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GOP has zero chance to unseat Gov. Newsom
Opinion

If you’re a Republican or even a No Party Preference voter with conservative leanings, you’re probably feeling depressed when it comes to your desires to see Gavin Newsom replaced in the November election. With Democrat voters outnumbering Republicans by a two-to-one margin, it does look hopeless but I urge you to turn out to vote anyway. There are a host of other races that also need your support and the chances are much better.

Many of us who detest Newsom were hopeful of ousting the Joker in the September 2021 recall. With 61.9 percent voting to keep his sorry rear in office as opposed to 38.1 percent, we know that a small percentage really pay no attention to the ills he has brought on.

State Senator Brian Dahle appears to be the Republican’s best choice although he is a longshot. The Northern California native has represented California’s 1st State Assembly district from 2012 to 2019 and he served on the Lassen County Board of Supervisors for 16 years.

Dahle considers himself someone who protects policies that keep families on their farms, protects water rights, and supports the business community. He is against crushing regulations and for lowering taxes. He could be our Ron DeSantis if only voters would give him a chance.

We all know that the wishes of San Francisco and Los Angeles dictate who our state leaders are. But we can always hope for a wakeup call. If gas prices continue to rise in California as a result of Democrat policies perhaps we can get enough people to defect from that party over to the sensible side.

The way it works is that the top two candidates in the June 7 primary election – regardless of party – move on to the Nov. 8 election.


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Ever get the feeling that Biden – throw in the Democrat lawmaker in the Sacramento Capitol – are so out of touch he could care less if gas prices hit $10 a gallon?

I do, especially after learning on Thursday that Democrats allowed yet another gas tax hike occur and since Biden canceled major oil and gas lease sales pending before the Department of the Interior. The oil and gas leases consisted of over 1 million acres in Alaska’s Cook inlet and two additional lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico. This move comes amid record-high gas prices, which continue to climb, and half-hearted attempts by the Biden administration to tackle inflation and to lower energy costs.

Since Biden took office in January 2021, the United States is producing two million barrels of oil less per day, and when the Biden administration took office, the national gas price average was around $2.37 per gallon. The simple solution to curb high gas prices is to restore our traditional energy production, but it is clear President Biden has no interest in resolving astronomical fuel prices.


* * * * *

If you’re tired of our attorney general using his office to promote a radical environmental agenda, unbridled immigration and insane policies like early release of prisoners, you might want to look to Anne Marie Schubert to replace them. She has no party preference and is the District Attorney of Sacramento County who is appalled at how criminals are being released to continue victimizing our populace.

Hands-down, the incumbent in Ted Gaines for State Board of Equalization is the best choice in that race.

For the U.S. Senate seat, consider businessman and son of Iranian refugees Jon Elist. He’s running against  Senator Alex Padilla, who was appointed by Newsom in 2021 when Kamala Harris bailed out of her seat.

Elist feels like I do that “failed career politicians are destroying everything around us,” adding: “Just look at the mess that long-time politicians like Alex Padilla, George Gascon, Gavin Newsom and others have created in California, whether you are talking about rampant homelessness, a lack of public safety, a failing education system, billions of taxpayer dollars wasted by the California EDD, and so many other problems.”

In the state Senate District 4 I like Republicans Steven Bailey, Jeff McKay, George Radanovich and Jolene Daly.

In the state Assembly race I like Juan Alanis and Joel Gutierrez Campos.


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Never in the many decades in the newspaper business had I ever seen the show that was allowed to go at the May 9 council meeting when the mayor allowed a concerted parade of people complain some 20 minutes about a private citizen in Gene Yeakley who has lodged complaints against them for noise violations.

Yeakley, a former council candidate, has a reputation for being unsettled about noises coming from his neighbors. He frequently complains about a lax code enforcement effort in town. He has called the cops on many of his neighbors but apparently one call got a neighbor in hot water for her squawking bird. The problem ended up being a matter for Animal Services and there is a hearing.

I heard a recording of that bird and I understand why Yeakley filed a complaint.

There has to be give and take when you live in a city with close neighbors. There is no reason why anyone’s music should disrupt the peace and quiet of a neighbor. And at times a neighbor is expected to make allowances for a little noise coming from pets or children. Maybe both sides can come to the middle.


The mayor (who is basically the meeting moderator) should have shut down the input from those who suggested Yeakley was “intolerant and racist.” As well as the exaggerations of one lady who suggested the community “is felt being held hostage to the personal preference of a single individual.”


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California has a staggering budget deficit that could reach $68 billion. Instead of giving that money back to the citizenry from whence it came – because apparently the state took much from them – state Democrats will probably use it to further their leftist agenda.

Senate Republican Leader Scott Wilk (R-Santa Clarita) and members of the California Senate Republican Caucus have a different idea on how to spend some of those excess budget dollars.

I agree with Wilk’s summation that “California is going to hell in a handbasket under a one-party rule. The Republicans have some good ideas that won’t even be considered by the Democrats in the Assembly or Senate:

• A full gas tax holiday. The state should immediately suspend the gas tax to reduce the cost of fuel for families suffering from record-high prices. The revenues should be backfilled by the General Fund so that transportation projects will not be impacted.

• Lower costs for renters. To help offset rising rental costs, California should increase the renter’s tax credit to $1,000 for spouses filing joint returns, heads of households, and surviving spouses. It should also include a $500 tax credit for other individuals to provide temporary assistance for one of California’s most significant problems.

 • California student tax credit. To assist students with the rising costs of housing, transportation, or other school expenses, California should offer up to several thousand dollars in student tax credits per year for eligible students.

• Address mental health and substance abuse needs. The state should invest $10 billion to build the facilities needed to address the related crises of mental health, substance abuse, and homelessness.

• Invest in water storage. The state must invest the $2.6 billion necessary to fully fund the already voter-approved Sites Reservoir that will provide water storage for 1.5 million homes per year.

• Prepare for wildfires. The state needs to remove the red tape and roadblocks stalling wildfire prevention and treatment projects.

The key to getting things like this done is to be careful who you vote for. Voting for anyone with a D behind their name just because that’s what you’ve done your whole life is the reason we’re in such a pickle.


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Even Assemblyman Adam Gray, D-Merced, is fed up with the performance of his governor. After Newsom released his May budget revision, Gray issued the following statements: 

“With the budget surplus approaching $100 billion, the excuses need to stop. This is no longer an either-or conversation. The surplus makes it clear we have more than enough revenue to pass a gas tax holiday and send rebate checks to working families.

“The only proposal to suspend the gas tax with bipartisan support is now in print and is ready to be passed. The California Problem Solvers Caucus proposal, AB 2457, will suspend the gas tax for 12 months, create a reasonable but meaningful enforcement mechanism to ensure oil companies do not pocket the tax cut for themselves, and backfill every penny to fully fund state and local transportation projects.

“The Legislature should act now to suspend the gas tax, adopt the Governor’s proposal to pause the sales tax on diesel for 12 months, and send direct payments to taxpayers.”


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Sometimes you can find some great things on the internet besides the really bad things.

This one has probably been passed around but is a good read if you haven’t seen it before.

It reads: “I just watched a news person interview a school principal and ask, ‘What are we missing? What do children need?’ He went on and on about mental illness, the Juvenile Justice System, gun control, education reform, blah, blah, blah.

“Folks, none of that mumbo jumbo makes a lick of sense. Here is what children need: 

1). Children need a mother and a father who love each other and work together as a team. 

2). Children need a bicycle, neighbors, and cousins. 

3). Children need a grandma to bake with and a grandpa to take them fishing.

4). Children need a church, a Sunday School Class, and a truth-telling preacher.

5). Children need a dinner time with home cooked food, prayer, and conversation.

6). Children need Sunday afternoon football and fried chicken.

7). Children need books on tape and coloring pages.

8). Children need summers at the beach and bazooka bubble gum.

9). Children need a trip to Arlington and Fourth of July Fireworks.

10). Children need fire pits, s’mores, ghost stories, the drive in, and real popcorn. 

11). Children need discipline from their parents.

12). Children need chores, a job, a way to earn what they want. 

13). Children need education that recognizes mama and daddy as the authority, God as the creator, and the Bible as the roadmap. 

This is not about some agenda, this is about children. Get back to basics: faith, family and good ole fashioned fun.”

 

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I feel bad for the kids growing up today. They’re being lied to by adults with regard to this warped gender fluidity nonsense.

I was swimming in a hotel pool in Sparks, Nev., last year when a brother and sister jumped in and I heard conversation between them. The girl was probably 9 or 10 years old and was telling her brother that there were more than two genders.  That was certainly news to me in my 60 years on the planet.

It’s enough to make my blood boil how educators are assisting in the deception of our youth. You may have heard that some highly enlightened educators at Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy in San Francisco – I bet you can see where this is headed – participated in an April 26 session “Creating and Sustaining GSAs in Elementary Schools.” GSAs, if you didn’t know, stands for Genders and Sexualities Alliance, student run organizations that obsess over LGBTQ+ issues.

The question came up of what should a teacher do if a parent requests that teachers “refer to their child by the pronouns associated with their sex assigned at birth instead of their preferred pronouns, and that we use a legal name instead of a student’s chosen name?”

Not only did Kieran Slattery suggest teachers ignore the parents’ request – preferring not to offend little Suzy who thinks she’s Johnny despite not having a penis – but he dismissively referred to parents as “caregiver.”

At the forum Slattery said he also told the parents that because he had the support of the principal and superintendent “there wasn’t much they can do.” He flippantly joked that the parents eventually stood down and found “another topic…to squawk about.” Slattery may have acknowledged that his remark was not professional, he exposed the true arrogance and superiority teachers like him enjoy exercising over parents.

The public education system is quickly becoming an indoctrination center to turn our kids into these mind-numbed robots to do the bidding of the Left. Parents should consider an alternative to state-run schools, especially in California.

 

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