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Wednesday, January 1, 2020

A Little Bit About Those Refugee Camps in Kenya

Originally posted on April 30, 2019 at DaTechGuy Blog.

With two Somali-Americans – Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-5) and Sports Illustrated “swimsuit” model Halima Aden — being in the news of late, I think it’s important to dispense some information about a singular part of their backgrounds.

Both spent their childhoods in Kenyan refugee camps.

If you recall, the last time a person whose lineage was from that part of the world became famous, a lot of made-up information (read: lies) was spread around and, over a decade later, I still see some of it. Therefore, I’d like to get out a little ahead of information on the refugee camps, or, at least run alongside of it.

I don’t intend for this to be any kind of expose on the camps — kind of difficult to do anything like that from my living room in Los Angeles — nor is this an opinion piece about the women. I’ve made my opinions about Omar plain, and, as for Aden’s SI hijab-burkini debut, I’m agnostic on the topic other than the fact that I think that swimming in full hijab might be dangerous. Also, she seems like a nice young lady.

My only purpose here is to provide accurate information available from open sources about the camps .

From World of Camps:

The Dadaab refugee camp complex is situated in northeastern Kenya, near the border with Somalia. Until early 2017, it consisted of five refugee camps. However, one of the camps, Kambioos, which was also the newest, was recently closed as refugees began returning to Somalia and the few remaining moved into the other camps.

Dadaab was established in the year 1991 following the beginning of the civil war in Somalia. Somalis were forced to flee as the war worsened, leaving to neighbouring countries including Kenya, Ethiopia and Sudan.

The Dadaab Complex consists of five smaller camps: Dagahaley, Hagadera, Ifo, Ifo II and Kambioos. The latter two camps were opened in 2011 when more Somalians fled their country to escape drought and subsequent famine.

Who manages and funds these camps? Why, the UN, of course. Its Twitter feed is here. And there are many more foreign agencies involved.

Kenya has been trying to shut down this complex and repatriate its inhabitants since 2013.

From Kenya’s Daily Nation:

[T]he camp situated in Garissa county has been the centre of protracted negotiations between the Kenya government, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Somalia.

This will be the fourth attempt to close it.

In 2013, the three parties had signed a tripartite agreement to source funds, prepare the ground back in Somalia and facilitate the voluntary return of refugees. Those who accepted were to be given a stipend and other support.

But refugees seem to have shied away from this programme. Figures from UNHCR show that the number of refugees who left the camp on their own is more than those who went under the guided programme.

In 2014, there were about 350,000 refugees. Today, the camp hosts 210,556 refugees, of which 202,381 are from Somalia.

By their own law, the Kenyans are prohibited from simply throwing the refugees out, which is good because I suspect that they’ve had enough of the Somalis.

Back to our two subject personalities.

Omar, 37, was born in Mogadishu, Somalia. She and her family spent four of her childhood years in the Dadaab complex. She entered the United States in 1992 and became an American citizen in 2000.

Aden, 21, was born in a camp called Kakuma, which is not part of the Dadaab complex. It is located

Halima Aden. Cite.

on the opposite end of Kenya and, therefore much further away from the Kenya-Somalia border than is Dadaab. She and her family came to America when she was six. I can only find one article mentioning her citizenship; the writer assumes that she is an American citizen.

As we know, the largest concentration of Somali refugees and Somali-Americans in the USA is in Minnesota, which is where both women live.

And here’s a little more opining from me: regardless of what one thinks of either woman, it is for certain that they both hit the jackpot.

ADDENDUM:

Dadaab gains a new benefactor.

The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSRelief) [of Saudi Arabia] is set to open a regional relief office in Kenya that will aid refugees in the Dadaab Refugee Camp.

According to the General Supervisor of the Center Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabiah, the organization will also provide urgent food and medical assistance to Kenyans facing starvation.

He stated that last year, it distributed over 1,200 tonnes of relief food aid to the Dadaab refugees after the UN cut funding and food aid ratio for the 3 refugee camps of Ifo, Hagadera and Dagahaley. [Ed note: It appears that there are more camps in the complex than are named in some sources. JAO]

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Tuesday, December 31, 2019

We're All Making History

Originally posted on April 27, 2019 at DaTechGuy Blog.

Jean Miélot blogging.

A tad morbid, but this is something to consider, and not just with Facebook.

The number of dead Facebook users could outnumber the living by 2070, leaving a vast archive of such historical importance that archivists should be brought in to conserve the data, Oxford University has said.

Currently the global social media site has around 2.27 billion members, but 1.4 billion will die before 2100, according to the new calculations.

For certain, the majority of those now living will be gone by then.

It means that within around 50 years the number of dead could pass the living, in a milestone that has important implications for what should happen with such a huge digital legacy. (snip)

Currently, after a person dies a Facebook account is memorialized unless the user has selected “delete after death” in their settings. The word “remembering” is placed next to the profile name and a “legacy contact” is appointed to look after the page.

It allows friends and family to view public posts made before their death and also post memories.

The OII [Oxford Internet Institute] is calling on Facebook to invite historians, researchers and archivists to devise a way to curate the archives so they are not lost to future generations.

Personally, I have designated three family members to handle my Facebook account should I suddenly move on to the next world.

Reading this piece, I began thinking of all the connections I’ve made over nearly two decades – several of whom I’ve met personally and cared about very much – who are no longer with us. I’ve been blogging since 2003, so the list is becoming longer. Such is life … and death. And here’s something else to think about.

Mr. Ohman [doctoral candidate for the OII] added: “Data from social media differs from traditional historical data, not only in terms of the content, but also in terms of the quantity.

“What we know about people in the past is basically based on men with power, who could preserve information about themselves to future generations.

“But we know way less about the thoughts and daily lives of the millions of women, workers and other marginalized groups in history. With social media as an historical asset, we have a chance not to repeat this mistake.”

I’m not one to worry about what the world will think of me while I’m still breathing, much less after I’m gone. But I think that this is a great justification for Facebook, etc. to allow historians into its archives. Thinking about my own family, I know almost nothing about the personalities and thoughts of my ancestors for obvious reasons. But present and future generations can get a glimpse into the lives of their 21st century forebears not only through Social Media, but from those of us who blog.

I like that idea. And, though I have no children, I’d like my Nth grand-nieces and -nephews to know more about me than I know about those who came before me.

Ain’t technology great?

Oh, by the way, be sure to regularly download your social media and blog archives. You never know if you’re about to be de-platformed by those who want to keep the making of history all to themselves.

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WaPo Turns Everything into a Racial Thing

Originally posted on April 23, 2019 at DaTechGuy Blog with a different headline.

Many Christians were angered and annoyed by the Washington Post’s editorial headline from two days ago [sic]. I’m among that number.

It’s interesting to note how often most of the American mainstream media has ignored the Islamist mass murders of dark-skinned Christians just in the past few years. Examples: Nigeria and Egypt.

Then there have been cases in which they could not ignore the brown skin of Christian terror victims, such as with the Sri Lankans or in the case of the mass shooting at a Charleston AME church back in 2015. This, of course, was valid in the case of Charleston, with the white perpetrator confessing that he hoped to ignite a race war. But, with the Sri Lankans, the victims were the same color as the terrorists.

Therefore, it was necessary to conjure a racial narrative for the massacre in Sri Lanka, as WaPo did. That is the implication in the term “far-right.”

The other day, a friend postulated that one of the earthly reasons that Christianity is so hated and demonized by the Organized Left is because, in centuries prior to this one, it was spread chiefly by white males – in their flawed, human (BIRM) way of course. I, however, contend that, in the earthly realm, Christianity has helped its converts far more than it has harmed them.

Of course, we know the spiritual reasons for this hatred.

Australian blogger – and old online friend — Arthur Chrenkoff sees the Organized Left’s strategic goal for what it is.

If you are worried about the violence against and the persecution of Christians you might be far right. If you value the cultural and philosophical heritage of the Western civilisation you might be far right. If you don’t believe in an open borders immigration policy you might be far right. If you prefer local democracy to transnational institutions you might be far right. If you are defending your country from an armed invasion by another country you might be far right too. (…)

This effort to use language as a cudgel has several sinister implications. It delegitimises perfectly normal political ideas through guilt by association. It also creates the impression that the (genuine) far right is much bigger, more influential and more threatening and dangerous than it actually is. This in turn is used to downplay and minimise the dangers of Islamist and far-left extremism and terrorism. But perhaps the scariest aspect of it all is that the left, by manufacturing the far right monster, are actually genuinely contributing to the growth of far-right extremism. The relentless flood of identity politics, grievance and victimhood, and shaming and guilting entire sections of population based on their skin colour and culture is genuinely radicalising some misfits into fascism, like the Christchurch terrorist, for example. For every action there is eventually an equal and opposite reaction. The left might think it’s courageously defanging the fascist dragon but instead it’s just sowing its teeth.

That last sentence describes a desired goal of the Organized Left – a feature, rather than a bug.

By the way, when I talk about these things, getting angry is appropriate. But it’s important to let one’s anger dissipate and to appreciate those who are able to dissect this Othering of Christianity and of Western Civilization; to peel off its coating. When we point it out to you, we’re not trying to stoke fear, but to wipe away the confusion as to what the Sowers of Discord are doing.

Reconnaissance is your friend.

(Thanks to Dave Perkins and to Glenn Reynolds)

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On Refusing to Let Others Pull Your Strings

Originally posted on March 9, 2019 at DaTechGuy Blog.

Randall Kennedy:

A student read a sentence in class from James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time: “You can only be destroyed by believing that you really are what the white world calls a ni**er."

Airing the N-word caused a commotion. The professor leading the class, Philip Adamo, asked the students if they felt it was appropriate to voice the word Baldwin had written. In doing so, Adamo repeated the word. Later, he sent to the class two essays on the politics of the N-word. The next day, some students asked Adamo to leave the classroom while they discussed the lingering controversy. They were joined by other students who were not enrolled in the course. He complied with their request. Later, after a flurry of emails in which Adamo continued to try to explain himself, the university removed him from the course. He has since been suspended, pending the outcome of a formal review.

This dispiriting farce discredits those who have played a role in it and undermines Augsburg’s claim to be a serious institution of higher learning. (…)

This is not a case of a professor calling someone “ni**er.” This is a case of a professor exploring the thinking and expression of a writer who voiced the word to challenge racism. This is not a case of a professor negligently throwing about a term that’s long been deployed to terrorize, shame, and denigrate African-Americans. This is a case of a professor who, attentive to the sensibilities of his students, sought to encourage reflection about their anxieties and beliefs.

Book link and emphasis added by me.

I share this piece because it reminds me of the time when I pointed out that hurling racial epithets at white people is equally as disgusting and that I don’t use any of those words. The response I got was revealing.

“We don’t care if you do,” said many white persons.

What that response reveals is a blatant refusal to be shamed or made to feel “less than” by others.

It is otherwise known as confidence.

Some might call it “white privilege,” but that would imply that only whites are capable of this type of personal agency and that we of the darker races can’t help but be triggered whenever another tries to make us feel bad about who we are.

I call B.S. Each sentient adult not encumbered by physical, mental or emotional pathology is fully capable of refusing to be shamed and, therefore angered, by another.

Equality is often a choice. And, since anyone who uses racial epithets — and not in an educational manner — is trying to manipulate his/her target into an emotional response, the emotionally mature target can choose not to get angry.

After all, why should I care if someone who hates me calls me the n-word?

But getting to that point takes practice and work — namely, working on one’s inner self. Most don’t get that far and are content to remain emotional puppets.

It’s easier to allow one’s strings to be pulled by the wannabe puppeteers.

Your choice.

(Thanks to Instapundit)

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Bravo Sierra and Paying Attention

Originally posted on February 12, 2019 at DaTechGuy Blog.

Earlier today [sic] I said this:

It was in reference to Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) expounding on her experiences with weed, Tupac, Snoop, and time travel, but I consider it a timeless aphorism — especially when we’re talking about ideologues pandering to a desired constituency.

Unskilled pandering happens all the time with politicians from both parties, but I want to compare my observation to something Chelsea Clinton ran up the flagpole back in 2016 to see who was playing attention.

Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of pro-abortion [2016] presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, says she left the Baptist Church at the age of 6 because it has a strongly pro-life position opposing abortions.

Clinton made the comment at a recent fundraiser for Hillary Clinton in an attempt to address evangelicals who question her mother’s faith in God. She said she was upset when teachers in a Sunday School class talked about the wrongness of abortion.

“I find it quite insulting sometimes when people say to my mom, my dad or me . . . that they question our faith,’ said Chelsea. “I was raised in a Methodist church and I left the Baptist church before my dad did, because I didn’t know why they were talking to me about abortion when I was 6 in Sunday school — that’s a true story.”

Sure, Chelsea, sure you did.

It’s like this woman is an alien — and I don’t mean an illegal one – wearing a human suit.

I’m not even bothering with the ridiculous notion that being pro-abortion is in any way compatible with true Christianity of whatever denomination. I’d rather point to something even more ridiculous. I want to know is …

Is there a formal process for a six-year-old to join or leave the Baptist Church or any other church organization? What if both of Chelsea’s parents wanted to stay at that church? Would she just say “BLEEP you, Mom and Dad; I’m not going?”

No six-year-old has agency on where and whether she is going to the church of her parent(s). And, while Chelsea’s parents certainly had the right to indoctrinate her with Leftist ideology inappropriately early, only a six-year-old savant would be able to properly process the concept and spiritual consequences of abortion.

And Chelsea does not strike me as any sort of genius.

She’s not even good at making s**t up. That, at least, is a useful talent.

Simply, she covered — badly — for her parents’ church/politics gamesmanship. They lived in a culture – Arkansas — where a successful politician had to have a church home, so Bill and Hillary kept themselves covered in that area. Were it not for that, it’s certain that none of the Clintons would ever darken the threshold of any church.

But Chelsea — or, more likely, her mother — hoped that the pro-abortion faithful weren’t paying attention too closely to the lie’s barefacedness.

In fairness, the Clinton ladies probably calculated correctly.

Here endeth the lesson.

(Thanks to Life News)

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A Deeper Look at Northam

Originally posted on February 3, 2019 at DaTechGuy Blog.

With the news of the last few days [sic] being that Governor Ralph Northam (D-VA) dressed up in either blackface or in Klan regalia in a 1984 college yearbook (or maybe he didn’t), it’s necessary to remember that Northam had been in the news earlier in the week for a reason that produced far less levity.

Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam came under fire Wednesday after he waded into the fight over a controversial abortion bill that one sponsor said could allow women to terminate a pregnancy up until the moment before birth — with critics saying Northam indicated a child could be killed after birth.

(…)

Northam, a former pediatric neurologist, […] said that third-trimester abortions are done with “the consent of obviously the mother, with consent of the physician, multiple physicians by the way, and it’s done in cases where there may be severe deformities or there may be a fetus that’s not viable.”

“So in this particular example if a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen, the infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”

This is infanticide, of course. And, in New York state, it’s law.

Since the yearbook photo became public, Republicans and Democrats alike have been calling for Northam’s resignation and some are complaining that people seem to care more about the old photo than about intentional killing of babies. In the case of many Democrats, that’s probably true. But, taking the two issues together, it seems to me that Northam’s blackface/Klan get-ups in 1984 (as opposed to if they were dated, say, 20 years earlier) and his attitude toward living beings newly or almost born are part and parcel of the same mindset – something I’ve been trying to point out all day.

I don’t know if I’ll be able to explain it adequately, but I’ll give it a shot.

To someone like Northam, both blacks and babies in the womb are less than fully human. Therefore, blacks can be caricatured using hated stereotypes and terrorists and are encouraged to kill our offspring. One is merely distasteful and mockable; the other evil and genocidal, but they have the same origin: true racism.

I’ve been making jokes about the blackface thing for a couple of days now because, as my friend Melanie Collette pointed out

You know who isn’t clutching their pearls over an old pic of a Democrat in blackface or a white hood?

Black Republicans#WokeHistoryMonth
— Melanie Collette MPA (@NJGOPDiva) February 2, 2019

We have been face-to-face many times with white Leftist hypocrisy and shadiness on race. So, that’s how I recognize the root.

There are many, many more like Ralph Northam, great and small. I don’t care if he resigns or not since he is merely the tip of the iceberg.

ADDITIONAL (12/31/2019): With Northam and Virginia's Democrat legislature poised to start a civil war in the state over guns, I'd say that Northam is Peak Democrat.

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Voyage to the Edge

Originally posted on January 12, 2019 at DaTechGuy Blog.

Das NarrenSchiff/Ship of Fools. Sculpture in Nuremberg, Germany.

Sailing the ocean blue.

A group of people who believe the Earth is flat have announced their “biggest, boldest, best adventure yet”: a Flat Earth cruise scheduled for 2020.

The cruise, organized by the Flat Earth International Conference, promises to be a lovely time. Flat earthers – who include the rapper B.o.B. [JAO: don’t ask because I don’t know either.] and reality television person Tila Tequila – will be able to enjoy restaurants, swimming pools and perhaps even an artificial surf wave.

There’s just one problem for those seeking to celebrate the flatness of the Earth. The navigational systems cruise ships, and other vessels, use rely on the fact that the Earth is not flat: theoretically puncturing the beliefs of the flat Earth crowd.

“Ships navigate based on the principle that the Earth is round,” said Henk Keijer, a former cruise ship captain who sailed all over the globe during a 23-year career. (…)

Keijer, who now works as a forensic marine expert for Robson Forensic, said the existence of GPS, the global positioning system, alone is proof that the Earth is a sphere, not a flat disc. GPS relies on 24 main satellites which orbit the Earth to provide positional and navigational information.

“The reason why 24 satellites were used is because on the curvature of the Earth,” Keijer said.

That vessel might be carrying a more virulent disease than this one.

Essentially, flat-earthism is the result of removing the basic educational ground which was seeded in most of us Americans who are over 50. In that group, even those who weren’t National Merit Scholar material can take the basic seeds of knowledge and logic and apply them.

The Internet, of course, exacerbates the boldness of the stupid. When you find out that there are others who think like you, it can cement your opinion on anything – especially if you’re not in the habit of introspection and of re-thinking old views.

Will I re-think this opinion? Certainly. And when I do, I might walk out to the edge and see what’s down there!

Just kidding.

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Monday, December 23, 2019

Baldilocks Most Popular Posts in 2019

My favorite pic from this year

Here's a list of my most popular posts in 2019. Not much traffic or much to choose from. Most of my writing this year has been for Peter Ingemi and I'll post a most-traffic list from his site, as well.

California Transformed, Part I

California’s leftist government did not simply present itself to the voters and ask us to choose them instead of choosing non-leftist candidates. The game had to be rigged and the ground had to be softened.

Necessity is a Mother: DIY Plumbing

Donald Trump May Have Saved His Country

What puts us in danger of the wrath of God isn't that abortions happen. It's that we have incorporated abortion into the body of the nation. Abortion became law and, therefore became us.

Secret About Abortion

There is a certain segment of the black American population -- an elite -- that looks down on the majority of blacks and believes that the world would be better off without them. Not too many non-blacks know this.

This elite has existed for a long time and what they think about the vast majority of blacks would make a Klansman blush

Covington Lawyers Begin the Big Payback

The worst thing about this mob against him and his fellows was to have their spiritual leaders -- the Dioceses -- join the mob and betray them without even knowing the full story. I've repeatedly pointed out that all mobs are demonic. Assuming that my assertion about mobs is correct, what can we conclude about the leaders of these dioceses?

Why They Blamed the Kid First

The outrage engendered by the photo of a MAGA-hat-wearing white boy – Nicholas Sandmann -- who smiles while an old Native American man -- Nathan Phillips -- beats a drum in his face reminded me of something that I’ve been observing for a while.

My observation: a significant portion of Americans believes that whites are superior to all non-whites.

Musings on Illegal Aliens

I say this to both prongs of the Open Borders crowd: I see what you're doing, as do many others. You want to import people *you think* are too inferior to fix their own countries.

And you think that this alleged inferiority makes them malleable to a mindset of your choosing.

Every Tuesday and Saturday, I blog at the award-winning DaTechGuyBlog. Latest post: Pelosi Plays Her Role

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Friday, December 13, 2019

California Transformed, Part II: CA Left Pushes out the Middle Class

In Part I, I offered the methods used to overturn and soften the political soil of previously center-right California. And now that the Left can't lose and the Right can't even get on the ballot, California's Organized Left is in overdrive to shape this state to their liking.

And before you start talking about how stupid these laws, policies, etc. are, remember what the goal is. Hint: their goals are not the same as ours.

1. California Environmental Quality Act (1971)

California—not Mississippi, New Mexico, or West Virginia—has the highest poverty rate in the United States. (…)

Myriad state and municipal benefit programs overlap with one another; in some cases, individuals with incomes 200 percent above the poverty line receive benefits, according to the California Policy Center. California state and local governments spent nearly $958 billion from 1992 through 2015 on public welfare programs, including cash-assistance payments, vendor payments, and “other public welfare,” according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Unfortunately, California, with 12 percent of the American population, is home today to roughly one in three of the nation’s welfare recipients. The generous spending, then, has not only failed to decrease poverty; it actually seems to have made it worse. (…)

“Counties and local governments have imposed restrictive land-use regulations that drove up the price of land and dwellings,” explains analyst Wendell Cox. “Middle income households have been forced to accept lower standards of living while the less fortunate have been driven into poverty by the high cost of housing.” The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), passed in 1971, is one example; it can add $1 million to the cost of completing a housing development, says Todd Williams, an Oakland attorney who chairs the Wendel Rosen Black & Dean land-use group. CEQA costs have been known to shut down entire home-building projects. CEQA reform would help increase housing supply, but there’s no real movement to change the law.

2. Minimum Wage

California lawmakers recently passed a measure raising the minimum wage from $10 an hour to $15 an hour by 2022—but a higher minimum wage will do nothing for the 60 percent of Californians who live in poverty and don’t have jobs, and studies suggest that it will likely cause many who do have jobs to lose them.

3. PG&E

The rolling blackouts in California is not a climate change story. It’s a perfect storm of bad management decisions and rent-seeking green energy contractors. (…)

PG&E went all-in on the green energy projects that California lawmakers and their constituents love. So much so that the company was actively choosing to invest in new green projects rather than make the necessary safety upgrades to its existing transmission systems. Those investment decisions are how California got the deadliest wildfire in state history last year. They had shitty equipment that was past its useful life.

4. Rent Cap

The law limits rent increases to 5% each year plus inflation until Jan. 1, 2030. It bans landlords from evicting people for no reason, meaning they could not kick people out so they can raise the rent for a new tenant. And while the law doesn’t take effect until Jan. 1, it would apply to rent increases on or after March 15, 2019, to prevent landlords from raising rents just before the caps go into place.

5. Man on the way to work detained for eating

California

• Gives sanctuary to illegal aliens

• Frees illegal aliens who kill Americans

• Shooting up, Shitting and pissing on the side walks is no big deal

But don't dare use a plastic straw or eat a sandwich in public! They'll throw the book at you! #ShitHoleCalifornia pic.twitter.com/Kf4KWBd9Nr
— ROB (@_ROB_29) November 11, 2019

6. Banning natural gas in 13 cities and one county

Fix global warming or cook dinner on a gas stove?

That’s the choice for people in 13 cities and one county in California and one town in Massachusetts that have enacted new zoning codes encouraging or requiring all-electric new construction.

The codes, most of them passed since June, are meant to keep builders from running natural gas lines to new homes and apartments, with an eye toward creating fewer legacy gas hookups as the nation shifts to carbon-neutral energy sources.

7. Chesa Boudin

“Chesa Boudin has won the election to become San Francisco's next district attorney,” CBS News reported late Saturday. “The people of San Francisco have sent a powerful and clear message,” Boudin said in a statement. “It’s time for radical change to how we envision justice. I’m humbled to be a part of this movement that is unwavering in its demand for transformation.”

People in the vast hinterland to the east might wonder who Chesa is, exactly, and what kind of transformation he has in mind. Bernie Sanders was first to congratulate the victor, and San Francisco voters knew Chesa served as a translator for the regime of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez.

Boudin is the offspring of two Weather Underground terrorists and the adopted son of two more: Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dorhn.

8. Jacking a business

In February, the Consumer Protection and Enforcement Division (CPED) of the California Public Utilities Commission—the state body that regulates transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft—issued a citation to GoGo Grandparent for operating a for-hire transportation service without permission.

Regulators demanded that the company pay a $10,000 fine and obtain the necessary permit to run a transportation network company, which would involve getting $1 million liability insurance for its vehicles and handing over lists of its drivers to the state.

But GoGo doesn't own any vehicles, and it doesn't contract directly with any drivers.

Instead, for the past four years, the company has been providing a toll-free hotline that customers without a smartphone can call to order an Uber or Lyft ride to their home or another prearranged location. Using customer-provided information, GoGo's software automatically orders a ride, then charges a 27-cent-per-mile fee for its services.

9. Rats

California appears likely to become the first state to outlaw most use of a highly effective type of rat poison. California already restricts the use of single-dose rodenticide, as the anticoagulant poison is often known, to licensed pest controllers. But pressure groups pushing for a ban have gathered support from mostly liberal lawmakers. (…)

San Francisco’s experience sheds light on what might happen if the bill becomes law. Roughly five years after a moratorium in 2008 on single-dose rodenticide on city property, rat colonies began showing resistance to multidose poisons, says Luis Agurto of Pestec, which has a thriving rat-control business in San Francisco. Many rats had associated their illness with the slow-acting poisoned food and avoided it, a phenomenon known as “bait shyness”. San Francisco’s mayor when the moratorium was introduced was Gavin Newsom. Opposition to “super-toxic rodenticides” was part of his campaign last year to become California’s governor.

10. Schwab

The brokerage firm Charles Schwab announced today it would acquire TD Ameritrade in a $26 billion deal and as part of the transaction Sch wab will move its headquarters to the Dallas-Forth Worth area.

The integration of the two firms is expected to take between 18 and 36 months, following the transaction’s close. The corporate headquarters of the combined firm will eventually relocate to Schwab’s new campus in Westlake, Texas, which is located in Denton and Tarrant Counties north of the cities of Fort Worth and Dallas.

Both companies have a sizable presence in the area. Any additional real estate decisions will be made over time as part of the integration process.

Schwab was founded in San Francisco and will maintain a presence in the city. However, in my experience, once a company establishes a footprint in a business-friendly location, more jobs gravitate there over time.

The move isn’t surprising considering that Schwab’s founder and chairman, Charles “Chuck” Schwab, has said that “We’re pretty much a national company now. I’m not sure [we’ll stay in San Francisco] … we’ll continue looking at that as a possibility [but] as taxes go … and the costs of doing business here are so much higher than some other place.”

11. Weed

California is increasing business tax rates on legal marijuana, a move that stunned struggling companies that have been pleading with the state to do just the opposite.

Hefty marijuana taxes that can approach 50 percent in some communities have been blamed for pushing shoppers into California’s tax-free illegal market, which is thriving. Industry analysts estimate that $3 are spent in the illegal market for every $1 in the legal one.

The California Cannabis Industry Association said in a statement that its members are “stunned and outraged.” (hat-tip: Legal Insurrection)

12. CA Sues Trump for helping CA farmers

13. Shoplifting

When I was a kid, a television show called Supermarket Sweep featured teams of middle Americans bolting through grocery store aisles and filling their carts with food, household products, and pet supplies. The show’s premise was that, for two minutes, the rule of law—in this case, the law against shoplifting—would be suspended. The team with the largest haul could take home their bounty of groceries, win prizes, and compete for the championship.

Today, in some West Coast cities, the Supermarket Sweep isn’t a game show—it’s a dark reality, fueled by addiction, crime, and bad public policy. From Seattle to Los Angeles, a “shoplifting boom” is hitting major retailers, which deal with thousands of thefts, drug overdoses, and assaults each year. Since 2010, thefts increased by 22 percent in Portland, 50 percent in San Francisco, and 61 percent in Los Angeles. In total, California, Oregon, and Washington reported 864,326 thefts to the FBI last year. The real figure is likely much higher, as many retailers have stopped reporting most shoplifting incidents to police.

14. Ammo

Berg couldn’t buy shotgun shells at his local hardware store in Yuba City prior to a duck hunting trip last month. He was rejected under California’s stringent ammunition background check program that took effect July 1, because his personal information didn’t match what state officials had in their database.

Berg was one of tens of thousands of Californians who have been turned away from buying ammunition at firearms and sporting goods stores, even though they appear to be lawfully able to do so, a Sacramento Bee review of state data shows. Between July 1 and November, nearly one in every five ammunition purchases was rejected by the California Department of Justice, the figures show.

Of the 345,547 ammunition background checks performed, only 101 stopped the buyer because he or she was a “prohibited person” who can’t legally possess ammunition, according to state Department of Justice data.

“It’s a little ironic the fact I’m a deputy that I can’t buy ammunition,” Berg said. “But at the same time, anybody else who’s legally allowed to, they shouldn’t be denied based on address (errors). ... It’s just crazy.”

15. And, of course, freelancers – like writers. Like me.

[Assembly Bill 5], which cracks down on companies — like ride-sharing giants Lyft and Uber — that misclassify would-be employees as independent contractors, has been percolating through the California legislative system for nearly a year. It codifies the 2018 Dynamex decision by the State Supreme Court while carving out some exemptions for specific professions.

But the exemption for freelance journalists — which some have only just learned about via their colleagues, press reports, social networks and/or spirited arguments with the bill’s author on Twitter — contains what some say is a potentially career-ending requirement for a writer to remain a freelancer: If a freelance journalist writes for a magazine, newspaper or other entity whose central mission is to disseminate the news, the law says, that journalist is capped at writing 35 “submissions” per year per “putative employer.” At a time when paid freelance stories can be written for a low end of $25 and high end of $1 per word, some meet that cap in a month just to make ends meet. (…)

Many publications that employ California freelancers aren’t based in the state and it’s not clear how AB 5 will affect them. Still, some are choosing to opt out entirely. Indeed, several freelance writers who spoke to THR say that various out-of-state employers — some with offices in California — have already told them they’re cutting ties with California freelancers. (…)

THR has additionally reviewed several job notices in transcription, blogging and SEO writing that have explicitly stated that California freelancers will not be considered.

Me in October:

I write 104 blog posts a year, at minimum, for [Da Tech Guy Blog] alone. We disseminate news.

A few months back, I got booted from one of my side hustles – transcription – because I live in CA. I didn’t understand why; now the picture is clear.

I have at least 12 more items, but this post is long enough. There will be a Part III.

RELATED: Part I

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Monday, December 9, 2019

My November 2019 Post Digest for Da Tech Guy Blog

Milo Counts

The notorious Milo Yiannopoulos reviews Joker.

Baseball and Game-Playing

[T]here is a whole other category of rules for Orange Man Bad.

The Flood and the Shield

[This] should make you wonder how many successful cover-ups there are – the things which we think are true, but are not — waiting to be exposed.

Another Method of Turning Your Money into Theirs

Most presidential candidacies are created simply to vacuum in the bucks for a set time and launder it.

Democrat Women Candidates Think Nagging Will Win Them Votes

Some advice from the cheap seats: suck less, ladies. Suck it up, drive on, and quit your complaining.

Gang Warfare

I estimate that everything we’ve seen since the assassination of President Kennedy has been Government-by-The-People Theater.

The War South of Us

What do marijuana, humans beings, fuel, and avocados have in common?

The Pentagon’s Vast All-Wing Conspiracy: Plunder

Remember: the Pentagon is run by generals, admirals and GS-eleventies and it is they who approve of these monstrous expenditures.

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Wednesday, November 27, 2019

California Transformed, Part I (UPDATED)

Having been brought to California as a babe-in-arms from my birthplace (Chicago), I’ve spent most of my life here – with a break between 1978 and 1994.

Many outside observers look at the present state of California, opine that we voted for it, and, therefore, deserve what we are getting. They are wrong for many reasons and one in particular: the assumption that voting process here is sweetly pristine and untainted by any sort of voter fraud – something to which their own states are not immune.

California’s leftist government did not simply present itself to the voters and ask us to choose them instead of choosing non-leftist candidates. The game had to be rigged and the ground had to be softened.

In this part is a list of tactics used which, over time, created the Leftist juggernaut which is the California we see in 2019. The second part will contain continued tactics intended to drive out the stragglers in the middle class. A new one pops up nearly every day and I'm pondering escape.

Proposition 187

In November 1994, California voters approved Proposition 187 by a 59%-41% margin. This initiative broadly denied illegal aliens state-funded services, including public education and non-emergency health care. It also required state authorities to facilitate the identification and removal of illegal aliens by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). The State of California’s Legislative Analyst had estimated that Prop 187 would reduce net state outlays about $100-200 million per year.

A federal district court temporarily halted Prop 187's restrictions on benefits in December 1994, and this freeze was continued under a November 1995 preliminary injunction.

None of Proposition 187 was ever enforced and the law was ultimately repealed in 2014.

Illegal aliens with driver’s licenses

More than 1 million immigrants in the country illegally have obtained special California driver’s licenses since the state first began issuing them a little more than three years ago, the state Department of Motor Vehicles announced Wednesday as officials hailed the number as a major milestone.

Assembly Bill 60, which took effect in January 2015, requires the DMV to issue driver’s licenses if applicants can prove their identity and California residency, as well as meet all testing requirements, regardless of whether they can show they are in the country lawfully. As of March 30, about 1,001,000 immigrants have obtained the licenses, which are renewable after five years.

… and Motor Voter

Since 1993, the National Voter Registration Act, often known as the Motor Voter law, has helped millions of people register to vote or update their voter information during a driver license or ID card transaction at the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

The California Motor Voter program applies to Californians who are 18 or older and meet the following criteria:

• A United States citizen and a resident of California.

• Not currently in state or federal prison or on parole for the conviction of a felony (Click here for more information)

• Not currently found mentally incompetent to vote by a court. (Click here for more information)

(...)

Individuals with AB 60 driver's licenses are not eligible to participate in the California Motor Voter program and are not eligible to vote.

Emphasis mine. Related to the next topic.

Motor Voter Errors

Randall Marquis has lived in California for 31 years, but he knew it was a mistake when he received a notice last month that said he was newly registered to vote. He may have a state driver’s license, but he’s a citizen of Canada.

“When I saw that card, I just threw it out,” Marquis said. “I know I’m not going to vote. I’m not allowed to vote, it’s stupid that I should be registered to vote.”

The Newport Beach resident, who has a green card and is married to a U.S. citizen, was one of some 1,500 people who the California Department of Motor Vehicles said on Monday were wrongly registered to vote between late April and late September. These errors, which included other non-citizens, are in addition to the roughly 23,000 registration mistakes disclosed by the DMV last month.

I’m sure that this is just an isolated incident and only related to these few people. /sarcasm

How [Illegal] Immigration Turned California Blue

California was a red state, but as the Hispanic population increased, it became a blue state, and it has remained so since. There is no sign of going back; the mainstream press gloats that California is "a one-party state."

The state Republicans died out not because of inevitable demographic changes; the outcome could have been different. Nor did they die out because they were not "sensitive" enough to Hispanics, as former national GOP Chairman Marc Racicot said with reference to Prop 187.

California was faced with a choice: stop the influx of welfare-state constituents, or be washed away by the growing welfare state. The problems stemming from illegal immigration were so great that even the liberal Urban Institute acknowledged, in a 1994 report, that one in five inmates in California state prisons were deportable aliens [1]. Bill Clinton, in a 1994 speech in California, told his audience, "[I]t is not wrong for you to want to reduce illegal immigration."

Prop 187 was an attempt to address a set of challenges tied to illegal immigration. By 2002, the state was "struggling to balance a budget saddled with costs for illegal immigrants' education and health care," as the Wall Street Journal reported. Wilson and the 59% of voters who supported Prop 187 were vindicated on the merits. However, given the gradually changing population, the statists sidestepped the merits and won through superior numbers.

Now, a decade later, there is no struggle to balance the state's budget. There is only a Democratic supermajority, more spending, more debt, and what the Associated Press calls a Hispanic population that increasingly lives in "racial isolation." All the while, this population is "[a]ssimilating into the welfare system," according to Harvard economist George Borjas.

When the population won't give you what you want, get a new population.

And, below, the big one.

Jungle primaries

As a native Californian who has left the state, I witnessed California’s terrible turn firsthand.

Several factors went into this political sea change.

In 2010, the state passed a new law requiring candidates to participate in a single consolidated open primary, often called the “jungle primary.” In these primaries, the top two vote-getters end up on the election ballot, where they square off against each other. This system has driven many Republicans off the election ballot, as the top two slots are often won by Democrats.

Some Republicans originally backed the jungle primary law, including then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. They hoped it would help moderate candidates in elections and thus make the state more bipartisan.

But what has happened is the exact opposite. This law made California ripe for one-party rule.

As The Daily Signal’s Fred Lucas wrote in The American Conservative, it led to bizarre absurdities, such as Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein being labeled the “Republican” option in a Senate race due to the fact that her only opponent was a more militant progressive than her.

And there you have it, even though this isn't an exhaustive list and the next one won't be either, though it will be exhausting ... if I ever finish it.

UPDATE: California Transformed, Part II.

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Tuesday, September 3, 2019

This Month's Necessities

Need $2000 this month. $500 right away!
Rent
Electric Bill
~~Gas Bill~~
~~Car Insurance~~
~~Coffee~~

Meanwhile, I'm composing my regular Tuesday post.

Every Tuesday and Saturday, I blog at the award-winning DaTechGuyBlog. Latest post: The Trans-Atlantic Illegal Alien Trade

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Monday, September 2, 2019

Spinning a Web

The man trap

President Trump plans to hold a fundraiser here in LA during the Emmy Awards Week and actress Debra Messing wants to know who’s attending, so that the attendees can be blacklisted by the Hollywood branch of the Organized Left.

Actress Debra Messing and co-star Eric McCormack [both of Will & Grace] have lashed out – and received considerable backlash – for their reaction to news of the Sept. 17 fundraiser, which has a ticket price of $100,000 per couple.

“Please print a list of all attendees please. The public has a right to know,” Messing tweeted Friday.

McCormack backed her up: “Kindly report on everyone attending this event, so the rest of us can be clear about who we don’t wanna work with. Thx.”

In addition, she invites Twitter users to text her.

Of course, she’ll get messages from all manner of psychos – on both sides of the aisle. And I don’t think she’s bright enough to have factored that in. As a matter of fact, I don’t think this was her idea at all.

The friends who suggested that she spin this web will find the locations of the dummies who text her and who do so without concealing their locations and/or using a burner phone. Said dummies will be doxxed and otherwise harassed.

Because that’s how these people operate.

Of course, I won't text her. Simply, I don't have time to organize a defense posse right now -- though the thought is appealing.

Of course, Messing and McCormack won't be physically harassing anyone themselves. Cowards like these leave physical danger up to others.

Every Tuesday and Saturday, I blog at the award-winning DaTechGuyBlog. Latest post: The Trans-Atlantic Illegal Alien Trade

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Sunday, August 4, 2019

My July 2019 Post Digest for Da Tech Guy Blog

Tanks and Independence
Not Shaken
Fighting for the Serf Turf
Exercises in Finger-Pointing and Illiteracy
Red-Green Omar?
Orange Man Bad International Version
I'm Staying on the Battlefield
Literacy is Power

Every Tuesday and Saturday, I blog at the award-winning DaTechGuyBlog.

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