California May Abolish the Death Penalty

Public hangings in Iran

The Death Penalty in NOT Conservative

• Rule #1 of Life - Politicians are liars and assholes.  I do not want to give political hacks looking for higher office or a promotion the power to kill. No more, no less.  
• Life in prison at hard, hard labor works for me. Make all crooks regret the day they were born and make them pray to God every day that there was a death penalty.

(Common Dreams)  -  On Election Day, California voters will make a monumental moral and financial decision. Proposition 62 — the Justice That Works Act — is on the Nov. 8 ballot, and if the initiative passes, it will replace the death penalty with life in prison without parole. It will also require convicted murderers to work and pay restitution to their victims’ families. And it will save taxpayers $150 million a year, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office.

Among the states still part of the U.S. death penalty system, California has the most people on death row—746. Florida is next, with 388, according to the Yes on 62 campaign. Overall, 2,943 people are on death row in the United States (as of Jan. 1) — meaning almost one in four people waiting to be executed are in the California penal system. The elderly make up 11 percent, and the oldest condemned inmate is 86. The average stay on death row is 18 years.

Public hangings of Jews in Poland.
Giving liar politicians the right to kill is insane.

Although California has spent about $5 billion administering the death penalty, it has executed just 13 people since 1978. This means taxpayers have spent about $384 million per execution.

There is no evidence demonstrating that the death penalty deters crime, according to a 2012 National Academy of Sciences study. Capital punishment has been applied arbitrarily due to inherent bias, local political pressures on prosecutors and judges, and lack of access to quality defense attorneys by those convicted. According to Death Penalty Focus, the race of the victim and the race of the defendant are major determinants in who is sentenced to death in this country.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), since 1973, 156 people sent to death row nationwide were later exonerated. A 2014 study conducted by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concluded that 4.1 percent of all death row inmates are actually innocent.

But the innocence rate is more than twice the rate of exoneration. That means an unknown number of innocent people have been or will be put to death.

Read More . . . .

Let's Go To Prison

Giving mouth breathing juries the right to kill people 

does not make me sleep better at night.

Public hangings in Afghanistan's capital of Kabul

A colossal bundle of cash draws Clinton to California

Government of, by and for the Oligarchs

Clinton tells the average voter to fuck off, and spends her time kissing the asses of the corrupt Elites.

(Los Angeles Times)  -  Hillary Clinton has decided a tour of California would be far more lucrative.

Clinton is substantially easing her campaign schedule in the coming days to rub elbows with the stars and other deep-pocketed donors during fundraisers at the country’s most exclusive vacation retreats and communities.  

Some of the biggest money will be raised over the next couple of days in California, where Clinton is arriving fresh off an East Coast swing through Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. 

On Monday night, Clinton will be in the most moneyed ZIP codes in Los Angeles, hopping from the home of basketball legend Magic Johnson to the Beverly Hills estate of entertainment mogul Haim Saban – both big time supporters and fundraisers for the Democratic nominee. At the events, she will likely bump into such Hollywood big shots as Jeffrey Katzenberg, Casey Wasserman and Bob Iger, all also big donors.

Just getting in the door to the cocktail reception at the Johnson home costs $2,700 per person. Those who wish to continue to the Saban home, where dinner will be served, must spend $100,000 for a pair of "host" tickets. Those who do will also have an opportunity to have their photo snapped with the candidate. 

Clinton was dealt a slight setback when Leonardo DiCaprio had to back out of his plan to host a fundraiser because of a filming obligation. No worries. The Clintons always seem to have an endless cache of stars ready to pitch in. This time, Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel were standing by to help the candidate raise an eye-popping amount of cash. Tickets for the lunch they are hosting come with a price tag of $33,400.

Clinton will also be dropping in to Laguna Beach for a pair of fundraisers.

By Tuesday night, Clinton will jet off to collect yet more checks in that other California region where money also seems to grow on trees for Democratic nominees, the Bay Area. The events there include a reception cohosted by Apple CEO Tim Cook and company Vice President Lisa Jackson, a former Environmental Protection Agency administrator, and another event at the home of big name in tech, Amy Rao.

The two-day California swing alone will raise many millions of dollars for Clinton, as the candidate who pledges to get money out of politics races to raise $1 billion for the general election. According to an Associated Press report, Clinton’s finance director recently informed campaign staff that the operation is halfway to that goal.

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California's Golden Dream Turns to Crap

Blue Shield of California: Furlough over Obamacare Losses

(Breitbart California)  -  Blue Shield of California (BSC) will be shutting down for four days following Labor Day weekend as a way to stop the financial bleeding resulting from losses in “Covered California,” the state’s Obamacare exchange program.

The change will “affect most of [BSC’s] 6,000 employees in California,” the San Francisco Business Times reports, although the “exact number of workers involved hasn’t yet been tabulated.” But BSC hopes that the move could save “an estimated $4 million.”

According to the Times, BSC spokesman Steve Shivinsky said, “This is certainly not normal for us. We’re definitely seeing some income challenges as of mid-year.”

And BSC is not alone. Shivinsky indicated that “health plans nationally are facing challenges in the individual market and on the Obamacare exchanges, and some have said they plan to … cut back their participation” or exit altogether. “UnitedHealth Group said last month it planned to exit most Obamacare markets. Aetna said it’s reconsidering its presence in individual Affordable Care Act markets in 15 states, and Humana is pulling back as well.”

But BSC is not taking such steps at this point. Rather, it is raising rates as a way to bring in more funding to cover growing expenses. BSC is also looking at job cuts as a way to save money and remain solvent.

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Democrats to tax Olympic medal winners

Screwed for being a winner

• The Democrat controlled California legislature can't wait to give away other people's money to those with "needs", but the Dems will crush you with taxes for daring to work hard and be a winner.

(CBS News)  -  Winning an Olympic medal is an honor that, barring any controversy, can never be taken away. The same can't be said about the bonus money California-based medal winners earn from the United States Olympic Committee.

According to the Los Angeles Times, a state lawmaker was trying to push a bill that would have given tax-exempt status to those bonuses -- $25,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze.

More from the Times:

The bill was killed without discussion or explanation by the Senate's appropriations committee during the biannual "suspense file" hearing to decide the fate of bills that would cost money to the state.

The costs, as estimated in a committee analysis, were pretty minor: $100,000 this year and a total of $10,000 in the following two tax years.

Similar efforts to get an exemption for the athletes failed in 2012 and 2014, according to the Times.

Among the Olympians this will already affect -- 23-year-old swimmer Maya DiRado, who already has a gold, silver and bronze in Rio and could win more. Others like fellow swimmers Abbey Weitzeil, a silver medalist; Josh Prenot, another silver winner; and Dana Vollmer, who has a silver and bronze so far in Rio, are also going to be on the hook. So is Alexander Massialas, who became the first American fencer to win a medal in men's foil since 1960 when he took silver last week. The California native is entering his senior year at Stanford.

For the big-name California-based Olympians, like Kerri Walsh-Jennings -- a California native and gold medal favorite in beach volleyball -- and her teammate April Ross, or NBA star Klay Thompson, this probably isn't a big deal. But not every medalist is going to be raking in the endorsement money or has a professional league that gives them large sums of money. This bill would have provided exemptions to the bonuses received by U.S. Paralympians from California, as well.

The USOC lists 124 athletes from the state of the California on their Rio roster, by far the most for any state. Not every athlete on that list resides in California full-time, but a good portion still do.

Other notable Californians competing for medals at the Olympics include: Anthony Earvin (swimming), Allyson Felix (track and field), Alex Morgan (soccer), Meb Keflezighi (track and field) and Christen Press (soccer), among others.

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Democrats:
"How dare you be a winner in life."

GOP registration collapsing in Orange County

The GOP is dead and the 

corpse is just left to rot

• The so-called "Conservative" Republican Party could have put the repeal of the corrupt high speed rail program on the November ballot as a rallying point for voters. But as usual the GOP chickened out no doubt under pressure from special interests sucking cash from the bullet train teat. No wonder voters are leaving the GOP.
• The GOP stands for nothing and cannot even field a U.S. Senate candidate. So under the corrupt election rules voters will have the "choice" between which open borders leftist U.S. Senate candidate to support.  I might as well live in Cuba.

(Orange County Register)  -  A surge in Democratic voter registration has cut Republicans’ advantage in Orange County to less than 6 percentage points and has doubled the number of Democratic cities over the past year.

The Republican margin has been shrinking since 1990, when the GOP edge was 22 points. But in the past six months, the pace of change has been four times as fast as the 26-year average – due in part to the GOP’s controversial presidential nominee. That could hurt the local Republicans in November’s down-ticket races.

Registration efforts have gotten a boost from other quarters. In addition to the county Democratic Party, at least four left-leaning groups – including MoveOn.org – have been registering voters in Orange County. County GOP Chairman Fred Whitaker said his party has gotten virtually no outside help.

Additionally, Sen. Bernie Sanders attracted young adults who might have otherwise not participated. And the competitive Democratic presidential primary in June boosted turnout, while the Republican contest was already decided.

If the GOP actually stood for something
it might even attract voters.

As a result, more Democrats than Republicans cast ballots in the county. And it was the first time in 48 years that more county ballots were cast for Democratic than Republican presidential candidates.

There are two close state legislative races where turnout could play a decisive roll: The state Senate race to replace termed-out Sen. Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, in the tri-county district where GOP Assemblywoman Ling Ling Chang is facing Democratic activist Josh Newman; and Democrat Sharon Quirk Silva’s challenge of incumbent Assemblywoman Young Kim, R-Fullerton.

It could also help Democrat Michele Martinez’s challenge of incumbent Republican county Supervisor Andrew Do. And Democrat Doug Applegate, who finished less than 7 points behind Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, in the primary, is drawing attention from donors who see a chance for an upset of the incumbent, a Trump supporter.

Two wild card issues that could also affect turnout are whether ballot measures spur partisan turnout and whether backers of Bernie Sanders will bother voting, Balma said.

Voter Registration History

Orange County was long touted as the nation’s most Republican county. The modern-era high point was 1990, when the GOP’s 56 percent share of the electorate translated to a 22-point advantage over Democrats. (In 1928, Republicans were at 73 percent.)

That edge has slowly dropped, to 17 percentage points in 2000 and to 11 points in 2010.

Republicans are now 39.7 percent of county voters, an all-time low. Democrats are at 34 percent, their highest since 1992. Voters with no party preference account for 22.6 percent, down from the all-time high of 23.6 percent last year.

That means Republicans’ 8-percentage point edge in February has shrunk to 5.7 points.

The long-term trend is largely due to shifting demographics. Latinos, who favor the Democratic Party over the GOP by more than 2-1, are 18 percent of the electorate and growing. And voters ages 18-34, who heavily favored Republicans in 2002, are now more likely to register as Democrats.

Republicans still prevail among voters in 24 of the county’s 34 cities, although the three biggest – Anaheim, Santa Ana and Irvine – are Democratic. In July, Tustin became the 10th city in the county to turn Democrat. That’s twice the total of a year ago. Fullerton is poised to follow suit, with the shrinking Republican advantage there down to 144 voters.

The other Democratic cities are Buena Park, Garden Grove, La Habra, La Palma, Laguna Beach and Stanton.

Balma anticipates the Democratic surge of the past six months will slow to closer to the 26-year average. At that rate, county Democrats would surpass Republicans in 10 years. Vandermeir also expects it to slow, but not until after the November election. He expects Democrats to be the county’s dominant party in three or four years.

Balma said Republicans have their work cut out for them.

“The Republicans really need to attract young people, and they need young people to run for office,” she said. “And it’s incumbent on Republicans to go after the culturally conservative and not assume they’re going to register Republican.”

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California has "Muslim Appreciation and Awareness Month”

GOP Joins With Democrats 

To Praise Islam

I certainly appreciate the many contributions 

Islam has made to the world.

(Breitbart California)  -  The California State Assembly is to consider a bill Monday declaring August “Muslim Appreciation and Awareness Month,” in accordance with a resolution proposed by Assemblyman Bill Quirk (D-Hayward), and supported by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

(Update: The bill passed unanimously in the Assembly on Monday afternoon.)

CAIR was an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror funding trial, and has been declared a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates. After the San Bernardino terror attack in December last year, CAIR offered assistance to the terrorists’ family, and suggested U.S. policy was partly to blame.

The resolution declares, “The history of Islam in this country dates back to before its founding,” referring to slaves with Muslim beliefs — though, curiously, it avoids mentioning the slave trade in the Islamic world. The resolution also says that Muslims have been “fighting and sacrificing in every major war from the American Revolutionary War to present-day conflicts” — but it fails to mention the Barbary Wars, which were fought against Muslim potentates who kidnapped Americans for ransom, nor does it mention the radical Muslims who launched the War on Terror. The bill is also silent about recent Islamic terror carried out in California itself, such as the attack in San Bernardino, which claimed 22 innocent lives.

Instead, the resolution complains of “harassment, assault, and discrimination” that Muslim-Americans have been “forced to endure” since 9/11. It makes no mention of harassment, assault and discrimination by Muslims against others — such as the Muslims who jeered “Allahu Akbar” at Jewish students at the University of California Davis last year, or those who have driven a wave of antisemitic discrimination throughout the California university system as part of an anti-Israel campaign.

The bill has not yet passed, but Quirk and CAIR are seizing the moment to promote it, capitalizing on an ongoing controversy between Republican nominee Donald Trump and the parents of Capt. Humayun Khan, who are Hillary Clinton supporters and who spoke at the Democratic National Convention against Trump.

“I am proud to celebrate the first ever Muslim Appreciation and Awareness Month by honoring generations of Muslim Americans for their many social, cultural, and economic contributions to California,” said Quirk in a CAIR press release.

Read More . . . .

Only a "crazy" bigot would point out the 85 people slaughtered by a Muslim truck driver in Nice, France so I will not do that. But don't worry. Our insane Elites tell us terrorism has nothing to do with Islam. It was just a "lone wolf" or a "troubled individual."