Federal law says that an illegal immigrant cannot possess a firearm in the United States. There is no gray area – unless you are a federal judge appointed by President Obama and you dismiss the charge because the defendant claims he needed protection during the summer riots of 2020.
The illegal immigrant is not a U.S. citizen and therefore not protected by the Second Amendment protections afforded citizens. But District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman thinks Heriberto Carbajal-Flores should be able to have a gun anyway. He was charged under Title 18 of the U.S. Criminal Code, which bans noncitizens from possessing firearms and ammunition “or to receive any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce.”
I find it convenient that a leftist judge would extend special considerations to a person who is unlawfully residing in our country under the guise of the Second Amendment.
I would prefer that Carbajal-Flores be deported after he was found with his gun.
* * * * *
A new study has revealed the least affordable states to save for a house deposit – with California ranking as the second-worst.
The study, conducted by real estate experts Agent Advice, evaluated median household incomes and the typical house values across the U.S., revealing the states with the worst income-to-house price ratio – unveiling the most expensive areas for aspiring homeowners.
The study revealed the least affordable states to save for a house deposit, revealing Hawaii as the worst place for first-time homebuyers.
While Hawaii’s median household income stands at a massive $92,458, the typical home value is a staggering $831,808 – by far the highest in the US. This significant disparity results in a high ratio of 9.0, making Hawaii the least favorable state for those hoping to save.
Following closely behind is California, infamous for its high cost of living. With a median household income of $91,551 and a typical home value of $743,435, the state exhibits a ratio of 8.12. This disparity adds to prospective homebuyers’ challenges in California’s competitive real estate market.
* * * * *
Every few years we get stories like the one on the front page – authorities rescuing a child from absolute filthy conditions. It’s hard to believe that people can live in a way that is hard for normal people to imagine. We can’t fathom a person keeping 81 dogs locked up in a house with urine reeking so bad that firefighters in respirators had to be called in to enter the home.
The discovery was made after someone called police to perform a security check on one of the occupants. The real question is why was this not reported sooner by neighbors or anyone in their circle? Surely there were concerns about barking or stench every time the doors opened.
We all can be better neighbors, I suppose.
Fortunately, because someone did call authorities, a child and a senior woman was rescued from total squalor.
* * * * *
I watched the video of the motorcyclist who was gassing up last week and caused the fire at the downtown Ceres shell station and I had more questions than answers.
The video shows this young man sitting on his motorcycle, inserting the gas nozzle into his tank for a moment and then pulls it out as gas is streaming all over his bike and a huge puddle of gas starts puddling underneath his motorcycle. My first thought is why he would be so careless. Almost immediately the motorcycle is a flash fire and he leans off the bike to his left.
But prior to this, a young woman about his age pulls up to the pump on the other side of his, parks at nearly a 45 degree angle to cause me to think she’s not gassing up since the butt of her car is angled away from the pump. She gets out of the driver’s seat, walks around the back of her car and towards Mr. Careless Motorcyclist like she either knows him or is going to confront him. Almost instantly the chopper bonfire starts. She has the presence of mind to get back in her car and drive it to safety.
Very strange. What was happening here?
* * * * *
Every Californian should watch the address Rep. Kevin Kiley made on the floor of Congress the day after Gov. Newsom debated Gov. DeSantis of Florida. He completely blows away Der Schlickmeister. The YouTube video, which has been watched 2.7 million times, can be searched at “California Lawmaker Delivers Brutal Fact Check Following the Newsom and DeSantis Debate.”
It was posted on Dec. 1 and is still relevant other than Kiley citing the impending state budget deficit at $38 billion – when it is now $73 billion.
Kiley talks how Newsom’s brag of California being a model of good governance is total BS, using alternative reality and misleading and delusional assertions.
Newsom refused to acknowledge that there is an exodus from California. But between 2019 and 2022, 1,044,000 left California while 707,000 moved to Florida. Before Newsom took reign, California had gained population every year since statehood began in 1850. We now have the highest outward migration of all 50 states, which, I might add, is in spite of our great weather or natural beauty.
In refusing to acknowledge that he has turned California into a state many can no longer afford or tolerate due to his radical agenda, Newsom said there were more Floridians moving to California than Californians moving to Florida.
How could he make such a bold statement? The same way magicians use trickery and illusions to fool his audience.
Kiley explains: Newsom did a deceptive comparison by taking the per capita number of fed-up Californians who left for Florida and put that percentage up against an absolute numbers the other way.
On COVID, Kiley takes on Newsom’s draconian lockdown and vaccine mandates. Yet Newsom falsely claimed Florida was the bigger lockdown state.
While every state initially took draconian – and unconstitutional – measures in February/March 2020 some states quickly let up. Florida was the third quickest state to get kids back into school while California ranked 50th.
California ended up with an excess mortality rate exceeding the national average. Kiley notes that the Lancet study concluded that for its crackdown on individual liberties, California had one of the highest mortality rates in the nation.
Newsom also was the only governor who mandates vaccines for public school students – which were never needed for healthy kids.
On homelessness, Newsom claimed to have gotten 68,000 folks off the streets, this after spending $20 BILLION on the problem. Homelessness, however, has increased 15 times faster in California than the whole country. Over half of all homeless Americans are in California.
On education, Newsom claimed California is outperforming Florida, cherry picking fourth grade reading and eighth grade math scores.
California does spend 45 percent more per pupils in K-8 education than other states but here is the truth: we have the worst literacy rate of all 50 states. Eight hundred schools here have 75 percent of students who do not read at grade level. Eighth grade reading scores are the worst of all 50 states. Fourth grade reading scores rate 47 out of 50.
What do we get for the highest gas tax in the nation? Roads and streets rated as second or third worst in the nation.
California has the highest poverty rate and had the lowest wage growth than any other state. We also have the second highest unemployment rate in the USA.
And Newsom thinks he should be president? What arrogance.
* * * * *
I realize abortion has always been a hot button topic in American politics. Christian and conservative Americans tend to believe that abortion is murder while those on the Left think it’s totally fine to terminate a pregnancy. But many of those on the Left agree that after 15 weeks (nearly four months) it’s too late to abort a baby.
Former President Donald Trump is now suggesting he’s open to supporting a national ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is endangered.
The reality is that abortion is the number one cause of deaths of infants in the United States.
But what are the radicals on the Left doing in response to Trump’s signal? They are using it to promote the candidacy of Democrat Adam Gray who is running against Rep. John Duarte.
Dan Gottlieb of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, issued this statement: “John Duarte’s enthusiastic endorsement of Donald Trump is a reminder that he will fall in line behind the former president’s dangerous extremism, and will be a rubber-stamp for this nationwide abortion ban.”
Funny how he feels not killing babies after 15 weeks is “dangerous extremism” when it’s the killing of babies that is dangerous extremism. Even Bill Clinton said abortion should be rare.
Gottlieb says women have reproductive freedom – in this case the exact opposite being the freedom to not reproduce.
Here’s the deal. Abortion is being used instead of birth control. Every woman has the choice to not get pregnant in the first place. Choosing after one gets pregnant is not ideal.
* * * * *
You’d have to be blind as a bat to not see what is going on in the continuing legal attacks against a political opponent.
First look at the timing of these cases against the soon-to-be Republican nominee for president. These cases could have been over by now but conveniently they all fall together in an election year. What a coincidence!
Let’s review the four legal cases against Donald Trump:
1) Stormy Daniels. Donald Trump allegedly had sex with porn star Stormy Daniels (which he denies). He had her sign a nondisclosure agreement to not speak about any relationship and she was paid for that agreement. NDAs are legal! Daniels, however, didn’t live up to her end of the bargain.
Elevating the business-records charges to felonies by linking them to an underlying federal election violation would be a novel legal theory that would test the interaction of state and federal laws.
Lo and behold before the trial was to begin, federal prosecutors belatedly turned over mounds of evidence related to a key witness in the case, former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. But the judge in the case, Judge Juan Merchan, said Trump’s trial will start on April 15. Merchan’s wife worked on the failed 2019 presidential campaign of Kamala Harris and she is president of a progressive fundraising agency that reportedly took in more than $2 million from the Biden campaign.
Trump blasted the new trial date as “election interference,” accurately noting that the case that could have been brought three and a half years ago.
Smell a rat now?
Secondly, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a civil suit against Trump, his sons, and his former aide Allen Weisselberg, alleging Trump fraudulently reported the value of properties in order to either lower his tax bill or improve the terms of his loans. All banks which loaned Trump money were paid with interest. The laughable part is that the judge valued Mar-a-Lago worth $18 million, while Trump’s financial statements valued it from $427 million to $627 million.
Then there’s the Georgia election interference case with a discredited county DA named Fani Willis. The U.S. Justice Department should have end this case since it’s the federal government, not a county official, to prosecute any alleged election interference. This is the most ridiculous case and based on a call Trump made to a county officials that all he needed was someone to find 11,780 corrupt votes and he’d win the state. President Trump was expressing his opinion that if the evidence was carefully examined one would “find that you have many (ballots) that aren’t even signed and you have many that are forgeries.”
I think all-mail ballots are prime for voter fraud. We must return to in-person voting and require an ID to be shown. That’s the simple way to restore faith in election results.
Next, the classified documents case in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida which contain 32 counts of willful retention of national defense information in violation of the Espionage Act. It would be hard to argue that Trump should be prosecuted for hanging onto such documents while Biden did the same yet was given a pass because he’s a feeble old man who can’t remember how to tie his shoes. Let’s not forget that Hillary Clinton also got a free pass.
The dirty little secret of Washington is that not all classified documents contain information that is crucial to national security. Anything that could be embarrassing to government officials can be slapped with the “top secret” classification.
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
