But What Does He Run On?

California Governor, Gavin Newsome says that he’s not in the race in 2024, but he’s going to support Joe Biden. You’d never know it by his travel schedule. Newsome has been flitting around the country like someone that’s getting ready to announce their candidacy. So, one of two things are happening. Either he’s positioning himself as the “go to guy” for 2028, or he’s getting ready to jump into the race if Biden decides that he’s too old and too feeble to run again. That seems more and more likely since he keeps pushing his candidacy announcement back. Now I’ve heard, and you probably have too, that it’s going to be in the fall sometime.

And Newsome just keeps circling.

But my over-riding question on Gavin Newsome is, what does he run on? Yes, he’s the Governor of the largest state in the union. And yes, he overcame a recall campaign and won a second term for that office. But what’s he done that has been a positive to the point you can stand on a debate stage and crow about it? Crime in Cali is out of control and nobody seems to want to do anything to stop it. You’ve got a homeless and drug problem there that are pretty much second to none anywhere in the country. There are currently around 160,000 homeless in The Golden State. That’s about a third of all of the homeless people in the country (about 500,000 nationwide). And nobody is doing anything about it.

You have a ton of businesses leaving California because of crime, drugs, homelessness not to mention high cost of living and an out of control tax structure. And over the past two years, over a half million people have left California for other safer, less liberal climates, moving to Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and Texas. That’s basically about 1.3% of the state’s population! That’s a lot to lose in 24 months just because of bad policies.

So, what does Gavin Newsome run on? He can’t run on any accomplishments that he’s had can he? After all, this is the guy that has pushed mask mandates, shutting down schools and keeping people locked down during the pandemic. He’s pushed for Critical Race Theory to be implemented in his state’s schools. He’s welcomed all sorts of illegal aliens into his fold. And he’s tried to limit what powers police have in keeping the streets safe. Newsome also has championed reparations for blacks, even though California never allowed slavery, and he’s in favor of a universal income for everyone.

What I find amazing is that 17% of California’s residents are living under the poverty line. By the way, if you weren’t aware, that’s one of the highest poverty rate of any state in the country! The poorest is Mississippi with a poverty rate of about 20%. It doesn’t seem to me that there is that much “golden” in the Golden State!

So, again, I ask the question, what does Gavin Newsome run on? Well, he has given us a peek at his playbook already. He went to Florida to lambaste Ron DeSantis. And that’s about all he can do. He’s not going to be able to build up his own case, but he’ll try to tear down the other guy (or gal). He’s been touring the country slamming conservative ideas as “radical”, when he is the one that has been dreaming up incredibly bad ideas. These ideas, by the way, are to the left of what crazy Joe Biden has been talking about. Remember…California has already banned the sale of combustion engine vehicles as of 2035. And yet, when it comes to the 39.5 million residents of that state owning electric vehicles, Newsome himself warned residents last year, not to plug in their EV’s because the electric grid couldn’t take it. Am I the only one thinking that is such a terrible idea?

No, Gavin Newsome is about as wrong for America as Joe Biden is. And I think one thing would happen if he were to run and get elected (he would be probably one of the best looking candidates out there, and that is something a LOT of people base their vote on!). He would set this country on a path of a depression that would make the 1920’s look like a bad day on Wall Street.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Banning Cars? Why It Won’t Work

I know the environmentalist wackos out there are all excited about the news that California is trying to ban the sale of gasoline power cars by 2035. They see this as Green New Deal gets a Christmas present. However it won’t work in California, and it won’t work in the rest of the country.

There are several reasons for it.

The first problem is the price. The average new car today costs $40,000. To give you an example of how out of whack that is, I paid $36,000 for my first house. Granted it was back in 1984, but hey! I never thought I’d be spending more on a car than I did that four bedroom house! A new electric vehicle (EV) costs on average $54,000 today and goes up about 12% a year. The average American makes about $68,800 this year. That means that in order to afford an EV, they have to cough up about 75% of their income! And that’s just the start. Want to replace the battery? Granted it’s supposed to have an 8 year/100,000 mile warranty, but let’s say you’re out of that. Cost of a new battery pack is $20,000. And that’s on top of the $54,000 you paid for the car.

Next problem, and it’s a big one. There aren’t enough charging stations. The infrastructure just isn’t there to support millions of Americans driving EV’s. Take California for example. They have a goal of putting in 250,000 charging stations a year. Last year, they put in 80,000. That’s one-third what their goal is, and the 39.5 million Californians are going to have to arm wrestle each other to decide who gets to charge their EV! It’s even worse when you get out of Cali and get into the real world. Outside of California, there are 42,300 charging stations, and about 120,000 outlets. That’s less than 1,000 per state. We’re years away from having the requisite number of charging stations to meet demand.

Next up is what to do with all of those batteries when they do finally go to the great charging station in the sky. I’ve heard the rumor you can recycle them, which is nice…but how many are actually going to get recycled? Remember when we first started recycling cans and paper? It got to be too much for the recycling stations to handle. They had to stop accepting it. Same thing will happen here. Again, infrastructure doesn’t meet the need.

And then you have the big elephant in the room. California has rolling blackouts to deal with everyone running their air conditioners in the summer time. They are taxing their electrical grid to the max as it is. Can you imagine what happens if you start charging millions of cars? If you think our energy grid can’t handle hot summers, what makes you think you can add everyone charging their cars overnight to that grid and get away with it? You need to rebuild the entire grid and develop a ton more generating facilities to keep up with demand.

Biden says that his plan will lower energy costs. I can’t see how it does anything but go up. Simple economics says that when demand is greater than supply the prices go up. And trust me, our thirst for energy isn’t going away any time soon!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Are They Nuts?

Oh, I think they are. But I’ll let you be the final arbitrator in that one. Let me tell you what’s going on in the wacky state to my left as we speak today. The County Board of Supervisors in San Bernadino County, California are considering and will have a second reading, a final reading and if both pass, a vote come November on a proposal for San Bernadino County to secede from California.

Here’s where that is crazy!

San Bernadino County is a small county located northeast of Los Angeles. About the biggest claim to fame of the country is it houses the original McDonalds’ Restaurant. Other than that it’s really not got a lot to it. . If San Bernadino County was to actually secede from California, they’d become basically have to be annexed by Arizona as they share a border just west of Lake Havisu City and Bullhead City. Otherwise, they’d have no statehood of any kind. It’d be a county-run government and a couple of small towns. That’s it!

Now, we’ve all heard of California wanting to secede from the United States. No, we haven’t heard about it lately because Gavin Newsome’s liberal government is happy with the way the idiots in Washington DC are behaving at the moment. But if the House and Senate turn Republican, and if the Democrats lose the presidency in 2024, you can believe you’ll be hearing about this yet again. It’s just a matter of time.

And of course, you’ve got a bunch of people, mostly conservative, but a lot of liberals as well, that have fled California already for what they view to be less taxed states like Utah, Texas, Nevada, and Arizona. Those folks have actually had an impact here in Arizona on many fronts. Housing prices have peaked here, but the house I bought in 2010 for $130,000 is now listed on the various real estate websites for around $400,000! And that’s without major renovation! Yes, our politics in the Grand Canyon State has gone from solid red to more of a purplish color because of all of this. I can’t remember the last time we had two Senators that were Democrats (Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema). The Phoenix mayor, along with mayors in Flagstaff and Tucson are all Democrats, though we’ve currently got a Republican Governor in Doug Ducey (founder of Cold Stone Creamery) and the state houses are both controlled by the GOP. But Democrats have made an impact.

The point is, it looks like there are still several people that are not happy with the way things are being done in California, and those folks are starting to take things into their own hands as to fixing them.

Is San Bernadino Country crazy for thinking this? Yes. They are. There isn’t any way this is going to happen. And it’s nothing more than a fun little diversion for the people who hate the way Cali is trending. But overall, no, San Bernadino County isn’t going to secede from the state. The lawsuits alone would bankrupt it.

My only question after reading about this is, why in the world would the County Supervisors even waste their time entertaining such a ridiculous notion?

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Is YOUR State Back To Work Yet?

I am continually amazed to see which states are doing better in this COVID era, and which states are lagging behind. And while I don’t necessarily believe that politics plays much of a role in the disease, I think it plays a huge role as to how people respond to the disease.

Case in point. There are four states that have now recouped all of their pandemic-induced job losses, and are back to normal as far as percentage of people working are concerned. Any guesses as to what those four states are?

Arizona, Texas, Idaho, and Utah.

Does anything strike you funny about those four states? How about their state governments are controlled by conservatives. Though, admittedly, Arizona is getting more and more people as the libs from California continue to invade the state. All four are now adding jobs to their pre-COVID conditions.

And which states sit at the bottom of the rankings for how well they are getting back to “normal” after the pandemic? Think liberal states and you’re on track. That would be California and New York. California is 70% the way back, and New York is only 60% back to work.

What does that tell you about those states? Well, those are two states that have implemented some of the more restrictive mandates such as vaccine mandates and mask wearing protocols. Texas, Arizona, Idaho, and Utah don’t have any in place. In fact, Texas has told school systems they cannot implement mask mandates in their schools (that is being challenged in the courts).

So, what does this all mean? Well, it plays into my original thought that liberal states are using this pandemic as a way to control their populations. They are putting the restrictions on the people so they can figure out just how much control a government can exert before there are riots and people try to overthrow the government. So far, with very few exceptions, we’ve learned that Americans are basically sheep. They’ll go along with being shut in their homes for extended periods of time. They’ll wear masks even though study after study says that masks really don’t do a whole lot to protect you…they protect others if YOU are sick. And we’ve learned that yes, vaccines seem to lessen the chance that you’ll die of COVID, but you can still get it, and you can still spread it. That goes for the variants as well.

As court after court has fallen in line against the Biden administration’s desire to keep the whole COVID play in effect as long as they can, it becomes clear that the left wants these restrictions, and the right doesn’t. So, ask yourself the question, “why”? Why do liberals want to clamp down on the public, and conservatives want to leave it up to the individual? The answer should be clear because it’s the same answer as “what’s the difference between liberals and conservatives?” Liberals want to have government be the controlling factor and the answer to every problem. They feel that a government of any kind is more likely to be able to control any situation that comes down the pike as long as they can throw money at the problem. Conservatives put more faith in the individual. They want you and me to make our own decisions after we’ve done our homework. They feel that we’re smart enough to run our own lives, and if that’s not the case, then it’s probably better off that the person making the stupid decisions don’t make it through.

So, as the latest variant of COVID starts to wind down (now 20,000 new cases a day versus 90,000 cases a day just two weeks ago), we start to really take a look at the difference between the two sides. I don’t know about you, but this whole escapade has taught me that I’m pretty sure I’m smarter than the people in DC, and I want to make my own decisions. How about you?

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Close Your Eyes…It Never Happened

Leave it to some idiot liberal snowflake like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez to come up with one of the most inane and disturbing reasons for all of the smash and grab instances in California and other places in the country.

It never happened.

In a throwback to denying that the Holocaust never happened, AOC said over the weekend that “A lot of these allegations of organized retail theft are not actually panning out.” She was citing a smash and grab that occurred at a Walgreens in the Golden State. A Walgreens spokesperson had earlier said, “Organized retail crime  is one of the top challenges facing” the company, the crime “has evolved beyond shoplifting and petty theft to the sale of stolen and counterfeit goods online.”

Now, AOC has no proof that the crimes have never happened. In fact, there are several videos on the web of smash and grabs taking place via security cameras in stores like Nordstroms, and some tonier jewelry stores where thieves smashed glass cases with bats before emptying them of their merchandise.

And this has become the new normal for liberals. If you have something that goes against your way of thinking, just deny it every happened. It’s absolute lunacy when you think about it. Here we have an elected official, a member of the United States House of Representatives stating emphatically that even though there are several instances shown on television, the internet, pretty much everywhere you look, it never really happened. Look the other way people. Nothing to see here kid!

My question is, how long is America going to put up with this crap. This is absolute nonsense that is getting to the point of total disbelief. It was bad enough when Democrats called bills things they weren’t just because it sounded better to the unwashed and uneducated masses. But now, when elected representatives deny the existence of actual footage, just to advance their narrative, it’s unthinkable. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez needs to resign from Congress. She and the rest of her Whackjob 5 need to be censored and expelled from the House. Now, you and I both know that won’t happen this year, but it sure as hell can happen in 2023 if and when the GOP takes over the House. I’ve already heard rumors that there are several Democrats that will be censored soon after the Republicans take over for their actions (if they are still in the House at the time), and I’m assuming that total brain dead idiots like AOC and her minions will be among them.

The time is here for America to get back to normal. That doesn’t just mean putting the pandemic behind us. It means banning a party that stands for the overthrow of the government. What we are seeing today in DC is nothing short of treason by the Democrats and it needs to be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Those violating that law need to suffer the punishment the Constitution calls for. Nothing less will suffice.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

The “New” Meaning Of Black Friday

Well, it is if you live in California. In the Golden State, which has become rather tarnished recently, accused criminals trying to get out on bail are meeting little resistance as the District Attorney’s and judges in the state are desperately trying to get rid of cash bail, saying it’s racist and a sign of White supremacy. And what you’re seeing on the news is the result.

Some of the toniest shops in all the land are getting attacked by roving gangs of upwards of 50 people. They run into a store, smash and grab everything in sight, and then run out. There are too many of them for the security guard on duty to do anything about and the police are miles away. The end result is that stores like Louis Vuitton, Nordstrom, and some very upscale Beverly Hills jewelry stores have been hit.

And what does the Governor of California have to say about all of it? Well, Gavin Newsome isn’t pleased, “I have no sympathy, no empathy whatsoever for people smashing and grabbing, stealing people’s items, creating havoc and terror on our streets. None. Period. Full stop. We want real accountability, we want people prosecuted, and we want people to feel safe this holiday season.”

Those are tough words from a Governor who kow-tows to the very crooks he’s talking about.

It’s beginning to happen all over the country. Chicago is reporting that a Nordstrom’s there was hit. And it’s happening in New York, Miami, and Dallas.

And the reason it’s happening? Simple. The crooks know that if enough of them go into a store and are only there for 90-120 seconds and grab a bunch of stuff and leave, there’s nothing anyone can do. The merchandise is later sold online at places like Ebay for pennies on the dollar.

So, has this become the new version of Black Friday? Is this the way we are shopping for Christmas now? And since the Democrats are all screaming about how racist cash bail is, and how they don’t think it’s fair because the rich get to go home and the poor sit in jail cells until their trial, they really can’t say or do much. After all, as we learned with the whole “defund the cops” thing last year, when you make it easier for crime to exist, crime will not only exist, it will grow.

And when crime starts growing and these stores start seeing these things go on, do you think they are just going to sit there and take it? Nope. They’re going to do one of two things. They are going to start arming their guards with orders to shoot the perps if it happens, or, they are going to close up shop and move to friendlier confines.

Police departments are stretched to the limits already with tons of cops deciding rather than put up with the crap they were getting on the streets they’d retire or find something else to do. Now, the same people that wanted to defund them not too long ago, are begging them to come to the rescue and stop the shoplifting crimes from occurring. What do you think their response is going to be? I bet they say they’ve got other things to do.

Welcome to Christmas in the Brandon Era.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Dems’ Giving Tax Break To The RICH???

Yup. If they get their way in the massive $1.75 trillion social spending bill that Joe Biden is backing, Democrats will be giving the wealthy in this country a tax break that will be ten times larger than any tax break given to middle class citizens.

According to Business Insider, the reason is because of SALT. No, that’s not the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. This SALT stands for State And Local Taxes. Currently under a bill that was passed in the Trump administration, you can deduct up to $10,000 in state and local taxes that you’ve paid from your federal taxes as a deduction. That’s about to change.

Democrats see the SALT provision as a slap to blue states who have much higher state and local taxes than red states (which is one reason why most blue states are losing populations to places like Texas, and Florida, and Arizona. The House version of Biden’s bill would raise the amount that you can deduct on your federal income taxes from $10,000 to $80,000 in essence giving the wealthy who pay a lot in state and local taxes a big tax break.

You probably haven’t heard much about that one, but it’s being hailed as a payback to the states like New York, California, and the higher income tax states. Democrats blame the Trump rule of limiting the deduction to $10k as the chief reason why those big states lost population in the 2020 census. Actually, it was more because of poor fiscal management by the left, but hey…that’s another topic for another time.

Don’t think that the middle class is going to be totally left out in the dark. Oh, no…they’re not. Middle class families will most likely get about $2,500 in additional benefits on their taxes through the revamped “Child Tax Credit”. However, wealthier individuals, the very people that Joe Biden has said is going to basically pay for his $1.75 trillion boondoggle, will be getting an additional $25,600 on average back in tax savings based on an increase in the SALT limits that the House wants to apply.

If that’s disturbing to you, it should be. While telling the world that he’s in favor of taxing the wealthy and giving extra Child Care Credit to the middle class, Biden is actually expanding on a lie. He’s not going to be giving anywhere near the tax break to most people in this country. Oh, a few rich Democrats that are still left in New York and California will reap some really nice breaks. But a lot of those folks left those states already for friendlier climes. And it’s going to be a long while before they decide to move back to their old stomping grounds because they are finding life a lot easier from a tax perspective in their new digs.

Are you riled up yet? Maybe you should be. It’s just one of the reasons that only 27% of Americans favor Biden’s second spending bill. And it seems that Congress is damned determined that they are going to pass it if they can. They still today don’t have a Joe Manchin or a Kyrsten Sinema signature on board saying they will be for the bill. Both Senators, as well as all of the Republicans are going to be against it as this is written.

So, it comes down to the question. Will Biden let everyone know that the wealthier blue state taxpayers are going to be getting a break the rest of us aren’t going to get? Only time will tell, but my hunch is, Biden won’t say a word about it.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Ah…To Be In California!

Here are some rather interesting statistics for you to gorge on today. Everybody has said since I was a wee lad that California sets the gold standard for leading the nation in pretty much everything. All of the various trends and exciting new happenings start in Cali. Well…be careful!

Less than 2% of all illegal aliens are out in the fields picking crops. Yet 29% of them are on welfare.

Over 70% of the United States’ population growth is attributable to illegal aliens. That figure in California, Florida, and New York is closer to 90%!

29% of the inmates in our federal prison system are illegal aliens.

And Nancy Pelosi wants to put a windfall tax on all stock market profits with the benefits going to the 12 million illegal aliens in this country. Why? She says it’s to narrow the “wage gap”.

In Los Angeles County, 40% of ALL workers are getting paid in cash. That means they pay no taxes.

95% of all murder warrants issued in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.

3/4 of the people on California’s “Most Wanted List” are illegal aliens.

Nearly 35% of all people being held in California’s detention centers are Mexican. Most of them are here illegally.

Over 67% of all births in Los Angeles County were to illegal aliens. They have no insurance, meaning that the taxpayers of California had to foot the bill.

Over 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages.

The FBI reports that half of all gang members in California are here illegally, from south of the border.

Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal aliens.

There are 21 radio stations in Los Angeles alone that are Spanish speaking.

In Los Angeles County alone, there are 5.1 million English speaking people and 3.9 million Spanish speaking people (not all of whom are illegal aliens!)

All of the above statistics came from that liberal bastion of journalism, the Los Angeles Times.

And we want to be like California???

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Making America California Again!

Oh, it’s no joke. Joe Biden is getting set to take the Oath of Office at noon eastern time today. And he’s already decided that to make America right the ship that a lot of folks didn’t think was listing, at least until COVID-19 reared it’s ugly head, he would Make America California Again!

That’s right!

Joe Biden is going to lean on California’s policies to show America how great we can be. Of course, if you look at California today, you’re going to look awfully hard to actually find something “great”. Starting with one of the top issues of the day, COVID-19. California has been experiencing one of the worst outbreaks of Coronavirus in the country recently. They have pretty much screwed up the vaccine rollout. And, they are getting ready to not only recall Governor Gavin Newsome, but also to hang him by the Hollywood sign.

I would think that Biden would have picked almost any other state to try and replicate. I mean, California has one of the largest exoduses in the country going on, with hundreds of thousands fleeing The Golden State, for places like Texas, Nevada, Utah, and here in Arizona. Why? Because the cost of living in Cali has reached incredibly outrageous proportions. I can attest that people moving here are paying upwards of $50,000 to $75,000 more than the houses were getting just a year ago. It’s easy to see why. They are selling their houses for $600,000 to $900,000 in California, and buying them here for about 40% of that thinking they are making out like bandits. But in reality, these houses have basically doubled in price over the past couple of years.

Then you’ve got the Big Tech folks all pulling out of Silicon Valley because of high taxes, and the homeless problem. Convention business in San Francisco is falling apart because of all the deficating and drug needles on the streets. Taxes are going through the roof, and the legislature there is threatening to tax people even AFTER they leave the state. I’m sure that part will be tested in court. California has one of the strictest emission regulations in the country, but one of the most lax in terms of upholding federal law when it comes to immigration. Illegals pour into California at unheard of rates. Oh, it’s been slowed down by Donald Trump’s wall, but as you’re reading this, there are 1,000 people or more marching from Honduras, going through Guatemala and are starting to head through Mexico for the United States’ border. The threat is bad enough that an unnamed Biden administration official issued a warning not to come, that it was too early, and they needed to wait.

We haven’t even begun to talk about the weather. Granted that southern California is blessed with some nice temperatures. San Diego probably boasts some of the nicest, most uniform temperatures in the country. But the earthquakes, the mudslides, the forest fires, the smog, the lack of water in some parts of the state are things America doesn’t necessarily want.

So, what are the GREAT things Biden is hoping to emulate? Workers’ rights, police reform, healthcare for illegal aliens that the rest of us pay for, criminal justice reform (I thought Trump did that???), and what is being called “economic reform”. Of course, most of Cali is mired in deep debt, and their state-wide economy is a shambles.

Now add to that the number of people that Biden has already tapped for his administration and you’ll see a lot of the problems that Cali has been suffering through are going to be moving to DC very quickly. Xavier Becerra, the California Attorney General, is heading to Washington to lead Health & Human Services. Janet Yellen a professor at UC Berkeley is going back to run the Treasury (much to the chagrin of Elizabeth Warren). Jennifer Granholm, former Michigan Governor, now a professor also at UC Berkeley is going to run the Energy Department, and Alejandro Mayorkas, a long-time California resident will be running Homeland Security. None of those folks exactly shined at their previous gigs.

So, if we are looking at California to save the nation, I have but one question…who in the world is going to save California?

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

As Cali Goes…

Think back for a little bit about the latest trends, the upcoming social moves, the various “new” things on the horizon. If you do a little research into them, you’ll see that most of the “new” things in our country originated in California. That is going to cause a problem going forward because Cali, while a trend-setter in the past, certainly isn’t doing it now. In fact, I’d say that most of the country would want to run as fast as they could away from California’s actions.

People in the Golden State are fleeing at an unheard of rate. This year alone they’ve lost over 150,000 residents to places like Texas, and Utah, and Nevada, and Arizona. I can tell you that here in the desert, housing prices have soared in the last year or two. My home has basically doubled in price. And it’s because people in California are selling their homes there for inflated prices (by the rest of the country’s standards), and moving to the AZ, where they figure that spending $400,000 for a home that two years ago was selling for maybe $190,000 is OK, because they just sold their home for $1.2 million!

The reasons people are leaving California is varied. It could be the taxes. It could be the cost of living. It could be the cost of houses. It could be the lifestyle. It could be the homeless populations in the larger cities. It could be the COVID restrictions, which are some of the most severe as any in the country, and yet, California has become the epicenter of Coronavirus, with over 2,159,000 cases reported in that state alone. And that’s just part of the problem.

Gavin Newsome, the Governor of Cali is quick to lavish heaps of restrictions on people, yet he is seen dining at tony Napa Valley restaurants without a mask. London Breed, Mayor of San Francisco two days later was also seen at that same restaurant, while she chastises her citizens for not wearing a mask in public. And of course, we’ve all seen the video of Nancy Pelosi getting her hair done at a beauty parlor that was supposed to be closed. Members of the California Assembly, both Republicans and Democrats were flown to Maui and spent four days at a five-star resort to hob-nob with big donors, all the while telling their constituents not to travel for Thanksgiving. It’s become a double standard that is tough to take…especially with the number of people out of work there. The unemployment rate in Cali is 9.3%, far above the 6.9% national rate. And it’s because Newsome has had most businesses shuttered.

As if we needed any more bad news heading into a new year that should be filled with hope and promise that most of this crap is behind us, California reminds us very clearly that once again, they are going to lead the nation forward…though this time, I would suspect it’s not on anything good. Even Disneyland has rumored to be considering closing it’s doors for good, or moving the theme park to Texas, both of which they’ve denied…for now. However, back at the end of September, SoCal’s major tourist attraction furloughed some 28,000 employees, with no idea when or if they’d be called back.

One of the problems Cali has shown the world it has a hard time dealing with is illegal immigration. They’ve welcomed all sorts of illegals into the state and “sanctuary cities”, giving them anything they would need to start a new life here after illegally entering the country. However, it’s beginning to bite them in the behind as the cost of such measures is bankrupting the state. And it’s causing more and more legitimate residents to become homeless as less and less dollars are flowing to those losing their homes and forced to live on the streets. In San Francisco alone, over 30 major businesses have packed up and left. Statewide that number is around 13,000. When asked why, the number one reason is a lack of support of businesses and a misguided effort to support liberal programs such as universal basic incomes.

Of course, TV shows and movie studio’s have been trying to figure out ways to provide entertainment starved Americans with some sort of entertainment during the pandemic. Some have been able to make a few shows here and there, though most were waiting until after the first of the year for their “fall schedule” release. Even movies are having a tough time as was witnessed recently by Tom Cruise’s outburst on the set of Mission Impossible, where he lambasted crew members for not wearing masks. That video went viral.

If California doesn’t change it’s ways pretty quick America will be faced with one of two decisions. Either we can stop looking to the west coast for new, groundbreaking ideas, or we can continue to follow them, like lemmings, into an abyss that we may never get out of. Personally, I think it’s time to let California wallow and find a new leader to follow.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!