So it's TIme to Ban Cars!

Would it surprise you to learn that you are nearly 25 x more likely to die by automobile than by gunfire?

Surprised?  So we all know that guns are bad, right?  We've been taught to think that by those on the Left since we were in pre-school.  For decades.  DECADES!  Even though its Americans' familiarity with, and Constitutionally-guaranteed access to, firearms, enabled us to win the Revolutionary War.   

And their rationale for that belief is that guns kill more people than anything else.  Including plagues, falling rocks, or even Republicans.  Even though that's patently untrue.  As if that would stop them...

So I'm wondering what would happen if the Leftoids had their flawed logic thrown back in their smarmy faces?  Let's find out...

We all know the Democrats and the "Progressives" and the Liberals and the socialists and the  Marxists and the communists (do we include LBGTA123#$%+++'s here?) and any other yet to-be-named grouping on that side of our political spectrum hate guns.  Desperately.  And they wish to ban them with extreme prejudice.  Especially those awful "assault weapons."  Which they hate but cannot define.  They're all black and ugly and scary, they say, and they want to murder all the socially concious folks.  They say.   

All day and all night.  They say.

Or perhaps they're trying to make us all subservient to the Gubmint.  Where only the select few have firearms.  Only them and theirs.  As in Cuba.  And Russia.  And China.  And North Korea.  And even England and Germany and France and Spain and Italy.  So we're completely dependent upon them and their protection.  Instead of me and my protection.  And us and our protection.  Like the Mafia writ large.  Uber Large!  

Which is unlike the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, and the 2nd Amendment was written, and intended, I might add.

In any event, they wish to have all guns regulated.  And then confiscated.  And finally destroyed.  Co-President Harris had so stated.  So that we can all hold hands and skip through the daisies to our hearts delight.  With a rainbow to boot.  They won't say that out loud, but that's what they want.  

They blame guns for what people do with them.  But strangely, they don't blame knives for what people do with them.  Or hatchets.  Or flame throwers.  Or automobiles for what people do with them, which is the subject of my little diatribe for today.

I've researched the data and I can tell you that 48,222 of our friends and neighbors died by gunfire during the year 2022.  That's the latest statistics our woefully sluggish ATF is able to produce.

And 43,874 during that same year died in automobile accidents.  Also from 2022, since the NHTSA is also glacial in their data accumulation and release.

We can therefore deduce that cars are safer than guns, right?  Ummmm, noooooooo!  Let's dig down into that number a little bit.  51% of the 48,222 died by suicide.  

And 25,876 used a gun to kill themselves.  They could have used a knife, or poison, or an electric shock, or maybe even the CO2 from an automobile to kill themselves had a gun not been available!     

Suicides are like that.

So we can reasonably subtract that 25,876 who died by suicide from the overall 48,222, right?  That leaves about 26,644 of our citizens who died by gunfire without their permission.  

24,211 of that number died by homicide.  That was also without their permission.  Somebody used a gun to kill somebody else.  They could have used a knife had a gun not been available.  They do that in England, btw (right Jon?).  Where guns are no longer available.  There's an average of 14 stabbings every day in London, as an example.

Or maybe a Louisville Slugger.  No gun available?  Use a baseball bat.  Or some poison.  Or battery acid in their morning coffee.  Or how about the bite of an asp, like Cleopatra?  Yeah, and a bomb would do if no gun's available.  (There's plans for bomb building available on TikTok, just to be helpful.)  

Or perhaps they could be strangled!  Or beaten or kicked to death with fists or feet.  Or somehow manage to kill themselves in a single-man jail cell in Midtown Manhattan, while on video camera, like that infamous guy with an island.  Or maybe pay somebody to drive over you with an automobile!  (Like the recent "Girlfriend-Cop Murder" trial.)  The hard truth is, if somebody wants to kill you, they'll likely find a way to kill you.  Whether there's a gun nearby or not.

(P.S.  Be nice to people and they likely won't try to kill you.) 

Oh yeah, I should add that less than 1% of all deaths by gunfire in 2022 were by long guns.  388, to be exact.  That would include shotguns and rifles.  Like the AR-15's.  And AK-47's.  Sorta' makes one think those on the Left are complaining where there should be no complaint.  But then again, they lie like a rug, hoping their less than intelligent followers won't know any better.  

And then there's always accidents.  But less than 1% of all deaths by gunfire are the result of accidents.  377 of them, to be precise.  Somebody drops a loaded gun and it goes off and kills them.  Candidates for the Darwin Award, they are.  Or a bullet from a gang war 4 blocks away kills your Aunt Gracie.  So we can subtract that 377 also.  

But then again, all 48,222 auto accidents, were accidents.

So in the final analysis, the real numbers are:

     -  Death by automobiles - 48,222

     -  Deaths by firearms - 1,433

So you're twenty five times more likely to die by automobiles then by firearms.  Annnnd, you can use firearms to protect yourselves should anyone try and jack your car...

So my suggestion is we either, A), follow the Constitution, as written (what a concept!), or B), ban automobiles.  We give a 16 year-old minimal training and then turn him/her/it loose with daddy's F-250, an 8,000 lb. missile.  Just looking for little girls on tricycles to mow down.  Or maybe like with guns, we start nibbling around the edges of legality of use.  Maybe we say "no driver's license until you're 30."  And "none after 50."  And you can only drive North.  Or only own the safest vehicle, whichever your Federal Gubmint decides to bless.  Like the $7,500 of your neighbor's tax money they've been offering to give you if you'll just buy one of those growed up golf carts.  That you can drive while sleeping.  And kill some folks.  

And say we put electrontic governors on all cars to keep them under 45 mph.  Or maybe put big spongie rubber bumpers all around the cars so they don't cause as much damage when they smack into one another.  Like the bumper cars at the carnival, writ large.  

That's what they've been doing with guns.  Taxifornia's BoyGuv (Hairgod) Newsom has puked forth 124 anti-gun Executive Orders since he's been in office.  So far.  Making it ever harder to buy and store and use and own a firearm.  

I don't know about you, but I only vote for those who vote in accordance with the Constitution.  And to vote to let folks drive whatever cars they want.  And instruct the Gubmint to stay out of our wallets, our bedrooms, our garages and our gun safes.  That's called Freedom.  A rare commodity these days.

Especially in Taxifornia...

It's Kinda' Like a Football Game.

I gotta' tell you, I thought we were one Election away from the end of America.  

I thought we'd be stuck into a doom loop toward all-out socialism.  America's been on a glideslope toward socialism for decades.  Accentuated by the election of one Barack Hussein Obama.  Who single handedly rekindled the fires of racism.

And the election of the head a crime family, one Joe O'Biden.  The "Mumbler-in-Chief."  The House Commission investigating O'Biden determined he'd sucked up more than $33,000,000 in bribes from our enemies around the World.  And who felt it necessary to pardon his entire family 15 minutes before his term ended.  Indicative of just how worried he was about dying in prison.

These missteps were only interrupted by the election of Donald J. Trump.  Who momentarily derailed that seemingly inexorable tilt toward socialism.  And who tried to run the Government while the Democrats who controlled Congress, the "Corporate Media," Silicon Valley Titans, the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Central Intelligence Agency all wanted him impeached (3 times), bankrupted (2 tries) or jailed (4 attempts).

You might remember that Black Lives Matter and Antifa folks were burning down our cities (11 cops killed, 1,200 wounded, $1.5 Billion Dollars in damages) while the 7 "battleground states" were busy changing the rules on mail-in voting.  All quiet like.  So as to "make it easier" for folks to vote, doncha' know.  

Well after Election Day was over.  

We all know how that turned out.  And then Trump decided to run again.  And despite being outspent 3 to 1 ($1.5 Billion to $335 Million), and having to defend himself in court for six weeks, and fight 3 other criminal charges, he actually won.  They made him post a $173,000,000 cash bond to stay out of jail.  He spent $50,000,000 on legal fees.  Had he lost he'd likely be in prison for the rest of his life.  

And yet he won.

I keep on thinking this guy's a $Billionaire.  He doesn't need any of this.  He has nothing to gain, and everything to lose.  He could be lazing away on some beach somewhere, watching the waves roll in.  As much of a Patriot as I consider myself, I wouldn't have done it.  You most likely woundn't have either.  

Instead, Trump chose to become our Champion.  Our Ombudsman.  Our Galahad.  Our David, facing off against the Giant. 

Had he not turned his head that day in Pennsylvania, he'd be dead.  One has to wonder if he had Divine Help.  I kinda' think so. 

This was a good metaphor for a football game.  A really good First Half, more points on the board, by a Team not supposed to win; and a really awful, boring, miserable, expensive, terrible, dangerous, nasty, 4 year-long Halftime Show.  

Think Jane Fonda, reading from her autobiography at the Army-Navy Game.  

And now the second half has commenced, with Trump heaving a 65 yard touchdown pass on the 1st Play!  

Things are looking up, America!  I'm encouraged.  I think you should be as well.  Trump has made us a lot of promises.  And yesterday he began keeping them.  After all, it was a binary choice:  A woman who's only qualifications were being a San Francisco Liberal, Dark of Skin, and a Female.  And a guy who's already proven his worth to us once, and has promised to do so again.  

I've been working for this outcome for years.  I think I'll go fishing...

Beige Sucks!

I miss the rain.  And the snow.  And the occasional thunderstorm.

There!  I said it!  I don't know whether you know it or not, but I come from a region of the Country with 4 distinct seasons.  They are:

     1.  Winter

     2.  Two weeks of Spring  

     3.  Summer

     4.  And then, two weeks of Fall.

And during that seemingly unending Winter portion, it can snow and blizzard and hail and dump untold tons of white ugliness upon us.  Freezing some of us to death and causing traffic delays for everybody.  Snow piled 8' high.  Black ice making the roads a skating rink.  And cars and trucks causing accidents galore.  Colder than a well digger's ass in the Klondike, it is!  

Then comes Spring!  Ahhhhh!  Birds chirping and bees buzzing.  Put the top down on the convertible.  That lasts about two weeks.

Then blazing hot Summers are upon us!  Hotter than a four peckered goat!  So hot you can't put the top down on the convertible!  

Then Fall!  Leaves a'falling and brisk evenings and roaring fireplaces!  Chopping wood and wearing sweaters and spending two weeks preparing for the Arctic blast.  Maybe two more top-down evenings.

And then whip out the skis!  And the Ugh boots.  And the snowshoes.  It's time for Winter again!  It snows like you wouldn't believe!  8, 10 inches, even a foot!  Cars sliding around, frostbite, people getting lost in the woods and freezing to death.  Some never to be seen again!  

But California?  Endless Summer.  

I have to admit the balmy Mediterranean climate brought me to Sunny Southern California.  I was "up to here" with Missouri's weather.  Four Summer evenings with the top down on your convertible does not make up for 300 awful days you must somehow survive.  And so I up and moved.  Just like that. And I've been here for 50 years.  And I'm now "up to here" with the sameness.  That awful boring sameness that spells a life in CA. 

And all the beige!  The sand is beige.  The roadsides are beige.  The bushes and vegetation are all beige.  They even paint their friggin' homes beige!  I'm SICK of beige!   

You wake up, it's nice outside.  You go to work, it's nice outside.  You go to bed, it's nice outside.  It's almost never not nice outside.  That's why I watch the Weather Channel to see how folks are fairing in the other parts of the Country.  Hurricanes and blizzards and heat waves.  Weather.  'Cause we don't got none of that 'round here.

I also must admit that I take some glee in the suffering of those caught up in blizzardy conditions.  I know, I know.  I should not take any sort of pleasure at others' misfortunes.  I don't even know how to spell shadenfreude!  But it helps to pass the time here in our balmy paradise.  Filled with beige.  Where everyday is perfect.

After all, we pay for it in our exhorbitant taxes.  The very highest taxeas in the entire Nation!  You pays your Federal income taxes and then pack up to another 14.4% on top of that!  Who knew we had a partner when we started our businesses?  But we plan for it.  We deserve it!  It's like a punishment for living such comfortable lives.  But that doesn't mean we don't get sick to death of it!

And yes, I'm prone to using exclamation points excessively.  It's a personal failing, and I'm in rehab.  They're trying to get me to use semicolons as a halfstep toward community reentry.  So there.

That's also why I'm putting together another Small Business.  There must be other transplants from places where they boast actual "weather," and who would like to experience some of that real weather for a day or two before they bite the dust.  Buffalo, NY.  And Chicago, IL.  And Philadelphia, PA.  And Kansas City, MO, my old stomping ground.  Folks who would like to see a rainstorm.  Or an ice storm.  Or a blizzard.  Or 130 degree Death Valley heat.  And who would be willing to pay a smal(ish) fee to do so. 

Like Salina, Kansas.  I actually lived there for a time.  I recall there was a month back in 1974 when the termperature didn't reach Zero for the entire month of January.  Ahhhhh! 

I'm calling it "Chuckmeister's Travel Service."  You can call upon us and get all the "weather" you want!  You'll get picked up by a motor coach, given a cup of plain old cheap, non Starbucks coffee, and transported to where there's snow.  Or rain.  Or freezing, Arctic temperatures.  Or miserable heat.  In short, where we from the Midwest call WEATHER!    

I'm still working out the kinks, but be advised we'll be launching real soon.  So make a list of all the weather you'd like to experience within a shorty bus ride and then d.m. me.  I'll add it to the list.  And in the meantime, just remember,

Beige sucks!

Normalizing Idiocy.

I'd like to meet the very first person who decided to applaud politely at Lia Thomas' winning performance in the pool that day.

The day that "she" outswam Riley Gaines, a 5' 2," 110 pound female.  By more than a pool length and a half.  

Thomas, a strapping 6' 4," 235 pound ex-male, who, before discovering this little McGiver, ranked 435th in the world.  The day before she "saw the light."  And decided that "she" should become a female.  Following which she swam to a record against Gaines.  And became the fastest "female" swimmer in the world.

I dunno' about you, but one of the things that put a burr under my saddle blanket is the normalization of men competing in womens' sports.  In spite of Title IX, a law that'd been in force for more than 50 years, the O'Biden Administration bowed to the wishes of their far far-Left and capitulated.  And forcing women to compete against men became the Law of the Land.

What fools.  California has told us, officially, that there are now 57 genders.  With a straight face.  Men are now competing against women in every sport they can find.  Even chess, fergodsake!"  Not just swimming, but volleyball, baseball, track, boxing, wrestling, even weightlifting!  And our Leftist shotcallers have rejoiced!  For some strange reason, they want it this way.  And I can't figure out why.

As with the story about "The Emperor Has No Clothes," all it takes to normalize a practice, make regular and unspecial, is to simply applaud.  Politely.  When an outrage starts to occur, just applaud.  And if you're in charge, all those subservient to you will mirror your actions.  To gain favor.  

It's Human Nature.

And then like a wildfire, pun intended, it will gain support among the followers.  Those who mimic any action in order to be accepted.  Such is what's happened with the blending of the genders.

The incoming Trump Administration has already fostered a new law on this subject that's already passed the new House.  It demands that men should be kept out of womens' sports.  Rat now!  Immediately!  Regardless of any state law.  And with a majority in the Senate, there's every reason to expect it will pass.  Quickly.  Which means we should see an end to this ungodly outrage macht schnell.  

I've lived in such a inside-out society for a decade now.  A decade in which we've no longer run America for the benefit of the majority.  It's been run for tiny minorities.  The gay, and lesbian (isn't that the same thing?), and "two spirit," whatever that is.  And the illegal immigrants.  And any religion except Jewish and Christian.  A man recently took up the sport of fencing, converted to female-ness, (wink-wink), and three months later beat the women's World Champion for a Gold Medal.

Is that fair?

I hope to live long enough to see this really dummass social experiment go down in flames.  If we can see how ridiculous this is, just imagine how ridiculous the things must be we can't see!  All the "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion" stuff.  And the "CRT" nuttiness.  Let's return to the good old days of X and Y chromosomes.  Just men and women.  Only two. 

At the very least it should help to avoid a lot of unpleasant surprises at our bars and cocktail lounges.

There's only one downside to this action that I can see.  The tens of thousands of Californians involved in trying to Normalize this Idiocy, would have to find something else to do... 

Every Now and Again...

Every now and again we're reminded of just how puny we really are.

Just how small.  And insignificant.  How subservient to Mother Nature you and I really are.  For every now and again Mother Nature rises up and swats us across the kisser.  Delivers a death blow, in fact.  She'll rob us of our homes.  And our livelyhoods.  And our history.  From which we'll have to rebuild.

But in spite of all that, we'll choose to rebuild in the same exact areas which attract the kind of swatting from which we've had to rebuild.  Again and again.

Those who pine to live next to an ocean.  Or to a ski slope.  Or next to a raging river.  And then find a way to do so, only to have Mother Nature take it from us.  As has just happened, and is happening in Southern California as this is being written.

I come from a part of the Country where people have a goal to buy a spread nestling up against a river.  For we had a paucity of oceans and mountains and ski slopes.  And many were (fortunate?) enough to do so.  Yet, every now and again that river will flood.  As they all do from time to time.  And steal our homes and farms and vehicles and businesses from us, as they all do.  

Again and again.

Yet we choose to rebuild.  Apparently embracing the (false) belief that it won't happen again.  And yet it always does.

As I reach a lofty age, I've come to believe that we all live our lives with one goal in mind: hoping not to die.  The ancient Egyptians lived their entire lives as a warm-up act to dying.  Believing that the real good stuff occured after we were dead and gone.  That life was just a preparation for death.  And that their Pharoah would be resurrected to that star in the sky and protect them all.  That's why they so willingly helped to build the pyramids.  For their just reward in the afterlife.

We Americans don't think that way.  We want to live, and live well.  And we invest most of our wealth into our homes and farms and businesses.  Yet the 1993 Laguna Canyon fire I referenced in a previous posting should have served to educate us all about what dry vegetation, Santa Ana winds, Mother Nature and a spark can do to those same homes, farms and businesses.  

It didn't.

Now we're faced, as a society, with having to deal with another such disaster.  Only several times as big.  Perhaps the biggest and most expensive natural disaster to ever occur in our Country.  Perhaps as much as $150,000,000,000.  With a "B."  Will we learn this time how to prepare and deal with a future event like this one?  

I'm suggesting that no, we'll not learn from this.  Not so long as we have a smug, grinning, preening, smarmy Governor.  A man born on third base, yet thought he'd hit a triple.  Were it not for having J. Paul Getty as a Godfather, and San Fran Nan Pelosi as an aunt, I suggest this guy would be selling cars to Silicon Valley $Millionaires.  

A run-of-the-mill, socialist-leaning Democrat just won't do anymore for any job of consequence.  For they're the ones who made this mess.  And keep on making it.  We don't need a slick salesman as Governor any more.  We don't need a Lost Angeles Mayor who's only qualifications are being Black, and a woman, when being Black and a woman was the primary requirement.  We need those who know their jobs, and do their jobs, for the benefit of all their voters.  

Until the good citizens of California are willing to vote their own best interests, and "hire" those who know what to do, and will do it, natural disasters like these will continue to upend their lives.  

The truth hurts.  As those in the military say, "Embrace the suck."  And then do something about it... 

New Years Absurdities.

It's time once again for my Annual list of more...

        "New Years Absurdities."  

A courtesy of your friend and mine, your Scribe Without Portfolio, me.  Here it comes.  Saddle up and let's ride...

     -  Our own BoyGuv Newsom just rolled out his January 1st list of new, and ever more stringent laws.  Like we need more laws.  Presumably successful people run for our Senate and Assembly to go to Sacramento and what?  Make some new laws.  We don't need no more stinkin' laws!  Can't they get a job doing something constructive?  Like be a Greeter at Wal-Mart, maybe?

As I've reported before, Taxifornia has 366,443 laws, codes, rules, regulations, restrictions, and wet dreams.  That's almost exactly double New York's count.  They only have 177,258 laws on their books.  Illinois comes in third at 111,342 of them.  There's a couple of "Red" states with fewer than 25,000 laws by way of which to try and hem up their citizens.  Don't you sometimes feel like the walls are closing in?  Don't you sometimes wonder if living in this zoo is worth the price you continually have to pay?

A price which keeps going up, and up, and up...

     -  A yuuuge bunch of people will make a resolution to lose weight in the New Year.  Excess fat is weight, doncha' know.  We don't want to lose muscle or sinew, we want to lose weight!  Just spare calories for when you go for a stroll in the forest and get lost.  Got no food, but you got fat!  Us chubbies are carrying around a lunch bucket good for at least a couple of weeks.  

But I've always wondered where that weight goes once we lose it?  Does it magically go to some deserving soul in China or India or Bangladesh whose ribs are sticking out?  It can't just disappear, as fat is energy.  You have to burn energy in order for it to disappear.  Like on a treadmill.  I'm thinking this might be a subject for some brainiac to pursue.  I see a Peace Prize in their future.*

     -  Don't you find it funny that our newly-retired Richie Rich's are just dying to buy Muscle Cars from way back when?  The SS Chevys and the GTO's and the Corvettes?  The Hemis and the Dodge Magnums and the Cobras.  The cars I bought new when I was a tad younger.  And then I beat them to sh*t and swapped them for a new one.  Because they were cheap.  Built cheap, looked cheap, acted cheap.  Example:  My fully-loaded Honduras Maroon 1962 Chevrolet Super Sport 409, 4-speed, Posi-trac, bucket seats and all, went out the door at $3,812.10.  I wrote a check for it and drove it away.  The same car would now cross the auction block at more than $100,000.  

That's okay.  My 409 was a hoot ("Giddyup, giddyup 409!")!  But I see Big Money being shed for cars we wouldn't have owned.  Plymouth Road Runners, AMC Pacers, Ford Mustang II's.  Dummmass cars.  And many of these cars are completely restored.  At $50.00 an hour and up in some rehab shop somewhere over a year-long period.  Figure at least $60,000 and maybe $100,000 to some restoration shop to fix up a car that might bring half that at auction.  Yet, New Money is chasing these and other worthless cars because they wanted one when they were a teenager, but couldn't afford.  And I'm pretty sure it has to stop.  Real soon.

     -  The 2nd Amendment to the Constitution clearly states, "...the Right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."  I'm guessing Democrats don't know the definition of the word, "infringed," because they've been infringing on it for decades.  BoyGuv has proudly issued 125 Executive Orders, so far, infringing on our Rights to keep and bear arms.  He gets away with it because Taxifornia is a fiefdom, owned and operated by Democrats.  And "Hairgod" is Sheriff John.  If he had his way he'd send the National Guard to our homes and confiscate our firearms.  That effort might be fun to watch.  If it's gonna' happen, I sure hope happens while I'm still around.  I'd like to participate...

     -  It seems that the Democrats finally realized there might be some profit in the businesses over which they hold sway.  They figured out that chain restaurants might actually make some money.  Money which they could attack, in their never-ending quest to find fuel to keep the engine of socialism huffing and puffing.  I mean, what's better, owning a franchise, or being able to tell it what to do and steal all its profit?

BTW, that's the very definition of socialism.

Our BoyGuv instituted $20.00 an hour wages for those of us who ask, "Would you like fries with that?"  The 500,000 min-wage folks who make the Mickey D's and BK's, and Wendy's, keep humming along.  

As an example, the average McDonald's produces about $250,000 a year in pre-tax profit.  After a franchisee's investment of up to $1,200,000.  The new MinWage bump, a 25% overnight increase for the 55 employees in the average Mickey D's, takes just about $250,000 from the pockets of the owners.  As in, all of their profits.  

Others of the chain franchises are similar in their operations.  Rendering their stores virtually worthless.  As businesses are only worth what they can produce in profits.  And rendering their franchisors, those on the Big Board, virtually worthless as well.  And since 97% of all Mickey's stores are owned by Moms and Pops, "Hairgod" may well have bankrupted an entire swath of California's semi-retired citizens.  Store closings are now rampant, but BoyGuv doesn't care.  He's too busy running for POTUS in 2028.  

And trying to extract his head from his a*s after having been found out.  He removed more than $100,000,000 from California's fire fighting budget.  Money that might have helped prevent the six fires now burning brightly throughout Southern California.

     -  And speaking of tipping (we were, weren't we?), I hereby suggest we stop all tipping, right now.  All of it. Tipping has gotten soooo out of control I think we need to stop it all until we get some sanity back into the whole deal.  

Tipping first started back in Olde England when those in the pubs granted the serving wench a tuppence "To insure promptness."  Now?  Everybody in the supply chain between your order and its delivery apparently deserves a tip.  Starting at 20%.  I call foul!  This has become a not-so-subtle shifting of the responsibility to pay our servers from their employers to their customers.  And it is not appreciated.  

I have personally ceased all activity that might demand a tip.  I've discovered how much you can save by resurrecting that long-lost pasttime of home cooking. 

If employers can't or won't adequately compensate their employees, I can't help them.  Just shut down your businesses and give BoyGuv the finger on the way out the door.  A nice lady in Seattle was shown crying after having to shut down her coffee shop last week due to their new 20% MinWage.  Apparently doing business in Taxifornia, and maybe all the Big Blue States, is no longer profitable.  Too bad, so sad.  Perhaps they will all gravitate to Bright Red States.  Then I'd say, will the last person out the door please turn off the lights?

     -  And lastly, the single most absurd thing I believe I've ever seen in my storied life is being warned of an impending disaster, as L. A. Mayor Karen Bass was, in plenty of time to prepare for it.  And being seen as Mayorly.  But then she chose to fly to Ghana, of all places, to preen in front of poor Black folks.  To prance in front of those who have no idea who she is.  Then quickly flying back to L. A. to explain to her constituents that the $17.1 Million Dollars she took from their fire fund, didn't really negatively affect Departmental staffing or response capabilities.  After being told by her Fire Chief that it would.  And Bass then ignoring it.  

And now she reaps the whirlwind.  

So if $Multi-Zillionaires with $Multi-Million Dollar homes can't get their bought-and-paid-for elected officials to see that the fire hydrants in their neighborhoods are ready to provide water, which they weren't; and making sure that the Palisades Reservoir actually had some water in it, which it didn't; how are we "Little People" to presume we'd get help in an emergency?

God, that was a long sentence.  But a nice one, I think you'll agree.    

These things are truly absurd, right?  If you know that, and I know that, why isn't anyone ever doing anything about it?

*    Brought to you by the guy who invented Dynamite.  You knew that, didn't you? 

A Complete Failure of Government.

 "The fear of loss is a far greater motivator than the anticipation of gain."

                                       -  Unknown

My wife Elaine and I were headed off to Laguna Beach for an early dinner that fateful August, 1993 evening.  We happened to notice a small fire burning in a trash pile on an empty lot as we drove by.  We thought nothing of it.

After dinner, while we were on our way home, we noted that the fire had increased in size ten-fold, and fire personnel were there to put it out.  Once again, we thought nothing of it.

The next  morning I stepped out on my balcony, cup of coffee in hand, and viewed with alarm the blood red morning skyline.  South County was on fire...

That was August 7th, and a good chunk of Laguna Beach burned to the ground.  High-zoot homes of the rich and famous.  Burned to the ground.  As a direct result of our annual "Devil" fires.  Our Santa Ana winds bear down upon us from the East every Summer.  We'll have "off shore" breezes for several days a year.  The normal airflow out of Alaska takes a turn for the East instead of our West, giving us "on shore" breezes.  But with Santa Anas, the wind is sent to the East, wrung of moisture by the deserts, then rammed through our mountain passes leading into Southern California.  Gaining speed as a result.  A lot of it.  

It could be as little as a 20 or 30 miles per hour breeze.  It could be a 40 or 50 mph blow.  And then again, it could be an 80 or 100 mph, hurricane-strength torrent of wind.  Unequalled in our recent history, as we're now suffering.  In fact, we were warned it was coming, by our meterologists.  But our leadership did not one goddamn thing about it.

L. A.'s Mayor trimmed $17.1 Million Dollars from L. A.'s Fire Department last summer, all while be warned that it would cripple their recruitment, training, operations and retention.  And Mayor Karen Bass spent at least $1.8 Million Dollars on "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion" training during that same period.  

Priorities?

And then, 2025's Annual Santa Ana Winds arrived.  In a Very Big Way.  Our meterologists warned us all last weekend that conditions would be right for sustained Santa Anas starting on Tuesday.  They did.  They said those winds would last through Friday.  They are.  They said they'd be historic in strength.  They were.  And they said if a spark were to be struck, it could be a modern day Armageddon.  

And that has happened.

State Farm cancelled 1,600 insurance policies for Pacific Palisades homes last Summer.  And they cannot be blamed, as the State would not grant them sufficient operating profits to warrant the risk.  The State (read, "BoyGuv" Newsom) implemented rather its "FAIR" Act, which made the State the insuror of last resort.  Funded with $2.1 Billion Dollars of our money.  Yours and mine.  He'd rather put the responsibility on us, the Taxpayers, than a private company.  Just to deprive that private company, and other private companies, of a fair return on their investors' money.  For shame.

And those 1,600 homes burned to the ground last Tuesday and Wednesday.  And another 10,000 alongside them.  Not just the $Multi-Million Dollar mansions, the modest homes way up the hill, bought by grandparents in the 1960's for $100,000, and now passed on to family members and worth several $Million.  

The ground may be worth several $Million, but the house is only worth $200.000.  

With no insurance, will these middle-class folks be able to rebuild?  Or will this in effect render this vast, 15,000 acre swath of prime real estate go without redevelopment?  Like Detroit, only with an Ocean view.

When the fire appeared, fueled by 100 mph winds, the homes burned in minutes inside a 2,000 degree inferno.  300,000 residents were told to evacuate.  Cars literally melted.  The fire hydrants, unfortunately, were empty.  And because of faulty planning, the evacuation was flawed.  Fire engines couldn't get to homes.  Abandoned cars clogged the one street in and out.  It was chaos.  It was a Hellscape.  It was a complete and total failure of Government.

However, the one bright spot is that O'Biden told us he's a great-grandfather.  Oh,. and Lost Angeles' famously lesbian Fire Chief Kristin Crawford was able to boast that her "DEI" implementation was going well, although they were down several hundred fire fighters in staffing.  They hadn't found enough LGBTQ++ candidates, I assume.  Forcing them to call in help from surrounding states.  Which obliged, thankfully.  When our own highly-paid civil servants cannot serve, it's nice to get help from others that do.

Our elected and appointed leaders have learned nothing from that Laguna Beach Fire.  Even though it was a carbon copy in all but size of the six being fought right now.  This one is Laguna Beach x 20.

Ten people have died in this calamity, so far.  An estimated $150 Billion Dollars in damages may ultimately be attributed to these six fires.  So far.  A couple of major insurance companies could go bankrupt.  That makes it the single most expensive natural disaster in U. S. history.  

Times five.  

At least our outgoing Prez was kind enough to offer to pay for all costs of fighting this fire for the next 180 days.  With our Tax money.  Tying Trump's hands to that promise.  He's such a nice guy!  

And at least Karen Bass got to see the new Prez of Ghana inaugurated.  She was warned about the chances of a major fire while she was gone, but chose to travel anyway.  She flew 26,000 miles in 36 hours, and earned the hate of millions!

And famously gay Chief Crawford got to celebrate her gayness.  And her DEI program.  But this event just might cause all the famously Left-wing Democrat Hollywood set to rethink their politics.  Maybe living in the local hotels while they fight through the permitting process, trying to rebuild their homes out-of-pocket, will be enough for them to come to their senses.  Let them feel what the "little people" feel for a change.  Maybe it will motivate them.

We'll see...

I'm sick to my stomach about all of this, as any thinking citizen would be.  I've seen fires where a few houses burn and a few are spared.  But we're talking more than 20,000 acres completely decimated.  It looks like Dresden after we firebombed it during the Big War.  It's complete and total devistation.  And a complete and total failure of Government.

I started this rant with a nod to an unknown author.  It surmizes that the fear of losing should motivate one more than any hoped-for gain.  I wonder when these residents of high dollar zip codes will band together and work to prevent a recurrance.  First, throw out the poseurs and hire some real managers.  Then watch them like a hawk to make sure they follow through on their promises.  Proper management of forrest, water and human resources could have mitigated this disaster.  

We have to ask questions why it didn't happen.  We'll see if they do...