If there ever was a time for a political revolution at the ballot box, it’s now.
The voters should be LIVID over what the California State Supreme Court just did last week – because of a lawsuit brought on by Gov. Newsom.
The court slayed the opportunity of California voters to vote on the Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act ballot measure – which collected enough signatures – headed for the Nov. 5 ballot. The measure, if passed, would have required the state Legislature to seek approval from the voters for any new or higher state tax.
The court decided that the Taxpayer Protection Act will be taken from ballot. Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher (Yuba City) said the “decision is an outrageous abuse of power by seven Justices who think they know better than the 40 million people of California. The Court is supposed to look out for the people, not rubber stamp the anti-democratic schemes of politicians hell-bent on protecting their power. Today, the Court silenced the voices of Californians and shredded its credibility in the process.”
Newsom and his merry band of Democratic leaders sued to stop the measure, saying it was illegal attempt to revise the California Constitution and would impair “essential” government functions.
You should know that six of the seven members of the state’s highest court were all appointed by Democrat governors.
Local governments and special districts heralded the decision because the ballot measure, simply put, threatened their ability to continue raising taxes.
The Democrats and unions rule California and the little people get screwed.
The radical left wing calling itself the NO on the Taxpayer Deception Act campaign, came out with statements that show their true progressive colors. Just listen to the language of its spokesman Jonathan Underland: ““We have argued from day one that the Taxpayer Deception Act is an illegal revision to the Constitution funded by a handful of wealthy real-estate developers and landlords desperate to avoid paying their fair share. The Supreme Court’s decision to take this dangerous initiative off the ballot avoids a host of catastrophic impacts, protecting billions of dollars for schools, access to reproductive healthcare, gun safety laws that keep students safe in classrooms, and paid family leave. We are grateful to Governor Newsom and legislative leaders for rising up to challenge this extremist, right-wing attack on taxpayers; and we are prepared to fight any future attempts by the California Business Roundtable to inflict their self-interested agenda on the people of this great state.”
To the left, business people – the ones who give the rest of us jobs – are selfish, no-good-for-nothing rotten SOBs.
Let me get this straight: Trying to keep the big-spending politicians in the Democratic Party is a “right-wing attack on taxpayers”? Quite the opposite, Mr. Underland, or is that, Mr. Underhand?
As always, when the libs deals with the idea of – God forbid – receiving less tax revenue and talks of protections for taxpayers, invariably they resort to the scare tactics of saying essential services will be cut – while disregarding waste and “non-essential” services.
Just look at what the Ceres City Council did last week. They boasted about a balanced budget – after grabbing money from their savings account and using $2 MILLION dollars from federal ARPA funds to fill a gaping budget hole. When you or I face whopping shortfalls in our household budgets, we either make more money, cut back on what we spend money on or a combination of both depending on how bad it is.
But that’s not all, folks. The Democrats have until tomorrow to decide if they want to push their ballot measure which would severely reduce the citizens’ ability to change the threshold for approving state and local taxes pass by that same margin. In other words, any anti-tax initiative would nee to secure two-thirds majority support from voters to become law, rather than a simple majority, which is a damned high hurdle for a statewide ballot measure.
If the Democrats could, they would completely dismantle Prop. 13, which allows many people to remain in their homes rather than face ungodly property taxes and resort to packing the U-Haul for a red state.
So now that you know the Democrats interfered with the election, what do you do about it? Keep electing them or demand that democracy prevail?
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The older I get – shall I say wiser – the more I understand how anyone who is standing in the way of the narrative of the ruling class will be targeted.
This next piece involves the trans person 28-year-old Aiden Hale who shot up Covenant School in Nashville on March 27, 2023 and killed six before committing suicide. Hale was a girl who believed she was a man. She had a manifesto which showed how full of hate she had for Christians. Some of her writings were leaked and published in November in a conservative publication, The Tennessee Star. Presumably the city and Nashville PD wanted to keep her writings under wraps because they are explosive in that it undermines the narrative that all things trans are just hunky dory. This person clearly suffered from psychological issues. Police officials weren’t happy about the leak and placed seven employees on administrative leave.
Part of Hale’s leaked writing read: “Those crackers, going to private fancy schools with those fancy kwakis [sic] and sports backpacks. W/thier (sic) daddies mustangs and convertibles. F - - - you little s - - - -. I wish to shoot you weak a—d - - - w/your mop yellow hair.”
She also wrote: “Can’t believe I’m doing this, but I’m ready. God let my wrath take over my anxiety…I hope I have a high death count.”
I bet if we get to read the complete ramblings we’ll find out that Hale targeted Christians since Christianity is largely not accepting of homosexuality and altering genders.
Which brings me to last week. Davidson County is on a witch-hunt to punish the leakers when there is a court case about getting the entire manifesto released. The public has a right to know.
For more than a year now, Judge I’Ashea Myles has been considering whether the public records law requires the Metro Nashville Police Department to release files from its investigation into shooting. But get this: Judge Myles called the Editor Michael Patrick Leahy into court to grill him about the leak. Myles – a progressive Democrat – ordered the publisher into court and show why his newspaper “does not” subject him to contempt proceedings and sanctions.
It’s reprehensible that she is threatening a newspaper which has the role to inform the public.
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Hey, American voters outside of California – pay attention to the failures of our governor in the event you would dare consider him for higher office.
In a poll conducted earlier this year Newsom was at 46 percent voter approval of his performance. In other words, most voters believe he is failing.
He was so boastful and cocky in May 2022 when he bragged how California had amassed a $100 billion budget surplus. Pride comes before the fall, however, and he ended up eating humble pie when this year he faced a $50 billion deficit.
The state has increased spending by more than 60 percent over the last five years and we have seen little results from allocating billions for housing and homelessness.
So this new budget deal allows Newsom and his cronies to break the state’s piggy bank and rob it of $12 billion over the next two years; and, the Democrats’ favorite trick, raise $15 billion in new revenue over the next three years by tightening tax write-offs for businesses.
The state is also going to cut:
• $1.1 billion from affordable housing programs;
• $746 million for health care workforce development
• $500 million to build student housing.
• $110 million from a scholarship program for middle-class college students.
• $385 million from the Department of Corrections
And get this: the state plans to delay its minimum wage increase for health care workers – set to start on July 1 – to save millions in costs to taxpayers. It’s a stunning admission, in a sense, because the state will delay a minimum-wage hike when it affects them but to hell with the consumer when it comes to paying higher food prices because they jacked up the wage of fast-food workers.
Of course, the Republicans were left out in the cold on this budget. Democrats outnumber the GOP two to one.
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Progressives in the state Legislature who tend to be anti-police while denying being such, caused your Ceres Police Department to take up 55 pages of the council agenda to document what military style equipment it possesses. This is an annual burden placed upon every city in California by passage of AB 481 authored by an anti-gun San Francisco Democrat named David Chiu in 2021. Think of how much staff time is spent on this bureaucratic red-tape justifying having the tools to make law-biding citizens safe.
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Gavin Newsom’s approved $20 an hour for fast-food workers is killing more restaurants than my flyswatter kills flies in the summertime.
On Monday I read that franchise owner Scott Rodrick of a 30-plus-year franchise with McDonald’s is closing his restaurant at the Stonestown Galleria southwest of San Francisco. Newsom and cohorts drove up his costs and he can’t turn a profit so he’s hanging it up. He told Fox News: “I realize that my customers’ appetite for higher prices is not unlimited. So, when I take price to relieve margin pressure, it has to be done thoughtfully and with a plan. Charging $10 for an Egg McMuffin or $20 for a Big Mac, for me, is a nonstarter.”
The Foster’s Freeze in Lemoore is closing too. Rubio’s Coastal Grill has also left the state for good and others closing include Arby’s, Mod Pizza, Red Lobster.
My economics professor told us once there is no such thing as a free lunch. Someone is paying for it.
So when government demands that a fast-food eatery pay more per hour, it falls on customers, causes job losses or breaks the camel’s back. It’s sad because when Newsom signed AB 1287 jumping the rate to $20 an hour for burger flippers, he hit the kill switch on 9,500 jobs from last fall to January. That’s information from the Hoover Institute.
It’s always dangerous when progressive lawmakers tamper with a good thing, which in this case was the free market. There’s nothing free about a lunch and nothing free about the California business climate.
This column is the opinion of Jeff Benziger, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Ceres Courier or 209 Multimedia Corporation. How do you feel about this? Let Jeff know at jeffb@cerescourier.com
