Thank you, Andy, you are one of the heroes of this beautiful, endangered city. I'm pleased you quote Friedrich Hayek who was the antithesis of Klaus Schwab, the economic self-proclaimed visionary our progressive officials vie to worship at Davos, when they can grift enough money from us taxpayers to spend a week in elite decadence at the WEF.
Progressives like Das Williams, Joan Hartmann and Laura Capps have been fought against in the past. One of the most famous battles, of course, was between Jane Jacobs and NYC urban planner Robert Moses, who wanted to run an expressway through lower Manhattan, thus obliterating the neighborhoods of SoHo, Greenwich Village, Tribeca. Jacobs won and her groundbreaking work The Death and Life of Great American Cities should be read by all Santa Barbarans.
I believe we can save Santa Barbara from this destruction. I think it's going to take a Jane Jacobs' like campaign, which was not run on party politics, but on the common interest and the love New Yorkers had for what Jacobs praises as real neighborhoods. I really like Andy's column because he doesn't make it a Republican versus Democrat fight. He shows it for what it is: a fight for ultimate control over us by the very people who should be working for our best interests.
I believe that most Santa Barbarans, regardless of their political party, would side with what Andy says. But the moment it becomes a Republican fight, the Dems here will attack the only way they can - through personal incrimination or using words like racist. This week I was dismayed and disgusted at how a couple of visitors here tried to turn discussion about Bonnie's important column on the city budget into them ranting about how awful Trump is as a person. And I hope that can be avoided today.
You are right that these battles are best fought in a non-partisan way. As you point out, as soon as a debate is framed as Democrat vs Republican everyone's IQ drops by 50 points. I can say that progressive Laura Capps created a lasting impression as I watched her endure the comment section when opposition to the vaccine mandate for teachers was brought up to the school board. There were so many signed up for the public comment section that each was reduced to 90 seconds to make their case. Laura could not be less interested. She along with the other board members were clearly uninterested, fiddled with their computers, poked at their phones or filed their nails while people made the case against mandatory vaccination for teachers. Not a single question was asked, and the vote was unanimous to require vaccines. Although through legal means teachers were saved from termination we know now that the vaccines did nothing to prevent infection and spread. Is Laura Capps humbled in any way? It seems that our progressive supervisors are driven by ideology to support destructive policy without understanding or caring what the larger impact is. And past failure in no way tempers their ideology.
Excellently put. Love your description of Miss Laura. When I do the girl thing of analyzing her psychology - growing up with a father who presented himself as a saint but was more of a freeloading con artist - empathy was not probably something she was taught to feel on a real level. Did she at least give you “I feel your pain and I like it” smile?
Thank you Andy for yet again, exposing the malfeasance of the progressive left. Yes, this terrible trio is at it again. And yet, Das Williams has been shown the door by the voters. I guess he’s still trying to remain relevant? Interesting how these leftists are trying to control three critical chock points of our economy, namely; energy, food production and wages. Voters need to send a clear message to Williams…bud out! As a lame duck, it would be much less costly if he just sat on his hands until he can go back to van life!
Sure, control food production, energy to harvest it and the wages to pick it, and you in essence, control society! I don’t think this is by accident.
As with automation in the fast food industry, crops could someday be harvested by robots! Yes, work all day and night, no issues with immigration and a fraction of the cost.
I find it interesting the recent news of the “Chumash Marine Sanctuary,” which is consistent with what these three lefties have in mind…total control! Yes, this all plays into our food supply by virtue of controlling commercial fishing. No doubt the Sierra Club was part of this massive seizure of our Federal waters! That’s right, float this idea of giving control of Federal land to a people of color, so any real criticism can be deflected as racism. Then have allies from the environmental movement oversee it! The perfect land grab!
The war on energy continues to erode our standard of living. High fuel prices, resulting in high food prices…surprise! Not to mention, the loss of royalty from shutting down energy production. This, at a time of massive deficits, unfunded liabilities, deferred maintenance and erosion of the tax base! What could possibly go wrong?
"High fuel prices, resulting in high food prices…surprise!" Today I noticed a new jar of almond butter has the consistency of soup. Bread slices are fewer and smaller size loaves. I think there's a lot of end-of-the-world "thinking" greed happening everywhere from product manufacturing to the product shelf. I believe stores have serious inflated prices, more than the so-called 2% profit margin often mentioned.
I have personal experience with most of the farm workers and what they do with their wages. 1) they want to be paid in cash, 2) the majority send the dollars to Mexico to support their families.......
So these 3 want to increase the cost of food locally, they want to further subsidize buying of property in Mexico on the back of the shoppers....?????
But heck that is ok, I have a roundabout and failed bulbout to sell these 3.
My experience has been that workers who want to be "paid in cash" are not here legally, so have no way to open a bank account where they can deposit a check, so their employer should probably go to jail. Are you suggesting that instead of sending the money to support their families in Mexico, that they should instead bring their families here? How do they do that if we "Close the Border"? What impact would that have on housing and local schools? Do you have an issue with "subsidizing" "big oil" by driving a vehicle that gets less than 28/mpg instead of one that gets almost twice that much?
Brilliant question, SS. What impact would closed borders have on local housing and schools?
The housing crisis would obviously be solved and schools would have much smaller class sizes. While the Prop 98 automatic school funding would no longer be diluted to serve illegal residents on top of local legal residents.
State runs well over a $24 billion NET loss every year ** providing state services to those here illegally. You are right to ask for a pro forma on just those two issues: housing and school impact.
Please encourage Gregg Hart and Monique Limon to provide the most current, and independently verifiable numbers on this topic..
No SS, guest worker permits do not allow any one other than the permitted individual to work here temporarily. You raised a false flag. Why?
Illegals do open bank accounts and readily use US wire services to transfer their untaxed dollars out of the country. It is not just the scofflaw employer who plays a role in this current scam.
One would hope the FBI was paying as much attention to this massive wealth transfer out of the US, as they played, guns drawn, to Melania’s underwear drawers.
20 million 'newcomers' need to work? How about our people? The 'newcomers', (illegal alien law-breakers), should be run out of the the U.S. and apply for legal status the right way.
I agree on deportation. I was responding to S.S. who seems to be in favor of open borders yet says that employers should go to jail for hiring an illegal.
I thought J. Livingston answered SS perfectly. Close the border and the housing shortage will be solved. I'm just relieved that there hasn't been a ton of Orange Man Bad hijacking of the conversation today. But I'm still getting some guy on a comment from days ago where he wouldn't let it go, still saying I don't know how bad Trump is.
Yesterday I was so tired of the TDS brigade I thought about not coming here any more. If you answer them, they don't listen and if you don't answer them their anti-Trump stuff sits there looking for new readers of SB Current like I agree. I truly don't know what they get out of this.
Polly, start by assuming they are government employee union operatives, who reasonably are very threatened by Trump’s government efficiency and accountability mandate voters are insisting he carry out. Until they prove differently and stop responding with their hive mind …yada..yada…yada exact same talking points.
It is always some variation of OrangeManBad, and you are a bad person if you support him.
I figure they're operatives because the regular people I know with TDS wouldn't sully themselves by coming onto SB Current … the misinformation is rampant here, you know! Btw, our friend Jim Kunstler's brilliant today.
The endless cycle continues for the Demos. Each election cycle they find a new "freebie," that is paid for by others, to offer potential voters. The problem is after they grant it, the recipients then feel it is right, so for the next election the Demos have to create yet another "freebie." Over decades this compounding undermines free enterprise.
The county supervisors are probably in cahoots with the Bill Gates-type mega farmers. Put the small family famer out of business with having to pay higher worker wages and in comes the mega farmer to buy their land. And of course, the county supervisors get a cut from the mega farmer. I've contacted the FBI, but from my personal experience the FBI works closely with Democratic Cities and may not be of any value as far as looking into any criminal activity going on. The Feds want to control the food.
ANY candidate who promises free anything—must be rejected out of hand, immediately and soundly. We already have several in our Santa Barbara city council race. The former Lady Bountiful type candidates, offering only unfunded voter bribes must be seen instantly as freaking crazy today.
Question for anyone who might be better-informed than I am: Does the county really have the right — or ability, or whatever — to mandate a minimum wage for area workers? Silly me, I’d have thought that that power belonged only to the state or the federal government.
Andy, I'm reading that up to 75% of farm workers in CA are undocumented. Is this true? If so why/how are they being hired? Are there programs in place to fix this? I got the 75% number here - https://clc.ucmerced.edu/farmworker-health-study
The farmers are Democrats? Now I'm more confused. I was hoping the majority of workers were on some seasonal work permit program. But I think that assumption was wrong.
Democrats currently benefit directly by the creation of CVRA population based voting districts, rotten boroughs, where they easily harvest the few legally registered voters in order to secure a full Democrat voting elected representative.
Teachers union membership grows with the increased demand illegal place on state K-12.
The year is 1975. Jimmy Carter is elected. The worst president until Biden that is along with the worst VP.
“sky-high inflation, debt, and deficits, not to mention the impacts of crime, energy costs, artificial water shortages, and the like.”
“much of this collective ignorance is willful.”
Hmmm, seems like old times. Willful destruction of the middle & lower class forcing women & kids into the workforce Forcing people into renting verse opening their own home.
Andy writes: "Why are food costs so high? ... the regulatory limits on production facilities...led our largest winery producer to move to another county."
Last time I checked, Andy, "wine" is not "food." If they are not making any money, why do we have so many vineyards? Does Andy still not understand that pesticides and chemical fertilizers have a long term negative impact on the environment, including surface and groundwater pollution?
We need farm workers to harvest the crops; farmworkers need an income that allows them to afford to rent a place to live and pay their bills. Perhaps Andy would support rent controls being imposed on rental housing in lieu of pay raises? That would benefit all the wage slaves, not just the farm workers. Perhaps a path to citizenship could be made available to farm workers in order to give them a voice to weigh in on such matters? Or, we could just continue to import "cheap labor" from Mexico to pad the profits of corporate farm shareholders while letting the "free market" continue to protect the profitability of rental housing as "affordable housing" continues to disappear.
Margaret Thatcher is not that great of a leader though conservativess love to idolize her, her embrace of market liberalism and her lack od regard for a moral economic system that prioritizes human dignity and welfare over capital is one of her biggest flaws. Some of her decisions which hurt both unions and welfare policies are also deeply upsetting to a truly traditionalist cause, her position reveals a lack of concern for the poor and the vunerable which is not in alignment with Chrisrian teaching - a state must uphold the loweest in society and labor and the dignity of work should be respected.
Thank you, Andy, you are one of the heroes of this beautiful, endangered city. I'm pleased you quote Friedrich Hayek who was the antithesis of Klaus Schwab, the economic self-proclaimed visionary our progressive officials vie to worship at Davos, when they can grift enough money from us taxpayers to spend a week in elite decadence at the WEF.
Progressives like Das Williams, Joan Hartmann and Laura Capps have been fought against in the past. One of the most famous battles, of course, was between Jane Jacobs and NYC urban planner Robert Moses, who wanted to run an expressway through lower Manhattan, thus obliterating the neighborhoods of SoHo, Greenwich Village, Tribeca. Jacobs won and her groundbreaking work The Death and Life of Great American Cities should be read by all Santa Barbarans.
I believe we can save Santa Barbara from this destruction. I think it's going to take a Jane Jacobs' like campaign, which was not run on party politics, but on the common interest and the love New Yorkers had for what Jacobs praises as real neighborhoods. I really like Andy's column because he doesn't make it a Republican versus Democrat fight. He shows it for what it is: a fight for ultimate control over us by the very people who should be working for our best interests.
I believe that most Santa Barbarans, regardless of their political party, would side with what Andy says. But the moment it becomes a Republican fight, the Dems here will attack the only way they can - through personal incrimination or using words like racist. This week I was dismayed and disgusted at how a couple of visitors here tried to turn discussion about Bonnie's important column on the city budget into them ranting about how awful Trump is as a person. And I hope that can be avoided today.
You are right that these battles are best fought in a non-partisan way. As you point out, as soon as a debate is framed as Democrat vs Republican everyone's IQ drops by 50 points. I can say that progressive Laura Capps created a lasting impression as I watched her endure the comment section when opposition to the vaccine mandate for teachers was brought up to the school board. There were so many signed up for the public comment section that each was reduced to 90 seconds to make their case. Laura could not be less interested. She along with the other board members were clearly uninterested, fiddled with their computers, poked at their phones or filed their nails while people made the case against mandatory vaccination for teachers. Not a single question was asked, and the vote was unanimous to require vaccines. Although through legal means teachers were saved from termination we know now that the vaccines did nothing to prevent infection and spread. Is Laura Capps humbled in any way? It seems that our progressive supervisors are driven by ideology to support destructive policy without understanding or caring what the larger impact is. And past failure in no way tempers their ideology.
Excellently put. Love your description of Miss Laura. When I do the girl thing of analyzing her psychology - growing up with a father who presented himself as a saint but was more of a freeloading con artist - empathy was not probably something she was taught to feel on a real level. Did she at least give you “I feel your pain and I like it” smile?
Thank you Andy for yet again, exposing the malfeasance of the progressive left. Yes, this terrible trio is at it again. And yet, Das Williams has been shown the door by the voters. I guess he’s still trying to remain relevant? Interesting how these leftists are trying to control three critical chock points of our economy, namely; energy, food production and wages. Voters need to send a clear message to Williams…bud out! As a lame duck, it would be much less costly if he just sat on his hands until he can go back to van life!
Sure, control food production, energy to harvest it and the wages to pick it, and you in essence, control society! I don’t think this is by accident.
As with automation in the fast food industry, crops could someday be harvested by robots! Yes, work all day and night, no issues with immigration and a fraction of the cost.
I find it interesting the recent news of the “Chumash Marine Sanctuary,” which is consistent with what these three lefties have in mind…total control! Yes, this all plays into our food supply by virtue of controlling commercial fishing. No doubt the Sierra Club was part of this massive seizure of our Federal waters! That’s right, float this idea of giving control of Federal land to a people of color, so any real criticism can be deflected as racism. Then have allies from the environmental movement oversee it! The perfect land grab!
The war on energy continues to erode our standard of living. High fuel prices, resulting in high food prices…surprise! Not to mention, the loss of royalty from shutting down energy production. This, at a time of massive deficits, unfunded liabilities, deferred maintenance and erosion of the tax base! What could possibly go wrong?
"High fuel prices, resulting in high food prices…surprise!" Today I noticed a new jar of almond butter has the consistency of soup. Bread slices are fewer and smaller size loaves. I think there's a lot of end-of-the-world "thinking" greed happening everywhere from product manufacturing to the product shelf. I believe stores have serious inflated prices, more than the so-called 2% profit margin often mentioned.
I have personal experience with most of the farm workers and what they do with their wages. 1) they want to be paid in cash, 2) the majority send the dollars to Mexico to support their families.......
So these 3 want to increase the cost of food locally, they want to further subsidize buying of property in Mexico on the back of the shoppers....?????
But heck that is ok, I have a roundabout and failed bulbout to sell these 3.
My experience has been that workers who want to be "paid in cash" are not here legally, so have no way to open a bank account where they can deposit a check, so their employer should probably go to jail. Are you suggesting that instead of sending the money to support their families in Mexico, that they should instead bring their families here? How do they do that if we "Close the Border"? What impact would that have on housing and local schools? Do you have an issue with "subsidizing" "big oil" by driving a vehicle that gets less than 28/mpg instead of one that gets almost twice that much?
Brilliant question, SS. What impact would closed borders have on local housing and schools?
The housing crisis would obviously be solved and schools would have much smaller class sizes. While the Prop 98 automatic school funding would no longer be diluted to serve illegal residents on top of local legal residents.
State runs well over a $24 billion NET loss every year ** providing state services to those here illegally. You are right to ask for a pro forma on just those two issues: housing and school impact.
Please encourage Gregg Hart and Monique Limon to provide the most current, and independently verifiable numbers on this topic..
**data from several years ago.
No SS, guest worker permits do not allow any one other than the permitted individual to work here temporarily. You raised a false flag. Why?
Illegals do open bank accounts and readily use US wire services to transfer their untaxed dollars out of the country. It is not just the scofflaw employer who plays a role in this current scam.
One would hope the FBI was paying as much attention to this massive wealth transfer out of the US, as they played, guns drawn, to Melania’s underwear drawers.
20 million 'newcomers' need to work? How about our people? The 'newcomers', (illegal alien law-breakers), should be run out of the the U.S. and apply for legal status the right way.
I agree on deportation. I was responding to S.S. who seems to be in favor of open borders yet says that employers should go to jail for hiring an illegal.
I thought J. Livingston answered SS perfectly. Close the border and the housing shortage will be solved. I'm just relieved that there hasn't been a ton of Orange Man Bad hijacking of the conversation today. But I'm still getting some guy on a comment from days ago where he wouldn't let it go, still saying I don't know how bad Trump is.
Agree.
Yesterday I was so tired of the TDS brigade I thought about not coming here any more. If you answer them, they don't listen and if you don't answer them their anti-Trump stuff sits there looking for new readers of SB Current like I agree. I truly don't know what they get out of this.
No! Don't quit Polly, you and I are the only ones here who have all the right answers! Tell the guy jammin' you to go jump in the lake! :)
Polly, start by assuming they are government employee union operatives, who reasonably are very threatened by Trump’s government efficiency and accountability mandate voters are insisting he carry out. Until they prove differently and stop responding with their hive mind …yada..yada…yada exact same talking points.
It is always some variation of OrangeManBad, and you are a bad person if you support him.
I figure they're operatives because the regular people I know with TDS wouldn't sully themselves by coming onto SB Current … the misinformation is rampant here, you know! Btw, our friend Jim Kunstler's brilliant today.
https://jameshowardkunstler.substack.com/p/beep-beep
The endless cycle continues for the Demos. Each election cycle they find a new "freebie," that is paid for by others, to offer potential voters. The problem is after they grant it, the recipients then feel it is right, so for the next election the Demos have to create yet another "freebie." Over decades this compounding undermines free enterprise.
A truism in government: once something is offered “for free” it can never be taken away.
The county supervisors are probably in cahoots with the Bill Gates-type mega farmers. Put the small family famer out of business with having to pay higher worker wages and in comes the mega farmer to buy their land. And of course, the county supervisors get a cut from the mega farmer. I've contacted the FBI, but from my personal experience the FBI works closely with Democratic Cities and may not be of any value as far as looking into any criminal activity going on. The Feds want to control the food.
ANY candidate who promises free anything—must be rejected out of hand, immediately and soundly. We already have several in our Santa Barbara city council race. The former Lady Bountiful type candidates, offering only unfunded voter bribes must be seen instantly as freaking crazy today.
History does repeat itself. Because people as a whole have short memories and are ignorant of the world around them.
Ignorance is bliss.
Democrats have created a police force of “Karens” to enforce their destruction and willful law breaking and destruction of the constitution.
The Karen’s have no idea they are pawns and that they are ignorant.
Excellent and sensible column.
Question for anyone who might be better-informed than I am: Does the county really have the right — or ability, or whatever — to mandate a minimum wage for area workers? Silly me, I’d have thought that that power belonged only to the state or the federal government.
Andy, I'm reading that up to 75% of farm workers in CA are undocumented. Is this true? If so why/how are they being hired? Are there programs in place to fix this? I got the 75% number here - https://clc.ucmerced.edu/farmworker-health-study
Illegals are supposed to be cheap labor.
Reality they are slave labor.
Houses on the plantations and kept away from the Citizens.
Speaking their native languages and not integrating into American Society.
They are Imported via underground railroads in squalor and dangerous conditions like slaves of the old days.
But the Democratic Party is the party of slave owners. Not much has changed.
They are voluntary labor. Period.
The farmers are Democrats? Now I'm more confused. I was hoping the majority of workers were on some seasonal work permit program. But I think that assumption was wrong.
Democrats currently benefit directly by the creation of CVRA population based voting districts, rotten boroughs, where they easily harvest the few legally registered voters in order to secure a full Democrat voting elected representative.
Teachers union membership grows with the increased demand illegal place on state K-12.
The year is 1975. Jimmy Carter is elected. The worst president until Biden that is along with the worst VP.
“sky-high inflation, debt, and deficits, not to mention the impacts of crime, energy costs, artificial water shortages, and the like.”
“much of this collective ignorance is willful.”
Hmmm, seems like old times. Willful destruction of the middle & lower class forcing women & kids into the workforce Forcing people into renting verse opening their own home.
Andy writes: "Why are food costs so high? ... the regulatory limits on production facilities...led our largest winery producer to move to another county."
Last time I checked, Andy, "wine" is not "food." If they are not making any money, why do we have so many vineyards? Does Andy still not understand that pesticides and chemical fertilizers have a long term negative impact on the environment, including surface and groundwater pollution?
We need farm workers to harvest the crops; farmworkers need an income that allows them to afford to rent a place to live and pay their bills. Perhaps Andy would support rent controls being imposed on rental housing in lieu of pay raises? That would benefit all the wage slaves, not just the farm workers. Perhaps a path to citizenship could be made available to farm workers in order to give them a voice to weigh in on such matters? Or, we could just continue to import "cheap labor" from Mexico to pad the profits of corporate farm shareholders while letting the "free market" continue to protect the profitability of rental housing as "affordable housing" continues to disappear.
Silly response. Guest worker permits cover all your bogus concerns. Why are you being intentionally inflammatory instead of pragmatic.
Good question, J. I was wondering the same thing about Stephen's comment.
Margaret Thatcher is not that great of a leader though conservativess love to idolize her, her embrace of market liberalism and her lack od regard for a moral economic system that prioritizes human dignity and welfare over capital is one of her biggest flaws. Some of her decisions which hurt both unions and welfare policies are also deeply upsetting to a truly traditionalist cause, her position reveals a lack of concern for the poor and the vunerable which is not in alignment with Chrisrian teaching - a state must uphold the loweest in society and labor and the dignity of work should be respected.
The land grab continues a scripted and planned
big ag take over we must support our local farms and not big Ag - Food Freedom is a nation wide movement and every dollar matters so let’s
keep it local!!!