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Eatery’s complaints backfire, California regresses, Harder types all about money grab
Opinion

Fired Up Grill on Mitchell Road probably thought it was going to get a lot of support in getting the city to cave on sign standards. What they got on our Facebook page (relating to our story about the owner and manager approaching the City Council) was a lot of negative reviews about their food and service.

The business told the City Council that business has plummeted since they had to take down their temporary banners because their limited time to fly them came to an end. The business opened last summer.

Lots of Facebook readers suggested the business has declined for other reasons than just lack of special signage.

Kudos to Vice Mayor Linda Ryno who aptly noted that if the city relaxed the sign standards to what they were before that all the businesses would put up banners and none of them would stand out.

There’s other forms of advertising, including print advertising.


* * * * *

I heard through the grapevine that Councilman Channce Condit has made it his personal mission to get Cracker Barrel to come to Ceres. The national chain just entered the California market (opening in Rocklin). The city has already reached out to Cracker Barrel and they’ve signaled they are not interested in coming to Ceres – for what reason we do not know.

If Ceres did snag a Cracker Barrel it would be a definite plus. Cracker Barrels on the west coast are rare indeed. If Condit succeeds I will be the first to suggest he be up for “Man of the Year.”

Go for it, Channce!


* * * * *

Well, your end-bed-with-unions Democrats took action last week to further weaken charter schools – which tend to be the best schools in the state. Totally predictable given how they are beholden to the teacher’s union.

The Democrats on the Assembly Education Committee approved three anti-charter school bills (AB 1505, AB 1506, AB 1507).

SB 756, a new bill authored by Senator Maria Elena Durazo, D-Los Angeles, calls for a five-year moratorium on new charter schools.

Let’s be honest – their opposition is all about the money. They see charters are robbing teachers of salary increases. About one in five Los Angeles students now attend charter schools, and enrollment in charters has continued to grow in the past decade as overall enrollment in the public school district has declined. LA now has more charter schools and more charter school students than any other school system in the country. Most charter school employees are not unionized!

Assembly Republican Leader Marie Waldron aptly noted just where Democrats’ loyalty lies.  

Waldron said “Rather than standing up to the unreasonable demands of their backers, Democrats voted to trap poor kids in failing schools. Charters give low-income parents a choice about where their kids go to school. Charters give kids with different learning styles an education as unique as they are. Charters give educators the freedom to use the teaching methods that get results. Democrats voted to take that way. All because their special-interest friends are invested in the failing status quo.”

When are California voters going to wake up from their deep sleep and realize the Deep Lie is raging in this state?

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Vice President Mike Pence came under attack by the gay mayor of South Bend, Indiana last week. Pete Buttigieg (pronounced Buddah judge) thinks he is so talented in the leadership department that he wants to jump from running a city of 102,245 (slightly smaller than Clovis in population) to running the United States and its 327.2 million.

Buttigieg’s presidential candidacy is laughable and the only reason the media is giving him any attention at all is the fact that he is gay and anti- Trump. If he were a straight Republican this mayor of a city the size of Escondido wouldn’t be getting any ink or airtime.

Gays attacking Pence is nothing new. They didn’t like him from his days as governor of Indiana because, as a Christian, he holds to the doctrine that homosexuality is a sin. (I mean, there was a day not too long ago when people went to church and believed what the Bible said). They went on the war path when he signed Religious Freedom Restoration Act legislation which wasn’t anti-gay but helped people of faith and Christian-based companies to assert as a defense in legal proceedings that their exercise of religion has been, or is likely to be, substantially burdened. (Think of the Christian baker who didn’t want to make a wedding cake for a gay couple). By the way, that controversial bill was supported by a 40-10 vote of the Indiana Legislature in 2015.

But for some reason Buttigieg felt he had to spring an attack on Pence – taking a direct jab at Pence’s faith. Buttigieg said if Pence has “a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me – your quarrel, sir, is with my creator.” The mayor of South Bend then attacked Christians who voted for Trump (so I guess he attacked me as well). The mayor said: “Here you have somebody who not only acts in a way that is not consistent with anything that I hear in scripture in church.”

I’m fairly Bible literate and what I hear in my church and read in the Good Book does not square with Buttigieg’s sexual preference. Apostle Paul said some pretty disturbing things about persons who don’t worship God and their thinking becomes futile and “their foolish hearts were darkened” just before God let them go about their “shameful lusts.” I’m not the Judge of humanity but I also know his line of thinking on the matter.

Buttigieg states he wished that he wasn’t gay and that he struggled with it. So why is he angry that Pence supports the concept of gay conversion counseling to get men to reconsider that lifestyle? Does Mr. Mayor believe there’s harm in trying to help struggling men like Buttigieg as he was in his youth?

Buttigieg had best get used to disappointments. His candidacy isn’t going anywhere real fast.


* * * * *

Did you hear Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s phony black accent when speaking to a black group? The one where she says “I’m proud to be a bartender! Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that.” It’s comical to listen to – not to mention annoying.


* * * * *

Well, well, well.

Not only was the Russian collusion probe a set-up from the beginning, now we have Attorney General Bill Barr who confirmed last week that the Trump campaign was spied on by the FBI establishment by order of leaders of it who hated Trump.

That’s a very scary thing, folks, to have arms of the government trying to intervene in the political affairs of our country because they don’t like a candidate. Very scary. Yes, investigate this one to the hilt. And investigate Hillary Clinton, too, with as much fervor as Robert Muller did.


* * * * *

I’ve never seen Gene Yeakley as mad as I did at last week’s council meeting. Over the years he has complained the city doesn’t do anything about neighbors who play loud music. He went again this time seeking answers about how to end the problem.

The world is full of self-centered people who don’t think of others. If you can get a handle on that I think most of the world’s problems would be solved.

Maybe the Police Department’s policy of issuing a warning in the first offense needs to be solved with a significant fine for the second call-out. Maybe this obnoxious behavior would end.

Until you have your own place on a 40-acre spread, keep the noise down, folks.

* * * * *

The way I see it, President Trump cuts funding for programs because they are ineffective or because he feels government should not be in the business of funding certain programs. Not to mention that Uncle Sam needs to go on a diet and to get a handle on the $22 trillion national debt.

We’ve come a long ways since Calvin Coolidge took a deficit and turned it to surplus in several years. He was frugal beyond belief.

Contrast that with Rep. Josh Harder who was crying bloody murder last week about Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ decision to eliminate multiple reading programs and eliminate or significantly reduce funding for all literacy program funded by the Department of Education.

Harder bemoaned that DeVos was going “around the country reading books to kids, talking about the importance of literacy but then you get back to Washington, you go into a backroom somewhere and you cut every single program.”

Herein lies the problem with liberals. Harder thinks it costs money for adults to read to kids, which is a parent’s job.

Do we need to be reminded that the Education Department doesn’t educate children? It’s just a money mill. We didn’t have an Department of Education during the Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford administrations. It didn’t exist until Democrat Jimmy Carter invented it in 1979 because he thought it was needed despite the states being in the business of educating our kids.

Harder feigned shock and said he was heartbroken. His presser states how

Stanislaus County is ranked 44th for literacy levels in California. Could that have anything to do with the high percentage of parents who came into this country not knowing a lick of English? That on top of English speaking parents who aren’t spending time to read and educate their kids at home? Or is it as Harder believes that we aren’t blowing enough money in education? If educators were honest they’d tell you it’s because there isn’t enough reading or quality time with parents at home – not because there isn’t enough money thrown at education.

We should set the clock back to 1978 and eliminate the whole wasteful department.

* * * * *

All you need to know about the scare of global warming is found in this old news article written by Peter James Spielmann from June 29, 1989: “A senior U.S. environmental official says entire nations could be wiped off the face of the Earth by rising sea levels if the global warming trend is not reversed by the year 2000.”

Noel Brown, director of the New York office of the U.N. Environment Program, or UNEP, said governments had a 10-year window of opportunity to solve the greenhouse effect before it goes beyond human control.

Hmmm. The false alarms to scare us minions into this fake emergency keep piling up.

* * * * *

Duane Thompson gave me a rich laugh on Facebook when he posted this:

“The poll taken by the California Governor’s office asked whether people who live in California think illegal immigration is a serious problem. 29 percent of respondents answered: “Yes, it is a serious problem.” 71 percent of respondents answered: “No es una problema seriosa.”

Sad but true.


* * * * *

The very Democrats who support sanctuary city status to protect illegal aliens are screaming bloody murder now that President Trump wants to bus them all there. Their hypocrisy is beyond comprehension.

It was a very smart thing Trump has done. Hey, you want to protect illegal aliens, well here you go! Here are busloads of them for you to take care of!


* * * * *

Am I overly simplistic in my thinking? I don’t think people who think this country is great enough to live should have any objection with the American flag. That goes for an American flag design incorporated into the logo on a police cruiser. I think there is no better country and no flag more beautiful than the USA flag. But apparently some in Laguna Beach have a problem with cop cars there using red, white and blue. In their twisted thinking they believe our flag is a dog whistle for racism and white privilege, whatever that really means. Councilman Steve Dicterow told “Fox & Friends” Monday that “there are people in Laguna Beach...saying that the flag is hostile, it’s intimidating, it’s threatening, and that it’s a symbol of racism.”

If you’re intimidated by the American flag, here’s some free advice: Change countries to change flags. We don’t need people like this inhabiting our ground.

Geez, Louise.


* * * * *

I have a new hero. Her name is Candace Owens who ripped the House Democrats a new one. You have to watch her confront Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-NY. Just search for “Candace Owens hearing” on YouTube. She makes mince meat of his leftist posturing. Very intelligent (and I might add attractive) young lady!


* * * * *

I know that some memes oversimplify the issues but this was another great meme full of truth: It featured a photo of then California Gov. Jerry Brown with the words, “If you use a plastic straw in our state, you’re going to jail!” Underneath is a young lady scratching her head and captioned, “Let me get this straight ... using a plastic straw gets you jail time, but crossing the border illegally gets you sanctuary and government benefits?”

Okay, it’s a stretch to say it’s illegal to use a plastic straw but there are penalties for sit-down restaurants which give out straws without being asked. (Why that law was passed to exempt fast-food eateries I will never know). But you get the concept. 

California is quickly becoming the butt of jokes in the other states with common sense.


This column is the opinion of Jeff Benziger, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Ceres Courier or Morris Newspaper Corp. of CA. How do you feel about this? Let Jeff know at jeffb@cerescourier.com