The Curious Case of Karen Davis

Karen Davis was busted for lying to federal investigators. The 2014 Tea Party Congressional candidate was arrested for making death threats against herself. Way to go Republicans. At least she did lose the June 2014 election.

Here is the news story
http://www.kcra.com/news/local-news/news-stockton/former-congressional-candidate-accused-of-sending-threatening-letters-to-herself/

Here is her Tea Party candidate profile
http://teapartycheer.com/bios/west/california/karen-davis-ca-bio/

Here is her indictment
http://www.kcra.com/blob/view/-/36136326/data/60821733/-/i94qxg/-/Criminal-complaint-candidate—threats-102915.pdf

Here are some interesting paragraphs from that document.

Note that LPD is Lodi Police Department

7 (only a portion of this section is quoted.) DAVIS stated that she has been the victim of similar types of activity in the past and didn’t know if the recent letter was related. DAVIS said that she moved to Lodi as a result of past attacks and threats. DAVIS told Officer BRISTOW that the only possible lead she could think of was a family known to her as the “Hunwardsons.” DAVIS believed that the “Hunwardsons” were associated with ROGER STEINER who was convicted of assaulting her and had been released from prison approximately (5) weeks ago.

8. On or about December 24, 2013, I interviewed Sergeant DOUG CHINN at LPD about Threat Letter #1 and his previous contacts with DAVIS. CHINN provided a copy of the police report filed by DAVIS regarding Threat Letter #1. CHINN advised that he was acquainted with DAVIS and had spoken with her on a regular basis during his visits to a Starbucks located at 21 0 N. Ham Lane in Lodi. Approximately 2 to 3 months prior to my interview, DAVIS asked CHINN about obtaining a concealed weapons permit. DAVIS told CHINN that she had been a public official in the past and had previously been assaulted due to her position. DAVIS indicated to CHINN that she was currently running for a Congressional seat and wanted a concealed weapons permit due to the previous threats on her life. CHINN related to DAVIS the process for obtaining a permit.

10. When asked if she contacted the police when she first opened the letter, DAVIS stated “no, they have not been very receptive to me in the past.” DAVIS related that she went to _the LPD In the recent past and attempted to obtain a concealed weapons permit. LPD did not issue the permit. (Remainder of paragraph omitted)

15 During her first term (1990-94) as Stanislaus County Clerk-Recorder, DAVIS reported to law enforcement being the recipient of several verbal and written death threats from individuals associated with the JURIS CHRISTIAN ASSEMBLY (JCA). The JCA was described as an anti-government extremist group opposed to paying income taxes. In or about January 1994, DAVIS reported to law enforcement that she was assaulted by two members of JCA in the garage of her residence. DAVIS told investigators that while she was being assaulted the subjects threatened to kill her if she did not comply with JCA demands regarding tax liens filed with the Stanislaus County Clerk-Recorder’s Office. DAVIS later identified ROGER STEINER from a photographic line up, as one of the two individuals who assaulted her. Ultimately STEINER and eight (8) other individuals associated with the JCA were charged and convicted of racketeering (RICO) charges following a federal jury trial in the Fresno Division of the Eastern District of California. STEINER was sentenced to serve approximately twenty-two (22) years in federal prison.

16 On December 26, 2013, I received an email from DAVIS which contained further information about the possibility that CLARK was responsible for sending the threat letter to her. DAVIS stated in her email that in 1995 her ex-husband DAVID MATHEWS owned an agricultural chemical company in Manteca, CA, called TRI-AG. CLARK was one of the owners. CLARK’s degree was in chemicals and agriculture. Her son, SCOTT MATHEWS worked there at the time and said that CLARK talked a lot about guns. If CLARK didn’t talk so much about bombs, guns and his common law beliefs, DAVIS wouldn’t even think of him with regards to CLARK possibly sending the recent threat letter. DAVIS further stated in her email that during the trial of the 1994 assault, there was a confrontation between her parents, her aunt and uncle and the defendants in a hallway at the court. She stated that it was clear that all of the defendants knew who her family was. DAVIS added that after the trial, she received a lot of mail from STEINER while he was in prison, some of which contained veiled threats. In the email, DAVIS further stated that, “all of us are concerned that Steiner has nothing to lose by bothering my family.” The clear implication of this statement in DAVIS’ email was that STEINER could also have sent Threat Letter #1.

The bottom line is that Davis lied about the 2014 letters and it now cast doubts that her 1994 story of assault was true. Did she send an innocent person to jail? In addition, this crime was done—at least in part—so she could qualify for a concealed weapons permit.

Public School System Broke Worst than You Know

Two stories this week prove the stupidity of administrators in California schools.

First was suspending a student for wearing an American flag shirt to school.
American flag shirt gang related

The second was the reaction by the Elk Grove School District to a fight video posted on Facebook? Their suspension of the girl that filmed the altercation is just stupid.
Florin High Student Suspended for Video

I think the administrators that both made and/or defended these actions should be fired. When common sense becomes uncommon, our society is deep trouble.

.Net Framework Install on Windows 8.1

When things work great on your computer the world is somehow a happier place. However, when something goes wrong then you know you are in for a bumpy ride.

The other day my daughter wanted to watch a DVD on her desktop computer which has a new installation of Windows 8.1. She couldn’t get it to work. I was not surprised. I figured it was missing the codec required to run the movie.

I decided to load my old copy of Roxio 2010 on the computer and figured that would solve the problem. OK, I know that loading Roxio is a bit of overkill but I figured she might start using the computer if it could burn DVDs also. Our Wi-Fi signal in her room is really bad so it made sense to use the computer that was wired to our home network.

After three tries, Roxio would not install. It kept hanging on the installation of Microsoft’s .Net 3.5.

At that point I thought, I will just go on the Windows Store and look for a DVD player. I found one that I had heard great things about and then was prompted for a password. The daughter didn’t know her password for her Windows Live account so that idea tanked also. I then went to the website for the DVD player that I found in the Store and then downloaded the free program that I couldn’t get off the Windows Store because the child (insert sarcasm here—she’s 23) didn’t know her password. So now, after about an hour off messing around, the DVD was able to be played.

However, the issue with .Net really bothered me. I tried the usual search of support threads on the Internet. As usual most of the advice was well meaning and totally worthless. Add and Remove Programs was a waste.

Downloading .Net 3.5 as a standalone install is not available on Microsoft’s website. I don’t trust third party solutions; who knows what Trojans or worms could be embedded in their “solution”. Only one suggestion made sense. Install .Net 3.5 from the Windows 8.1 installation disk.

As you have guessed, there is indeed a catch. Inserting the disk into your computer will not allow you to access a way to install the .Net framework for 3.5. You need to do it thru a Command Prompt with elevated privileges.

Here is what you need to do.

1 Put Windows 8.1 DVD into your computer’s DVD drive. Don’t let it run. It just needs to be in the drive. If you have the install files of a flash drive, this method should work just as well.

2 Open Command Prompt with Administrator rights. As is usual in Windows, there is more than one way to do this. Try this first, simultaneously press Windows key and letter X, you will get a menu on bottom left side of your computer screen. Click on Command Prompt (Admin)

3 Now that the Command Prompt is open, you need to type a command to install .Net Framework on the computer. Please note this command must be typed exactly. To help you be successful, remember that there is a single space before each backslash in this command. A total of six spaces appear in this command. Also note, Windows is typically agnostic in regards to capital or lower case letters but other operating systems may read these as different letters.

Type this in the Command Prompt

Dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFx3 /All /Source:D:\sources\sxs /LimitAccess

In the above command, it is assumes that D is the drive letter of you DVD.

After pressing the enter key, the screen will look something like this

On my daughter’s computer, it hung for several minutes at Enabling Feature 60.4 %

Finally it was done.

Then when you check Add and Remove Programs you will see that .Net 3.5 is installed.

I then ran Windows update and had to install 14 updates related to the .Net Framework. Oh, and yes, after all this, Roxio did install successfully.

Bringing Bibles to School Outs Ineffective Pastor

Bring your Bible to school day promoted by Folsom-Cordova School District

This story by Sacramento TV station KCRA is typical. Not one person in support of the flyer is quoted; only parents that disagree. In fact why would the school district distribute the flyer about Bring Your Bible to School Day if no one in the school asked for this activity? Only nefarious district lawyers are mentioned in the story as saying it must be allowed. This question is never addressed by the story.

The TV reporter introduces the issue and then states, “Some parents said that the promotion of the event crosses the line between the separation of church and state.” Sorry, no such phrase in the Constitution—which by the way applies to the national government not the several states. This quote, like much of the story is non-sense.

Let’s look at a quote from one parent.

“Religion should be taught at home, with their church or whatever their beliefs are, but their beliefs should be separate from the public school system,” said parent Al Ernst.

OK, this person’s ignorance is probably typical. Any bets that he voted for Obama?

Al, bad news for you; there is no such thing as a religion free school. It’s just a question of which god is being promoted. Apparently, as long as the religion teaches that man is the measure of all things, not God then it is OK for your kid. Just so you know this religion is called “Humanism”. Public schools just teach a different religion they are not free from religion.

The next quote could only be by a Baptist.

Chan Kim is a local pastor and a parent with children who attend schools in the district. He said the flier for “Bring Your Bible to School Day” was inappropriate.

“It’ll cause problems, because where do you draw the line, where do you stop?” Kim said.

Yep, nailed that too. He is a Baptist. Pastor Kim’s church was found on the Internet and claims he wants the next generation to transform the world. In fact his website states, “Our Vision: To transform the world for Christ by developing a new generation of disciple-leaders who passionately replicate the character, ministry and mission of Jesus Christ. cgbconline.net

And Pastor since you can’t use the Word of God to do that what do you intend to use? To quote Isaac Air Freight, “You can’t do any damage without a sword”. Your ignorance is exceeded only by your ineffectiveness.

This whole news story is non-sense because having a Bible at school should not be a big deal. My daughter carried one thru all four years of public high school. The dangerous thing wasn’t carrying it; it was when she finally took the time to read it. Now that’s dangerous. In fact it could ever lead to transforming her corner of the world for Christ. Something pastor Kim will never have to worry about with his children.

Instead of shining your light, Pastor Kim wants it kept securely under a bushel basket. Yeah, pastor, that’s in the Bible; however, you might want to check the context before you think you are doing the Lord’s work.

Kevin McCarthy is Next Speaker?

OK first Conservatives are backing him

The Hill: Kevin McCarthy for Speaker? Conservatives May Back Him over Boehner
Kevin McCarthy for speaker, conservatives may back him

Now they want to fire him?

Conservatives push to ‘Fire McCarthy’ before he takes speaker’s gavel
Paul Broun launches bid to fire Kevin McCarthy

OK, like him or not, McCarthy hasn’t changed in the last two weeks so what gives?

Seems to me we are trading an ineffective Speaker for a more effective R.I.N.O.

Lesson: at the end of the day, we still loose.

Oregon College Shooting

Ok, we know Roseburg is a small town that used to advertise like crazy here for people from California to retire there.

• The local community college has about three thousand students.

• The killer is reported as dead and has been for several hours. They won’t release his name.

• Plus this from Fox News

Kortney Moore, 18, told the News-Review she was in her Writing 115 class in Snyder Hall when a shot came through the window. Moore said she saw her teacher get shot in the head. The shooter then reportedly told the students to get on the ground before asking people to stand up and state their religion. He then began firing.
Fox News Article

Conclusion, the guy is named Mohammed or something else of similar origin.

Let’s see if this is called terrorism (if I’m right).

Update #1
Christians Targeted
Oregon gunman singled-out Christians during rampage

Water Words

Over the weekend, I made the trek to Anaheim to attend the Board meeting of the California Republican Assembly. I may find the time to blog on the particulars at a later date but this article is not about the meeting per se or the stupid comments posted by other bloggers that didn’t attend the meeting. No this blog is about water.

Over the last few years, many Republicans in elected office have adopted the mantra that the drought in California is manmade disaster. This claim was repeated at the Board meeting several times by Republican Legislators.

While government has mismanaged the usage of water and failed to build more storage since the time Governor Brown’s father was in office, this claim by Republicans is intellectual laziness.

Without rain, storage is only going to get your so far. Yes government could do more but to place all blame on Democrats is dishonest and lazy.

Consider this:
• When Republicans ran the California Legislature, did this issue get addressed and fixed? NO
• When Republicans occupied the Governor’s Office, did this issue get addressed and fixed? NO
• When Republicans have run Congress both House and/or Senate did this get fixed? NO
• When Republicans have occupied the White House did this get fixed? NO
• Is there a comprehensive Republican fix awaiting passage at the State or National level? NO

Lakebed of Indian Valley Reservoir Feb 15, 2014 #1

 

Lakebed of Indian Valley Reservoir Feb 15, 2014 #2

So the obvious rebuttal to this claim is: “Hey Republicans, what the hell are you waiting for?”

The truth is Republicans have done nothing in decades.  For example, the last meaningful action taken on the Auburn Dam was by Assemblyman David Knowles in the 1990’s. Since then I don’t know of any efforts to move the issue. Clearly, Republicans would rather have the issue than see it solved.

Back when Dan Lungren was a big deal in Congress, I tried to talk with him about water; specifically, desalinization so that Southern California could be less dependent on water from the North. He shut me down and wouldn’t even engage me in a conversation. It was just the two of us in a Republican booth in Elk Grove and he wasn’t interested. As far as I can tell, Republicans still aren’t.

Clearly we need more storage but that is not enough. We need a “Manhattan Project” styled effort to make Southern California water self-sufficient. The largest body of water on the planet is on your doorstep, use it. If you want to save Mono Lake, Hetch Hetchy, little fishes and whatever else, then this is the logical way to do it.

Republican rhetoric is not going to solve anything. We need meaningful action. Unfortunately, none is forthcoming on either the State level or the national. Republican control of both the House and Senate has never resulted in a bill being passed.

Republicans are not serious about the issue. If they were, they would get it done and not worry about who got the credit. That is the Reagan way.  Reagan had this plaque on his desk for a reason, “There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.”

Apple Event is Exercise in Me Too

Apple rolled-out their new phones and tablets today. It’s clear that they’re missing Steve Jobs because their stuff today was boring, old, and overpriced.

Both the phone and tablet announced today, are lower in specifications than existing products already offered or announced by Microsoft. Oh, on the new Apple tablet demoed today, they were using Microsoft Office as their proof they could do something besides games on the new tablet.

Phone
The new Windows phones are capable of running any apps available for Windows 10 (phone, tablet, and desktop). If the programmer writes his code properly, the app can run on any Windows device.

Oh, the Continuum feature means your phone can function as a desktop computer including HD monitor, keyboard and mouse.

specs-comparison-lumia-950-xl-vs-iphone-6s-plus

Tablet
Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3 runs the desktop operating system unlike Apple’s tablet which runs a phone OS.

Surface Pro 3 starts at $799 with pen, Apple starts at $999 plus extra $99 for their “pencil”.

This should insure that Apple stock remains in the basement for months to come.