Tag: California

Commentary: The Green Agenda Burns to Ashes in Paris

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by Jarrett Stepman   A riot is an ugly thing. The anarchical mayhem in the streets of Paris in recent days paint a picture of a fractured society with deep-seated problems—a breakdown of the fragile yet essential rule of law. – 70% of French voters believe democracy doesn't work well in France– Only 11% trust political parties– 24% trust the media– 63% of young French were ready for a large-scale revolt The gilets jaunes protests were almost inevitable https://t.co/hGrlVTsnyJ pic.twitter.com/cPcaybyNfl — Bloomberg Opinion (@opinion) December 3, 2018 While we’ve come to expect such things in France, there are specific reasons why these protests have erupted in the last month. The “climate” agenda, peddled as a means to save the planet and reduce inequality, is being exposed in France as an agenda inherently at odds with the interests of middle- and working-class people. Last year, a wide range of American and international media, celebrities, and activists excoriated President Donald Trump for pulling the United States out of the international Paris climate agreement. Trump said in 2017 that he would put “no other consideration before the well-being of American citizens” and that he would reject an agreement that would force taxpayers to…

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Commentary: California’s Rigged Election Process Is Coming To America

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by Edward Ring   The conventional wisdom among experts who monitor elections in America is unvarying: Voter fraud is statistically insignificant. These sanguine claims are made despite the fact that internal controls are often so poor, or even nonexistent on election integrity, that it is nearly impossible to know if voter fraud has even occurred. In every critical area—voter identification, voter registration, duplicate voting, absentee ballots, ineligible voting, ballot custody, ballot destruction, counterfeit ballots, voting machine tampering—gaping holes exist that invite systemic fraud. But so what? How relevant is voter fraud, if the entire system is already rigged to favor one party over the other? Come to California to see what’s going to roll out across America in time to guarantee a progressive landslide in 2020. It may be perfectly legal. But it’s so rigged it would make Boss Tweed blush. When planning for the November 2018 election, California’s Democrats didn’t just aim to pad their supermajority in the State Legislature. They weren’t going to be satisfied with a sweep of every elected state position, including governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, controller, treasurer, insurance commissioner, and superintendent of public instruction. They knew they could do that, but…

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Commentary: There’s No Such Thing as a Conservative Blue Dog Democrat

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by George Rasley   On Tuesday, the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of allegedly “fiscally responsible” House Democrats announced its new leadership team as their party is poised to retake the gavel in the 116th Congress. The Blue Dogs claim they embrace a “bipartisan approach” to legislating and are looking to play a major role in brokering compromise positions on legislation with a Republican-held Senate and President Trump. “In this new era of divided government, we Democrats must introduce bold ideas and fight for our shared values, and we must also seek bipartisan cooperation that keeps our government functioning and improves the lives of our constituents; the alternative is a partisan stalemate that brings our country to a halt,” said Florida Representative Stephanie Murphy, the Blue Dogs’ incoming co-chair for administration, reported the online news site The Well. The reality is that the Blue Dogs are, when push comes to shove, anything but “bipartisan” as their voting records show. Rep. Murphy, who represents Florida’s Seventh Congressional District, has a lifetime rating of 6 percent from Heritage Action for America. The House Democrats’ average is 8 percent, meaning Rep. Murphy is even more liberal than the average Democrat. The Blue Dogs’…

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California Democratic Chair Resigns After Sexual Misconduct Allegations

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by Hanna Bogorowski   California Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman announced his resignation Thursday after allegations of sexual misconduct and inappropriate work place behavior. A Los Angeles Times report surfaced Wednesday that said 10 California Democratic Party (CDP) staffers and political activists had accused him of making lewd, sexual comments to them in the workplace or that Bauman had touched them without their permission. Bauman, 59, said in response to this report that he’d be seeking treatment for health issues and alcohol abuse. “I have made the realization that in order for those to whom I may have caused pain and who need to heal, for my own health, and in the best interest of the Party that I love and to which I have dedicated myself for more than 25 years, it is in everyone’s best interest for me to resign my position as chair of the California Democratic Party,” Bauman said in a statement, according to the LA Times. The sexual misconduct allegations came after Bauman, the Democratic Party’s first openly gay chairman, was accused of unspecified misconduct and had taken a leave of absence. One female staffer recalled obscene comments Bauman made to her at a dinner in 2007, while a gay male…

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Commentary: How the Greens Turned the Golden State Brown

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by Edward Ring   In October 2016, in a coordinated act of terrorism that received fleeting attention from the press, environmentalist activists broke into remote flow stations and turned off the valves on pipelines carrying crude oil from Canada into the United States. Working simultaneously in Washington, Montana, Minnesota, and North Dakota, the eco-terrorists disrupted pipelines that together transport 2.8 million barrels of oil per day, approximately 15 percent of U.S. consumption. The pretext for this action was to protest the alleged catastrophe of global warming. These are the foot soldiers of environmental extremism. These are the minions whose militancy receives nods and winks from opportunistic politicians and green investors who make climate alarmism the currency of their political and commercial success. More recently, and far more tragic, are the latest round of California wildfires that have consumed nearly a quarter million acres, killed at least 87 people, and caused damages estimated in excess of $10 billion. Opinions vary regarding how much of this disaster could have been avoided, but nobody disputes that more could have been done. Everyone agrees, for example, that overall, aggressive fire suppression has been a mistake. Most everyone agrees that good prevention measures include forest…

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Cities Reveal Insane Offers They Made in Bid for Amazon HQ

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by Evie Fordham   Amazon announced its decision Tuesday to split its second headquarters between Long Island City, New York, and Arlington, Virginia, but by picking those locations the corporation gave up some pretty sweet deals — and unusual offers — from other cities and states. Amazon will get incentives packages of more than $1.5 billion for bringing jobs to New York and more than $570 million for bringing jobs to Virginia, according to a Tuesday press release. Amazon bypassed big offers from Maryland and New Jersey, which put together incentives packages of $6.5 billion and $7 billion, respectively, according to The Baltimore Sun. But other states came up with offers that included deal-sweeteners other than infrastructure investments and tax credits proportional to jobs created. Here are a few of them: Georgia The Peach State had a long list it was willing to do to convince Amazon to build HQ2 in Atlanta. Georgia’s full package, which totaled more than $2 billion, was released for the first time Tuesday evening, reported The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That package included “Amazon Academy of Georgia,” a state-provided space near or on Amazon’s campus to trains its employees, according to a March 5 document. The state was willing to pay…

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Trump Visits Fire-Ravaged California Community

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  Forensic recovery teams searched for more victims in the charred wreckage of the northern California town of Paradise on Saturday as the number of people listed as missing in the state’s deadliest wildfire topped 1,000. President Donald Trump visited the devastated small community in the Sierra foothills, 175 miles (280 km) north of San Francisco, where authorities say the remains of at least 71people have been recovered. Paradise was home to nearly 27,000 residents before it was largely incinerated by the blaze on the night of Nov. 8. President Trump in Paradise, California. https://t.co/LLNPBBf8T1 — Dan Scavino Jr. Archived (@Scavino45) November 17, 2018 “Nobody could have thought this would ever happen,” Trump told reporters amid the charred wreckage of the town’s Skyway Villa Mobile Home and RV Park. “This is very sad to see. As far as the lives are concerned, nobody knows quite yet,” Trump said. “Right now we want to take care of the people who have been so badly hurt.” He was flanked by California Governor Jerry Brown and Governor-elect Gavin Newsom. Brown said the federal government was doing what it needed to do, including supporting first responders and helping with clean-up and search for victims.…

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Jerry Brown Blames Those Who Deny Global Warming for Deadly Wildfires

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by Michael Bastasch   California Gov. Jerry Brown said “those who deny” man-made global warming are “definitely contributing” to the deadly, devastating wildfires forcing thousands of residents out of their homes. Brown made the comments during a Sunday press conference where he warned that global warming created a “new abnormal” for the state, including fueling deadly wildfires. The Democrat said better forest management was only a partial solution to the problem. “Managing the forests in every way we can does not stop climate change, and those who deny that are definitely contributing to the tragedies that we’re now witnessing, and will continue to witness in the coming years,” Brown said. “The chickens are coming home to roost. This is real here,” Brown said before saying he wanted people to “pull together” to tackle the problem. Three major fires scorched more than 200,000 acres, mostly in Northern California, since Thursday, according to Cal Fire. Firefighters only contained about one-quarter of raging infernos, which left at least 31 dead. The 111,000-acre Camp Fire became the most destructive in state history, destroying more than 6,800 structures and displacing tens of thousands of people. The fire spread quickly due to bone-dry conditions and fast-moving…

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California Governor-Elect: Gun Culture Has Become Normalized

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“I don’t want prayers. I don’t want thoughts,” said a mother whose son died this week when a lone gunman opened fire in a bar in California. Susan Schmidt-Orfanos’ son Telemachus had already survived the onslaught of another lone gunman at a music festival in Las Vegas last year. This week, he went to the Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks, California, along with other survivors of the Las Vegas massacre. Schmidt-Orfanos’ son died Wednesday less than 10 minutes away from home. He was at the bar when a shooter fired into the crowd, killing 12 people. Schmidt-Orfanos said Congress needs “to pass gun control so no one else has a child that doesn’t come home.” The shooter, Marine Corps veteran Ian David Long, 28, apparently killed himself after gunning down customers in the bar. Investigators are looking for clues to Long’s “state of mind” before Wednesday’s late-night shooting. “It’s a gun culture,” California’s Democratic Governor-elect Gavin Newsom lamented Thursday. “You can’t go to a bar or a nightclub? You can’t go to church or a synagogue? It’s insane is the only way to describe it. The normalization, that’s the only I can describe it. It’s become normalized.” Paul…

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Commentary: The Migrant ‘Caravan’ Marching Northbound To Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas, and What The U.S. Constitution Has To Say About It

Gregory Watson

The United States Constitution does contain a few references relative to immigration and naturalization as well as to persons seeking to enter the United States in contravention of its laws — whether violently or non-violently and whether singly or in the form of a human tsunami. In its Article I, Section 8, Clause 4, the Constitution specifically grants Congress the power “To establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization….” By expressly allocating this capacity to Congress, the Constitution seeks to prevent the confusion which would inevitably result if an individual state could itself bestow U.S. citizenship upon a person not born within the boundaries of that — or any other — state. Construing Clause 4, the United States Supreme Court, in the 1892 case of Boyd v. Nebraska ex rel. Thayer, defined “naturalization” as “…the act of adopting a foreigner, and clothing him with the privileges of a native [U.S.] citizen.” In Clause 11 of that same Article I, Section 8, the Constitution authorizes Congress “To declare War…and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water….” Interpreting Clause 11, the High Court ruled in the 1795 case of Penhallow v. Doane that the war power of the United States government is…

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Bredesen Turns to Democrats in California, Elsewhere to Call, Write to Voters After Volunteers Flee His Campaign

Jason M. Reynolds

It’s no secret that Phil Bredesen is the top choice of Democrats around the nation to turn the U.S. Senate into a blue zone. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) personally recruited Bredesen to run. Schumer’s PAC has spent millions more on Tennessee than any other race. Billionaire Mike Bloomberg, who has pledged $20 million to Democrats this cycle, hosted a fundraiser for Bredesen in New York. Now Bredesen is getting some added help from progressive allies in California, Massachusetts and other blue bastions, Chattanooga’s News Channel 9 says. Democrats in those states are mailing postcards to people in Tennessee urging them to vote for Bredesen. “Join Organize Win Legislate Sacramento in getting out the vote for Phil Bredesen and be part of the Blue Wave,” a Facebook event page for a California virtual phone bank says. Phil Valentine tweeted, “A listener sent me this. It’s a Phil Bredesen mailer that looks like a 6-year-old wrote it. But note the BOSTON postmark!!! Oh, no. There’s no big liberal outside money in THIS campaign. (Where’s my sarcasm emoji when I need it?) #MarshaBlackburn Retweet!!!” A listener sent me this. It's a Phil Bredesen mailer that looks like a 6-year-old wrote it.…

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U.S. Constitution Does Not Guarantee That You Can Always Pay With Cash

Gregory Watson

In its Article I, Section 8, Clause 5, the United States Constitution provides:  “The Congress shall have Power…To coin Money, [and] regulate the Value thereof….” And since the Constitution’s drafting in the year 1787, cash has played a vital role in the nation’s economy as the generally-accepted medium of exchange.  Barter still exists, but on a relatively limited basis and, although there has been chatter for decades about America one day becoming a completely “cashless” society, that day has yet to arrive. In modern times, there are, of course, multiple methods of payment for goods and services as well as to pay down debt in installments — or to completely extinguish it in one fell swoop.  In addition to cash, there are checks, credit cards, electronic money transfers and other means of payment. Pursuant to the above-quoted provision from the U.S. Constitution, Congress enacted the Coinage Act of 1965 (last amended by two bills approved by the 97th Congress in Public Laws Nos. 97-258 and 97-452; the 1965 Act is the successor to the Coinage Act of 1792 as well as the Coinage Act of 1873).  The 1965 version includes Title 31 United States Code Subchapter 5103 which, from 1983…

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California’s Gas Prices Inch Toward $4 Per Gallon At A Bad Time For Democrats

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by Chris White   Gas prices in Southern California are hovering around $4 per gallon as Golden State Democrats attempt to defend an unpopular gas tax outgoing Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown signed in 2017. The average pump price for regular gas in the Los Angeles area is hovering around $3.736 a gallon Thursday, up nearly 19 percent from a year earlier, according to the American Automobile Association. It’s an unwelcome development for Democrats who are fighting for their political lives. The average price in California stood at $3.683 a gallon, up 18 percent from $3.11 in 2017, the AAA said. A portion of the increase stems from the unpopular 12-cent increase in California’s fuel excise tax that went into effect in November. The state tax now sits at 41.7 cents per gallon and is one of the highest in the country. Nearly 58 percent of voters oppose the tax increase, including 39 percent who say they strongly reject the legislation, according to a survey the University of California, Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies conducted shortly after the measure was passed in April 2017. Only 35 percent of voters surveyed at the time favored the law, which also hikes vehicle registration fees to fix roads. Opposition against…

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Analysis: California’s Bill Establishing the ‘Internet Social Media Advisory Group’ Could Run Afoul of the First Amendment

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California is one step away from going down the unconstitutional road of government-mandated censorship of Internet speech. The California Senate and State Assembly recently passed S.B. 1424, the “Internet: social media: advisory group” act. This fake news advisory act is now on the desk of Governor Jerry Brown for his signature. According to Section 3085 of the legislation: The Attorney General shall, subject to the limitations of subdivision (d), establish an advisory group consisting of at least one member of the Department of Justice, Internet-based social media providers, civil liberties advocates, and First Amendment scholars, to do both of the following: (a) Study the problem of the spread of false information through Internet-based social media platforms. (b) Draft a model strategic plan for Internet-based social media platforms to use to mitigate the spread of false information through their platforms. It’s hard to imagine those voting for the bill were motivated by good intentions. In any case, good intentions are not enough. Is it hard to imagine the results of the law will be censorship of views that politicians disagree with and views critical of politicians? Most likely, Californians are not concerned about “fact-checking” content like “a mile is 5290 feet” or an appeal to…

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A New Report Details How Nonprofits Are Funneling Millions To Democratic Governors To Further Their Global Warming Agenda

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by Michael Bastach   California Governor Jerry Brown’s upcoming global warming activist summit is part of an effort to funnels millions of dollars from nonprofits to state politicians to advance a liberal climate agenda, according to a new report. Brown’s so-called “Global Climate Action Summit” begins on Wednesday, and is sure to garner media attention. Its list of speakers includes former Vice President Al Gore, actor Alec Baldwin and former Secretary of State John Kerry. Indeed, the whole point of the summit is to give politicians and activists a platform on global warming ahead of the November elections. However, Competitive Enterprise senior fellow Chris Horner wants people to remember one thing about the summit: “this is what activist government for hire looks like, and how it is brought about.” “Open record productions reveal that this summit is part of a major climate industry that funnels donor money through nonprofit organizations to staff up politicians’ offices,” Horner wrote in a new report published Tuesday. And what an industry it is, Horner’s report reveals. Democratic state governors hope to mobilize $50 million by 2020 from nonprofits towards promoting liberal climate policies, including meeting the goals of the Paris climate accord. This is…

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Tennessee and The U.S. Constitution’s 15th Amendment

Gregory Watson
Celebrating the 15th Amendment

The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which granted freed former male slaves and any adult male citizen the right to vote,  was ratified by the requisite three-fourths of all states and added to the Constitution in 1870.  At the time there were 37 states, and when the 28th state ratified the amendment in February, 1870, the three-fourths standard was met. Tennessee was not among those 28 states. In fact, Tennessee did not get around to ratifying the 15th Amendment until more than 100 years later, in 1997. Here is that story: During the Reconstruction period in the American South, in the aftermath of the Civil War, three individual amendments were incorporated into the U.S. Constitution – each separated in succession by only a few years – pursuant to that document’s Article V. This trifecta ended a dry spell of more than 60 years of no amendments at all finding their way into the federal Constitution. The 13th Amendment, ending slavery, was adopted in 1865.  The 14th Amendment, defining citizenship status, came along in 1868 (although there is some question as to whether its ratification process was 100 percent strictly by-the-book).  And the 15th Amendment, granting to former male slaves –…

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‘Not Here, Not Now’: Gov. Brown Signs Bill Blocking Trump’s Offshore Drilling Plan

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Jerry Brown

by Chris White   Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill Saturday effectively prohibiting new federal offshore oil drilling along California’s coast, and announced that he opposes plans to expand crude exploration on public lands in the state. The legislation he signed blocks the Trump administration’s plan to expand offshore oil drilling through the prohibition on new leases for new construction of oil and gas-related infrastructure, such as oil pipelines. Brown has worked to cultivate a status as one of President Donald Trump’s chief opponents. “Today, California’s message to the Trump administration is simple: Not here, not now,” the Democratic governor noted in a press statement announcing the move. “We will not let the federal government pillage public lands and destroy our treasured coast.” Brown also submitted formal opposition to the Bureau of Land Management’s proposal to open new public land and mineral estates for oil and gas lease sales. His move comes nearly six months after officials on the California Coastal Commission urged the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to rescind plans allowing companies to drill for oil off the coast. “It has been more than twenty years since the Bureau of Land Management last expanded the availability of federal public lands and mineral…

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The LA Times Inadvertently Admits Trump Is Right About What’s Causing California’s Massive Wildfires

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wildfire

by Tim Pierce   Adopting more active forest management policies such as increased thinning of trees and conducting controlled burns will help mitigate damage from future wildfires, the Los Angeles Times editorial board writes. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke began advocating similar policy prescriptions earlier in 2018 after President Donald Trump blamed California’s “bad environmental laws” for creating a wildfire-prone environment. California forests have grown drier and less healthy from overcrowded trees, infestations of bark beetles and the effects of climate change, the LA Times writes. California’s restrictions on active forest management have contributed to the poor and worsening conditions of the forests, allowing them to grow uninhibited while suppressing fires that would normally naturally control the forests’ growth. “Fire is not necessarily bad for forests. California used to burn with regularity, and low-intensity fires are vital in some ecosystems to clear excess brush and small trees from the landscape,” the editorial board writes. “But there’s been a change in fire behavior over the last century, as the state and federal government began dousing the blazes. Decades of fire suppression have allowed forests to grow dense with trees.” “Combined with drought, insect infestations and the stress of a warming climate, those management…

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SHOCK REPORT: California Would Lose Four Electoral College Votes If Only Citizens Are Counted In The Census

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Anti-Trump Protest

by Evie Fordham   The state of California would lose four seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, and therefore four votes in the electoral college, if only citizens were counted in the decennial national census. The report comes days after a lawsuit that argues against including a citizenship question in the national census received the green light to go to trial Thursday, according to The New York Times’ blog The Upshot. Proponents of distinguishing between citizens and noncitizens when apportioning representation would increase the power of states like Louisiana and Montana at the expense of states like California and New York, according to The Upshot. If noncitizens were cut from state population totals and Congress was reapportioned via a constitutional amendment, 11 states would find themselves with a new number of U.S. representatives. California would lose four, and Texas, New York and Florida would each lose one. Montana, Missouri, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Louisiana and Colorado would each gain one, according to The Upshot. New data could allow states to redefine "the people" and draw up congressional districts accordingly. https://t.co/4oWi6l4TF4 — The Upshot (@UpshotNYT) July 31, 2018 Counting only citizens would also bring about changes at the local level. For example, 29 percent of Florida’s population…

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Commentary: How Unchecked Progressives Turned California Dreamin’ into a Liberal American Nightmare

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California liberalism

by Jeffery Rendall   Our plane’s tires screeched noticeably when we touched down in California last week, the conclusion of a journey that took us across the length of the country in a little more than five hours. Along the way I gazed out the window and tried to guess where we were at the moment, noting that from over 35,000 feet everything in the fruited plain looks surprisingly similar. But not in California. My birthplace and home for the first twenty-seven years of life has changed markedly since I left for good in the mid 90’s. Back then I felt I needed to leave – the political home of Ronald Reagan was tilting decidedly left in political and cultural orientation and California’s government was only in its beginning stages of a transformation that would choke off conservative ideas and constitutional liberty in favor of pandering to the rapidly expanding illegal alien population and know-it-all establishment elites. California was no longer California, it seemed. Sure, it still had all of the places and attractions I’d grown to love in my formative years (Disneyland!), but times were a-changing. Today, thanks to the presence of the tech industry (which largely sprouted after I exited the Golden State)…

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San Francisco’s New Mayor Says Her City Is Drowning In Human Waste: ‘There’s More Feces … Than I’ve Ever Seen’

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by Andrew Kerr   San Francisco Mayor London Breed said the streets of her city are flooded with the excrement of the homeless in an interview Friday. Breed, a Democrat who was inaugurated as the San Francisco’s mayor Wednesday, urged homeless advocacy groups that receive money from the city to teach homeless people to “clean up after themselves.” “There is more feces on the sidewalks than I’ve ever seen growing up here,” Breed told KNTV. “That is a huge problem and we are not just talking about from dogs — we’re talking about from humans.” The streets of San Francisco are littered with a “dangerous mix of drug needles, garbage, and feces”, KNTV’s investigative team reported in February after surveying the city’s streets. “We see poop, we see pee, we see needles, and we see trash,” preschool teacher Adelita Orellana told KNTV. “Sometimes they ask what is it, and that’s a conversation that’s a little difficult to have with a 2-year old, but we just let them know that those things are full of germs, that they are dangerous, and they should never be touched.” There are about 7,500 homeless people living in San Francisco according to the city, which will spend nearly $280 million this year on…

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California Dems Snub Feinstein, Endorse Liberal Challenger For Senate

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Dianne Feinstein, Kevin de Leon

by Will Racke   California Democrats have declined to endorse Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s bid for re-election in 2018, rebuking a powerful senator the party’s activist base sees as too conservative for the famously liberal state. Instead, the state party’s executive committee voted late Saturday to endorse her challenger, state Sen. Kevin de Leon, in the general election. Currently the 51-year-old leader of the state senate, De Leon is held in high esteem by the party’s far left as the principal author of SB54, California’s controversial sanctuary state law. De Leon won 65 percent of the 333 board members, easily clearing the 60 percent threshold needed for an endorsement. Another 28 backed a “no endorsement” option, while just 7 percent voted for Feinstein. Prior to Saturday’s vote, Feinstein’s team had urged party delegates to support the “no endorsement” policy in a nod to party unity. Feinstein recruited Democratic heavyweights to plead her case, including Gov. Jerry Brown, Sen. Kamala Harris and two former state party chairmen. The push was not enough to sway the executive committee, which has been moving away from Feinstein’s brand of center-left politics for years. Although the board represents a small fraction of a state party with…

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California Voters Prepare To Square Off Against Gov. Jerry Brown Over Gas Tax Repeal

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Jerry Brown

by Chris White   Gov. Jerry Brown is leaving office after the midterms, but the California Democrat plans on engaging in one last brutal campaign to defend an extremely unpopular gas tax he approved in 2017. Brown is pledging to raise $25 million in a campaign to fight the repeal effort. He is also soliciting help from business and labor leaders, who view the gas tax as an instrument to build up California’s roads. Supporters of the repeal are eager to knock it around with the 80-year-old governor. “This has nothing to do with taxes,” Brown said of Prop 6, which seeks to repeal a gas tax the governor passed in April 2017. “This is engineered by the Republican congressional delegation to prop up their vulnerable Republicans,” he said in a June 6 interview with The New York Times. The Road Repair and Accountability Act imposes a 12-cents-a-gallon increase on Californians and raises the tax on diesel fuel by 20 cents a gallon. It also implements an additional charge to annual vehicle license fees ranging from $25 to $175 depending on the car’s value. The measure gained has become a hot-button issue in the Golden State. California currently ranks seventh highest in the country when it…

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Commentary: California Dreaming

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Tim Draper

by George Rasley   A controversial plan to split California into three new jurisdictions has now qualified for the Nov. 6 ballot giving voters in the Golden State the first opportunity to split a state since the creation of West Virginia in 1863. The proposal aims to invoke Article IV, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution, the provision guiding how an existing state can be divided into new states. The plan calls for three new entities — Northern California, California and Southern California — which would roughly divide the population of the existing state into thirds. Conservatives are concerned that tech billionaire Tim Draper’s proposal to split California into three states would, at least in the short term, likely put more Democrats in the U.S. Senate, according to a Sacramento Bee review of voter registration and election data. According to the Sacramento Bee, the new state of Northern California roughly covers the areas north of Merced and San Jose. Democrats outnumber Republicans two to one in the counties that would make up the state. Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump by nearly two million votes in those counties. The new state of California covers Los Angeles and five nearby coastal counties. The…

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Huntington Beach, California Challenges the Legality of State Sanctuary Bill

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The most populous city in Orange County, California, has taken a big stand against illegal immigration. On Wednesday, Huntington Beach sued the state — and sued Gov. Jerry Brown and Attorney General Xavier Becerra as well — over the California law that prevents the local police from alerting federal law enforcement when immigrants who are subject to deportation are about to be released from custody.

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The Reason Why California’s Lawsuit Industry Wants You to Think Coffee Causes Cancer

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by Walter Olson   A judge in Los Angeles ruled Wednesday that Starbuck’s, Peet’s, and many other retailers face potentially massive liability under California law for not warning consumers that naturally occurring substances in roasted coffee beans can cause cancer, at least in lab animals. Absurd? Outrageous? Yes. But the scorn and outrage should be directed not at the judge but at the law whose terms he was required to enforce – Proposition 65, adopted by state voters through the initiative process in 1986 – as well as the lawyer-swayed California political system that still, more than 30 years later, is unwilling to address the measure’s gross flaws. Almost everyone agrees that the over-proliferation of warnings makes it less likely that consumers will pay attention to real concerns.  Acrylamide is a naturally occurring substance formed when many foods are browned or otherwise subjected to high heat, including in many cases grilled burgers, fried chicken, bread, almonds, and potato chips. Like many other constituents of everyday life, it appears to cause cancer in some animals at high dosages. And that brings it under the terms of Prop 65, which has already led to a proliferation of warnings on and around thousands of common…

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Prankster ‘Welcomes’ California’s Sanctuary State Status

Jason M. Reynolds

California became an official sanctuary state at the start of 2018, and at least one prankster mockingly marked the occasion with fake “Welcome” road signs. The California Department of Transportation confirmed the discovery of five official-looking signs declaring the state as an “official sanctuary state,” the Washington Examiner reported Jan. 2. The signs are posted underneath official “Welcome to California” highway signs and appear genuine. There were no reports of the identity of the prankster or pranksters. A sanctuary city, or state, is one in which federal immigration policies will not be honored. One sign posted on Interstate 15 at Mountain Pass near the California-Nevada border has been taken down, California Department of Transportation spokesman Mark Dinger told the Washington Examiner. There was no word on the fate of the other fake signs. The Alternative News Media’s Instagram page showed a photo of one of the signs, which reads, “OFFICIAL SANCTUARY STATE Felons, Illegals and MS13 Welcome! Democrats Need The Votes!” The state seal and a logo with the Democratic Party’s donkey mascot adorn the fake signs as well. The law that took effect on Jan. 1 prevents police from asking people about their immigration status or participating in federal immigration…

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California Becomes First State To Legally Recognize A ‘Third Gender’

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California became the first state in America to legally recognize a third gender after Democrat Gov. Jerry Brown signed the legislation Sunday. State drivers’ licenses, birth certificates, and other identity documents will now allow residents to check “non-binary” rather than just male or female, the Sacramento Bee reported Monday. The Gender Recognition Act is one of…

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Commentary: California Joins The Confederate States Of America

Tennessee Star Staff

by George Rasley, ConservativeHQ.com Editor “If we were wrong in our contest, then the Declaration of Independence of 1776 was a grave mistake and the revolution to which it led was a crime. If Washington was a patriot; Lee cannot have been a rebel.” Wade Hampton III Confederate General and Post-Reconstruction Democratic Governor of South Carolina In the Leftist fever to remove any symbol associated with the Confederate side of the American Civil War it is Andrew Jacksonbeyond comical that yesterday, California’s liberal Democratic Governor Jerry Brown joined the Confederacy and signed laws that in effect nullify federal law by placing sharp limits on how private individuals, corporations and state and local law enforcement agencies can cooperate with federal immigration authorities. California’s actions are highly reminiscent of the actions of the South Carolina legislature when it passed the so-called South Carolina Ordnance of Nullification on November 24, 1832. According to theories propounded by South Carolina’s Senator John C. Calhoun, the federal government only existed at the will of the states. Therefore, if a state found a federal law unconstitutional and detrimental to its sovereign interests, it would have the right to “nullify” that law within its borders. Like the leaders…

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California Sues to Stop The Wall on Environmental Grounds

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Tennessee Star

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed a lawsuit Wednesday alleging that President Donald Trump’s proposal to expedite construction of a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border violates laws aimed at protecting the environment. Becerra announced the legal challenge standing in front of the existing border fencing at Border Field State Park near San Diego, saying the federal…

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California Gov. Compares Trump Supporters To Ancient Cave People

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Jerry Brown

Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown of California compared President Donald Trump supporters to prehistoric cave dwellers Monday during a New York climate event. Brown, an outspoken Trump critic, issued an usually harsh derision of Trump supporters after dismissing Trump’s rhetoric on climate change science and U.S. policy toward North Korea as “stupid and dangerous and silly.” “They’re…

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Incensed Californians Working to Recall State Assemblyman Who Supported Gas Tax Hike

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Gas up the car

  Earlier this year, the Democrat super-majority in the California legislature passed a substantial gas tax hike. Though wildly unpopular with the relative few who took notice, Governor Jerry Brown signed it quickly, and put into motion an uptick in fuel costs to consumers estimated to raise a staggering $5 billion in new recurring revenues to help underwrite the Golden State’s bloated budget. Republicans, fueled by the outrage of every day Californians at the imminent tax increase, responded by launching a recall effort against newly-elected Assemblyman Josh Newman, whom they say was key to the passage of the tax hike. The Washington Free Beacon reports the effort, led by San Diego radio talker Carl DeMaio, is garnering vast support amongst California voters. The first step to recall a sitting elected official is to gather petitions signed by voters. The Beacon reports, “Republicans opposed to the most recent gas tax hike Newman backed submitted 84,988 signatures for the recall effort on Tuesday, nearly 20,000 more than the 63,592 the law requires.” DeMaio told The Beacon, “The overwhelming number of signatures we collected in just six weeks demonstrates a real rebellion is brewing in California against the out-of-control tax raisers in the state legislature.” He continued, “This recall…

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