Assembly Bill 1482 a.k.a. Tenant Protection Act of 2019 has gained traction as is worked its way thru the “Bill Mill.” It would impose a statewide rent control scheme for all of California. It has passed both the Assembly and Senate and is back in the Assembly to reconcile Senate amendments. Final passage could be as early as tomorrow.Its next stop is the Governor’s desk.
It has received the blessing of many outside groups including the California Business Roundtable.
The CBRT is touting its support with statements like:
AB 1482 will provide certainty to tenants. AB 1482 will keep families in their homes by tying caps on annual rent increases to the regional consumer price index (CPI) plus 5%, implementing California’s first-ever statewide rent control.
AB 1482 will encourage new homebuilding. AB 1482 will also provide certainty to developers by exempting new construction for the first 15 years. This rolling exemption will address the acute supply shortage by encouraging developers to build more critically needed housing, while also ensuring we are adding new units under rent control protections.
AB 1482 will protect tenants in California. AB 1482 will enhance safeguards for tenants statewide by ensuring they receive a 60-day eviction notice and a 1-month relocation fee if they are evicted after the first 12 months of a lease.
AB 1482 will prevent rent gouging. AB 1482’s statewide rent cap applies to all multi-family housing over 15 years old covering more than 95% of all multi-family housing units, and all single-family homes that are corporately owned, ensuring landlords cannot take advantage of tenants through rent gouging.
I find myself in agreement with former CRA member and political curmudgeon Steve Frank who wrote recently:
This is another example of the business community deciding to “compromise” with a totalitarian State. The California Business roundtable formed by the California Chamber of Commerce has AGREED to the first step of government take over of housing. In AB 1482 it allows the State to set the rules and caps on rent increases. While this bill sets the limit at 7% a year, nothing stops government from making it 2% next year. It is the slippery slope to the State OWNERSHIP of housing—and those who claim to love freedom have given up the fight.
Exemptions today, can be ended tomorrow—by legislation or an activist court—and these folks claiming to represent capitalism have instead supported socialism. Of course, most of the Chamber folks donated to the Democrats. There is an old saying that fits this situation: “An appeaser is someone that feeds his friends to the alligators, hoping they eat him last.” The alligators just killed off the Roundtable—the Chamber is next.
This is a huge power grab by the State and way outside the legitimate boundaries of a lawful government. Sadly, this act of tyranny will be met with hardly a whisper of opposition. We don’t normally talk this way but the truth is that in the final analysis, it’s all the king’s land, we are but the humble vassals. If you really owned your property then the government couldn’t take it away. Both rent control and property taxes are based on the premise that you don’t really own anything tangible.
In my mind, I keep harkening back to the story of H.L. Richardson recounting a conversation with Democrats in a back room of the State Capitol many decades ago. When asked about why the Democrat felt he had the right to tax something, he responded with the quip, “But look what we let them keep.” Translation, the Democrats think they are entitled to all that you have, but only take what they need at any particular time. Please note that this redistribution of your stuff only works in one direction.
The only lingering question is will supporters of the ballot initiative to impose statewide rent control pull their initiative when Governor Newsom signs this legislation?
Do you remember at the end of every episode of Scooby-Doo when the bad guy says, “And I would have got away with it too if it weren’t for you mettlesome brats” or something to that effect? Well the generation that grew-up watching the crew of the Mystery Machine has an app. This app allows them to be mettlesome wherever and whenever they wish, thanks to the miracle of cyberspace. Allow me to introduce you to Nextdoor.
Yes folks, you can find lost pets, complain about homeless people living under bridges—they have yet to catch our contributor The Troll but have come close a few times-and get local government to do your bidding. Yes, in real life, this app has been instrumental in putting the fear of God into politicians and citizens with felony arrest records not able to get elected.
Here in my neighborhood, the users of this app have moved mountains.
Here’s the story.
September 1, 2019 Nosy neighbor complains about algae in the neighborhood lakes on Nextdoor app
The lakes in my subdivision are used for fishing, keeping some endangered species of bird happy, and for rainwater to drain from the neighborhood streets directly into the lake. One lady noticed some algae in the lower lake, took two photos, and posted them on line using the Nextdoor app. As a result, all sorts of bureaucratic hell erupted.
Here’s the text of the complaint that started the ball rolling.
Do you use the lake or fish in Camden Lakes? Caution
Today I spotted possibly Blue-Green algae in the lower lake by the new bridge (by the weir) in Camden.
Although this Algae and the lake has yet to be tested to determine if it’s toxic, I am alerting friends and neighbors just to be on the safe side.
Please do not let your dog swim in the lakes if you have any concerns regarding the blue-green algae as shown in the photos attached.
I have alerted the city, the parks department, the Laguna Creek Watershed Council, and by way of this post, I’m sure others will be alerted as well.
I hope to keep everybody posted on the outcome of any testing that is done on the Algae, or the water itself. Our neighborhood has asked that the lake water be tested for other pathogens and bacteria. We have yet to receive any results.
The post that literally launched ships a few days later
September 3, 2019 CSD agrees to post warning signs
Within 48 hours of the initial post, CSD has posted multiple warning signs around both lakes
September 6, 2019 Lake Clean-up Begins
By Friday, September 6, CSD (Cosumnes Community Services District) has dispatched crews of boat people to clean the lakes. Said crews worked on Saturday as well.
CSD is in charge of most parks and lakes found in subdivisions of southern Sacramento County.
Before water plants removed. Tullies in background are part of island in the lake
After floating plants removed
Above are before and after photos of the same portion of the lake showing the effects of the clean-up. Below is equipment used for cleaning the lake.
This bucket tractor is floated by pontoons with stainless steel tacks
Another photo of bucket tractor with pontoons visible
Debris was piled on banks of lake
Debris piles were placed on the far side of the lake for removal later. Many were nine to ten feet high. Many dump truck loads worth of stuff were removed from each lake. When I said the post was able to move mountains, I meant that literally…mountains of plant debris.
Smaller boat used to clean next to shore and ferry debris across lake
Folks, this clean-up is usually done yearly, at least until CSD started running short of cash. Two years ago the lake was not cleaned at all. Last year the crew showed up at the end of October and did a mediocre job. This year, with one person complaining they sent the crew two months earlier than last year. If you read the Nextdoor thread, they even took water samples and decided to do the cleaning before the results came back.
The Nextdoor app is also used to track traffic, neighborhood crime, sell unwanted stuff, and of course complain about the behavior of others. Much of it is nonsense but in the hands of retired people with lots of free time, it can be used to move mountains. After spending time with this app, you’ll never look at old folks with gray hair quite the same way again. Squeaky wheels and grease may not block 5G internet in Elk Grove but they sure get things done in other areas.
I keep telling people that the debt obligations of our country including all the big ones like Social Security, Medicare, Federal Deficit, State, County & Local pensions, etc. are more than all the wealth on the planet but even I was surprised when I saw the latest calculation. You see, some enterprising folks on Wall Street ran the numbers and the story was published yesterday. Instead of being the lead story for the whole week, it was on Drudge for a few hours and then was bumped to the recycle bin.
If you thought politicians spend like drunken sailors, I can assure you that the boys in Crackerjack Uniforms only spend their own money, not that of your great grandchildren, yet to be born.
Total potential debt for the U.S. by one all-encompassing measure is running close to 2,000% of GDP, according to an analysis that suggests danger but also cautions against reading too much into the level.
AB Bernstein came up with the calculation — 1,832%, to be exact — by including not only traditional levels of public debt like bonds but also financial debt and all its complexities as well as future obligations for so-called entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare and public pensions.
Putting all that together paints a daunting picture but one that requires nuance to understand. Paramount is realizing that not all of the debt obligations are set in stone, and it’s important to know where the leeway is, particularly in the government programs that can be changed either by legislation or accounting.
Graphic from CNBC
The article then goes on to say that we shouldn’t worry because we can afford the payment on the credit card.
The key is not always gross dollar amount but rather ability to pay.
I hope Dave Ramsey blows a gasket when he reads this. I can picture him saying, “The borrower is the slave of the lender.”
Dave Ramsey–Card Cutter
“Globally, we have become over-reliant on borrowing as a solution for everything. Political excuses abound for why it doesn’t matter, which just clearly isn’t the case,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a bipartisan committee of legislators, business leaders and economists that counts former Federal Reserve Chairs Paul Volcker and Janet Yellen among its members.
“We are quickly approaching a situation where we have dug ourselves a debt hole which is doing going to have profoundly negative effects on the economy for probably decades going forward,” MacGuineas added.
I corrected typo in the above quote–editor
The article concludes with this wishful thinking:
“First, you start having politicians level with voters instead of promising freebies. Second, you recognize that the time to do that is when your economy is strong,” she said. “When people were arguing for more borrowing they should have been doing the reverse. We’re still not in recession. It’s time to put in long-term strategies.”
who will pay the Reaper
Folks, we have hundreds of trillions of dollars in debt obligations and yet we go merrily along thinking as long as the sun rises that everything will be OK. Remember my opening, we owe more money than all the wealth created on the planet. Someday this merry-go-round of debt will stop and then who will pay the Reaper? The emperor has no clothes and as long as we all agree then everything is OK, right?
Elk Grove, CA Recently the City Council unanimously approved the 5G wireless installation and tower placement application from AT&T.
Members of the Elk Grove Tea Party ran a vigorous campaign to oppose progress by buying ads on Facebook and sending those newfangled email messages to the city’s leaders voicing their opposition. In addition, they spoke at several Council meetings during the public comment section of the meeting and then promptly went home to bed. Some even set their VCR’s to record the meeting on the community access channel to play at their next monthly meeting. Just because they lost the critical vote with the Council, they can’t let the issue go. Not when lives are at stake.
During this hearing, various speakers shared their concerns regarding potential negative health issues related to the installation of new wireless technology.
One of those speakers, Pamela Marquez, told the council that research regarding health impacts from small cell antennas is being ignored.
“The telecoms, the FCC and the city of Elk Grove continue to ignore research that clearly demonstrates we will be harmed by this 4G/5G technology,” she said. “The only real question is ‘Why?’ Is it ignorance, is it malevolence or is it just about the money? Whatever the reason, they clearly do not care about the health or the public.”
These cell antennas are sometimes 48” high by 14.6” in diameter. A better name for them is Close Proximity Microwave Radiation Antenna – Wireless Telecommunication Facilities (CPMRA-WTFs).
“My personal reason for doing this is I believe that humanity is threatened,” says Sandi Maurer,a member of the activist group EMF Safety Network, which lobbies to reduce people’s exposure to electromagnetic fields.
With the approval of 5G by the Federal Communications Commission and lacking any court precedent, the Tea Party is having difficulty making their case.
The health argument is hard to take to court because the FCC has sole discretion over whether the emissions of an electronic device are safe, a right unquestioned by any current court cases or pending federal legislation.
After consulting with their medical experts and despite knowing the hazards of 5G wireless, members of the Elk Grove Tea Party have devised an ingenious way to illustrate the danger to an ignorant general public. After extensive research they have released a set of instructions to build a 5G transmitter with common household items. Tea Party members are seeking volunteers to deploy 5G devices in their own homes.
We here at Really Right have received an advance copy of the plans which we would like to share with you. These plans are still being beta tested and may have further refinement before mass publication.
The following was secretly recorded at their last Executive Board meeting and released to one of our chief correspondents.
5G transmitters are described as being about the size of a pizza box. While warming some leftover pizza, that’s when the idea came to me.
After consulting with Steve, he used to be in the Air Force during the Vietnam War and knows all about radar, we decided to use a radar range (microwave oven to you youngsters) to mimic the long-term exposure to a 5G transmitter. 5G transmits at 40 watts while a typical microwave is about 1,000 watts. Using simple math, 1,000 divided by 40 is 25; thus, one hour of exposure to a microwave is equal to more than a day being near a 5G tower.
The radar range at our assisted living complex will only allow us to program up to 999 hours of cooking time. This works out to 24,975 hours of exposure to a 5G tower. Roughly, three years in no time at all. Heck, in a few months we can prove that 5G is bad and long before those greedy corporations even put up any towers in town.
So far, these are the instructions.
Place microwave in an area that you spend lots of time in like near your favorite chair by the TV. Place it on a low table so you won’t hurt your back while moving it into position. This also allows it to be lower than your hearing aids.
Remove the front door. This might void your warrant but remember that you are sacrificing for the children.
Remove door from microwave using drill or sawzall
It is important that the machine thinks the door is shut. You can break off the latch part of the door and shove it in the hole or place a non-conductive material in the hole to override the safety mechanism of the machine. If the light stays on, then you need to adjust the safety mechanism until the light goes out. Remember, microwaves don’t play well with metallic items. We tried screwdrivers and that didn’t go so well.
Bypass door safety using non-conductive item such as wood or plastic
Turn machine on high for 999 hours.
Now that you have started the experiment, you can take a nap in the chair.
As a bonus experiment, Janice suggested that you put a houseplant closer to the microwave as an early indicator that harmful affects are occurring. She prefers succulent plants due to their higher water content. Steve thought this was a good idea too.
irradiated succulent plant
Our national stop 5G organization has requested that we please send weekly updates so they can track our progress. Their website is www.hemlocksociety.org Look for the link on the left side for 5G self-reporting.
We here at Really Right have also learned that thanks to a generous award from Verizon to the Elk Grove Tea Party, the first five people to livestream the experiment simulating AT&T 5G will get free and safe 4G Wi-Fi for life.
Two stories caught my attention today that are different but related. The common thread is the decline of our country due to departing from the principles of our founding. The first story is from Fox News and I do take issue with the author, as I hope to explain below, and the other is thought provoking.
That question has been asked lately with respect to President Trump’s planned use of federal funds to construct 175 miles of sporadic barriers along portions of the nearly 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico common border.
After Congress expressly declined to give him that money, Trump signed into law – rather than vetoed – the legislation that denied him the funds he sought and then spent the money anyway.
The question regarding presidential power has also been asked with respect to Trump’s imposition of sales taxes – Trump calls them tariffs — on nearly all goods imported into the United States from China. These are taxes that only Congress can constitutionally authorize.
And the question of presidential power has been asked in connection with the presidentially ordered mistreatment of families seeking asylum in the United States by separating parents from children – in defiance of a court order.
This question of presidential power is not an academic one. Nor is it a question unique to the Trump presidency, as it has risen numerous times before Trump entered office. But the audacious manner of Trump’s employment of presidential powers has brought it to public scrutiny.
The Judge also goes on to mention the War Powers Act and other powers ceded to the President by Congress.
Signing of Declaration of Independence
Analysis and Commentary part 1
In principle, I agree with the Judge’s concerns. However, as the Judge also points out in his article, the government has been cut loose from its Constitutional moorings for about the last hundred years. We have flipped the Constitution from a national government of enumerated powers (government allowed to do only those things specifically mentioned in the Constitution) to one of virtually unlimited power where only those things specifically forbidden by the Constitution are not allowed.
The Judge also points out that “power abhors a vacuum” and “I have written before that the Republicans who rejoice in this will weep over it when a Democrat is in the White House.”
To which I respond, “Hey Judge, why in the heck do you think we hated eight years of Obama so much? He was using Executive Orders and government regulations for all sorts of illegal and immoral things.”
What I hope Trump will do is undo Obama’s Executive Orders—which he has been doing—and then, unlike Obama, get the Congress to codify his actions into law to put them beyond the ability of another President to undo by Executive Orders. Hence my hope for Trump’s reelection and Republicans to take back the House in 2020.
Folks, I hate the idea of Executive Orders, continuing budget resolutions, and judicial legislation. We have a severe case of all three because Congress will not do their Constitutional duty.
Frankly, I would be OK with Congress rescinding some of the extra Constitutional powers of the President, but only if they are will to do their job. Truthfully, I don’t have any confidence in either Party being willing to truly govern.
I think we are rapidly moving to rule by either an aristocracy or dictatorship. The viability of the two party system is coming to an end. Again, I assert that Trump will likely be the last Republican President ever. The Democrats have put their thumbs on the electoral scales to such an extent that a Republican winning a national election will be mathematically impossible any more. The Republican Party has run its course and will never be an effective political force in American history once Trump leaves office.
The story slug line sums it up “Bill Federer recounts eerie similarities between ancient city, modern America.”
Federer takes a survey of reasons that the Roman Empire fell and it sounds eerily like today’s news.
Roman Senate
The article dedicates several paragraphs to each of the following topics:
open borders
loss of common language
welfare state
violent, sensual entertainment and sex-trafficking
church withdrawal from involvement
birth control, planned parenthood and fewer children
immorality, infidelity and loss of virtue
class warfare
high taxes
out-sourcing
exploding debt and coinage debasement
deep state, establishment politicians
defense cuts and over-extended military
loss of patriotism
terrorist attacks
The article is long but for those that care, this is an ominous warning of what lies ahead. I implore you to read it in its entirety.
Analysis and Commentary part 2
Judge Napolitano raises three points to whack Trump: the border wall, tariffs, and immigration. I wish to respond briefly to all three.
Border Wall
Every elected official and military member in our country takes an oath that states in part “… I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic…” The core question is what do you do when your country is being invaded, your laws are being ignored and/or not enforced, and Congress refuses to do their job?The Judge rightly states “power abhors a vacuum” so if you are Commander and Chief, what do you do? Congress and the Judge would have Trump do nothing. Trump was elected on the promise to fix the problem and Congress won’t act because they want to deny Trump a political victory. Congress has chosen to break their oath for short-term partisan political reasons. Trump is acting because he feels that he needs to defend the country.
Border Wall
Tariffs
Tariffs used to be the backbone of funding the national government. It was the primary method of taxation that the founders wanted the national government to use. Once again the Judge is correct that tax policy should be set by Congress. However, there is another factor in the tariff controversy; namely, the defense of the country, which brings us back to the oath of office again. Congress has failed to protect our country from being at the mercy of other nations. This brings me back to the article from Federer.
Rome’s economy stagnated from a large trade deficit, as grain production was outsourced to North Africa.
Gerald Simons wrote in “Great Ages of Man – Barbarian Europe” (NY: Time-Life Books, 1968, p. 39): “As conquerors of North Africa, the Vandals cut off the Empire’s grain supply at will. This created critical food shortages, which in turn curtailed Roman counterattacks.”
For “grain” in the above quote, try substituting “manufacturing–including that required for national defense” and use “China” in place of “North Africa”. Here’s my rewrite:
America’s economy stagnated from a large trade deficit, as manufacturing–including that required for national defense–was outsourced to China.
“The Chinese could cut off America’s source of manufactured goods at will. This creates the potential for critical shortages, which in turn would curtail American’s response.”
Of all powers in the world, China is the largest nation that we potentially could go to war with, so how does it make sense to be wholly dependent on them for our way of life? Both Congress and previous Administrations have been OK with this dependence on foreign powers for our manufacturing and military technology. Without technology manufactured by both Russia and China, our military cannot operate. Without these two nations we have no Internet, communications, missiles, ships, tanks, guns, aircraft, absolutely nothing. We produce nothing and consume everything. This situation is nuts.
Chinese parts are used in all American weapon systems
Trump is trying to loosen the grip of China on our economy and national defense. Again, Congress is not keeping their oath of office and refusing to act in the best interest of our country. Once again, Congress offers no leadership on this issue.
Immigration
The statement by the Judge is just an outright lie. The Judge stated, “…the presidentially ordered mistreatment of families seeking asylum in the United States by separating parents from children – in defiance of a court order.”
Sorry Judge but the people in the detention facilities entered the country illegally. They could have filed for asylum in the United States without illegally entering our country. Those that enter by the front door don’t end-up in these places.
Second, no President purposely “orders the mistreatment of families”. Obama reversed the kids in cages thing that you knuckleheads keep wanting to crucify Trump for.
Oh, and a judge ordered it. So what? It’s not the judge’s job to make immigration policy or to enforce it. Many people crossing illegally are doing so with children not their own. That’s the problem with folks hopping the fence. You need to retroactively sort the bad apples from the harmless ones. Not everyone under 18 years of age is a saint, MS-13 anyone? Some adults have criminal histories and if they enter with children they will be separated. If they don’t like it then stay home.
MS-13 Criminal minors infiltrating American cities
This whole narrative is a bunch of crap. I won’t say it never, ever happened, but we are a good people and it’s not our practice to harm others—unless they’re unborn.
Conclusion
We all agree that the immigration system is broken, but again, Congress has failed to put forward a solution to fix it. Both Republicans and Democrats have simultaneously held the Presidency, House, and Senate and failed to pass a bill, thus in my mind, both parties are without excuse. Bottom line is some people would rather have the issue to campaign on than fix it. If you don’t like what Trump is doing—and like it or not, he’s the only one who is acting—then tell Congress to do their job and keep their oath of office.
I keep telling people that the Democrats are squandering their best chance to get things done that would be good for the country. Trump is willing to work with them but they are not. Whatever history says about Trump, it will not be singing the praises of Congress.
To close with another quote from Federer that sounds eerily like today:
The Roman emperor usurped so much power, that the Roman Senate, instead of ruling Rome and defending the rights of the people, existed only to maintain their own positions. Common people were discourage from getting involved in politics.
The Durants wrote in “The Lessons of History” (p. 92): “The educated and skilled pursued business and financial success to the neglect of their involvement in politics.”
We here at Really Right like Rush but don’t listen to him very often. (FYI to Liberals, we don’t get our marching orders from Rush despite your ridiculous notion that we can’t think for ourselves. We like Rush because he believes the way we do about many, but not all things.) This is one occasion where we disagree, at least in part.
Yesterday, Rush spent part of his show talking about the recent report of Apple phones being hacked just by visiting a website with no user intervention. Rush does not dispute that it happened but the where and why are interesting. I am quoting this extensively because most of Rush’s stuff ends-up behind a pay firewall.
Now, last week there was this massive news report. It went way beyond the tech blogs. It went into the Drive-By Media that iPhones been had been hacked en masse for the past number of years. The story was put out by something called Project Zero at Google. Google has a department, a team of people that try to hunt down and find — they’re white hat guys. They’re the good guys.
They try to find malware and hacks and vulnerabilities in computers and hand-held devices, mobile devices so that the people that manufacture those devices can patch the software and continue their security.
And they came out with a story that a massive vulnerability had been found in the iPhone. And that all you had to do was visit a website. It did not name the website. All you had to do was visit a website and virtually everything on your phone was in the hands of bad guys. Your passwords, your key chain, your credit card information, your contacts, your photos, everything. They didn’t tell you which websites, and they didn’t specify the specific years, but they made it sound like it was multiple years, and they made it sound like it only affected iPhones.
And when I first read this, ’cause I don’t believe anything in the media anymore. I just don’t, folks. And Google is a competitor of Apple. I’m not sure this was a factor here, but let me tell you what this ended up being.
It was the ChiComs. It was Chinese websites. And it was every phone. It was Samsung. It was Huawei, it was LG, it was every operating system, and it was the ChiComs targeting Chinese Muslims. You had to log onto a Chinese website for anybody to be able to get into your phone. They knew this, but they only reported it as an iPhone vulnerability, and they made it look like it could be any and every website that anybody would be using every day, and it’s strickly a Chinese issue.
It’s ChiComs trying to find everything they can on these renegade Muslims, the Uyghurs, and wipe ’em out, put ’em in reeducation camps and so forth. Now, this was known, but the Google Project Zero team did not report that aspect of it. Your phone is fine for the most part. The story was way exaggerated.
Rush makes several points, some of which we knew. The Apple vulnerability was discovered by a hacker group employed by Google. This was part of the original story. It is no surprise that China is behind the exploit or that the primary mission of the cyber operation was to go after Muslims in their country; however, I have yet to see a story corroborating Rush’s claim. Out of respect, I’m willing to grant that he is probably correct on this point.
Rush’s second point is weaker to me; namely, that Android phones were similarly hacked. Apple is the one claiming their superiority in security—mobile and PC, over any other operating systems—asserting that they are the best and most secure. It is this point, that they are not, that was the focus of the story. Rush thinks this is tech media bias against Apple, I disagree. Apple should abide by the old axiom of people in glass houses not throwing stones. Apple doesn’t admit to any OS flaws, bugs, or hacks until such issues are outed by third parties. It is their argument from silence that I disagree with. They are using circular reasoning to maintain this claim. Claim 1: Since Apple OS is secure, there are no bugs, hacks, or flaws. Claim 2: Since no bugs, hacks, or flaws exist, Apple OS is the most secure. Therefore Apple can maintain that they are the most secure OS as long as they admit nothing to the contrary.
FAANG is Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google
That China spies on its own people is nothing new. They’ve been doing that since Mao. China and other nations use our electronic gizmos to gather data on us all the time, but to what end? I’m more concerned about the censorship on free speech in this country by the FAANG companies and MS than what other nation-states are doing with my address book and lackluster text messages. The secrets that I have are not in my phone.
The State of California and the SEIU have agreed to a new contract. I thought you should know just how generous your elected representatives have been with your tax money. Some details have not been made public yet but here’s what we know.
Wages
During negotiations, SEIU claimed they wanted a 21 percent increase over three years. As usual, they settled for a fraction of that amount. On the face of it, they claim they got 7 percent over three years. Each increment of this raise takes effect July first (the first day of the new fiscal year.) Actually, it’s less than that.
Two reasons why.
First, a few years back, the State created a new deduction taken from the paychecks of current state workers. This money is to go into a fund earmarked for future retiree medical benefits (sounds vaguely like the Social Security Trust Fund to me.) This fund is incremented over a period of four year and will rise to 3.5 percent of gross pay. The last increment will take effect July 1, 2020. It will go up another 1.2 percent. (see chart below)
Thus the 2.5 percent pay increase July 1, 2020 will actually be a 1.3 percent increase in take home pay (less all the payroll taxes on 2.5 percent “increase”).
Second, the pay increase for the third year, also scheduled to be 2.5 percent may not happen. During negotiations, the State was asking that they be given the right to forego this increase in the event of an economic downturn. Based on the information released thus far, it is unclear if the union agreed to this provision and if so, what the trigger to stop the pay raise will be.
Thus, the actual pay raise over three years may very well be only 3.3 percent; a far cry from the 21 percent the union claimed they were asking for.
Medical Tweak
The union claims that they got $260 a month for anyone on a State sponsored healthcare plan. This is to cover the employee contribution to healthcare. Thus, if only the employee is on the health plan, they would have no employee contribution any more. Once this is implemented, the state would pay 100 percent for individuals.
My question is this, currently my contribution to Kaiser is about $125 a month. Will the state really give me the whole $260 or just pay the $125 and call it good. Oh, for those of you in the private sector, sorry; I know you’re paying lots more than that out of pocket for your share of health insurance.
Geographic Pay
If a state employee lives in any of the following counties: Orange, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Cruz, they will also get a geographic differential of $250 each month.
As we know as conservatives, when a government creates a new benefit, over time it will grow to cover more folks. Geographic Differential pay is such a thing. I was surprised not to see a single San Francisco Bay Area county on this list. This is even more reason to suspect that this new benefit will expand over time.
Concluding Remarks
My observation of this contract is this; it appears that all these extra pay things added to the wages of State employees help the State by not boosting employee retirement (assuming retirement is based solely on salary) while easing the pain of living in such a costly State as California. This seems to be the gentleman’s agreement with the State.
Apple users always swear that their gear is more secure than other operating systems; once again, this is proven to be a lie. The difference between Apple and Microsoft (or Google) is that the other guys are actively looking for security flaws and Apple does not. As we have repeatedly documented on this blog, Apple will only reluctantly admit to a security issue once the issue has been made public, and then only half-heartedly will they acknowledge it. Apple will refuse to fix known issues for years until outed by third parties.
Today another story is out and this one is as bad as it gets. Just by visiting a compromised website, hackers could get the following:
You location in real time, updated every minute
All your passwords
Chat histories on WhatsApp, Telegram, iMessage
Address book
Gmail database
In total, 14 bugs were exploited for the iOS attack across five different “exploit chains” – strings of flaws linked together in such a way that a hacker can hop from bug to bug, increasing the severity of their attack each time.
Please note that it was Google that informed Apple of the security flaws which had been exploited in the wild for a mere two and a half years.
An unprecedented iPhone hacking operation, which attacked “thousands of users a week” until it was disrupted in January, has been revealed by researchers at Google’s external security team.
The operation, which lasted two and a half years, used a small collection of hacked websites to deliver malware on to the iPhones of visitors. Users were compromised simply by visiting the sites: no interaction was necessary, and some of the methods used by the hackers affected even fully up-to-date phones.
Once hacked, the user’s deepest secrets were exposed to the attackers. Their location was uploaded every minute; their device’s keychain, containing all their passwords, was uploaded, as were their chat histories on popular apps including WhatsApp, Telegram and iMessage, their address book, and their Gmail database.
Oh, as usual, it is a British news outlet breaking the story not the American media. As a rule, the UK has better coverage of national news in the United States than our own media. I guess they’re all too busy trying to make stuff up about Trump and Russia instead of doing their jobs. Back in the day, Woodward and Bernstein worked hard to break their story; they would not be contented just to be part of the echo chamber that passes for the mainstream media today.
Oh, there is other hacking news out there today as well.
Teenager hacked government file sharing website known as Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center Safe Access File Exchange (AMRDEC SAFE) Click here for story
Lastly, there is a fair chance your dentist had their data compromised by a ransomware attack. Click here for story.
In their never ending pursuit to identify another class of victims, the Democrat Party has decided to embrace those that reject God. While most of us had thought they did this decades ago, they formalized the arrangement earlier this week by passing a resolution to be welcoming and inclusive of those unwilling to bend their knee in worship of their Creator.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) passed a resolution Saturday praising the values of “religiously unaffiliated” Americans as the “largest religious group within the Democratic Party.”
The resolution, which was unanimously passed at the DNC’s summer meeting on Aug. 24 in San Francisco, Calif., was championed by the Secular Coalition of America, an organization that lobbies on behalf of atheists, agnostics, and humanists on public policy. The group celebrated the DNC’s move as the first time a major party “embraced American nonbelievers.”
“Religiously unaffiliated Americans overwhelmingly share the Democratic Party’s values,” said the resolution…
The move comes as Democratic presidential candidates have ramped up their religious rhetoric on the campaign trail, but the party announced it is targeting “nonreligious voters” to try to beat President Trump, who solidified the evangelical vote in 2016.
Political pundits have pointed out Democrats’ so-called God problem in the past and their efforts to solve it.
In 2012, the last election Democrats won, a headline from the convention read: “Democrats boo God.” In 2016, attendees heckled a preacher during the opening prayer. And on Saturday, Democrats took a shot at believers who use “religious liberty” to threaten the civil rights of LGBTQ Americans.
After passage, the Secular Coalition of America issued the following press release.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) this past Saturday embraced American nonbelievers for the first time, adopting a resolution that recognizes their contributions to society and to the Democratic Party.
This move by the DNC, which was unanimous absent one abstention, demonstrates that they are living up to the big-tent inclusive values they regularly espouse, though it also shows they recognize the value of courting the largest, fastest growing religious demographic in the nation. It was first passed in the DNC’s Resolutions Committee on Thursday.
At nearly one quarter of the total U.S. population, nonreligious Americans—one third of which are Democrats and nearly half of which are independent—will represent a sizeable voting bloc in the upcoming election. This resolution marks the first time a major U.S. political party has specifically courted religiously unaffiliated people across the nation.
25 percent of the US population is classed as “Unaffiliated.”
6. Atheists and agnostics account for a minority of all religiously unaffiliated.
Most are secular. Atheists and agnostics account for only about one-quarter (27%) of all religiously unaffiliated Americans. Nearly six in ten (58%) religiously unaffiliated Americans identify as secular, someone who is not religious; 16% of religiously unaffiliated Americans nonetheless report that they identify as a “religious person.”
So, a quarter of a quarter of the US population is atheist, agnostic, pagan, secular, or whatever you want to call it. In real math, that means about 6.25 percent of the nation falls into this bucket.
Given the bombardment of secularism and evolution in our culture, I’m surprised the number is that low.
As always, Democrats don’t care what you believe—or don’t—as long as your first allegiance is to the All Powerful State.
The NSA may be the only government entity that listens to you but the private sector has gone crazy doing the same thing. Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Apple have all been outed as doing the same type of surveillance.
Listening
Today, a report has surfaced that Apple has fired their Siri transcription company in Ireland with virtually no notice.
Apple is terminating the contracts of 100 of workers who were hired to listen to Siri recordings according to a report from the Guardian.
Last month, Apple was revealed to be sending audio data over to contractors to improve Siri. The contractors would accidentally hear private or personal information sometimes, and a few users were scandalised that this wasn’t made clear when signing up for Siri originally.
The firm has put an abrupt end to the program, leading to mass job loss.
As per the report, more than 300 employees have been fired in one facility in Cork, Ireland, and some have been sent home with less than one week’s notice.
Microsoft is also listening and plans to continue the practice.
After Apple and Google, it turns out Microsoft is also doing the same thing.
According to a report from Motherboard which cites an anonymous contractor, Microsoft is listening in to your Skype and Cortana audio as well. Much like Google and Apple do, the firm sends a little bit of audio to its small army of human contractors around the globe for analysis, ranging between 5 – 10 seconds.
The bone of contention here appears to be that while Microsoft does tell users that some of their audio will be analysed, it leads them to assume that it would be AI-based as opposed to human contractors.
Microsoft terms of service authorize third party folks to listen.
In a statement released to Motherboard, the firm said:
“We’re always looking to improve transparency and help customers make more informed choices. Our disclosures have been clear that we use customer content from Cortana and Skype Translator to improve these products, we engage third party expertise to assist in this process, and we take steps to de-identify this content to protect people’s privacy.”
The Motherboard report reveals that contractors are mean to transcribe up to 300 pieces of audio per hour and are paid between $12 and $14 for it with a max bonus taking it to $15 per hour. Contractors have noted that personal and private information has slipped into these audio snippets as originally reported.
Yesterday, Amazon received national coverage for allowing law enforcement access to Ring video cameras, without any warrant or suspicion of wrongdoing.
Always home, always watching
Amazon-owned doorbell-camera manufacturer Ring has formed partnerships with hundreds of police departments that allow them to automatically request access to footage after the fact, according to a report in The Washington Post.
Ring has arrangements with more than 400 departments, under which they can request recordings within a specific time and area, according to the Post. Ring gives homeowners the option to decline requests, according to the Post.
Police can use a map interface to select the time and geographic range, which will generate an automated email to all users within the range with a message from the department, according to the newspaper.
Ring, as a private-sector enterprise, has found “a clever workaround for the development of a wholly new surveillance network, without the kind of scrutiny that would happen if it was coming from the police or government,” he added.
Ring also sells consumers both external and internal cameras so what keeps law enforcement or other interested parties from viewing the inside of your house in real time? Also, please note the weasel words in the article above; homeowners are given “the option to decline the requests.” This sounds like a one-time, blanket terms of service option given when the system is first being configured. If so, is a third-party installer giving Ring (Amazon) that permission as part of the equipment setup or the actual resident of the dwelling? This point might be potential legal fodder in the not too distant future.
Bottom Line
If you are on the Internet using any program, device, or service, then rest assured that you are under surveillance by someone; the only question is whether the other party is a program or person. Most folks just want to legally separate you from your money but others harbor more nefarious intentions. If you own a smartphone then Apple, Google, and Microsoft know where you live, work, and shop. If you own a car, then the automakers and others in their industry know where you’ve been in your car.
Amish–the only folks living “off the grid”
If you truly want privacy, build a Faraday Cage in your home or become Amish. Trust me, your digital footprint is way bigger than your carbon one and much more likely to be dangerous to your liberty.
