Category Archives: failed state

Two months after Los Angeles fires, guess how many permits have been issued in Palisades

America’s Worst Governor: Gavin Newsom

The criminal mismanagement by democrat politicians resulted in nearly 12,000 structures being burned earlier this year in wildfires. Over 5,300 structures were destroyed in the Palisades Fire.

After the fires, Governor Newsom vowed to clear red tape for rebuilding. The governor signed an executive order to suspend portions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the California Coastal Act for fire victims planning to start over with their homes or businesses. He told NBC:

I’m worried about time to getting these projects done. And so we want to fast-track by eliminating any CEQA requirements. Any Coastal Act changes that we’re making. I want to make sure when someone rebuilds that they have their old property tax assessments and that they’re not increased.”

After returning from a trip to Ghana while her city burned, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued an executive order to “to clear the way for Los Angeles residents to rapidly rebuild the homes they lost in the ongoing firestorm and lays the foundation for businesses to plan their rebuild.”

How do you think things are going in that area with regards to rebuilding? About as well as one could have predicted. From KABC:

“More than two months after the Palisades Fire, only four permits had been issued as of Monday for homeowners to rebuild their properties — a low figure that one Los Angeles city councilmenber said was “concerning.”

Residents in the Palisades Fire zone are trying to figure out how to move forward, but there are several obstacles in the way — including the city’s permitting process and L.A.’s looming budget deficit.

Mayor Karen Bass hired a private consulting firm to oversee the recovery effort. The contract with Hagerty Consulting is worth $10 million. Some councilmembers say that raises questions.

“We have city departments who know how to do this recovery, who have been involved in recovery efforts in the past,” Councilmember Monica Rodriguez told ABC7. “And yet they can’t be afforded the opportunity to hire the personnel that they need, but we can give a $10 million contract to an outside agency to help write a report for us.”

Read the whole story here.

At this rate, it will take over fifty years to rebuild that area.

DCG

Oakland, California opens largest abortion clinic in U.S.

The city of Oakland in the S.F. Bay Area of failed blue state California is already notorious for its crime-ridden streets and its corrupt mayor. See DCG’s post, “Decades of democrat leadership on display in Oakland, CA.”

Now, Oakland is hellbent on sinking even lower.

California Catholic Daily reports that the largest abortion clinic ever just opened for business in Oakland:

The Planned Parenthood abortion business is opening its largest abortion business ever. The massive facility will be located in Oakland, California and could kill babies in abortions up to birth.

Located at 1400 Broadway, the Planned Parenthood Mar Monte Barbara Lee Oakland Health Center opened its doors on December 17 with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony scheduled for February 1, 2025.

Planned Parenthood officials expect it will be able to kill thousands of babies. The opening of the Oakland center is seen as a strategic move to attract more abortion customers coming to the Bay Area on flights from pro-life states for abortions.

The health center is named in honor of Congresswoman Barbara Lee, a radical abortion activist who never voted pro-life. Lee was delighted an abortion center that kills children will be named after her.

In a statement, Lee expressed her gratitude, stating, “To have a Planned Parenthood health center with my namesake is a great honor, and one I do not take lightly.”

The opening comes on the heels of the death of Cecile Richards, Planned Parenthood’s former president.

In the recently released 2022-2023 fiscal year annual report titled, “Above & Beyond,” Planned Parenthood states it performed 392,715 abortions. That means Planned Parenthood killed 1,075 babies in abortions every single day even though the abortion giant claims its main focus is merely “women’s health care.” In other words, Planned Parenthood kills 44 babies every hour.

“Above & Beyond” also shows that 34 percent of Planned Parenthood’s revenue, $699.3 million, comes from “government health services reimbursements and grants,” or taxpayer dollars.

Thank God for President Trump who, on Jan. 24, signed an executive order reinstating the Mexico City Policy which forbids using taxpayer dollars to fund nongovernmental organizations that perform or promote coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization. (Fox News)

~E

More Saturday Night Memes

~E

California Secession approved for signature gathering

CBS News reports, Jan. 24, 2025, that a new effort to place a measure on the ballot that would ask California voters to approve the state’s secession from the U.S. has been cleared for signature gathering.

The measure, introduced by Marcus Evans of Fresno, must receive at least 546,651 signatures from registered voters, which is 5% of total votes cast for governor in the 2022 election, by this July 22.

According to the text of the measure, the state would be required to create a 20-member state commission, picked at random by the Secretary of State, to study California’s viability as an independent country in 2027 and to publish a report the following year.

The measure would also place the following question on the November 2028 ballot: “Should California leave the United States and become a free and independent country?”

If the ballot question is approved, which would require at least 50% voter participation and 55% voting “yes,” the proposal would declare a “vote of no confidence in the United States of America”, but would not change the state’s government or its relationship with the U.S. The measure would also call for the removal of the U.S. flag from all state buildings.

According to a fiscal analysis from the Legislative Analyst’s office, the measure would cost the state $10 million in election-related costs and to form the new commission, along with $2 million in annual costs to operate the commission.

Evans has been part of other initiative campaigns calling for the state to secede, including a proposal following Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential election. Evans said their movement has a better chance compared to eight years ago. “We believe that now is the best time to Calexit – NOW we are better situated to make Calexit happen than in 2016,” he said.

UPDATE:

The San Diego County-based Independent California Institute  has released a new poll purporting that more than 60% of Californians agree that they “would be better off California if peacefully seceded from the U.S. at some point in the next 10 years.” (Source: CalMatters, Jan. 24, 2025)

~E

Place your bets: How long will it take to re-build the burned downed areas of California?

The California citizens affected by the fires are in for a world of hurt.

While fires continue to burn more than a week later after the Palisades fire, residents are trying to return to their residences to find the fate of their homes and possessions.

With more than 12,000 structures destroyed, AccuWeather estimates the cost of rebuilding is expected to be between $250 billion and $275 billion. No doubt rebuilding will take years, if not over a decade, due to cleanup, insurance claims processing, the amount of materials and labor required, and, of course, bureaucracy.

On January 12, Governor Newsom on Sunday issued an executive order aimed at cutting red tape for rebuilding efforts in the wake of the deadly Los Angeles County wildfires.

The order suspends regulations under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to allow people to rebuild their destroyed or damaged properties faster. Newsom’s office said the governor is also directing state agencies to find more ways to suspend permit requirements to help speed up rebuilding efforts.

Three days later, the Los Angeles Department of Public Health issued their own order prohibiting cleanup or removal of fire debris at fire damaged and burned properties located in Critical Fire Areas until a hazardous materials inspection is completed by an approved government agency.

If you thought residents were let down by the criminal mismanagment of their democrat politicians who enabled this inferno, just wait until they attempt to rebuild.

Their “California dream” is gone due to decades of incompetence and deriliction to provide even the most basic services. As residents seek even the first chance to cleanup, they are going to be met with bureaucracy. And that will happen at every step they take to obtain permits and rebuild.

Place your bets as to how long it will take for this area to recover. Or, place your bets as to how many packup and leave this mismanaged state.

DCG

WA State wants to punish gun owners who have firearms stolen

When Seattle was safe…

I grew up in Washington State and moved to a red state over a decade ago.

The most populas county (King, where I grew up) was a decent and safe place growing up. As teens we would go downtown to the Seattle Center and run around by ourselves (go on the rides, monorail, etc.) with no incidents.

Fast forward after decades of democrat control and Washington state (and their most populas counties) are no longer safe.

Last September, a 2023 FBI crime data report showed that for the last five consecutive years when comparing Washington state to the national average, murders are 408% higher, vehicle thefts higher by 144%, and burglaries, robberies, and aggravated assaults are all higher since 2019.

Governor Jay Inslee (first elected in 2013, out of office as of this month) enacted some of the strictest gun control laws during his tenure in Washington state.

But for democrat gun grabbers, it is never enough. Now the demorats in the state legisltature are proposing even stricter gun storage laws and if your firearm is stolen because you didnt store it according to their mandate, one could face very stiff penalties.

From MyNorthwest:

“A new bill aimed at curbing rising gun thefts throughout the state has been drawn up for lawmakers to mull and debate in the Washington Legislature.

House Bill 1152 proposes specific requirements for storing a legally owned firearm for gun owners (they would have to store their firearms in a hard case or lock the trigger in a soft case) and significant penalties if the gun is stolen. The owner of a gun that becomes stolen could face a $1,000 fine, and if the thief who stole the firearm is someone who legally cannot own a gun and commits a violent crime with said gun, the gun owner could be charged with a separate felony.

“For example, in your vehicle, if you have to have the pistol, it has to be stored and unloaded in a container that’s opaque, locked, hard-sided and fixed to the vehicle. It has to be concealed and your vehicle has to be locked. If it’s a rifle or a shotgun, it needs to be stored in a soft-sided case and have a trigger lock,” Andrew Lanier, producer of “The Gee and Ursula Show,” said on the show. “Now, if that gun is stolen, you can be liable for a fine of up to $1,000 if it is not secured. If someone steals that gun, it is a misdemeanor.

“If someone who’s not allowed to own a gun, say, a felon or a minor, steals it and gets possession, it is a gross misdemeanor,” Lanier continued in his explanation of the proposed bill. “If someone not allowed to have a gun gets your gun and commits a crime with it, say, for example, someone holds up to 7-Eleven, now it becomes a felony if your stolen gun that was unsecured was used in a crime that hurts someone else. And I need to point out a Class C felony is up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. I don’t think you would get that much, but it would also mean that you’re a felon and no longer allowed to own a gun.”

Read the whole article here.

Democrats have been doing their best to implement “backdoor” laws that limit gun ownership. They will do everything they can to punish legal gun owners in hopes of eliminating the Second Amendment.

Loved ‘ya growing up, Washington. Sad to say I will never move back to that once beautiful state.

I will stay put in my red state of Oklahoma. Our residents and politicians would never tolerate such an infringement upon our Second Amendment right. Which is just how I like it. Course the only drawback to living in Oklahoma is dealing with this:

DCG

2 days after Golden Globes mocked God came the L.A. inferno

Even if you’re an atheist, why would you stoop to mocking God?

Remember the French philosopher-mathematician-physicist Blaise Pascal’s (1623-1662) “wager” argument for believing in or, at least, behaving like you believe in the existence of God?

Pascal reasoned that individuals should adopt a lifestyle consistent with the belief in the existence of God due to the potential outcomes. A rational person should believe in God because if God exists, the individual stands to gain immeasurably, such as an eternity in Heaven, while avoiding terrible consequences, notably an eternity in Hell. Conversely, if God does not exist, the individual incurs only finite losses of certain pleasures and luxuries.

Not content with mocking God, Golden Globes MC and unfunny comedienne Nikki Glaser then mocked the Pope.

Whatever you may think of the Roman Catholic Church, do you think Glaser would do the same skit mocking Islam? And, isn’t it interesting that mockers of Christianity (such as Glaser, Madonna, and Sinéad O’Connor) always elect to heap their scorn and mockery on the Catholic Church, but not on non-Catholic denominations?

This YouTube commenter says it well:

And here’s what happened to others who openly mocked God:

~E

No empathy: Biden boasts about great-granddaughter while L.A. burns

Senile-in-Chief Joe Biden was in fire-ravaged Southern California on Jan. 8, 2025, to sign a disaster declaration alongside failed Gov. Gavin Newsom, but Biden used the somber occasion to share what he called “good news.”

During the briefing, Biden announced that he is now a great-grandfather. “The good news is, I’m a great-grandfather as of today,” the 82 year old told reporters. “I’ll remember this day for a lot of reasons.”

He then appeared to mix up the gender of the newborn before declining to take questions from the press. Biden was reportedly at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in L.A. for the birth in the morning before attending the fire briefing. (Source)

Meanwhile, on Jan. 9, following last week’s $2.5 billion to Ukraine, Biden sends another $500 million to Ukraine while L.A. burns. That’s priority for ya.

~E

Los Angeles inferno from criminal mismanagement by Democrat politicians

This is an excellent video by a foreign (Australian) news source because our MSM or legacy media are corrupt.

Elections have consequences

This was how Los Angeles County voted in the November 2024 election (source):

In the 2018 gubernatorial election, Los Angeles County voted for Gavin Newsom by 80-90% (source). Newsom Cut Roughly $150 Million From Wildfire Prevention Budget In The Past

In 2022, Democrat Karen Bass was voted as mayor of Los Angeles by 54.83% (vs. 45.17% for Democrat Rick Caruso). (Source)

I weep for the pets and wildlife that are killed or injured in this wholly manmade inferno, the destruction of which is so mind-boggling it’s biblical in scale and ferosity.

~E

Decades of democrat leadership on display in Oakland, CA

Outsted Oakland demorat mayor Sheng Thao (left).

Oakland, California has been under demorat rule for decades. As a result, crime, homelessness, and overall decay is on the rise within the city.

Mayor Sheng Thao, who started her term in January 2023, was recalled this past November by nearly 65% of the voters. She leaves behind a mess of a city in which many are now calling a “zombie apocalypse.”

Thanks to feckless leadership, Oakland now has a massive graveyard of abandoned cars and illegal dumping. Check it out:

Abandoned cars along UPRR in Oakland.

From the Daily Mail:

Oakland likened to ‘zombie apocalypse movie’ thanks to horrifying trend

“Oakland has been compared to a ‘zombie apocalypse film’ as the crime-ridden city has seen a recent up-tick in a horrifying trend where abandoned cars are left along the Union Pacific Railroad. 

A massive ‘graveyard’ of ditched vehicles, including GMC and Ford pickup trucks, cargo vans, sedans and Chevrolet Tahoes have consumed the area for years, but recently, the problem has only grown worse

The area has been plagued by illegal dumping, leading officials and angry residents to speak up about the issue, which they say depicts a set from a ‘zombie apocalypse film,’ the San Francisco Chronicle reported. 

Oakland residents are determined to make the illegal dumping ground a high priority for the struggling city. Oakland officials, who have been trying to tackle the surging issue for some time now, told the outlet they don’t have access to enough resources to fight the trend. 

What’s more is there is an issue with the location of the dumped cars, as it is technically owned by multiple parties – Union Pacific, Caltrans and Alameda County.  Union Pacific said it previously cleaned up the area in November, and plans to clear the impacted spot out again next week, the Chronicle reported. Meg Siffring, a spokesperson for Union Pacific, told the outlet the company is currently ‘working on a plan’ with the county and city to clean up the cars. 

Meanwhile, the Oakland Police Department said they have towed stranded vehicles, arrested people and installed barriers to try to fight the rising trend. 

Despite the department’s best efforts, the police union said they can’t fully clear the slew of vehicles because towing abandoned cars in the city is a job for the transportation department.

Although they came in to help, Oakland Police Sgt. Tim Dolan said progress has decreased since the transportation department took over because of training requirements and a heavy workload

‘It’s mind-boggling,’ Dolan said. ‘It’s an ongoing issue. But it’s just gotten out of control over the last few years.’ 

The city previously implemented surveillance cameras in dumping hotspots in 2022 in a bid to catch those abandoning the cars and other items in the junkyards. A total of 457 incidents were caught on camera from April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024, but only 59 were given citations, the outlet reported. The city was unable to issue more citations because 23 percent of the vehicles did not have license plates on them.”

Read the whole story here.

City Councilmember Kevin Jenkins is the interim mayor until voters choose a new mayor in an April special election.

As of Monday, eleven candidates have filed campaign account paperwork to run for Oakland mayor in April, including former Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D), Johnny Gatlin, Wendy Adams, Tyron Jordan (D), Peter Liu (famous for his anti-semitic comments in a mass email), Mindy Pechenuk (a Trump supporter) Fabian Robinson (his Instagram profile shows him with Gavin Newsom), Derrick Soo, Elizabeth Swaney (an American who competed for Hungary in the 2018 Winter Olympics), Loren Taylor (D), Renia Webb (who has the endorsements of the founders of Moms Demand Action) and Larry Lionel Young Jr.

Choose wisely this time, Oakland:

DCG