Today our church decided not to subject its members to the heat and humidity of the current heatwave so they opted to let us meet indoors. As timid as these folks have been about all the Covid-19 rules, this is a big deal. I think my church’s leadership was emboldened by John MacArthur standing up to Los Angeles County and the Governor and then winning the first round in court.
Pastor John MacArthur
Newsom’s rules are arbitrary and capricious and the sooner that folks tire of his pompous BS the better off we will be. In the meantime, we are singing at church and at least occasionally meeting in the building built for that purpose. Its progress in my mind and I’ll take part of something over hiding in place for another six months and doing nothing.
The wife and I decided to take a trip to Ikea today to window shop and dream about making some upgrades to the house. As you can see, we were not alone.
When we arrived just before 10:30 this morning, there were hundreds of folks waiting outside to get in, plus several hundred already in the store. Oh, and about another hundred waiting outside in the return line. Yes, men, women, and children were crammed into the “cattle call” lines just to get a dose of Swedish retail therapy. Folks if you thought your last trip to Home Depot was an ordeal, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
We talked to a few folks waiting in line and this is what we were told.
We spoke with a lady that was getting close to the entrance—a few dozen people away—and she had been in line for over an hour to get this far. Calculating backwards, this means she arrived shortly after nine am for a chance to get in Ikea when it opened at 10 am. FYI the line was halted because the store was at capacity and she would have to wait until some people finished shopping before more customers would be allowed to enter so she might be waiting another hour to actually enter the store.
But that’s nothing compared to the lady we spoke with that had just finished going thru the return line. This was her fourth day* trying to make a return at Ikea. She had driven from her home in Fairfield and arrived at 7:30 this morning. She said at 7:30 that there were already 15 people in line ahead of her. Again, Ikea opens at 10 am.
* Folks, 3 ½ round trips form Fairfield to West Sacramento is about 280 miles of driving.
As I pondered the possibilities of what to do while waiting in this ridiculously long line, I thought this might be a great place to have a church service. As you can see in the photos, much of the line is shaded by a whole series of coverings. Just put your pastor at the front of the line with his congregation behind him. Then the group could sing, pray, and listen to the sermon as they wait to enter Ikea. In the line, there’s no social distancing, just face masks. The whole congregation could literally gather in one accord, at one time: to heck with the pesky 100-person limit and all the rest. Towards the end of the service, the minister could just stop advancing thru the line, stay in one spot and as people pass him, they could take Communion and give an offering.
Such a service would be more dignified than having a flash mob service at Wal-Mart or Home Depot. Such crafty skirting of Governor Newsom’s bias against Christian worship would be mitigated by conducting the worship at a government approved essential business.
21st Century churches—the big ones, anyway, are big into marketing. However, I’m stumbling to create a reverential, yet marketable slogan for such a gathering. Our advertising department has rejected the following suggestions.
Mass and Meatballs.
Sacraments and Sawdust.
Preaching and Particleboard.
I Am and Ikea.
Faith and Furnishings.
Lines for Living
Anyway, if you need something to do for a few hours while we are in the midst of triple digit temperatures, try the line at Ikea.
Earlier this week I went to visit my dentist for a semi-annual cleaning. What was once a routine visit has been turned into a freakshow by the irrational fear of Covid, government bureaucrats, and lawyers. After hearing my tale, you may wish to take a pass on going for the next year or so.
Last week, I got a reminder call about my upcoming appointment with my local dentist. During the call, it was mentioned that before my visit that I would need to complete two online forms.
On the morning of my appointment I went online to their website–which up until that time I had never visited before. I found a tab for forms and filled out a medical history form—which I had updated in person during my last visit in January and thus was a totally unnecessary exercise. Then I had to complete a Covid form. I knew I would be in for some grief when I answered “Yes” to the question about have you been out of state within the last 14 days.
Right on cue, I got a phone call later in the morning about the “Yes” response on the Covid questionnaire.
Where did I go out of state?
Why did I go out of state?
How long was I gone?
Who did I see during my trip?
How many people were at gatherings that I went to?
Was anybody sick?
Did I social distance?
Did they?
Did I wear a mask everywhere?
Did they?
Did I shake hands or hug anyone?
I mean really. Why is any of this your business anyway? I felt like I needed a Miranda Warning and a phone call to my attorney before answering the blizzard of questions.
Just the facts…
Folks I went to Idaho to look at property. Its my second trip there in three months. Given my treatment by the dentist–which is just getting started by the way–can you blame me for wanting to leave the hellhole of California.
If anything, when I said that I went to Idaho, the interview should have been over. Idaho has very few Covid cases and most folks there don’t give a crap about giving up their liberty to have the government protect them from the flu.
I told the lady from the dentist office that I went to Idaho with my wife to meet with a realtor to look at properties. What I didn’t say is that none of us wore masked while spending three days together in her car. Oh, the realtor had just spent the last four days at the local county fair—remember when we used to have those in California? She was working at the fair with her granddaughter. Thus, she was easily exposed to several thousand local residents in close proximity with each other. If anything, the folks in Idaho should have feared us since California is infested with liberals and Covid-19. However, we were not treated as pariahs but as fellow Americans.
Anyway, I thought I was good to go for the appointment and hung up the phone. I had no idea of the gauntlet that awaited me at the dental office.
I arrived a few minutes before my appointment and went into the waiting room of the dental office. Per the sign, I deployed my government mandated muzzle (mask). The next thing I noticed was a bright line on the floor that said stop here. It was about 10 to 12 feet from the front counter and barely inside the lobby door. I told the receptionist my name and was told that I had to apply some hand sanitizer that they provided on the table behind me. Yuck! It was the nastiest smelling stuff I’ve ever applied to my body. It put me on the verge of feeling ill. It was horrible. Then some woman in full garb came out and made me put my finger in a blood oxygen reader—like they use when you are in the hospital. After getting a reading, she then shot my forehead with a gun to take my temperature.
Having cleared this second screening, I was then taken to the dental chair. I was then instructed to use the mouth rinse that they provided and then I could sit in the chair. Having learned my lesson with the hand sanitizer, I used a tiny amount of the rinse and poured the rest down the drain. I then filled the cup with water and rinsed-out the rinse.
Then the dental assistant said I could be seated in the chair. She took my blood pressure. Following the blood pressure measurement, she tried to get me to remove my glasses and then use the ones provided by them. This was an epic failure and I finally opted to wear my glasses just like every other time I’ve visited them.
The assistant then told me that X-rays were the first order of business. I opened my mouth and upon seeing that I was wearing braces, she aborted the X-ray portion of the program. Apparently, wires in your mouth are not compatible with this procedure. What she did with the film that she tried to shove in my mouth I do not know. Anyway, the dentist ended up cleaning my teeth, but no polish on this trip which was unusual. I guess Doctor Fauci is not allowing that today but I’m sure the insurance will still get billed the full amount.
Anyway, that was my trip to the dentist a few days ago. Thought you should know what to expect. After recounting this experience to my wife last night, she exclaimed that there’s no way she’s going to see her local dentist any time soon. Oh, I’ve seen my orthodontist twice since all this shutdown nonsense and other than a mask, things are about the same in their office. As usual, I guess your view of Covid is a function of whether you watch 24/7 news and believe it. After all, its politics not science.
In case you have missed the rioting, looting, and outright lawlessness in big cities throughout the country, Seattle voted Monday to slash the police department budget by 3 million. While that seems like a small number, the result will be a reduction of 100 police on the streets. Top staffers are taking forced pay cuts, and that is just the beginning of yet another “pass it to find out what’s in it, bill.” Seattle considered the bill, a favorite of BLM folks because they all think if they appease the mob, the mob will either stop, or target them last.
When the agenda item came up, both Mayor Durkan and Police Chief Carmen Best opposed this action saying it will affect minority (AKA non-white) officers the most and will encourage yet more lawlessness and crime. The motion carried 7-1, with one abstention. The “no” vote was Kshada Sawant a socialist who stated her no vote was because this measure did not go far enough. Keep in mind that Seattle had a foreign country (Chop/Chaz) inside of it for 6 weeks or so. A country that erected its own borders, tracked the I.D.s of all who entered or left, and had a group of rogue security guards armed with guns far more illegal than the ones you or I are permitted to own to enforce its laws!
Chief Best announced the following day she was retiring. She had been with the department for 28 years. She was a lifer in a field where so many spend their career hunting for the next higher paying job to spike their retirement. Just as a comparison, William’s and my hometown is on its 4th chief in 16 years! Best, who is black by the way, actually did a great job over the years and as a lifer knew the department well. She made it more diverse while enforcing the law fairly. Isn’t diversity a calling card of the BLM/far left/Soros types? Best saw her life’s work wiped out with the stroke of a pen via a unanimous vote! It was unanimous because the dissent was only because it didn’t go far enough.
Here are some highlights from the presser:
But more than anything during her press conference, she was frank as she explained she couldn’t bring herself to carry out the layoffs. She read a letter written to her by a new black officer.
“He is one of the people that will probably not keep a job here. And that for me, I’m done. Can’t do it,” Best explained.
Best is the first black woman to lead the SPD. She rose through the ranks from a patrol officer in the East Precinct to sergeant, lieutenant, captain, and deputy chief. Mayor Jenny Durkan appointed her to Chief two years ago after a controversial snub that led to a large public outcry.
But on Tuesday, the past was behind them as Durkan reiterated her unwavering support for Best and even appeared emotional.
“My heart is obviously heavy to lose her and I will freely admit, I wish she were staying,” said Durkan.
Best said she wrestled with the decision and made it before the Council’s Monday vote.
Durkan said she believes Best is the right person to “reimagine” policing in the city.
Best voiced her resistance to the City Council’s plan to slash the department’s budget by 50%, and the decision for officers to leave the East Precinct in June, when the “Capitol Hill Occupied Protest” or CHOP, took over several blocks surrounding the building for weeks. Protesters even targeted Best’s home.
Durkan and Best both took shots at the City Council who they say sought to defund the SPD without a real plan.
“This is not about the money. And it’s not about the demonstrators. Be real. I have a lot thicker skin than that. It really is about the overarching lack of respect for the officers – the men and women who work so hard, day in and day out,” Best said.
“This was a difficult decision for me, but when it’s time, it’s time,” Best wrote in an email to her 1,400 officers Monday night, hours after.
Notice, Mayor Durkan mentioned in the quote above? This lady is very conflicted. First, she knew, supported, knelt with, etc. supporters of BLM/CHOP/CHAZ—at least until they decided to protest at her house. Next time we hear about her is when she is supporting her chief and taking shots at her fellow council members for cutting the police department. Durkan is the worst type of politician. Such political types support a fringe movement when it has no cost, but then when it comes time to put pen to paper, they decide to take a different tact. Also notice crime is way up, the violent, lawless type especially, and the answer from city leaders is to reduce the number of police…. doesn’t seem too smart.
Best served as the chief law enforcement officer in the city of Seattle but she was overruled by the Mayor during the protests. Following the mayor’s orders, the police were forbidden to enforce the law or keep order during the upheaval. Furthermore, agreeing with the protestors, the entire council voted to cut her department’s budget without any concern for public safety. Best knew the department is in trouble for the foreseeable future and did what any self-respecting human being would do, step down.
It may soon dawn on Mayor Durkan that not only has she lost control of her city council; she has also lost control of her city. Durkan has been on every possible side of this issue telling her audience whatever she thinks will be to her advantage. Clearly, she has lost whatever credibility and goodwill she may have had. Meanwhile, a recall petition was just green lit by the City Court. Now Durkan must survive a recall while grappling with finding a new chief of police willing to work in her city and deal with fellow councilmembers who will want to gut the police budget further.
This same scenario will be playing out all over the country in the next few months….
The Chief
Editor’s Note: This article proves Joe Biden’s V.P. pick was not the Best.
So many questions: Does Joe Biden know that he even picked Kamala Harris? Assuming he got a say, was it because her hair smelled good, she got Biden’s endorsement the way she got Willie Brown’s, or because Harris was an articulate black woman?
Kamala Harris sharing a moment with Willie Brown
The obvious question is why? Does Biden need to shore-up his support in the once “golden state”? How does picking such a crazy lady help him win in middle America or the swing states? Harris not only represents California values—or lack thereof—but San Francisco values. Where else does that even play well? OK, maybe cities in flames or civil unrest like Seattle, Minneapolis, New York City, and Chicago.
Truthfully, Harris is the perfect choice for the cancel culture and Some Black Lives Matter. Nobody has a stronger track record of promoting the genocide of unborn black children better than Harris. Heck she makes Fay Wattleton look like a poser in comparison.
Harris also has a long track record of selective enforcement of the law—often ignoring it when it furthers her political career. Harris is the worst kind of swamp creature and given the opportunity, she would throw Joe under the bus or upstage him to make herself look good.
Biden’s VP pick is seen by some as a de facto successor since its speculated that he will expire in office with or without assistance from the Clintons.
Joe Biden has a tiger by the tail and Donald Trump will make him rue the day he selected Harris. What a gift Trump has been offered. Only a Supreme Court vacancy would help Trump more.
Look for Orange Man to put it out of reach early on election night.
Gotta hand it to Gavin Newsom, or Comrade Newsom as he is known here. But he has a total read on this virus, so much so I would say he should add the acronym MD after his name! I mean look at what he has instilled to keep us unwashed masses safe from the ‘rona.
Banned indoor dining, apparently the virus only goes inside restaurants, it doesn’t affect those in tents outside.
Kept Indian Casinos open…. well I mean I guess the witch doctor knows it won’t enter a casino.
Closed gyms for indoor use, I guess once again this virus is attracted to indoors only, not the outdoor workout areas.
Can’t swim at the OUTDOOR pool at the gym, but you can use the city owned Wackford Water Park!
Can’t congregate at the local speakeasy, yet you can take your booze to go from a restaurant! MADD must just be trilled.
You can’t get a haircut inside, yet outside is ok …. what about all those chemicals used to dye, color, polish etc. girls nails and stuff? I guess we can overlook that.
Banks have strict social distancing requirements leading to very long lines outside the building, I guess Newsom wants us to go full Venezuela circa 2000. BTW what is this about a coin shortage?
Closed wineries unless you buy food…. Huh? remember again bars are closed with no food option allowed. By the way Plump Jack Winery in Napa, is still open, it happens to be owned by Comrade Newsom. He obviously thinks his own rules are silly.
Workers social distancing at Plump Jack Winery
Speaking of Plump Jacks anyone seen Hope Hicks lately?
Customers at Plump Jack Winery beat the ‘rona by dining outdoors
You cannot play basketball or use the jungle gym at the local park where your property tax is spent, but you can play soccer or have a picnic. This virus seems very selective with whom it impacts!
County lines are also a red line in the sand for this virus, while it is active in Sacramento, Yuba, Sutter, Placer and San Joaquin county, it does not enter El Dorado County. I cannot quite figure that out. it’s not like Comrade Newsom is buying a house there….oh wait he is! Equipped with a fence, and guards. I mean can we get that at the border!!!!!!!!
Schools are closed for indoor learning, but fear not, your children can use Zoom to meet with their teachers and study, with breaks given to raid the cookie jar or liquor cabinet pending the age of said child.
Fear not the beaches are open, because apparently the ‘rona avoids hot women in bikinis like the plague, no chance it spreads there.
If you want to shake hands, please don’t, but if you want a Tinder hook up Dr. Falsie says its ok. Notice he left out Grindr the hook up app for gays…is Falsie a bigot? Tune in at 11 for more on this report!
Oh, and since this blog will likely be posted on the Sabbath, thank god churches are closed for indoor services, wouldn’t want the ‘rona affecting folks who socially distanced and wore masks. However, the Comrade is allowing outdoor services (except weddings or funerals), and our priest said we can attend and bring water and a blanket to sit on. So, I guess this is like the Civil War redux? Am I allowed to fire up the BBQ and put some brats on for after the 11 am service on Sunday?
This is so sad and wrong. Literally folks in 30 years will be laughing at us, and this will be the legacy of quite a few generations. Hence you think this is a far-rightwing blog written by a fringe knucklehead? The Blog Father and I are a decade or two apart and we seem to see eye to eye more often than not.
Oh, by the way, I have come up with new nicknames for the leadership of this state and county regarding this virus.
Heimrich Himmler – Gavin Newsom as we must praise him at every turn, cross or disobey him and you will be shut down and never seen again!
Josef Goebbels – Dr. Peter Beilenson, Goebbels was Hitler’s propaganda minister, we at the blog knew this but want to make sure its archived since we seem to be erasing history at a faster pace than the polar ice caps are melting.
Until next time, keep your eyes on the plump jacks of Hope Hicks….
Have you wondered why so many companies are requiring customers to wear a mask? Why are so many people falling in line with the paranoia that somehow a mask will protect you from Covid when there really isn’t any proof?
Hint, the answer is one word: lawyers.
Yep, if your business bucks the orthodoxy of CNN and a customer happens to get Covid, said customer will blame you not because they have any proof but because you didn’t follow the rules so you must be the guy to blame. It’s a logical fallacy but the Jonathan Edwards crowd doesn’t care about facts just feelings. Emotions are the gateway to get big settlements and CNN viewers are the stooges to get you there.
Republicans say they know that they need to indemnify businesses but somehow the legislation is stuck in limbo. Folks, until we get meaningful indemnification for businesses, there will be no economic recovery. Tyrants in Democrat states will not be seriously challenged about arbitrary rules without legal protections for American’s institutions. This extends to more than businesses but also schools, churches, etc.
So next time you have to apply the “muzzle of the beast” to buy and sell, remember to blame Gavin Newsom and lawyers that support him, but also know that Congressional Republicans can stop this and haven’t.
About 100 days out from election day, the polls are showing a Biden landslide. I will not doubt it, Biden is very likely to win, but not the electoral college vote. I will explain why.
You see nationwide polls are extremely ineffective, as they have to sample a number of folks from each state proportional to their population. For example, Illinois, New York, and California are some of the most populous states in the union, all will go heavily for Biden. Very heavy, so much so, I don’t expect Trump to achieve more than about 35% of the vote in any of those states! So due to oversampling in those states, polling is made to appear that Biden has a very large nationwide lead. Truth is he does. If you called 75 folks in California for example, the lion’s share would have to be from LA, the Bay Area, and parts of the coast. Such a sample skews a nationwide and statewide poll significantly as most people that you speak to are voting for Biden and/or despise Trump. These three states account for most of Biden’s popular vote margin. Blogger’s Note: I don’t count WA, OR, or most New England states since they don’t have as many popular votes, however Biden will also do very well there.
Now let’s look at the other candidate in the race and how he will do popular vote wise. Donald Trump will perform very well in sparsely populated states, think ND, SD, Arkansas, Idaho, Wyoming, and Oklahoma, problem is these margins don’t come close to offsetting the 3 large states Biden will win easily. Digging deeper, the normal “safe GOP states” of Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, and Arizona are no longer safe. While I do not see Biden winning them, the margin of victory will be small. Thus, Trump will not pick-up enough votes to make up the difference.
However Trump will and still can win the presidency, even while getting blown out at the popular vote level! The election does not focus on so called “safe states” it focuses on the swing states. Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, Minnesota, and Iowa. Simply put, the candidates will spend all their time in those states. Actually in comes down to just a handful of counties at the state level to win. This is a built-in advantage for Trump, he doesn’t need to spend his time appealing to the masses, he just needs to move a few thousand votes. He did exactly that in 2016, winning MI, PA, and WI. (Below is 2016 election map by county Trump-red, Clinton-blue.)
This is my theory on election night, it will be 2016 all over again. The polling will show a Trump loss, the media will have begun measuring the curtains in the White House for a triumphant Joe Biden, then Trump will win PA again. Rioting will ensue…actually will it have stopped by then? There will be calls to change the electoral college, all because the Democrats took their eyes off the ball during the Obama years.
More to come soon, but just remember, nationwide polling is often skewed or very incorrect.
Yep, SCO strikes again. As a follow-up to yesterday’s report on payroll problems with the State of California, today another error surfaced. This one is related to most State Employees represented by the good ole SEUI.
As part of the new contract that went into effect January 1, 2020, the SEIU got the Governor to agree to give all SEIU represented employees an extra $260 per month starting with the new fiscal year (July first). One bargaining unit already gets this perk but the rest were supposed to start getting it in July’s pay which was distributed yesterday. The number 260, is supposed to be the average amount that people in their bargaining units—notice I’m not limiting this to union members—are paying for their share of medical insurance for them and their families. Thus for many State Employees, there is no longer an employee contribution for medical insurance.
Note: Ok, technically there is because they are separate line items in the check, but in actuality, if you are only insuring yourself on the state’s dime and happen to have Kaiser, you get to bank about $140 each month. $260 minus ~ $120.
Here’s the official verbiage from the State Controller’s Office:
Improving Affordability and Access to Healthcare Employees in bargaining units R01, R03, R04, R11, R14, R15, R17, R20, R21, excluded employees, and certain classifications tied to Service Employees International Union (SEIU), who are eligible for state-sponsored health benefits, shall receive a $260 pay differential for Improving Affordability and Access to Health Care each month and can expect this pay differential to be issued as a supplemental payment, processed in a daily payroll cycle, following the close of the business month.
So taxpayers, thanks for the extra money during these tough times. And one last thing. I’ve talked with a few State workers today that told me that even with Garvin’s 10 percent pay cut, because of this money and a few accounting tricks, that many State Employees will now have HIGHER take-home pay than before the 10 percent cut.
If you mixed Peanuts, The Far Side, and Dilbert in just the right way, you might get a fictional result that’s almost as strange as what happened today.
Remember those pay cuts that Governor Newsom was supposed to give to State Employees? Well today, after most State Workers got their checks, the gang at the State Controller’s Office figured out that they calculated ALL the state employee’s pay wrong.
The miscalculation affected the employee and employer share of the retirement deductions. Depending on the employee’s circumstances, the calculation varies. The employee share amount ranges based on the gross subject to retirement amount but is estimated to be between approximately $.01 to $100, depending on the amount of retirement deduction.
SCO has corrected the calculation and payroll will process accurately, beginning with all payments issued July 24, 2020, and forward. SCO will process retirement adjustments with the August 2020 payroll to correct the July 2020 payroll discrepancy. The adjustment will be shown as deduction *PERS ADJ on the earnings statement…
By the way, SCO is way worse than DMV but you folks in the public don’t have to try to sort thru their crap which is a blessing. Betty Yee has run that place into the ground. They are further behind than EDD and DMV put together. (Years not months.) SCO’s processes and procedures were developed in the 1970’s and technology wise, I expect they are still running those computers from Y2K. Oh, I’ve been to their check processing facility. It looked like it was state of the art when Ronald Reagan was leaving the White House and they keep nursing the antique equipment along as best they can. When is the last time you saw someone using industrial equipment made by Pitney Bowes?
One reason I’m hitting SCO is this: instead of sending an electronic record of each error correction to each department’s accounting office, which anybody on the private sector would do, SCO’s practice is to print one 8 ½ x 11 sheet of paper for each payroll error correction that is made. This paper is then mailed to each department every few days. In a typical year they print and mail well over 100,000 of these sheets of paper. Folks per my quick Internet search, there are reportedly 210,916 full time employees! I hope they don’t really waste that much paper. Last time I remember them making a big mistake in payroll was when open enrollment changes took effect and they botched deductions on over 30,000 checks. I got to touch over 17,000 of their error corrections myself. Oh, once the error corrections arrive, they are scanned and attached in the accounting system to the corresponding line item. If handled in the usual way, the current error will not waste man-hours, it will waste man-years of time.
I could explain more about how wasteful SCO is, but you get the idea. You’d think in a state like California, they could find a tech company to computerize the state’s financial processes but truthfully the state isn’t that interested. You taxpayers have already spent a billion dollars on the latest attempt to try. Do an Internet search on FI$CAL cost over-runs.
The state has no incentive to innovate or become more efficient. They refuse to change processes to assist in automating operations. The lack of a profit motive has that result. It’s much simpler to confiscate more money from you than be better with what they already take. Also, they have a contract with the union that nobody can be fired if their position is replaced by technology. Take comfort that no one will lose their job over this. SEIU, or somebody like that, has their back.
