary Nichols-California Air Resources Board
California issued a statement late Monday saying that as of January the state would only buy vehicles from automakers that recognize the California Air Resources Board’s authority to set tough greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles. California also pledged only to do business with automakers that committed to stringent emissions reduction goals.
Separately, the state also said it will no longer buy sedans that are powered only by internal combustion engines, no matter who manufactures the car. It will buy only plug-in electric or hybrid sedans, although California would make an exception for certain public safety vehicles. That rule does not apply to SUV or truck purchases.
This list is in addition to the ones that prohibit State employees and athletic teams from California State Universities from traveling to other States because the States are pro-life or pro-marriage; both of which are outlawed in California. I’m sure a similar list banning travel to places based on gun ownership is also in the works.
As a result of this utopian B.S., Elon Musk looks to be the beneficiary of more taxpayer money that he didn’t really earn. Of course this will be in addition to the money being directed to him as a result of the solar panel mandate that begins in January. Elon, by far, is the most heavily subsidized fellow in the history of the planet. Elon gets more corporate welfare from the government than any defense contractor ever dreamed.
Elon Musk has tax money to burn
Next up is California oil production, a story which is told via two news accounts.
But since taking office in January, Newsom’s own department of energy management has approved 33 percent more new oil and gas drilling permits than were approved under Newsom’s predecessor Jerry Brown over the same period in 2018—a median of 174 permits to drill new oil, gas, and cyclic steam wells approved a month, based on Geologic Energy Management Division (CALGEM) reports analyzed by CityLab.
The rate of fracking permits approved also soared at the start of the year, up 109 percent through June.
The fact that fracking approvals in California had spiked in the new year was first reported in July by the FracTracker Alliance and Consumer Watchdog. Newsom responded quickly to the news, firing the head of the approving agency for employing regulators who owned stock in oil companies, and directing the department to stop approving fracking permits. Since June 28, California hasn’t cleared any new hydraulic fracturing projects. After publication of this story on Monday, the Los Angeles Times reported that Newsom announced he was fully stopping the permitting of new hydraulic fracturing pending independent scientific review. He also said he’d issue a moratorium on “new permits for steam-injected oil drilling.”
The lesson is, if you support jobs and energy then you won’t last long holding an appointed government office in California.
I think Chevron should move its headquarters from San Francisco to Texas ASAP and close all their California refineries when they go. If California wants to ban fossil fuels then I think the private sector should cooperate. Let’s give politicians a world without gasoline and diesel now. Why wait until 2040? After all, there’s no time like the present. Give fossil fuel users the same treatment that PG&E is giving their electrical customers. Clearly the environmentalist message is, if you hate the planet so much that you use fossil fuels, then you deserve some payback. You can’t break addiction without pain.
Oh and speaking of pain, our illustrious leaders also want to ban the last reliable fuel used to generate electricity, natural gas. (FYI nuclear is banned in California and hydroelectric is not considered renewable energy.)
Maybe we could shut natural gas off for a week or so in February just to show people what that’s really like. Maybe such a move right before the Primary Elections in March would cause voters to make more sensible choices on the ballot.
Folks I apologize for not blogging too much lately but when things in your personal life go south, it tends to distract you from your hobbies. Right now I feel the need to vent so here we go.
I work for the State of California and let me tell you, their structure of management is ridiculous. For every six or seven employees, there is a supervisor. Then for every three supervisors, they have a supervisor. At my office, this goes up four layers before you get to the guy in charge of our building. Our site houses about two hundred people and of course is just one of many such facilities.
The management structure was codified into law (and union contracts) back in the early 1970’s when Jerry Brown was governor the first time. Back then office workers used IBM Selectric Typewriters, carbon paper, Webster’s Dictionary, rotary telephones, vacuum tubes to send intra-office messages, snail mail, and filing cabinets. Office workers dressed more formally, men wore ties and women wore dresses. Unions were a new idea in civil service.
Anyway, my second level supervisor has become a microcosm of what is wrong with government in general and California in particular. This supervisor has one set of rules for her friends and another for everyone else. This double standard, coupled with her Type A personality, is a killer combination for a bureaucrat. Another trait of this manager is that she has no regard for the chain of command under her. Having been in the military, I know that the chain of command flows from the top to the very bottom and vice versa.
This manager knows how to talk a good game but as you would expect, the disparity between words and deeds is vast. The manager often will talk about giving people opportunities to advance but the track record in my unit is atrocious. In nine years, only two people have been internally promoted from my level to the next step. During that period, we have added three more positions at the next level and a year ago, Type A declined creating another.
Two of the three managers directly under her are bullied and abused on a regular basis. These two folks happen to be from a different ethnic group and culture than she is and she runs roughshod over them all the time. They are documenting her behavior but have yet to pull the trigger on an EEOC or other complaint. They happen to be nice people and she despises them. Like some twisted soap opera, they all pretend to be collegial but it is clear that all is not well.
The latest office drama in my life began when an employee in my unit left at the end of April. This departure created a vacancy at the level above me. This rather sudden resignation created a flurry of activity behind the scenes. It took a month or two for the vacancy paperwork to work its way thru the personnel office. Filling the vacancy involves advertising the position, screening candidates, and conducting interviews. The paperwork done behind the scenes to get this done is horrendous. Management was ready to begin this process but it was halted in June for an unexpected reason. A Muslim lady that used to work in my unit contacted her old supervisor to say she was being failed on probation and would be returning to our unit—probably in July.
(In State employment, when you promote, this often involves moving to another unit or agency. If you fail probation—typically a six month term—then per agreement with the union, you have a right to return to your previous position.)
At this point, everything went dark. Type A manager decided there was no scenario in which she would allow the Muslim lady to return back into our unit. Instead, she arranged to have the Muslim lady handed-off to another unit. Only when the Muslim lady was safely back and with a different unit did the paperwork go forward to advertise the opening in my unit.
Finally, after almost six months, the vacant position was advertised. I was one of many applicants, but what surprised me was the number of qualified people within my unit that did not apply.
It has been convention that the interview panel would narrow the field to the top three and then let the immediate supervisor make the determination as to which person they wish to hire. (In the above, I’m using “convention” because although I thought it was required, I can find nothing in writing requiring that the selection to be from the top three or the hiring decision is the prerogative of the immediate supervisor.) Typically, the hiring manager does the paperwork, screening, and arranging of candidates for interview. This protocol was not the one followed in filling the vacancy.
Type A manager immersed herself in the minutia of what should have been a routine hire by one of the three managers under her. She screened applicants, selected the candidates for interview, scheduled the interview times, wrote the interview questions, selected the panel members, and selected the candidate via an undisclosed criterion. This all was frankly above her station.
Remember what I said about chain of command? She stripped the person under her of the authority to conduct the interview. Her place in the process should have been simply to oversee the process and if necessary be on the interview panel. Her actions deliberately undercut the authority of the supervisor under her to manage and select his employees.
To add even more insult to the injury, Type A manager added an employee under the mistreated supervisor to the interview panel. In effect, she diminished the supervisor and elevated a person under him. Note that the elevated person was at same level as the vacancy and was the most recent hire at that level. Word is that Type A manager is grooming this employee for advancement by personally directing his career path and wanted him to be able to use this experience to put on his resume. Other people at this level have never been on any interview panels.
Oh, I’ve been in this unit for ten years and worked my way up from the bottom. I was not on Type A manager’s list of candidates to interview. The abused manager under her had me on his list and requested that I be interviewed. In a pyric victory for me, Type A manager agreed. Obviously I had no chance of getting the job when she had already excluded me.
Interview and Beyond
Type A manager frontloaded the interview panel and then began the interview by reading the criterion that the selected candidate would need to work until 5 pm. We were then asked a series of questions about being managers in the unit and asked what we would do. These questions were all outside the scope of the duty statement and materials used to advertise the job. (I found out later that Type A manger had tried to advertise the job this way and was shot down by personnel because that was not an appropriate description of the vacant position. Apparently, she ignored both our personnel office and her org chart.)
Two days after the interviews were completed, each of the five people in my unit that had interviewed, were called one-by-one into Type A manager’s office and told they were not selected and then dismissed. I attempted to ask questions and was booted from her office. A coworker asked what happened and I described the experience ask being scraped off the bottom of her shoe like a piece of excrement and tossed away.
I grumbled to a few employees and a week later this resulted in me being called on her carpet yet again. Unlike last time, I was allowed to speak. I made a case that no one has been internally promoted in over five years and that many of us have done the work of those above us and were more than qualified for advancement. I tried to keep it from being flipped into a situation where I could be dismissed as just being mad that I was passed over. I also made the point that the primary duty of senior people was to train those under them. I cited the example of the lady whose resignation created this vacancy in the first place. I specifically talked about the time that a new hire in her second week on the job went to her and asked for help. The new hire was told, “Go figure it out for yourself” and then sent away. New hire then came to me. I answered her question and made sure that she was properly trained. I said it was inexcusable for someone in a senior position to treat a new hire like that.
In response, I was told by Type A manager that my experience and knowledge were not relevant to the position even though during my time in the unit, I’ve done the same production work as the people above me. She made it clear that I will never be promoted in this unit…as if I needed further clarification.
Oh the outside candidate that she picked was unwilling to work until 5 pm so she gets to go home at 4 pm instead. Of the five that interviewed for internal promotion, currently four work until either 4:30 or 5.
Final Thoughts
Because such heavy-handed tactics leave many enemies in its wake, I have been told by others about many things I’m not supposed to know about Type A manager. Such happens when you’re willing to speak-up if even a little. Type A manager has been known to redo interview results to give her the outcome that she wants, just in case someone actually challenges the results. Oh, favored recent hire mentioned above as part of the interview panel was the recipient of her generosity. He reportedly went from sixth to first due to manipulation of post-interview results. My sources on this information are impeccable.
So that’s my story. I’m looking for an exit strategy where I land on my feet. I think it’s tragic that this manager chooses to behave like this. It just goes to show that unchecked power corrupts. I doubt her conscience even keeps her up at night but I bet it used to.
My wife’s car registration was due in October. After getting my paycheck at the end of September, I dutifully went on the Internet to pay her registration. Amazingly enough, the DMV payment system was down. No, not because of hacking or PG&E power outages but for an overhaul of their payment system. Furthermore, I was greeted with a note that when the system came back up, DMV would be charging me a percentage for a processing fee.
DMV Warning of extra charge
Being a thrifty guy, at least when it comes to surrendering money to the government, I decided to write a check for the renewal and snail mail it. I wrote them a check and mailed it on September 28th.
On the 15th of October, I received a note from DMV that there was no payment enclosed in the envelope. I know this is not true. These guys lost the check. I even wrote the license plate number on the memo line of the check.
Knowing that the due date was imminent, I wrote them a check the very same day and mailed it again, but not before holding the sealed envelope up to the light and reading every part of the check to verify that they are without excuse.
Yesterday was November first and neither check has cleared my bank. Now I’m worried. Did they lose the second check too? I looked on their website and there’s no way to verify if something is paid. So, I came up with an experiment that seems to do the job. Here’s what you need, last five numbers of the VIN and license plate number. You pretend to pay online, and one of two things will happen, it will give you an error or show you an amount due.
DMV renewal screen
I tested this on my car that was paid many months ago and then with the car due in October. I got the same result, so my conclusion was that both were shown as paid at DMV. I still don’t know what happened to either check.
If you get this error then DMV shows your renewal as paid
I think if enough of us start opting out of paying electronically, they will drop the surcharge to pay online. Just don’t wait until the last minute because if they lose your check you need time on your side.
Elon Musk has been rewarded by the 90-day calendar guys after surviving the third quarter report. Elon apparently sprinkled magic pixie dust on the financials and turned a year over year sales loss into a $50 a share boost in one day.
Tesla Inc’s (TSLA.O) third-quarter revenue tumbled 39% in the United States, its first drop in more than two years…
U.S. sales, which account for the biggest share of the company’s total revenue, fell to $3.13 billion from $5.13 billion a year earlier.
If it weren’t for all the hysteria about saving the planet from imaginary destruction and other automakers being forced into giving billions to Tesla in the name of carbon credits, his goose would have been cooked years ago.
Speaking of cook, our friend of the blog, Tim Cook, has found a new way to be featured in tech blogs, he broke Apple’s Tesla app. Yep, iOS 13 has struck again. The latest iteration of this troubled operating system—also known here as “Apple’s Vista” —has killed the iPhone’s ability to run apps in the background and multitask.
iOS has of course never been famous for being an operating system which placed multi-tasking first, but some developers have come to rely on having their app running in the background.
One of these has been Tesla, which lets you replace your car keys with your phone. Tesla owners are now complaining that their doors do not open when they approach with iOS 13.2.
Of course, not only Tesla owners are affected. Many home automation systems like electronic door locks rely on the same feature.
Apple is rapidly earning a reputation of delivering more issues than features with their software updates, and I suspect more iOS users will be reconsidering installing the latest OS update without it being well tested in the market first.
Apple ‘s iOS 13.2 update was supposed to fix bugs introduced with the initial buggy iOS 13 release and add a few new features, but it seems like all is not well over in Cupertino.
iOS’s RAM management is so heavy-handed that it shuts down apps almost as soon as you switch away from them. Users find it hard to maintain a conversation on say WhatsApp and switch to Safari to get some information because the former app will reload when they switch back to it and Safari will shut down tabs when they switch away. This issue has shown itself on iPhones as expensive as the top-end iPhone 11 Pro, so it has been a frustrating experience even for superfans.
“I’m sure Apple has good excuses about why their software quality is so shitty again,” Overcast and Instapaper creator Marco Arment said over on Twitter. “I hear the same thing over and over from people inside: they aren’t given enough time to fix bugs. Your software quality is broken, Apple. Deeply, systemically broken. Get your shit together.”
Modern software is often developed with a ship first, fix later attitude. Apple’s fast updates mean that while users can get fixes as soon as they’re ready, they’ll also be more likely to experience bugs due to the initial shipping scramble.
Last I heard, north of 60 percent of Apple phone users—that don’t loose support November 3rd—were running this version of the operating system. I have faith that Apple will eventually get it right. I know it will irritate their customers but when you have folks locked into your eco system on two and three year contracts, then these sorts of errors don’t hurt the 90-day clock too badly.
Back to Tesla’s founder; California’s looming solar mandate for new construction and PG&E blackouts are breathing new life into another Elon Musk venture. This convergence of mandates and malfeasance is looking like the next step in cordcutting, being able to live off the grid in suburbia.
Once again, Elon is benefitting from government interferrence in the free market under the guise of saving the planet. It’s amazing how he has inserted himself into the minds of many as the high priest of the green religion.Musk’s use of captalism to fleece socialists is kind of poetic.
I saw this quote in a Fox News opinion piece—please note that whatever their shortcomings, at least Fox knows to label opinion pieces as such as opposed to a news article from a Leftist media outlet where it’s all opinion disguised as news—anyways, something occurred to me as I read these words; namely this, Pelosi is like Obama. Read this and then I will continue my thought.
Pelosi, fellow California Democrat and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff and their Democratic co-conspirators in their attempted coup are going to do whatever they want, however they want, because they think the rules don’t apply to them.
After all, who’s going to call them out for their misdeeds – their partisan allies at the fake and corrupt New York Times and Washington Post? Come on.
Let’s face it: unhinged radical Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota are calling the shots on behalf of a mob of anti-Trump socialists who have seized control of the Democratic Party.
The third paragraph states, as we have here many times, that AOC and the Broad Squad are calling the shots in the Democrat Party, but what struck me as I read this is that Pelosi is like Obama! We keep viewing Speaker Pelosi as not in control, feckless, and ineffective but is there something more? Perhaps. Maybe Pelosi sees herself as like Obama. Does the phrase, “Lead from behind” ring any bells? Obama did that for eight years and Democrats love and adore him.
Yeah, Nancy Pelosi is leading her party from behind. There, now we know what’s going on. She has emptied herself of what she wants and instead is giving her caucus want they want.
I think the meaning of leading from behind has become slightly muddled because it’s so easy to poke fun at the slogan itself. As Ben Armbruster at the liberal Think Progress points out, Nelson Mandela popularized the concept of leading from behind. Armbruster dug up the following quote from Mandela:
“It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.” In his 1994 autobiography, “Long Walk to Freedom,” Mandela also described it this way:
“I always remember the regent’s axiom: a leader, he said, is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.”
So despite the funny phrasing, at the heart of the idea of leading from behind is the empowerment of other actors to do your bidding
So is Nancy Pelosi the “Good Shepherd” and the House Caucus (or American people) her sheep? If so, doesn’t that make her Christ? So wouldn’t that make government God? It fits her worldview but is this reality or delusion?
Here’s a contrary view of leading from behind.
Leading from behind is not leading. It is abdicating. It is also an oxymoron. Yet a sympathetic journalist, channeling an Obama adviser, elevates it to a doctrine. The president is no doubt flattered. The rest of us are merely stunned.
Frankly the thought I had on the phrase “leading from behind” is one you hear about in war-torn areas where human life has no value. You line up the POWs, or women and children, side-by-side, depending on what type of despotism that you prefer, and march them through suspected mine fields to insure that passage is now safe for your troops. Why sweep for mines when others can cheaply do it for you?
So is Nancy being benevolent by giving her Caucus what they want or marching them through a mine field? The correct answer is both; especially, for the 31 new people that won seats last held by Republicans prior to the 2018 election. Some pundits are talking about Democrat gains in the next election but I think Nancy is risking it all to pursue the promised impeachment drive. She knows she can’t deliver a fatal blow to Trump but her immediate concern is for her political survival. I think her days are numbered, both on the planet and in politics but as Joe Serna used to say, “The chief job of a politician is to be reelected.” Those in power, especially in D.C., never willingly give it up, they only resign when they are carried out feet first in a body bag. So as you watch the impeachment drama unfold, remember that Speaker Pelosi is just like Barack Obama, she is leading from behind and given the circumstances that suits her just fine.
The conventional wisdom is that the veil between this reality and another is somehow supposed to be thinnest over the next few hours. On the day that many celebrate phantoms, ghosts, and other apparitions, our illustrious public servants in Washington have decided to play the swamp version of trick or treat.
Personally, I think we are seeing dead people pretending to be something they’re not. Anyway, Democrats, the Party of the dead, have decided to put all their electoral eggs in the impeachment basket without actually voting to impeach. Thus they will be playing subpoena trick or treat with anyone that might advance version 2.0 (two point oh) of the witch hunt to overturn the 2016 election.
But while they are high fiving each other on this pyric and partisan victory, the wheels have quietly come off of the whistleblower bus. Not that CNN or MSNBC will report it, but the mythical whistleblower has been outed. Behold Eric Ciaramella (pronounced char-a-MEL-ah).
Ciaramella is a holdover from the Obama administration and a registered Democrat. He’s been accused of leaking like crazy. He worked with Joe Biden, he’s a vocal critic of President Trump, and he invited a DNC operative inside the White House to attend meetings. He also helped instigate the investigation into Russia collusion. So, of course, Democrats would believe his second-hand complaint about President Trump’s phone conversation with Ukranian President Zelensky over the actual transcript of the call itself.
The report claims that federal records show Ciaramella attended a state luncheon with Joe Biden’s office back in October 2016. You’ll never guess who else was there? Former FBI Director James Comey and former National Intelligence Director James Clapper. You can’t make this stuff up. The report says it was strange for Ciaramella, a relatively low-level GS-13 federal employee, to have been there. And it describes Ciaramella’s invitation as “unusual,” saying it “signaled he was politically connected inside the Obama White House.”
For a town that leaks like a sieve, Washington has done an astonishingly effective job keeping from the American public the name of the anonymous “whistleblower” who triggered impeachment proceedings against President Trump — even though his identity is an open secret inside the Beltway.
More than two months after the official filed his complaint, pretty much all that’s known publicly about him is that he is a CIA analyst who at one point was detailed to the White House and is now back working at the CIA.
But the name of a government official fitting that description — Eric Ciaramella — has been raised privately in impeachment depositions, according to officials with direct knowledge of the proceedings, as well as in at least one open hearing held by a House committee not involved in the impeachment inquiry. Fearing their anonymous witness could be exposed, Democrats this week blocked Republicans from asking more questions about him and intend to redact his name from all deposition transcripts.
“Everyone knows who he is. CNN knows. The Washington Post knows. The New York Times knows. Congress knows. The White House knows. Even the president knows who he is,” said Fred Fleitz, a former CIA analyst and national security adviser to Trump, who has fielded dozens of calls from the media.
Yet a rare hush has swept across the Potomac. The usually gossipy nation’s capital remains uncharacteristically — and curiously — mum, especially considering the magnitude of this story, only the fourth presidential impeachment inquiry in U.S. history.
The official added that it soon became clear among NSC staff that Ciaramella opposed the new Republican president’s foreign policies. “My recollection of Eric is that he was very smart and very passionate, particularly about Ukraine and Russia. That was his thing – Ukraine,” he said. “He didn’t exactly hide his passion with respect to what he thought was the right thing to do with Ukraine and Russia, and his views were at odds with the president’s policies.”
“So I wouldn’t be surprised if he was the whistleblower,” the official said.
Eric Ciaramella is the posterchild of everything wrong with Washington yet somehow he fancies himself to be the real life Jack Ryan.
Hey Eric, remember the opening credits for Mission Impossible where they say, “If you are ever killed or captured, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions.” You might take that counsel to heart because when your usefulness is over to Congressional Democrats so is your shelf life. My advice to you is if you get a card or package from Nancy Pelosi (or Ted Kaczynski) don’t open it.
Lastly, even though today is Hillary’s birthday, if she knocks at your door tonight don’t open or we’ll never see you again.
Ok, let me get this straight, for two and a half years, Democrats have been accusing President Trump of colluding with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election so when they get around to kind of, sort of, half way, impeaching the guy, they are impeaching him for interfering in the 2020 election by colluding with Russia’s enemy Ukraine? Whiskey Tango …?
They added: “The evidence we have already collected paints the picture of a president who abused his power by using multiple levers of government to press a foreign country to interfere in the 2020 election. Following in the footsteps of previous impeachment inquiries, the next phase will move from closed depositions to open hearings where the American people will learn firsthand about the president’s misconduct.”
–Democratic committee chairs — Reps. Adam Schiff, Jerry Nadler, Eliot L. Engel, and Carolyn Maloney
Folks, this is all you need to know about the 2020 election. Mueller was a bust but the hearings must go on. They don’t have any ideas or candidates that can win so they are trying to steal the White House by demoralizing Trump and terrorizing the already timid Republican establishment. Ironically, the more establishment types that don’t run for reelection, the better off our country will be.
Trump is playing 3D chess with this bunch that think checkers is too much for him. Their overreach is breathtaking to watch. We in the heartland are watching and not happy, but really energized to vote once again for our President.
Folks why is the definition of insanity “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result” hold true in every area of life except politics? Somehow politicians, political consultants, and political activists think they are exempt from the stock definition of insanity. It’s not just an ideological thing either.
On the Left you have people proclaiming that the only thing wrong with socialism or communism is that the right people (i.e. them) just haven’t tried it yet. Democrats tell the same lies decade after decade to black people to get their votes and do nothing for them. In fact, statistically blacks are worse off in Democrat cities than anywhere else.
Conservatives (or those that self-identify as such) keep going to the same playbook as Ronald Reagan used in the 1980’s. We still hear them opining about less government, less regulations, lower taxes, etc. Once elected, these folks sure don’t vote like they campaign. We have a Republican controlled Senate and White House and what do we get? Why more spending and debt than at any time in the history of the planet and a national government that micromanages people and taxes them like crazy; a practice compounded by the States, especially for those living in the Coastal regions.
In this era of hypocrisy, mixed messages, and polarity of political opinion, comes the latest idea for tilting at windmills; no not impeaching Donald Trump, why lets recall California’s Governor Gavin Newsom.
Gavin Newsom
Folks this idea is just dumb as dirt and twice as dangerous. Newsom is doing just what he promised and a tiny group of people are mad at him. Folks he was elected fair and square and as rare as it is in this state, he even beat a Republican for the privilege to be our Governor. Now two years into his first term they want to recall him? I don’t get it.
Let’s suppose supporters collect the two million signatures needed for the Recall—which I don’t think they can do—but then what? Back when Pete Wilson was running for Governor, it cost him 50 million dollars to win. That was almost 20 years ago. Folks these people may be mad but they don’t have a dime to their names. Sorry but the mantra “… if you build it, they will come …” only works in a movie about dreams.
Let’s summarize; Recall supporters have no money to pay people to collect signatures to recall the Governor, they have no money to run a campaign to recall said Governor, and lastly, they have nobody to put in his place if Newsom is recalled.Do you think anybody better than Newsom will sit in the Governor’s office if he is successfully recalled? Just because the lights are going out again doesn’t mean we need relive the Gray Davis recall.
But this idea is worse than it appears. Newsom harbors plans to run for President in 2024. Should he survive a recall attempt, it will embolden him and his policies, and propel him to frontrunner status in the Democrat field. By participating in the recall, Conservatives may very well insure that Newsom will be our next President.
This recall is the same drill run by folks like Karen England following the overthrow of Prop 8 and the passage of the “bathroom bill.” Such actions actually make us worse off and are an embarrassment. Worse yet, they are unbiblical. Scripture commands us to count the cost before starting something and have the resources available to see it thru before undertaking a venture. Why does this never apply to anything political? Folks, the bad news for many of you is that it is God’s will that Gavin Newsom is our governor just as it is God’s will that Donald Trump is our President. I have my opinions about why each man is currently in office and what it means but it’s not relevant to the topic at hand.
This recall cannot succeed and will make things worse for us. It also will give ammo to the other side so they can gerrymander the census lines just enough to nullify Conservative voters even more.
Folks, if you are looking for salvation via politics, you will never find it. Learn to governor your family and influence your community. Master these first and then look to changing the wider world. Getting the right guy in the State House, the White House, or the Supreme Court is not going to fix what really ails us. Elections have consequences but God controls that outcome too.
The California State Auditor has rested from her labors filtering names for the citizen’s committee on redistricting long enough to release a report on the financial health of California’s cities. The quote on “lies, damn lies, and statistics” comes to mind when you read about Paradise, California being listed at moderate financial risk. Gee, maybe you could put an asterisk on that or something. Last we checked, those folks got their ashes kicked by a small conflagration and then PG&E & their insurance carriers piled on.
Paradise reported at moderate financial risk
If you want a preview of coming attractions, start clicking on the filters on the left side of the interactive map page; especially, Future Pension Costs. Remember that this data is several years old, and the trend is not getting better.
Future Pension Costs –Sacramento
Future Pension Costs –San Francisco Bay Area
I’m so glad that the politicians made sure government employees are in the front of the line when creditors line-up to claim their share of the carcass when all this goes south. Meanwhile, mostly empty lifeboats are departing daily for Texas and other locations.
Now that the evil winds have died down–for now–and electrical service is slowly being restored, we here in the socialist mecca of Venezuela, oops I mean California, have contained the Zombie outbreak…this time. Consider this a practice run for “the big one.” We, living here in the SMUD service area, did experience 48–mostly arson fires–on the first day of the PG&E blackout but I’m sure it’s just coincidence.
In light of the recent fright that Northern Californians experienced from the PG&E power outages, we here at Really Right noticed that PG&E was experiencing a public relations nightmare over this service interruption. Their local offices were egged, their vehicles were shot, and other acts of vandalism occurred as well. As a result, we felt that PG&E needs to undertake a “feel good” campaign to win back the hearts of customers. In a spirit of sympathy for both PG&E and their customers, we decided to screen potential candidates as the new spokesman for the embattled company.
Our first thought was Chuck Norris. Chuck is well known as a man’s man. He doesn’t seem to be gainfully employed any more, at least not in front of the camera so we thought a financially struggling company could afford him. However, we decided that Chuck is not right for a California based company; especially, one headquartered in San Francisco. Chuck is a manly conservative and isn’t compatible with a company that poured ratepayer money into opposing Proposition 8. Why an electric utility has any business in taking sides on whether marriage should be between one man and one woman is just proof that their management sucks. Also, having Chuck Norris associated with this utility has a bigger problem. You see, nobody turns the lights out on Chuck Norris, Chuck Norris puts their lights out.
Nobody turns out the lights on Chuck Norris
Michael Myers was another thought. What is October without Mike? The State is experiencing a lot of tension due to the fright given to them by PG&E and we are busily prepping for Halloween anyway. Baby Boomers, especially those in office, can really relate to Michael. When they were first dating in junior high, going to one of his movies was a surefire way to get a girl to curl-up in their arms. Oh, what fond memories. Mike has California roots being a well-known commodity in Hollywood. Mike is also known to avoid firearms and favors knives for his “wet work“. Given that our current Governor thinks that law abiding people shouldn’t be allowed firearms, this policy might seem to favor a guy like Michael Myers. However, Mike is known as the strong, silent type and like Chuck Norris, prefers to let his hands do the talking. He is really light on dialogue in his movies and that is a problem when you need a guy for doing voiceovers for commercials.
Michael Myers–light on dialogue
Our third candidate, Freddy Kruger, is strong in areas where Mike Myers is weak. Freddy has a distinctive voice that you never really forget. Freddy also is best known as a guy that reminds you to keep your lights on at night. In fact, Freddy has a following that never wants the lights to go off again. Freddy, unlike Myers, never wears a mask. As a disabled individual, Freddy has really used his disability to make a name for himself. The fact that Freddy is a grossly disfigured burn victim that is thriving amongst ordinary people is inspiring. You never know where he will pop-up next. This fact causes people to pay attention whenever he is on your television. Freddy could be a role model for what PG&E could become. Both have survived a horrible fire and PG&E is learning to overcome adversity and begin life anew. Freddy has been there and done that.
Freddy makes you want to keep the lights on
Some may wonder why I made the connection between Michael, Freddy, and PG&E. And for that, we circle back once again to San Francisco. The progressive leadership in San Francisco wants to dismember parts of PG&E. In some Frankenstein-like way, they want to create their own utility, but unlike a real utility, this one only owns transmission lines and no power generating facilities. I guess that would make it a very “green” utility with no carbon footprint other than that of an occasional fire. PG&E also provides natural gas service to “The City” but no word on who gets that slice of the company.
For those of us living in the real world, this idea makes absolutely no sense; especially, in that city. As the Sith Lord’s father liked to point out, nobody knows what is really under that city. Parts of their infrastructure date back to the Gold Rush era and there are no maps of what lies below the streets of San Francisco. Then there are the parts that survived the 1906 quake which again are not recorded but likely used in some spots. Thus San Francisco has many ancient components of their infrastructure that are in use way beyond their designed life. Taking on this liability is insane on the face of it. The city fathers may very well get their wish and live to regret it as “fire sale” can be defined in more than one sense.
San Francisco during 2017 blackout
Anyway, both PG&E and Freddy Kruger are associated with fright, fires, and dismemberment. It’s a match made in times of adversity, but it just might work. This association will inspire ratepayers to keep the lights on at any price as the alternative is too frightening. We here at Really Right think they ought to take a stab at it.
