Category Archives: California

Schadenfreude and the State of California

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As a precursor please see my post about Schadenfreude and Jerry Brown.

We begin with this article from Sacramento’s revered Leftist news source, SacBee.com:

Blood, syringes, feces: CalTrans workers seek protections for clearing homeless camps

by Marjie Lundstrom

(Subtitled: Because, After All, Somebody’s Gotta Do It)

Under a freeway overpass, beneath a busy bridge, the ragged tents and shopping carts multiply, communities of human beings glimpsed in the rear-view mirrors of passing motorists.

The job often falls to the California Department of Transportation to clean up these homeless encampments, but highway workers have now drawn their own line in the sand.

Last week, the union representing Caltrans maintenance workers filed a grievance against the department, contending that employees responsible for the massive cleanups are not being adequately protected.

In many instances, workers are not given appropriate protective gear, vaccinations, training or enough compensation for the “dangerous hazmat duties they are performing” on Caltrans property, according to the grievance filed by the International Union of Operating Engineers, Unit 12.

Uh-oh. California not perhaps living up to its Idyllic Utopian Goals? No, not IUDs. I wrote: IUGs. Sheesh.

“It’s extremely hazardous, it’s extremely dangerous,” said Steve Crouch, the union’s director of public employees, who filed the grievance.

Crouch, who has spoken with numerous workers in the field, said he hears the same lament: “We didn’t sign on for this.”

Oh but wait. Most certainly you did. Simply by living in the PSWFLRFC, or the People’s Socialist Workers Freedom Liberation Republic Front of California.

It gets better, but only when the truth emerges.

One Caltrans worker, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution, said he has been involved in at least six cleanups so far this year.

“I’ve been exposed to blood, needles, women’s feminine products. Five-gallon buckets of human feces,” he told The Bee.

Let that roil around in your Brain Theater for a moment or three.

His protective gear? A pair of gloves, he said.

“And that’s really not protective,” he quickly added. “It’s funky, and I’m putting this politely. It’s extremely nasty. You never know what you’re going to step in.”

Or on. And it’s not cheap. But hell, you California taxpayers are footing the bill and you don’t seem to mind.

According to Caltrans’ in-house publication, Mile Marker magazine, the department has spent about $29.2 million cleaning up encampments since fiscal 2012-13. Caltrans estimated the bill in 2016-17 to be more than $10 million – a 34 percent increase over the previous year – and involved all 12 regional districts.

The rising costs coincide with California’s growing homeless population, which increased by nearly 14 percent between 2016 and 2017 to an estimated 134,278, according to the most recent annual report by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. More than half of the nation’s homeless individuals were found in four states: California, New York, Florida and Texas, the report said.

California has already been cited for having the worst quality of life of all the states — 50th of the 50. Why not the greatest amount of filth and squalor as well? California at least strives for consistency.

California’s all about the environment. That’s why they love their homeless and their mental defectives. Read on.

For Caltrans, the typical camp cleanup takes days to complete, beginning with a notification posted at the site at least 72 hours before crews arrive, a recent Mile Marker article stated. Caltrans workers are escorted by state or local law enforcement and, in some cases, social workers and homeless advocates.

In carrying out the cleanups, the department cites the camps’ potential to damage highway infrastructure, contribute to community blight and pose health and safety risks. According to Caltrans, materials routinely found include human waste, spoiled food, animal carcasses, broken glass, toxic chemicals, hypodermic needles and weapons.

Don’t you think it’s time for CalTrans workers to just be quiet? Isn’t it their duty to simply do the job and shut up? They should be thankful to be given gloves. It’s California, man, a Leftist Utopia. Don’t they get that?

Union leader Crouch said he was not aware of any specific worker injuries but noted that “the potential is there.” San Diego, for instance, experienced a devastating Hepatitis A outbreak last year that swept through the region’s homeless population.

Oh come on. That’s just overblown. There’s nothing wrong with California that a much larger application of Leftist policies can’t cure.

BZ

 

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Schadenfreude and Jerry Brown

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California Governor Jerry Brown decided back in 2015 that he was going to live in the original Governors Mansion in downtown Sacramento, located at 1526 H Street between 15th and 16th Streets — where his father Edmund G. “Pat” Brown used to live as governor in the 1960s.

The mansion issues are, well, fairly obvious. There is no real fence per se, anyone can hop the thing. The portico on the west side provides the real security — plus other CHP DPS (Dignitary Protection Section) fixes and features that you might guess are present on the grounds.

Figure 1: CHP utilizing genetically-modified giant horses to guard the capitol area in downtown Sacramento. This is a real photograph and not Photoshopped (okay, I’ll spill: it’s a Clydesdale acquired from Budweiser in Vallejo at a reduced rate).

With that orientation and background in mind, let’s get into the gist of the story, from KFIAM640.com:

Homeless Man Arrested After Walking into Gov. Jerry Brown’s Residence

by RJ Johnson

A 51-year-old homeless man is in jail today after he allegedly walked into Gov. Jerry Brown’s mansion on H Street in Sacramento.

According to the CHP, Steven Seeley was arrested for trespassing “on the executive residence property, breaking a side window on the first floor of the residence.”

Seeley told the Sacramento Bee that he entered the history governor’s mansion without any interference from Brown’s security detail (that was apparently on site through the entire incident). The homeless man told reporters that he had spotted some wild animals, possibly lions or cougars, on the streets of midtown Sacramento. He says he walked through the door of the mansion to warn Brown’s security detail because he knew they had “big guns.”

Seeley is partially correct. CHP’s DPS have guns; perhaps not “big” like .50 caliber “big” just clanking about the hallways, but certainly of sufficient size and heft to perform an adequate task at the mansion.

Here’s where it becomes interesting.

Seeley says he entered Brown’s residence to help prevent the governor from being attacked. 

“I was looking for the security staff, but I didn’t see anybody,” Seeley said Thursday. “I thought the governor was in trouble, I thought he was in danger of being attacked by the wild animals, so I walked in. I yelled ‘Jerry.'”

Seeley says that after he walked inside and didn’t see anyone, he heard muffled roaring and hid inside a small room or closet. He then left through a window in the room that led to a fenced-in yard, breaking the window and cutting himself in the process.

He did it out of love for our governor. Now that’s one selfless act, if you ask me. He tells us so, here.

But wait, there’s more.

He walked back out into the street, looking for help, asking multiple passers-by for help calling 911. Eventually, a couple pulled over and took him to the hospital where he underwent surgery and later arrested. 

Yeah. Two days later.

You see, there’s just a wee bit of schadenfreude involved for any number of reasons.

  • First: it was a homeless man. California loves its homeless. Wait. Until it doesn’t and they actually threaten someone important to the state — certainly not you or me;
  • Second: it was a mentally unhinged individual who felt compelled to enter the mansion due to the presence of lions or cougars (the four-footed variety; shame on you!) outside. California loves its unhinged. Wait. Until it doesn’t and they actually threaten someone important to the state — certainly not you or me;
  • Third: Governor Brown became apoplectic himself, threw camshafts and went 210/190 when he discovered his wife, Anne Gust, was present in the mansion when the incident occurred on April 19th — to the point that he demanded the man be arrested for a felony and that he do prison time.

Hang on; it gets better.

  • Fourth: — and you’re gonna love this one — that didn’t happen. Remember: the homeless nutcase was officially arrested for trespassing, which is a misdemeanor in California. Just above an infraction, which is what you have when an officer issues you, say, a traffic ticket.
  • Fifth: up to a few years ago this man could have been charged with 459 PC, burglary, a felony in the state. But because of measures and propositions (Brown’s lovingly-inspired Propositions 47 and 57 in this case) voted upon by politicians and the electorate, authorities know that, in today’s California environment, the intake DA will larf his or her arse off but upon seeing that report cross their desk.

Hence the misdemeanor charge of “trespassing,” 602 PC. All because of Jerry Brown-sponsored Leftist initiatives and laws to adjudge arrestees much less harshly because of the challenging environments they encountered as harmless and innocent children.

“Governor Brown and Schadenfreude, table for two, your table is ready.”

Drink up, Jerry.

BZ

 

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The insanity of California’s Bay Area housing

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California is insane.

It’s a psychotic bitch juggling a crate of leaking nitroglycerine.

The state with the worst quality of life, the highest poverty and skyrocketing crime. Courtesy of Leftists and Demorats.

A state where the poor get poorer and the rich get richer, whilst people from China flood the Bay Area, San Jose, Cupertino and Silicon Valley housing markets with cash in order to scoop up houses for $1.7 million dollars that would otherwise sell, in a sane state, for $110,000.

Because, oh, by the way, you can’t own property in China.

“Middle Class” in California? What’s that?

Watch this if you doubt anything I’ve written.

Now do you believe me?

California is insane.

BZ

 

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Three California states a tad closer?

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First, this from ABC7.com:

Plan to divide California into 3 new states clears first hurdle

SAN FRANCISCO —

A plan to split California into three separate states has cleared its first hurdle. Supporters are set to begin collecting signatures to qualify for next year’s ballot.

The plan is being funded by Bay Area tech billionaire Tim Draper, who previously funded a similar proposal back in 2014 to divide the state up into sections.

That plan failed.

Draper argues that citizens would be better served by three smaller state governments, rather than one large one.

The three-way split goes like this: Northern California would include the Bay Area all the way to the Oregon border, Southern California would begin in Fresno and cover most of the southern state.

A new California would begin in Los Angeles county and cover most of the coastal areas.

Initially, on its face, a good idea or not?

Also, from NBCBayArea.com:

3 Californias? Billionaire’s Plan to Split California into 3 Separate States Clears First Hurdle

by Riya Bhattacharjee

The proposal would split the Golden State into three: Northern California, Southern California and a new California

Remember that widely-joked about plan to break California up into six states that died before making it to the ballot for the 2016 state elections? It’s been reincarnated – by the same billionaire who flouted the original plan – but this time, except for six states, the proposal is to split the Golden State into three: Northern California, Southern California and a new California.

The proposal has cleared its first hurdle, and its proponent, billionaire bitcoin enthusiast Timothy Draper, can now begin collecting signatures to qualify for next year’s ballot.

There’s only one problem.

Draper doesn’t understand the total dynamics.

The state “California” would have to expand because the following counties would demand relief from association with “Northern California.” Meaning: Northern California is too far to the right for them.

Santa Cruz, San Mateo, San Francisco, Marin, Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino counties would all insist they be admitted into the mostly-coastal state of “California.” Trust me on this. And I would gladly let them do so.

Leftists don’t realize — should they decide to actually push the issue — that these divisions are pure political and not geophysical (I don’t know necessarily why I’m showing all my cards now but, hell, I am).

Because, should these lines (with my revisions) be drawn, California and Southern California would be primarily without water. They would lack agricultural status. They would lack resources. Northern California wouldn’t care in the slightest.

Conservatives would flock to Northern California. Leftists would be drawn to the primarily coastal California. And Mexicans would soon demographically blow out Southern California.

Southern California is desert and more desert.

California would be beautiful but packed with an even more massive striation of massively-wealthy “haves” vs lowly “have nots.” Just look at San Francisco if you want a picture of street pissing and defecation. Let’s remember that Leftists in Fornicalia want to remove dams, as insane as that may be.

Northern California would have the resources including the bulk of the producing Sierra Nevada mountain range, cooler temperatures, forests, lakes, reservoirs, and the ability to create even more and greater water projects. In California, water and resources are king. All else subsumes.

Most folks outside California are saying “bring it on.”

I too, with my iteration, am saying “bring it on.”

Let’s just SEE if that social experiment would be truly viable.

BZ

 

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California wants a law about “fake news”

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And no, I am not kidding.

As California’s debt explodes, businesses flee, illegals drain and trash the state and are encouraged to vote illegally, as San Francisco is turned into a piss-and-shite-filled excrement dump and Los Angeles borders on bankruptcy due to its policies and the lawsuits filed against it (wait, I thought LA was Leftist Central and violated no one’s rights), Sacramento decides that this issue demands its immediate and pointed focus.

From the Guardian.com:

California lawmakers propose bills to teach students to identify ‘fake news’

by Alan Yuhas in San Francisco

The bills aim to teach high school students how to detect misleading, fabricated or inaccurate reports in the wake of the 2016 US election

Two California lawmakers have proposed bills to fight “fake news” by teaching high school students how to detect misleading, fabricated or inaccurate reports in the waves of information flooding into their daily lives.

“The rise of fake and misleading news is deeply concerning,” Dodd said in a statement. “Even more concerning is the lack of education provided to ensure people can distinguish what is fact and what’s not.”

“By giving students the proper tools to analyze the media they consume, we can empower them to make informed decisions,” he added.

But wait; let’s hearken back to this incredibly insightful and correct quote by Josef Stalin.

Because, after all, who determines an election? Who decides whom is insane? Who decides what is fake news?

Tessa Jolls, president of the nonprofit and nonpartisan Center for Media Literacy, said that such measures were long overdue. “Now that powers have shifted, with citizens as producers [of information], people are suddenly saying, ‘Oh wow, this is something we need.’”

Well just hold on there, cowgirl. Perhaps you ought to go back and evaluate the origin of “fake news,” why and when the meme was created. And who determines “fake news.”

“Fake news” didn’t exist when NBC, ABC, CBS and other “mainstream media” sites were historically lying their arses off to the American public. They were and are what I term the American Media Maggots, for obvious reasons.

Fake rape stories on any number of occasions, AMM? Cars that tip over, AMM? Dan Rather lying about George Bush? Hundreds of false discrimination stories? Rick Jones? Sharmeka Moffitt? Reza Aslan? Tahera Ahmad? Anti-gay tip receipt? Duke University? Michael Nifong? Oberlin KKK hoax? Tawana Brawley? Grand Valley State University black chick? Rolling Stone magazine? Joseph Baken? CAIR’s staged videos? CNN interviewing their own cameraman, claiming it was an anti-Trump protester on Don Lemon? “Trumpers violent” when it was in fact Leftists who burned, hit, stabbed, cut, destroyed property around the US? HRC having a “98% chance of winning”?

Buzzfeed? CNN?

The “Fourth Estate” exists only as, now, a PR firm for Leftists and Demorats. We’re on to you. You are in fact naked.

How shallow be thy memory, American Media Maggots. Where an anti-conservative meme exists, you jump on it and provide vast amounts of time, headline space and copy inches. Because you have an anti-conservative theme to catch.

More importantly, just who fact checks the “fact checkers”? Were you, my dear readers, cognizant that the staff of Snopes.com is comprised primarily of Leftists? Would you even remotely be shocked? What about Facebook?

Facebook routinely buried conservative news and topics from trending on the site and artificially made liberal topics part of the national discussion, former Facebook employees admitted last May. TheDC previously reported that the former Facebook trending news team was filled by liberals. It has since automated the Trending Topics section of its page.

Jolls makes an admirable statement:

“What we want is skepticism, not cynicism,” she said. “Cynicism is when you don’t believe anything. Skepticism is when you have discernment, judgment you can rely on.”

In a vacuum, the quote is sensible. In reality, I go back to my Josef Stalin quote.

Just who determines what is what?

In Fornicalia, come on.

I think you know that answer.

I say: go ahead. Prove to me you’re not insane.

By what standards?

Ultimately: who creates and holds those standards?

Fornicalia is as impartial as a Chinese judge at the Beijing Olympics.

BZ

 

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