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California Tag

It is difficult to keep track of all the #WINNING that I enjoyed this past week, between the implosion of RussiaGate and the IRS apology to Tea Party groups. Personally, I am savoring President Trump's efforts to reverse course on Obama's toxic domestic and foreign policies. Trump's regulatory rollbacks, as well as his nixing of the Paris Climate Accord and EPA head Scott Pruitt's ending the "Clean Power Plan", has already helped fuel the American economic engine.

The mysteries continue to pile up when it comes to Stephen Paddock, the man who slaughtered over 50 people in Las Vegas earlier this month. Authorities still have no motive and it seems that everything new that pops up brings more questions. ABC News has reported that Paddock's laptop does not have its hard drive, meaning the authorities don't have access to a possible direction to a motive. Also, authorities in Los Angeles arrested his brother Bruce on child porn charges.

The last time I reported on eco-activist billionaire Tom Steyer in 2015, investigators had issued a detailed report that showed extensive behind-the-scenes coordination between Obama's White House staff, aides to as many as 12 governors, and officials at multiple arms of Steyer’s network of political and policy group to push the climate-change agenda. Given President Trump's regulation-gutting and EPA chief Scott Pruitt's rollback of progressive clean-power policies (at no small risk to himself), one can presume that Steyer isn't enjoying the same level of influence that he once had under Obama.

It would be difficult to imagine a more wretched hive of incompetence and boobery than the California Republican Party leadership. From the amazing implosion of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) as a politician and human being, the initial support of a tax-raising proposition that was only rescinded after the rise of the Tea Party, and the continued lack of effective push-back against progressive shenanigans, California has become a one-party state (where our choices range from Midnight Blue to YInMn Blue in key, state-wide elections).

Reports are surfacing of another scientific group revising data to conform to a pre-determined result. This time, the studies affected center on glyphosate, an important ingredient in Roundup weed killer. In fact, the State of California plans to force the manufacturer to label the popular product as a carcinogen.
Regulators in California took a pivotal step on Monday toward becoming the first state to require the popular weed killer Roundup to come with a label warning that it's known to cause cancer.

In the course of the past week, the Wine Country Wildfires have incinerated more than 200,000 acres, obliterated or damaged more than 5,500 homes, and displaced over 100,000 people. The current death tool stands at 41, including a private contractor who was bringing water to fight the blazes when his vehicle rolled over.
"He was helping to fight the fires and do the right thing," said CHP Capt. Mike Palacio. "Unfortunately, at this point, we don't know what happened."

While President Donald Trump and our state's politicians seemingly have called a temporary truce during California's historic wildfire emergencies, I thought this might be a golden opportunity to review a wonderful, new book: California's War Against Donald Trump. The books authors are James V. Lacy (a frequent guest on Fox Business News Channel’s “Varney & Company,” who served as a General Counsel in the Reagan administration) and Katy Grimes, a longtime investigative political journalist and analyst form Sacramento who often contributes additional California reports for Legal Insurrection (because I cannot possibly cover all the insanity by myself).

Our "foreign" correspondent in California, Leslie Eastman, has made a blog career of documenting the tarnishing of the Golden State by insane legislative and regulatory policies, most of which are rubber-stamped by Governor Jerry Brown. But this week there were two astounding moments of sanity from the Governor.

The Cook Political Report (CPR), a non-partisan group that analyzes elections, has changed the ratings in 12 districts across the country for the House 2018 elections as Democrats gain strength. It's important to note that the ratings have not gone directly to Democrat, but it shows that these districts have become vulnerable. Only one went from solid Democrat to likely Democrat, a plus for the Republicans.

As the death toll in the Hepatitis A outbreak climbs to 18, California Governor Jerry Brown has officially declared a state of emergency.
The emergency proclamation, which was issued by Brown on Friday, allows the state to increase its supply of hepatitis A vaccines in order to control the current outbreak. Immunizations from the federal vaccine program have been distributed to at-risk populations in affected areas, but additional supplies are needed, according to a statement released by Brown's office. The emergency proclamation gives the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) authority to immediately purchase vaccines directly from manufacturers and distribute them to impacted communities.