Chico city council candidates turning in their paperwork for November 3 election

21 Jul

Summer half over, election deadlines are passing. Potential candidates for various offices are turning in their paperwork. Here’s the link to city election information.

https://www.chico.ca.us/election-information

In the city of Chico Districts 1, 3, 5 and 7 are up for grabs. There is a map posted at this site but it’s not the greatest. I couldn’t open the link for the “interactive map”, maybe you’ll have better luck. I just happen to know that the line  for my district runs right down my back fence, and then jogs over suddenly to take in a sitting councilor, and then jogs as abruptly back. I also know my district is not up in this election – so, as my uncle used to say, I do not have a dog in this race. 

Not that I don’t care. I don’t believe these districts were necessary – every member of this council will make decisions that affect my life, so I believe in “at large” election. I will certainly keep my eyes and ears open. And my nose, that’s for sure.

I hate the new city website, why they’ve changed things I can only suspect. For one thing, the Public Information Officer who was hired at full salary and benefits has removed stuff that used to be there – like the old campaign reports. She included Karl Ory’s 2017 Intention to Run statement with the current statements – if you look at the page, it looks like Ory is running when he’s made it clear he’s not. 

I also see paperwork from incumbents Schwab, Morgan and Stone.  Rich Ober, who has run in past, filed his intention statement in September 2019, before districts were finalized, so he has not listed his district.  Randall Stone filed a year ago, without a district.  None of the forms include the candidates’ street addresses.  Three new candidates have filed, they list “council member, city of Chico” as their street address, as if told to do so. 

I realize, in past, they’ve redacted the addresses of these people for privacy reasons. I didn’t like that then, because there’s a question of residency that should be proven to the people. If they expect us to swallow the districts, then we need to know where these people live. Are they so afraid of their constituents that they want to live in secrecy? That doesn’t sound good.

Kim Tietz put District 5 on her form and Kami Denlay Klingbell (for some reason she’s dropped her married name all the sudden) is running in District 3. I believe Stone is also District 5.  

Well, that’s what I know so far.  Next time let’s talk about the school board. 

Tags:

Time to recall Newsom – he’s shutting down Water Works Park

16 Jul

This morning as I stumbled out of bed and looked at the sky, I realized – it’s Dog Days. I don’t care what science tells you – Dog Days is when people and dogs GO CRAZY.

Add the COnVID, and you got total insanity. 

I recommend staying home. But don’t listen to me – Water Works Park is OPEN FOR BUSINESS! But you better get your ass over there now, because our Fascist Leader and Nose Picker in Chief Gavin Newsom is ordering the place shut down on August 3.

https://www.waterworkspark.com/#news-1

If you are sick of this kind of “leadership”, sign the Recall Newsom petition. I signed it at a gathering recently, and I’m printing it out for my husband later today. Here’s the link with the instructions and form to print. The deadline is November 17 – don’t wait until the last minute. 

https://recallgavin2020.com/update-june-27-2020/

Frankly, I’m sorry I haven’t spoken sooner – it’s funny how the little things are what tick a person off. Don’t mess with my Water Works Park Gavin!  

Tags: ,

Bare your face – it’s not a political statement, it’s a human statement (but yeah, wash your damned hands and stay the hell out of my body space!)

14 Jul

I know people  can get nasty in a crisis. I have seen the bottom pits of human behavior. But I haven’t seen anything like this COVID panic. Local Faceblob groups naming and promoting boycott of businesses they have determined not to be strict enough about masks? What is this, the McCarthy Era?  

Hey, if you can find a website that promotes boycott of businesses who do require masks, let me know! 

Frankly, I don’t want to poke, but it seems to me that most of the ugly, bullying behavior is coming from the mask wearers. I can’t believe how divisive the media has become.  Here, Chico Enterprise Record columnist Kyra Gottesman goes completely off the  deep end in a rant about an incident for which she has absolutely no proof whatsoever. This was not really worthy of print, it’s like something you should write in your diary and then burn it. 

Exhausted with the nonsense | Off the Record

EXHAUSTED WITH THE NONSENSE

By  | Correspondent

My grandmother used to say that out of all the things she ever lost, her mind was what she missed the most. For me, it’s my sense of humor that seems to have taken a bunk, gone MIA this week.

I’ve done pretty darn good the past five months maintaining some sense of hilarity about all the nonsense people spew and post on social media regarding all things COVID, most especially the face mask mandate, but this week, this week I’ve had it.

I’m done being nice about it. I’m done patiently explaining why. I’m done joking and jollying people about it. I’m done with listening to all the whining and complaining about it. I am done.

What finally tipped me over the edge was a woman in the grocery store who literally came right up on top of me while I was picking out some potatoes. She came up so close I could feel her over my shoulder and when I turned my head she was, well, in my face with no mask on.

“Excuse me but please social distance. I’m almost done. Also, they have masks at the front of the store. You could get one,” I politely said to her.

Well those were apparently the wrong 23 words to say because the next thing I knew she was spit-spewing screaming at me about “civil liberties” and “not being a Newsom puppet” and, and, and all the other ridiculous rhetoric the “poorly educated” that IQ45 “loves” so much regurgitate.

As I back peddled away and she kept following me other customers started to either stare or scatter. Finally she gave up pursuit and went back to the potato bin. I headed for a different part of the store and circle back later for potatoes.

With so many bars closed or operating with limited capacity I’m thinking there are probably quite a few unemployed bouncers out there who are quite adept at 86’ing the crazies. Imma thinkin’ grocery stores and other retail facilities should hire these guys.

Hire bouncers to eject people from grocery stores?  If the above is true, she instigated this incident. Instead of getting her goods and getting out of the way, she  tried to get in a fight with a total stranger. Maybe she should have been ejected. Is this where social intercourse is going in the Golden State?

I agree with her on social distancing and hand washing, which, as far as I’m concerned, should always be in  vogue. But the mask argument is weak and inconsistent. The most common statistic out there on a cloth masks is that a person is 4% less likely to inhale the virus if they wear a cloth mask as opposed to wearing no face protection at all.

I just don’t get people balking at this. I’ve asked folks … Do you wear a seatbelt in your vehicle? Do you rant at businesses that post signs reading: “No shirt. No shoes. No service?” Do you wear goggles, hard hats and protective gear when working in certain places (think construction sites) or handling dangerous equipment (think chainsaws and chippers)? Do you take off your shoes, your belt and remove everything from your pockets and allow a full body X-ray and, from time to time, a pat down by TSA before getting on plane? Do you stay seated, wearing a seatbelt with your seat and tray locked in the upright positions when the airplane captain (actually the little tiny symbol lights above the seats) tells you to? Do you wear a helmet when you ride a bike or motorcycle? Do you think it’s perfectly OK to drink and drive?If you answered yes to the first six questions and no to the last, if you are compliant or at least non-combative about these things because you believe these rules, laws or mandates are not infringements on you personal liberties but are put in place for public safety and health then please explain to me how wearing a piece of cloth over you nose and mouth is an abridgement of your rights.

These comparisons just don’t compare. Shoes and shirt in a restaurant is on par with hand washing. I would go so far as to ask some women to wear more adequate seat protection.  Car, motorcycle and airplane crashes kill millions a year, every year. The COVID doesn’t even come close. There no solid facts that a mask protects me anymore from COVID than standing 6 feet away from strangers. 

Yes, it most certainly is an abridgement of my rights to force another ridiculous “necessity” on me that has no proven benefit. I’m not forbidding you to wear a mask, so back the hell off. Literally, please. This woman has a very weird need to control the behavior of others, and that’s fascism. 

And here’s where she just casts herself into a tirade of hatefulness, hook, line and sinker. 

You can’t. Not logically. Not with facts. And, if you try to, I cannot listen to you anymore.  (Read that again, she’s saying she can’t listen to facts…) 

First of all, you self-centered privileged American  (she hates Americans? ) ; you don’t wear the mask just to protect yourself. You wear it to protect others if you are smart enough to understand that you could be asymptomatic and still be a COVID-19 carrier able to give it to someone else who could get very sick or even die. (all based on “could”, like most of the mask argument, this is just plain bullying…)

There is a lot that we do not know about this virus but, there is also a lot we do know about how viruses spread and how to mitigate that spread and those things are: wearing a mask, social distancing and washing our hands.  (Here she admits she doesn’t know much, but still insists masks are a given)

I wear a mask when I go out not for myself but for others, for you, even for the crazy potato-screaming woman. I wear a mask because I want to be part of the solution and not add to the problem. I wear a mask not because I am government controlled but because I am a responsible member of this society who actually cares about people other than myself. I wear a mask because it is, simply, the right thing to do.

She makes herself pretty clear here, that she’s ready to segregate the community between the “decent human beings” and the “morons”. 

Wearing a mask makes you a considerate, decent human being. Not wearing a mask makes you, well, a moron. End of conversation.

So this passes for “journalism” – how sad.  To think this young woman would believe she could change anybody’s mind with these insults and condemnations, poor little thing. I hope she gets her mind back, as well as her sense of humor. 

As for me,  I will continue to go out bare-faced so I can show my smile, with clean hands and from 6+ feet away. I see others doing same. It’s not a political statement, it’s a human statement. 

 

Tags: , , ,

The county of Butte shares a horrible guilt in the death of Ari Gershman

12 Jul

Yet another tragedy in the news, a murder committed by a man who had been in the custody of Butte County law enforcement numerous times in the past. He was released just earlier this year on his own recognizance, despite previous Failure to Appear. 

John Conway, the man ID’d by Sierra County officials as the suspect in the killing of a Bay Area man, has a long history in Butte County. He’s had two charges of “Failure to Appear” on separate cases just within the last year. He was out on a warrant, charged with grand theft auto, when he allegedly committed this murder.

I guess you could blame AB 109, the legislation that mandated transfer of “non-violent” criminals from state prisons to local jails. But AB 109 also provided funding for expansion and improvements at local jails to accommodate their new incarcerates. So how come Butte County jail is still releasing prisoners due to overcrowding?

The first item I found on this subject was this report from a 2014 Butte County supervisors’ meeting:

http://buttecounty.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=164&meta_id=27757

Three shelters in Oroville were granted AB 109 funding for housing prisoners released due to overcrowding. They were paid according to how many beds they had, at a rate of $550 per bed per month. That was comparable with what people were paying for a room in a apartment in Chico at the time.

The next item I found was an article from 2015

Butte County agencies commended for AB109 response

Some excerpts:

AB109 has been blamed for a 115 percent increase in “failure to appear” charges in the county, which are charges brought on when defendants miss a court date they promised to appear on.

“A defendant’s unwillingness to return to face charges after agreeing to do so delays justice, generates another case, and results in the issuance of a bench warrant,” according to the report. “This leaves prosecutors unable to dispose of cases in a timely fashion…”

In a “timely fashion” means they waste 10’s of thousands of dollars holding hearings at which the defendant is not present, rescheduling another hearing, yadda yadda yadda. You can hear the cash register ka-chinging all day down there. Taxpayer money folks, these perps don’t pay their own attorneys, the taxpayers pay.

All because they have not fixed the jail like they’ve promised again and again.  For years now, Grand Juries have brought up deficiencies at the jail, recommending remodels and expansions to improve simple stuff like sanitation. But here Sheriff Kory Honea mentions another GJ report condemning poor conditions at the jail. This is 2015, and Honea is citing the recent GJ report in his request for $40 million to expand the jail.

Sheriff Kory Honea said the “excessive” number of failure to appear charges demonstrates a need for a “different kind of correctional facility” in Butte County.

A jail is needed that provides a “sufficient amount of space to keep those people who ultimately have demonstrated time and time again that they refuse to come to court and address these problems,” Honea said.

The Butte County Board of Supervisors in August approved Honea’s request to apply for $40 million in state funding to expand the county jail, according to a previous Enterprise-Record report. The expansion would increase the number of beds for inmates, include a medical clinic and offer space for programs like the sheriff’s alternative custody supervision.

And there it is – in 2015, Butte County Supervisors approved $40 million in state funding, with a $4 million match from the county, to expand the jail. What happened to that? Read this July 3 2020 article from the Enterprise Record.

Grand Jury report reinforces need for Butte County Jail expansion

 “Despite budget challenges, some brought on by the Camp Fire, the Butte County Grand Jury report released last week echoed the urgency for expanding the Butte County Jail beyond its current buildings.”

Oh for Pete’s sake, you’re kidding me!

“The 2019-20 Grand Jury report released June 26 examined the inner-workings of the facility, which has an inmate population that fluctuates between 570 and 590 with a maximum jail capacity of 614. Part of the facility was built in 1963, with additional wings added in 1994 and further renovations occurring in 1999.”

But nothing later than 1999? Even though, “In 2014, through Senate Bill 863, the Butte County Sheriff’s Office received $40 million in grant funding with $4 million being matched by the county. The funds allowed for plans to expand the jail north of the main facility in a separate building, as well as an evidence and morgue building.”

And here’s their excuse – read on – they’re blaming the Camp Fire!

“But when bids went out for the drafted plan, the lowest bid the county received came in at $12 million over budget. The Enterprise-Record reported in December 2019 that part of this was due to the Camp Fire as the cost of construction and supplies went up, in addition to a portion of local labor being pushed out, according to Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea.”

They had the money in 2015, but they’re still taking bids in 2019? Where did the money really go? Read this 2014 report from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service http://www.ncjrs.gov

Follow the Money: how California counties are spending their public safety realignment funds (AB109)

Enforcement Cluster 1: Counties that Need More Law Enforcement Resources
Characteristics of counties in enforcement cluster 1: They have a low drug arrest rate, a
low number of law enforcement personnel, and low law enforcement expenditures.
(Coverage: 0.23; Consistency: 0.78)
Counties in this cluster do not have a high rate of drug arrests, and they have not, in
recent times, invested much in law enforcement personnel. They tend to rate below
average on number of full-time law enforcement personnel per resident and law
enforcement expenditures per resident. In other words, they have not heavily focused
economic resources on law enforcement compared to other counties. Thus, they appear
to be using AB 109 funds to strengthen these enforcement apparatuses.
The counties that best fit this characterization are Butte, El Dorado, Kings, Nevada, and
San Benito Counties. Table 3 below displays the relative rank of each of these counties
(out of 58 total counties) on their allocated budgets to Sheriff and Law Enforcement
spending units, alongside their relative ranks on drug arrests, full-time law enforcement
personnel, and change in full-time law enforcement personnel.

So Butte County, ranked No. 6 on the chart, does not fully fund law enforcement. The unfunded actuarial (pension) liability (UAL), for example, is the result of under funding.  Law enforcement has the biggest UAL. According to the report,  the AB 109 money has been going to hire law enforcement personnel, and that means, paying the UAL. 

At the same time they under fund law enforcement, the county board continues to approve “transfers” of mental patients and released prisoners to Butte County “beds” for $550 a day in transfer fees. The transfer money goes to the Butte County Behavioral Health Department. For what? Here’s a hint – the second highest compensated person in Butte County is the head of Behavioral Health, at $240,688/year salary with a $54,138 benefits package. In fact, there are 22 employees in BCBH that make more than $100,000/year in salary, and another 22 that make more than $90,000/year. So,  you can see where the transfer money goes.

And these people don’t go out on the streets to administer to clients – the police and sheriff have to engage them, counsel them, move them along. This is a huge subject of interest in Chico right now, I see people hitting posts here about the transient problem, the crime problem, and the desecration of Bidwell Park and our waterways. I see their posts on other social media. But I don’t know if people are making the funding connection. 

And now this. The County of Butte shares a horrible guilt in the death of Ari Gershman. The Sheriff’s Department has had adequate time and money to expand the jail to meet the demand. The court knew John Conway was a repeat offender with multiple charges of Failure to Appear when he was released on his own recognizance. But when Ari Gershman and his son got in their jeep and headed for a popular off-road vehicle destination, I doubt they knew any of that.  

Tags: , , , ,

Paycheck Protection Program – who doesn’t love doling out taxpayer money?

11 Jul

Dave Howell opened a can of worms with his post about the Paycheck Protection Program. I had heard about this program on the news, but did not realize how much money they were talking about, or who it would be going to, or how.

Dave sent me the spread sheet with all the names, amounts, and lenders, and wow, that was interesting. You can see the spreadsheet – the link is here at Dave’s blog, Chico Taxes. 

Who’s Going to Pay For This?

The first line on the spreadsheet is “$5 – $10 million”  for Sierra Nevada Brewery restaurant. And here’s the stinker – Sierra Nevada founder Ken Grossman is taking it through Golden Valley Bank, a bank he co-founded here in Chico.

Grossman’s bank is lending millions out to local businesses. “How nice!” you say? I don’t think so. I found this article from Business Insider.

https://www.businessinsider.com/banks-could-pick-up-24-billion-ppp-processing-fees-2020-7

July 9 –   “More than 4,000 lending institutions that process loans through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) are in position to split between $14.3 billion and $24.6 billion in processing fees for those loans, per analysis of SBA data cited by The Wall Street Journal. That includes a total of between $1.5 billion and $2.6 billion that the two largest US banks and the program’s biggest lenders, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America (BofA), are set to split.”

Wow, Der Beer Man is going to make out like a bandit – doubling ending the system, getting free money, and fees to dole it out! 

“The fees banks earn for disbursing PPP loans depend on the size of each loan: 5% for loans below $350,000, 3% for loans between $350,000 and $2 million, and 1% for loans above $2 million. On top of those processing fees, banks that disbursed PPP loans will also earn 1% in interest on PPP loans that aren’t forgiven.”

For example, $15,000 for a $1.5 million loan.  Financed and secured with taxpayer money. The Wall Street Journal claim some businesses “will use the net proceeds of fees … to support small businesses and the communities and nonprofits we serve,” but that is not required. 

Apparently the feds are trying to encourage banks of all sizes to get in on the party. According to Abrigo,  “Lenders that are not already SBA 7(a) lenders, the rule said, ‘will be automatically qualified…'”  

http://www.abrigo.com/blog/2020/03/28/how-lenders-prepare-for-sba-7a-paycheck–protection/#

“The SBA Paycheck Protection Plan provides loans of up to $10 million that are 100% guaranteed by the SBA in order to encourage employers to retain employees or bring laid off workers back on the payroll. They are unsecured loans due in 2 years with a fixed interest rate of 1% (initially, the SBA and Treasury said they would be 0.5%, but raised the rates on April 2). They require no collateral or personal guarantees, and no upfront borrower fee payable to the SBA. Another major difference from the regular 7(a) program is that borrowers don’t have to show that they cannot obtain credit elsewhere.”

Wow, I don’t know about you, but this whole thing reminds me of the mortgage banking feeding frenzy of the early 2000’s – no collateral, no personal guarantees, and no upfront borrower fee? 

As you may know, it’s a lot easier to dole out money that’s not yours. Especially when you are doling some of it out to yourself. 

Tags: , , ,

Take a cup of OT and add a cup and a half of CTO, pour in some STO, and you get an IOU

10 Jul

Wow, CalPERS is going to start lending money? Interesting article from Cal Matters. 

https://calmatters.org/economy/california-pension-crisis/2020/07/calpers-pension-banking-private-debt-ab-2473/

As far as I’m concerned, this is another reason we need to get out of CalPERS. But our council (aka Ship of Fools) is so union-friendly they would never even consider such a move. I asked them to consider some changes to the public safety contracts that came up for review at this past Tuesday’s meeting, but they just approved the MOU’s (Memo of Understanding) without a second thought. 

Our council is too union-friendly. Morgan, Brown and Schwab are union members, and Stone is married to a union member. All of them depend on the union contributions at election time. So, they approve poor contracts again and again, sending us deeper into the pension pit. 

This morning I read that Sean Morgan is going to run for re-election in District 1, and that a challenger has stepped forward, Curtis Pahlka. My immediate problem with Pahlka is that he works for Chico State – another union member.  He also champions “public safety” – I hear another rubber stamp. 

We need somebody who is willing to stand up and ask for changes to details that end up costing the taxpayers a lot of money. For example, Compensated Time Off (CTO).  It’s complicated, and there will be a quiz.

Public safety employees are guaranteed a certain amount of overtime. They call it “mandatory” overtime, but that doesn’t mean the employee is forced to work that OT, it means the city is forced to pay them for it. And, here’s the thing – the department (union) demands a lot more overtime than they need, and the employee ends up with un-worked OT hours (hang on the twists get wild). The employee can choose to exchange those un-worked OT hours for “Compensated Time Off” ( CTO ). Meaning, time off with pay. Un-huh – paid for overtime they didn’t need to work in the first place. 

From the recently approved MOU – “CTO shall be accrued at the rate of one and one-half (1½) hours for each hour of overtime.”  That means, they get the same amount of pay for not working an hour and a half as they would have got for working the hour of OT. 

Hang in there Kitty, this is like one of those tube slides at Water Works Park.

The employee can take that time off, at the discretion of their commander, OR, (pay attention and hold your nose) ” Employees
may request payment for part or all of unused CTO. ”  Now remember, they already got an hour and a half of CTO for each hour of un-worked OT, so they are essentially being paid for that un-worked OT.

And it just gets crazier.

“Employees who work overtime may accrue Selective Time Off (STO) in lieu of overtime payment or CTO, and may utilize
such STO in accordance with the following conditions and provisions.”

These contracts have more turns than the average colon.

“STO shall be accrued at the rate of two (2) hours for each hour of overtime worked.” So, they can take time off in lieu of payment for their OT worked, but they get two hours for each hour worked. So, in this way, they get more money for the time off than they would have got for the overtime. 

 “Payment for Unused STO. There shall be no payment made for unused STO. Upon
termination from City service, for whatever reason, or as used for an approved leave of absence, STO
hours shall be converted to CTO in accordance with the formula set forth in this section, and Employee
shall be compensated pursuant to Subarticle 5.3, entitled “’CTO In Lieu of Payment.’”

Did you see how they did that? They should drive for NASCAR!  They won’t pay for STO, but they’ll slip it under a walnut shell like a dried pea and swish it around –  in front of your very eyes it becomes CTO, and that’s as good as cash. 

Here’s the point – they tack this payment onto their annual salary – this is how they spike their pensions well beyond their agreed-upon salaries. 

I always have to wonder what is  going through council members’ heads when they approve these contracts without discussion. Are they just stupid, do they even read this stuff? Are they so afraid of the police and  fire department unions that they won’t stick up a finger of question? Do they really believe we can sustain these ridiculous pensions, or maybe they are just in denial that they have any control over it? 

I think WE need to elect better people. That means being better voters and doing our homework, making our demands up front. Let Curtis and Sean know we’re done with council members that just rubber stamp bad contracts. 

QUICK QUIZ: 

  1. What’s more expensive, an hour of OT or an hour and a half of CTO? 
  2. If you take one hour of OT and convert it to STO which is then converted to CTO, how many hours do you end up with?
  3. If a CTO marries an STO, what would their babies look like? 

Had to throw that last one in to make sure you’re awake! 

 

Chico Taxes: Who’s going to pay for thousands in “payroll loans” to local companies?

9 Jul

Dave Howell looks into the “Paycheck Protection Program” at Chico Taxes:

Who’s Going to Pay For This?

Tags:

Joe Azzarito: 3 strikes and you’re out

8 Jul
By  |

Councilor Karl Ory is Chico’s latest “Chicken Little.” Maybe insolvency is the only recourse to bring expenses in line with the community’s reality. Fear tactics are the left’s weapon of choice. I listened and watched the June 23 council meeting as best I could, without closed captions for hearing impaired.

Frozen hiring and layoffs, for the left, is letting the lowest paid “true workers” go or eliminating “make believe” positions budgeted but not yet filled. That way, for the best effect on the public. For government, it’s cost plus all the way; reductions are really lessened increases – double speak.

You use “sunsetted in eight years” and “a permanent $18 million tax for police and roads” in the same letter. Which is it? Don’t threaten voters with an insolvency caused by your own actions – exorbitant salaries, excessive benefits and obedience to an immoral “California Rule.”  Management must be the first to feel the pain, not the peons.

Lastly, I can prove yours and Mr. Orme and Constantin’s $18 million revenue stream is bogus, intended to feed outsized debt using roads and public safety as carrots. If the tax goes up, so should tips at restaurants go down! Accountability rests on your shoulders not ours. You gave away the store, we didn’t. You people tried three times on Tuesday – that’s a strike out in my book.

Joe Azzarito, Chico CA

Image 7 Jul

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances

4 Jul

Wow, hit a nerve! Stats for the blog have been steadily up, people are thinking about issues like transient problems, crime, and Kamala Harris (?), but I haven’t seen a jump in visitors like the one I got for “Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease.”

I’m shocked people don’t care more about what’s going on Downtown right now, and I think city management is really happy about it. I just got another agenda for a “special” meeting next Tuesday, and I’ll say – nothing on that agenda is “essential” business. They’re trying to shove ballot measures by under cover of COVID. 

This is the second most important Independence Day in my lifetime. The first was during 9-11, when we saw an unprecedented attack on our civil liberties. Forgot that already? Because a lot of the stuff we were freaked about in the days following September 11, 2001 are still with us, like TSA. The last time I saw TSA in the news was reports they were stealing laptops and other expensive gadgets out of people’s luggage. People who want to travel by air have just accepted this intrusion on our rights, that’s what’s alarming to me. And now, too many people are accepting masking and the cancellation of public events. They not only accept this intrusion in their own lives, like some kind of sci-fi novel, they turn on others around them and demand they also accept it. 

Happy Independence Day, and don’t  forget what it means. It means VIGILANCE. It means being ready to push back against attack on our freedom. 

Practice FREEDOM today, leave your mask at home. Stay out of others’ body space, wash your hands, and repeat after me:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Learn it. Know it. Live it.

 

 

Tags: , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →