SEIU and Crickets

Crickets…

This sound is often associated with silence, white noise, or just meaningless background. In the movies as in real life, when the crickets are silent, something very wrong is being foreshadowed.

In like manner, since the SEIU Board of Directors unanimously authorizing a strike vote, all that they have been saying publicly is nothing; just crickets. Nothing distributed to members via public channels even hints to their next move.  Their silence over last few weeks is deafening.

I thought they would jump to calling a strike vote almost immediately. Instead, I’m starting to wonder if they are shopping legislative campaigns in search of sympathetic candidates who will sell their souls for campaign cash from this powerful labor union. Now that California is officially a one party state, it is a possibility worth considering.

I think it is clear that Governor Brown is not supportive of their cry for a 22 percent pay increase over four years for 95,000 state employees. Perhaps they are trying to shore-up their support in the Legislature before entering into further negotiations with the State.

As a recovering Republican, I’m not used to people playing chess in an arena where my side can’t even play checkers. The SEIU playing the long game is something I hadn’t considered until now but if August goes out like a lamb, then it’s likely they are banking on November 8th to improve their fortunes…literally.

Target Caves Badly on Transgender Bathrooms

Your humble blogger X has witnessed one of the biggest epic fails by a corporate CEO in recent memory. This guy put his fiduciary responsibilities aside in a desperate attempt to push his liberal values on the rest of the world.  I am highlighting the horrible decision making by Target Corporation CEO Brian Cornell.  Cornell—as you may recall—instituted an “open bathroom and dressing room” policy at Target Stores nationwide in April of this year.  Hence men could now use the ladies room and vice a versa. Any customer could use any restroom or dressing room depending on which gender they felt like identifying with on that particular day.  Cornell wanted diversity and inclusivity, two hallmarks of the new Democratic Party, so he, like all liberals decided he needed to act immediately by Executive Order. Somehow he thought he could be a trailblazer on this subject.  X thinks this is chapter one in the Democrat playbook, decide you know what is best and implement immediately.

The immediate after math of this decree was not favorable. An online petition to boycott Target ensued and gathered almost 700K signatures in a matter of days.  But this was just the beginning of problems for Target. As everyone knows we live in a country with roughly a 50/50 split politically so policies like this are bound to anger quite a few people.  Not surprisingly, sales and earnings at Target fell and during their next earnings report. Analysts asked if the petition regarding bathroom policies was the reason for the drop in sales. Of course Cornell denied any correlation between the two.  X believes this is chapter two in the Democrat playbook; even if all fails, blame other factors. (In my time in the Navy, our version of this was “Deny everything and make counter-accusations”—Editor.)

While Target was shoving this perversity down the throats of consumers, the liberal media was mocking those not comfortable with the possibility that a member of the opposite sex may enter the bathroom they are using and be in the next stall.  No way a man would use a women’s bathroom to video or photo them; that could never happen, right?

During the course of the next two months, there were four reported instances of this occurring. All four instances happened where?  You guessed it, at Target shopping centers!  Game over Cornell.  The easiest way to get people to stop using your store is a mother or father thinking their child may not be safe using the opposite sexes bathroom while they wait outside.  Obviously CEO Cornell never considered that shoppers could take their business to a very small competitor from Arkansas; Wal-Mart, I’m sure you have never heard of them.

Then a strange sequence of events took place this past week.  Target Corporation reported declining profits on Wednesday the 17th. In a historically high market, it was truly a disaster when they reported that their stock plummeted 6%.  Again Cornell’s team claimed that this had nothing to do with the bathroom policy, but then after the close of the stock trading day, Wal-Mart reported their best earnings in eight quarters.  No coincidence right?  On Thursday the 18th, Cornell’s lieutenant—CFO Cathy Smith—announced the company would spend 20 million dollars to add a private, one stall unisex bathroom to all stores by March of 2017.  Clearly Cornell panicked. His Executive Order resulted in the business faltering and missing earnings projections.

Since April, over four million have signed the petition to boycott Target.  Customers—especially during these economic times—are extremely fickle. Based on earnings, it sounds like many have traded Target for Wal-Mart as their preferred shopping choice.

Cornell better hope the trend reverses quickly.  Like any desperate human being, he served up his CFO, making her fall on the sword to protect him. This may buy him time; however, X believes he should get his resume ready.  Cornell will survive. All the executive types like him do. He will blame everyone but himself. He may nominate himself for sainthood because he tried to be inclusive. Look for him to grab a golden parachute and find employment in the C-suite elsewhere.

“X” suggests he apply for a job at Kraft Foods. Specifically, may I suggest President of Kool-Aid North American division?  That way he can drink his own Kool-Aid!

Sorry, bad joke….til next time!

X

Text: My Ballot Argument to Vote No on Measure B

The following was submitted to Sacramento County Elections as a ballot argument in opposition to the increase in local sales tax that will appear on the November ballot. This argument was not selected by the Registrar of Voters for Sacramento County. According to County Elections, several arguments were submitted.

Such arguments can be submitted by individuals or groups. This one was submitted as an argument by an individual. I’m curious what they ended-up selecting. Anyway, here is the text as submitted.

As a resident of Sacramento County, I’m respectfully submitting an argument in opposition to this 30 yearlong sale tax increase. Here are some reasons to oppose this tax.

First, until the state and federal governments restore the taxes they are diverting from roads to other programs, why should we here at the local level be taxed again for repairs we have already paid for but never received? Here are examples:

1. All diesel fuel sales taxes ($620 million) are diverted to public transit. Zero is spent on road improvements.

2. All vehicle weight fees ($1 billion) are diverted to California’s general fund. None is used on roads.

3. 25 percent of the federal Highway Trust Fund is spent on non-highway projects.

Second “transportation” does not equal road repairs and improvements. It can but does not have to. Much of this tax is already earmarked for busses and light rail despite the fact that there is no visible relationship between transit funding and transit ridership.

Third, just because revenue from this proposed tax is designated for transportation does not mean that transportation spending will increase. Historically, when a special tax such as this is passed, a budget swap is done.

Here’s an example.

Suppose 5 million is collected from this tax and given to the transportation budget. Now 5 million that was being spent on transportation is free to be spent elsewhere. The result:  transportation spending is unchanged but 5 million more is available in the general fund thus growing government without fixing anything.

Fourth, government wants to boost the wages of their employees proportional to the increase in the minimum wage. Much of this tax will go to wages and pensions of existing employees and not the promised improvements.

I don’t think I’m under taxed just under served. How about you?

Where are the Conservatives in Sacramento County?

As we rapidly approach the November elections, I wondered aloud about what would happen with Sacramento County ballot Measure B.  For you home gamers—that’s a sales tax increase of .5% on everything you buy.  The threshold for approval is 67% and “X” seems to think this will be achieved rather easily.

Why you ask?

All the conservatives in this county are focusing their time and effort towards other “far more important things” such as a congressional race with a candidate running a strange campaign, raging against smart meters (X doesn’t believe this will ever appear on a ballot anytime soon), Common Core, or focusing on fringe, perennial candidates running for assembly or school board.  These folks are pouring precious time and resources into doomed and failing campaigns while looking the other way as our sales tax will go up yet again. This is called epic fail folks.  “X” believes these local groups—that claim to have your back and mine—will not even take a stand on measure B, nor will many even be informed as to what its effects will be.  Local Republican central committees and tea parties will tell you everything you want to hear, but actions speak so much louder than their words ever will.

So for the local Republicans and conservatives that read this blog, I will outline what Measure B is going to do.  The county expects to raise 8.6 million a year in new revenue (for the next 30 years). This money will be used to pay for new roads and maintenance as well as public transportation.  The county calls this measure “fix it first” meaning they can now completely repave local roads as opposed to performing routine maintenance that would have cost a fraction as much.  In addition the JPA connector out near Grant Line Road will be built, as well as additional overpasses for freeways and the like.  As far as public transit goes, Bruceville Road in Elk Grove will become a “bus corridor”. (X doesn’t know what the heck that means.)  Perhaps most importantly, light rail will be extended over time to have a final destination of Sacramento Airport!  (This has been promised to the people of Sacramento since before Joe Serna was mayor. – Editor) Oh by the way, that route had so few riders that RT had slated for it to be shut down earlier this year!  Yeah think about that….take a few minutes.

Now the good news. This tax increase can be defeated; even the Board of Supervisors study—that they likely paid several hundred thousand for—said as much.  The survey founds 69% would support such a tax; however, that number drops to 61% if there is any opposition, effectively killing the tax.  (For those of you who get your news from MSNBC I’m talking about stopping a tax, not killing people named “Tax” by the way).  So tell your friends, co-workers, acquaintances, etc. to make them aware.

Join the blog father William and his partner in crime “X” and stop the tax!

For those of you “conservatives” out there, you can go back to your regularly scheduled programming of aiding doomed campaigns, railing against smart meters, Common Core, or plotting Ted Cruz for President 2020.

Until next time……..

X

Editor’s note: “X’ has requested not to be publicly identified and is diligently searching for a better pseudonym.

Jail House Vote

During the Clinton Administration, Democrats were desperate to stop Republicans and the quickest way to stack the voter rolls was to create more voters by giving felons the right to vote. The fight to stack to voter rolls with more Democrats resulted in Paul Shanklin recording a parody of Elvis Presley’s Jail House Rock in 1999. The parody, sung by Jesse Jackson was titled Rev. Jackson’s Jailhouse Vote.

This is actually happening again right now in Virginia. In a desperate effort to help Democrats, the governor, Terry McAuliffe —an associate of Bill Clinton’s—is adding 200,000 felons to the voter rolls in time for the November election.

Virginia Governor Bypasses Court Ruling To Help 200,000 Ex-Felons Vote

Yesterday, I went to the Sacramento County Elections office and guess what I saw?
Yeah, the jailhouse voter rights sign.

Taxes, Lies, and Silence

A few years ago (2010), the City of Elk Grove put forward a ballot measure that claimed to reduce the local utility tax by .25 percent. The ballot argument submitted by the city attorney put this forward as the chief reason to support the measure.

Measure J: Shall an ordinance be adopted to reduce the existing Utility User Tax from 2.5% to 2.25%; modernize the current ordinance to treat taxpayers equally regardless of technology used for telecommunications and video services; to preserve funding for essential general municipal services, such as public safety?

FISCAL IMPACT The legal and technology issues could reduce the City’s projected General Fund revenues by as much as $600,000 per year. The General Fund pays for most of the City’s police, code enforcement, animal control, financial and administrative services, and some transit services. Some or all of these services could be affected by the lost revenue. Measure J would prevent the loss of those revenues.

www.elections.saccounty.net/ElectionInformation/Documents/sac_025024.pdf

There was no opposition to the measure. This tax argument was based on a willful lie or—as the Catholics call it—a sin of omission. The tax was technically a reduction; however, it more than doubled the amount of devices that were covered by the tax so in reality it was a huge, multi-million dollar tax increase. This was a textbook case of bait-and-switch.

The measure passed 76.57 % to 23.43 %

Since that time, many of us have vowed that no local tax measure would go unchallenged on the ballot. Unfortunately, those groups in our community that claim to stand for lower taxes and less government have failed to act. With both elected Republicans and Democrats acting in concert to raise taxes, these advocacy groups have ceded the argument and the fight.

Sacramento County is now trying to pass a sales tax increase for transportation called Measure B. Measure B—an 8.5 billion dollar tax over 30 years—will be on the November 8th ballot. As of a month ago, none of the so-called conservative leaders in the Elk Grove area knew anything about the measure and were surprised to hear it was going to voters. Furthermore, none plan to do anything about it.

Thanks in part to the work of one of my friends, the Elk Grove City Council decided not to go after a local sales tax after they had paid for all the groundwork to get it on the ballot in November. Prior to the vote he sent each Council member a letter outlining the spending excesses of the Council and some of the things they had foolishly done with taxpayer money. Since the total amount he listed was several times the amount they hope to get from the tax, the motion died with only one YES vote. Again no local groups did anything to oppose the tax.

But never fear faithful readers, yours truly promises that some sort of argument against Measure B will be on the ballot. Thus far, two arguments have been submitted in opposition—including mine—and as of yesterday no argument in favor had been submitted.

I will keep you updated on what happens. Arguments must be filed by close of business on Thursday and rebuttal arguments are due on Monday.

CDCR: Pledges No Assisted Suicide for Inmates

Department of Corrections opts out of physician assisted suicide law in California.

Below are excerpts of the proposed response to this new California law.
www.cdcr.ca.gov/Regulations/Adult_Operations/docs/NCDR/2016NCR/16-10/NCR_16-10_Notice_of_Proposed_Regulations_Posting.pdf

Jack “The Dripper” Kevorkian (1928-2011) with his suicide machine

3359.8 End of Life Option Act Exemption

New section 3359.8 is adopted to read:
All terminally ill inmates remaining in the custody of CDCR will receive health care appropriate and necessary to their situation, including counseling, hospice and palliative care. Inmates in the custody of CDCR shall not be provided aid-in-dying drugs under the End of Life Option Act (California Health and Safety Code, Division 1, Part 1.85, Sections 443-443.22). Employees, independent contractors, or other persons or entities, including other health care providers, shall not participate in activities under the End of Life Option Act on premises managed by or under the direct control or management of the Department or while acting within the course and scope of any employment by, or contract with, the Department.
Page 5

Confirming that individuals requesting end of life medication have made an informed and voluntary decision is the most significant factor in the End of Life Option Act. Its provisions describe the specific content and timing of the required oral and written requests for the medications. Confirmation of the request to the attending physician is required from a consulting physician and from a mental health specialist if there are indications of a mental disorder. Even within those safeguards, it is unclear how an inmate could make a voluntary decision in light of the influence and effect of confinement. The degree that inmate decisions are influenced or coerced, directly or indirectly, by the conditions of confinement or by the remaining length of sentence cannot readily be measured or alleviated.

Given the custodial status of terminally ill inmates, the End of Life Option Act creates a potential conflict of interest for CDCR staff and contractors responsible for inmates’ safety and welfare. In California, CDCR determines where inmates will be assigned and determines their housing restrictions in the prison; it decides who can visit them and for how long; and their access to food, clothing and personal property. Health care is provided to inmates by CDCR employees or through contracts with CDCR. Prison health care staff determine what care is offered to inmates, when and which employees or contractors will provide treatment. Finally, the State of California pays for inmate care and treatment of inmates, including end of life care.

Once the aid-in-dying drugs are prescribed and delivered to the patient under the End of Life Option Act, the individual is free to choose when and where to ingest the medication. Alternatively, the person may decide not to end his or her life. The abuse of both illicit and prescribed medications in CDCR is a major safety and security concern. If a terminally ill inmate were allowed to possess aid-in-dying drugs, significant operational and administrative controls would be required to manage access to the self-administered medications. Prison staff would have to play an unacceptable role in managing and supervising the inmate’s end-of-life actions.
Page 6-7

Watch the Skies

Look up in the sky…

No, it wasn’t a bird, or a plane or Hillary’s star falling last night. Instead it was a Chinese rocket—possibly a satellite killer—disintegrating as it entered earth’s orbit.

Except in movies, I’ve never seen anything like it. If you saw the “fireworks” at the end of Independence Day as Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum are smoking their cigars as they strut thru the desert or Sandra Bullock at the end of Gravity as she is finally riding home in the ruins of a Chinese space station, then you would have a good idea what was in the sky last night.

I was in Elk Grove Park last night with my wife and son, getting set for the first night of the Strauss Festival when my son looks up in the sky and says, “Dad, look, it’s a comet.”

I looked up, and due south of our location, at about half the height of the trees, was a bright object with a very long flaming tail moving very slowly from west to east.  I’m old enough to know comets just don’t show-up in the sky, plus we were using our star watching apps, so I knew it was something else. My guess was that it was a satellite falling back to earth. The tail was composed of debris, similar to the way a bottle rocket has a flaming tail as it flies thru the air. As it moved across the sky, the tail got smaller.

After my son saw it, I took a few seconds to turn on my camera and switch to video and shoot a movie as it flew (mostly behind the trees). I got 72 seconds before I finally lost sight of it behind more trees. At about 46 seconds into the video, I saw that it had broken into two large pieces.

Below Above is a still from my movie. (9:37 pm on 07-27-2016) Unfortunately, the tail isn’t really visible due to the lack of light sensitivity that my phone has at night. With the naked eye, it was much more spectacular; especially, when we first saw it.