California has gradually weaned itself off fossil fuel fracking well ahead of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2024 ban of the oil and gas extraction method.
The California Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM), the agency that oversees new permits, has denied 109 new permits from fossil fuel firms this year, according to Department of Conservation data. State regulators have approved just 12 permits in 2021, the most recent of which came in February.
Uduak-Joe Ntuk, the state’s oil and gas supervisor, said he couldn’t approve new fracking grants “in good conscience” in a September letter to the energy firm Aera Energy, The Associated Press reported. Ntuk cited the “increasingly urgent climate effects of fossil-fuel production” and “the continuing impacts of climate change and hydraulic fracturing on public health and natural resources.”
“Unfortunately, the State of California continues to take arbitrary actions that deliver little positive benefits for our fight against climate change but imposes big impacts on Californians – to our finances, to our freedoms, essentially to how we live and work every day,” Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) President and CEO Catherine Reheis-Boyd said in a statement last month.
“Real solutions do not come through arbitrary bans, mandates, and the whim of elected leaders,” she said.
On Oct. 8, the WSPA sued the Newsom administration over the mass denial of fracking permits. One month earlier, the Kern County Board of Supervisors also filed suit, challenging the state’s authority to ban access to oil and gas resources, according to The Bakersfield Californian.
“The decisions (Newsom) has made to unilaterally come after the oil and gas industry in violation of standing rules and standing law, that’s been established by the state Legislature, has been a gross overreach of his power,” Board Chairman Phillip Peters said after the suit was filed in September.
In April, Newsom ordered CalGEM to end new fracking permits by January 2024. He also asked the California Air Resources Board to conduct an analysis of how the state could completely wean off fossil fuel extraction by 2045.
The governor said the state “needs to move beyond oil.”
“In California, this is an industry that is used to getting its way,” Hollin Kretzmann, a senior attorney at environmental group the Center for Biological Diversity, told The San Francisco Chronicle on Tuesday. “It is a sign that the tide is starting to turn, and the state is starting to prioritize public health and the environment over the profits of the oil industry.”
While California’s crude oil consumption has stayed level over the last several decades, it has become more reliant on foreign producers, state data showed. More than half of the state’s oil over the last ten years was imported.
Meanwhile, gasoline prices, which are tied to the cost of oil, have surged nationwide to multi-year highs, according to the Energy Information Administration. California has experienced the largest increase with prices hitting $4.79 per gallon on average.
Enriched Literacy Education Mary Cantwell and Brooke Ooten on research revealing children literacy suffering nationwide.
California’s coronavirus rate is double that of Florida, despite mask mandates and recommendations to prevent the spread of the virus.
“You’re paying for your success, which is weird,” Ali H. Mokdad, professor of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington, told the Mercury News when asked why Californians aren’t “reaping more reward for their adherence to health guidance.”
“You succeed in controlling the virus, and now you’re having infections.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom talks during a news conference at Universal Studios in Universal City, California. On Wednesday, he signed a bill into law intended to combat organized retail theft. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, File)
Cases in California are no longer falling, with the rate increasing to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s red “high” level of virus transmission stemming from the delta variant, the outlet reported.
But Southern states such as Texas and Florida – where state leaders do not enforce face mask policies or support other strict mandates – are in the CDC’s orange “substantial” transmission level.
California’s vaccination rate is higher than states such as Texas and Florida, but that still hasn’t stopped the outbreaks. Sixty-two percent of California’s total population is fully vaccinated, while Florida reports 60% and Texas 54%.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and other California leaders put some of the most strict coronavirus measures in place last year, which have continued into 2021.
In the Bay Area, health officials reimposed indoor face mask orders and won’t lift the measures until the area falls below the CDC’s orange “substantial” transmission level for three weeks or more. So far, most of the Bay Area counties still remain in the orange zone, besides San Francisco, which is in the yellow zone, the outlet reported.
California saw fewer cases of the delta variant over the summer with the state’s higher vaccination rate. Those who were not vaccinated and have recovered from the virus now also have immunity, the outlet reported, and the virus has a more difficult time spreading.
“These regions are now being partly protected by high prior infection rates,” said Dr. Bob Wachter, chair of the medical department at the University of California-San Francisco. “But these people whose immunity comes from COVID-19 are not very well protected, and their immunity will wane with time.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a press conference before newly appointed state Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo at Neo City Academy in Kissimmee, Florida, on Sept. 22, 2021.
Wachter added that with low booster shot rates and waning immunity, “the end result is that we’ve plateaued in our improvements, both nationally and in California, and it’s likely we’ll soon see some significant upticks.”
“California has done very well over the past few months, but we still have too many unvaccinated people,” he added. “People are spending more time inside and being more active, and masking is going down.”
Florida, meanwhile, hit another new benchmark last week. The first hospital in the state to treat a COVID patient last year, Doctor’s Hospital, announced that for the first time since the pandemic, it has no virus patients in its care.
“This is great news! For two weeks and counting, Florida has had the lowest rate of new COVID-19 cases in the entire country – with no mandates, vaccine passports, or lockdowns. Overall, COVID hospitalizations have been declining for more than 70 days straight, and we’re at an all time low in terms of the number of COVID patients hospitalized statewide,” Gov. Ron DeSantis’ press secretary, Christina Pushaw, told Fox News on Monday when asked for comment about Doctor’s Hospital in Sarasota.
“Gov. DeSantis is proud of Florida’s success with launching monoclonal antibody treatment sites throughout the state, which made a huge impact on lowering hospitalizations and saving lives. Early treatment – getting the monoclonal antibodies as soon as possible after testing positive or experiencing symptoms – cuts the risk of hospitalization by 70% or more,” Pushaw added.
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Prayer in public schools has been a hot-button issue in the United States ever since the Supreme Court ruled against it in the landmark 1962 decision Engel v. Vitale. But now it’s back, at least in one school district in Newsomland. EdSource reported Monday that California’s “Elk Grove Unified School District began offering culturally appropriate meals and setting aside rooms in many of its middle and high schools for prayer during Muslim holidays in preparation for the additional Afghan refugee students it expects in the next month.”
Ironically, as Daniel Greenfield noted, the Elk Grove Unified School District “became famous for Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow, in which an atheist sued the school because the Pledge of Allegiance includes the word, ‘Under God’. The case was an awkward mess that went to the Supreme Court, but should never have gotten that far and ended up being tossed out because Newdow didn’t actually have custody of his daughter.”
There was, however, a case in Texas in 2017 that establishes an important precedent for what Elk Grove Unified School District is doing for Afghan evacuee students now. Liberty High School in Frisco, Texas, established a prayer room for Muslim students, drawing a rebuke from Texas Deputy Attorney General Andrew Leonie, who said:
“Liberty High School’s policy should be neutral toward religion. However, it appears that students are being treated different based on their religious beliefs. Such a practice, of course, is irreconcilable with our nation’s enduring commitment to religious liberty.”
Indeed. One parent put it this way at a Frisco school board meeting in 2017: “Liberty High School is not a mosque. It’s not a synagogue. It’s not a tabernacle. It’s not a temple. It’s not a church. It is a school. It is a public school supported by taxpayers for the purpose of educating our children.”
However, Liberty High was able to assuage concerns. Several weeks after Leonie’s statement, Marc Rylander, director of communications for the Texas attorney general’s office, issued another statement, saying: “We are grateful for Frisco ISD’s prompt response and have been in contact with their attorneys. They assured us today that students of all faith, or no faith, may now use this meeting room during non-instructional time on a first-come, first-served basis for student-led activities. Religious liberty is a cornerstone of our society and we are glad that students at Frisco ISD may practice their faith in accordance with their beliefs.”
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Robert Spencerhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngRobert Spencer2021-09-27 09:26:072021-10-07 20:17:55Prayer in Public Schools Is Back … as Long as It’s Prayer to Allah
California’s roundly despised Governor Gavin Newsom, known locally as “Gruesome,” has to win the prize for the funniest April Fools’ joke ever: He’s opening Dodger Stadium on April first, at long last—by allowing a grand total of 100 fans to attend. LOL! Hysterical! And get this: they have to all be Californians—no tourists or out-of-state visitors allowed. Brilliant!! Can’t stop laughing!
Only one problem, Noisome Newsom isn’t joking.
From a March 3rd article in the Times of San Diego: “Outdoor sports — with fans — and live performances also will be allowed to resume April 1, subject to the following limitations: For counties in the strictest tier, purple, capacity will be limited to 100 people or fewer, and attendance will be regionally limited.“
Well, that’s encouraging. Now a hundred of us can cheer for our teams in person. At least these fans will all get the best seats. Question: will husbands and wives and/or kids have to sit six feet apart? Will the favored 100 be required to wear masks while out in the open air in sunny California? Oh, and wondering how much those tickets are going to be scalped for. Might make a good short-term investment…
“The Times said reopening of San Diego, Orange and Los Angeles counties depends, in part, on when California can give an additional 400,000 vaccinations to people living in the state’s lowest-income areas, which will trigger a broad relaxation of the opening criteria.” Hmmm…am I missing something here? How are these low-income folks going to afford what are likely to be $10,000-$100,000 baseball tickets? Welfare?
California’s Version of a Color Revolution
You’ve probably heard of Color Revolutions by now—the largely Soros-funded false-flag uprisings instigated to take down legitimate regimes and replace them with globalist-friendly ones. You know, like the one we had recently in our nation’s Capitol. Well in California—a fiefdom all its own—we don’t need a Color Revolution; we have Color Tiers instead. What are they? They’re Newsom’s diktats with which he micromanages the destruction of the Golden State. You see, by continuing to milk the Plandemic psy-op long past its due date, Gavin simply makes up out of whole cloth the “New Normal” rules for every aspect of our lives under one of the most oppressive totalitarian regimes the world has ever seen.
Why would he do that? To position himself for a possible run for president, of course! What? You don’t think he’d get the necessary votes? In that case, I’ve got a crooked, senile, 78-year-old political hack to sell you. Wait—he’s already been bought and paid for, and is sitting in the Oval Office even as we speak. Make that the Oval Basement.
Back to Newsom and his draconian mandate for the good people of California: “Starting April 1, amusement parks will be eligible to reopen — but with limited capacity — in red tier counties. “Capacity will be limited to 15% for parks in the red tier; the cap rises to 25% once a county progresses to the orange tier and 35% upon reaching the most lenient tier, yellow,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
Thanks, Gavin. You gonna open up the exorbitantly pricey French Laundry to the general public now? Oh, right—that’s for you and your lobbyist pals. My bad.
Notice that since we’ve been good little boys and girls, having given up our quality of life and our liberty for a year, worn the hated muzzles, and kept our distance from other human beings, Gavin will reward us by allowing us to reclaim 35% of normal social life. Tops. That’s Governor Nuisance’s New Normal. That’s the “most lenient” tier. No wonder people are leaving California in droves. I can almost hear the stay-behinds clamoring, “Governor Newsom, Tear down this Tier!”
The Making of a Social-Engineering Totalitarian
How did Newsom became such a genius at social engineering? He started his career by opening the PlumpJack wine shop in San Francisco in 1992. Well, not too hard to create a successful wine store in California when your aunt, by marriage at the time, was Nancy Pelosi, and your business partner/prime investor was billionaire Gordon Getty.
A few years later, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown—the man we can also thank for giving Kamala Harris a leg up in her political career, appointed Gavin to serve on the city’s Parking and Traffic Commission. With his proverbial foot in the door, in only 2 years’ time, Newsom was on the Board of Supervisors and by 2003 became the youngest mayor in San Francisco’s history. In a short seven years, then, Neophyte Newsom went from being a Willie Brown protégé dealing with parking regulations, to becoming the Mayor of the City by the Bay, the destruction of which he successfully accomplished from 2003 to 2011. I also recently learned that Newsom, like Jerry Brown before him, went to a Jesuit college. Must be something in the water…
Another interesting tidbit: Remember how the Dems and the MSM—but I repeat myself—hollered about Trump’s supposed “conflicts of interest” over his hotels, and cited the “emoluments clause” when the Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin briefly stayed in the Trump hotel in D.C.? Well, Newsweek reports that during the Covid lockdowns which the Guv himself tyrannically imposed on Californians, Gavin’s own PlumpJack companies received…wait for it…$3 million in Covid Relief loans. Hmmm…. I guess there’s nothing to see here. Just as there was nothing to see when our Governor sent a billion dollars of our taxpayer monies to Communist China in what even the L.A. Times called a secretive “murky” deal—for, um…face masks. Millions of California voters, however, may keep these things in mind once we’ve successfully recalled Newsom and can vote in a Conservative Republican to take his place.
As luck would have it, we got wind of Gavin’s April Fools’ prank early. Now I’m just waiting for QAnon’s next prediction of a “BOOM!” that proves the patriots are in control and Trump is about to reclaim the White House…on April first.
He is a Russian national. Was he vetted when he came to the United States? Of course not — not in any effective way, anyway. That would have been “Islamophobic.”
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – A Sacramento man is accused of attempting to provide financial support to a foreign terrorist organization, the United States Department of Justice announced on Friday.
A federal grand jury on Thursday returned a single-count indictment against Murat Kurashev, 34, who is also a Russian national, according to Attorney McGregor W. Scott of the DOJ’s Eastern District of California.
Kurashev allegedly tried to provide financial support to terrorist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which is based in Syria….
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Robert Spencerhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngRobert Spencer2021-02-23 05:27:102021-10-07 20:33:08CALIFORNIA: Muslim migrant indicted for attempting to provide financial support for jihad terror group
Will he be disbarred? Of course not. That would be “Islamophobic.” “The California bar investigated him and unbelievably found no actionable conduct.”
There is so much corruption these days, you need wings to stay above it.
The Jews in the Qur’an are called the strongest of all people in enmity toward the Muslims (5:82); they fabricate things and falsely ascribe them to Allah (2:79; 3:75, 3:181); they claim that Allah’s power is limited (5:64); they love to listen to lies (5:41); they disobey Allah and never observe his commands (5:13). They are disputing and quarreling (2:247); hiding the truth and misleading people (3:78); staging rebellion against the prophets and rejecting their guidance (2:55); being hypocritical (2:14, 2:44); giving preference to their own interests over the teachings of Muhammad (2:87); wishing evil for people and trying to mislead them (2:109); feeling pain when others are happy or fortunate (3:120); being arrogant about their being Allah’s beloved people (5:18); devouring people’s wealth by subterfuge (4:161); slandering the true religion and being cursed by Allah (4:46); killing the prophets (2:61); being merciless and heartless (2:74); never keeping their promises or fulfilling their words (2:100); being unrestrained in committing sins (5:79); being cowardly (59:13-14); being miserly (4:53); being transformed into apes and pigs for breaking the Sabbath (2:63-65; 5:59-60; 7:166); and more. They are under Allah’s curse (9:30), and Muslims should wage war against them and subjugate them under Islamic hegemony (9:29).
He is also is the founder and chair of the Iranian American Sport Association (IASA), a Los-Angeles based 501c3 nonprofit organization, “to help save his family sport, Olympic wrestling, and to bridge the sports gap between the two nations and support USA-Iran Sports Diplomacy.” As such, he appears on Persian TV to comment on Iran-US sports relations.
[CLICK HERE AND HERE TO SEE HIS SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS]
After these posts were exposed – including by a former classmate of his who had no idea he was like this – the California bar investigated him and unbelievably found no actionable conduct….
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Robert Spencerhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngRobert Spencer2021-01-23 06:38:532021-10-07 20:34:48CALIFORNIA: Muslim Lawyer Praises Hitler, Calls for New Genocide of the Jews
Data show alarming trends in drug overdoses and suicide as people—especially young people who are least at risk from COVID-19—are forcibly cut off from friends, families, and communities.
It’s quite likely that wherever you are reading this, you are currently subjected to lockdowns, restrictions, regulations, or executive orders to one degree or another, as government officials respond to the coronavirus pandemic with increasing coercion and control. Indeed, The Wall Street Journalreported on Wednesday that US states and cities have “imposed the most extensive restrictions on business and social gatherings” since the spring.
Many argue that these new restrictions are essential for slowing the current surge in coronavirus cases in certain areas, but some public health researchers have pointed out that lockdowns and related government orders that focus entirely on containing COVID-19 cases lead to worse public health outcomes in other areas. This collateral damage from lockdowns is already glaringly apparent. In particular, data show an alarming trend toward drug overdoses and suicide in 2020, as people—especially young people who are least at risk from COVID-19—are forcibly cut off from their friends, families, and communities.
More Drug Overdose Deaths During Lockdowns
The desperation is revealed in startling new statistics. According to the Associated Press, a total of 621 people have died of drug overdoses this year in San Francisco, compared to 173 deaths in the city from COVID-19. The number of San Francisco drug overdose deaths is up from 441 in 2019. California has enacted some of the strictest public health orders in the country this year, and is still seeing its cases rise.
One survey by YouGov found that 39 percent of respondents who were recovering from an addiction prior to lockdowns have relapsed. Other research shows increasing rates of drug and alcohol abuse in 2020, and the CDC reports that overdose deaths are accelerating during COVID-19.
Federal surveys show that 40 percent of Americans are now grappling with at least one mental health or drug-related problem.
Martin Kulldorff, a biostatistician and epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School, has been critical of widespread lockdowns since the beginning of the pandemic, warning that these coercive strategies would lead to other serious public health harms and increased mortality.
“The current lockdown strategy has led to many excess deaths, both from COVID-19 and from the collateral damage on other health outcomes,” Kulldorff recently told Newsweek. “A focused protection strategy, as outlined in the Great Barrington Declaration, would minimize disease and mortality by better protecting older and other high risk people while letting the young live near normal lives.”
Kulldorff also suggests that new data showing US excess deaths in 2020 for people ages 25-44 are mostly due to the collateral damage caused by lockdown policies.
In addition to rising drug and alcohol abuse and overdose deaths, suicidal thoughts and attempts are also increasing this year. The Washington Postreports that depression and anxiety have surged since the arrival of the coronavirus.
“Federal surveys show that 40 percent of Americans are now grappling with at least one mental health or drug-related problem. But young adults have been hit harder than any other age group, with 75 percent struggling,” the Post reports. “Even more alarming, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently asked young adults if they had thought about killing themselves in the past 30 days, 1 in 4 said they had.”
The Postexplains that we won’t have accurate data on suicide rates for 2020 until another couple of years, due to slow reporting mechanisms. But state and city data for some areas suggest disturbing suicide numbers this year, including in Oregon’s Columbia County where suicides by summertime had already exceeded the area’s 2019 total, and DuPage County near Chicago reports a 23 percent increase in suicides over last year. Other large counties in the US have seen similarly ominous trends, and in Japan, more people died of suicide in the month of October alone than have died from COVID-19 this entire year.
Holiday Civil Disobedience
As families weigh the trade-offs this holiday season between social isolation to slow the spread of coronavirus and the harms that this separation can cause, many of them are choosing to ignore public health warnings to avoid travel and holiday gatherings. The New York Times reports that millions of people have passed through airport security checkpoints this week, while The Wall Street Journalindicates that nearly 85 million Americans are expected to travel between Dec. 23 and Jan. 3, a decline of just under 30 percent from last year.
More families may be seeing the damage these lockdowns and related policies are causing their loved ones and are no longer willing to comply with draconian orders to stay away from others. Their decision may be made easier when they see public health officials and politicians personally violating the holiday travel and gathering warnings and rules they thrust on others.
COVID-19 should be taken seriously as a public health threat, but so too should the harms of lockdowns and government orders that are leading to record numbers of drug overdose deaths and suicides, along with other types of collateral damage such as rising global poverty and declining cancer screenings.
While public health and elected officials remain singularly focused on COVID-19, families gathering this holiday season recognize that ensuring the overall health and well-being of their loved ones extends beyond one virus.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Foundation for Economic Education (FEE)http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFoundation for Economic Education (FEE)2020-12-23 13:41:142021-10-07 21:10:14San Francisco Sees More Overdose Deaths Than Covid Deaths in 2020
The Qur’an? Didn’t Faisal Mohammad know that, as Pope Francis has told us, “authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Koran are opposed to every form of violence”?
Despite the fact that Mohammad “was found to have an image of the ISIS flag, a handwritten manifesto with instructions on how to behead someone, and reminders to pray to Allah,” everyone who participated was sure that his stabbings had something to do with “images of masculinity” and nothing to do with Islam, and that only “Islamophobes” thought otherwise. This is no surprise. The University of California Merced is no different from any other campus all over the country: full of indoctrinated bots who have been thoroughly imbued with the notion that when Islamic jihadists attack us, it is our fault.
“FBI releases 2015 attack plan of radicalized California university student who stabbed 4 on campus,” Associated Press, November 18, 2020 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
MERCED, Calif. – A troubled California university freshman who burst into a classroom in 2015, stabbing four people before police shot him dead, planned to praise Allah while slitting the throats of classmates and use a gun taken from an ambushed officer to kill more, according to records released by the FBI.
Authorities determined that Faisal Mohammad, an 18-year-old freshman at the University of California, Merced had no connections to organized hate or terror groups and no past behavior to suggest violence.
Still, records released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to the Daily Beast publication include a chilling, handwritten 31-step plan for the Nov. 4 attack with names of people to target.
The plan included putting on a balaclava at 7:45 a.m. and saying “in the name of Allah” before stepping into his classroom and ordering students to use zip-ties he provided to bind their hands.
Mohammad also planned to make a fake 911 distress call to report a suicidal guy [sic; this is how they write at AP these days] and wait for police outside the classroom before ambushing from behind “and slit calmly yet forcefully one of the officers with guns.”
He planned to take a gun from an officer and kill classmates before making another fake distress call to 911 to report the shootings. Step 26 was to read the Quran until he heard sirens, and then “take calm shot after shot” with the gun as authorities arrive….
…investigators said the perpetrators were influenced by the Islamic State group, but not directly connected to it. Families in both cases said they had no clue of their relatives’ radicalization.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Robert Spencerhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngRobert Spencer2020-11-21 03:39:162021-10-07 21:20:34California: Muslim stabbed four ‘in the name of Allah,’ planned to read Qur’an until cops arrived, then shoot them
The Democrat Mayor of St. Louis Lyda Krewson has ordered, starting November 17th, 2020 and in effect for four weeks, another lockdown. This lockdown’s new rules, which took effect 12:01 a.m., require:
Anyone over the age of 5 to wear a mask in public.
Bars and restaurants to no longer offer indoor dining.
Businesses, gyms and religious institutions to operate at no more than 25% capacity, down from 50%.
All gatherings to be limited to 10 or fewer people.
Club teams to submit plans to the county’s health department, though youth sports tied to schools can continue to play.
This is happening across America in cities, counties and states run by Democrats.
There are Democratic politicians calling for their city or state to lockdown for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Michigan’s and California’s governors have done the same. Biden and Harris have called for similar measures.
WATCH: Democrat Governor of Michigan Gretchen Whitmer presser on Thanksgiving shutdown:
This is all happening while we have a 99% recovery rate from Covid and two pharmaceutical companies are shipping out a Covid vaccine. This false idea of a “lockdown” hurts people more than the virus. Lockdowns are a willful imposition of control of citizens by Democrats. It is nothing more than a power grab using the excuse of a pandemic. It is designed to create fear and then impose tyranny.
EXCLUSIVE: We've obtained photos of Governor Gavin Newsom at the Napa dinner party he's in hot water over. The photos call into question just how outdoors the dinner was. A witness who took photos tells us his group was so loud, the sliding doors had to be closed. 10pm on @FOXLApic.twitter.com/gtOVEwa864
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Dr. Rich Swierhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngDr. Rich Swier2020-11-17 11:23:052021-10-07 21:20:45Unmask America Now. Stop the Lockdowns. Enjoy Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year Day!
The 2020 presidential election is less than three weeks away, and many Americans have already voted early or through the mail.
Unfortunately, at the same time that they are exercising their franchise, there are others out there who are taking advantage of the vulnerabilities in our system to try to steal their vote or dilute the value of their vote.
Though many on the left downplay the threats to the security and integrity of the electoral process, such fraud really does occur, jeopardizing free and fair elections for the American people.
The Heritage Election Fraud Database showcases a sampling of close to 1,300 proven instances of election fraud. Yet, many other cases go unreported and other potential cases are not investigated or prosecuted.
There has been a rash of recent arrests around the country. Although those who have been charged are entitled to a presumption of innocence, these cases illustrate the types of fraud that have occurred and can occur that threaten our democratic system.
In New Hampshire, Attorney General Gordon MacDonald announced an indictment against a woman for allegedly voting in the town of Derry during the 2018 general election despite residing in Washington D.C., not New Hampshire.
The indictment says she submitted a false voter registration form and then voted using an absentee ballot.
In Hooksett, New Hampshire, Michael Lewis has been charged with illegally voting in the 2016 general election even though he is a resident of Georgia, where he was arrested at the request of New Hampshire authorities.
The Coalition of New Hampshire Taxpayers, run by registered Democrat Ed Naile, discovered that Lewis used the state’s same-day voter registration law in Hooksett to illegally register and vote.
And those are not the only recent cases from the Granite State.
Vincent Marzello was arrested for voting twice in the 2016 general election in West Lebanon, New Hampshire, once as himself and then again under the name of a woman, Helen Elisabeth Ashley.
In California, a man by the name of Caesar Peter Abutin was charged with three counts of felony voter fraud. Despite Abutin’s mother passing away in 2006, he voted under her name multiple times between October 2012 and November 2014, in addition to casting ballots under his own name.
These cases demonstrate how sometimes it can take years for the evidence in election fraud cases to come to fruition and for the potential fraudsters to face justice.
Additionally, it’s worth noting that election fraud cases often involve absentee ballots.
The danger posed to voters by such ballots, which are voted outside the supervision of election officials and outside the observation of poll watchers in unsecure settings, is shown by a video that has just surfaced from Escondido, California.
A local resident, David Sprouse, filmed an individual walking through his neighborhood last week stealing mail—including absentee ballots—from his home and other houses.
And the Virginia State Board of Elections had to send out a press release warning voters that six Richmond-area mailboxes—which may have contained absentee ballots—were broken into over the first weekend in October.
Other threats to the security of voting by mail are coming to light.
Take Hudson County, New Jersey. A postal worker was arrested for discarding mail after an investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice found more than 1,800 pieces of mail, including 99 absentee ballots, in a dumpster.
Fortunately, these ballots were recovered and forwarded to their intended recipients. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident.
Thomas Cooper, a postal worker, pleaded guilty to obscuring, crossing out, and changing at least five party affiliations on absentee ballot request forms back in July during the West Virginia primary.
In Manatee County, Florida, Larry Wiggins, a registered Democrat, was arrested for requesting an absentee ballot for his late wife, who passed away in 2018. Though Wiggins claims he was simply “testing the system,” he is now facing third-degree felony charges.
In Texas, four people, including a Gregg County commissioner, were arrested last month in connection with their alleged involvement in a vote-harvesting scheme that was uncovered by the state Attorney General’s Office.
Commissioner Shannon Brown, Marlena Jackson, Charlie Burns, and DeWayne Ward are facing more than 130 felony charges, including organizing an illegal vote-harvesting scheme, illegal voting, fraudulent use of absentee ballot applications, unlawful possession of absentee ballots, and election fraud in connection with the 2018 general election, which Brown won by only five votes.
Another case out of the Lone Star State involves a mayoral candidate for the city of Carrollton. Zul Mirza Mohamed is alleged to have forged at least 84 voter registration forms for unwitting residents of Denton County, and then obtained absentee ballots in their names without their knowledge using a virtual mailbox and a false identity.
There are also multiple reports of problems being caused by election officials using inaccurate, error-filled voter registration lists to mail out absentee ballots. Those include:
A German journalist who reports that he received three ballots at his residence in Washington, D.C., for the previous tenant, who moved five years ago; the landlady, who now lives in Puerto Rico; and the landlady’s deceased husband.
New Jersey residents across the state reporting that they have received absentee ballots for their deceased relatives.
Clerical errors that sent 1,400 Virginia voters two mail-in ballots for the general election.
Close to 100,000 New York City voters receiving mail-in ballots with incorrect names and addresses.
An acquaintance of one of the writers living in Washington, D.C., who received five ballots in the mail—two for him, one for his roommate, and two for individuals who haven’t lived at his address for years. Those ballots can be seen here:
This summary of recent cases doesn’t even cover the 1,000 voters referred to law enforcement officials in Georgia for voting twice in that state’s June primary (once in person and a second time with an absentee ballot); or the former Democratic congressman and erstwhile political consultant indicted in Philadelphia on charges of bribing an election official to stuff the ballot box with fraudulent votes in multiple elections; or the illegal aliens indicted in North Carolina for illegally registering and voting.
While many on the left dismiss these threats and insist that voting by mail has no potential for fraud, or that other types of fraud just don’t happen, these stories continue to break, dispelling that narrative.
These cases should be investigated and prosecuted, and reforms should be initiated that remedy the vulnerabilities in our voter registration and election system that will prevent and deter these types of actions from occurring in the future.
No matter who the American people elect, it should be done in a fair, free, and secure process.
Hans von Spakovsky is an authority on a wide range of issues—including civil rights, civil justice, the First Amendment, immigration, the rule of law and government reform—as a senior legal fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies and manager of the think tank’s Election Law Reform Initiative. Read his research. Twitter: @HvonSpakovsky.
Kaitlynn Samalis-Aldrich is an administrative and research assistant at the Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies.
A Note for our Readers:
Democratic Socialists say, “America should be more like socialist countries such as Sweden and Denmark.” And millions of young people believe them…
For years, “Democratic Socialists” have been growing a crop of followers that include students and young professionals. America’s future will be in their hands.
How are socialists deluding a whole generation? One of their most effective arguments is that “democratic socialism” is working in Scandinavian countries like Sweden and Norway. They claim these countries are “proof” that socialism will work for America. But they’re wrong. And it’s easy to explain why.
Our friends at The Heritage Foundation just published a new guide that provides three irrefutable facts that debunks these myths. For a limited time, they’re offering it to readers of The Daily Signal for free.
Get your free copy of “Why Democratic Socialists Can’t Legitimately Claim Sweden and Denmark as Success Stories” today and equip yourself with the facts you need to debunk these myths once and for all.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Daily Signalhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Daily Signal2020-10-19 05:00:282020-10-19 05:00:28More Examples of Election Fraud Prove the Left Is in Denial About It
As you undoubtedly have heard on television, the internet, and social media, the right to vote is fundamental to the American system.
But as we near Election Day, it’s important to remember that the right to vote means little if our officials can’t maintain election integrity. Fraudulent votes undermine our electoral system and take rightful votes away from others.
Nearly as bad, a dysfunctional or broken election system easily can throw an election into chaos. Just look at what happened in Florida in 2000.
This issue is being magnified in 2020 because a presidential election will coincide with a global pandemic and states are experimenting with widespread mail-in voting, which they haven’t used before.
I highlighted one potential issue in a piece I wrote in September. Here’s what I wrote at the time:
The Alameda County Registrar of Voters notified me by mail at my parents’ address in Oakland that I would receive a ballot when the state sends them out Oct. 5. This is following Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive order that all California voters receive a mail-in ballot before the Nov. 3 election.
The problem is, I should not be considered a California voter.
Since I left California in 2011, I have registered to vote in two other places. I’ve officially changed my address. And my parents notified election workers at their local voting location after I left the state, but to no avail.
The only reason I was even aware of the situation is that my parents still live at the same address.
Newsom dismissed me on Twitter, saying that it was false I’d received a ballot from California. He never addressed the primary problem, which is ballots being sent to the wrong place or to people who are not California voters.
Just as the initial notice promised, the official California ballot arrived at my parents’ home.
And here’s my ballot right on schedule. I haven’t lived in CA in a decade & notified the state I no longer live there. I could have voted twice. It would be nice if the governor was a little more concerned with his state’s electoral security, but I guess that’s too much to ask. https://t.co/yztwaKzhLjpic.twitter.com/rfQALa7EGb
It seems that what happened to me isn’t too uncommon. Many Americans around the country have been receiving ballots for other people, or people who have died.
My official ballot arrived!
Along with ballots for four people who no longer live here (three of whom haven’t lived here in over SIX years)! pic.twitter.com/cO0MAC2HpC
I am the son of John and Gertrude Thompson. Both passed away over ten years ago and got ballots for the upcoming election. I gave Richard Grenell permission to post these pictures and ask for an investigation as to why they were mailed ballots for the 2020 election. pic.twitter.com/HcsIzvPk7k
I just received 5 unsolicited cheat-by-mail voting ballots at my house. Three are addressed to people who are not even DC residents. Two are in my own name. #cheatbymailpic.twitter.com/HXceTWguF7
German journalist (public broadcasting) in D.C. says while he isn't eligible to vote in the U.S., he has received 3 mail-in ballots to his Washington address: 1 for previous tenant who moved out 5 years ago, 1 for landlord living in Puerto Rico, 1 for landlord's deceased husband. https://t.co/KYMks5PmBx
Many politicians, media, and tech companies seem to be in a hurry to dismiss these problems.
Issues with mail-in ballots aren’t new or limited simply to ballots being sent to the wrong address.
For instance, the Public Interest Legal Foundation, an election integrity group, found that “32 million mail ballots effectively disappeared, went to the wrong house, or were rejected since 2012.”
Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation, wrote:
Taking into account the 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 federal general elections, 28.3 million mail ballots disappeared after officials gave them to the U.S. Postal Service. There are numerous problems to point fingers at and many explanations as to what happened to these ballots, but the bottom line is simple: Tens of millions of ballots were lost in the mail voting system on a scale not seen at polling places.
And we’ve seen other problems pop up this year.
National Public Radio reported that over 550,000 absentee ballots were rejected during the presidential primaries, far outstripping the numbers in 2016.
NPR noted that officials reject absentee ballots mostly because “required signatures are missing or don’t match the one on record.”
Election integrity is a serious matter.
Widespread fraud and electoral irregularities sent the 1876 presidential election into utter chaos and nearly plunged the United States into a second civil war.
Regardless of what happens Nov. 3 or in any other elections, our system relies on the American people’s faith in free and fair elections.
Americans should be concerned about the possibility of willful malice—or more commonly, mistakes and human error—in our elections. In these contentious times, electoral integrity should be a priority for state officials rather than an issue to be flippantly dismissed.
But given the many challenges in the mail-in voting system, the best way to ensure that your vote is counted is to show up and vote in person.
As Heritage Foundation President Kay Coles James says in a public service announcement:
In this year of chaos and disruptions to the electoral system, ensuring the integrity of our elections has never been more important, and the need for clear voices presenting the unvarnished facts has never been greater. Fortunately, every American can contribute to making sure this year’s elections advance the good of the nation and respect in our democratic process—voting in person.
Democratic Socialists say, “America should be more like socialist countries such as Sweden and Denmark.” And millions of young people believe them…
For years, “Democratic Socialists” have been growing a crop of followers that include students and young professionals. America’s future will be in their hands.
How are socialists deluding a whole generation? One of their most effective arguments is that “democratic socialism” is working in Scandinavian countries like Sweden and Norway. They claim these countries are “proof” that socialism will work for America. But they’re wrong. And it’s easy to explain why.
Our friends at The Heritage Foundation just published a new guide that provides three irrefutable facts that debunks these myths. For a limited time, they’re offering it to readers of The Daily Signal for free.
Get your free copy of “Why Democratic Socialists Can’t Legitimately Claim Sweden and Denmark as Success Stories” today and equip yourself with the facts you need to debunk these myths once and for all.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Daily Signalhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Daily Signal2020-10-14 04:53:332020-10-14 04:53:33California’s Governor Mocked Me, but I Received Ballot 8 Years After Moving
States across the country are experimenting with a mass switch to mail-in elections in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But is it wise for states to make such a big change, especially in light of messy voter rolls around the country?
What I was sent earlier this month by election officials in Alameda County, California, makes me worried that ballots going to the wrong locations will be a significant concern this year.
The Alameda County Registrar of Voters notified me by mail at my parents’ address in Oakland that I would receive a ballot when the state sends them out Oct. 5. This is following Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive order that all California voters receive a mail-in ballot before the Nov. 3 election.
The problem is, I should not be considered a California voter.
Since I left California in 2011, I have registered to vote in two other places. I’ve officially changed my address. And my parents notified election workers at their local voting location after I left the state, but to no avail.
The only reason I was even aware of the situation is that my parents still live at the same address.
I posted this information on Twitter, noting that it’s particularly concerning given that there will be a massive uptick in mail-in voting this year.
So people are saying that this is incorrect because ballots won't officially be sent out in CA until Oct 5. My parents just received this in the mail telling me that they are sending the ballot. Havent voted there in 10 years. Parents told them I left years ago. https://t.co/Lz21nJlbavpic.twitter.com/oZHkjT7uSW
Although the official mail my parents received isn’t the actual ballot, it informed me that I would receive one along with every other California voter. Unless something changes, a ballot will be sent to me in a town where I haven’t lived or voted for a decade.
What if I or my parents had been dishonest, and I voted twice? What if somebody else living at that address tried to submit my vote?
It’s not hard to see how this system could be abused by those who care to do so.
Again, this is an even bigger problem right now. Much of the country is experimenting with mass voting by mail even while many states have done a poor job of cleaning up their voter rolls and taking extra precautions to ensure election integrity.
Among the problems were mismatched signatures on ballots and hundreds of ballots that were bundled improperly. Several people were charged with voter fraud.
That election in New Jersey simply may be an ugly outlier, but it’s also a good reason to be concerned about an election system being transformed on a widespread scale, as we are seeing for the 2020 presidential election.
State officials should treat election integrity as the serious issue that it is.
The bottom line is that voter rolls around the country are bloated and filled with inaccuracies. Countless voters are registered in multiple states, many of which have resisted cleaning up their rolls.
The 2020 election also presents unique problems. Most states are moving toward a mail-in system as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
My Heritage Foundation colleague Hans von Spakovsky has written extensively about election integrity issues and warned about the implications of mass mail-in voting.
“Going entirely to by-mail elections would unwisely endanger the security and integrity of the election process, particularly if officials automatically mail absentee ballots to all registered voters without a signed, authenticated request from each voter,” von Spakovsky wrote in April.
Von Spakovsky noted in the article that having “thousands of ballots” arrive in places where voters no longer reside “risks those ballots being stolen and voted.”
As far as my own ongoing problem with California sending me ballots, von Spakovsky says:
Voter registration forms usually have a place on the bottom of the form where you can write in where you were previously registered. But states are notoriously lax about forwarding that information to the former jurisdictions or doing anything about information when they get it from other states. Their voter rolls, particularly California’s, are also in notoriously bad condition because they don’t take off people who have moved or died.
Mark Hemingway, who has written extensively about related issues, wrote in 2019 that a sharp divide now exists between those who prioritize “ballot access” and those who focus on “ballot security.”
These sometimes competing concerns are prevalent in the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, often called the “Motor Voter Act.” Officials streamlined the process for voter registration, but opened the possibility of more inaccurate rolls, especially given how many people move from state to state.
“People are far more likely to register to vote in their new homes than to alert their old communities that they have moved,” Hemingway wrote.
It’s up to the states to do regular maintenance on their voter rolls, and they are supposed to follow up with a notice to voters who have been inactive for a long time.
However, Hemingway wrote that since passage of the National Voter Registration Act, “many states have simply ignored the maintenance requirements while others have sought legal workarounds.”
For those who say they’re concerned with protecting “democracy,” ballot security should be a priority. Messy voter rolls open up the possibility of fraud as well as innocent errors that could gravely threaten our electoral process.
BREAKING: The unfortunate death of RBG has ended the Covid-19 pandemic. Also, we can officially vote in person. Praise God. 🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/RokbAsTuPI
Democratic Socialists say, “America should be more like socialist countries such as Sweden and Denmark.” And millions of young people believe them…
For years, “Democratic Socialists” have been growing a crop of followers that include students and young professionals. America’s future will be in their hands.
How are socialists deluding a whole generation? One of their most effective arguments is that “democratic socialism” is working in Scandinavian countries like Sweden and Norway. They claim these countries are “proof” that socialism will work for America. But they’re wrong. And it’s easy to explain why.
Our friends at The Heritage Foundation just published a new guide that provides three irrefutable facts that debunks these myths. For a limited time, they’re offering it to readers of The Daily Signal for free.
Get your free copy of “Why Democratic Socialists Can’t Legitimately Claim Sweden and Denmark as Success Stories” today and equip yourself with the facts you need to debunk these myths once and for all.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Daily Signalhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Daily Signal2020-09-21 06:44:032020-09-21 06:49:37California Wants Me to Vote, Even Though I Haven’t Lived There for Over 8 Years
As regular listeners of National Public Radio know, the taxpayer-funded outlet regularly disparages the idea that any type of fraud occurs in our elections. Now, research by the Public Interest Legal Foundation has turned up information pointing to possible election fraud by NPR employees.
Many types of election fraud occur. The type found in the NPR case, instances of which appear in The Heritage Foundation’s Election Fraud Database, concerns individuals who violate eligibility rules by registering and voting where they don’t actually live.
The Public Interest Legal Foundation found four individuals who claimed NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California, as their residence and voted in 2018 via mail-in absentee ballots. More on that startling discovery in a bit.
When you register to vote, you are required by state law to register at your residential address, whether it is a home, an apartment, or a homeless shelter. You cannot register where you work and certainly not at other commercial addresses such as your local UPS Store, since your eligibility as a voter is tied to your residence and all of the local, state, and federal elected officials who represent that geographic area.
You basically are cheating the system and your fellow voters if you vote in races you are not entitled to vote in when you register somewhere other than where you live.
Rep. Steve Watkins, R-Kan., recently discovered that, no doubt to his chagrin, when he was charged with felony voter fraud for claiming a UPS Store as his residence when he registered to vote (and then voted) in a 2019 municipal election in Topeka, Kansas.
Can this type of fraud make a difference? Of course it can.
In 2012, a city council election in Vernon, California, was decided by a margin of four votes. A court overturned the election after it found that five individuals who were not residents of Vernon had voted.
When another court overturned the mayor’s race in Miami, Florida, in 1997 because of widespread absentee ballot fraud, the court noted illegal votes cast by registered voters who were not residents of the city.
California’s secretary of state explains in instructions for the voter registration form that individuals registering to vote in California must do so at their home address. Which brings us back to the NPR West headquarters building at 9909 Jefferson Blvd. in Culver City, California.
The Public Interest Legal Foundation, in looking at California’s voter registration and voting history records in conjunction with matching nonresidential addresses, found four individuals who claimed NPR West headquarters as their residence and voted in the November 2018 elections via absentee mail-in ballots.
Their names: Juan Ramon Beristain, Isabella Beristain, Carrie Jane Kahn, and Anjuli Sastry.
Neither Beristain’s name appears in a search of the NPR website, and their affiliations with the left-leaning public broadcaster aren’t clear.
Kahn is listed as an international correspondent based in Mexico City. Her biography says she files reports for the NPR programs “All Things Considered,” “Morning Edition,” and “Weekend Edition.”
Sastry is listed as an associate producer at WAMU (88.5), the NPR station owned by American University in Washington, D.C., for the program “It’s Been a Minute With Sam Sanders.” Her biography says she previously worked for “All Things Considered,” too, which is one of NPR’s major news programs.
But according to the voter registration form that Sastry had to have completed under oath when she registered to vote, she lives 2,680 miles away from the nation’s capital at the NPR West building in Culver City.
All things actually considered, the question arises of whether the Beristains, Kahn, and Sastry engaged in the same type of behavior that led to Watkins being charged with voter fraud. In fact, NPR published a partner station’s report on Watkins in July in a story headlined “Kansas Rep. Steve Watkins Charged With Felonies Over Voter Registration at UPS Store.”
The Public Interest Legal Foundation’s findings on NPR stem from a newly unveiled research tool that allows the election watchdog to collect and audit the nation’s voter registration files. It’s called the SAVE Database.
And for those who claim that we don’t need to worry about noncitizens taking advantage of our honor system by registering and voting illegally in our elections, consider that the U.S. Attorney Matthew G.T. Martin of the Middle District of North Carolina just brought criminal charges against another 19 aliens for allegedly illegally registering and voting in the 2016 presidential election.
As the charging documents set forth, the alleged conduct violates three different provisions of federal law, one a misdemeanor and two felonies:
18 U.S.C. § 611(a)—voting by a noncitizen;
18 U.S.C. § 911—making a false claim of U.S. citizenship; and
18 U.S.C. § 1015(f)—making a false statement in a voter registration application.
Making a false statement on a voter registration form—such as claiming that a commercial building where you work is actually your residence—violates Section 1015 (f), a felony punishable by a maximum of five years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000, or both.
Think this is an isolated problem in North Carolina? In 2018, U.S. Attorney Robert Higdon of the Eastern District of North Carolina brought criminal charges against 19 other illegal aliens for allegedly doing exactly the same thing: illegally registering and voting in the 2016 election.
And Georgia’s secretary of state just reported that his office found 1,000 registered voters who voted twice in the state’s June primary, once with absentee ballots and again in person on Election Day.
The numbers just keep adding up. Election integrity is something the public takes seriously, and prosecutors and election officials should, too.
Unfortunately, too many in the media (including NPR, it seems), in academia, and in the political halls of Washington and state capitols aren’t serious about clean and fair elections.
Editor’s note: NPR did not respond by publication time to an emailed request for comment.
Hans von Spakovsky is an authority on a wide range of issues—including civil rights, civil justice, the First Amendment, immigration, the rule of law and government reform—as a senior legal fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies and manager of the think tank’s Election Law Reform Initiative. Read his research. Twitter: @HvonSpakovsky.
A Note for our Readers:
Democratic Socialists say, “America should be more like socialist countries such as Sweden and Denmark.” And millions of young people believe them…
For years, “Democratic Socialists” have been growing a crop of followers that include students and young professionals. America’s future will be in their hands.
How are socialists deluding a whole generation? One of their most effective arguments is that “democratic socialism” is working in Scandinavian countries like Sweden and Norway. They claim these countries are “proof” that socialism will work for America. But they’re wrong. And it’s easy to explain why.
Our friends at The Heritage Foundation just published a new guide that provides three irrefutable facts that debunks these myths. For a limited time, they’re offering it to readers of The Daily Signal for free.
Get your free copy of “Why Democratic Socialists Can’t Legitimately Claim Sweden and Denmark as Success Stories” today and equip yourself with the facts you need to debunk these myths once and for all.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Daily Signalhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Daily Signal2020-09-18 05:27:212020-09-18 05:27:214 Voters Claiming NPR as Residence Turn Up in Search of California Voting Records
The selfish ogre said, “I take responsibility for trusting the word of the neighborhood salon that I’ve been to…many times…It was a setup, and I take responsibility for falling for a setup.”
Blaming the salon for obeying her commands after already pretending she didn’t know it was against the rules tells you everything you have to know about the character and integrity of Chardonnay Nancy https://t.co/aBuN5ryhZm
Pelosi wants voters of America to believe she’s too stupid to know a Democrat regulation that’s been destroying businesses since March and everyone else knew was in effect in San Fran somehow didn’t apply to her
But really, she just doesn’t care. She’s a lib. She’s protected.
I'm not copping to any illegal services at this time but hypothetically if I did get my hair done during this here pandemic, I would never even dream of throwing my stylist or salon owner under the bus. Bad form.
If Melania went and had her hair blown out at that hair salon in California while everyone else was not allowed, it would be the lead story on every channel. But because @SpeakerPelosi is the offender the other channels won’t cover it.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi demanded an apology from her “neighborhood salon” on Wednesday after claiming she was “set up” during a visit to get her hair done despite COVID-19 lockdown mandates ordering salons closed.
“I take responsibility for trusting the word of the neighborhood salon that I’ve been to…many times…It was a setup, and I take responsibility for falling for a setup,” Pelosi said.
“I think that this salon owes me an apology, for setting me up,” she added.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Pamela Gellerhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngPamela Geller2020-09-03 05:10:502020-09-03 06:41:29VIDEO: After Demanding She Open, Pelosi Throws Salon Owner Under Bus, “It Was a Set-Up” “Apologize”
Joe Rogan is just the latest in a long list of celebrities to say goodbye to La La Land.
California dreaming? Nothing wrong with that. The Golden State has a lot to offer.
California has the fifth largest economy in the world. The San Francisco Bay Area alone has a GDP of $535 billion and ranks 19th in the world in economic activity. The state boasts one of the largest agricultural industries on the planet, producing more grapes, lemons, avocados, peaches, watermelons, and strawberries than any US state.
And let’s not forget movies. They contribute about $50 billion dollars annually to California’s economy—and nearly 2.5 million jobs.
Still, California has its downsides. It has thehighest poverty rate in the US. It’s among the most heavily taxed states—the top income tax bracket is 13.3 percent—and is America’s most regulated state, according to the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Its biggest cities suffer from housing shortages, mass homelessness, and congestion.
And then there’s the whole, er, poop crisis thing.
So while California has a lot to offer, its demographics are beginning to head in the wrong direction. Last year, the state’s population growth hit a historic low. There’s talk of a middle class exodus and the death of Hollywood.
In recent years, there’s even a growing number of celebrities saying goodbye to Golden State, including a big name recently. There’s nothing wrong with people “voting with their feet” to establish residence in freedom-friendly states; it’s one of the beauties of the American system. It does show, however, that high taxes and regulations can result in wealth emigration that drives out a lot of capital that supports local jobs and businesses.
Here’s a list of just a few stars who’ve headed for greener (or at least, not quite so “fertilized”) pastures in recent years.
Joe Rogan on the Move to Texas
Fresh off of signing a $100 million deal with Spotify in May, comedian and podcaster Joe Rogan made headlines in July by announcing he and his family were moving to Texas.
Rogan has lived in California more than 25 years. He moved to Los Angeles in 1994 and shortly thereafter began appearing TV shows like News Radio. As recently as 2018 he purchased a new home in Bell Canyon for nearly $5 million. That didn’t stop him from leaving though, and he offered some telling reasons.
“I just want to go somewhere in the center of the country … somewhere where you have a little more freedom,” said Rogan. “When you look at the economic despair, when you look at the homelessness problem that has accelerated radically over the last six, seven, ten years … I think there’s too many people here. I think it’s not tenable.”
To be clear, California’s problems do not stem from its high number of people. Humans are one of the greatest resources on the planet. California’s problems stem more from a political and regulatory system that has stifled growth, accumulated massive debts, and suffers from a bureaucratic climate that renders many cities dysfunctional and virtually unlivable.
But whatever his reasons, it’s clear the move will save Rogan gobs of cash. Texas has zero state income taxes compared to California’s top bracket of 13.3 percent. Apply that rate to $100 million and … well, do the math.
Kim and Kanye Saving a Bundle Wyoming
In the fall of 2019, rumors began swirling that Kanye West and wife Kim Kardashian were giving up on California after it was reported that the rapper had purchased a $14 million “monster ranch” in Cody, Wyoming.
The rumors amplified when the couple announced they had closed on another ranch property near Cody—this one 6,713 acres and valued at $14.5 million—and were touring local schools for their children.
During a 2019 interview (26:30 mark in video below), Kanye hinted that he found the Golden State’s regulatory structure stifling and irritating, noting that regulators told him his Star Wars-inspired domes for the homeless violated government codes.
“One of the domes was 10 feet too high,” said West, speaking at the 2019 Fast Company Innovation Festival. “They came and said, ‘You got to take it down.’”
It’s hard to blame an innovator like West for being irritated by red tape. But it probably wasn’t his only reason for leaving.
“Kimye” stand to save a bundle if they live more than 183 days a year in Wyoming. Reports estimate the West paid some $15 million in state income taxes in 2018 alone.
The Cowboy State, on the other hand, has zero state income taxes.
Chris Hemsworth’s Life ‘Down Under’
Chris Hemsworth is today one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, even though he no longer lives there. In 2015, the same year Avengers: Age of Ultron was released, the Australian-born actor announced he was moving back Down Under with his family, since he no longer had to be in Hollywood to land movie roles.
‘We were in LA for six or seven years and then once we got the opportunity not to be there full-time, it was good to get back to Australia,” said Hemsworth. “And it’s great. Quiet, coastal town – [it] couldn’t be further from Hollywood, which is nice.”
Quiet. Coastal. And far from Hollywood. The perfect place for Thor Odinson to retire after his battles with Thanos.
Future Governor Matthew McConaughey?
Matthew McConaughey took home an Oscar in 2014 for his role as Ron Woodroof in the 2013 biographical drama The Dallas Buyers Club, but by that time the Dazed and Confused actor had already sold most if not all of his homes in the Hollywood Hills.
McConaughey and wife Camila Alves, married in 2012, have lived in Austin, Texas for years with their three children. McConaughey, who was born in Texas, in 2015 joined the faculty of the University of Texas at Austin where he works as an instructor in the department of radio, television and film at the Moody College of Communication.
Rumor has it McConaughey is even considering a run for governor of the Lone Star State in 2022. We don’t know McConaughey’s politics—he keeps his views famously close to the vest—but based on some of his comments following the 2016 election, odds are he’ll have a better chance in Texas than California.
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds’s ‘Idyllic Life’ in New York
One of Hollywood’s most famous power couples, Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively don’t actually live in Hollywood. Though Reynolds and his first wife Scarlet Johannson were California residents—Reynolds filed for divorse in Los Angeles in 2010—the Green Lantern stars (sorry to bring that one up) decided Hollywood wasn’t where they wanted to raise their family.
In 2012, the same year the couple married, Lively and Reynolds purchased a $5.7 million home near Bedford, New York. Nestled on 11.65 acres, the colonial-style mansion reportedly is 8,000 square feet and has seven bedrooms and six bathrooms. The property even comes with a barn.
Taxes in New York aren’t much better than California, but the couple seems to have found a beautiful place to raise their three children. Reports say they have made quite an impression on the community.
“[L]ocals describe them as extremely nice and well-liked,” E! Newsreported. “They have a bit of a routine around town that can only be described as, well, idyllic.”
Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban Loving Life in the (Income Tax Free) Volunteer State
Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban didn’t exactly leave California. They still keep a home there, a $4.7 million mansion in Beverly Hills purchased in 2008. But the couple, married in 2006, seems to collect homes the way other people collect stamps.
There are the two homes in Australia: a $6.5 million farm in Bunya Hill and a penthouse in Sydney.
There’s the mansion in Nashville the couple purchased for $3.4 million in 2008.
And let’s not forget the $10 million Manhattan condo the Days of Thunder and country music start purchased in 2010.
Despite their many dwellings, the couple has called Nashville, Tennessee their home for years. And that’s a smart move financially speaking. The Volunteer State has a zero percent income tax rate, which went a long way toward allowing the couple to accrue an aggregate net worth estimated at $325 million.
Jonathan Miltimore is the Managing Editor of FEE.org. His writing/reporting has been the subject of articles in TIME magazine, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Forbes, Fox News, and the Star Tribune. Bylines: The Washington Times, MSN.com, The Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, The Federalist, the Epoch Times. He previously served in editorial roles at The History Channel magazine, Intellectual Takeout, and Scout. He is an alumni of the Institute for Humane Studies journalism program, a former reporter for the Panama City News Herald, and served as an intern in the speechwriting department of George W. Bush.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Foundation for Economic Education (FEE)http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFoundation for Economic Education (FEE)2020-08-05 06:41:012020-08-05 06:43:30VIDEOS: Celebrities (Besides Joe Rogan) Who Said Goodbye to California
