I'm glad I'm covering City Council meetings in sane Ceres and not insane cities like Berkeley.

Last week this woman exposes her breasts and goes into a full board strip act and a lunatic tirade about why it should be legal for women to go topless. Berkeley has an ordinance barring women from showing "any portion of the breast at or below the areola."

Gypsy Taub, 48, would not shut up after the discussion was over. She removed her shirt, saying their action was a "huge disgrace," and hurling immature remarks like "you are freaking jealous of people who are free. ... let's f------g get naked." Then she stands up naked on a table facing the council, lecturing them about living in the dark ages and calling them a "bunch of dumb a---s." Then this saggy old man wearing a bike helmet takes his shirt off and plays with his nipples. She continues: "You don't even have respect for your own bodies ... you're a bunch of oppressors ... you've never f-------g been sexually active yourself ... your sex life is a joke." Then she climbs on the council dais full facing the crowd, squatting for a while.

I'm pretty sure Ceres Police Chief Brent Smith would have ended that show a lot quicker had that occurred here.

Then there's what happened in Turlock where a bunch called on the City Council to condemn what one woman called an "atmosphere of fear and intimidation" being created by stickers being placed around town which they say promotes white supremacy. The stickers read: "Equality is a False God."

Stickers, mind you.

Mayor Gary Soiseth said "Turlock is better than this" and committed to looking at a resolution about how Turlock does stand against bigotry and discrimination."

I'm not sure that "Equality a False God" necessarily equates to white supremacy. We have long lived in a nation which lives by the creed that all men are created equal but honestly that doesn't mean equality in terms of success or wealth.

I won't defend any person who thinks their race is supreme but we cannot pick and choose who has freedom of speech in America.

Unless it hasn't been reported, I have yet to see anyone ask any City Council to condemn groups calling for the execution of police as did some in Black Lives Matter stemming from the false of "Hands up, don't shoot" narrative from the shooting death of Michael Brown in 2014. As far as I know, nobody in Turlock is advocating murder.

* * * *

This is hard to believe but not surprising given how our public school system is being run by political progressives. Vista Del Lago High School in Folsom instructed students not to chant "USA! USA!" because the chants could be deemed inappropriate and intolerant. To who, I ask?

One has to ask why chanting USA would be a problem for anyone enjoying the freedoms here in the United States. What happened to American patriotism? If one isn't proud of the country or doesn't enjoy the freedom we all enjoy here, there are other options for homelands. The fact that they are here is testimony to the greatness of the country which they deny.

* * * * *

The insanity continues. Dallas, of all places, is talking about nixing the names of Benjamin Franklin Middle School, Thomas Jefferson High School and James Madison High School. Why? I don't need to tell you why. Because they were slave owners. Never mind that slavery was a way of life back then but Franklin was a converted to a devout abolitionist.

In the frenzy to cleanse history, even educators fail to educate themselves.

This is nuts!

* * * * *

Did you hear about the Michigan sixth-grader who refused to stand during the Pledge of Allegiance (probably emulating Colin Kaepernick)? The teacher physically pulled him out of the chair and now the teacher is on administrative leave.

There was a day in America when kids turned out as well-adjusted people because adults cared enough to get in their face and sometimes had to get a bit physical. Being yanked on the arm? Big deal! Principals spanked and teachers whacked hands with rulers and the greatest generation came from it. Today we have the spoiled and pampered generation.

* * * * *

It was a cute story but then some leftie ruined it. An 11-year-old boy wrote the president and offered to mow the White House lawn and was granted permission. President Trump greeted the boy when he showed up with his mower. Steven Greenhouse, a New York Times reporter, tweeted: "Not sending a great signal on child labor, minimum wage & occupational safety>>Trump White House lets a 10-year-old volunteer mow its lawn."
You have got to be kidding.

Trump can do nothing right to some.

Anthony Bourdain said he would like to poison the president. Jennifer Lawrence suggested the recent hurricanes were Mother Nature's outrage against America voting for Trump.

They are truly nuts, folks.

* * * * *

Did you hear this? On Oct. 15 the police department in Portland, Oregon is nixing their database of gang members because there aren't enough white gang members on the list.

Activists have been trying to abolish the database and gang designations for years, claiming they disproportionately affect minority communities.

On Facebook, Chris Guy wrote: "Did a giant railroad spike run through the Earth's brain? I can't believe the speed at which the world got his stupid."

* * * * *

My best friend in high school and I have grown apart but reconnected on Facebook. We both grew up in the same town of course, Oakdale, at the same time, the 1970s, so we have common values. I was proud of him for posting this rant last week:

"Revisiting Charlottesville...If you don't agree with someone's beliefs, or somehow offend them, you're a hater. And, as most would assume, all haters are bad! But here's something to think about. The Ku Klux Klan hates racial impurity. They hate people that aren't like them. Black Lives Matter hates racism against black people, especially when it involves law enforcement. White supremacists hate non-white races, thinking that they are somehow superior to others. Antifa seems to hate everyone. Anarchy and violence is their credo. The American Nazi Party hates anything that doesn't conform to National Socialism. It didn't work well in WWII either. BAMN (By Any Means Necessary) pretty much hates everything Antifa hates and protests for civil rights aggressively. At this point in my diatribe, you may have noticed that the word ‘love' never appears! I have no doubt that there were actual ‘genteel' southerners protesting the removal of their heritage, and that the above ‘hate' groups anxiously waited to fight each other, pouring salt on open wounds, and further tearing the fabric of our country. That was their goal! Was Trump correct in his observation?"

The left doesn't like messages like that.

* * * * *

In December 2014 NFL player Benjamin Watson was interviewed on CNN about what America can do about racism and he interjected his Christian perspective before the video and audio feed mysteriously was "lost." Here is what he said before some "technical glitch" cut him off: "Honestly ... I'm encouraged because things aren't the way they used to be. We all had grandparents who told us how things were and we've all seen documentaries. We are definitely making progress but I think on an individual and micro level, the issue is not really skin - the issue is sin. And I firmly believe that the issue is that internally we are flawed, internally we need salvation from our sin. Internally our sin makes us prideful, it makes us judgmental, it makes us prejudiced, which leads to racism. It makes us lash out at people who don't look like us. It makes us look past evidence to protect people who look like us. It makes us do all those things. It makes us lash out at anger. It makes us point fingers. Our sin that's in us makes us do those things and the only salvation for this is the Gospel. The only way to cure that on the inside is understanding that Jesus Christ died for our sins."

Suddenly the picture and audio cut off.

"Just like that we lost him," shrugs anchor Brooke Baldwin.

If you think that was coincidental, I have some ocean front property in Iowa to sell you.

* * * * *

I don't buy into the media narrative that actor Jim Carrey has lost his mind. His values have changed, for sure, because of an encounter with Jesus and the media can't deal with it - just like they couldn't deal with Benjamin Watson's statement about Jesus and sin.

In case you didn't hear about this, Carrey showed up at the Harper's Bazaar ICONS event when a TV reporter pulled him aside for an interview. Carrey told her that he "wanted to find the most meaningless thing that I could come to and join, and here I am. I mean you've gotta admit it's completely meaningless."

Interviewer Sadler doesn't know what to say at the hoity-toity affair and pushes, "Well, they say they're celebrating icons. Do you believe in icons?"

Carrey calls fashion icons the "absolute lowest-aiming possibility we could come up with" for something to celebrate. "I believe that peace lies beyond personality, beyond invention and disguise, beyond the red ‘S' you wear on your chest that makes bullets bounce off. I believe that it's deeper than that. I believe we're a field of energy dancing for itself. And uh...I don't care."

Lots of people get what he's saying. Who cares if the elitists celebrate their fancy fashions and try to make us all fall in line with the adulation. Carrey was in the face of those who bask in their own glory. Beauty and glamour is their god, but the problem is what happens when beauty fades and cloth rots? Who leads the more significant life, those celebrating fashion and giving awards to rich people or the one helping an old person wipe their butt on the toilet? Those given golden statues for their work on screen (and who get up to bash the president and praise abortions), or the one who quietly paying for a down-and-out family's grocery bill or electric bill? The beautiful movie stars who preach tolerance yet afford no tolerance for people of faith, compared to the man who paints his widow neighbor's house in quiet humbleness? Is not the one who quietly visits with and prays for cancer patients just as important as the TV anchor man?

Carrey is right. It is meaningless and we, as a society, have it all turned around.

In another video shot at Homeboy Industries, Carrey talks about how "suffering leads to salvation." He talks about how a person can turn to resentment which leads to harm or seek the path of forgiveness and grace. He said we have the choice to "walk through the gate of forgiveness and grace just as Christ did on the cross."

Carrey is not behaving like old Carrey and Hollywood is ridiculing him for it. That tends to happen when your values change because one finds Jesus, like I have. People don't know what to do with that.

Do you have any feedback about this column? Let Jeff know by emailing him at jeffb@cerescourier.com.
He will read it, promise.