Just another brick in the wall

Wall for Mexico

While watching Ted Cruz doing a presser in Arizona at the border of the United States and Mexico, I just shook my head. That is my current reaction to anyone or anything mentioning the border. When two former Mexican presidents thought they would share their foul mouthed expression over Mexico paying for a wall I laughed. Dolia Estevez wrote about the most corrupt people in Mexico and you bet politicians were named, so much for being the beacon of light and truth that they believe they are when speaking of public policies.

I think I have finally come up with the best idea for the border wall. Well I don’t want to steal credit for the idea, my mother in law Lillian actually thought of this, and it’s a brilliant. What makes it even better is that Lillian herself was a legal immigrant to the United States and a naturalized citizen. She came up with the idea while talking with her son, my husband, about our local baseball team.

Years ago when our local baseball team, the Padres, were building their new stadium, they gave fans the option of sponsoring a brick that would make up the construction of the ball park. You could gift them or have a heartfelt saying put on it, whatever you wanted, within reason of course. I even bought one for my husband who has been huge fan. It is cool every opening day of the baseball season when we go look for the brick and sort of touch it, a kind of blessing for a great season.

When Donald Trump wanted Mexico to pay for the wall I thought that was an inspired idea but this one is even better because it won’t cost the America taxpayer anything. We could sell the bricks making up the wall to US citizens. And each family member who has lost a loved one to murder, rape, etc could add the name the of their dead loved one, like Kate’s folks could put her name on a brick and we could use these to build the wall. By the way, all the names would be facing the Mexican side. This will be a constant reminder of the costs of illegal immigration has on our country to those who would encourage the behavior.

And maybe seeing this giant wall with names of lost loved ones, lost hope, lives stopped, families changed forever, just maybe that would snap DC and Mexico out of their fog and give them a daily reminder of the true cost of illegal immigration to our nation.

H/T Mum

A kinder, nicer NFL?

A Kinder and Nicer NFL?

Are any of you buying the new crisis management public relations campaign by the NFL, “Together We Make Football”? The NFL has been pushing commercials that make them look like AT&T or Hallmark. Problem is, I don’t think many are falling for the new kinder and gentler NFL. The whole reason they have to clean up their act is that there have been so many bad actors in NFL with behavior stretching from bad to criminal that they had no choice but to look like they cared. And rather than really take a look at the behavior and get rid of bad players, they have them do the classic “mea culpa” like Ray Rice after he beat his fiancée unconscious, they go away for a little while either by  due process or the NFL hides them until they can bring them back. Keep in mind this is only done for the high price tag players. If you are Joey, the water boy your butt burns on its own with no help from the team or NFL.

I believe the crisis management team that was probably hired by the NFL believes all they have to do is air some touchy feely commercials and fans, in particular women, will ignore the horrible record the NFL has when it comes to dealing with real issues such as spousal abuse in the Ray Rice’s case where he beat his wife until she was unconscious in the view of an elevator camera. Or we have the alleged cheating coming out of the New England Patriots with Brady’s Deflategate. The Vikings have had to deal with Adrian Petersons scandal when he was indicted for beating his 4 old son until he was bloody, under the auspicious of corporal punishment. And nobody, no matter how much they try, has forgotten about Michael Vick and his abuse of animals in his dog fighting scandal.

And you know what every one of these men have in common? They are still working in the NFL. They are still getting paid the big bucks and they are still bad role models.  Women make up 45% of the people watching football every week during the season.  Do you think any of us are saying, “Thank God they saved him from a nasty court case, the team would have suffered badly if he was gone”. With all of the huge sums of money in professional sports these days, the owners and coaches and yes the players seem inept at making stronger changes to their behavior clauses in their contracts and really throw the bad out. Have one or two of these guys lose their jobs for good. Fire them! I bet that sends a message! Because now the message out of the NFL is, if you get caught doing an illegal act like shooting your buddy or beating your kid or girlfriend, we will get you out of the mess and write you check for playing.

I can’t think of any other employment circumstance that would keep men like this on their staff. Oh yeah except Hollywood but that’s a whole ‘nother Oprah.morris-datalab-nfl-vaw-12

The Latest War on Women and Minorities

Every once in a while a piece of legislation is introduced here in California that just completely makes me flip my lid. Now it has happened again. The piece of legislation that is creating more Nanny State and less Manifest Destiny is SB 8 offered by  Bob Hertzberg of CA Senate District 18. This bill would tax services offered by small businesses. So just think, the myriad of Vaping and Hooka stores that have cropped in my neighborhood would now have to tax your experience. The small nail shop owner, the hairdresser you have been going to since you were in college, all of these services could potentially be taxed.

The worst part of the bill  is that Hertzberg actually believes this “would enhance the state’s business climate and, would incentivize entrepreneurship and business creation …” . Small businesses are the meat and potatoes of employment for our state and this would put an undue hardship on them and many would close. I spoke with a woman who has owned a small business for almost 30 years and she told me that she still hasn’t recovered from the recession after losing 1/3 of her business. This, she said, would put her out of business.

The Small Business Administration states that women own 30% of the small businesses in our state. Small business accounts for most of the private jobs in our state and 99.2% of jobs in the state are create by small business owners. And guess what? Those jobs are services such as industries in accommodation & food services; health care & social assistance; and professional, scientific, & technical services. SERVICES!! And minority owned small businesses account for 35.6 % of the businesses in our not so Golden State.

So explain to all of the small business owners, Bob, how this helps them be creative and willing to start new businesses or keep the ones they currently have going? This is another attempt by the greedy despots in Sacramento, who are operating with a surplus of our tax dollars this budget, to fill their coffers with more of our money for their pet projects. If this infuriates you as much as it did me, please call the autocrat Bob’s office in Sacramento and let him know, Phone:  (916) 651-4018.

Do Not Pass Go Ethics in California

Monopoly

 

At the end of this legislative session in California Governor Brown vetoed a few bills that, the legislature passed in Sacramento, which dealt with ethics. His reason was that he did not want to make the ethical practices the elected in Sacramento must follow to be made any more complex. Huh? Given that under his watch three separate Senators have been indicted on various federal and state charges ranging from voter fraud to gun running, how complicated are the current ethics rules?

This gave me pause as to how complicated it must be already for these guys given their current legal troubles, so I went looking for the complex ethics one must follow if ever elected in our great state. Listed below are some of the ethical behaviors expected of our great leaders serving the citizenry in Sacramento. This seems very doable; after all don’t we assume these people understand right from wrong? Yes, but if they need it spelled out, then so be it.

 

  • Each Senator shall conduct himself/herself so as to justify the high trust reposed in him/her by the people to promote confidence in the integrity of the Senate.

  • A Senator or officer or employee of the Senate shall not engage in unethical conduct or tolerate such conduct by others.
  • Each Senator and each officer or employee of the Senate has a responsibility to report any and apparent and substantial violation of the Standards.
  • Each Senator or officer or employee of the Senate has the right to consult with the Senate Committee on Legislative Ethics, or, at the option of the individual, the Senate Ombudsperson (see below) regarding the propriety of any conduct that may violate the Standards.
  • A Senator or officer or employee of the Senate shall not retaliate against a person who the reports possible violation of these Standards or against a person who the Senator, officer, or employee believes made such a report.
  • A Senator or an officer or employee of the Senate shall not discuss legislative business of any kind while attending or hosting an event at which campaign funds or contributions are solicited, provided, or discussed.

 

 Here is the ironic part of the story, so we have these 3 people indicted on various felony charges from both state and federal prosecutors and the California Senate leadership does nothing, and I mean nothing. Talk about standing by their men, Darrell Steinberg had nothing on Hilary Clinton.

Senator Rod Wright was indicted in September of 2010 and was eventually convicted and sentenced this year.  Leland Yee was indicted in March of this year and is still facing multiple federal charges including bribery and gun running. Senator Ron Calderon was indicted in February of 2014 and is still facing 24 counts also including bribery .None of these men lost their jobs. Period. They did not resign nor were they asked to resign; they actually took paid leave of absences on the taxpayer’s dime.

And what did the Senate do while these “boys” were off figuring out their legal strategy for staying out of prison rather than working on California’s pressing issues? Finally in July of this year they had a touchy feely class on ethics. I mean, they devoted a whole day to this work….see below explanation of said class.

On April 23, 2014, the State Senate devoted an entire day to a review and reflection of ethical issues and the Senate Standards of Conduct. The review of “Ethics in Principle and Practice” entailed separate group sessions for Senators only, and for Senate Office Chiefs of Staff, Office Directors and Committee Chief Consultants. Following those group sessions, the material was reviewed in individual office staff meetings.

The group sessions included a presentation on “Strengthening a Culture of Ethics” by Scott Raecker, CEO of the Josephson Institute of Ethics and executive director of Character Counts at Drake University. The nonprofit Josephson Institute in Los Angeles has worked with corporations, governmental agencies and professionals on strengthening standards of conduct in individual and institutional decision-making.

A separate segment involved a panel of local legal experts who presented a variety of hypothetical scenarios to facilitate discussion and dialogue on ethical and legal issues.

 

A day of reflection cost us greatly because every district these men represented went without representation the whole time they were committing illegal acts and afterwards because Darrell Steinberg and or Governor Brown would not do the right thing, the ethical thing which was to fire their butts.  You can find the little hypothetical situations they covered in this Ethics for Idiots class, oddly enough gun running issues or voter fraud were not covered.

So when the Governor says the ethics the folks have to follow in Sacramento are too complex, ask yourself if your child knows not to steal or to lie. Then ask yourself why a sitting Governor with the record numbers of indictments under his leadership would not want to shore up the ethical behavior of his team, hmmm?

First They Came for Ferguson Then They Came For Us

helicopter

The most shocking part of the stories out of Ferguson is the photos and realization that the Ferguson and state police are armed to the teeth. If this doesn’t seem like an overreaction to the situation at hand I don’t know what does. Most telling is the fact that the law enforcement in the state feel like they need to bring out all of their “war toys”.

Since 1997 the DoD has been shuffling through the Department of Homeland Security all of their excess hardware such as armored vehicles, assault weapons and even helicopters. So is it any wonder that the cops are now acting like the military? And how far do we need to go before losing our liberty is more important than our perceived security? I know if I live in Ferguson, MO I don’t feel real secure right now and it’s not because of the people looting and robbing although that is a story unto itself, it’s because the police seem to be violating every Constitutional right on the books.

If you look in to the 1033 Program which is what the purveyance of the military grade equipment is called you find that every state in the “union” has been given weapons of some sort. The New York Times did a great job with an interactive map showing you who got what. And yes I said given. Although one must assume it is up to the departments to pay for upkeep of such weapons of mass destruction as grenade launchers and mine deflecting vehicles. Los Angeles County alone received from the 1033 program,

3,408 assault rifles,

1,696 pieces of body armor,

827 pieces of night vision equipment,

44 Pistols,

15 helicopters, Fifteen, one five, helicopters!!!

4 Other vehicles, who knows what that means

3 mine resistant vehicles, is there much call for that in LA?

And last but not least- 1 plane.

And a partridge in a pear tree. Really?

We know that Los Angles is a sanctuary city with Special Order 40 being their policy, which is the illegal alien catch and release program so why are they armed for war?

I don’t know about you all but I am far from feeling safe, I am terrified that the very people who believe my civil , Constitutional  and inalienable rights mean nothing are armed unlike even the Taliban.

Why have we allowed this to go unnoticed until Ferguson? Well, I guess they are test driving the equipment now on the citizens of Ferguson who are doing nothing more than executing their 1st Amendment Rights. And I mean those that are peacefully assembling and bringing grievances to their elected. The response by the law enforcement and Governor are to turn weapons of war on the citizens? We have a bigger problem than we thought.

While watching the movie Braveheart one night , one scene got my attention, its where the English lord slits the throat of the William Wallace’s  wife , but before he does he talks about how they have all lived together in relative peace and harmony and then he kills the woman. Is this where we are in the country, in “relative peace and harmony” but not real peace and harmony? After all the law enforcement and those that have signed off on the militarization of our police forces and others seem to be about to slit our throats, relatively speaking.

Obama Built This

 

no entrar

We are in the midst of the largest invasion on our borders than we have ever seen in this country. We have masses of children, adults, and gang members arriving at our borders every day. This is seemingly a problem that the California ruling elite and Washington DC ruling elite are unprepared to solve.  As far back as January of 2014 we know that the Administration (DHS) was asking people to apply for jobs as escorts for the illegal minors coming to our shores. We have all seen the protests happening across the country on the news but what they aren’t telling you is why the communities are protesting beyond the fact that the Administration and the people coming here are illegal aliens. And yes Mr. President we are a Nation of immigrants but we are LEGAL immigrants!

 

So take Murrieta for instance, this is a small community in the southwestern part of Riverside County in California. This is not the hot bed of activity for anything. Until 1991 it wasn’t even considered a city as the population didn’t meet the requirements for “city” status until then. They now have a municipal fire department but that didn’t occur until 1987 before this date they had  a volunteer fire department. Murrieta also boasts a fairly new police department originated in 1992 with 100 officers filling its ranks. And to service the health care needs of this small community are two hospitals. Just so you understand Murrieta was considered the safest city in the country of its size.

If you lived in a little hamlet such as this and heard that your population was going to increase with a huge incursion of people here illegally what would you do? You would try to protect the small slice of freedom that you have wouldn’t you? Well Murrieta and other communities are doing just that. They can’t believe the federal government is trying to overwhelm their town resources with people who came here illegally and of whom they have no identity. As we have no demographics of who is coming over the borders we have no idea who the government is trying to release into our communities. The DHS seems unable to answer cursory questions reading the identities of these folks except to say they are children.

We are getting reports from others that the groups of “children” also include gang members and others that have or will likely commit crimes in our country. As the California legislature seem to be absent from this discussion we ask the people to contact their representatives and ask them what they are doing to solve this problem. We know there are communicable diseases within the populations of aliens coming here, that will spread like wild fire through our communities if left unchecked. We also realize that the United States taxpayer is paying the bill for all of these people and their potential stays at 3 star hotels being set up around the country. At a time when we are exposing how poorly our own Veterans are treated we see illegal aliens getting preferential treatment that is unknown by our own!

The longer this situation is allowed to fester the worse it will get and there seems to be no leadership from the Ivory Tower of the White House. Polling numbers for the President keep plummeting as he continues to ignore this debacle. In the mean time we have communities of taxpayers who are trying their best to protect the sanctity of their towns and homes. And no one is calling out the progressives for using these kids as human shields for more failed liberal policies. And Yes Mr. President you did indeed build this mess!

IMPORTANT MESSAGING RE: CA GOP @ 28% by Marc Harris ( Guest blogger)

GOP logo upside down

 

Last Thursday, at the John & Ken KFI AM640 gubernatorial debate between GOP favorite Neel Kashkari and the true conservative, Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, Kashkari quoted a statistic that the clueless GOP leaders continue to quote in explaining why they are moving further and further to the left politically, to the extent that now they are looking almost indistinguishable from the Democrats on most issues.

Debate highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aan4gmAQ3MM&feature=youtu.be

 

Kashkari and the GOP say the percentage of registered Republicans in CA has fallen to “just 28%”; a stat they quickly follow up by stating that “we need to grow our party!“.  Well, I have just a couple of questions for them….

 

Where did all those Republicans go that used to be registered?  Did they just up and leave the state?!! 

 

Nope.  While some have, in fact, left California, the majority of them have all just been switching to Independent, Libertarian, or Decline To State.   Nearly half of the former percentage of Republicans in CA have done so, and Inquiring minds–clearly absent from the blind and deaf elitists making up the GOP shot callers–want to know “WHY??“.

 

It is because of the very reaction by those clueless GOP “leaders” in response to the dismal party attrition rates: keep moving further to the left with candidates like Kashkari “in order to “appeal” to more liberal voters!   (sound of phonograph record scratching) What??!!   Ok, ok; wait.  Let’s go a little slower for them here:….soooooo,  the party is shrinking because it has been moving too far to the left….sooooo,  your ‘solution’ is….to move it FARTHER TO THE LEFT!!!  Brilliant!!   What was Einstein’s definition of insanity?  That’s right: doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

 

A five-year old can figure out that as you respond by moving further to the left, more and more conservative Republicans will continue to leave the Party, an exodus that will dwindle the GOP down to a very small minority of those who have essentially morphed so completely into Democrats they may as well complete the transformation and just put a “D” after their names!

 

Folks, the Republicans didn’t shrink to 28% by standing on conservative principles, but by abandoning them.  And there can be ONLY two ways to go from the ditch the GOP elitists have driven it into: move further left, or quickly, firmly, and UNASHAMEDLY RUN back to the right!

 

We are so sick of GOP leaders acting weak, apologetic, and even squeamish in taking a stand on anything related to the Constitution, pro-business, free- market capitalism, pro 2nd Amendment and the right to protect yourself, for securing the borders, and against the extremist environmentalist agenda that is bankrupting our state and nation.

 

We are at a crossroads, fellow Californians–and fellow Americans; for “as goes California, so goes the nation“.  With all the strength and resources we can muster, we must wrest the wheel from the foolish, clueless GOP leadership that, in quoting the 28% figure, has effectively conceded one irrefutable truth: THEY blew it!

 

Now, their endorsement of Neel Kashkari for Governor, the epitome of a RINO (Kashkari voted for Obama, and lionized him as “a partisan warrior” who he believed could fix the US economy; he was at the Treasury Department during the mortgage meltdown, and then voted for TARP to try to fix the meltdown), only demonstrates that they cannot be trusted to fix the damage they have caused, and that they only intend to drive the party deeper into the liberal abyss.

 

We must say “NO MORE!”, and stand AGAINST them, and FOR the true constitutional conservative, Tim Donnelly.  Heaven help us all if he doesn’t win.  We will all have to follow Toyota and others and move to Texas–and come back and pick up the pieces in 20 years after the fuzzy-headed liberals in both parties have turned California into Cuba.

 

The Dichotomy of Californian Environs

The Kentucky Derby was won yesterday by an unknown, unlikely horse named California Chrome. The story of Steve Coburn and Perry Martin is extraordinary as two people from average means bought a horse and breed it with another unexceptional horse to receive a winner like California Chrome. All along the way the horse was not expected to be a winner in the sense of the Derby or Triple Crown, it was an average horse after all. But two average people in a rather average state had faith in the horse’s ability and so they lived out a dream, taking her to the Kentucky Derby. Since we are always talking about the American Dream and how it has been lost this was a true victory story of how the underdog can and will rise above expectations when the time is right.

Now juxtapose this with California Congressman Adam Schiff declaring that the renewed interest in the Benghazi terrorist attack on a US compound in Libya where he said the Democrats should boycott this investigation because it was a waste of time and money. Coming from a person who is part of system that has institutionalized wasting both time and money this was an extraordinary statement. I guess Mr. Schiff thinks the average American does not see the value in finding out what led to the murders of a sitting US Ambassador , the first in over 40 years, and three other Americans. Polls show that the average American absolutely cares about this issue. But once again we have representation in Congress of people who are so out of touch with the average person that they deem it necessary to tell us what is relevant and what is not worthy of our time or money.

Well Mr. Schiff we believe discovering and finding justice for the murders of four Americans is very worthy of our time and money and as average people we think it is imperative for our government, that after all is only supposed to exist for our protection, to do its job when Americans are murdered on US soil, no matter where that US soil is located! Mr. Schiff, your announcement that four Americans being murdered is not worthy of the time and money is again an example of a less than average person doing a below average job.

For all the social justice seeking the left decries we need, it is astounding that these four men are not among those that are worthy of justice. Well there is a primary soon and hopefully those in Mr. Schiff’s district feel like they need above average representation as he no longer represents them. Maybe we can get Mr. Coburn or Mr. Martin to run they obviously see the value in putting their time and money into an average project to see that the underdog has a shot. We are the new underdogs, the American public.americn horses

Look Who Has a War on Women NOW

No Freedom sign

The hypocrisy of the Progressive Left never ceases to amaze me. They say they are all about women’s rights and yet when Jan Brewer, the Governor of Arizona signs a new law to ban abortions after 20 weeks they freak out. Really? Are they not aware that at that stage a baby, possibly even a female child, hmmm, has formed their liver, nerves to the brain, and the mother can feel the movement of the child? With the call against this I would think the Progressives look more like the Chinese than ever before, especially since the Progressives also fought so hard for the ability to have an abortion based on the sex of the child. Meaning if you find out you are having a girl you can abort the child as to favor a pregnancy of a boy.

When the tea party stands up for traditional values they scorn, mock and lie about us. Even when one of their own stands up for traditional values such as Kirsten Dunst they eviscerate her. To be anything but progressive is a no-no especially in California where all logic goes to die. No matter how anyone else feels the Progressives are going to make sure you have no individual thoughts that aren’t the ones they have given you, you are not going to stray from the agenda, you are not going to stand in their way for victory. Of course what they are working towards is a complete change to all we have grown to know here in this country,freedom. They will not be happy until we look like the former USSR.

Personally I am glad there are still a few women out there, such as Jan Brewer and Kirsten Dunst who believe in being their “own woman” and standing up for that. As a woman I salute both of you brave women! You are not alone!

Move Over Sopranos a New “Family” Rocks California

Don Corleone

 

With the arrest of yet another California elected Senator Leland Yee, the California political elite seem to be the new stars of an episode of The Sopranos. First we have Senator Rod Wright convicted of 8 counts of voter fraud and perjury who by the way is still drawing his salary off the CA taxpayer and next we have Senator Ron Calderon who has been indicted federally on charges ranging from mail fraud, wire fraud, honest services fraud, bribery, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and money laundering to aiding in the filing of false tax returns. He too is on “paid leave of absence’ from his day job as a California Senator. If anyone thought of  Senator Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg as a leader they can put that thought away now; all roads lead back to his leadership style which is kind of like that of Don Corleone.

Holding up the rear in California Senate Democrats who have fallen from grace is now Senator Kevin de Leon who is being investigated along with Calderon by the FBI on what the FBI called a “large scale healthcare fraud” case involving a person in Long Beach who was running a spinal surgery hospital named Michael Drobot. Coincidently again, Don Steinberg used to work for the firm that is representing Drobot in the corruption case against him upon which  Eric Weirich deputy commissioner  of the California Department  of Insurance called, “”the largest insurance fraud” in California history.

You can read the affidavit used on the Calderon case as it reads like a who’s who of the California Senate elite. It all gets really messy implicating Calderon’s brother who used to serve in the California Senate also ,as it alleges that the Calderon brothers  had setup a phony 501c4 called Californians for Diversity, (where was the IRS on this one), to have a fund for retirement. Their bribes were being transferred into the 501c4 account.

Each of these guys “serves” a very specific part of Californian as Yee “serves” San Francisco, Calderon and de Leon “serve” parts of Los Angeles. Rod Wright “serves” Long Beach and the Port of Long Beach. And coincidently Steinberg “serves” the very spot of all corruption itself, Sacramento. It figures right? And what role does Steinberg play in all of this? Are his hands clean? I am not sure as he crops up numerous times in the affidavit against Calderon. He is either the dumbest person on the planet, not knowing what was happening, although that seems unlikely, or he had some role in all of this. I have to believe that whether covertly or overtly Steinberg is being looked at very hard these days as he has proven to be delinquent in providing leadership for the California Senate.

I am always amazed at how different the political world is from real life. If Steinberg worked in the real world he would have lost his job and pension by now for at the least turning a blind eye to the corruption happening on his watch with his subordinates. Remember in the movie The Godfather when Michael is talking to Kay about his father he says, “My father is no different than any powerful man, any man with power, like a president or senator.” Too true.