It’s Thursday and I’m looking at a photo of a young man raising his arm up in victory as a Minneapolis Auto Zone is burning in the background, in flames from an arsonist.
He’s proud of what he sees. His mama must be proud to be celebrating destruction of someone else’s property. Maybe it’s a store where he bought parts for his car. I don’t know. What I do know is I am bothered that there are human beings – Americans – who act this way.
I get that the black community is upset that the actions of a bad officer in Derek Chauvin ended up resulting in the death of George Floyd. It is upsetting to see any officer of any color takes things too far on a person of any color. Do I think Officer Chauvin went too far? Absolutely. Do I think he wanted Floyd to die? Absolutely not. Who in their right mind would? But burning down your neighborhood stores and stealing and looting, destroying police building windows and shutting down roadways? How does that make the officer – who will be charged in the death – any less a monster than the demonstrators?
This is the same old scenario we see time and time again. Black man dies at the hands of a white cop(s). Black community riots and burns their city.
There is a meme that I saw that I felt was appropriate: “You see ‘black man murdered by white cop.’ I see ‘innocent man murdered by corrupt cop.’”
We have laws. The officer or officers will be charged. But behaving like a bunch of wild hooligans and arsonists and thieves is not the way to protest.
But then to have despicable public officials like Maxine Waters to suggest that Trump was responsible for what happened in Minneapolis places her in the category of an unabashed race baiter. Waters, one of the most despised members of Congress, had the audacity to say: “I’m thinking about the way that the president conducts himself — in a way he’s dog-whistling — and I think that they’re feeling that they (the police) can get away with this kind of treatment.”
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And speaking of what happened this weekend in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, Stockton, Sacramento and Modesto, it should be no surprise to anyone who’s read the Bible. 2 Timothy 3 says: “… in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.”
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Do as I say, not as I do.
That seems to be the idea in the heads of some of these Democrat governors.
Up in Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has her state in a stringent lockdown yet her husband caught flak for suggesting he should have privileges to get the family boat ready before Memorial Day because his wife if the governor – the same one locking down the state. Whitmer said: “My husband made a failed attempt at humor last week when checking in with the small business that helps with our boat and dock up north.”
Sure it was a failed attempt at humor.
It was a failed attempt at pulling rank.
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You have to be careful about information on social media. Recently there was a claim made about Gov. Gavin Newsom being in Montana during the COVID-19 pandemic. Turns it that it was not true. You know it’s not true when nobody can produce photos or video. And as much as I dislike the man’s policies, made-up stories is not appropriate. Newsom is no dummy and knows had he visited there he would have been up for the Hypocrite of the Year Award.
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I hate to go political on the mask but it has become a symbol of government control on the left.
I’ve been saying this long before Trump asked a reporter to take off the mask because they were just being politically correct.
When you see TV reporters wearing a mask when nobody around but the cameraman who rode in the same vehicle, you have to wonder if it’s just for show, a “wow, folks believe this is so serious ya’ll need to paid heed and not go outside or dare demand we open up our economy again because we want it in bad shape so we can blame Trump this fall.”
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It’s really refreshing to see public officials standing up to Gov. Gavin Newsom in what I consider to be unconstitutional restrictions on businesses and citizens.
Merced County Sheriff Vernon Warnke issued a May 16 statement:
“When this Pandemic first came to light and our nation took the stance to “shelter in place” I was skeptical but supported any effort to protect our citizens from this disease. This included having to deal with a local church pastor who defied his order. As time marched on, it became very apparent that decisions were being made on what ‘could happen’ but hasn’t come close to the ‘predictions’ that are being fed to our citizens. ‘We are going to peak within the next two weeks!’ This has been the battle cry for two months. I even went so far as to secure equipment to house all the bodies that were to overrun my county due to COVID based on what was being reported out of the governor’s office. Guess what, it still hasn’t occurred. You know what ‘could happen’ each day? Car crashes, airplane crashes, food poisoning, LE getting ambushed, and I could keep going!! But we as citizens continue to face these ‘could happens’ each day. The world is a very dangerous place and we face it daily knowing the risks. But here in America, we decide what chances to take based on any risk factor and that includes going to work as a cop for the last 41 years. The Constitution gives us that right. I doubt that the governor would ever take a job where the dangers are as constant as they are in my CHOSEN profession. But I, along with millions of men and women, do this every day knowing the risks. Nobody has the right to dictate what risks I’m going to take when I leave my house and this includes an elected governor. If I go to a business and I feel that the risk is too high, I can make a choice whether or not to do business there. And this includes getting a haircut or getting a routine dental checkup.
“When Governor Newsom took to the airwaves and then singled out a county because they didn’t follow his orders and treated them differently, it became obvious to me that this whole lockdown was based upon him being able to have control over the citizens of this state. He is treating this state’s counties as he has claimed to be treated by the president in the very recent past. That statement also pointed out that different counties have different issues and should be treated independently and not covered under one blanket. That statement is a fact whether or not there is a pandemic. He is using the Public Health director as his authority in an attempt to maintain control over the citizens based solely on what ‘could happen’ keeping in mind that the PH Director reports directly to him. Governor Newsom now threatens the different local jurisdictions regarding funding if they don’t follow his orders. Didn’t he sue the president for holding funding due to him defying the president’s orders? Our current situation is reflective of a short statement I recently read that seems to fit here; ‘If the barn yard were to hold an election, the cows, chickens, pigs and horses would vote for the hand that feeds them even though that same hand will eventually lead them to slaughter.’ Hmmm. That’s what is happening here in this state and possibly other states. Economic slaughter is what we are facing because of his continuous behavior to keep this nation’s greatest state economy from thriving. The majority of the citizens are on the verge of a state wide revolt because they are losing the possibility to regain their businesses because of the tremendous financial loss they suffered. I truly believe that Governor Newsom’s motivation is to have the majority of the citizens (and illegal residents) dependent on government’s assistance so he could maintain this control once this ‘pandemic’ is declared over. This is being caused based upon a crisis he himself has caused in this state based on a declared pandemic on a virus that should have been dealt on a completely different level. The CURE should not be worse than the disease.
“So, the answer you are looking for is this. I WILL NOT be taking any enforcement action in this county for any of the COVID-19 ‘violations.’ As the governor has also directed the Sheriff’s to release felons onto our streets and LE in general to completely disregard the safety of our citizens by not allowing most felons from even being booked but then wants us in LE to arrest people for standing closer than 6 feet or worshiping their religious beliefs in a building. My decision is based on the Constitutional rights afforded our citizens and I, as the Constitutional law enforcement authority in Merced County, I am here to uphold them. The citizens themselves can make informed decisions on how to proceed and protect their lives and livelihood and not the governor of a state. Remember that the people elected a governor, not an emperor.”
Amen brother!
Hey, maybe Vernon Warnke for governor?
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Tech entrepreneur and bioengineer by education Yinon Weiss wrote a piece in Real Clear Politics saying fear and groupthink drove unnecessary global lockdowns.
He notes that the virus is “now known to have an infection fatality rate for most people under 65 that is no more dangerous than driving 13 to 101 miles per day. Even by conservative estimates, the odds of COVID-19 death are roughly in line with existing baseline odds of dying in any given year.” Yet, he said, we placed billions of healthy people under house arrest, stopped cancer screenings, and sunk America into the worst level of unemployment since the Great Depression. This because of a virus that bears a survival rate of 99.99 percent if you are a healthy individual under 50 years old.
A quarter of New York City was infected yet 99.98 percent of all people in the city under 45 survived, making it comparable to death rates by normal accidents.
The hysteria is rooted in badly faulted medical predictions from the likes of Imperial College epidemiologist Neil Ferguson. He’s notoriously been faulty on his prediction. In 2005 Ferguson predicted 200 million dying from the bird flu. Over the past 15 years, total deaths were actually 455. In 2009 he predicted that 65,000 people in the United Kingdom could die from the swine flu. The final number ended up around 392. Now, in 2020, he predicted that 500,000 British would die from coronavirus.
That’s why me and others like me just shake our heads as governors like Gavin Newsom continue this unnecessary charade.
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There’s been a lot of talk about California and its out-of-control public spending and an employee pension system which it can’t pay for. Like $1 trillion it can’t pay for.
No wonder taxes are so high in California. Forbes magazine notes that 340,000 public employees make $100,000 or more costing $45 billion.
It’s clear that salaries are not commensurate with duty. Corona-Norco Unified Supt. Michael Lin makes $443,875 annually while Fremont Union High School District Supt. Polly Bove makes $395,257. Elk Grove Unified’s Christopher Hoffman make $351,885. You get the picture.
Members of the San Francisco “poop patrol” cost taxpayers up to $184,000 each.
Looking on the Transparentcalifornia.com website, you can see the high salaries in the Ceres Unified School District. Supt. Scott Siegel in 2018 was paid $256,360 with $47,725 in benefits. Deputy Supt. Denise Wickham was paid $208,492 in 2018 and $40,592 in benefits. Asst. Supt. Amy Peterman was paid $193,785 in 2018 and received $33,128 in benefits. Asst. Supt. Jay Simmonds was paid $191,952 in 2018 and received $38,810 in bennies. Asst. Supt. Dan Pangrazio received $189,783 in 2018 and received $38,794 in benefits. The principals of the high schools make in the neighborhood of $120,000 per year, times 21 schools.
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Democrats continue to look for ways to screw the business community. You’d think they’d learn that now is not the time for more taxes but apparently common sense is not in ample commodity.
Democratic Assemblyman Kansen Chu (San Jose) amended Assembly Bill 398 which would create a $275 per employee tax for five years on companies that employ more than 500 workers. I agree with Senate Republican Leader Shannon Grove who said “If Democrats continue to destroy the private business sector, they will not have the resources to fund government, including police and fire. We need private businesses to employ people, revive our economy, and get us out of the $54 billion budget deficit. The attack on private businesses has to stop.”
But, as you know, Democrats are beginning their assault on the landmark Prop. 13 passed in 1978. That’s the bill that saved a lot of people from losing their houses because of the escalation in property taxes.
Well it looks like they qualified the so-called split roll repeal of Prop. 13. In other words, they want to screw businesses by removing them from the protections of Prop. 13 that homeowners enjoy. But don’t worry, if that passes your buddies in the California Teachers Association will be licking their chops to screw homeowners by eliminating Prop. 13 for them too. That’s when this editor leaves California for good.
Assembly Republican Leader Marie Waldron will hurt small businesses that lease property the most, pushing higher costs onto consumers. She said many businesses will have to close their doors, creating a loss of local jobs and sales tax revenues.
With each passing year, California becomes more and more unaffordable.
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President Trump went to St. John’s Church which was vandalized by thugs in the weekend of rioting and holds up a Bible. The media and leftist clergy has a meltdown. They don’t condemn the thugs but the president. Unbelievable!
Right in lockstep was the mentally feeble Democrat nominee Joe Biden who also condemned Trump.
These are perilous times, folk.
Pray.
This column is the opinion of Jeff Benziger, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Ceres Courier or Morris Newspaper Corp. of CA. How do you feel about this? Let Jeff know at jeffb@cerescourier.com
