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California Tag

Posted by Leslie Eastman on January 29, 2017 17 Comments
California lawmakers have dived deeper in the pool of progressivism, apparently to swim away from the red states responsible for the election of Donald Trump as President. Between bitterly threatening to build our own satellites and clinging to sanctuary city policies, state lawmakers are now weighing a fun, new revision to state identification cards: A third gender option.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on January 28, 2017 64 Comments
2018 is going to be a big election year for California. Not only do we get to pick a new governor, but we may get a chance to vote to secede from the United States of America as well. #CalExit, a #Brexit inspired movement in which California would secede from the union, has cleared an important hurdle and a secession measure would be on our 2018 ballot. I have previously reported that leader of Yes California (the organized, supposedly San Diego-based effort for this movement) is an American who lives in Russia and runs the independence campaign from there. Louis Marinelli has now gotten approval from California Secretary of State Alex Padilla to begin collecting signatures begin gathering signatures to place secession on the California ballot.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on January 20, 2017 13 Comments
In the tense political maneuvering between California's progressive representatives and the Trump administration, our state may have just blinked first. The repeal and replacement of Obamacare has been one the most consistent promises of President Donald Trump during his successful campaign. And, controlling illegal immigration has been just about the biggest plank in Trump's platform. So, in the height of the general election campaign, our state's politicians decided it would be a great idea to be the first state to offer Obamacare to illegal immigrants.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on January 17, 2017 12 Comments
You would have thought no California Democratic politician would act loonier after Donald Trump's presidential victory than Governor Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown, who threatened to launch a state-sponsored satellite in response to the incoming administration proposals to return NASA's focus back to space exploration. But never underestimate the ability of the Party's representatives in the Golden State to plummet off the deep end and sink to the lowest possible level.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on January 15, 2017 24 Comments
I have chronicled the saga of the California bullet train and its construction since 2012. A report obtained by The Los Angeles Times confirms my concerns about the project's fiscal drain on our state. The review shows that this monstrosity will cost $3.6 billion more than original budget projection.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on January 11, 2017 41 Comments
Now that Barack Obama's farewell speech is over, and there is less that 10 days until the inauguration, speculation is beginning about the actions that Donald Trump will take in his first 100 days in office. Doubtless, immigration will be on the top of his task list. Alan Gomez, immigration reporter for USA Today, notes that Trump will have broad presidential powers in dealing with "sanctuary cities".
Trump will be armed with a range of powerful options, including federal lawsuits and the power to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in grants that states and cities rely on.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on January 10, 2017 20 Comments
In 2015, Kathryn Steinle was murdered by Francisco Sanchez, a Mexican citizen and illegal immigrant who had been deported five times prior to killing Steinle. Steinle was shot and killed while walking along San Francisco's Pier 14. “We have been and always will be a city of refuge, a city of sanctuary, a city of love...We promise to be a city that’s always welcoming. There are no walls in our city!” said San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, confirmed the city's sanctuary status. Following her death, Steinle's family filed a wrongful death suit against the city of San Francisco.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on January 09, 2017 33 Comments
California politicos are going all-in when it comes to squandering taxpayer dollars for social justice causes! Last week it was reported that California has arranged for the completion of expensive sex-reassignment surgery so that a man serving a life sentence for murder has been transformed into a woman, and is now on her way to a woman's prison to complete the full sentence.
California prison officials agreed in August 2015 to pay for the surgery for Shiloh Heavenly Quine, who was convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping and robbery for ransom and has no possibility of parole.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on January 06, 2017 50 Comments
Legal Insurrection has often chronicled the unintended consequences of minimum wage hikes across the country, from worker struggles in Seattle, automation replacing service personnel, the closing of a popular eatery in New York, and the loss of jobs at UC Berkeley. Now, in my home town of San Diego, diners are being served-up a surprise along with their bills as a result of voters approving a minimum wage hike in last June: A dining surcharge.
Girding for the second minimum wage hike in six months and the fourth in 2-½ years, many of San Diego’s full-service restaurants are introducing for the first time an average surcharge of 3 percent of the meal’s cost to help cover increased labor expenses that some operators say amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars in a single year. ...Hoping to preserve what restaurateurs insist are already thin profit

Posted by Leslie Eastman on January 05, 2017 22 Comments
California has a massive housing crisis, pension troubles, and an escalating crime rates. So, what do the state's leaders decide to do? Hire one of the most controversial figures in the Obama Administration to engage in legal battles against the Trump Administration.
Bracing for an adversarial relationship with President-elect Donald Trump , the California Legislature has selected former U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. to serve as outside counsel to advise the state’s legal strategy against the incoming administration. The unusual arrangement will give Holder, leading a team of attorneys from the firm Covington & Burling, a broad portfolio covering potential conflicts between California and the federal government. Former Los Angeles Rep. Howard Berman, a Democrat who is now a senior advisor to the firm, will also be part of the effort.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 30, 2016 23 Comments
A report in the Washington Examiner featuring a new law about to go into effect in California is causing quite a stir. Contributor Travis Allen reports that starting Sunday, prostitution by minors will be legal in the Golden State.
SB 1322 bars law enforcement from arresting sex workers who are under the age of 18 for soliciting or engaging in prostitution, or loitering with the intent to do so. So teenage girls (and boys) in California will soon be free to have sex in exchange for money without fear of arrest or prosecution.

Posted by Mary Chastain on December 30, 2016 13 Comments
I love San Francisco, but now I'm glad I haven't visited it in years. Turns out someone had to develop an online map to help people avoid human feces on the street. How disgusting:
After 20 years of envelope-pushing changes to grow government and ease law enforcement, the once-shining City by the Bay has turned into a place where:
  • Property crime runs amok
  • An online map is needed to track human feces on city streets
  • Discarded syringes are common sightings
  • Public urination is so widespread it has damaged subway elevators and escalators, building walls and power poles

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 29, 2016 8 Comments
Legal Insurrection fans probably despair of California, given the inanity of our politicians and the desire of some of our citizens to leave the Union. However, I would like to share a touching story of patriotism that may redeem our state, slightly. Videographer Tom Baldwin reports that Amador Varsity Football, from a small California town outside Sacramento called Sutter Creek, had a game against Lincoln High in San Francisco. However, the friends and family of the visiting team noticed something was amiss prior to kickoff.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 27, 2016 13 Comments
California's notorious progressive pixie, U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, is exiting Congress with the dignity we have come to expect from this Golden State representative. Apparently oblivious to the constant press attention, fake and otherwise, that President Donald Trump has been accorded since taking his ride down the escalator at Trump Tower in the summer of 2015, Boxer demands that the mainstream media hold him accountable once he enters the Oval Office.
Going forward, I intend to remain very involved in the issues we face, and like all your readers, I will rely on the work you do every single day. As we march into uncharted territory with a new president-elect who has never held elected office — and who at times has threatened the media — the role of the free press is more important than ever.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 22, 2016 25 Comments
I recently blogged that the Yes, Californa secession campaign is being run by a 30-year-old American who lives and works in a city on the edge of Siberia. Now, even before all the required signatures for the ballot measure have been collected, the chief secessionist says that a California embassy has opened in Moscow, Russia.
California gained an embassy in Russia last weekend, at least in the eyes of those who have promised to seek a statewide vote on secession, nicknamed "Calexit," in 2018.
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