Well it’s news to me that a business owner can’t endorse a candidate for office without somebody thinking that’s unethical.
Ceres resident John Warren and Councilman James Casey think Daniel Martinez should be removed from the Ceres Planning Commission since the owner of a flea market endorsed him for City Council. They feel that since Martinez voted on a matter before the commission relating to the flea market that there was some egregious quid pro quo offense to receive an endorsement from that business.
Give me a break.
First of all, few voters choose candidates on the basis of an endorsement. Also, Martinez didn’t receive any financial contribution from El Rematito Flea Market. The owner merely posed for a photo with Martinez. And it wouldn’t be the first time that a Latino endorsed a Latino for office, if you know what I mean.
I’m left scratching my head as to why John Warren has a beef against the flea market and against Daniel Martinez, who by far is the only safe choice in District 4.
Let’s look at the facts: Martinez is one of five members of the Ceres Planning Commission. On Oct. 3 city staff had the commission consider the matter of extending an amendment to the conditional use permit that allows El Rematito to operate and it was a full house of supporters for the marker. City staff recommended a six-month extension to give the city and the flea market time to work out some issues. The attorney for El Rematito asked for a 12-month extension, citing that there are other issues to be resolved. He said the city owes El Rematito money as reimbursement for a traffic signal on Crows Landing Road.
Six months versus 12 months. Not a big deal.
Martinez didn’t see any problem with a 12-month extension and neither did commissioners Gary Del Nero, Bob Kachel and Dave Johnson who all voted for it. It was a unanimous decision. To suggest that Martinez only made his motion because of an endorsement is an unprovable charge. But Councilman James Casey apparently parroted Warren’s call for Martinez to be removed from the commission. Ordinarily I appreciate how Warren keeps the city on its toes with regards to code enforcement issues but there is no “there” there.
We’ve watched Martinez as a planning commissioner and believe he’s asked intelligent questions (when others haven’t), and that he’s voted in the best interests of Ceres. To see his integrity questioned in this “ridiculous” way (to quote Mayor Lopez) makes one wonder where the beef is coming from.
It’s unfortunate that this flap is happening to the only real choice for District 4. Having seen what has come from the two candidates over the years (Osgood and Carreon), Martinez should be the voters’ clear choice to elect to the City Council.
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At least one Ceres resident was confused last week but I set him straight. He called to say “they sent us the wrong ballot. We are in Council District 1 and they sent us a ballot for District 4.”
My suspicions were correct: as a result of redistricting, Hale Aloha Way was taken out of District 1 and drawn into District 4.
The Courier had several times published maps showing the new district boundaries which were adopted in March.
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Want to hear a shock? The labor unions and LGBTQ+ folks are backing a Democrat for state Assembly. Gasp!
Of course, I’m being facetious.
So Jessica Self, a far-left criminal defense attorney, has the endorsement of those groups in her bid to win the 22nd Assembly District seat.
If you’re fed up with high crime and criminals waltzing out of prison to victimize you over and over and the assault on traditional values, it’s a safe bet to go with Juan Alanis, presently a Stanislaus County Sheriff’s deputy. If you think that the country is inherently racist against people of color, that the planet is burning up from “climate crisis,” that we need to promote the gay agenda in our school system, and you don’t believe that unborn babies have any right to life, Self is your girl; she is your Joe Biden. Those who hold Christian values and believe in the Second Amendment will want to stay clear of her. Not even the liberal Modesto Bee endorsed her in the primary (picking Chad Condit instead).
Democrats always preach equity. Well, how about a little equity in the state Legislature? The fact that there is no balance of power in Sacramento might explain why the state is so screwed up. With the state Assembly having 60 Democrats and only 19 Republicans, why would anyone with good sense send another Democrat to Sacramento? We need more Republicans to keep a check on the lunacy streaming out of Sacramento!
Beware of Self playing out the aggressive ballot harvesting that her mentor, Josh Harder, pulled off in 2018 to win.
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Speaking of statehouse lunacy, we have a whole mess of problems like homeless crapping in the streets, a lack of affordable housing, highways haven’t been expanded and the cost of living eating up family incomes. So what is the priority of the governor? Changing the names of places because the names might offend a small percentage of the population.
One such change being crammed down residents’ throats is renaming Squaw Valley in Fresno County. Emperor Newsom wants it changed while the locals don’t. In fact the Fresno County Board of Supervisors last week passed a resolution noting that most Squaw Valley residents oppose a name change – and not because they are racists, I might add.
Many don’t think “squaw” is offensive, and blame “cancel culture” and “the woke agenda” for the push. Others are concerned about a name change costing businesses and residents.
MSN, in their ever-slated reporting, claims that “squaw” is a slur against Native American women, “akin to calling someone the C-word, a slur for a woman’s genitalia.”
In this age where liberals are calling women “birthing people” or “menstruating people,” somebody decided squaw was bad and they wanted to be offended over the term.
As I commented in September 2021 when Squaw Valley ski resort changed its name to Palisades Tahoe, the word squaw was derived from the Algonquin language, believed to have once meant “woman.” Somewhere along the line the new enlightened generation perverted its meaning as a “misogynistic and racist term used to disparage Indigenous women.” According to Dr. Marge Bruchac, an Abenaki historical consultant, Squaw means the totality of being female and the Algonquin version of the word “esqua,” “squa” “skwa” does not translate to a woman’s female anatomy.
In an article titled, “Reclaiming the word ‘Squaw’ in the Name of the Ancestors,” Dr. Bruchac wrote that squaw “has been interpreted by modern activists as a slanderous assault against Native American women.” Traditional Algonkian speakers still say words like “nidobaskwa” (which translated as a female friend), “manigebeskwa” (which means a woman of the woods); or “Squaw Sachem” which means female chief. When Abenaki people sing the “Birth Song,” they address “nuncksquassis” which means “little woman baby.”
Dr. Bruchac urged native Americans to “reclaim our language rather than let it be taken over.”
This is your government trying to sanitize culture and rewrite truths and history.
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The voters in this country had better get smart quick. There is no such thing as free lunches or free anything.
The reason you are paying much more for essentials in life – and everything else – is because the government shut everything down and decided to spend trillions of federal dollars.
The bill is now coming due. Taxpayers are now faced with higher interest payments. Total interest payments on the U.S. debt could reach $580 billion this fiscal year, up from $399 billion in fiscal 2022. That’s the equivalent ofthe federal government’s 2022 budget for Medicaid.
The increase is caused partly by Uncle Sam’s rapidly increasing national debt, as well as by the Federal Reserve increasing interest rates to hold down inflation.
The national debt is now $31.1 trillion. The federal budget ran a $1.4 trillion deficit in fiscal 2022.
No question that our future generations are being buried in debt.
It has to stop. Quit electing people who are adding to this burden!
All of you who voted for Biden didn’t do your homework. The man is losing it and it makes you wonder who is running the country. Jill Biden in shades of Edith Bolling Wilson?
They are not just gaffes, they are signs of mental failure. The latest was a comment made last week in Colorado when he said “Just imagine, I mean it sincerely, I say this as a father of a man who won the Bronze Star, the conspicuous service medal, and lost his life in Iraq.” Um, Joe, your son died in 2015 from a brain tumor.
The president was also making a speech on Sept. 28 when he called forth Congresswoman Jackie Walorski. “Jackie, are you here? Where’s Jackie? She must not be here,” Biden said, seeming to forget, or be unaware, that Walorski was killed in an August Indiana car crash.
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I know somebody will ask me how I will vote on the propositions because it happens every year and some folks like how I think about things.
Here is my take:
Prop. 1 – No. Just like murder, killing yet-to-be-born babies is not a right and should certainly not be in the state Constitution. For the sake of life, hell no.
Prop. 26 – Nope, despite what the Indian tribes say, we don’t need to expand gambling in California. Period.
Prop. 27 – No. We don’t need to expand gambling in California and it won’t do jack squat for the homeless problem. The state has thrown billions at the problem and things have only worsened.
Prop. 28 – Okay, why not as long as it doesn’t raise taxes? Besides, nobody filed an argument against.
Prop. 29 – No. Why fix what isn’t broken? Dialysis centers are operating safely. Causing them to keep a doctor on staff will drive up costs and will cause somecenters to close. Not a good thing with the incidence of diabetes in the Valley.
Prop. 30 – No. It’s just another progressive way to soak the rich and make them leave California for a red state with less taxes. The state would squander their money anyway and it won’t do jack squat to clean the air, either.
Prop. 31 – No. Instead of prohibition, let grown-ups decide for themselves if they want to buy flavored tobacco products (even though tobacco use is dangerous). Quit trying to control everyone’s life with regard to legal products. Besides, minors can’t buy tobacco products anyway.
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Radio host Alex Jones has been ordered to pay $950 million to the parents of Sandy Hook shooting victims because of some stupid theory that he espoused on his radio show? Is that not an outright warning to silence the political right?
Yeah, saying that the school shooting was fake showed delusional thinking – as are a lot of things that Jones has said. But we are supposed to have the freedom to speak in our country – even if we don’t like that speech!
On top of that, a Texas jury said Jones must pay out $4.1 million in compensatory damages and $45.2 million in punitive damages.
One billion dollars for saying something wacky? Jones didn’t take a single life! Jones didn’t harass any parents of the Sandy Hook victims! He merely spoke words, as irresponsible as his theory was! If you want to go after somebody, go after the ones who harassed parents directly!
Rest assured, punishing Jones for saying something stupid on the radio – which nobody else believed – with a whopping fine is about silencing people we don’t like. This is a grave danger to our basic freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution.
This column is the opinion of Jeff Benziger, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Ceres Courier or 209 Multimedia Corporation. How do you feel about this? Let Jeff know at jeffb@cerescourier.com