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The Left is fanning the flames of racial discord
Opinion

The Democrat National Committee has cut Fox News from televising any its candidate debates. Last week DNC Chairman Tom Perez said that Fox is “not in a position to host a fair and neutral debate for our candidates.”

Perez then said: “I believe that a key pathway to victory is to continue to expand our electorate and reach all voters.” All voters except those who watch Fox News, that is.


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Did you hear about the mayor of Lamar, S.C., Darnell Byrd McPherson who automatically assumed the “yellow, sticky substance” on her car was put there by a racist?

Police said it was pollen, but no matter, McPherson continued to insist it was an act of racism and dredge up PAST examples of racism in her small town – way back.

Racism exists in America today but I can assure you that since her neighbor’s car had the same pollen on it, she’s looking for a problem by creating a problem that didn’t exist. Kind of like the way Jussie Smollett paid his friends to beat him up to stage a hate crime for publicity and smearing Trump supporters (the “attackers” made sure to wear red hats, like MAGA hats after they couldn’t find real MAGA hats).


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Young radicals in Congress.

We live in some radical times when House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer won’t schedule a vote in the House of Representatives to rebuke the on-going anti-Semitism that comes out of the mouth of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.  It is even more astounding that she continues to hold her seat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.  Both political parties used to be committed to the idea of “never again” when it comes to anti-Jewish hate, but apparently the House Democrats fail to realize that never means never.”


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I often dispense great criticism for California State Attorney General Xavier Becerra. But I was frankly surprised that he did the right thing in not charging the two Sacramento Police officers with wrongdoing when they shot to death Stephon Clark on March 18, 2018.

Clark, 22, was released from jail a month before he decided to go back to his thieving ways and break house windows and car windows in search of places to rob. He had a history of robbery, domestic abuse, and prostitution-related offenses. When he died he had traces of cocaine, cannabis, and codeine in his body. 

Becerra conducted an independent review which matched the district attorney’s findings that the officers were justified in shooting Clark, a known thug.

But boy did Becerra grovel as he made overtures as he sensed another protest rampage. He said “there is a lot of hurt in this community today.”  Unfortunately all that hurt came about because of Clark’s criminal wrongdoing and paying the consequences for all that stupidity and not simply following multiple police commands.

But the Sacramento community – mostly black citizens – protested anyway.


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While the rest of the country is feeling “live stupidly, die stupidly,” the libs at the Sacramento Bee decided to make the resulting protest and the arrest of one of their reporters all about race and Trump. One headline read: “Some see 84 arrests from march as attempt to protect affluent East Sacramento.” Another opinion piece by David Carraccio and Ryan Sabalow of the Bee had the audacity to hint that Sacramento Police’s crackdown on an anti-cop protest was about protecting “one of the city’s ritziest neighborhoods.” That, my friends, is typical class warfare BS. The Sac Bee piece read: “The atmosphere suddenly became tense when the activists turned from J Street onto 45th Street, a wide tree-lined boulevard where Ronald Reagan lived in a six-bedroom home when he was California governor.” A veiled jab at Reagan and conservatives. The writers then note that there were residents in the neighborhood  – God forbid – who disagreed with the protest. It’s the way the Bee wrote it that stirred my angst: “As nearly 150 marchers made the turn, a man in a yellow ball cap was standing ramrod straight on the sidewalk, extending his middle finger to protesters as they walked by. Approached by a Sacramento Bee reporter, he responded “F--- off” to an interview request, then retreated to the front porch of a large white house, adorned with large pillars and an American flag out front.”

It was a clear stab at white Americans who are well-off – a favorite target of liberals who believe in the concept of “white privilege.”

But the liberal media bias continued: “From that moment on … the tension between police and protesters ratcheted up. Police reported at least seven cars were vandalized nearby, and a few streets away a man wearing a Make America Great Again hat quickly found himself facing several angry protesters outside Mercy Hospital at 40th and J streets.”

So there we go – we brought Trump into the mix. McClatchy, you’ve proved how biased your media bias can be to the law-and-order crowd. Seven cars vandalized? Sounds like crimes were being committed to me but oh let the police step aside while it may escalate into breaking windows on the houses on all those rich white folk because the protestors are grieving. Such drivel. 

The insults continue in the Bee piece: “The dynamics of the march had now changed dramatically, into what protesters said was an unnecessary show of force by police to protect a predominately white, wealthy enclave.”

Okay, Bee, keep stoking your agenda of bias against the right. Totally unnecessary.

Did it occur to the Bee that it did require a necessary force by police when police-hating protestors started damaging property?

No wonder the Bee newspapers are not well respected in their communities.

A couple hours later, police arrested 84 people for being on the 51st Street bridge over Highway 50, no doubt blocking traffic.

The protestors were far from peace loving. Bruce Starkweather told the Bee that he heard the most vile, angry language, use of the F-word and numerous other harsh words showing anger “towards us as residents.” The intent for singling out that neighborhood was all about class envy – a hallmark of liberals and so-called progressives.


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Do you ever notice that when certain minorities get shot by police – whether it’s Andres Raya who murdered Sgt. Howie Stevenson here in Ceres, Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., or Stephon Clark in Sacramento – that nobody ever blames the actions of the dead? Let’s be honest, if Clark wasn’t out doing his dirty deeds at night and then defying police, then he would be alive today. We all know today that Michael Brown never threw up his hands in surrender and said, “Hands up, don’t shoot.”


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Turlock city officials initially didn’t want to allow marijuana dispensaries in their city. They’re changing their tune now with millions in operational deficits.

I honestly admired Turlock’s original stand. I’m no fan of marijuana and don’t think it’s doing our world any favors. The words of Ceres City Councilwoman Linda Ryno have been ringing in my ears since she uttered them: “Are we selling our souls to the devil?”

It appears Turlock is looking to make a deal.

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Running across the freeway can have deadly results.

I’ve seen it myself in Ceres.

On Thursday morning some unfortunate person ran across Highway 99 south of Pelandale Avenue and ended up dying for it. Now a 27-year-old Stockton woman named Christian Gamboa will have that horrible experience on her mind the rest of her life.

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Society today tends to react punitively to stories bandwagon style.

There is nothing new about allegations of child molestation by Michael Jackson. In fact he was on trial for it and acquitted. But after the release of the documentary about it, the National Football Museum in Manchester, England removed the statue of Michael Jackson.

I thought the statue was up because he was a remarkable and extremely talented musician.

Where does this end? Take the name of Martin Luther King off of schools, streets and parks because there are people who say he had multiples dalliances with women? Remove the statutes of JFK and LBJ for the same reason? 

It seems society is very selective about who gets to keep a statue and who doesn’t. The Confederate generals, Father Junipero Serra and Christopher Columbus all were targeted recently by the left while others are glossed over. Should the bronze statue of Bing Crosby be taken down from the Gonzaga University in Spokane because he beat his kid? Remove Joan Crawford’s star from the Hollywood Walk of Fame because she whipped her daughter with clothes hangers? Take a wrecking ball to the Jefferson Memorial in DC because he owned slaves? Close the Hermitage because Andrew Jackson owned slaves? Relocate the massive tomb of President Warren G. Harding in Marion, Ohio because he fathered an illegitimate daughter? Dismantle the FDR Memorial because he unjustly imprisoned thousands of Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor? Scour the name of Cesar Chavez from California schools and parks because he was encouraging deportations of illegal aliens and his cousin was in charge of hiring people to beat up migrants at the border and bribed police to step aside as the assaults were happening? I suppose the world has amnesia over these things or just haven’t taken the time to go rattling skeletons in the closet.

Where does it end?


Historical figures are remembered for their accomplishments, not their detractions. If that were the case, no American president would ever be honored on a U.S. postage stamp.


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Economist Dr. Arthur Laffer was in Turlock recently to speak to Stan State. Too bad most of California voters won’t listen to what he has to say about the theory of the tax cuts stimulating the economy and spreading jobs. He told our sister paper, The Turlock Journal: “There is no substitute for economic growth, and anyone who thinks they can help the poor by hurting the rich doesn’t understand economics. If you tax people who work and you pay people who don’t work, you’re going to get a lot of people not working.”


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