Has The California Backlash Against Liberal Craziness Finally Begun?

As California goes, so goes the nation.

Weasel Zippers

"Conservatives and people with sense are fighting back in California.

"Via Fox News:

In a state consumed by conservation and environmental issues, one highly endangered species has long gone unnoticed and unprotected – the California Conservative. Is it still possible to rescue them from the brink of extinction? Can their numbers be revived? And can they thrive here once again?

While the nation continues to view California as a homogeneous voting block of individuals in lock step with an increasingly progressive liberal agenda, for Common Sense Californians up and down the left coast state, there’s a sense that a different tide is rising.

The ripple began in Los Alamitos where the city council voted to opt out of California’s sanctuary law. And it was followed by Orange County who voted to join the U.S. Department of Justice in challenging the state’s sanctuary city laws. This decision was echoed by the city of Escondido and later this month San Diego County will also vote to join their ranks in this federal lawsuit. Other municipalities are lining up to consider doing the same.

California has always been the tip of the spear. Often the genesis of art, influence, ideas, style and entertainment, we also take the lead in ways that are less admirable with high state tax, high gas tax, high costs of living and housing, an out of control homeless problem in our urban areas, declining test scores in schools, increasingly inaccessible and cost-prohibitive health care, and many of our major cities often appear on lists of the least-livable cities in the U.S.

Keep reading…

From the comments to this post in Weasel Zippers:

Toothless Dawg • 14 hours ago

Don't forget the State of Jefferson USA that is trying to secede from Commieland.

SJW Mom Attacks Mike Rowe’s ‘Work Ethic’ Scholarship

Daily Wire  "Mike Rowe is known for encouraging his viewers to have a strong work ethic while on the job. Host of "Dirty Jobs" and "Returning The Favor," Rowe has a special scholarship for students wishing to learn various trades and requires them to take a “S.W.E.A.T. Pledge” to work hard to earn it.
"Normally, this would be considered uncontroversial, but not to one mother who took umbrage to Rowe requiring her child to have a strong work ethic.

"She wrote to Rowe on social media,

Mr. Rowe - I heard about your "work ethic scholarship program," and suggested my son apply. He wants to be a welder! I was appalled though, when he showed me your “sweat pledge,” and told me that signing it was required of all applicants!! Where did you come up with this nonsense? There are so many things wrong with this document I don’t even know where to begin!! Suffice it to say, we will not be applying!!! 

"Rowe responded: “If it’s any consolation, you’re not the only one to object to my S.W.E.A.T. Pledge, or do so with an over-reliance on exclamation points!! Over the years, it’s been my sad duty to inform lots of angry parents that this particular pile of free money might not be for them, or for their children.”
"He offered sincere wishes of success to the woman’s son and encouraged him in his welding endeavors.
“ 'But to be clear,” he said, “I have absolutely no interest in paying for his training if he doesn’t share my opinions on the importance of hard work, a positive attitude, delayed gratification, and personal responsibility" . . .

Michelle Obama seems to have a bad case of memory loss

Jack Hellner   "Former first lady Michelle Obama is saying that her husband followed the rules and was strict, while his successor, President Trump, is undisciplined and wild. I believe she and Hillary Clinton should get together as they attempt to rewrite history and call themselves the delusional women. 

. . . Here's how the press reported it:

The Obama administration “was like having the ‘good parent’ at home," the former first lady said. "The responsible parent, the one who told you to eat your carrots and go to bed on time." 

“And now we have the other parent,” Obama added. “We thought it’d feel fun — maybe it feels fun for now because we can eat candy all day and stay up late and not follow the rules.”

"I believe Michelle has it backw[a]rds.

"The good parents like to teach the kids to take personal responsibility and to move up the economic ladder. The bad parent thinks it is better for more people to be dependent on government with free food stamps, student loans they don't have to pay for, and free phones. 

"The good parent teaches children that they have freedom of choice to buy the health care they want. The bad parent doesn't believe the children are smart enough to make that decision. Only the master knows. The bad parent also continually lies to his children that they can keep their plan, their doctor and lower their costs when he knows that is not the truth. 

"The good parent believes people and businesses should be able to keep more of what they earned for themselves. The bad parent continues to take more for himself in order to increase his power. " . . .

Wanted: A little more class from the House of Obama  . . . "Also, Trump's children have turned out rather well.  Let's wait and see how the Obama girls turn out before we start talking about parenting.

"Since Mrs. Obama started this, let me tell you how President Obama was not a good parent:

"1. He made a ton of Obamacare promises that did not come true.  Worse than that, he never admitted his mistakes.

"2. He drew a line in Syria and then never enforced it.  We are watching right nowthe terrible consequences of that weakness:

President Trump slammed former President Barack Obama on Sunday for not crossing his stated "red line" with Syria, amid reports of a suspected chemical attack that left at least 40 dead near the capital, while also warning Russia and Iran there will be a "big price to pay" for backing the Assad regime.

"Again, I'd rather not get into an argument with a former first lady.  At the same time, I wish we lived in a political landscape where former first ladies speak graciously about their husbands' successors, as we saw with Mrs. Laura Bush and others.

"Add to this Jimmy Kimmel making fun of Mrs. Trump's accent, and it's been a really bad week for class and civility."

Let Hillary Speak!

PJ Media

"A lot of people made a lot of bad predictions during the 2016 election, myself included. As election day loomed, I tried to mentally prepare myself for the horror of a Hillary Clinton presidency. I assumed it was bound to happen, no matter which of the two completely unacceptable major party candidates got my vote. (Neither one did. I ended up writing in Larry Hovis.) So I was immensely relieved to wake up the next morning to learn that she had lost.

"Lost to a man.

"Again.

"We avoided the worst-case scenario, in favor of the second-worst-case scenario. We wouldn't have to listen to that voice for the next 4-8 years. Finally, Hillary could waddle off to the woods, or crawl into a vat of Chardonnay, or find some other way to fill that void in her soul. Finally, she'd stop belligerently scolding America all the time.

"Once again, I was completely wrong. No matter what happened on Nov. 8, 2016, there is no timeline in the multiverse where Hillary Clinton will ever, ever stop yapping. And I say... let her!

"Judy Kurtz, The Hill:

“I was really struck by how people said that to me — you know, mostly people in the press, for whatever reason — mostly, ‘Go away, go away,’” Clinton said Thursday during an event at Rutgers University.

“And I had one of the young people who works for me go back and do a bit of research. They never said that to any man who was not elected. I was kind of struck by that,” Clinton said.

"I'm trying to remember any previous presidential candidate who lost and then spent the next 18 months hobbling around complaining about it to anybody with a camera and a microphone." . . . 

Springing Forward

Clarice Feldman  What seemed as though it was going to be a dull news week – punctuated by sometimes fanciful articles from "sources" about what Special Counsel Mueller was up to – ended with a plethora of important news late Friday.  To spare you having to wade through the mounds of drivel to get to it, I'm highlighting what I think is the important stuff, so you can enjoy this spring weekend.

Here is just the brief overview of this post's topics:
The Budget . . . Fiscal conservatives were furious, but the president had little choice but to sign the bill into law.  "He who laughs last laughs best" is the saying, and in this case, there may be no joy in Demville.  James Freeman at the Wall Street Journal explains:" . . .

Illegal Immigration  . . . "Friday the president ordered an end to the "catch and release" Obama policy, where border-jumpers were captured and released with a rarely kept promise to return for an immigration hearing to determine whether they had a legal basis to remain here.

"The attorney general explained the new policy – border-jumpers are going to be held and criminally prosecuted." . . .

The Congressional-FBI/DOJ Standoff Is Broken  "Sundance at Conservative Treehouse broke the welcome news early Saturday morning." . . .

Bill and Hillary Clinton's Corrupt International Charity Network Faces Countless Legal Challenges  . . . "If I were to speculate, I'd suggest that it is not unlikely (now that the Clintons are fairly politically neutered) that whistleblowers inside the foundation, the donors' offices, and the government – particularly the IRS – may come forward, at long last, to expose the frauds which Rosenstein, Mueller, and Comey seem to have lacked the integrity and guts to do."

Behold the Lowlights of First Victim Michelle Obama's Trump-Bashing Tour

Jeannie DeAngelis   "Judging from their vocal criticism of President Trump, it's clear that neither Mr. nor Mrs. Obama shares G.W. Bush's viewpoint that it's terrible for the country and the presidency to undermine a current president.

Barack does it by praising anything and anyone who opposes the president's policies and, by doing so, manages to disparage the man who took his place.  Michelle, on the other hand, is much less diplomatic.  Instead of using discretion, Mrs. Obama vomits out anti-Trump venom wherever she goes.

"Michelle's Trump-Bashing Tour started right after the 2016 election, when Mrs. Hope and Change told Oprah Winfrey that because Trump was elected, "now we're feeling what not having hope feels like."

"In May of 2017, Mrs. Obama spoke out against Trump when he dared loosen the stringent dietary restrictions connected to her unpopular school lunch program.  Months later, at an Inbound marketing conference in Boston, Michelle rebuked a segment of the sisterhood when she declared, "Any woman who voted against Hillary Clinton voted against their [sic] own voice."

"The following month, at a Pennsylvania Conference for Women, Mrs. Obama used a hand motion to imply that Trump lowered the bar concerning women and minorities.  Then, forgetting that she did the same thing to Laura Bush in 2009, Michelle mocked First Lady Melania Trump for handing her a boxed gift on the steps of the White House on Inauguration Day 2017.

"Simply put, Michelle Obama switched focus from dancing with The Tonight Show's host, Jimmy Fallon, to stirring up hatred towards Trump.  Instead oforganic gardening, the former president's outspoken wife now advocates for minorities and women by belittling a male president." . . .

Once Michelle thought this lady asking for help was cute...  later the incident became racist to her:

Truth Revolt discusses this incident:  

I tell this story – I mean, even as the first lady – during that wonderfully publicized trip I took to Target, not highly disguised, the only person who came up to me in the store was a woman who asked me to help her take something off a shelf. Because she didn't see me as the first lady, she saw me as someone who could help her. Those kinds of things happen in life. So it isn't anything new.

"Being asked to take things off shelves as a taller woman is the new Jim Crow.

"But even Michelle Obama doesn’t think this. Two years ago, she told David Letterman about the same incident:

. . . I was in the detergent aisle, and she said — I kid you not — she said, ‘Excuse me, I just have to ask you something,’ and I thought, ‘Oh, cover’s blown.’ She said, ‘Can you reach on that shelf and hand me the detergent?’ I kid you not.” As the audience laughed, she went on, “And the only thing she said — I reached up, ’cause she was short, and I reached up, pulled it down — she said, ‘Well, you didn’t have to make it look so easy.’ That was my interaction. I felt so good. ... She had no idea who I was." . . .

"Charming and funny two years ago. Racism now." 

She could be such a classy lady but for the desire to be recognized as First Victim.

Sunday Schadenfreude: Jimmy Kimmel steps on a rake called 'gay'

Monica Showalter  "Professional clowns know what they are doing when they engage in slapstick stunts, such as stepping on a rake. Leftwing clown Jimmy Kimmel is different. The ABC Late Night host stepped on a rake of his own doing without any of the theatrical attention to planning and detail of professional comics. Now he has a key element of his ever-shrinking core audience angry at him.

"The dolt went and insulted gays by making creepy, graphic, gross tweets about a broadcasting rival, Fox News' Sean Hannity. with verbal images of Hannity supposedly engaging in gay sexual relations with President Trump, with graphic decriptions about sexual positioning, anal kissing, and other things, none of which is suitable for family viewing.

"Since the tweets are public, here is one:

Don't worry - just keep tweeting - you'll get back on top! (or does Trump prefer you on bottom?) Either way, keep your chin up big fella..XOhttps://t.co/R4QJCoGYCL— Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) April 6, 2018 "

. . .

Don't forget Colbert did the same thing and had got criticism, but since he was mocking Trump, all turned out just fine.

Skeptics feel empowered to 'keep pushing' under Trump

Environment & Energy Publishing; The essential news for energy & environment professionals

"Climate skeptics are gaining ground.

"There's always been a vocal subset of conservatives who cast doubt on climate science, but what were once fringe views among broader Republicans — like warming's a hoax — are enjoying a growing acceptance in the GOP, worrying academics, scientists and sociologists.

" 'They have taken over the [U.S.] EPA," Naomi Oreskes, a professor of the history of science at Harvard University who has studied climate denier groups extensively, said in an email. "A very sad state of affairs."

"The groups sowing climate doubt are more emboldened than ever before, sociologists and historians said. Their effectiveness in the era of President Trump is a reflection of a deepening polarization in U.S. politics and a normalization of climate skepticism on the right, they said.

"Democrats and Republicans have never been further apart on climate change, according to public opinion polling released last week by Gallup.

"The results illuminate the anti-science sentiment within the GOP. The poll found that 82 percent of Democrats believe global warming has already begun compared with 34 percent of Republicans (Climatewire, March 28).

"That rift has contributed to major differences between the Republican administrations of Trump and former President George W. Bush, said Riley Dunlap, an environmental sociologist at Oklahoma State University. Bush's government internalized climate skeptics, but the groups scoring victories were largely silent when policies went their way. Now, however, those same organizations like the Heartland Institute and the Competitive Enterprise Institute boldly proclaim success — and then push even further.

" 'It's like they sense victory. They are proclaiming victories, and they keep pushing," Dunlap said. "This extreme radicalization of the Republican Party means they don't have to hide it. They don't have to dress it up like Bush 43 did. They can be in-your-face deniers.' " . . .

Rep. Black Returns Her NFL Season Tickets, With a Defiant Letter

Cortney O'Brien in Townhall

"Rep. Diane Black (R-TN) and her husband Dave were "first in line" for season tickets when the National Football League’s Oilers moved from Houston to Nashville, she shared last week in an op-ed. That all changed when San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick knelt during the national anthem to protest the way minorities in America have been treated by law enforcement. Despite getting booed in subsequent games, he didn't apologize. He kept kneeling, and poured salt in the wound by wearing anti-police socks to practices.

"Several players followed suit and the Tennessee Titans were not exempt from the controversy. At a game versus the Seattle Seahawks in September 2017, both teams decided to stay in the locker room during the playing of the national anthem. They claim it was to "show unity," but that's not how some fans perceived it. As for those who were on the field like singer Meghan Linsey, she and her guitarist took a knee during her rendition of the anthem." . . .

Nick Kristof On Gun Control

Just One Minute . . . My reaction:

"Broadly, if the goal is to reduce gun suicides the talk about a ban on

Kristoff

semiautomatic rifles and large capacity magazines is irrelevant - we don't have a national epidemic of people shooting themselves fifteen times and bleeding out. I should note that Mr. Kristof himself threw in the towel on an assault weapons ban a while back, but (unlike in boxing) a towel can always be picked up again, and semiautomatic rifle bans (broader than a mere assault weapons ban) are certainly being discussed in progressive circles.

"Or if we swing the focus back to gun homicides, when the firearm is known (about 3/4 of the time), handguns are used about 90% of the time. Semiautomatic rifles aren't what the gangbangers on the mean streets of Chicago and St Louis are shooting at each other. Folks seriously concerned about homicides and suicides should be arguing about a handgun ban, and good luck with the pesky Heller decision, the politics and eventual enforcement there.

"IMHO, what remains true is that many people have examined their lives and concluded that they are:

(a) not involved with criminal activity, especially drug-related;
(b) not in an abusive domestic relationship,
(c) not suicidal, and
(d) not living in a crime-ridden neighborhood

"For those fortunate many, the most visible remaining risk of gun violence is a random shooting at a mall, theater, or (for kids and young adults) school." . . .

Tom Maguire, Blogger at Just One Minute. "I'm a former Wall Streeter with many kids, most of them younger than my blogging counterparts."

 Nicholas Donabet Kristof: A winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, he is a regular CNN contributor and has written an op-ed column for The New York Times since November 2001. Kristoff is a self-described progressive. . . .

Is talk of the "Big Blue Wave" just a head game being played on us?

2018: Democrat Big Blue Wave or Big Blue Bust?

“Some of the most damaging blows to Democratic hopes this year are friendly fire”

"If you listen to the liberal media, a “Blue Wave” is coming in the 2018 midterms. Progressives across the country are just waiting to turn out by the millions and help the Democrats retake control of the House and Senate.

"But what if that’s just a narrative? What if the media just keeps saying this as a form of wish casting? No one seems to believe the Democrats could screw this up. Well, almost no one.

"Roger Kimball writes at Spectator USA:

Why the Democrats won’t win big in November

Is a big blue Democratic wave poised to sweep the Republicans out of Congress in the 2018 mid-term election? . . .

Editorial: Not much good news for DNC

. . . "The situation is so bad that DNC Chair Tom Perez went on C-SPAN last month to spin morale out of the Intensive Care Unit: “We raised more money in January, for instance, of 2018 than any January in our history,” he declared. “So if the question is, ‘Do we have enough money to implement our game plan?’ Absolutely.”

"The Washington Post quickly gave that claim Two Pinocchios and the DNC itself reeled Perez back in. The funny math is a result of the DNC tallying its own contributions with the contributions to “joint fundraising committees.” It is meant to inflate the numbers for public consumption, but it certainly does not bode well for the health of the DNC." . . .

"Chappaquiddick has the last word." Mary Jo suffocated, she didn't drown

A Final Perspective; Hollywood (and History) Catches Up to Ted Kennedy

"A telephone, not an automobile, exposed the worst parts of Ted Kennedy’s character at Chappaquiddick, a tragic episode explored on the silver screen in a new movie.

"One of the film’s producers commented on the picture three years ago, “You’ll see what he had to go through.” But most accounts (I have yet to watch) depict the final product as a more balanced account that shows what Mary Jo Kopechne “had to go through,” too.

"Kennedy’s coverup eclipsed the crime when it comes to assessing character. No amount of special effects or dramatic license can escape that truth.

"Sure, throwing a party for six, older, married male guests and six, twentysomething, unmarried women marks one as a cad. And yes, driving after downing an ocean of rum and cokes, and doing so despite the lack of a license and the presence of a chauffer, indicts the senator’s judgment. But his actions, and lack thereof, after the midnightish crash represent the worst of the senator at his worst moment.

"Ted Kennedy went to bed rather than to first responders after driving Mary Jo Kopechne to her death. Before he called the cops, he called his cronies. He called his German mistress. He called his lawyer. He even called the hotel manager to narc on party goers in another room disturbing his sleep. At ten the next morning, Ted Kennedy finally went to the police.

“ 'She didn’t drown,” the diver who retrieved Kopechne’s body noted. “She died of suffocation in her own air void. " . . .

In the comments to this article, Thomas Sharpe wrote: 

A friend of mine once stopped Ted's son Patrick from entering a Providence College sporting event without a ticket. "Don't you know who I am!?" exclaimed Patrick. Nut doesn't fall far from the tree. Thing is Patrick couldn't hold it together mentally like Ted, which in the long run is a better thing for him.

 Producer Mark Ciardi: This Film Isn’t for ‘the Right or the Left, It’s for the Truth’

. . . "Ciardi described the film’s setting, which begins a day before the Chappaquiddick incident and ends six days after. “It’s amazing how compelling that narrative is when you just look at the facts,” he said, casting the film as neither politically left or right. “[The writers] used the inquest. It wasn’t off of a book. We went with the facts that we knew, and didn’t make a movie for the left or the right. It’s for the truth, and what’s great about that is how audiences on both the left and the right — and reviewers, especially — are praising the movie.”

"Mansour concurred, saying, “It’s not an ideological film but an honest film.” ' 

 Thomas Lifson: Don’t miss Chappaquiddick!  "The movie Chappaquiddick exceeded my very high expectations. Not only is it a truthful exploration of the events that led up the death of May Jo Kopechne  and the criminal cover-up of Ted Kennedy’s culpability therein, it goes deep into the character of the man, and how he got to the depraved state of indifference to the life of a young woman who had devoted herself to “the cause” of the Kennedy family.

. . . "The process of the cover-up is laid out in fascinating detail, revealing the ruthlessness of the Kennedy family coterie of high powered advisors, especially Ted Sorenson and Robert McNamara. I could not help but reflect on the resonance with the deep state issues of today  of the way that laws and procedures and professional responsibilities of the government officials dealing with the car wreck and the corpse meant nothing to them in the face of “the cause” of protecting the Kennedys. The local, state, and federal officials we see are a kind of Kennedy Deep State that had absolute control over the handling of the matter."

. . . "Do yourself a favor and see this movie as soon as you can."

‘From the NY Times: Chappaquiddick’ Distorts a Tragedy

Many scenes cross from dramatic interpretation to outright character assassination. In this version, the Kennedy character leaves Kopechne to die as she gasps for air, and then, with the aid of his brothers’ old advisers, cooks up a scheme to salvage his presidential ambitions. 

I saw no trace of refutation of the details of this movie; only pique that this image of Kennedy was presented. TD