See how this works:
1). The governor shuts down jobs and the economy for a flu that is 99.5 percent survivable.
2). His actions cause people to lose their jobs unnecessarily.
3). People naturally can’t pay their bills and their rents.
4). Our altruistic governor comes to their rescue and uses taxpayer funds to pay 80 percent of their overdue rent as long as the landlord takes a 20 percent loss.
5). The rescued renter hails the state as a hero and who “cares” and is indebted to vote Democrat from here until infinity.
Wise up, folks. We’re just being used for as political pawns.
As for me, I’m actively advocating for the recall of perhaps the worst governor in the 50 U.S. states. Visit recallgavin2020.com for your petition for the recall of Gavin Newsom. There have been 1.3 million signatures collected with 1.5 million required to trigger an election.
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You might as well discount anything that comes out of the mouth of Speaker Pelosi or Sen. Chuck Schumer. Both wildly exaggerate claims dealing with Trump or Republicans. Take for instance, Pelosi saying Trump was an accessory to murder. I think fair-minded Americans know that making a connection between Trump and a handful of Jan. 6 Capitol rioters is illogical and farfetched but saying Trump is an accessory to murder is a sign of delusional thinking. This is who is running your Congress.
Schumer’s wild exaggeration and usual hyperbole suggested that Pearl Harbor and the Capitol incident were equal in disaster. “President Franklin Roosevelt set aside Dec. 7, 1941, as a day that will live in infamy. Unfortunately, we can now add Jan. 6, 2021, to that very short list of dates in American history that will live forever in infamy.”
For those who don’t know their history – and I realize because of our education system that few of you do – the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor killed about 2,390 Americans and launched America into World War II with Japan. The Capitol riot resulted in four deaths, including one unarmed white female Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt, 35, who was also an Air Force veteran.
Schumer was less dramatic about the June 14, 2017 shooting attack on GOP senators on an Alexandria baseball field which sent Senator Steve Scalise to the hospital by left-wing activist James Hodgkinson. Schumer did call the shooting a “senseless act of violence” but also stated: “…the level of nastiness, vitriol, and hate that has seeped into our politics must be excised.” Funny coming from one who continues ti spew to all that nastiness and partisan rancor.
Kudos to Senator Rand Paul who accurately surmised the situation this way: “What of Democrat incitement of violence? No Democrat will honestly ask whether Bernie Sanders incited the shooter that nearly killed Steve Scalise, and volunteer coach. The shooter nearly pulled off a massacre – I was there – because he fervently believed the false and inflammatory rhetoric spewed by Bernie and other Democrats. No Democrat will ask whether Maxine Waters incited violence when she literally told her supporters, and I quote: ‘If you see a member of the Trump Administration at a restaurant, at a department store, at a gas station or any place, you create a crowd and you push back on them.’ Is that not incitement? Shame on these angry unhinged partisans who are putting forth this sham impeachment, deranged by their hatred of the former president.”
For the record, Sanders posted on social media on March 22, 2017 “Trump is a Traitor. Trump Has Destroyed Our Democracy. It’s Time to Destroy Trump & Co.”
The Scalise shooting took place on June 14, 2017.
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The radicals are at it again, upsetting the apple cart in extreme ways.
Seventy-miles miles west of Ceres is a city called San Francisco, you might have heard about it. That’s where common sense drops in perpetuity to the higher your living status.
Last week the liberal elites on the San Francisco school board decided to remove the names from schools already named for Washington, Lincoln, Herbert Hoover, Jefferson and John Muir. Why? Because they “significantly diminished the opportunities of those amongst us to the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Despite the fact that he was anti-slavery and emancipated the black slaves, Lincoln was targeted because of his dealings with Indians. Talk about throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Dianne Feinstein’s name comes off a school because when she was mayor she allegedly allowed a Confederate flag to once fly on city hall property but that’s even in dispute.
Herbert Hoover, for the record, was a private citizen when he helped keep Belgium and German children from starving to death during World War I.
Some dingbat in San Francisco opined they are okay with keeping the name Roosevelt on a school, not for either of the two presidents but because of FDR’s wife Eleanor Roosevelt, who was a well-known progressive. Of course, despite TR being one of the greatest environmental presidents in our history, it’s all overshadowed by the fact that he insisted that all immigrants learn English or else go back “home.”
It’s apparent to me that the Far Left will not stop at fundamentally changing the nation by whitewashing history, discounting the Constitution by discounting its authors – our Founding Fathers – as white racists and replacing it with their own brand of policies and structures that punish the well-off to reward a permanent underclass that is enslaved and dependent upon government rather than self-reliance. We see it with a push to create a new state in D.C., because it is predominantly Democrat and guarantee more seats in the U.S. Senate. We see it in their push to do away with the Electoral College. We see it as they moved to impeach a president who is no longer in office to impeach. What next? Impeach Gerald Ford for pardoning Nixon? Impeaching Carter for his inept presidency? Where do you draw the line?
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A certain belligerent citizen of Ceres caused City Clerk Diane Nayares-Perez to read a statement at the outset of the Jan. 25 Ceres City Council meeting. Said citizen raised a ruckus on Jan. 11 because his email wasn’t read out loud even though he expressed his views audibly. She noted that written communications are entered into the minutes of meetings but not necessarily read aloud unless the mayor directs them to be. The city clerk consulted with the city attorney and it was decided that there is no requirement to read a written statement if the same person participates in the discussion on the same topic since it would “provide an unequal opportunity for that individual to make the same statement twice and exceed the allotted time for public comment.”
Directly after that, an email was read aloud from the same individual, John Osgood – who on Jan. 11 was nearly screaming into the phone and threatening to unleash a torrent of curse words – chastised the council for not reading his email out loud and accused Nayares-Perez “single-handedly denied my right to be heard in the town square.” He demanded her apology or replacement.
He also admonished the city for not physically opening up council meetings, citing the fact that Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors’ meetings have never been closed to physical attendance.
Osgood has a good point on the last issue but could use a lesson in civility.
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Anyone who has attended council meetings knows that Gene Yeakley frequently expresses his dismay about the problem of loud music, illegal signs and trash. Apparently his neighbors have little regard for others with regard to playing music too loud.
He wants the city to enact a $250 fine to replace the $100 fine for the second loud music call. Yeakley believes the fine hike would make believers out of violators. He also heard that the hat is passed at some backyard parties where live bands are hired to play to help pay for the fines since they know are likely to come rather than do the right thing and not be inconsiderate neighbors.
Gene also had the idea to have a town hall style meeting for residents to educate and outline the expectations for conduct relating to city ordinances. But knowing human nature like I do, expect few to even care to attend that one.
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John Warren also pressed upon the council to undo what the previous council did in a 3-2 vote and that was to allow garbage cans to be in public view seven days a week with some restrictions. He aptly noted that the city is moving to a three-can-per-household system.
It would be nice to see some leadership on that request.
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Most Americans are repulsed by what social media giants are doing to silence voices they dislike. If you question whether the 2020 election was conducted fairly you are in the crosshairs of Facebook and Twitter. Just ask Mike Lindel of the My Pillow company. He is a Christian and a conservative and has been banned from Twitter – for life. Fascist tactics indeed.
Meanwhile you have dangerous people like Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calling for a commission to decide what is said by whom in social media. Has this former bartender ever actually read the Constitution, the one she swore to uphold?
The Italian dictator Mussolini in 1929 established a High Commission for the press while insisting that the commission would not interfere with the freedom of the press. However, Mussolini reserved an exception to control “any activity contrary to the national interest.”
To make matters worse, the Far Left pressured stores like Kohl’s to pull his pillows. That’s the difference between the left and the right: The cancel culture wants you to shut you up if you disagree with them and will cut you off at the knees to make sure you do shut up.
I understand exactly what Lindel is going through for I was personally the target of a group of leftists last year seeking to get me fired for my conservative views. Another example of the failure of our public education system.
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Everyone wants a strong police and fire department. But the reality is you get the departments you can afford.
The FBI suggested ratio of police officers per 1,000 residents is not something many cities can afford to do. Yet, that is the standard which Couper Condit, one month into the job, suggested.
Instead of using his time under Council Reports, Condit pulled out his pet issue from his Planning Commission days – and that is saying the city is failing to meet the General Plan goal of achieving 1.3 officers per thousand residents. As was pointed out in past years, the General Plan sets the goal, the council allocates positions in the budget. They are different things. Condit said to meet the goal, Ceres would need to hire 15-20 additional officers. He accused the last council of failing to achieve that goal and “status quo governance.”
Setting a goal and achieving it are different matter. It would be akin to making plans to visit Hawaii but not being able to get there for a lack of funds.
The fully-burdened cost of one police officer is about $100,000 so hiring 15 to 20 would cost about $1.5 million to $2 million. There is no way Ceres has the funds to do that unless you want to eviscerate planning, streets, recreation and finance.
The reality is that the state – which is more concerned with tying the hands of police and freeing criminals – takes the lion’s share of tax revenue.
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
