Wait, Andy. Are you suggesting that arresting and then convicting an individual who was thinking about maybe committing a crime is a bad thing? Oh, you crazy "conservatives." Always trying to protect the guilty.
Well said. One of the main tasks of government is the maintenance of law and order. Justice is supposed to be swift and blind. The failure to perform this duty will inevitably devolve into people trying to defend themselves and their property. This results in criminalizing the victim of the crime who interrupts the crime and injures or kills the criminal. To say the criminal justice system is broken is a gross understatement. The progressive answer- defund the police, release the criminals, eliminate bail, hamstring the prosecutors, and try to eliminate the second amendment. What we get is contempt for laws, lack of justice, and chaos. Electing and tolerating people who implement this madness is the source of this madness.
The Republican Party was established to abolish slavery. Lincoln, its first POTUS. The party championed equal representation: the black vote, women vote, women right to own property (100% REP party support and 0% DEM party support). From its beginning, the Republican Party defends a robust constitutional REPUBLIC. 🇺🇸. A REPUBLIC: a representative form of government ruled by a constitution. A DEMOCRACY: government ruled according to the will of the majority. SOUND TOO SIMPLE? It is, and that’s the greatness about it.
“And we are burying victim’s rights in a tsunami of wokeness. “. So well said. So well written. The insanity of the Left in their determination for “justice” leaves the rest of humanity at the mercy of the unbalanced courts and laws.
In a world where Truth becomes lies and Lies become Truth, we find ourselves.
I read this very good and informative article by Mr. Caldwell and I quote............
"Do you know that the federal Strategic Operations Division of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) urged large financial institutions to comb through the private transactions of their customers for “suspicious charges,” as these purchases could be an indication of extremism?"
A better question for everyone to ask is ............ Are there any large past financial transactions here
in Santa Barbara by the "Elite" and "Connected" that would trigger FinCEN may I ask?
And as Mr. Caldwell so accurately identified and I quote "America’s representation of justice, Lady Justice, has discarded her sword and her blindfold, and her scale is no longer balanced. Helping criminals avoid the “stigma” and real-life consequences of criminal behavior..........."
Folks you need to look closer at home at the "So-Called-Leaders" concealed financial transactions.
Here is one for you all to see and take a look at since the DOJ busted them>>>
Oh that is not the end of the Corruption in little ole Santa Barbara folks see below>>>
"California County Organized Health System and Three Health Care Providers Agree to Pay $68 Million for Alleged False Claims to California’s Medicaid Program"
Hello Mr. Livingston, back in the good ole days, of FBI Director Robert Mueller III, if you committed Medicaide or Medicare Fraud you got arrested and the DOJ dispensed with Consent Decree's that are now being used. I recommend a dose of criminal realty and read Director Mueller's "Jungle Island Speech" which desribes our SB So-Called-Leaders
better than I ever can and I quote >>>>
"I was intrigued upon learning that I would meet with you at a place called “Jungle Island.” As FBI Director, I have been fortunate to speak at many interesting venues. But never before have I been surrounded by alligators, leopards, and other predators—except perhaps when I am testifying before Congress."
"Of course, predators lurk not only here on Jungle Island or in the broader animal kingdom. We also find them among our fellow human beings. Some people will always look to make a dishonest dollar by preying on another person’s trust or by cheating the system. And their crimes affect all of us."
"Today I want to speak about the most prominent financial frauds the FBI investigates. I want to describe how the FBI is using intelligence and partnerships to combat financial crime. Finally, I want to discuss how you can help us uncover and stop financial predators."
" This betrayal of trust poses a great challenge, because our free-market economy and, indeed, our whole way of life, are built on trust—trust in the markets and trust in our fellow citizens."
"Financial fraud undermines that trust, with severe consequences. Consequences such as wasted taxpayer dollars, higher insurance premiums, and increased business costs—to say nothing of the harm to the victims themselves. When today’s financial criminals commit their own versions of the “Big Con,” we all lose.
" As we all know, it really is a jungle out there, even beyond the confines of Jungle Island. But working together, we can defend our economy and our fellow citizens from today’s financial predators.'
And I close by saying welcome to the Santa Barbara Jungle, home of the predators.
Message to California voters! I think it was Einstein who said "The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expect different results."
With regards to “Definition of insanity…”, this reminds me of the quality of the republican candidates put forth by their party ,especially on the local level.
The quality has been at least a fair match for both sides. Don't listen just to the Democrat Mean Machine version of their opposition candidates. Look instead at the mismanagement and fiscal irresponsibility left in our wake from our current one-party regimes. The "other guy" was always the better pick than what we actually ended up with.
Peter, point well taken although the Republicans have not had a sufficient voice in California, or Santa Barbara, for us to able to judge their performance. Remember Trump saying in 2016 "Why not try something different?"
Most local offices are non-partisan. We need to measure local candidates through new expectations. Merely delivering to the local party machine should not be the sole measure of a local candidate's success.
The most egregious example was Gregg Hart's cram down of that local "labor agreement" that he foisted on the city, right before the trotted off to do his curious brand of partisan damage to the county.
I have no idea whether election reforms have entrenched the super majority held by the Democratic party in the California legislature. If so, it does not really alter the fact that the California Democratic party has effectively a super majority of voters who vote in lockstep for Democratic party candidates.
Meanwhile, The California Republican Party is led by an unimpressive party bureaucrat. who is not an experienced political leader. I don't think she has personally fought in the trenches against a Democratic party candidate for political office of any note. Jessica Milan Patterson might be a nice lady, but she is not the inspirational, experienced, leader that will lead CAGOP to any sort of victory over an entrenched majority of Democratic party politicians.
The Republican party needs reform from top to bottom, before it can begin to make any headway towards breaking the Democratic party monopoly on power in California.
What do you find so impressive about the Democrats opposition candidates in comparison?
Follow the money, your money if you still do not understand why Democrats grabbed this super-majority status in just the past two decades. And how each new degree of "election reform" actually cemented this majority status. It is a worthy intellectual exercise. Cui bono.
Democrats representing SEIU and the teachers union have direct skin in the game, to name just two of the biggest political players in this state.
Winning elections is existential for them. It is their employment, paychecks, perks and pensions, all courtesy of the tax payers. Of course they will mount aggressive campaigns to win. The irony is your tax dollars are the seed money for their donations.
These are powerful forces in their own self-interests. Can you blame them? Just a reality check, this is the nature of the game. How does their passion to win elections that immediately affect their own livelihoods, conform to your own self interests, as merely a state residents and tax payers? Your interests are more dilute. Theirs direct and highly renumerative.
Start with the major election reform: "term limits". New faces now, but now marching lock step with the exact same special interest agendas, with special interest talking points handed to them substituting for on the job experience, knowledge tradition and accountability.
Term limits means never having to say you are sorry for what you did while it mattered. because you are soon gone and a new crop of beginners has to start all over again. Makes one nostalgic for Willie Brown who at least was a very bright and savvy politician, compared to what the term limit cure turned out to be - know-nothings filling offices short term, taking directions from outside interests ...with skin in the game.
Andy regularly and skillfully exposes the fault lines in California governance. And, members of this forum, quite naturally, rail on about the decay of civilized society driven by undermining, government actions.
But, I have to ask. What are the root causes?
Could they be that more than 50% of the California electorate want it that way?
After all, they are the people who, repeatedly, have voted into office super majorities of power to the Democratic party extremists that dominate legislation and government appointments.
Even though these Democratic party voters might be just as adversely affected by the adverse consequences of their votes, they still refuse to vote for republicans.
In California, the Republican Party is a pitiful failure. About 50% of registered voters are Democrats, about 50% of registered Independents regularly vote for Democratic party candidates. That leaves 25% of the electorate registered as Republicans. Even they are in the more elderly age groups.
Only a dramatic change in California politics, or an outright rebellion by the people of California, or bankruptcy of the state, seem to offer the catalysts for change.
Perhaps a huge increase in recruitment of new republicans from now our largest ethnic community of Hispanic people, could tip the balance for Republican? But who is recruiting them?
How did the spate of recent "election reform" measures over the past few decades in fact entrench this current Democrat super-majority?
Why would this now well- entrenched Democrat supermajority remedy these now apparent wrongs? Post-mortem is required to re-evaluate all recent "election reform" measures. What were the promised goals. What were the unintended outcomes .
Did the entrenchment of this new Democrat super-majority in fact directly result in the state's general malaise of crime and vagrancy, along with its current state budgetary crisis including the growing unfunded state pension liabilities? What did "election reform" do to this once Golden State and its once proud public education system.
It all happened so fast before we learned when we voted for the "education candidate" we ended in fact up in bed with the teachers unions. And California public education quality plummeted into the basement. Correlation of course is not causation, but let's not stop looking for better answers than what we are experiencing today.
You just wait ‘till Trumpy gets in this time . . . CommieDem's molly-coddling is gonna end quick! Even the hyper-libs must be able to recognize who’s sinking the ship!
The question is whether you have proposed solutions to the problems you have identified that can be effectively acted upon, before we all pass on to greener pastures? If not, do we just wait for the deluge?
Wait, Andy. Are you suggesting that arresting and then convicting an individual who was thinking about maybe committing a crime is a bad thing? Oh, you crazy "conservatives." Always trying to protect the guilty.
Right on Jim - the gall!
Well said. One of the main tasks of government is the maintenance of law and order. Justice is supposed to be swift and blind. The failure to perform this duty will inevitably devolve into people trying to defend themselves and their property. This results in criminalizing the victim of the crime who interrupts the crime and injures or kills the criminal. To say the criminal justice system is broken is a gross understatement. The progressive answer- defund the police, release the criminals, eliminate bail, hamstring the prosecutors, and try to eliminate the second amendment. What we get is contempt for laws, lack of justice, and chaos. Electing and tolerating people who implement this madness is the source of this madness.
The Republican Party was established to abolish slavery. Lincoln, its first POTUS. The party championed equal representation: the black vote, women vote, women right to own property (100% REP party support and 0% DEM party support). From its beginning, the Republican Party defends a robust constitutional REPUBLIC. 🇺🇸. A REPUBLIC: a representative form of government ruled by a constitution. A DEMOCRACY: government ruled according to the will of the majority. SOUND TOO SIMPLE? It is, and that’s the greatness about it.
“And we are burying victim’s rights in a tsunami of wokeness. “. So well said. So well written. The insanity of the Left in their determination for “justice” leaves the rest of humanity at the mercy of the unbalanced courts and laws.
In a world where Truth becomes lies and Lies become Truth, we find ourselves.
God have Mercy upon us all.
Excellent, Elyse
I read this very good and informative article by Mr. Caldwell and I quote............
"Do you know that the federal Strategic Operations Division of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) urged large financial institutions to comb through the private transactions of their customers for “suspicious charges,” as these purchases could be an indication of extremism?"
A better question for everyone to ask is ............ Are there any large past financial transactions here
in Santa Barbara by the "Elite" and "Connected" that would trigger FinCEN may I ask?
And as Mr. Caldwell so accurately identified and I quote "America’s representation of justice, Lady Justice, has discarded her sword and her blindfold, and her scale is no longer balanced. Helping criminals avoid the “stigma” and real-life consequences of criminal behavior..........."
Folks you need to look closer at home at the "So-Called-Leaders" concealed financial transactions.
Here is one for you all to see and take a look at since the DOJ busted them>>>
https://www.cencalhealth.org/news/2023/06/statement-on-settlement-agreement-with-the-department-of-justice/
Oh that is not the end of the Corruption in little ole Santa Barbara folks see below>>>
"California County Organized Health System and Three Health Care Providers Agree to Pay $68 Million for Alleged False Claims to California’s Medicaid Program"
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/california-county-organized-health-system-and-three-health-care-providers-agree-pay-68
Looks like "Lady Justice" has come to Santa Barbara and there is alot more to come......................
Howard Walther, member of a Military Family
.................The claims resolved by the settlements are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.......................
(From linked settlement documents - caution: "lawfare" settlements can be strategically cheaper than going to trial)
Hello Mr. Livingston, back in the good ole days, of FBI Director Robert Mueller III, if you committed Medicaide or Medicare Fraud you got arrested and the DOJ dispensed with Consent Decree's that are now being used. I recommend a dose of criminal realty and read Director Mueller's "Jungle Island Speech" which desribes our SB So-Called-Leaders
better than I ever can and I quote >>>>
"I was intrigued upon learning that I would meet with you at a place called “Jungle Island.” As FBI Director, I have been fortunate to speak at many interesting venues. But never before have I been surrounded by alligators, leopards, and other predators—except perhaps when I am testifying before Congress."
"Of course, predators lurk not only here on Jungle Island or in the broader animal kingdom. We also find them among our fellow human beings. Some people will always look to make a dishonest dollar by preying on another person’s trust or by cheating the system. And their crimes affect all of us."
"Today I want to speak about the most prominent financial frauds the FBI investigates. I want to describe how the FBI is using intelligence and partnerships to combat financial crime. Finally, I want to discuss how you can help us uncover and stop financial predators."
" This betrayal of trust poses a great challenge, because our free-market economy and, indeed, our whole way of life, are built on trust—trust in the markets and trust in our fellow citizens."
"Financial fraud undermines that trust, with severe consequences. Consequences such as wasted taxpayer dollars, higher insurance premiums, and increased business costs—to say nothing of the harm to the victims themselves. When today’s financial criminals commit their own versions of the “Big Con,” we all lose.
" As we all know, it really is a jungle out there, even beyond the confines of Jungle Island. But working together, we can defend our economy and our fellow citizens from today’s financial predators.'
And I close by saying welcome to the Santa Barbara Jungle, home of the predators.
Howard, member of a Military Family
No friend of either: cheating government programs, or lawfare shakedowns.
Message to California voters! I think it was Einstein who said "The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expect different results."
With regards to “Definition of insanity…”, this reminds me of the quality of the republican candidates put forth by their party ,especially on the local level.
The quality has been at least a fair match for both sides. Don't listen just to the Democrat Mean Machine version of their opposition candidates. Look instead at the mismanagement and fiscal irresponsibility left in our wake from our current one-party regimes. The "other guy" was always the better pick than what we actually ended up with.
Peter, point well taken although the Republicans have not had a sufficient voice in California, or Santa Barbara, for us to able to judge their performance. Remember Trump saying in 2016 "Why not try something different?"
Most local offices are non-partisan. We need to measure local candidates through new expectations. Merely delivering to the local party machine should not be the sole measure of a local candidate's success.
The most egregious example was Gregg Hart's cram down of that local "labor agreement" that he foisted on the city, right before the trotted off to do his curious brand of partisan damage to the county.
Buy guns. Buy ammo.
…and buy gold & silver…also stock up on food & meds…The Storm is brewing…
I have no idea whether election reforms have entrenched the super majority held by the Democratic party in the California legislature. If so, it does not really alter the fact that the California Democratic party has effectively a super majority of voters who vote in lockstep for Democratic party candidates.
Meanwhile, The California Republican Party is led by an unimpressive party bureaucrat. who is not an experienced political leader. I don't think she has personally fought in the trenches against a Democratic party candidate for political office of any note. Jessica Milan Patterson might be a nice lady, but she is not the inspirational, experienced, leader that will lead CAGOP to any sort of victory over an entrenched majority of Democratic party politicians.
The Republican party needs reform from top to bottom, before it can begin to make any headway towards breaking the Democratic party monopoly on power in California.
Don't blame the CommieDem politicians - blame the dopes who keep voting them into office.
What do you find so impressive about the Democrats opposition candidates in comparison?
Follow the money, your money if you still do not understand why Democrats grabbed this super-majority status in just the past two decades. And how each new degree of "election reform" actually cemented this majority status. It is a worthy intellectual exercise. Cui bono.
Democrats representing SEIU and the teachers union have direct skin in the game, to name just two of the biggest political players in this state.
Winning elections is existential for them. It is their employment, paychecks, perks and pensions, all courtesy of the tax payers. Of course they will mount aggressive campaigns to win. The irony is your tax dollars are the seed money for their donations.
These are powerful forces in their own self-interests. Can you blame them? Just a reality check, this is the nature of the game. How does their passion to win elections that immediately affect their own livelihoods, conform to your own self interests, as merely a state residents and tax payers? Your interests are more dilute. Theirs direct and highly renumerative.
Start with the major election reform: "term limits". New faces now, but now marching lock step with the exact same special interest agendas, with special interest talking points handed to them substituting for on the job experience, knowledge tradition and accountability.
Term limits means never having to say you are sorry for what you did while it mattered. because you are soon gone and a new crop of beginners has to start all over again. Makes one nostalgic for Willie Brown who at least was a very bright and savvy politician, compared to what the term limit cure turned out to be - know-nothings filling offices short term, taking directions from outside interests ...with skin in the game.
Yep J - cui prodest? The CommieDems always know!
When will Northern European origins become a protected and endangered minority, and thus conferred with uniquely protective rights?
Andy regularly and skillfully exposes the fault lines in California governance. And, members of this forum, quite naturally, rail on about the decay of civilized society driven by undermining, government actions.
But, I have to ask. What are the root causes?
Could they be that more than 50% of the California electorate want it that way?
After all, they are the people who, repeatedly, have voted into office super majorities of power to the Democratic party extremists that dominate legislation and government appointments.
Even though these Democratic party voters might be just as adversely affected by the adverse consequences of their votes, they still refuse to vote for republicans.
In California, the Republican Party is a pitiful failure. About 50% of registered voters are Democrats, about 50% of registered Independents regularly vote for Democratic party candidates. That leaves 25% of the electorate registered as Republicans. Even they are in the more elderly age groups.
Only a dramatic change in California politics, or an outright rebellion by the people of California, or bankruptcy of the state, seem to offer the catalysts for change.
Perhaps a huge increase in recruitment of new republicans from now our largest ethnic community of Hispanic people, could tip the balance for Republican? But who is recruiting them?
How did the spate of recent "election reform" measures over the past few decades in fact entrench this current Democrat super-majority?
Why would this now well- entrenched Democrat supermajority remedy these now apparent wrongs? Post-mortem is required to re-evaluate all recent "election reform" measures. What were the promised goals. What were the unintended outcomes .
Did the entrenchment of this new Democrat super-majority in fact directly result in the state's general malaise of crime and vagrancy, along with its current state budgetary crisis including the growing unfunded state pension liabilities? What did "election reform" do to this once Golden State and its once proud public education system.
It all happened so fast before we learned when we voted for the "education candidate" we ended in fact up in bed with the teachers unions. And California public education quality plummeted into the basement. Correlation of course is not causation, but let's not stop looking for better answers than what we are experiencing today.
Governor Brown in 2014 declared the WILLFUL transmission of the HIV virus to be a misdemeanor.
You just wait ‘till Trumpy gets in this time . . . CommieDem's molly-coddling is gonna end quick! Even the hyper-libs must be able to recognize who’s sinking the ship!
Thanks for the tutorial.
The question is whether you have proposed solutions to the problems you have identified that can be effectively acted upon, before we all pass on to greener pastures? If not, do we just wait for the deluge?