Tag: california

Sacramento City Attorney Threatens Target with Criminal Charges if They Continue to Call Police For Theft Incidents

Meanwhile in the Democrat hellhole of California…

The Sacramento City Attorney’s office threatened Target with public nuisance criminal charges and fines if they continued to call the police for theft incidents, The Sacramento Bee reported.

The Sac Bee reported that the City Attorney threatened the Target retail store at 2505 Riverside Blvd. in Land Park this year.

Democrat state lawmakers shockingly added an amendment to a retail theft bill that bars prosecutors from making these types of threats to businesses.

Fox News reported:

The City of Sacramento, California’s legal department threatened to fine a popular retail store for public nuisance over numerous calls to police after thieves stole from its Land Park location multiple times, according to a report.

The Sacramento Bee reported that a person with knowledge of the warning, who wanted to remain anonymous out of fear they could be retaliated against, said Sacramento officials warned they would issue an administrative fine to the Target at 2505 Riverside Blvd. in Land Park, during the past year.

A police spokesperson confirmed the location to the publication after being asked about the alleged warning.

After learning about the city’s warning and comparable actions across the state, state lawmakers added an amendment to a retail theft bill, outlawing these types of threats toward businesses from authorities.

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Retired 2-Star General Found Dead at California Base

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) is investigating the death of a retired 2-star general whose body was discovered at the Twentynine Palms Marine base in California.

San Bernardino County coroner’s records revealed Major General William Mullen, 59, was found dead at the Twentynine Palms military base on Saturday.

Mara Rodriguez, who serves as the San Bernardino County sheriff’s spokesperson, shared the NCIS is investigating Mullen’s death at the base.

The Marine Corps Times reported Mullen’s body was discovered in Building 1651, which is part of the Marine Corps Communication–Electronics School.

Mullens was at the base to attend the Marine Corps Tactics and Operations Group change of command event.

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California Reveals All Job Gains In 2023 Were Fake

In the past year we have discussed on multiple occasions that US labor market data has been repeatedly doctored to artificially appear better than it really is (see “Here Is The “Unexpected” Reason Why The Fed Will Rush To Cut Rates As Soon As Possible“, “Philadelphia Fed Admits US Payrolls Overstated By At Least 800,000” and “Here Comes The Job Shock: Philadelphia Fed Admits US Jobs “Overstated” By At Least 1.1 Million“), although thanks to a quirk of BLS data revision reporting, we won’t have definitive proof of just how ugly the real job market has been in recent years until some time in 2025, well into Trump’s second administration.

However, while the BLS will be able to maintain the facade of “strong job gains” lies into early 2025, the dismal reality has already made an appearance in America’s largest labor market.

According to the latest report published by the non-partisan California Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) which is an agency of the California government, is overseen by the Joint Legislative Budget Committee of the California State Legislature, and performs and publishes extensive analyses of the state’s budget in addition to providing fiscal and policy advice to the California Legislature, contrary to prior reports of over substantial job gains in the deep blue state in 2023, the reality was far uglier.

In a report titled “Newest Early Jobs Revision Shows No Net Job Growth During 2023” we learn just that: the Early Revisions to state-level data flagged here previously, suggests that California actually lost jobs during the fourth quarter of last year. As the report details, “based on the most recent release of the early benchmarks, payroll jobs declined by 32,000 from September 2023 through December 2023. On the contrary, the preliminary monthly reports showed a solid increase in job growth (+117,000 jobs) at the time.”

This, according to the LAO, means that “with the fourth quarter revision, calendar year 2023 saw essentially no net job growth (+9,000 jobs overall).“

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California Lawmakers Kill World’s Most Marginal Psychedelics Reform

The world’s most modest psychedelics reform has failed in the California Legislature once again.

Yesterday, the sponsors of a bill that would have allowed three California counties to run temporary pilot programs through which veterans and first responders could be administered psilocybin (the “magic” chemical in magic mushrooms) under medical supervision pulled their legislation, reports KQED.

The bill’s authors cited a certain “no” vote in a coming Assembly Health Committee hearing as the reason for axing their own legislation.

This is the latest failure of legislation aimed at liberalizing laws surrounding psychedelic use in the Golden State.

Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed legislation that would have decriminalized the personal possession and use of various plant-based psychedelics, saying he might support narrower legalization of these substances for therapeutic uses.

In May, a broader measure that would have established a statewide system for licensing and regulating psychedelic use, including the use of MDMA, mescaline, and psilocybin, in private therapeutic settings stalled in the state Senate.

The bill that failed this week was narrower still. It would have authorized the public health officers of San Francisco, San Diego, and Santa Cruz to license up to five facilities where licensed medical professionals could administer psilocybin and psilocin (both psychoactive substances found in so-called magic mushrooms) to screened military veterans and first responders. The program would sunset after three years.

California’s latest, failed reform efforts were modeled off new programs set up by Oregon and Colorado that likewise legalize psychedelic use in tightly regulated, state-licensed therapy-like settings.

Some local jurisdictions, including several California cities and Washington, D.C., have passed more modest “deprioritization” policies to classify enforcement of certain psychedelic laws as the lowest law enforcement priority.

In D.C., at least, that’s created a thriving gray-black market for psychedelic mushrooms. With the modest assurance that they won’t face legal penalties, many of the city’s pre-existing, semi-legal cannabis businesses have started selling mushrooms as well.

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Bidenomics and California’s $20 Minimum Wage Force San Francisco McDonald’s to Close After 30 Years

The McDonald’s at Stonestown Galleria in San Francisco announced it will shut its doors permanently.

After serving the community for more than three decades, this fast-food staple cites the crushing combination of high operational costs and recent legislative changes as the primary reasons for its closure.

The franchisee owner, Scott Rodrick, confirmed the closure in a statement to ABC7’s Dion Lim.

According to Rodrick, the closure is due to two main reasons: an uncompromising landlord who refused to negotiate a “sensible” rent, and the sky-high property taxes and mall fees, which were reportedly the highest paid for any single location within the company.

Rodrick also pointed out that conducting business in California had become increasingly challenging, especially with the state’s new minimum wage for fast-food workers. He described this as a “gut-wrenching” day for his family.

A notice posted on its door reads:

Dear McDonald’s Customer,

On June 23, 2024, this restaurant (255 Winston Drive at Stonestown Galleria) will be permanently closing. It has been a pleasure for my entire team and I to serve the 19th Avenue and Ingleside neighborhoods for more than 30 years. We are thankful to have been a part of your daily meal routine, either for an Egg McMuffin in the morning or a Happy Meal with the kids after an afternoon of shopping at Stonestown.

All of our valued team members have been offered opportunities to continue working with my restaurant company at other nearby McDonald’s. We hope that you will continue to visit us at our other neighboring McDonald’s restaurants. Or you can have your favorite McDonald’s meal delivered to you via our digital app.

The fast food chain is the latest casualty of Bidenomics and Governor Newsom’s $20 minimum wage law.

Last week, one of Hollywood’s most iconic restaurants, Arby’s Roast Beef, closed after an impressive 55 years in business.

Gary Husch, Leviton’s son-in-law and the general manager of the establishment, echoed these sentiments. Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, Husch emphasized that the combined effects of inflation, the pandemic’s impact on foot traffic, and the draconian wage increase directly led to their difficult decision.

“With inflation, food costs have skyrocketed and the $20-an-hour minimum wage has been the final nail in the coffin,” Husch said.

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California introduces tax-by-the-mile plan as state revenue from fuel tax drops due to electric vehicle usage

Buyers of electric cars in California may not have been aware of the new tax-by-the-mile plan before they decided to purchase their vehicles.Had they known about the potential added cost, they may have made a different decision.But regardless of personal choice, California law mandates that all new car sales be electric by 2035.

“This pay-to-drive scheme essentially turns your car into a rental,” Patrick Wood said.  After quoting from a course on technocracy in 1934, he added, “Don’t tell me that Technocracy is not in play here.”

We would add, do you remember the World Economic Forum’s threat “you will own nothing”?

California has the highest income tax rate in the USA (top tier of 14.4 per cent), the highest statewide sales tax rate (7.25 per cent, plus local sales taxes), and the highest fuel tax rate ($0.78 per gallon).   The old joke is that California would tax the air we breathe if it could. Well, California’s latest tax proposal comes close. The state is recruiting drivers for a pilot program to track and tax the miles they drive.

The plan is borne from the fact that Californians have switched to electric and hybrid vehicles at a faster rate than other US states because of the state’s green initiative which has convinced Californians to switch to hybrid or electric vehicles from combustion engine vehicles.

While electric vehicles are more expensive, Californians were enticed to buy them because of the subsidies and savings they would enjoy by no longer having to buy gas. But like most government programmes, this was not well thought out. California has lost millions in tax revenue because of this scheme and now needs to make up for that. From the many options available to it, it has chosen a plan to begin tracking drivers with GPS monitors.

Under the new plan, according to Caltrans, mileage could be tracked by plugging an electronic device into a vehicle or using the vehicle’s tracking system.

There’s no telling what the government may use this new information for. The main page of the Caltrans website for the program, entitled “California Road Charge,” presents the tagline “Funding transportation in an equitable way.” There’s that word again. Government-imposed “equity” can take any number of forms. On the next page, it states that the charge is “Fair. Transparent. Sustainable.”

By charging an exorbitant fee per mile, it could effectively reduce the number of cars on the road to reduce climate change. It could also easily charge varying fees based on driver income to impose “equity.”

It could also charge varying fees based on miles driven, penalising those who the government determines drive too much.

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California’s Tortilla Bill Threatens To Flatten Small Businesses

California famously became the first state to ban foie gras in 2004. Now, the Golden State is targeting another culinary tradition: the handmade tortilla. A new bill in Sacramento, if passed, would mandate adding folic acid to corn masa flour. Pushed under the auspices of public health, the costs of this well-intentioned idea—as always—will disproportionately fall on small businesses. 

Assembly Bill 1830, introduced by Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula (D–Fresno), would require all masa manufacturers to fortify their products with folic acid. This will affect producers of tortillas, as well as producers of pupusas, tamales, and taco shells, to name just a few. 

The rationale is based on research showing that the ingestion of folic acid by women of reproductive age can reduce neural tube birth defects, such as spina bifida and anencephaly. 

Since 1998, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has mandated folic acid fortification in enriched flours, which has resulted in a 35 percent reduction in neural tube birth defects, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

However, the FDA mandate does not apply to unenriched grain or corn masa flour. Evidence suggests that Latina mothers have lower folic acid intake than other demographics, resulting in higher rates of birth defects. California Department of Public Health data show only 28 percent of Latinas reported taking folic acid before pregnancy, compared to 46 percent of white women. A 2009 CDC study suggested that mandatory fortification of masa could boost folic acid intake by up to 20 percent among Mexican Americans. 

In 2016, the FDA implemented rules that allowed producers of masa flour to voluntarily add folic acid to their products. A 2023 report by the Center for Science in the Public Interest found that only 14 percent of masa products contained folic acid, prompting calls for mandatory fortification. 

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California Senate Approves Ban on Schools Informing Parents of Student’s Gender Identity

California lawmakers voted June 13 to advance legislation to ban school districts from notifying parents about social gender transitions at school without the student’s permission.

The state Senate voted 29–8 to approve Assembly Bill 1955 and send it back to the Assembly for final approval of amendments.

Sen. Susan Eggman (D-Stockton), who presented the bill on behalf of its author, Assemblyman Chris Ward (D-San Diego), and the 13-member California Legislative LBGTQ Caucus, said before the vote the bill would “put some guardrails” on the “forced outing” policies passed recently by some California school boards.

“We know some of those policies have not been able to go into effect. We know some of those school board members have since been recalled,” she said.

One such California school board member, Temecula Valley Unified School District Board President Joseph Komrosky, is set to be recalled after a June 4 special election in which 51 percent of voters supported his removal. The district currently requires school staff to notify parents if their children change their name, pronouns, or other such information in their school records.

The new bill codifies in law guidance from the California Department of Education that “schools must consult with a transgender student to determine who can or will be informed of the student’s transgender status, if anyone, including the student’s family.”

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Seventh Grader and Sisters Expelled from School Following Principal’s Controversial Decision to Limit Free Speech Over Use of the Word ‘Patriotism’

A California seventh-grade student, Jimmy Heyward, who recently went viral after his principal censored his patriotic speech, has now been banned from attending the school next year.

The Gateway Pundit reported last month that Heyward was a student at Saint Bonaventure Catholic School, where Principal Mary Flock reportedly told him to edit his campaign speech for the role of Commissioner of School Spirit and Patriotism, instructing him to remove “all parts about patriotism.”

The incident was first shared by LibsofTiktok, who wrote, “This is Jimmy. A middle schooler in California… His principal allegedly made him change his speech and remove all mention of patriotism. When he refused, she reportedly didn’t allow him to give the speech and he was forced to sit there humiliated, and watch the other contenders give their speeches…”

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California’s Leftist Committee Approves Bill for Reparations that Could Cost $800 Billion

A California State Legislature committee has approved a bill that could allocate a staggering $800 billion for slavery reparations—a sum that is more than 2.5 times the state’s annual budget.

This decision comes from a state that historically never practiced slavery and will be paying individuals who themselves were never enslaved.

The reparations initiative stems from the recommendations of California’s Reparations Task Force, which convened for the first time in 2020. The task force, made up of eight black members and one Asian member, was established through Assembly Bill 3121.

According to the California Attorney General’s website, the committee’s purpose is threefold: “(1) to study and develop reparation proposals for African Americans; (2) to recommend appropriate ways to educate the California public of the task force’s findings; and (3) to recommend appropriate remedies in consideration of the Task Force’s findings.”

The task force ultimately voted in favor of recommendations that could include payments of a minimum of 360,000 to each eligible black resident in the state. As reported by the New York Post, this reparations proposal could potentially cost the state up to 800 billion — more than 2.5 times its annual budget.

On May 21, 2024, following a motion for reconsideration and a series of procedural votes, the bill was passed in the California State Senate, securing a vote of 30-7.

On Tuesday, the Assembly Judiciary Committee heard the bill. State Rep. Assemblywoman Kate Sanchez, the only member to raise concerns, voiced her alarm.

“Economists, consultants from the task force reported the total amount could be as much as 800 billion. That’s two and a half times the size of our entire state budget. To pay for that, you’d need a major tax hike unlike anything this state has ever seen before,” Sanchez said.

“The majority of our state is Latino and Asian, making up 55% of our population. Most of them, like me, are second, first, or third generation immigrants who had nothing to do with slavery or Jim Crow laws. It is fundamentally unfair to force these people to pay for this, and because of that, I will be opposing today,” she continued.

In an X post, Sanchez wrote, “A key committee just approved a [California] bill to help distribute reparations that could total $800 billion. I was the ONLY member to raise concerns.   Why should CA taxpayers foot the bill when none of us had anything to do with this? Ridiculous!” 

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