California continues to turn redder with each passing day, which should give the rest of the nation a clue as to the dismal performance of Gov. Gavin “I-want-to-be-president-so-I-will-pander-to-independents” Newsom.

Word came last week that Stanislaus County now has more Republicans than Democrats. There are now 108,861 registered Republicans in our county as opposed to 108,289 Democrats. That’s a 572 voter margin.

Keep in mind that in 2016, Stanislaus County supported Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump by a 47.4 percent to 45.6 percent margin. That same year, Stanislaus County had 94,868 registered Democrats and 90,116 registered Republicans.

After Trump served his first term as president, our county narrowly supported Biden over Trump (49.2 percent to 48.4 percent).  At the time of the 2020 presidential election, Democrats had an 8,150-vote lead in party registration in Stanislaus County.

My how things changed after four disastrous years of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Last November, Stanislaus County supported Trump over Harris by a margin of 54.2 to 43.2 percent. That says a lot when you consider that Democrats still outnumbered Republicans in Stanislaus County by a 108,742 to 104,314 registration comparison.

As far as the rest of California goes, Republicans are making significant gains but it’s not likely you’ll see anything turning red statewide with the solid blue liberal coastline and large cities. For that fact, a lot of conservatives and fed-up middle class families have lost hope and exiled to Florida, Alabama, Utah and other places more suited to their ideology – and incomes.

As of October 21, 2024, California had 10,396,792 registered Democrats and 5,896,203 registered Republicans – essentially dominating everything in the state.

And they want Prop. 50 to pass so they can draw up districts so more Democrats win elections? Hell no.

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A gentleman who regularly emails me admitted on Monday that he was pulled over by a Ceres Police officer and cited for a vehicle code violation.

Apparently while being ticketed, he filled the officer’s ears about “real ACTUAL traffic violations” on Rose and Louise avenues. The officer informed him that he was only one of two traffic officers.

The man who was ticketed wrote me: “Thanks, woke leftism. This cop was a good guy just doing his job and I’ll pay the fine but to the Ceres City Councilmembers, DO YOUR JOB!”

The fact that cities in California don’t have enough revenue to keep up with the ever rising costs of medical insurance, labor and other costs has nothing to do with wokeism. The state of California gets the lion’s share of sales and property tax revenues – steals it, actually – so they can pilfer it away and spend some of it on questionable non-essential services.

I recall even how Gov. Jerry Brown years ago stole all of the cities’ redevelopment funds because of state’s budget deficit. Cities don’t have the ability to steal to make up for their revenue shortfalls. They can ask for a tax increase but voters must approve.

No, sir, the problem of not enough police is that local city councils have to operate within the confines of a greedy state tax sharing formula and their hands are tied.

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John Warren, perhaps the most engaged resident of Ceres when it comes to scrutinizing City Council and Planning Commission meetings, had a good point last week.

Warren pointed out the contradictory views expressed in staff reports concerning Ashley Ranuio’s proposed Truck Stop Grub Hub and Outdoor Music Venue project. When her conditional use permit was being considered by the Ceres Planning Commission in June, then Acting Community Development Director Lea Simvoulakis was supportive of both grub hub requests with an analysis stating: “A grub hub can be a powerful tool for economic development, especially in urban and underserved communities. First, food trucks require significantly less capital than traditional brick-and-mortar restaurants. This can provide a gateway for first-time entrepreneurs, especially minorities, immigrants, and women who may face challenges accessing financing for full-scale restaurants. As the smaller food truck business grows, the truck owner may be able to expand into a full-service restaurant, creating more jobs and economic benefit for the City. A local grub hub can also attract visitors which benefits nearby businesses and even other restaurants. A new and interesting venue like this grub hub ultimately lowers the entry barriers to business ownership, creates jobs, encourages local spending, and promotes urban revitalization.”

As far as any disruptions from amplified music that could affect homes across Whitmore Avenue, contract planner Kelsey George said any music levels would be up to 64 decibels at the property line – less than the existing ambient noise level of 72 to 75 decibels from traffic. Music would not be permitted past 10 p.m., the same time as the end of grub hub activity.

The Planning Commission supported Ranuio’s project in a 3-1 vote.  Commission Chairman Gary Condit pronounced it as a “great project and it’s very unique to Ceres, which I think the venue aspect giving families somewhere to go presents appeal for me.”

It would have been “all systems go” for the grub hub to build except that a competitor (Andy Sanchez) filed an appeal. And last week the council, through the city attorney, summed up the council’s objection, citing noise and traffic, etc.

It always bothers me when business people try to take the rights of others away to develop and block competitors. It also irks me that Sunny Ghai is trying to block Maverik when he was granted the right to build a gas station across the street on Mitchell Road. When he didn’t get his way with his appeal to the council, he is now suing using CEQA as the weapon. One reason why CEQA should be dismantled.

Maybe Ashley Ranuio should sue too?

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The control freak known as Gavin Newsom keeps putting the thumb screws to the people of California.

AB 3074 was passed years ago but Newsom has ordered the regulatory requirements of the bill to begin.

The regulations impact approximately 2.5 million residents living in what’s called a “zone zero,” or areas with higher risk of wildfire. It forbids those homeowners from having plants, mulch, trees and any wooden fences within five feet of their structures that could be ignited by embers.

Implementing these rules could cost homeowners thousands of dollars. Opponents suggest this is not a good idea as it could unnecessarily eliminate thousands of trees in Southern California that produce cycle carbon dioxide.

After seeing how the wildfires swept through Altadena and Malibu like a blow torch, five feet of defensible space isn’t going to do squat.

And how is this going to be enforced? Will the state come up with Landscape Nazi Patrols?

Is the state of California taking steps on their end to prevent wildfires by clearing out forests? Providing fire blocks on public lands? I think we all know Newsom’s track record on this topic.

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The shooting at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building in Dallas underscores the dangers law enforcement faces from the radical nut jobs on the left.

The shooter, Joshua Jahn, was a crazy young man who copied Charlie Kirk’s assassin by leaving a message on shell casings. His read “Anti ICE.” He fired into a van and killed detainees. Smart.

This brings me to this reprobate governor of ours who signed SB 627, which makes it against state law for police officers to wear masks on duty, unless they’re undercover or on a SWAT team.

His is a clear attempt to expose ICE agents to doxing and other acts of retribution. Clearly, Newsom is a friend of border jumpers and an enemy of federal law enforcement. 

ICE clearly is telling the pontificating Newsom to go pound sand and won’t oblige to his ridiculous orders.

It’s just another example why California is a joke and its governor needs to be exiled from political discourse. But, because a “D” is attached to his name, he’ll get a lot of support. At times I think the Democrats could run Satan on the ticket and get him elected because, “Well, he’s a Democrat and we vote Democrat.”

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Democrats lawmaker in Sacramento flipped another bird at the Trump Administration on Sept. 12 when they passed AB 7 which would allow colleges and universities to give preferential admissions treatment to descendants of slavery.

The author was Democrat Assemblyman Isaac Bryan, a black Democrat who also loves the idea of defunding police.

Critics say his bill uses “descendants of slavery” as a proxy for race, specifically for blacks, and thus it violates state and federal bans on affirmative action. Wenyuan Wu, the executive director of the Californians for Equal Rights Foundation, an anti-affirmative action organization, said AB 7 seems unlawful and unconstitutional. But as you know, California passes lotd of horrible bills that are affront to the Constitution. (Hmm, and you thought they took an oath to defend the Constitution.)

The Legislature of our bankrupt state has also passed Assembly Bill 62 that, if signed by Newsom, would allow people who lost homes and businesses through the so-called discriminatory uses of eminent domain to seek compensation — a first-in-the-nation attempt at reparations for this kind of displacement.

Can we just admit America’s past wasn’t perfect and move on? We cannot afford payouts to people for perceived injustices of decades ago. We cannot afford the Democrats paying off black voters schemes.

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Another stupid bill is AB 248 which would allow state prisoners to get paid more money for work down in the prison. Currently the state pays prisoners up to $2 per day for eight hours of work. Taxpayers pay for their food and existence behind bars but the Democrats want individual Boards of Supervisors to set wages that can be higher than the current cap. They claim it would help support their families and potentially reduce recidivism.

The California State Sheriffs’ Association, believes AB 248 could put a financial burden on counties, potentially limiting opportunities for inmate work. It’s no different than hiking the wages of fast-food workers and jobs getting killed because of higher costs.

The bill was authored by the same Isaac Bryan mentioned previously. Bryan had the audacity to opine on “how undignified not paying folks a human wage — you know, a basic wage that is dignified — what that says about all of us.”

Apparently Bryan is concerned that state inmates can’t afford to buy candy and snacks behind bars, saying, “For those quick at math, that’s 25 cents an hour. At that rate, combined with predatory commissary prices, it would take you a full business week to be able to afford a two-ounce tube of toothpaste and a bag of hot Cheetos.” If only he was as concerned about law-abiding families being able to afford groceries.

Bryan was also behind that soundly rejected Prop. 6 which would have revised the state Constitution to prohibit involuntary labor in prisons.

If only Bryan was concerned as much about those victims whose lives were significantly impacted by those convicted of their crimes – including murder, rape, burglary, robbery and drug and sex trafficking.

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In the small city of Waterford not far from Ceres a storm has brewed over one of its city councilwomen. As a former member of the Waterford City Council (1990-94) I can’t imagine how Lise Talbott, a progressive liberal, got elected in a conservative town. She inflamed the city when she suggested Charlie Kirk was a fascist.

It’s rather dumb for a locally elected officials weigh in on national politics. It’s not necessary but she also is in a leadership role with the Stan Dems group, representing the local Democratic Party. She wrote a letter declining to attend a vigil for Kirk hosted by Republicans at Turlock’s California State University, Stanislaus. “We cannot in good conscience attend an event that centers on Charlie Kirk, given his associations with fascist ideology,” she wrote.

Some called for her to resign – just as Oakdale City Councilman Christopher Smith did after reposting on Facebook, “Charlie Kirk has arrived in Hell.” He also referenced Oakdale as “an annoyingly red town.”

Waterford Mayor Charlie Goeken, who is a Christian, said associating Kirk with fascism “is hateful, divisive and just plainly untrue.” He also stated that Kirk was “a man of God” and “the left knows they cannot honestly win an open debate of ideas, so many on the left have demonized conservatives for years with hate and name calling.”

An email I received last week from Jeremy Robbins of Waterford who relayed that those who spoke at a council meeting to defend Talbott were outsiders and likely progressive Democrats too.

Talbott, who suffers from a bad case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, really knows how to tick off people who have traditional values. Robbins said he was incensed to read one of her posts that explicitly defends the “radical left” by stating: “It’s not the ‘radical left’ that’s sending the military into U.S. cities and posting Apocalypse Now memes that declare war on the people who live there.”

The Left loves to dish out the Nazi accusation because it’s the worst term they can come up with rather than argue logically.

Robbins has some advice for the councilwoman: “It’s crucial to recognize how your word choices escalate tensions rather than resolve them. Stick to local issues that affect Waterford directly and offer a sincere apology for this inflammatory language so we can all move forward. If you’re too blind to see how your own actions contribute to this chaos, it may be time to step down. True leadership demands the ability to look in the mirror, acknowledge errors, and correct them — not dig in deeper.”

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