The definition of insanity is seeing something fail and doubling down and doing it again.  Since we have had the vaccines, the number of COVID cases have gone up by over 300%.  Before the vaccines almost no children got the virus, now we have an epidemic of kids being hospitalized.  Could it be they are getting it from the super spreaders—their parents who have been vaccinated?

“Daily coronavirus cases are four times higher than they were following Labor Day weekend of last year, with the number of daily deaths twice as high as they were this time in 2020, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Since the global health crisis emerged in late 2019, the United States has recorded more than 40 million COVID-19 cases, including 4 million in the last month alone.

Health officials noted the biggest difference between this year and last is the delta variant. They blamed the 316% increase over last year’s daily infections on the highly contagious COVID mutation as well as a large number of Americans refusing to become vaccinated against the fast-spreading disease.”

Did the vaccines make the creation and spreading of the so called “mutilations” easier?  Before more people die because of the lies of Fauci and dementia of Biden, we need real information, real studies, not extrapolations, to determine why with the vaccine we are getting more cases and kids are now being infected.  In Israel, where EVERYBODY has taken the shots they are now are their FOURTH shot to control the virus—seems like the more shots given, the more the virus spreads—you do not have to be a scientist to see this.

Daily U.S. COVID cases up more than 300% from Labor Day last year

By Jessica Schladebeck and Joseph Wilkinson , New York Daily News, 9/7/21   

Daily coronavirus cases are four times higher than they were following Labor Day weekend of last year, with the number of daily deaths twice as high as they were this time in 2020, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Since the global health crisis emerged in late 2019, the United States has recorded more than 40 million COVID-19 cases, including 4 million in the last month alone.

Health officials noted the biggest difference between this year and last is the delta variant. They blamed the 316% increase over last year’s daily infections on the highly contagious COVID mutation as well as a large number of Americans refusing to become vaccinated against the fast-spreading disease.

According to data from Health and Human Services, hospitalization rates are also up 157% compared to Labor Day weekend 2020, leaving medical facilities packed to the brim and their staffs exhausted and overwhelmed.

Louisville Metro EMS paramedics transport a woman suspected of experiencing a severe COVID-19 emergency on a medical gurney from her home into an ambulance on September 6, 2021 in Louisville, Kentucky. Kentucky is experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases, having recently recorded more than 4,400 cases a day. (Jon Cherry/Getty Images)

What’s more, intensive care units across several states are inching closer to full capacity, which could force doctors to make life and death decisions.

“We are perilously close,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, told CNN. “You’re going to have to make some very tough choices.”

Last year, coronavirus cases spiked across 31 states and the positivity rate surged in 25 of them only two weeks after the Labor Day holiday. The 2020 figures prompted Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky to warn unvaccinated Americans last week against traveling for the holiday weekend this year.

She also emphasized that vaccinated people should wear their masks when required and that the high rate of virus transmission meant that it could be risky for them to travel as well.

Health officials are also monitoring the mu variant, which has now been detected in 49 states and Washington, D.C. The only state that hasn’t reported any mu cases, Nebraska, has largely stopped sharing comprehensive COVID data.

The exact differences of the mu variant remain unclear. Early data indicated it could be more resistant to vaccines and also more transmissible than the delta variant. However, New York City health leaders said Tuesday that the number of mu cases in the city has actually decreased in recent months.

In early June, mu made up about 20% of New York City cases, Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi said. That number is down to just 1% following Labor Day weekend, indicating that the delta variant is still dominant and more transmissible.

Vaccination rates have slowly perked up nationwide, with more than 5 million doses administered last week, according to Johns Hopkins data.

But that still lags way behind the 20 million-dose weeks from April and has not been enough to slow down the rapid delta spread. More COVID cases were recorded in the U.S. last week than in any week since January 2021, the peak of last winter’s surge. More deaths were recorded than any week since March.

Nationwide, only 53% of the population is fully vaccinated, according to CDC data. About 73% of people eligible to be vaccinated have received at least one shot, but only 62% have completed the vaccine series, a gap of more than 30 million people.

This has always been the answer.  Israel has all of its water provided by desalinization.  If you are concerned about the ocean flooding Kansas City, then desal is the answer.  Let’s build massive desal plants along both coasts.  Then use the water to fill in the empty dams—use the desal to recharge underground water.  Make desal the way out of drought and government mismanagement of water.

“The city’s official motto, “Opportunity Lives Here,” hints at the myriad industries that have come and gone since the Gold Rush, but its fate remains undeniably tied to the San Joaquin River. The river, the state’s second largest and one of the most heavily dammed in the West, is the main source of water for over 110,000 Antioch residents. 

But for over 50 years the lower stages of the river and the encompassing Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta have been inundated with salt caused by state and federal water projects, increased agricultural runoff, drought and sea level rise.

The mounting challenges have rendered the city’s claim useless for large stretches of the year, especially during California’s increasingly common droughts.  

To regain access to its most vital resource and prepare for climate change, Antioch is attempting to control its water destiny by building the delta’s first desalination plant.

We do not have a deficit of water—we have a surplus of government.

Pressed by drought and climate change, a California city turns to desalination

The San Francisco Bay Area city of Antioch hopes to end 50 years of water quality issues caused by state and federal water projects, increased agricultural runoff, drought and sea level rise.

Nick Cahill, Courthousnews,   9/1/21  

ANTIOCH, Calif. (CN) — Founded on a lush plain of the largest estuary on the West Coast of North America shortly after gold was discovered, Antioch’s fortunes have always risen and fallen with the delta tides.

One of California’s oldest settlements, what started as a ranch town morphed decades ago into an industrial city due to its riverside locale and proximity to San Francisco. Family farms gave way to coal and copper mines, mills and warehouses took over downtown and the city steadily grew into one of the Bay Area’s largest.

The city’s official motto, “Opportunity Lives Here,” hints at the myriad industries that have come and gone since the Gold Rush, but its fate remains undeniably tied to the San Joaquin River. The river, the state’s second largest and one of the most heavily dammed in the West, is the main source of water for over 110,000 Antioch residents. 

But for over 50 years the lower stages of the river and the encompassing Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta have been inundated with salt caused by state and federal water projects, increased agricultural runoff, drought and sea level rise.

The mounting challenges have rendered the city’s claim useless for large stretches of the year, especially during California’s increasingly common droughts.  

To regain access to its most vital resource and prepare for climate change, Antioch is attempting to control its water destiny by building the delta’s first desalination plant.

 “We saw what was coming with the environment,” said John Samuelson, Antioch’s city engineer. “This is about protecting our water rights.”

Antioch’s pre-1914 water rights give it nearly unfettered ability to pump from the San Joaquin, but the value of the privilege continues to be watered down.  

The problem for Antioch isn’t water availability — it’s water quality.

Prior to the construction of major 20th century dams such as Shasta, Friant and Oroville, salty or brackish water was rarely an issue for most farmers and towns in the delta. Even in dry years, water from the five rivers — including the San Joaquin — that flow into the delta were able to slow the daily saltwater tides and “rinse or freshen” out the estuary.

The sprawling inland estuary is formed by the confluence of two primary rivers — the Sacramento from the north and the San Joaquin from the southeast. The rivers eventually join near Antioch before flowing through the Carquinez Strait to the San Francisco Bay.  

The main cause of Antioch’s water woes are the Central Valley and State Water projects. The mammoth projects, jointly operated by the feds and state, pull enormous amounts of water from pumps in the south delta where salinity isn’t a major concern.

Though delta plumbing projects provide 25 million residents with drinking water and irrigate over 3 million acres of farmland, they greatly reduce the amount of freshwater left for the fish, birds and cities like Antioch that rely on the estuary to survive.  

When the pumps are humming and delivering water to farmers and cities south of the delta, San Joaquin River flows are weakened and less fresh water makes it downstream to Antioch. The pumping allows saltwater to creep further into the delta and tarnish water quality, a problem that is exacerbated during the state’s notorious dry spells.  

The feds and state are required to abide by pumping rules intended to ensure there is an adequate amount of freshwater circulating through the delta at all times. But critics say the guidelines are broken routinely and aren’t strict enough to protect the struggling ecosystem and its endangered salmon populations.  

To account for the adverse impacts caused by the State Water Project, California in the 1960s agreed to help Antioch pay for water when the delta became too salty for its water treatment plant. Over the years the city’s substitute purchases from Contra Costa Water District became more frequent and a burden on taxpayers.

Fed up with the nearly 50-year-old arrangement, the city sued the state in 2017 claiming it was spending far too much money buying water from outside sources. The lawsuit also argued the salinity problems would intensify in the future if the state ever builds the much ballyhooed Delta Tunnels project, which at the time was on the cusp of breaking ground. The project has since been scrapped but current Governor Gavin Newsom is moving ahead with a scaled-down version.

The legal battle concluded last year when the city and California Department of Water Resources settled for $27 million. In essence, the settlement absolved the state of fault but provided the financial footing needed to kickstart Antioch’s desalination plant.

Now with California gripped again by drought and water suppliers being forced to enact conservation mandates in other parts of the state, Antioch is readying its defenses.

Giving a tour of the construction site on a suffocatingly hot and smoky summer morning, Samuelson, the city engineer, rattled off the list of perceived project benefits.

Rather than building a whole new facility, the city is essentially giving its existing water treatment plant a makeover and equipping it with desalination capabilities. The project will use the existing raw water pipeline that pulls water from the river to the plant and send it through the normal pretreatment process.

To remove salts and minerals from the brackish water, the city will employ a process known as reverse osmosis. Once the water is scrubbed through the reverse osmosis membranes, the excess brine will be diluted to meet discharge standards and piped 4.3 miles away downstream to the Delta Diablo Wastewater Treatment Plant for disposal. Once the desalination plant is operable, it will be able to clean 6 million gallons per day or 5,500 acre-feet per year.

According to the Water Education Foundation, the average California household uses between one-half and one acre-foot of water annually.  

Like any water infrastructure project built in California, the desalination plant carries an eye-opening price tag.

At a cost of at least $110 million, the plant will go down as the most expensive public works project in city history. The city says funding will come through a variety of sources including the court settlement and state grants. After years of planning and environmental review, the city broke ground on the historic project in early 2020 and hopes to have it completed sometime in 2023.

Desalination will allow the city to pull from the river year-round even during droughts and save residents money in the end, Samuelson claims.

“This project is huge, especially in a dry year like this,” Samuelson said. “There will be no water rate increases, it should actually save money.”

Samuelson says the project is notable for various reasons, as the first inland brackish desalination project in California and because it’s faced relatively little opposition. He says the state wants to use the project as an example going forward.

The Department of Water Resources confirmed Samuelson’s claim in an email.  

“DWR is proud to support the city of Antioch brackish water desalination project through the Water Desalination Grant Program,” said Kris Tjernell, deputy director of integrated watershed management. “As dry conditions continue, it’s critical that the state invests in projects that strengthen California’s drought resilience.”

There are over 10 desalination plants already operating in the state, but they are all located on and pull directly from the Pacific Ocean. Samuelson says Antioch’s inland version to clean brackish water is the first-of-its-kind.

While the city casts the project as environmentally friendly and has promised to strictly monitor downstream discharges to ensure they aren’t too salty, not all are convinced desalination is a win for the already struggling delta ecosystem.

San Francisco Baykeeper, a group committed to improving water quality standards in the Bay-Delta, said in an email while it doesn’t officially oppose the project, it will be closely watching to make sure water quality doesn’t suffer downstream from the plant.

“They say the brine discharges will have the exact same level of pollutants that were in the water in the first place, but Baykeeper’s concern is that the pollutants will be more concentrated,” said Eric Buescher, SF Baykeeper attorney. “Antioch and the State Water Resources Control Board will need to keep a close eye on the brine discharges and their effects on the bay to make sure the city’s assumptions were correct.”

Buescher added that instead of funding desalination, the state should be focusing taxpayer dollars on propping conservation efforts and new water recycling endeavors.

 “Desalination is also extremely energy intensive, while water recycling uses less energy and can remove pollutants from wastewater that would otherwise contaminate the bay,” Buescher said.

Other water experts aren’t as concerned about the desalination plant, including Greg Gartrell, adjunct fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California Water Policy Center and former assistant general manager at the Contra Costa Water District.   

Gartrell says the city’s plan to mix or dilute the brine before dumping it back into the river should prove effective.

“The only thing that could arise is if the discharge is very much saltier than the water at the discharge point, the brine will sink and could affect benthic communities locally, but this is not likely if it is done as planned. Overall water quality should not change noticeably,” Gartrell said.

Like SF Baykeeper, Gartrell said the desalination plant shouldn’t be viewed as a silver bullet for the state’s water crisis but rather an expensive crutch for the city.

“It really does not change the water supply overall: just whose water right is being used, Antioch’s or Contra Costa Water District’s,” he said.

Considering climate scientists are predicting more frequent droughts and the delta’s salt problems are far from fixed, Samuelson hopes Antioch’s delta neighbors are paying attention.

“There’s going to be more cities looking at desalination,” he projected.

I am not sure if this is very good news or terrible news—but it does explain why Newsom needs to be Recalled—and the Sacramento Democrats sent home.

“As much as the state’s welcome mat is rolled out, refugees working with the U.S. Department of State won’t generally get a federal blessing to make the Golden State their new home. 

The department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs listed the cities it said are best suited for refugees to thrive. Despite significant Afghan population centers in Sacramento and Fremont, where one neighborhood is called Little Kabul, no California destinations are on the list of 19 cities.

The bureau said the District of Columbia metro area and some cities in California are “very expensive places to live,” making it difficult to find reasonable housing and employment.

“Any resettlement benefits you receive may not comfortably cover the cost of living in these areas,” the bureau’s resettlement guidance said. “Unless you have close relatives or friends in these areas who are able to provide financial support and housing until you find employment that covers your living expenses, it is best to allow a resettlement agency to choose a suitable location for you.”

Even with giveaways and Federal government largesse, and a welcoming mat form Newsom, California is too expensive for refugees—actually, it is too expensive for most that live here.  That is why families and businesses are leaving.

Feds say California too expensive to welcome Afghan refugees

By Cole Lauterbach | The Center Square, 9/6/21   

 (The Center Square) – Afghan refugees looking to resettle in the U.S. are being discouraged from picking California as a destination, despite the state having significant Afghan population centers.

In the days after the U.S. announced it would resettle refugees fleeing a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, governors across the country made statements welcoming refugees. 

“We’re a state of refuge,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Aug. 16 during a news conference. “I’m proud of the fact that, over the last decade, California’s taken in more refugees than any other state in America, and I’m proud of the fact a disproportionate number of Afghani refugees are here in Northern California, not just here in the south, but also up in Sacramento County.” 

Newsom said the state already was working with nonprofit organizations to “make sure that they feel welcome and celebrated as members of our community.” 

As much as the state’s welcome mat is rolled out, refugees working with the U.S. Department of State won’t generally get a federal blessing to make the Golden State their new home. 

The department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs listed the cities it said are best suited for refugees to thrive. Despite significant Afghan population centers in Sacramento and Fremont, where one neighborhood is called Little Kabul, no California destinations are on the list of 19 cities.

The bureau said the District of Columbia metro area and some cities in California are “very expensive places to live,” making it difficult to find reasonable housing and employment.

“Any resettlement benefits you receive may not comfortably cover the cost of living in these areas,” the bureau’s resettlement guidance said. “Unless you have close relatives or friends in these areas who are able to provide financial support and housing until you find employment that covers your living expenses, it is best to allow a resettlement agency to choose a suitable location for you.”

California’s cost of living likely is to be a significant hurdle for refugees looking to make the state their home. Refugees receive a $1,100 stipend for three months after arriving in the country. According to RentCafe, the median rent in Fremont is more than $2,400 a month.

“With the recent victories for pro-housing policy in our state legislature, California is finally grappling with five decades of resistance to building more homes in our cities,” said Matthew Lewis, director of communications for California YIMBY, a nonprofit that advocates for policies that would allow more housing availability in California. “Sadly, that won’t help today’s refugees, whether they’re fleeing war in Afghanistan or wildfires right here in the Sierra Nevada.” 

Lewis, however, stressed not to count California out. 

“The vast majority of Californians want to make it legal to build more affordable homes in our cities, and we’re optimistic that our cities will be more welcoming in the very near future – for refugees, immigrants, Americans seeking opportunity, and for our own children,” he said.

According to the CATO Institute, California is home to an estimated 45% of the nation’s Afghan population.

UPDATE: The bureau removed the list of 19 cities from its resettlement page over the weekend. A State Department spokesperson said the change was to “maximize potential placement options and flexibility” and would eventually use the list again once the placement process becomes more normalized. The official maintains that the list was for refugees to self-select a place to resettle should they not have close ties in the U.S. 

In the meantime, the bureau would continue working with its nine resettlement partners and affiliates across the country to resettle refugees, they said.

The slippery slope of government mandated DEATH has started in Australia.  In one province only those that have been vaccinated can get health care.  The next step is to tell those that smoke, no health care.  Then if you drink, no health care—drive without putting your seat belt on—no health care.  If vegetarians take over, if you eat mat, no health care.  This is the slope the people from Down Under are on.  Will the obviously demented Biden or the laughing, cackling Harris put us on the same road?

“Suffice it to say that the vaccine remains a contentious matter, with many people legitimately fearing that not only won’t it prevent COVID, but it may worsen their vulnerability.

In Australia, though, the various state governments are insisting that people must be vaccinated, masked, and locked in their homes or workplaces.  And now Daniel Andrews, the Australian Labor Party premier of Victoria, has announced that only vaccinated Australians can receive health care.  Not just health care if they’re sick with COVID, but any health care.  (Hat tip: The Gateway Pundit.)

Australia proves why socialized medicine is so dangerous

By Andrea Widburg, American Thinker,  9/7/21 

Australia didn’t slowly turn into a totalitarian nation.  It became one overnight, thanks to the people’s willingness to accept their governments’ hysterical reaction to COVID.  We’ve all watched in horror as a once free country now confines people to their homes, forces injections on their children, turns unmasked people into “most wanted” outlaws, shoots dogs, and prepares to track people’s every movement with apps backed by police power.  The latest craziness in Victoria is to deny health care to people who resist getting the vaccination.

As a preliminary point to any discussion about vaccine mandates, it’s incumbent upon me to note that Israel, the most heavily vaccinated country in the world, is being overwhelmed by the delta variant and has the highest infection rate in the world.  Last week, the country said people needed a third shot.  This week, it’s saying that people must take a fourth shot and, indeed, must be perpetually vaccinated to survive COVID mutations.

It’s easy to liken the vaccination to a flu shot, but it’s actually worse than a flu shot.  The annual flu shot gives people some immunity against the annual flu, which is a slightly different virus every time.  Getting a flu shot in one year does not have any effect on your resistance or vulnerability to the flu in subsequent years.  However, it seems that the COVID vaccines increase people’s vulnerabilities to future COVID variants.  Thanks to the vaccine, they’re on an endless treadmill of booster shots, all of which come with an unusually high number of severe side-effects.  (The AP challenges the claim that COVID shots actually make people more vulnerable to variants, but it’s worth noting that the research results the AP cites don’t recognize the facts on the ground in Israel.)

Suffice it to say that the vaccine remains a contentious matter, with many people legitimately fearing that not only won’t it prevent COVID, but it may worsen their vulnerability.

In Australia, though, the various state governments are insisting that people must be vaccinated, masked, and locked in their homes or workplaces.  And now Daniel Andrews, the Australian Labor Party premier of Victoria, has announced that only vaccinated Australians can receive health care.  Not just health care if they’re sick with COVID, but any health care.  (Hat tip: The Gateway Pundit.)

We are moving from a health system where we have everyone locked down we are going to move to a situation where to protect the health care system we are going to lock out people who are not vaccinated and can be. If you’re making the choice not to get vaccinated then you’re making the wrong choice[.] … It’s going to be a vaccinated economy. And you get to participate in that.

The reason Andrews can make (and mean) this threat is that Australia has socialized medicine, AKA government-controlled medicine.  It’s apparently very poor-quality medical care (as is the case wherever socialized medicine exists), but it’s “free” as long as you ignore that you already prepaid for it with your taxes.

What the government giveth, the government can taketh away.  Cancer?  Tough luck if you’re not vaccinated, even if your cancer makes the vaccination a deadly risk.  Broken bone?  Set it yourself.  You’re not going anywhere near a government-run hospital.  Pretty soon, there are going to be medical speakeasies in Australian cities, where people have to know the password to get into a tightly guarded illegal health care clinic.

In America, a handful of doctors have also refused to treat unvaccinated patients.  The latest example is Dr. Linda Marraccini, who made the news because of her announcement that, as of September 15, anyone who is not vaccinated is barred from coming into her office.  She claims that she’s doing so to protect immunocompromised patients.  However, as CDC director Rochelle Walensky conceded in July, vaccinated people not only get the delta variant, but spread it, too.

Thankfully, because America does not have entirely government-controlled medicine, Dr. Marraccini’s patients can find other doctors who will treat them, not just for COVID, but also for their other ailments and injuries.  The free market still works, at least up to a point.

There are so many stories about the various vaccines’ safety and efficacy that it can easily make your head spin.  What’s important to remember, though, is that nothing should ever justify accepting a government’s deep dive into totalitarianism, all with the promise to keep you “safe.”  No government can do that, and any government claiming to do so is trying to acquire absolute power by first inducing panic and then selling itself as your sole protector.

Home invasion is legalized in Fresno by local judge.  That is the only conclusion from the set4ence delivered.

“Five defendants in a Clovis home-invasion robbery were given lucky break by the Fresno County Superior Court judge during their sentencing Friday.

Instead of sending the defendants, nearly all of who were first-time offenders, to prison for more than 20 years, Judge David Gottlieb gave granted them three years of probation. A sixth suspect, Breanna Houston, 20, still has charges pending.

Four of the defendants were in court Friday: Jaan Pinedo, 19, Angel Ramirez, 19, Christopher Sanchez, 19 and Jonathan Simmavong, 23.”

So if you are young enough, you can steal, threaten and do mayhem—and the worst that can happen is a slap on the wrist.  Any wonder crime is rising in California—even judges do not take it seriously.

Fresno judge decides Clovis home invaders can dodge prison — and be released from jail

By Robert Rodriguez, Fresno Bee,   9/4/21 

•  

Five defendants in a Clovis home-invasion robbery were given lucky break by the Fresno County Superior Court judge during their sentencing Friday.

Instead of sending the defendants, nearly all of who were first-time offenders, to prison for more than 20 years, Judge David Gottlieb gave granted them three years of probation. A sixth suspect, Breanna Houston, 20, still has charges pending.

Four of the defendants were in court Friday: Jaan Pinedo, 19, Angel Ramirez, 19, Christopher Sanchez, 19 and Jonathan Simmavong, 23.

Fifth defendant John Searless, 19, was in quarantine at the Fresno County jail and could not attend the hearing.

According to police, at about 8 a.m. Dec. 11 the accused robbers stole more than $64,000 worth of vape pens from the victim while he was inside his Clovis apartment. The suspects armed themselves with semi-automatic handguns and used zip ties to detain the victim.

They made off with 1,400 marijuana vape pens, designer clothing, shoes and cash. The defendants were charged with kidnapping to commit robbery and first-degree residential robbery. The charges also carried a gun enhancement that adds prison time.

But as part of a deal with prosecutors, they agreed to plead no contest to a felony charge of residential robbery instead of facing a trial on the kidnapping and first-degree residential robbery charges. Houston has, so far, not agreed to a plea deal.

Judge wants to give defendants ‘an opportunity’

Gottlieb explained to the defendants that he was giving them a huge opportunity to make positive changes in their lives. The judge was also sympathetic to the efforts their parents have made to keep them from going down the wrong path.

“Their parents work very hard and are trying to do the absolute best for their children and to reiterate these young men are not only lucky because of what is happening here today but also because they have parents who care about them and love them enough to pick them up off the ground and continue to work with them and support them,” Gottlieb said.

But Gottlieb also warned the defendants that if they break the law and come before him again, things will be different.

“You come back before me again, for a violation, you are going to prison,” he said.

The defendants are expected to be released soon. They have been in jail for nearly nine months.

As we end the use of coal, oil, nuclear and even demolish dams that provide water and hydro-electric power, California is going dark and even more expensive.

“In an upcoming bond offering, California listed several risks that could have adverse impacts on its economy. Besides COVID-19, wildfires, increasing debts, and cybersecurity threats, what we found fascinating was the risk to the state’s power system.

The State of California Investor Relations page recently published the bond offering summary that describes Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo as the joint senior managers on the $2.1 billion general-obligation bond deal on Sept. 14. 

“The future fiscal impact of stresses to the energy grid caused by climate is difficult to predict, but could be significant,” the state said. “In recent years, California has taken on numerous steps to increase resiliency to be better prepared to meet the state’s electricity demands.”

Now the State of California is admitting that its policies are not only failures—but have become an economic liability to the future of the State.  Why build or move here is you KNOW energy will be limited and rationed—just like water?   When will the people of California wake up?  On September 14—or will they believe those that have lied to them for a generation, keep Newsom—and then be forced to move to Texas to survive?

California Admits Grid At Risk Amid Push To Greenify Economy

by Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge,   9/5/21 

In an upcoming bond offering, California listed several risks that could have adverse impacts on its economy. Besides COVID-19, wildfires, increasing debts, and cybersecurity threats, what we found fascinating was the risk to the state’s power system.

The State of California Investor Relations page recently published the bond offering summary that describes Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo as the joint senior managers on the $2.1 billion general-obligation bond deal on Sept. 14. 

“The future fiscal impact of stresses to the energy grid caused by climate is difficult to predict, but could be significant,” the state said. “In recent years, California has taken on numerous steps to increase resiliency to be better prepared to meet the state’s electricity demands.”

The warning comes as the state is greenifying its power grid system by ditching diesel and natural gas generation sources for wind and solar. Simultaneously, lawmakers in the state are incentivizing residents to purchase electric vehicles that require an enormous amount of energy. It’s a straightforward equation to understand. The more EVs on the road, the larger output the grid needs to produce or risk collapse. 

Earlier this summer, California Independent System Operator told residents to conserve energy voluntarily, including asking residents to charge their EVs at certain off-peak times due to back-to-back heat waves straining the grid. 

California’s plans to become an environmental and socialist utopia face the harsh reality that climate volatility and green energy sources may not be as reliable as once thought. 

Texas found out the hard way when its wind-power generating capacity went offline because a massive deep freeze across the state in February contributed to the entire grid meltdown. 

So far, liberal politicians who are chasing renewable energy as a means of mitigating “climate change” will have to soon wake up to the fact that renewable energy sometimes is unreliable energy. It would be challenging for California to upgrade its grid to accommodate zero-emissions vehicles on its highways by 2035 unless the grid was completely overhauled. 

The latest example of fragile grids is Hurricane Ida destroying two thousand miles of transmission lines and knocking out power for nearly a million people in Louisiana that may not even fully be restored by the end of next week. 

The consequence of unreliable grids and politicians increasing EV demand is a recipe for an unreliable grid. 

Readers may recall that it cost Tesla users $900 per charge during the Texas cold snap in February. 

We already have a shortage of teachers, nurses, cops, truck drivers and a massive lack of products on the grocery shelves.  Now government is going to make sure these shortages grow and create a crisis.  It is possible that up to 25% of our nurses will move to other jobs when the vaccine mandate becomes the Rule (never the law).

“Groups of Americans across the country are fighting back against COVID vaccine and mask mandates by quitting their jobs, walking out of school and taking legal action.

In Chicago, school bus drivers are quitting in droves, with as many as sixty school bus drivers resigning in a single day rather than be vaccinated, NPR reports. The shortage is so severe that the school district canceled school bus service and even reached out to Uber and Lyft for help – but, neither rideshare company requires its drivers be vaccinated.

Chicago Public Schools District has even begun offering bribes of $1,000 upfront and $500 a month to parents willing to drive their kids to school, Yahoo! News reports.

Image the increase of crimes, the closing of whole wings of hospitals—the lack of goods due to the inability to transport them?  No amount of deficit spending will help the situation—people will die because of government policy.  Ready to fight back?

School Bus Drivers and Cops Quit, Students Stage Walkouts, Police Sue to Protest COVID Mandates

By Craig Bannister, CNS News,   9/7/21   

Groups of Americans across the country are fighting back against COVID vaccine and mask mandates by quitting their jobs, walking out of school and taking legal action.

In Chicago, school bus drivers are quitting in droves, with as many as sixty school bus drivers resigning in a single day rather than be vaccinated, NPR reports. The shortage is so severe that the school district canceled school bus service and even reached out to Uber and Lyft for help – but, neither rideshare company requires its drivers be vaccinated.

Chicago Public Schools District has even begun offering bribes of $1,000 upfront and $500 a month to parents willing to drive their kids to school, Yahoo! News reports.

Last week, dozens of students at Colorado’s Thunder Ridge High School staged a walkout to protest a mask mandate, where they were joined by Ranch View Middle School students and their parents.

In Pittsburgh, a group of parents in the Penn-Trafford School District held a protest over the mask mandate on Tuesday, where students at Greater Latrobe and Derry Area high schools are staging walkouts.

In Florida, protesters demanding the resignation of a Brevard County School Board member who called an emergency meeting to cast the deciding ballot imposing the school mask mandate, Florida Today reports:

“Tensions over the mask mandate at Brevard Public Schools ran high Wednesday, with protests staged outside schools and outside a School Board member’s home. At times the protests have turned ugly, with obscenities shouted and protestors urging students on school property to remove their face coverings.”

“The School Board voted 3-2 to implement a 30-day mask mandate on Monday at an emergency meeting Jenkins called.”

In Oregon, police and firefighters have banded together to sue Democrat Governor Kate Brown and the state for mandating all state workers receive a vaccine, KOIN 6 reports:

“A group of Oregon State Police troopers and Klamath County-based firefighters have filed a lawsuit against Gov. Kate Brown over her mandate requiring full COVID-19 vaccination for state workers.

“The lawsuit, filed in Jefferson County Circuit Court, states the plaintiffs are the Oregon Fraternal Order of Police along with troopers from around the state, including a Major Crimes Sergeant and a state police Captain, and a Kingsley Firefighters Association, which represents all firefighters at Kingsley Field in Klamath County and names the governor and the state of Oregon as defendants.”

After losing nearly three hundred officers due to last year’s Defund the Police movement, the Seattle Police Department looks to lose at least two hundred more police officers who are refusing to abide by the vaccine mandate.

In Chicago, four police unions are working together to protect their members from the vaccine mandate imposed by Democrat Major Lori Lightfoot.

And, in Los Angeles, firefighters have formed Firefighters 4 Freedom to fight back against mandated vaccinations, while hundreds of Los Angeles Police Department officers have joined its subgroup, Roll Call 4 Freedom.

Firefighters 4 Freedom plans to challenge the vaccine mandate in court, based on privacy protections guaranteed in California’s constitution.

For the past 18 months government teachers have been mostly at home, unsupervised.  Now schools are spending the first 30 days of mask to mask (there is NO face to face education) trying to figure out how much education the children have lost—and how far behind they are.

“Take it from Cecily Myart-Cruz, the head of United Teachers Los Angeles. She fought tooth and nail to make sure teachers in the L.A. Unified School District, while receiving full pay, stayed out of the classroom for three full academic semesters, leaving 600,000 students without any serious educational opportunity. Not only that, but at her insistence, L.A. teachers only had to teach virtual half-days, facilitating no more than four hours of Zoom learning per day — again, with full pay.

So that’s the first thing about unions — they like not working.

What effect has their laziness had on children? Myart-Cruz makes clear — they don’t care. And that’s the second lesson about unions.

“There is no such thing as learning loss,” Myart-Cruz bellowed during an interview with Los Angeles Magazine’s Jason McGahan. “Our kids didn’t lose anything. It’s OK that our babies may not have learned all their times-tables. They learned resilience. They learned survival. They learned critical-thinking skills. They know the difference between a riot and a protest. They know the words insurrection and coup.”

If a teacher can say that after no education for 18 months there is NO learning loss, then they should not be allowed near a school campus—a taco joint filling the shells is their intellectual capacity.  Seriously, do you want a teacher that believes 18 months without education is GOOD for a child?

Too lazy to work, too callous to care: COVID’s lesson on teachers unions

by Washington Examiner, 9/6/21 

On the topic of teachers unions, COVID-19 has been a real education.

In good times, teachers unions will go to the mat to defend a corpse in the classroom if that’s what it takes to prevent an unfit teacher from being fired. And in bad times, they will go to the mat to avoid having to show up for work.

Take it from Cecily Myart-Cruz, the head of United Teachers Los Angeles. She fought tooth and nail to make sure teachers in the L.A. Unified School District, while receiving full pay, stayed out of the classroom for three full academic semesters, leaving 600,000 students without any serious educational opportunity. Not only that, but at her insistence, L.A. teachers only had to teach virtual half-days, facilitating no more than four hours of Zoom learning per day — again, with full pay.

So that’s the first thing about unions — they like not working.

What effect has their laziness had on children? Myart-Cruz makes clear — they don’t care. And that’s the second lesson about unions.

“There is no such thing as learning loss,” Myart-Cruz bellowed during an interview with Los Angeles Magazine’s Jason McGahan. “Our kids didn’t lose anything. It’s OK that our babies may not have learned all their times-tables. They learned resilience. They learned survival. They learned critical-thinking skills. They know the difference between a riot and a protest. They know the words insurrection and coup.”

Of course, they could have learned such things from just a week of playing Tour of Duty or binge-watching Star Wars. And unlike those obvious, common things, times tables represent specialized knowledge that is useful for schools to teach.

But as facile as Myart-Cruz’s response was, that’s not the truly amazing thing. The amazing thing is what this union boss conceded — that the members of her union do not meaningfully influence the lives of their students through their work in the classroom.

When Myart-Cruz tells you who she is, and what her union is, believe her.

Still, quite a few parents disagree as to the value of in-person education. They have the temerity to view schools as entities that exist to serve them as taxpayers — not the other way around. They don’t want to pay the salaries of callous and lazy union bosses. They don’t want unions to hold their children’s future hostage.

This is why, for example, pandemic lockdowns have led to a doubling in the rate of homeschooling. Thanks to the efforts of union bosses like Myart-Cruz, 10% of all students are now homeschooling and completely free of union influence.

Meanwhile, charter and voucher programs across the country are liberating still more students from public sector unions’ toxic influence. If she and her ilk keep it up, it won’t be long before teachers unions are out of business entirely.

For that reason, we fully support Myart-Cruz and her efforts to shirk work and disregard the well-being of students. In the short run, this will hurt a few students in Southern California. In the long run, it is helping parents everywhere understand that they must do anything they can to avoid dealing with public schools or teachers unions.

This will hasten the day taxpayers and parents no longer make unions fat and happy with their tax dollars, just so these unions can damage the national political culture, destroy children’s innocence with useless leftist claptrap, and generally promote ignorance as learning.

Happy Labor Day.

San Fran is NOT recovering.  Companies are leaving, closing or consolidating.  In this case a major tech firm is closing its HQ and moving in with another firm, which has excess space.  This does not help the economy of San Fran—but shows the uncertainty of the policies of the local government.

“More than a year after Eventbrite let go of 45% of its staff, the San Francisco-based event management and ticketing company has significantly reduced its office space in the city.

Instead of exercising an option to renew its 7-year lease for roughly 97,000 square feet inside of the University of Pacific Building at 155 5th St. when it expired this May, Eventbrite is moving out and three blocks over, into much smaller office space occupied by Zillow Inc. in the SoMa neighborhood.

Eventbrite will sublease 13,335 square-foot sublease at 535 Mission St. in an agreement inked with Zillow on Aug. 23. The new digs will serve as the company’s headquarters, Eventbrite announced in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing last month.”

At least some of the company is staying in California.

Eventbrite shrinks S.F. office space significantly and relocates HQ

By Laura Waxmann, San Francisco Business Times. 9/7/21   

More than a year after Eventbrite let go of 45% of its staff, the San Francisco-based event management and ticketing company has significantly reduced its office space in the city.

Instead of exercising an option to renew its 7-year lease for roughly 97,000 square feet inside of the University of Pacific Building at 155 5th St. when it expired this May, Eventbrite is moving out and three blocks over, into much smaller office space occupied by Zillow Inc. in the SoMa neighborhood.

Eventbrite will sublease 13,335 square-foot sublease at 535 Mission St. in an agreement inked with Zillow on Aug. 23. The new digs will serve as the company’s headquarters, Eventbrite announced in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing last month. 

As I reported in April, Online real estate marketplace Trulia — which was acquired by Zillow in 2014 — anchored 535 Mission St. and listed all of its 105,897-square feet for sublease through September 2023. The 27-story skyscraper is owned by Boston Properties, which must still give consent before the sublease can become effective according to Eventbrite’s filing.

Eventbrite will be required to pay roughly $1.8 million over the term of the lease, which runs through Sept. 29, 2023. The company will also be responsible for its proportionate share of the building’s operating expenses. Costar first reported Eventbrite’s headquarters relocation.

“Eventbrite was founded in this great city and remains committed to cultivating a great place to work in San Francisco as the market reopens. We’ve created a flexible and personalized pathway for our Britelings in this new era. We will continue to evaluate our space needs against the optimal working patterns that emerge and the market conditions in the city,” a company spokesperson said in a statement to the Business Times.

Eventbrite’s space at 155 5th St. adds to the city’s sublease inventory, which surpassed 10 million square feet this year but fell to roughly 8 million square feet in the second quarter as some companies re-occupied their spaces or, like Eventbrite, signed new leases. 

As of April 2020, Eventbrite employed just over 1,000 people, and laid off about 500. 

Eventbrite conducted a survey of its remaining employees this year that showed that only 9% wished to return to the office full-time, while 68% wanted to return occasionally and 23% preferred remote work.  In an April 2021 blog post, the company announced that it would allow its employees to choose which work-model worked best for them. 

“We are building a future where employees take more control of how and where they work, and believe empowerment and flexibility is a key that unlocks more of their potential. As part of this program, employees also get an opportunity to temporarily try a remote location for a few months so they can test out their options and see what best suits them,” the company said at the time.

A year ago we did not have the vaccine.  WITH the vaccine infections are up 316% in a year, from last Labor Day.  At that time we did not have the vaccine?  Tell me again why government is trying to mandate something that by their own numbers is not working?  Oh, yes, it allows the drug companies to make lots of money—with NO legal liability for the results.

“Daily coronavirus infections are more than four times what the U.S. was seeing on Labor Day last year, or a 316% increase, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. And daily deaths are almost twice as high.

Blame the highly contagious delta variant and a swath of Americans refusing easily accessible vaccines that most of the developing world is furiously scrambling to obtain. 

Hospitalizations are up 158% from a year ago, U.S. Health and Human Services data shows. The result: Some U.S. hospitals are getting so crowded with COVID-19 patients that physicians may soon be compelled to make life-or-death decisions on who gets an ICU bed.”

Expect the failed policies of Fauci, Newsom and Biden to be re-instated—lockdowns, closed businesses, closed schools.  How else do Democrats treat failure—but with more proven failed policies.

New infections are up 316% from last Labor Day; first-responders not rushing to get vaccine: Live COVID-19 updates

John Bacon Jorge L. Ortiz Grace Hauck, USA TODAY, 9/6/21 

Daily coronavirus infections are more than four times what the U.S. was seeing on Labor Day last year, or a 316% increase, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. And daily deaths are almost twice as high.

Blame the highly contagious delta variant and a swath of Americans refusing easily accessible vaccines that most of the developing world is furiously scrambling to obtain. 

Hospitalizations are up 158% from a year ago, U.S. Health and Human Services data shows. The result: Some U.S. hospitals are getting so crowded with COVID-19 patients that physicians may soon be compelled to make life-or-death decisions on who gets an ICU bed.

“We are perilously close,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, told CNN. “You’re going to have to make some very tough choices.”

The crisis has arrived in Mississippi, the state with the nation’s lowest vaccination rate at 38%. At the University of Mississippi Medical Center, the emergency room and intensive care unit are beyond capacity, almost all COVID patients. Risa Moriarity, executive vice chair of the hospital’s emergency department, described a “logjam” with beds in hallways and patients being treated in triage rooms.

“You leave work at the end of the day just exhausted by the effort it takes to (dig) that compassion up for people who are not taking care of themselves and the people around them,” Moriarity said.