The Left is getting all charged up because they think they finally may have the leverage to take-out the President. Sorry but I don’t get it.
Paul Manafort was found guilty of stuff that happened long before he ever went to work for Trump. He was convicted of on 8 of 18 counts. That means the prosecutor threw everything including the kitchen sink at him and less than half stuck. We all know that you only prosecute what you think you can win because almost everything gets plea bargained.
What you have to remember about Trump is that he came into the political world when none of the established campaign consultants were available. His only choices were second and third tier players—bottom feeders if you will. Those with proven track records were already committed to other candidates.
Nobody took him seriously as a candidate. Hiring quality personnel has always been a problem for Trump. Those he knew in the business world were often ill suited for the political world and frankly couldn’t afford the pay-cut even if they could handle it.
Cohen, Manafort, Omarosa, and a host of others have made the Trump campaign and subsequent Administration a revolving door. I knew this would happen and said so many times before he even took the oath of office.
Trump has done nothing criminally wrong. His ethics are not in question either. Trump trusted people to do what they were hired to do but many were deeply morally flawed and gold-diggers. Anything they did illegal is on them. The liberals and many Republicans are hoping for guilt by association that somehow translates into Trump being impeached or resigning.
Drudge Report headline August 22, 2018
Richard Nixon resigned rather than face impeachment; not for committing a crime but for subsequently covering it up to protect his friends and associated. He was guilty of blind loyalty.
Bill Clinton was impeached for lying under oath and nothing happened to him. He and his surrogates attacked— vilified is more like it—his accusers and destroyed them in the public. He just laughed it off and stayed in office.
Trump has had the full power of one and a half political parties plus much of the Obama era appointees gunning for him for three years now. They have unleashed hell on him. Most of what they have done has been based on demonstrably false and phony information but as the old saying goes, why let the truth ruin a good story.
Don’t forget that the backdrop of this is that the unions and Democrats are fighting for their very existence. November is their last shot to change the direction of the government. The amount of money they have been able to spend in the past will no longer be available after this cycle. The Democrat Party is in turmoil. After this cycle, the unions will diminish and the Silicon Valley billionaires will be in a position to take the reins of power. Their Party will never be the same either way but if the existing leadership wants a hand in how the Democrat Party will be remade then they need to have a good showing in November.
So the real story is not that Trump’s existence is at stake, the Democrats are trying to nationalize their fractured party by uniting against the strawman of Trump that they themselves created. Remember that in the weeks ahead as Mueller does whatever he does. Mueller’s goal is the bleed Trump prior to November not to take him out.
Regulations come in many shapes and sizes and from every state in the Union, red states included; however, today I want to take a closer look at the devastating effects these regulations have on businesses.
Let’s take New York City’s famous, 32 oz. soda ban for example. With the stroke of a pen, if you owned a convenience store, you had to immediately remove any cups over 32 oz. from your store effective immediately. In addition to being a small business owner or franchisee, you are now an officer of the City Council. As such, it is your job (via your employees) to see to it no customer purchases a soda over 32 oz. Failure to adhere to this law will result in severe monetary penalties, potential jail time, and probably could lead to you losing your franchise. Government entities know no bounds these days. Never mind the fact you could still buy multiple quantities of 28 oz. drinks and still be in compliance. So much for banning large quantities of soda for human consumption. Also why just ban soda? Have you seen the ingredients list of a bottle of Sunny Delight? Or even some Iced Tea varieties? Those can have as much or more sugar then soda…..yet because orange juice and ice tea seem to be “healthy” they are spared the hammer from Big Government. This type of lunacy encourages folks to work for the government rather than in the private sector. Image having to run a business with all the heartache that causes, but now you must police your clientele and see to it they aren’t drinking too much soda.
The next example takes us to Soviet California where legislators (notice I didn’t just say Democrats, the GOP is complicit as well) devised a ban on single use plastic bags, like the ones you can get at a grocery store. Never minding the fact the company that produced those bags is located in California, they went ahead and banned anyway. So I guess they want to literally ban entire companies from doing business even in the state they call home. The ban passed at the ballot box with just token opposition. Now as a result we have ugly multiple use bags and paper bags that cost $.10 apiece. No one the Blog Father is aware of (I left California a while ago) actually remembers to bring these bags to the store with them which yields additional “revenue” for the stores.
Editor’s note: Grocery stores agreed to join environmentalists to support the ban as long as they got to keep the ten cents per bag and not give it to the State.
Despite efforts by the plastic bag companies, retailers will keep revenue from sales of alternative bags to cover the costs of complying with the ban, as outlined in Proposition 67.
This ban was deemed necessary due to the quantities of these bags that ended up in your “lakes, rivers, streams, and alongside roadways” I call BS on this as I believe this was done simply to make life more difficult on smaller grocery chains and due to the fact the old bags were not biodegradable. I claim it affects the smaller stores the most due to the fact that they now have to renegotiate a contract with a supplier or terminate the agreement and find a new supplier, this is not easy. While a large chain like Wal-Mart, Safeway etc. would not find this very cumbersome. They are systematically killing business in California and this is just another nail in that coffin. Don’t be misled, this is a direct attack on private workers, the goal of the dictator Gavin Newsom is to eliminate all private sector jobs and replace them with government jobs. (Or at the very least government wants to control the means of production including picking winners and losers in the economy.) Get mad at me and don’t believe me if you will but while you are mad, they are taking away your rights and retirement plans! Yes, they are coming for your 401K’s very soon. The State wants to control every aspect of your life from conception to cremation.
Now let’s take a look at all the states that continuously want to raise the minimum wage for workers. This has led to automation. It’s no small error that in Arizona many McDonald’s fast food restaurants are fully automated now, with only 1 or 2 workers in the store. This has led to a full on automation craze that is killing entry level jobs and summer temporary jobs. The hallmark of a fast food or quick service business is to offer food and beverages as cheaply and quickly as possible. Paying every worker $15 an hour (plus government required benefits) no longer plays to the “cheap” aspect of the business so innovators decided they would create a machine to automatically cook in the kitchen and a kiosk to take your order. Again if you do not believe me that’s ok, but remember the TV commercials advertising a dollar menu? The same commercials I see now feature 5 dollar boxes. This is no coincidence. Can you blame the business owner?
The future of fast food
Strangely I feel this is the end game politicians want. They want people working for the government, and they want you comfortable in poverty, as well as be able to control every facet of your life. For example why must a child ride in a car seat until the age of 8? Do we not trust a parent’s ability to simply fasten a seat belt across said child’s lap? Why can’t a child order a soda if they want? We live in the most innovative country on the planet so why is it that a single use bag could not be replaced with a compostable one? Ditto on the new crazy—not being able to ask for a straw law recently enacted.
In summary the nanny state has failed us in several ways, first by banning certain things from our lives; incandescent light bulbs, plastic bags, straws, and soda being just the latest. In some cases these laws actually contradict each other, for example why not just buy two 20 oz. sodas? They banned the Big Gulp but not the smaller gulp. Didn’t California go through a rough drought a couple years ago, I thought they banned water from restaurants unless it was specifically asked for? Now they only want to offer water and milk to a child when they can just go back home and drink all the soda they want? So it’s okay for a child to order an entrée containing 2,000 calories but a soda is not okay? Don’t really get the logic there. By the way I am a supporter of calorie counts existing on a menu as it gives you the chance to re-think your options, not take it away. Regarding those plastic bags, I have heard it from multiple people that take-out places, Home Depot as well as a few other big box retailers still use the single use bags. I guess the rule applies only to evil grocery stores, not everyone else.
Riddle me this: one California law says no water at restaurants while another says only water can be offered
Finally I want to discuss some aspects of our lives that could use regulation, but never will be. I want to give two very concrete examples; tanning beds and smoking. Let’s start with tanning beds, they offer little benefit in the health benefit category, actually zero, and can result in skin cancer issues later in life. Perhaps there is not enough public ire to make politicians act but for health reasons alone tanning beds should be banned. Cigarettes also have zero health benefit, worse yet it is well known they cause cancer and will kill you eventually. Not to mention the fact they litter our streets far more than single use plastic bags and expose people around you to harmful second hand smoke. The reason for this is obvious…tax revenue. Almost 70% of the cost to purchasing cigarettes goes towards taxes, state, local etc. These are two very easy things that could be regulated, but the power of the almighty dollar wins out. Isn’t the real reason pot is legal is to get more tax revenue?
How about this doppelganger of political schizophrenia; the same state that brought you the plastic bag ban and the outlawing of straws, was considering a bill that would keep bars open and serving alcohol until 4 am, thankfully this bill didn’t pass. It is ironic, they want to keep the streets and lakes free of bags and prohibit children from ordering sodas, because, soda causes diabetes, but simultaneously, they want to allow you to hit the bars until 4. So I guess they are okay with you drenching your sorrows and then risking killing yourself or someone else driving home under the influence; but then again, I get it, once again, it’s about government revenue.
PS If no girl’s ugly after 2 AM, what purpose does 4 AM serve?
Here is the legislative language on fines for daring to offer a children’s meal with anything but milk or water.
114379.50. A violation of this chapter is, notwithstanding Section 114395, an infraction, provided, however, that the first violation shall result in a notice of violation. A second violation within a five-year period from the notice of violation shall be punishable by a fine of not more than two hundred fifty dollars ($250). For a third or subsequent violation within a five-year period, the fine shall be not more than five hundred dollars ($500). A restaurant shall not be found to have committed a violation under this chapter more than once during an inspection visit.
Please note that there is no age limit in this bill.
Thus if a senior citizen wants the kids meal then the restaurant must still offer milk or water. Failure to do so is a violation of the law as written.
Also, a change of restaurant ownership or employees during the five year period does not reset the clock for fines.
Some of you want to homeschool your children, some of you make lunch for them instead of eating the ones prepared by union cafeteria workers at the local government school, and some of you even let your children drink with straws.
We all know that children must be kept in baby seats until age eight while traveling in cars because parents can’t be trusted to make them use a seat belt or drive safely because driver safety classes are optional now.
We all know that children are fat because parents are afraid to let their children play outside because they don’t really know their neighbors and many of them are registered on Megan’s List (or should be); plus, due to lawyers, schools have fences around them to keep children out after hours so they can’t get hurt on the playground.
Now the nanny state has put yet another bill on Governor Brown’s desk for approval; this is a bill that requires restaurants to offer only two drink choices to children.
A new state bill would give kids two options with their meals at restaurants—water or milk.
So, suddenly restaurant workers are becoming the most regulated segment of the economy and most are making minimum wage for the privilege of facing this harassment. Think about it, give a person a straw and a waitress can be fined $1,000 and face six months in jail. Now nanny state idiots are on the verge of passing another law that says she could be in trouble if she offers the wrong beverage to a child. I wonder what the fine will be for that shortcoming. If it’s not in the bill now, it certainly will be added at some point in the future.
No soda or else…
Remember, you are only parents because you engaged in a biological act that had unintended consequences and you chose not to abort the product of conception. Until government can agree on a curriculum to license parents, such patchwork responses to childrearing are necessary in an aspiring totalitarian society.
Chicago has been in the news quite a bit lately, for all the wrong reasons. There has never been a better chance for the Republicans to make a difference and their voice and message heard in the inner cities of this country. By making a difference I don’t mean blow fire breathing right wing rhetoric at them, I want us to lay out how the Democrats have literally enslaved them once again.
First a little background, Chicago has been the homicide capital of the United States for about 5 years running, more disturbing is the lack of arrests for said homicides. This goes hand in hand with the culture of “not snitching” so as a result, murderers and gangs are free to continue roaming the streets. Some neighborhoods on the south and west sides of the city could actually be declared war zones since killings and drug abuse so rampant. Keep in mind on the rare chance authorities catch the perp that an illegal weapon is usually found on them such as: a tommy gun, sawed off shotgun, grenade, brass knuckles etc. Keep in mind again, Illinois has some of the toughest gun laws, maybe we should enforce the current laws on the book rather than passing more restrictive ones on its citizens? Frankly if I was in Chicago I would open carry a weapon just to serve as a deterrent.
The heart of the issue:
Many who live in the inner cities of this country feel hopeless, stuck in bad neighborhoods. Most grew up in societies with no father figure in their life. As a direct result they found their father figures by joining a local gang. Schools in the inner city are horrible, this is due to school funding rules; however, there is a lack of a charter school as an option as well, again due to teacher unions. Dropout rates are staggering which shouldn’t be a surprise when you are subjected to teachers “transferred from other schools in the district” with their own issues. This creates a horrible cycle of poverty (due to not being qualified to land a job) anger at police (due to being arrested) and anger toward “the system” (for your current situation). In most cases they are right; they are forgotten and left behind by society, they are stuck with decrepit housing, zero police protection (who wants to go there now, especially with the BLM protests) horrible schools, and no businesses meaning no job opportunities. Their local “elected officials” I say this because they don’t really get a choice, tell them life isn’t bad, and have engrained in their minds government is the solution. Out of work? Get on unemployment. Have a child out of wedlock? Get on WIC or EBT. More kids = more $$$. The reason for you being in your current state is due to GOP policies! Keep voting straight ticket Democrat and your situation will improve.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel
The solution:
A few very intriguing things happened over the past month. Chicagoans from the inner city shut down the Dan Ryan Expressway (a huge commuter route) calling for the resignation of Mayor Rahm (Rambo, Dead Fish) Emanuel, and police chief Eddie Johnson. Emanuel is Hispanic, Johnson is black by the way. I disagree on Johnson, I think he is more than qualified to turn around the city, Emanuel can pound sand, he is literally the Mariam Webster definition of incompetence! Interestingly enough many protestors interviewed want Donald Trump to come there and step in! Yes, you read that right, they want the federal government to take over. Some even went as far as saying bring in the National Guard, as the situation has spiraled so far out of control. No media group will report the percentage of the black or Hispanic vote Trump won during his election, but I bet it far exceeded any other GOP nominee. Trump gets things done, the folks are noticing this. Chicagoans like many other inner-city dwellers are tired of the gangs, shootings and bad schools, this presents a great opportunity. Rather than the usual GOP hot takes like; MLK was a Republican, or Lincoln freed the slaves, speak directly to them, they are a receptive audience. Harken back to California’s Prop 8 vote in 2008 while Barack Obama won in a landslide Prop 8 passed, mostly due to heavy “yes” voting by both blacks and Hispanics. I would lead with over saturation of police patrols, drive the crime out of the area, and as a direct result people will feel safer, and more hopeful. Address the school choice issue; bring in more charter schools, or allow a voucher program, the real bully in the school choice issue is the teachers union. They protect the incompetent at the expense of the good teachers. While fixing the broken home issue is not easy, neighborhoods being safer and turning around local school choice could play a role.
The people have spoken they want “The Donald” to come to inner city Chicago. Don’t misread this, they don’t want GOP fire breather Donald Trump they want negotiator Donald Trump. Bring in the National Guard, change up the school funding, and get rid of the bad teachers (which is likely all of them) and watch the re-vitalization.
Trump the Negotiator
They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That’s the Chicago way!
The Untouchables (1987)
PS do not be scared, downtown Chicago is beautiful and immaculate as well as free from homeless. The bad areas are on the south side and west side which there is literally no reason to go unless you are flying out of Midway Airport, or wish to be carjacked, or want to see a liquor store held up. Get rid of Emanuel, he is a clueless idiot.
Btw so Great White God Ted Cruz called on Donald Trump to “rescue his re-election” the end of the world is near….or at least maybe the CRA.
Democrats were so certain they would win the special election in Ohio last night they even opted to unfreeze Jimmy Carter to make a couple victory laps on TV earlier in the day. Liberal pundits thought they had this in the bag, similar to a political nemesis of the Clintons. The coverage was strong Tuesday morning, MSLSD’s Joe Scarborough “allegedly” a former GOP congressman claimed victory saying it was the start of a blue wave this election year. His wife and co-host of “Morning Joe” was out of town, and strangely I hadn’t seen Joe this aroused in a long while coincidence? I noticed an abnormal number of commercial breaks and was later able to confirm Joe needed to change his undergarments far more than usual, again the whole aroused thing. Good thing “Morning Joe” has only one viewer, no word on if its Joe’s mommy, but nonetheless “The Chief” doubled this morning’s audience. Anderson Cooper was no better, he actually cracked a smile several times, leading me to believe he may have come back to the straight side last night…likely wishful thinking. Chris Hayes, again of MSLSD, was foaming at the mouth during his show, might have been a health issue, possibly the disease called liberalism. Hayes for those of you who don’t know looks like he physically, mentally, and morally peaked in elementary school, imagine a 5th grader frozen and in an adults body.
Rachael Maddow was a complete and total dumpster fire, literally saying there is no way Rep. Troy Balderson could win. Maybe she had inside information? If so she better find a new bookie because Balderson is going to win, leading by 1% with 100% of the vote counted. The Chief has decided Maddow likely has the IQ of a plastic bottle, because when you throw her around she always gets beaten out of shape. Additionally Rev. Al Sharpton added his commentary saying he “hoped the black man would win this election because blacks need equal representation” there was no black person on the ballot, legally “allegedly.” No word from Paul Begala and James Carville, but word has it they started their own radio show, two ugly white guys, mostly to compete with sitcom/reality TV show Two Broke Girls.
The point of this troll blog is to highlight a couple points. First the Democrats are running on nothing except Trump hate, they have no ideas. They remind me of the Republican leadership under President Obama saying he is no good, vote for us…..why you ask? Well we’re not as bad as him. This isn’t anything to run under, its bad policy. Problem is the Democrats were up to their usual tricks Tuesday, just like any other election, word is the local cemetery had over 100% voter turnout. This was actually a low number usually it’s around 150%. As I tell friends of mine, I lost both grandfathers of mine over the last few years, they voted Republican until they died, now they vote straight ticket Democrat. I’m still mystified, if the democrat O’Connor was up by the same 1% the “associated press”( whatever the heck that means) would have already called the race, went home had a warm bottle of milk and gone to bed already; but nope. The evil, white supremacist, angry white male won so yeah we’re not calling it tonight. “Allegedly” the drill bit used to drill a hole thorough the “O’Conner” spot on the ballot needed to be changed, so those ballots found late tonight will be counted later when said drill bit is working again. (Unless the put the hole in the wrong spot and voted for pat Buchannan.) Additionally, we heard Mr. Balderson is required to answer a 2 AM phone call to test his worthiness for said congressman job (maybe we should change the name congressman seems sexist). The 2 AM phone call is a big thing as you may remember Hillary Clinton answered the call and sent in our military when Benghazi was under attack……or maybe she slept through it, but oh well.
Since its Friday, I wanted to take a timeout from the news of the day. I did read a headline about Rush Limbaugh offering to run Facebook after they lost 119 billion in stock value yesterday. Facebook has no value in any real metric. They do nothing and produce nothing. They have no tangible assets, they are vaporware. Facebook exists only on paper. If you liquidated the company, you could only get a few million for real estate and office equipment.
My purpose today is not to bash Facebook, as fun as that may be, but my mind did wander to Rush. I rarely listen to him anymore. I like him and enjoy his program much of the time but work and listening don’t always go together.
I do marvel at the staying power of Rush. He is an American institution. In my lifetime only Paul Harvey approaches him in the field. But Rush is superior. Why? Because Rush does what he does, three hours a day. Paul Harvey did two short broadcasts of less than seven minutes. However, without Paul Harvey, Rush would not be possible.
Paul Harvey
So what does Rush do? First he is a vociferous reader and he has an eye for reading between the lines. He may not use the word but he understands the worldview of those he disagrees with. This is why he is so often right. He just looks at people and knowing what motivates them he can predict what they will do next. He has both a staff and loyal listeners that funnel information to him to sort thru so he can keep abreast of different events. Importantly, he has a sense of humor and knows how to poke fun at his adversaries. This is all well and good but doesn’t necessarily translate to good radio.
Think about it. What is radio? At its core, radio is a guy sitting in an empty room by himself pretending to be having a conversation with his best friend. This dialogue is broken only by commercials and weather updates. Rush has been doing this three hours a day for about 30 years.
Trust me when I say that normal people can’t do radio. I worked in radio in high school and college. The station where I worked in high school was WDDT—which at the time was running a top-40 rock format. WDDT was a small town dawn to dusk AM station. On Sundays, I had to arrive early in the morning and turn on the transmitter. Then at sunrise I had to change the broadcast power to increase the transmitter footprint for daytime operation. Thus I was running the programming and also the acting broadcast engineer.
The college that I attended for my freshman year owned a 50,000 watt AM station and also an FM one which were both on the west side of campus. The student station was confined to the campus and broadcasted via carrier wave thru the power grid of the school. Yes, reception was thru plugging your radio into the 110 volt wall outlet and then tuning to the correct frequency. (Trivia: You can now use this technique in your house to transmit Internet from one room to another.)
These experiences in radio give me a greater appreciation for how gifted Limbaugh really is. I’ve formally met Rush once. Shortly after he left Sacramento and began his nationwide program, he returned and did a political fundraiser in Sacramento. I paid my $100 and got to meet him at the event. He is not what you would expect. He was shy and uncomfortable in the large group. He impressed me as being an introvert when in the company of strangers. It’s part of the way radio works. You create an on air personality and like an actor playing a part, you cloth yourself with the character and take it off when it’s not needed.
My other claim to fame was that I was officially the only troublemaker to interrupt him during his first Rush to Excellence Tour. If you can find the video tape—I don’t think he ever put these on DVD, Rush is doing a bit on the stage about New York handing out condoms to people to protect them from AIDS. Said Condoms were stapled to an information sheet that was being given to people. Rush was mocking them for putting the staples thru the middle of each and every condom that was being passed out with the promise that their use would result in “safe sex”. During this monologue, I hollered-out the name “Lee Nichols” and Rush lost it and started laughing. After a few seconds he recovered his composure and continued him monologue. As a result of my outburst, I was featured prominently in two subsequent close-ups of the audience.
Rush to Excellence ‘89
While the name Lee Nichols probably means nothing to you now, I will explain who he was. Nichols was a professor at Sac State. He left his wife and children to pursue a relationship with a man. Nichols was out of the closet before it was cool. He was very Liberal. He was part of the Lambda Community Center group in Sacramento.
Due to concerns about the FCC Fairness Doctrine, KFBK felt that they needed an afternoon host to counter the conservatism of having Rush on for three hours in the morning so they gave three hours a day in the afternoon to various Liberals. Of these, Lee Nichols was the best foil that they put up.
The reason my Lee Nichols comment was funny was because everybody in the room was thinking it but I was the only one willing to say it out loud and the timing was spot-on.
I’m glad Rush is still around and going strong. Like Trump, I don’t know if he is a Christian but I do know that God is using the man to teardown strongholds of evil and stupidity. Yeah, I guess that means that Rush (and Trump) are doing the Lord’s work.
Brett Kavanaugh has been nominated to replace Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court. Kennedy tended to vote conservatively except on social issues. We have him to thank for the imposition of “Gay Marriage” on this republic. Democrats have made it clear that the main issue at stake in this appointment is abortion. They fear and are fundraising like crazy with the claim that Roe v Wade will fall if Kavanaugh is confirmed.
Below are a few quotes from a press conference held by Demo
crat senators opposed to Kavanaugh. Interpretation of their “double speak” appears in purple .
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) urged all Democrats to oppose President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, saying anyone who supports him is “complicit in the evilopposing abortion.”
“I’m here to call on folks to understand that in a moral moment there is no neutral. In a moral moment there is no bystanders,” Booker said, alongside senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.
“You are either complicit in the evilopposing abortion, you are either contributing to the wrongof protecting innocent life, or you are fighting against it.”
Warren said Democrats “are on the immoral side of history,” while Sanders argued the interpretation of a “living” U.S. Constitution is at stake.
Democrats claim to be on a mission from God to keep abortion lethal
Maxine Waters is mad that poor black folks might leave the plantation and prosper under the Trump Administration economic plan. More blacks are working now than when Obama was President. She is also upset that if Trump enforces immigration law that more blacks will get jobs and not need handouts from government. Thus its God’s will that she oppose Trump to keep “her people” in line.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) has been one of President Trump’s most outspoken critics, recently going so far as to encourage people to publicly harass members of the Trump administration.
On Sunday, however, Waters suggested in a church sermon in Los Angeles that she’s on a divine mission to stop the president , blasting the Trump administration on a range of issues.
Addressing the congregation at First AME Church, Waters said, “You’ve gotta know that I’m here to do the work that I was sent to do, and as pastor said to me when I came in this morning, ‘When God sends you to do something, you just do it!’” she exclaimed to cheers from the crowd.
In response to Janus, the unions are pushing back on government employees. Thus far, this attack is in two ways.
First, for many in California, those once in the union are still presumed to be union members. The idea stated in Janus that members must affirmatively join the union is being ignored. Instead, unions are presuming to keep all members and collect dues from them. I know this is the case with the California Teachers Association but I don’t know if SEIU is following suit but it seems likely.
So called “fair share” employees are getting to keep their money but point number two is directed in large part at them. The unions do provide legal representation for employees that need help and this is their best argument for keeping folks in the union and getting “fair share” employees to join.
When you have some manager that thinks they are dictator of their little bureaucratic fiefdom and treat their underlings as chattel, then the union attorney can step in and defend the employee. Sadly this does happen. Unlike the biblical requirement that you need two or three witnesses to establish an accusation, in government employment it takes one person to level an accusation and someone can be administratively disciplined or fired.
Governments are risk averse and anything that puts them at risk must be dealt with. This is often harsh and swift. Contrary to what most folks think, certain things will result in governments firing people just to avoid conflict. Sexual harassment and discrimination are two such areas. In government, such things are not limited to one person saying something to another that is an off color remark. If someone walking by hears something—even if what they hear is out of context —it can still result in disciplinary actions against others.
Below are examples of how seemingly minor things can get blown way out of proportion.
Example 1
If two employees were talking to each other on break and one said, “I don’t let my children watch Steven Universe because it has homosexual characters on it. It makes me sad that Cartoon Network has programming like this for children.”
Cartoon Network’s Steven Universe
If the employee that you said this to or another employee hears you say that, it can be interpreted as an infraction of the Equal Opportunity rules imposed on state employees and you could be administratively disciplined.
Example 2
A 6-year-old child at a public school falls on the playground at recess and cuts her knee. Bleeding and crying, a teacher watching the playground goes to the child, picks her up, gives her a hug, and escorts her to the school nurse to get her cleaned-up and bandaged. The school contacts the parents and lets them know that their child was injured. The child gets home and tells what happens. In the course of the discussion, the child says the teacher hugged her and said she would be ok. The parents then complain that the teacher touched their child. The next thing you know the district superintendent is involved and the teacher is facing suspension as a pedophile. Folks this really happens.
Example 3
If a teacher takes a cell phone, pencil, or water bottle from a child because they are distracting themselves and the class, they can lose their job. I know this to be a fact. The teacher asked the child to voluntarily cease their behavior and the child refused. As a last resort the teacher took the object from the student and resumed instruction.
The student complained. As a result, the teacher was suspended and subsequently terminated. Not only did the school principal not support his teacher, he got the teacher banned from the district. Then the school district tried to have the State Department of Education ban the teacher from ever working in any public school in the State of California again. True story.
The risk aversion of government makes them do stupid things. Also, the lawyers employed in government are typically not the brightest crayons that passed the bar. Seemingly innocent things can be blown way out of proportion and bad things can occasionally get really bad. When the full faith and credit of a government entity is aligned against you, it’s not a great place to be. Truthfully, unions have righted some wrongs that happen to those in government service.
Many of us in government would not mind being in the union if they would stick to their mission of representing government employees and leave the partisan politics alone. When unions are taking in 900 million a year, they are soaking both members and the taxpayers; hence the revolt.
Watching the Janus case ripple thru the country will be interesting. I do expect that California will find ways to ignore both the spirit and the letter of the court decision. for many, legal representation is probably the best reason to stick with the union in the new era of Janus.
For some group of enterprising conservative attorneys, offering some cheaper form of prepaid legal services as an alternative to union membership might be a business opportunity worth exploring.
When the “Chief” read this headline, Stormy Daniels was Arrested this AM, I knew I had to fire up another troll blog. Stormy Daniels, we will refer to her as an adult entertainer, most known for trying to extort money from President Donald J Trump, was arrested at a Columbus, Ohio strip club where she was “performing” this Thursday AM. She “allegedly” touched some undercover police officers while she was performing on stage. Stormy was arrested and booked into a local jail; no word if said jail had a stage or fireman’s pole on which she could continue her act. However; traditionally, they do have a camera or two on the premises.
Stormy Daniels taking the perp walk earlier today and she looks way different with clothing
Stormy posted bail of $6,054 and was released shortly after being booked. No word on whether bail was paid in used one-dollar bills, or coupons for future services rendered by Miss Daniels. As a sidebar I hope the bail officer wore gloves when handling said dollar bills because this money is in need of laundering (with bleach).
As a certified connoisseur of strip clubs since my youth, I would like to weigh in on this topic because I find the lack of details disturbing here. First of all what patron of a strip club would complain about a dancer touching them? This is what the officers should be investigating, good lord! That’s like the Holy Grail my friend and here you are rushing outside to put 911 on blast? For this? Fortunately for this “poor lad” there just happened to be a number of undercover police officers at the club to well…to stick-up for him and lend a hand. Coincidence? I think not! Rumor has it the officers were investigating a lead on a shooter of famed, rap martyr, XXXTentacion.
Lest you think I jest about Ohio, read the article in the post below on flakka.
“… there have been recent reports of a designer drug marketed as flakka in Ohio and Houston as well as Florida.”
Thank gawd they didn’t let this “Stormy” situation blow over. Or perhaps these officers were just looking for a reason to get her off the premises, away from the unwashed masses, and get a private show out of this? Most people don’t look good in handcuffs unless you are into that sort of thing, but something tells me Stormy didn’t mind, and she is likely no stranger to a pair of more “furry” handcuffs.
Upon being bailed out, her attorney put out a statement saying, “This was a setup and politically motivated, it reeks of desperation.” I agree, as this appears to be the same thing she did to President Trump. The irony in that statement cannot be made up.
What is kind of funny in a weird way is this is the law she broke “under Ohio Law, an employee who regularly appears nude, or seminude on the premises of a sexuality oriented business is not allowed to touch anyone who is not a family member while nude or semi-nude at said establishment.” Well I think that law defeats the purpose of any and all strip clubs, I mean who wants to see a family member nude or semi-nude? Frankly I would expect a law like this in West Virginia but not its neighbor to the west! Truth be told I’m slightly disturbed. Now let me get this straight, so touching a family member’s junk while nude is not viewed as a crime, but if it’s not a family member, it’s illegal? Does this include service animals? Many people regard them as family members too.
Given the above, I think it’s time to change the way we pick Presidents since it usually comes down to Ohio’s “voters.” Maybe they have these laws because of the old joke, what do you call a good looking women in Ohio? A visitor!
In an interview with a friend of mine, he commented “Just a few months ago she was on top of the world, being interviewed by Anderson Cooper and Jimmy Kimmel and now this? My response was if you consider being interviewed by those two as the top of the world; you should get out more often. Plus, I think that’s the first time I’ve heard the words, “girl”, “on top of” and “Anderson Cooper” in the same sentence, ever.
In closing, Stormy got off on these “alleged” charges this morning. And when I say got off, I mean legally, not sexually because there is no way to prove the latter. This is why I always urge people to use “allegedly” because until convicted you do have rights in this country…allegedly. A couple of final thoughts on this; first, the day I call the police because a stripper touched me is the day I kill myself! Also, boy do I hope Trump tweets his thoughts on this, I’m going to get my popcorn and warm pretzel handy! Additionally, I’m glad to know the good men and women of the Columbus Police Department were attending a strip club last night rather than you know; cleaning up the hell hole that is known as Columbus! I am sure there were no shootings, opioid overdoses, or any other crimes committed in that gawd forsaken place!
