Rebane's Ruminations

Scattershots – 24jun19 (updated 27jun19)

George Rebane

The Left wants nothing measured the public reporting of which it cannot control, or that goes against their established narrative.

Our intrepid progressive pundit and Union columnist George Boardman is all exercised in his ‘Double dipping at the public trough, in the spotlight, and just the facts’ published in the newspaper’s 24jun19 edition.  There he leaps off the rails to rail those double dipping Dahles, while totally missing the definition of double dipping as it pertains to government payees.  Megan Dahle plans to run for her husband Brian Dahle’s recently vacated California Assembly seat since winning his seat in the state’s Senate.  If Mrs Dahle wins, she will become the elected representative from her district, doing the work of an assemblyman, and on her own merits and efforts earning that position’s pay.  That having a second member of the family also performing an independent job in government is in no way double dipping, save it serve a distinctly progressive political narrative.  Apparently Mr Boardman misses that significant nuance that spouses of elected politicians are also individuals with a duplicate set of rights to independently seek employment and recompense as they see fit.  Ah, the bespoke blinders of the Left.  (On the same op-ed page see also Manny Montes’ commentary that helps explain Mr Boardman’s values.)

In the 24jun19 update to my ‘Drag Queen Story Hour’ commentary, I posited the following observation about cultures.

Peace and prosperity were generally maintained as long as such a governed society’s culture was allowed to evolve without obvious interdictions by government.  It is easy to see why this approach to organizing societies worked as long as the dominant culture was sufficiently cohesive.  A little reflection reveals that culture is able to inculcate and control the most complex sets of human behaviors, and allow their natural expressions in new environments/situations without having to write down a single law or regulation.  Behaviors (acceptable and unacceptable) are learned in the family and in the village square, and ‘enforced’ by the culture’s collective – i.e. everyone.

In searching for exceptions to the above, the Talmud of the Jewish diaspora occurred to me.  The Talmud is an extensive collection (or collections if you consider separately its Babylonian and Jerusalem parts) of Jewish civil and ceremonial law along with its ethnic legends.  It comprises quite a collection of volumes that painstakingly detail a comprehensive body of behaviors and processes permitted and proscribed to practicing Jews everywhere.  And ‘everywhere’ here is the key idea.  After the Romans destroyed their Jerusalem temple in 70AD, the Jews were driven from their traditional homelands, and found themselves spread all over Europe and northern Africa.

While always seeking to stick together wherever they found themselves, they were necessarily separated and for centuries mostly out of touch with other Jewish communities.  So how to retain, practice, and promulgate the culture that defined them and their very Jewishness when so dispersed?  The answer was through the formalization of their culture in written form, which, as I have often argued, requires many volumes to record, study, and teach.  The Talmud is thus the exception that highlights and supports my dissertations on the function and efficiency of cultures in prescribing normative behaviors within coherent populations.

[25jun19 update]  The lamestream outlets are exorcising President Trump for his new sanctions against individuals in the Iranian leadership.  Specifically, vindictive opprobrium is dished out at Trump’s sanctioning Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister and leading negotiator who has been our main point of contact in the sub-rosa diplomatic efforts between the two countries.  Their common wisdom is that now we have lost someone with whom we have been able to communicate.  What these pinheads and pundits miss is that the president has to include Zarif in the sanctions if he is to remain as our point of future contact.  Omitting Zarif’s obviously needed inclusion would have made him suspect among the raghead mullahs, and cost him his job or worse.

[26jun19 update] "Remarkably, a recent study cited in The Atlantic (gasp!) found that “the most politically intolerant Americans” tend be white, highly educated urban progressives. ... Long ago, religious zealots embraced feudal ideals, but increasingly it’s the ultra-secular progressives who reprise the role of Medieval Inquisitors."  Whoulda thought?  (H/T to reader)

[27jun19 update] Photo journalism at its worst as far as providing information to impact public policy - that is conveyed by the photo of the drowned father and his toddler daughter floating face down at the water’s edge (here).  This emotional picture drives all reason and logic from viewers’ uncritical minds; whatever narrative you want to connect with that image will now be taken as God’s truth about illegal border crossings, immigration, President Trump’s border security policies, … .  No one will consider factors such as the abnormally low death rate that is connected with illegal border crossings per se – illegal aliens die before getting to the border, and a few die after successfully entering the US, but given the circumstances, the death rate is mercifully low.  How do we know?  Had there been any previous border crossing deaths, crack photo journalists would have had such pictures posted and published in every imaginable outlet all over the globe.  Fortunately, that is not the case.  I do note that the father did a very foolish and deadly thing by stuffing his daughter into his t-shirt, thus guaranteeing the toddler’s death should he not be able to stay afloat with that ungainly load in the roiling waters.  In any event, now we are guaranteed another spate of public policies based on emotion and the absence of reason.

Democrats continue to dramatically disrespect and discount the intellect of their base and those voters they desire to attract.  A particularly specious attractant their presidential candidates are using is their promise to forgive student debt.  They are betting that their supporters will be like the now-infamous video clip of an Obama voter who believed that all the promised goodies she received would be paid for out “the President’s stash”.  OPM continues to be the salve Democrat elites will use to fix everything that ails us if you just give them your vote.  Michael Solon in the 27jun19 WSJ adds to the obvious when he writes - Debt forgiveness punishes those who did the right thing, made sacrifices, and acted wisely and frugally, as well as those who simply didn’t have the opportunity to go to college. Isn’t this the sort of private gain at public expense that people on the left claim to abhor? … Such forgiveness would also eliminate a quality-control device that drives students to ensure their investment can be monetized to cover their costs. A student who borrows must make sure his future earnings will be enough to pay off the loans. If that incentive disappears, with free debt or free college, the graduate and the nation would suffer economically.  (Also see my ‘Student Loan Scam Solution’)

‘Drag Queen Story Hour’ (updated 24jun19)

George Rebane

Yes, that is the advertised name of the event in public libraries, including our own, during which a man, who dresses and wears make-up to look like a woman, will gather children ages 3-8 around him and read them stories.  Our 21jun19 Union reports (here) on the program and the community’s reaction.  Therein we hear Supervisor Heidi Hall extoll of overwhelming public support for the program, and assert that “naturally open and curious” children in that age bracket will be “better off” when they “see that the world is a big place with a lot of variety.”  And some supporters even feel that such a ‘flaunting display of sexuality’ will be of special benefit to young boys who “could use a little bit of help in growing up and not being jerks.”

Here I want to record my reaction to this most visible evidence of the recent years’ rapid transformation of what was our culture.  It has been a long-enduring intention and objective of our country’s progressives to convince Americans that what we formerly considered as aberrant should now be seen as just another aspect of an accepted and embraced ‘normal’ in our society.  In this case, we should not look askance, let alone discourage, a young boy traipsing around in his mother’s dress and heels.  And even more so when he wishes to expose this different mode of expression on days he goes to school wanting to feel like a girl.

Rich Ulery – CA escapee writes

[Rich Ulery was a longtime resident of Nevada County.  As a professional realtor Rich found time to give generously to the community through various leadership positions he held in civic organizations.  He also served as the chairman of the NC Republican Central Committee.  Rich and his bride are among the great exodus from California, having pulled up stakes and moving to Arizona last year.  I post Rich’s email as received by permission.  gjr]

Hi George,

I read that Nevada County supervisors just approved the 2019-20 budget of $258 million. While I understand the difficulty of comparing two different county budgets in two different states, I do find it interesting that Pima County, Arizona is wrestling with the approval of its $1.4 billion budget. Pima County has slightly more than 10 times the population of Nevada County, meaning that it costs Nevada County taxpayers almost 2X what it costs Pima County taxpayers to operate the county government. 

Certainly, the impact of Federal and State mandates and differing demographics will pollute this comparison. There are also cost of living considerations, although I will assure you that Nevada County COL is not double Pima County -- not even close. I will also assure you that Pima County has negligible unfunded pension liabilities. I suspect Nevada County is still hovering close to $200 million.

I'm not sure what conclusions, if any, to draw from this, but I found it at least intriguing.

Rich Ulery

 

Is Nevada County’s Broadband Leadership AWOL?

Russ Steele

How embarrassing to have a nationally known industry observers conclude that political leadership in your community is an allusive mirage when it comes to building out critical broadband infrastructure.  And, then publishing the details in a well-received book. 

First, these leaders do not seem to grasp the economics of having robust broadband (BB). They do not consider high-speed Internet as one of the essential infrastructure utilities such as water, power, sewer, and transportation. Broadband has gone from nice to have to must-have status. Local leaders still think broadband is nice to have-not critical economic infrastructure. 

Yes, Nevada County’s Supervisors and City Council Members supported Spiral at the CPUC meetings, but only after a significant bit of cajoling by local BB entrepreneur John Paul and some encouragement from SEDCorp's Brent Smith.  As reported here previously, Susan Crawford, an independent observer, did not find much evidence of strong community leadership:

"Laissez-faire is not working for rural America, particularly in areas like Nevada City/Grass Valley where the local authorities are uninterested in intervening to ensure that their people have communications capacity."

". . .one of the key reasons that both Greensboro and Grass Valley/Nevada City are making such slow progress toward any flavor of publicly oriented Fiber is that there is no prominent public leader willing to stand behind it."

Nevada County, the Black Hole of Broadband (updated 9jun19)

George Rebane

[This is the addended transcript of my regular KVMR commentary broadcast on 29 May 2019.  A slightly edited version of this piece was published in The Union's 1jun19 print edition and also online here.]

Broadband connectivity to the internet is fundamental to the economic growth of every community in America.  And it is doubly critical for the economic development, if not survival, of small rural communities off the beaten path like Nevada County.  However, that truth has yet to be embraced by our local governments.  In fact, there are many of us who adamantly oppose the availability of broadband in these foothills for the simple reason that they are opposed to everything that promotes growth in our county, be it in housing, new or expanding businesses, or anything that invites more working families to locate here.

Scattershots – 6may19 (updated 9may19)

It is the ultimate fantasy that we can live our lives, or at any rate live them in peace and contentment with each other, without ever having to share a common reality. - James Bowman

George Rebane

An example of fake news.  Apple News is a very comprehensive news website for Mac, iPad, and iPhone users, one that allows you to customize with your interests, and then augments the format with your viewing history – in short, it snoops in your user sessions.  Recently it included a piece from the National Geographic reporting on the military marine mammal programs of Russia and US (here).  I was a bit astounded that almost everything they reported on the US program was either false or grossly misleading.  Full disclosure – I and my company spent years supporting the US Navy’s marine mammal (and other animal) R&D programs as their analytical support team doing the heavy lifting in the math, data analysis, and systems design work.

The 6may19 Union’s op-ed has two pieces from our favorite leftwing columnists, Dr Milan Vodicka (search RR) and, of course, Mr George Boardman.  Dr Vodicka delivered one of his trademark muddled sermons on the joys of socialism (not posted yet).  There he attempted to augment Bertand Russell’s three factors motivating human behavior with a fractured taxonomy that makes absolutely no sense to the careful reader, and then went on to celebrate the free nationalized healthcare systems found in EU countries.  In the latter, he drinks the kool-aid by the gallon, and evinces no understanding of the realities that obtain.  Mr Boardman presents a good critique of the Republican California Senate candidates Assemblymen Dahle and Kiley, and then blows a tire describing the Democrat Audrey Denny attempting unseat Congressman LaMalfa (here).  Without so much as a smidgen of qualification or sourcing, he tells the reader that the Green New Deal is “a sweeping national plan to zero-out emissions and provide clean energy and infrastructure jobs to millions.”  Apparently, our columnist continues to have trouble distinguishing between objectives and plans, and reports the GND as actually being a plan.  Regardless, objectives or plans, It has a snowball’s chance in hell of accomplishing anything touted.

[7may19 update]  Spying v. Surveillance.  I don’t know why this is so difficult for the media talking heads to resolve (those on FN, not the lamestream whose agenda is known).  A nation’s law enforcement agency does surveillance (on an individual, group, organization) when the target of such intelligence gathering involves a domestic issue/parties that does NOT involve the presumed culpability of a foreign government.  That same agency conducts a spying operation when it seeks to gather intelligence on a matter that does involve a foreign government.  To infiltrate a domestic gang, you send in an 'undercover agent'; to surveil or infiltrate foreign government operations, you employ/send in 'spies'. That is the way we have successfully defined spying v. surveillance for generations.  Since Obama’s FBI et al were convinced from the gitgo that Team Trump was in cahoots with Russia, their surreptitious intelligence gathering efforts were clearly spying.

[8may19 update]  Upcoming tariffs increase on Chinese goods this Friday (10may19) is supposed to be in retaliation for the Chinese reneging on parts of the two countries’ established trade agreements and/or the progress made in the current negotiations.  And there’s a big debate on whether President Trump is doing the right thing with this retaliation.  The debate would be moot if the administration just published the details of China’s renege.  I don’t know why the big secret in not putting it out for all to see and judge for themselves as to the relative magnitudes of the offense vs the response.  Everyone involved in such negotiations around the world already knows what has gone down; the only ones ignorant who will be affected by it all are the people of China and America.  I can understand the communists keeping their people in the dark (it’s their nature), but I can’t see why our government also keeps us in the dark.

AG Barr will be held in contempt of a Democrat House, and that is again denigrating the intelligence of their own constituents – why?  Simply because they can.  They know that in the aggregate, Democrat voters have little or no idea how our government works or what the laws are, and they overwhelmingly consume media outlets that cynically keep them in the dark.  The rest of us know that AG Barr is under no legal imperative to release any of the Mueller report to anyone, or to even reveal its main contents/conclusions – why?  Because the special prosecutor came up with nothing with which to prosecute anyone.  (He diddled away the people’s money on a self-serving sideshow nailing individuals on process crimes, people who had nothing to do with his commissioned charter, and then wrote the best anti-Trump political blueprint that he could.)  Now scumbag Nadler is going to up it a notch and hold Barr in contempt for not releasing information that is against the law for him to release - please reread this.  And none of it has anything to do with Congress’ oversight function for legislative purposes.  Moreover, the whole thing is a total bag of bullcrap that Democrats are dealing out to their know-nothings as part and parcel of the Big Lie – i.e. anything it will take to defeat Trump in 2020.

[9may19 update] Well boys and girls, your humble host has now visited a genuine, legal pot shop.  A good friend (known to you all) with whom I often take lunch, took me on a tour of the Elevation 2477 cannabis dispensary in Nevada City.  The experience was quite remarkable.  We entered into an immaculate reception area at the end of which sat a uniformed security officer behind (bulletproof?) glass.  The room contained a nice couch and an abstract painting presumably abstracting some visions customers may enjoy after imbibing of the establishment’s offerings.  We were invited to the window to place our driver’s licenses against the glass to be scanned, and I being a newbie, was instructed to fill in a store “membership application”, studying the store’s rules, and then putting my John Hancock declaring that I understood everything.  My friend was already a member, so my joining up allowed us both to be ushered into the inner sanctum housing the stash.

The store itself was immaculately laid out with neat glass-cased counters displaying all the desiderata in various forms and at various concentrations of THC and CBD.  For the cognoscenti, this was no doubt a very inviting display as evinced by the palaver carried on between other customers and clerks, all of whom were very knowledgeable of both their products and the applicable legalese.  After getting some answers to my questions, my friend made a very modest purchase of probably their most benign SKU, and we made our way to the exit.  Then I noticed that the store’s walls each had a magnificent abstract painting cum mural on it, replicating their foyer and no doubt reinforcing visually the promises made by the cleverly named substances and concoctions.  As we left the premises, it occurred to me that I am now marked for life.

4 May 2019 - A Day of Auspicious Observances

George Rebane

Seventy years ago today, in the early hours of 4 May 1949, I stood on the rail of the troop carrier USS Harry Taylor (pictured) with my father, as the ship slid past the Statue of Liberty to dock at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.  That evening on a chicken farm near Plainfield, Connecticut began our new life in America.  The description of that auspicious day I recall in ‘Sixty Years Ago Today – 4 May 1949’.

Earlier today Jo Ann and I attended a farewell party for our friends Stan and Elaine Meckler.  They are the latest Californians who see no reason to stay in this state of galloping socialism, rapacious taxes, and a badly fractured society with dysfunctional values and no identifiable culture.  After the 2008 election we worked with the senior and junior Mecklers and a few other Nevada County families to found the Tea Party.  In the following years, their son Mark Meckler became the recognized co-founder and prominent national voice of the Tea Party.  Jo Ann and I are sad to see another family of friends disappear over the horizon to greener pastures.

And finally, this afternoon we also said good-bye to a long-time friend and poker buddy Gil Gray who died about six weeks ago.  Gil’s wife Dee asked me to deliver the eulogy at his celebration of life held at the Gold Miners Inn in Grass Valley.  Gil was a kind good-hearted person, and always a gentleman.  Gil’s passing marks for many of us a tragic 12-months, during which we now have lost three from our band of Brothers of the Green Felt, who attend monthly psychostochastic seminars around the beloved octagon, a tradition now in its 25^th year.

Scatteshots – 8apr19 (updated 10apr19)

George Rebane

Union columnist and RR reader George Boardman writes ‘High school cutbacks another consequence of our stagnant economy’ in today’s paper.  There he gets kudos for echoing the commentaries and comments on Nevada County schools and economic development that have long populated these pages over the years.  My preference is that he should have stated his case more strongly – Nevada County’s leftward tack has now baked in its previous on/off promotion of the county’s development in literally all dimensions, save being a welcoming home for progressive causes, non-profits, and ‘San Francisco values’.  The county has been and continues to be enthusiastically anti-development; and it subscribes in spades to Einstein’s dictum of insanity.  Our political leaderships’ latest foray in this direction is opposing the development of housing for our successfully retireds – major cash importers to our community - who want to move from their acreage homes to appropriately high-end, higher density local options that offer more readily accessible conveniences.  It seems that Mr Boardman’s own list to port prevents such a frontal assault on his brethren.  Then again, perhaps next time.

‘The Cultural Revolution comes to North America’ writes Anastasia Lin in the 8apr19 WSJ.  The Left in both the US and Canada has now been launching ‘call-out mobs’ whose “aim (is) not to persuade or debate, but to humiliate the target and intimidate other.”  Their main weapon is to paint their opponents with the broad brush of ad hoc labels whose meanings they either do not know or take to mean whatever they want it to mean as convenient.  Popular terms du jour are ‘racist’ and ‘white supremacist’.  One of the established intellectual leaders of the local blue mob is Steven Frisch, who has frequented these pages for years, distributing his opprobrium in RR comment streams when he finds anything that is too persuasive of a counter to his progressive mores, values, or narrative in general.  I am his favorite target and recipient of his latest offering a few days ago.  I use it as a concrete example of the cultural revolution Ms Lin describes – as they say, you can’t make this stuff up.

I know you think we are in a new crusade and Islam is going to take over the world; that brown people are a scourge on our country; that anything that addresses environmental or climate benefit is a UN and IPCC conspiracy to control the world; that there is growing threat of communism in the US; that young people are stupid and lazy; that we should be able to have communities where people of like culture live together without having to bothered by outsiders; that you were once wrote a column for a newsletter that featured a cover of the Völkischer Beobachter on their front cover, and I could go on...

 

Scattershots – 18mar19 (updated 21mar19)

George Rebane

Sen Liz Warren wants to reduce the size of big techs.  As we know, big corporations get that way and survive by practicing the fine art of corporatism.  That means essentially working with politicians and bureaucrats to buy competitive advantage through laws, regs, taxation, etc (all the ways that govt mangles markets) in exchange for contributing their monies through various channels to assure re-election success.  If Warren were an honest woman, she would know that corporations automatically resize themselves once you pull out the mechanisms of govt support.  IBM and GE discovered that for themselves.  There is nothing magical about big centrally controlled bureaucracies in the private sector being more efficient than the same organizational structures in government – both ultimately reach an inefficient size.  Corporations must suffer the uncompromising feedback from competitive markets, while governments – with the power of the gun – are immune to productive feedback and can keep on screwing up forever.  (more here)

TechTestJr 2019 was given on 5-6 March at the corporate campuses of AJA Video and Telestream (NC Tech Connection is also a corporate sponsor).  This year over 100 fifth through eighth graders took the STEM merit scholarship test which is sponsored and administered by the Sierra Economics and Science Foundation.  TTjr was launched eight years ago by Mr Mike McDaniel, and board member Mr David Pistone has been the director of TTjr for the last six years.  TechTest2019 for Nevada County juniors and seniors will be administered again this year on 30 March (9-1pm) in the NUHS Science Lecture Hall.  This is TT’s 13^th year as the county’s premier merit scholarship test for students heading for STEM majors in college.  The annual test is preceded by two seminars of which I gave the last one this past Saturday morning at NUHS.  (I have written the test and given these seminars since the beginning, and am now in the process of turning over the writing and reins of this project to younger turks.)  NUHS math teacher Mr Kevin Baker is the TT Academic Coordinator who will administer the test. (more here)

Union columnist George Boardman followed Clerk-Recorder and Registrar of Voters Greg Diaz off the rails with his 18mar19 column repeating the fake news with his “WHY DOES the Nevada County Tea Party want to discourage people from voting in the special election? Are they afraid the wrong Republican will win?”  This politically motivated error was covered in my last KVMR commentary, ‘Election Integrity – one more time’.  Mr Boardman’s insistence that he views our fables and follies “… from the center stripe” continues to bring a smile to those who can clearly see from which side of the road he continues to do his reporting.

[20mar19 update] Brainless Beto in the White House? Now there’s a jarring thought argued by David Marcus in The Federalist (here) “Beto O'Rourke looks a lot more like recent Democrats who won the White House than any other candidates. Don't underestimate him.”  And rubbing salt into such a wound, that lightweight promises to pick one of the Democrats’ female proto-communists as a running mate.  Can you imagine an O’Rourke/Warren or O’Rourke/Harris or … ticket?  Such a revoltin' possibility most certainly will cramp the cockles of me heart.

Reparations for blacks is on the Democrats’ marquee again.  All the usual collectivist congress critters are signing up for that proposal as a sure-fire way to insure the black vote in 2020.  Jason Riley asks “How can centuries-old oppression be to blame for problems that became sever only recently?” (here)  And no one dares mention the ‘reparations’ (e.g. Sec 8) that have been continually paid to blacks since the Great Society days, all to no avail as the Democrat mismanaged inner cities have become killing fields for drugs and crime, and home to millions of unmarried single moms trying to raise and educate their kids.  So we see once more how keeping them on the Democrats’ plantation works – they are always there, ready and willing, when their masters beckon with another manufactured social injustice.

[21mar19 update]  Democrats continue leftward march. The party is now starting to show some cracks as the more saner members try to put on the brakes.  In these parts the local lefties have been totally unaware of this massive ideological lurch which shifted into high gear under Obama.  These pages are replete with our leftwing commenters' arguments dunning the 'ignorance' of the conservative readers for not being aware that, according to their dim lights, the Dems have not moved, but it's been the Repubs who are drifting right.  This same knowledge base is amply reflected here in their other fractured assessments of the country's goings on.  Here' a hot flash for our lefties, the Repubs are also worried that their more mushy members are beginning to kowtow to the Dems' proto-communists. (more here)

Election Integrity - one more time

George Rebane

[This is the addended transcript of my regular KVMR commentary broadcast on 13 March 2019.]

We have a special election coming up to fill the state’s Senate seat for District #1.  Nevada County is in District #1 and election day is Tuesday March 26^th.  This special election has again raised concerns about who may and how should people be able to vote.  Mr Greg Diaz, Nevada County’ s Clerk-Recorder and Registrar of Voters has stepped into the dialogue in a highly partisan manner for someone holding a non-partisan office.

He gave an unfortunate interview in the 12mar19 Union (here) in which he falsely characterized Nevada County Tea Party’s position on voting, claiming “I can't have it when someone's telling people not to vote, or not to vote their vote-by-mail ballot”, and stating that “Their true intent: is to make it more difficult for folks to vote.”  These highly political charges are wrong on all counts, since the Tea Party actually supports the advice and counsel of California’s Election Integrity Project, and clearly says that on its website (here).

Quo Vadis Nevada County? (updated 8mar19)

George Rebane

Actually, Nevada County is going nowhere now that it has adopted ‘San Francisco values’ to contribute to the state’s new appellation as the ‘Far Left Coast’ described by Dr Charles Kesler, professor of government at Claremont McKenna College.  Our Democrat controlled state has seen a steady decline that has recently accelerated as a one-party state with super-majorities everywhere you look.  The last election gave us what can only be called Democrat hyper-majorities that are kicking our adoption of socialism into high gear.  Kesler observes –

The Democrats’ crushing dominance allows them to use California as a progressive policy laboratory. As a result, the state has the highest welfare numbers (a third of all Americans on welfare live in California), the largest contingent of illegal immigrants, a burgeoning homeless population, onerous regulations on business and private property, mediocre public schools, high income taxes (the highest marginal rate is 13.3%) and sales taxes, a yawning gap between rich and poor, its own summer blend of expensive gasoline, bedraggled and crowded roads to punish people further for driving, and a widely mocked high-speed rail boondoggle. (more here)

Not to be a laggard in the race to the Left, Nevada County progressives today are promoting programs that promise to put us at the bottom of the bottom in the state.  It appears that the only community-wide programs and policies we encourage are those designed to attract the poorest, most indigent, homeless, substance abusing, and least educated.  In the latter case the Nevada Joint Union High School District has announced that it will cut the last Advanced Placement Calculus course from its curriculum due to declining enrollment, explaining that "We are not trying to push students to move too fast in math, as the experts in the field have placed greater value in foundational algebraic skills."  According to Dan Frisella, NJUHSD Assistant Superintendent, “the state created new standards five years ago that put a higher emphasis on slowed progression in mathematics. The result was supposed to bring long-term success in the subject.” (more here)  Well, guess what? - their experts’ “result” ain’t doing no such thing; we are instead skidding downward according to state rankings.

Having worked with many of the county’s top STEM students for the last twelve years, I can confirm that the last concern NJUHSD should have is moving their students too fast in math.  The adoption of Common Core has dunned the state’s public education system in more ways than we can count and have covered in these pages.  The result of all this dumbing down of curriculum and tests is that grade school has become an extension of kindergarten, high school has become an extended grade school, and most lower division college curricula are now remediation high schools.  For students already here who desire to pursue STEM careers, they are being told to shift for themselves and find alternative educational outlets in order to find courses that prepare them for the higher education they need to compete in the job markets.

In the meantime, our leftwing political leadership in the county continues to tout their dedication to attracting businesses, high-tech, and middle-class families to these foothills.  However, what they actually promote are programs that “(divert) resources toward students in need of more help, which is a growing population, according to the district.  ‘Forty percent of our students come from low socio-economic status backgrounds, are English language learners, foster youth or homeless youth.’”  It is easy to see what kind of population the county is working to attract, and even easier to see how this cements a voting majority that will continue importing SF values and help insure the permanence of the Democrats’ hyper-majorities in Sacramento and across the state. 

Does any of this give anyone looking at Nevada County reasons why they would want to come here to start a cash-importing business or raise their family?

[8mar19 update]  It appears that the NJUHSD did not terminate the entire AP Calculus offering at NUHS.  The Union published this “clarification” on their website –

Clarification: The entire AP Calculus program was not cut. While AP Calculus BC was phased out at Nevada Union, AP Calculus AB is still ongoing.

However, given what Democrat-controlled Sacramento has done over the decades and continues to inflict on the Golden State, this rollback of STEM curriculum is still part and parcel of both the symptom and expression our state’s progressive disease.

As Nevada County stagnates and our remaining businesses bring in fewer dollars, the maintenance of our quality of life falls more and more on the tenuous tourist business and that silent cohort of resident retirees.  It is the retirees who so generously give of their time, talents, and treasure to support our community services, eateries and other local businesses, and cultural institutions by volunteering, serving on boards, and writing big checks.  And for that contribution to the community, these major cash importers and generous consumers are the same people who tread gently and require so little in return from our city and county governments.  Were these successfully retired residents to be driven out by the ever more visible SF values on our streets, alleys, and surrounding forests, there would be a run on 4x8 sheets of plywood.

Progressive Pilgrims’ Progress

George Rebane

My pal, fellow blogger, and comrade-in-arms for community connectivity and STEM education, Russ Steele wrote the following in the 11feb19 Union (here).

As a proponent of rural broadband, I often read recently published books and articles on broadband technologies.  I am currently reading Susan Crawford's book, "Fiber: The Coming Tech Revolution — and Why America Might Miss It." I was surprised by the depiction of Nevada City and Grass Valley as failed communities in their quest for broadband fiber networks with quotes like these:

"Laissez-faire is not working for rural America, particularly in areas like Nevada City/Grass Valley where the local authorities are uninterested in intervening to ensure that their people have communications capacity."  "… one of the key reasons that both Greensboro and Grass Valley/Nevada City are making such slow progress toward any flavor of publicly oriented fiber is that there is no prominent public leader willing to stand behind it."

This is only two, there are more damaging quotes.  After reading this book, it is highly unlikely Nevada City would be on anyone's list as a great place to live and work.  Now that Race Communications will be building out the fiber network which Crawford used to illustrate a failed project, local authorities need to promote a more positive image. More at https://ruraleconomytechnology.com.

It’s not only that no “prominent public leader” in Nevada County has ever gone to bat for community broadband, instead it’s been exactly the opposite ever since progressives have become the dominant voice in this foothills community.  They have brought their (San Francisco) values with them, and that includes a disdain for business and entrepreneurship, and a profound ignorance of science and technology (e.g. their stance on cell towers, vaccination, consensus science, …).  So, for politicians hereabouts to get re/elected, they need to cater to the sentiments of the local liberals, more and more of whom lack any critical thinking skills, and that means to adopt ‘duck and cover’ when it comes to stepping up to promote any kind of growth that depends on the acquisition of modern broadband.

Our proregressives have now elevated to a nationally prominent level their opposition to growth – we are a modern luddite posterchild.  But hey, that don’t make no never mind since we do have the ERC and various economic development meetings now and then to keep our spirits up.

Ruminations – 25jan19 (updated 29jan19)

George Rebane

Our very own Paul Emery is producing the new Dalrymple MacAlpin musical ‘Make Believe’ that premiers tonight at the Nevada Theater (more here).  Paul is arguably our county’s most prolific producer of both theatrical dramas and musicals, and also musical entertainment events at various venues in our community.  The former hippie cum community icon is also a walking teddy-bear, garnering hugs from ladies on Broad Street every hundred feet or so, and from diverse restaurant patrons when we’re having our regular lunches.  Jo Ann and I will be in the audience tomorrow night to enjoy his latest theatrical enterprise.

The 25jan19 Union ran an Other Voices column by a Mr Joe Keeble who demonstrably has bad luck when he tries to think.  In his contribution to now normative Trump bashing (a good day to do it given the Roger Stone indictment) the gentleman confuses levels with rates (the popular progressive pastime of ‘derivative diving’), and also duns the harvesting of low hanging fruit just because more of it is harder to get.  He applies all this cognitive cogitation to current border security and 'illegal immigration' happenings, real and imagined.  People with fully functioning logics can enjoy his distracted diatribe ‘Proud to be a criminal’ here.

[27jan19 update]  Pelosi ascendant.  President Trump lost big time to the Dems led by Nancy, proving again that elections have consequences.  And I don’t see where this will end since there is nothing in the current state of affairs that would induce the Dems to negotiate in any better faith during the next three weeks than what they have been doing.  They’ve already bagged the political benefit from the Dreamers, and now are focused on keeping the border as porous as possible as more migrant caravans head north.  Can someone explain how this latest decline in American sovereignty will be halted, or are we now finally on the socialist slippery slope?

[28jan19 update]  Our favorite liberal Union columnist and RR reader, George Boardman, recognizes VDH’s recent assessment of California’s decline (here), and then puts up mighty counter arguments that then auto-destruct in his closing paragraphs (here).  Expanding on whether and how California is being taken down is itself worthy of extended debate.

Governor Newsom (apropos the above) is continuing, some say accelerating, CA along the path to an inevitable socialistic abyss.  So argues T.J. Rodgers, CEO of Cypress Semiconductor, in his very persuasive ‘Another California Tax Grab’.  Rodgers also points out that no more silicon wafers are manufactured in Silicon Valley – way too expensive, which motivated him along with all the other chip manufacturers to locate out of state.  Comparing his data with Mr Boardman’s arguments is instructive.

America’s cybersecurity war with the world’s bad guys is not going very well.  One of my WashDC spies pointed to some scary reading that made my toes curl the wrong way.  The basic message from a Pentagon assessment report is that our enemies are countering our security measures faster than we can counter their penetrating attacks – and the situation is not getting better.  The big problem is that we don’t have enough tech talent to build and man our cybersecurity barricades.  (more here)

‘UAE Slowly Loosening Constraints on Religious Freedom’ reports the 28jan19 WSJ.  Heartening piece about some commendable progress in Islam – credit where credit is due, but the road ahead to the 21^st century is still long and filled with chuckholes.

[29jan19 update]  Trump ascendant with the Dems' core galloping leftward.  "The energy in the Democratic Party is entirely on the left, and as Hillary Clinton discovered, the nominating process is going to drive the Democratic candidates to get as nutty as necessary to please the new generation of radical bigots."  Newt Gingrich

MIM’s first major 2019 concert

[Mr Nowlen, is a major mover in Northern California’s classical music community.  He is a longtime musician, educator, conductor, and senior staffer for several of the region's musical organizations and performing groups.  His activities range from teaching at UC Davis to Music in the Mountains here in Nevada County where he has been involved for years bringing and making music for us.  He also currently serves as MIM’s Artistic Director, and submitted this invitation for your kind consideration.]

Pete Nowlen

Happy New Year! 

I’m so looking forward to our first Music in the Mountains major concert of 2019, when we feature my good friend Maestro Leo Eylar and the California Youth Symphony for a fantastic matinee concert on Sunday March 10. You are going to go crazy for this amazing group of more than 100 young performers. (details and tickets here)

The California Youth Symphony is one America’s top youth orchestras. It was the first such orchestra to tour abroad in 1963, and continues to tour internationally every other year, performing in many of the world’s great venues. It is a past first prize winner of the International Youth and Music Festival Competition in Vienna.

Our March 10 performance includes works of Rachmaninoff, Chabrier and Strauss, and will particularly feature two amazing 16-year-old performers, pianist Catherine Huang and cellist Davis You.

Catherine will be featured in Rachmaninoff’s Variations on a Theme of Paganini as winner of CYS’ annual Young Artist Competition. Davis, a past Young Artist winner, will be featured as the cello soloist and protagonist in Richard Strauss’ tone poem, Don Quixote. 

You can learn more about these amazing young performers below. I promise you that you do not want to miss this performance. It is sure to be the largest orchestra, and one of the most inspiring programs that Music in the Mountains has ever put on stage.

Sixteen-year-old pianist Catherine Huang is a sophomore at Lynbrook High School and studies piano with Professor Hans Boepple. She won first prize and the young jury award at the 2017 Arthur Fraser International Piano Competition and appeared on Kansas Public Radio as the first prize winner of the 2016 International Institute for Young Musicians (IIYM) International Piano Competition.

Davis You, 16, is a junior at Palo Alto High School. He studies cello with Jonathan Koh and previously studied with Irene Sharp. His awards include first place in the 2016 California ASTA solo competition, first place in the 2017 California Youth Symphony Young Artist Competition, and five invitations to perform in the Junior Bach Festival

 

Scattershots – 11jan19 (updated 17jan19)

George Rebane

None of the rabid opposition to border security makes sense, and even less so with the passing months. We supposedly look at and experience the same world, yet obviously live in different universes. Physics may have an answer for that, but everyday logic in the conduct of human affairs does not, especially if we assume that both sides are working for a strong, independent, free, and prosperous America. Logic clicks back into place when we remove that assumption.

Israel’s wall costs $2M/mile. (more here)  That is a good stake in the ground to estimate the cost of our border security infrastructure which would not be a 2,000-mile concrete wall, but would instead consist of other barrier approaches and supportive detection and localization systems.  Posit $3M/mile for our southern border, and the cost would come to $6B.  And that includes all of the overhead.  Claiming that our border property owners will fight the increased border security is a red herring that does not jibe with what actual property owners are saying.  It is they who have suffered at the hands of illegal entrants whose criminal activities transiting their property has made living on the border dangerous.

Was sorry to see today’s (11jan19) Union column by publisher Don Rogers. His arguments against border security ignored all the marginal impacts on crime, culture, and costs of a porous border outlined in ‘The mangling of managed minds’.  It seems that being blind to that line of reasoning is a widespread malady among our Left, for it always appears to form the basis of their resulting fractured logic for opposing Trump’s border security policies, aka the same ones that the congressional Left supported not so long ago.

Bright fiber in Nevada County is a reported go, but details about the scope of the project are less than skimpy.  All that’s reported in The Union (here and here) is that 2,000 homes along Hwy 174 will be getting enhanced broadband in about a year.  But there is more than enough detail on the bureaucratics and the funding to roll your eyes.  However, people who don’t happen to live along 174 haven’t a clue as to how this project will advance the rest of the county toward 21^st century connectivity.  In short, after reading the reportage I again had to strap on my ‘Pardon me but you have me confused with someone who cares’ button.  Maybe more informed readers will provide the much needed information.

Ex-Muslims of North America is an organization of former American and Canadian Muslims united to spread word about ‘the religion of peace’ and support those who have left and are contemplating leaving Islam.  Their position on their former faith parallels that of RR.  Islam is still in its ‘Accept Allah or die!’ phase of maturing.  But unfortunately this is happening in a much more connected world laced with an abundance of very deadly technologies.  Just to be clear, all major religions have and/or are still going through such a violent and uncompromising phase.  Christianity most certainly had its ‘Accept Jesus or die!’ epoch in the centuries after Rome, starting coincidentally about when Islam was born on the Arabian peninsula. 

[12jan19 update]  Fact checking Trump.  Leftwing readers here have been taking President Trump to task for his ‘lies’, the overwhelming share of such are easily identified as political bluster of the kind that can be tallied for any politician on either side of the aisle.  There are however certain statements from a politician that are intended to elicit and/or support public support for government policy.  Such weighty claims are usually easy to fact-check either at the time of delivery or subsequently.  President Trump’s recent border security speech from the Oval Office contained a number of such statements.  Here is a fact-check summary of five of the most important ones from that speech.

Venice, CA now importing SF values. Beautiful seaside community of Venice in SoCal is rapidly becoming the next ‘sierra hotel’ city in the state, joining Anaheim and the long-enduring People's Republic of Santa Monica as newly risen exemplars of socialist governance.  The Hollywood Reporter has the details in its ‘LA's Battle for Venice Beach: Homeless Surge Puts Hollywood's Progressive Ideals to the Test’.  There “with swelling transient encampments abutting seven-figure homes, the beachside enclave has emerged as a flashpoint for the inequality shaping Los Angeles — and a real-world test case for the liberal ideology of the area’s showbiz residents.” (H/T to correspondent)

[13jan19 update]  Conjecture: NYC mayor Bill deBlasio is a communist, having passed to the left of all remaining progressive milestones. (more here)

[14jan19 update] Whether you like or regret (like me) many of our President's tweets and hipshot repartees, this is what many Americans believe is really the case.

[17jan19 update]  Border barriers (walls, fences, ...) "don't work and are ineffective" maintains the Democrat leadership and their nationwide constituents.  Border security officers with long years of experience maintain exactly the opposite.  I have not found any journalist with the wit or temerity to ask people like Pelosi, 'What evidence do you have about border barrier systems that overrides the testimony of our border security professionals and which supports you continued assertions that such border security infrastructure "doesn't work"?  (We'll address the "immorality" question another time.)  Asking the Democrats to produce such evidence would put this debate on the fast track to resolution, not only with regard to border security funding, but also the government shutdown.  RR readers know the disdain I have for the journalistic profession, I have found almost all journalists to be alarmingly ignorant hacks with little or no spine to seek out and report truth that is counter to their publishers' and/or editors' agendas.

CA Exodus Denied

George Rebane

The exodus of the producers and the productive from California has been a recurring theme on RR ever since the Democrats assumed total control, turned the state into the nation’s home for welfare recipients, started raising taxes and fees as if there were no tomorrow, and opened its gates to illegal aliens.  Essentially, the Democratic super-majority has turned the state into a sanctuary from sanity.  Among the reams of data presented to buttress the exodus argument, a reader sent me the graphic below that highlights just one aspect of nationwide migrations – and these are NET migrations – from/to our country’s prominent metropolitan areas (more here).

This shows that from LA alone we have a net outflow of 46,720 people per year.  And do you think these are the gimmes who think they’ll get more sanctuary protections and better government bennies from some other state?

Nevada County Economic Development – WIP

George Rebane

In recent years the county’s economic development could be charitably described as slow, or even somnambulant if examined more closely.  To promote economic development, the county established the Nevada County Economic Resource Council (ERC) and has been among its steadfast sponsors.  The ERC has launched various initiatives and activities designed to serve its commitment “to ensuring a thriving, attractive business environment in Nevada County.”  (more here)  I had an opportunity to work with the ERC a few years back during which I came to understand the organization, its membership, and the issues that surround business development in our community.  RR has included the ERC’s performance in its commentaries.

Both the county government and the ERC regularly revisit how better to develop and serve local businesses.  The most recent of such efforts involved engaging Larry Burkhardt, a former ERC executive director, as a consultant to examine the state of the county’s economy and make detailed recommendations on how to proceed.  The work product of Mr Burkhardt’s consulting contract was the 20-page 2017 report innocuously titled ‘Development of Performance Metrics and Related Organizational Matters’.  Its author describes the report as follows -

The attached report contains background information along with some level of evaluation of the ERC by a small cross section of the community’s leadership.  It follows with goals, objectives and strategies intended to re-focus on the basics of economic development; a workplan; budget; performance metrics; and finally recommendations regarding Board structure and practice. 

I'm a bit surprised that this report got so little publicity when received by the ERC and submitted to our Board of Supervisors.  The only mention of Mr Burkhardt's involvement in such work appeared in the 7sep17 Union (here).  The report was made known to me by a colleague who has also been involved with the ERC over the years.  He sent me a copy which can be downloaded here.  Download ERC final report 1117

Not everyone I talked to found the report to be exceptionally revelatory or contain material that has not been hashed over before.  From my side, I found the report to contain the most specific metrics, recommendations, and projected costs of a plan forward that I have seen.  This does not mean that I wholly endorse Mr Burkhardt’s take and recommendations, but I do find the report to be a useful and readable stake-in-the-ground from which to launch productive discussions on the county’s economic doldrums and alternatives on how to proceed.  Readers taking part in such discussions should at least be familiar with the points raised in the report.

Scattershots – 13oct18 (updated 17oct18)

George Rebane

Liberal Union columnist Darrell Berkheimer has been delving into the availability of housing in Nevada County.  Today (13oct18 here) he reports that we don’t have enough "affordable housing" in these parts to attract low income families and wage earners, and also make the county more attractive and welcoming to our already large homeless population - “paths to affordable housing must be provided (the homeless) as well as others wishing to live here.”  A good part of the blame he puts on those stupid developers who can’t figure out where the profits are, and “continue to place emphasis on single-family homes for what has been termed the ‘nuclear family’” of which there are precious few left in the country, and apparently of which we already have too many in Nevada County.  He either doesn’t understand the notion of low-cost housing viz affordable housing, and/or the regulatory and cost hurdles that developers must negotiate to build anything in our county.  But, in spite of these problems, Mr Berkheimer does think that the county should become proactive in going after developers in the attempt to convince them to plow through the process anyway, and take the risk in building marginally profitable (if that) affordable housing.  The wonders of a progressive mind at work making Nevada County safe for San Francisco values.

Ms Heather MacDonald, political analyst and author at the Manhattan Institute, was interviewed (13oct18 WSJ) regarding her new book The Diversity Delusion.  Ms MacDonald is one of those refreshingly independent thinkers who, after law school at Stanford, had to wend her way to epiphany by spending her early professional years through clerking for Justice Stephen Reinhardt, volunteering for the Natural Resources Council, and working at the EPA.  She laments what the progressives and other flavors of the Left have done to demolish undergraduate education, especially in the fields of western civilization.  Specifically, she highlights the bloom of lowered standards and newly established majors “focused on identity and oppression” with freshly minted majors, like ‘Social Justice’, coming in the burgeoning field of neo-Marxism.  She sees all of this as leading to a final national confrontation – “One of the great achievements of Western European civilization was to move beyond tribalism, to nation-states, to concepts of citizenship that transcend tribal identity, and we’ve been playing with fire for the last 40 years in thinking we can keep this ethnic warfare thing at a low simmer rather than a hot boil.”

The Union’s Editorial Board advises every franchised citizen to ‘Get educated and vote’ (13oct18) – “everyone who can legally vote should.”  What the good souls at The Union don’t help the reader with is how to get educated in a manner that enables critical thinking about the diametrically opposite prescriptions and policies offered by today's strong ideologues, some obviously tinged and others in more subtle ways.  As many scholars and thinkers (see previous entry) now tell us, the ability to think critically is no longer taught nor even possible by graduates from most of our colleges and almost all of our high schools, simply because they no longer have to learn the knowledge base which enables such thought should even the tools for it be available.

Nevada County’s high school test scores are a disaster.  Only our local liberal contingent is satisfied, since generating generations of such graduates over the last 40 years is just the planned grist for their voting mill.  When others lament this educational deficit, the local liberals point to the Ghidotti Early College High School which ranked #1 in the state tests – why? Because they have a total of only 163 self-selected smart students of which 44 took the cited test.  For the rest we have dropping scores that reveal one of three students is below grade level in reading, and more than two thirds are below grade level in math.  And believe it or not, statewide Nevada County is above average.  Talk about California leading the nation – to where?

[17oct18 update]  What’s happening to destroy STEM and STEM-related education and research in America is even worse than I have been tracking over the recent years.  NSA and NIH, originally launched by Congress to keep us in the lead in physical and health sciences, have now become institutes of identity equalization to satisfy the progressives social justice goals.  H/T to Russ Steele (see his 506pm comment below) for pointing out the latest report on this disaster-in-progress as reported in the City Journal (here).

Ruminations – 17aug18 (updated 19aug18)

George Rebane

Obama’s PPD-20 has hamstrung America’s ability to defend and counter cyberattacks against us.  President Trump is recalling that Presidential Policy Directive to “ to push decision-making authority down the chain of command, could empower military officials to launch more frequent and more aggressive cyberattacks against adversaries like Russia and Iran.”  (more here)

2017 saw 72,287 opioid overdose deaths in the US.  That’s like a jumbo jet crashing every weekday, and it beggars stats on all other human-induced deaths like attributed to ‘gun violence’ and motor vehicle accidents.  America’s murder capital Chicago apparently leads the way here also with progressive policies stifling its LE agencies’ abilities to intervene.  Blacks account for more than 50% of opioid deaths, and, of course, gun deaths on Chicago’s streets.  Progressives care not a whit (actually spelled with an 's') for black lives; for them all such deaths are useful when recognized, and not to be wasted in blaming the whole thing on conservatives.

Arrest of ISIS terrorist and multiple re-entrant Omar Ameen in Sacramento confirms again that our immigrant vetting process is totally broken.  The feds admit that vetting a refugee depends on the story they tell, and not on any required 3^rd party documentation, which either does not exist or will not be provided if the refugee thinks it will be pejorative.  Counter to lamestream claims, President Trump has been correct in his assessment of this.

Russian online influence on America’s thinking about issues and candidates has turned out to be less than insignificant according to recent analysis of foreign placed ads and social media accounts, so reports Bruce Levey of the Institute for Justice (here).  He also points out what we've known for years, that we and other nations place such ads in each other’s jurisdictions whenever it suits our interests to attempt to influence other countries’ decisions.  Bottom line, Russia's influence in our 2016 election was bupkus.

Dumbest cartoon in a coon’s age was published in the 17aug18 Union.  Have no idea how this got by the newspaper’s editorial policy.  Nothing against the paper publishing anti-Trump stuff, but this contribution is simply butt stupid, and doesn’t reflect well on how The Union thinks of its readership.

[More]  Our intelligence institutions (including the retirees) are now totally political.  The letter signed by former intelligence heads claiming that Trump limited Brennan’s speech by revoking his clearance is both false and butt stupid or worse, evil since it is designed to bamboozle the tens of millions of light-thinking Americans.  As President Trump observed, Brennan’s voice will now be louder than ever.  Let’s see how long these newly minted politicians will keep up that spiel.

[18aug18 update]  In ‘The Press Abets a Coverup’ (18aug18 WSJ) Holman Jenkins contributes an incisive and revealing recounting of our intel community’s shenanigans designed to oppose Trump, but that plausibly gave him the necessary push over the top in 2016.

[19aug18 update]  Kudos to columnist (19aug18 Union) George Boardman for outing Mike Dent, director of the county's Department of Child Support, Collection and Housing.  Mr Dent is a prime exemplar of the double dummies ensconced in government.  He is seeking bids to build and operate a homeless shelter for the winter, but doesn't have a clue how much it costs to run such a shelter through the cold months - hence, no bids to build one.  It really irks me and many others that our tax monies have to be diluted to pay the salaries and retirement benefits for the likes of the mentally dented Dents out there.

The Ninth Circuit Court on CCW and Open Carry

George Rebane

Recently a three-judge panel of the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the “U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment guarantees a right to openly carry a gun in public for self-defense, finding that Hawaii overstepped its authority to regulate firearms possession outside the home.” (more here)

This ruling brought up questions on how we Californians, especially those with Concealed Carry Weapon permits, will be impacted.  Since CCW permits are issued by county sheriffs, in a private communication I asked our Nevada County Sheriff Keith Royal –

1. Will current non-CCW permit holders in California now have open-carry included in their 2^nd Amendment rights?
2. What is the impact of the present rulings on existing Nevada County CCW policy?
3. Will California’s sheriffs come out with one unified coherent interpretation of how this impacts our 2^nd Amendment rights, or will we wind up with county-specific interpretations that may or not arbitrarily criminalize the unwary who cross county boundaries, or will everyone remain silent on the matter and let Californians just take chances sorting it out by themselves (sort of like the MJ situation between feds, state, and counties)?

With Sheriff Royal’s permission I share his response with our readers –

“Our current laws stay in effect until a court of competent jurisdiction finds the laws of the State unconstitutional or the laws are changed by the legislature.  Our State Sheriff’s attorney has advised us that the case was remanded back to the trial court to proceed.  Chances are that the case will again end up back before the 9th Circuit for an “en banc” panel review, and based on the outcome, may invalidate California’s current laws and/or then be appealed to the US Supreme Court for final determination.  We have been advised things remain status quo at this time.  Stand by to stand by. … As an FYI, the 9th indicated that the 2nd Amendment does not pertain to or cover CCW’s.  We’ll just (have) to wait to see how it all works out.”

Due to the sheriff’s last observation about the 2A and CCWs, I offered that “it does cause me a bit of puzzlement why the 9th indicated that the 2A doesn’t pertain to cover CCWs.  CCW permit holders are the most law-abiding people in the land according to FBI crime stats.  Sworn LE officers have a very low crime rate, but one that is still SIX times higher than that of CCW holders, and the 2A doesn’t cover (them)?”  Sheriff Royal’s response to this was - 

“Interestingly, the three judge panel were all repub. appointees. I think when this issue comes back to the 9th, they’ll render an opposing decision because the majority of that court is liberal leaning thus forcing the issue to the Supreme Court. In light of the soon to be composition of the Supreme court, you may see the ultimate decision be supportive of open carry.”

So, per Sheriff Royal’s counsel, the open carry and CCW provisions will remain unchanged, and it will be business as usual as we “stand by to stand by.”  Question asked and answered.

Scattershots – 4aug18 (updated 8aug18)

“It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know that just ain't so.”  Mark Twain, et al

George Rebane

Leftwing columnist Darrell Berkheimer makes his occasional foray into substantive socio-political subjects and blows it again.  In his ‘Will Violence or a Funeral End Incendiary Talk’ (4aug18 Union), the man demonstrates his limited abilities in spades.  He blames today’s politically polarized incendiaries as being solely fomented by President Trump, and executed by rightwingers.  His evidence?  He can only cite the reception of CNN’s extremely virulent leftwing journalist Acosta at a Trump rally who was greeted with shouts of ‘CNN sucks!’, and then some crazy individual (political affiliation unknown) with a bat smashing a TV station’s car.  And there ends his research into the country’s political incendiaries.  He is totally blind to the literally hundreds of incitements from the political left and leftwing public confrontations that by charitable estimates are practiced around 50:1 by Democrat politicians, journalists, and leftwing street mobs.  Nowhere are mentioned such Congress critters as Maxine Waters and Lizzy Warren, and NYT editor Sarah Jeong.  Nowhere does he see the Left’s countless demonstrations and thuggery performed in office buildings, at neighborhood residences, in stores, on blocked streets, college campuses, classrooms and auditoriums, … .  It’s only the Right that is the progenitor and practitioner of hate speech and violent confrontations.  But then, we have never expected anything more from Mr Berkheimer.

The cost in lives and cash of natural and political disasters has declined markedly under the post-war world order led and maintained by America.  The Left would have us believe that all has been going the other way, and they have published reams of fake factual lies to make their case.  The real fact of the matter has been studied and documented by more sober analysts like the late Swedish statistician Hans Rosling, of the Gapminder Foundation documented in his Factfulness (2018).  It turns out that death rates and property losses have plummeted as the world has grown more populous, densely packed, and with enormously more stuff at risk since WW2.  This reality does not fit well into the anti-capitalist progressive narrative, so it has been both suppressed and redecorated into an ongoing political and journalistic barrage to convince the light thinkers and otherwise engaged of exactly the opposite.  It’s easier to argue for more central planning, control, taxes, and regulations if you can make a sow’s ear out of a silk purse. (more here)

[6aug18 update]  As many have known for some years, the alternative energy source biofuel mandates have not lived up to their hype.  The EPA recently released its ‘Biofuels and the Environment: The Second Triennial Report to Congress’. (access here)  It turns out that all the extra thousands of acres of corn and soybeans planted to make the ethanol based fuels are “wreaking havoc on the atmosphere and soil” (more here).  So what was initially sold as another feel good alternative to fossil fuels has just had its list of dirty laundry extended by none other than the agency that has been champion of cleaning up the environment.  This is nothing new, the problems with biofuels have been known and reported for years – here’s a 2008 piece from none other than The Washington Post.  But somehow the Left’s narrative on the negative effects of biofuels hasn’t been affected by these longstanding findings.  It seems that environmental quality is really not that high on the progressives’ agenda.  I wonder what their real objective is.

[7aug18 update]  US land use is an important piece of knowledge for the noggins of those of us debating public policies in these pages.  A reader sent me this link (here) to a Bloomberg news piece that has a whole lot of land use information presented in an interesting graphical format.  Be sure to puzzle on it for the upcoming quiz.

Hilary Hodge is returning to politics after losing in a close race to Supervisor Dan Miller in the June primary. (more here) She will next try to get on the Grass Valley City Council, and she’ll be bringing all her qualifications, enthusiasm, and outside support to her next attempt to enter the local political game.  As most people who recall her Union autobiographical columns know, the lady is woefully short on private sector economics and work experience.  She would greatly bolster her resume and ability to serve the public were she able to show that someone took money out of his own pocket to pay her for demonstrating some productive skills in the job market.  But as most of us have come to know, politicians don’t have to have experience in the private sector before regulating and legislating for it.

[8aug18 update]  The Left (including some locals) claim that the real accomplishment at the 9jun16 Trump Tower meeting with the Russian lawyer was an agreement for the Russians to release Hillary’s emails that were sent and received on her private email server.  However, those emails began to be released prior to 2016 to all, including Wikileaks, by our State Dept, not the Russians.  Wikileaks collected these emails and made them available in a searchable online archive with the included statement – On March 16, 2016 WikiLeaks launched a searchable archive for over 30 thousand emails & email attachments sent to and from Hillary Clinton's private email server while she was Secretary of State. The 50,547 pages of documents span from 30 June 2010 to 12 August 2014. 7,570 of the documents were sent by Hillary Clinton. The emails were made available in the form of thousands of PDFs by the US State Department as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request. More PDFs were made available on February 29, 2016, and a set of additional 995 emails was imported up to February 2, 2018.

So it seems that to plan the release of the purported (not confirmed by our intelligence) Russia-hacked Hillary emails after their release had already commenced is a moot argument designed for people not versed in the use of calendars. (more here)

However, our intelligence people state that Russia did hack the DNC email server, and purloined over 100,000 emails with much embarrassing information about the internal operations of the Democratic Party and by Democrat bigwigs. (more here) These were first released to DCLeaks in June 2016 and then later in July 2016 to Wikileaks.  None have claimed that any of these emails were doctored or contained false information.  And no one has tied the Trump campaign to the acquisition and/or release of these emails to the public at large.  All we have is a daily stream of allegations through and by the lamestream that somehow Donald Trump was behind the whole thing since Hillary lost.  And today Mueller stands ready to indict the entire White House in a week or two - as Eliza assured us, 'Just you wait 'Enri 'Iggins, just you wait!'  And waiting we still are.

Scattershots – 23jul18 (updated 26jul18)

George Rebane

In ‘Our country’s future relies on embracing those escaping brutality’ by Ms Judith McCarrick of the Immigration Action Alliance we find some pearls, among them –

• “That migrant parents have broken immigration laws to (surreptitiously) cross our borders is untrue.” Why? Because the legal immigration process is difficult and takes time, and because AG Sessions denies asylum “claims from seekers of protection of gang violence and abusive spouses.”
• “No law mandates that children and parents be separated at the border.” Our immigration and domestic laws specify exactly that when criminal parents are arrested and taken into custody.

These and more like them in her 23jul18 Union piece put Ms McCarrick in the running for the highly competitive designation as Blithering Idiot, 1^st Class.  Unfortunately, given the extensive competition in our county, her latest contribution does not make her a shoo-in.

Kudos to Union columnist and RR reader George Boardman for his timely, comprehensive, and correct vent on the lack of leadership at all levels in our county to expand broadband in our foothills.  Mr Boardman details the sordid history in ‘Bright Fiber, Verizon show what happens when leadership is lacking’.  In that piece he reinforces the recent cri de coeur of the Union's editorial board, and again corroborates the seminal RR dictum, ‘To find the cause of any problem in society, presume that government is guilty until proven innocent.’  Hard to lose with that approach.

[24jul18 update]  Nevada City has now approved 12 pot stores for health reasons.  That’s the same argument the city’s mamas and papas used to deny bringing the town into the 21^st century with appropriate cell phone coverage (let alone broadband).  Consulting their sidewater science, they continue to conclude that cell towers on selected town building will fry the brains of local citizens.  With ample evidence at hand about whom they seat on their city council, many claim that said brains have already been fried for years. (more here)

Two diametrically opposite interpretations of the just released (and deceitfully redacted) FISA application for a warrant to wiretap Carter Page.  All on the Left see no fraud involved and ample evidence for the warrant in the application.  These people don’t think it was material to reveal that the Steele dossier - the prime argument in the application - was scripted, bought, and paid for by Democrats for Hillary.  All on the Right point to the extensive evidence that confirms the fraudulent nature of the application and subsequent FBI testimonies about it.  Within a larger framework, this again proves that no rapprochement is possible, since the opposing parties cannot even agree on the basic facts germane to any subsequent productive conversation.  (more here)

[26jul18 update]  SF Board of Supervisors again certified itself as first class idiots by passing a resolution to screen out insurance companies that invest in fossil fuel businesses.  This because such investments promote climate change, the fight against which the city considers itself among the world’s foremost champions.  So here is a burg, with a history of demonstrably bad decisions and public policies that is drowning in druggies, bums, and their accumulating offal while driving out tourists by the thousands and causing untold losses to their hospitality industry, now preening its deranged ‘values’ for all to see al they attempt to dictate how their insurers should manage their portfolios in order to keep premiums competitive. (more here)  San Francisco values on parade.

Our Little Corner of the Confused

George Rebane

Today’s (9jul18) Union highlights the impact of our county’s left turn with some choice letters to the newspaper and a confusing column on the First Amendment.  Usually the Union has better material to publish on their op-ed pages, but occasionally they must run into a dry spell and use it in fairness to make available some column inches to the incoherent and confused.  After all, such editorial policy does give a more accurate picture of our community.

The two letters are examples of outpourings from the heartfelt but lightly read.  For openers, a Ms Carol Menaker of Nevada City begins her anti-LaMalfa counsel with “If you believe that forcibly separating children from their parents is justifiable, read no further.”  There, that’s it, and no further qualifications or complexities relating to the issue need concern the reader, for most certainly such things never concerned or entered the mind of the writer.  Whether these factors are beyond her, we cannot say, but what follows does not evince a discriminating mind.  (more here)

Then we have the contribution (here) from Mr Ron Lowe, similarly located (our little town is a hotbed of such astute intellects).  His short letter offers condemning and conclusive proof that the Russians indeed “played to the Republicans and swayed the election for Donald Trump.”  Together “Trump, Russians, Republicans, were complicit in wrongdoing in the 2016 presidential election” due to a “full color ad (that) shows Christ and Satan in a struggle to win religious Republican votes”.  The ad appeared on Facebook, and that’s that.  What more proof of perfidy bought and paid for would anyone require?  Roll out the tumbrels!

Finally, we have the ‘other voice’ of a Mr Chuck Frank who has determined that “freedom of the press lies in the balance” (here).  And what powers will tilt that balance to our detriment?  Well, Mr Frank has put his finger on the Dept of Homeland Security and other feds as those who are “planning” to put journalists’ heads on “the chopping block”.  How will they do that?  They will “make lists and spy(sic) on websites, news outlets, articles, blogs, and whistle-blower sites.”  DHS may even hire a contractor to do all the dirty work who will track “hundreds of thousands of persons associated with journalism (by) compiling a database likened to North Korea”.  We kid you not, this individual apparently believes that North Korea has individuals and journalists who criticize the Ugly Fat Kid on the open internet.  In any event, we must all beware that this is “just one example of censorship though(sic) a massive campaign to control mass communications and also hide wrongdoing in government.”

Now RR is on record as being no fan of a large, intrusive, and corrupt counter-constitutional government.  But the confused and breathlessly confusing screed laid down by Mr Frank does not serve his efforts to avert “the New World Order” to be achieved through the destruction of “investigative journalism, alternative news, and accurate reporting.”  The reader comes away from his jumbled revelations shaking his head, and attributing the whole thing again to some anti-government crank.  That he is able to warn all of us of the impending First Amendment’s demise should give us some comfort that such alarums are a bit premature.  Nevertheless, our gimlet eye is ever peeled for such exigencies.  

Scattershots – 3jul18 (updated 4jul18)

George Rebane

It’s Fourth of July time again.  Tonight the gates open at 630pm for the Music in the Mountains Patriotic Pops Concert on the great lawn of our fairgrounds.  Lots of great music and ceremony and flyover and food and drink and … .  Come with your family to celebrate our declaration of independence.  The photo shows the stage last year with the vets saluting the Pledge of Allegiance.  (more here)

Trump removes another Obama-era disaster. "The Trump administration will begin directing schools and colleges to adopt race-neutral admissions standards, the Education Department said Tuesday, reversing Obama-era guidelines that encouraged the use of race to promote diversity."  Perhaps merit will again have top billing in qualifying a student for admission.  Ever thought of having two classes of colleges, one for serious study of productive majors, and another for feel good majors filled with mandated ratios of race, gender, sexual orientation, sensitivity to pressure, safe places, and trigger warnings at every turn.

[4jul18 update]  This version of Putin's Plan was sent by a reader - worth considering.  And as another commenter has astutely asked in these pages, who in America are the people sowing discontent, incivility, and rending the social order?

Socialist Ocasio-Cortez Is “Future Of Our Party” announces DNC chairman Tom Perez.  This vision has been firmly in the mind of our academic types for a generation, and has now been also implanted in the carefully fashioned non-critical minds of their students.  These are the younger people today who neither understand nor see any other future save one with a large government assuring that all will give according to their ability, so that each will receive according to their need. (more here)

Tom Coleman, RIP

George Rebane

My dear friend and one of Nevada County’s iconoclastic gentlemen and longtime community leaders Tom Coleman died last night in Reno of heart failure.  He was playing poker when he collapsed and was taken to the hospital where doctors did all they could, but were not able to save him.  Tom was the longest owner of the recently sold National Hotel in Nevada City, and was to be honored along with his partner Ms Ernie Kehn as the grand marshals of this year’s 4^th of July parade.

Tom was a stalwart and one of the original members of our long running dinner/poker group.  He always sat in his special chair at the octagon, dispensing his wit, wisdom, and stories of Nevada County, and he never let an opening betting round be passed without betting what became known as the ‘Coleman buck’ to get things started.  When it was Tom’s turn to host the dinner, he would order up a sumptuous meal from the hotel’s Hoover Restaurant that always featured a prominent hunk of beef with, of course, all the fixins and a collection of fine wines to lubricate the evening’s labors.

For years we were fellow Rotarians who met regularly at the National.  Tom was also an Elk, and his celebration of life will be held at the Nevada City lodge with date/time to be announced.  Funeral arrangements will be handled by Hooper and Weaver Mortuary.

Over the decades Tom served on many boards, panels, and community associations, always giving freely of his time, talents, and treasure.  He will be missed by his family and the uncountable friends he made as one our community’s most prominent and liked citizens.  We will miss him greatly.