Leftist Democrat steps down after sexual harassment allegations

Another Leftist Asshole Bites The Dust

• I hate how phony Leftist are. They parade around claiming to better than everyone else while shoving their hands down women's pants.

(The Hill)  -  The Democratic majority whip of the California State Assembly on Monday announced that he will immediately resign following allegations of sexual harassment.

In a statement posted to his Facebook page, Raul Bocanegra said he has decided to resign "effective immediately" instead of waiting until September of 2018, as he had originally announced.

“Upon further reflection during the recent holiday weekend, and conversations with family, friends, supporters, I have decided to resign earlier from the State Assembly effective immediately, which was my original intention,” Bocanegra said in the statement.

Bocanegra cited "persistent rumors" of sexual misconduct in a statement last week to the Los Angeles Times in which he initially announced his plans to resign. 

The Times earlier this month said it had contacted Bocanegra's office in reporting a story about six women who claimed they had been sexually harassed by the state lawmaker.

Bocanegra in his statement to the newspaper said he had asked California’s Assembly Rules Committee to investigate the allegations.

On Monday, Bocanegra denied that he is guilty of such crimes but said he is “admittedly not perfect.”

“I sincerely hope that my decision to resign immediately does not embolden those who are using this serious problem in our society to advance their own personal political gain, rather it is my hope that this action can instead help to widen the doors for victims of sexual assault and workplace harassment to find justice and solace,” he said.

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Na Na Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye

California Democrat legislators are exempt from state laws

(San Francisco Chronicle)  -  The state Legislature’s exemption of its own employees from a 1999 law intended to protect the jobs of whistle-blowers has garnered attention in recent weeks, as women complaining of pervasive sexual harassment in the state Capitol publicly call for such protections for legislative employees. But the whistle-blower act isn’t the only area of the law in which the Legislature has demonstrated a “do as I say, not as I do” mentality.

Take access to public records. Want to know whom government officials are meeting with, talking to or emailing? Or how officials were disciplined after an investigation found them culpable of wrongdoing? State agencies and local governments must release such information — calendars, emails and disciplinary records — under the California Public Records Act, which the Legislature created in 1968. But the same information is nearly impossible to get from state lawmakers, because the Public Records Act does not apply to the Legislature.

Instead, lawmakers are covered by the Legislative Open Records Act, which they passed in 1975 in the wake of the Watergate scandal. The act that applies to them is riddled with exceptions, effectively keeping secret many documents that other branches of government must disclose.

“The Legislature has created in many areas a black box where the public can’t see records it would be entitled to see if the public officials at issue weren’t in the Legislature,” said David Snyder, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, a nonprofit organization advocating government transparency.

The Legislature’s open records law allows it to withhold investigations of wrongdoing, even when they led to disciplinary action. It also keeps secret correspondence by lawmakers and their staff, as well as officials’ calendars. The Legislature even refused to give reporters the calendars of two senators undergoing federal prosecution on corruption charges until media companies sued and won a court order compelling their release.

As more government agencies began storing information electronically, the Legislature updated the Public Records Act in 2000 to compel disclosure of digital records. Now state agencies and local governments must provide public records in any format in which they exist. That gives the public access to electronic records, such as databases, in their original digital format.

But the Legislature has never made the same update to its own open records act. “It was a nonstarter,” former Assemblyman Kevin Shelley of San Francisco told the Sacramento Bee in 2015.

Then there’s the open meetings law. The idea that government meetings should be open to the public has been enshrined in California law for more than 60 years. In 1953, the Legislature passed the open meeting law that applies to local governments, and in 1967 it passed a similar one for state agencies. Yet the 1973 law it passed requiring open meetings of the Legislature does not follow the same rules.

One major difference: It allows legislators to gather secretly in partisan caucuses. When issues hit the floor of the Assembly or the Senate, it’s common for one political party or the other to pause proceedings and call for a caucus. Legislators file out of the chamber and into two private meeting rooms where Democrats and Republicans separately gather for conversations that exclude the public and the media. They can hash out disagreements or craft strategy behind closed doors, then return to the chamber to publicly cast their votes.

Local governments, such as city councils, cannot do this. 

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Democrats and common sense do not mix

NAACP says National Anthem is racist

Leftist Idiots on Parade

• Morons fascinate me. The NAACP is silent about millions of illegal aliens being imported taking away jobs from African American citizens. Instead they get their Leftist panties in a twist over phony issues like millionaire NFL players and and the national anthem.

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — The California NAACP is pushing to get rid of the national anthem that they’re calling racist and anti-black.

“This song is wrong; it shouldn’t have been there, we didn’t have it ’til 1931, so it won’t kill us if it goes away,” said the organization’s president Alice Huffman.

Colin Kaepernick started the NFL protests, which quickly spread to bring attention to systemic racial injustice in the country. But Huffman says Kaepernick’s message was lost when it turned into a debate about the flag.

Huffman adds that the protests did lead her to look at the lyrics of the “Star Spangled Banner” especially the parts of the anthem we don’t typically sing.

“It’s racist; it doesn’t represent our community, it’s anti-black,” she said.

Huffman is referring to the third stanza which includes the lyric “no refuge could save the hireling and slave from the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave.”

THIRD STANZA (FULL LYRICS AT BOTTOM OF STORY)

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

She says some interpretations conclude that the lyrics celebrate the deaths of black American slaves fighting for freedom, and the song should be replaced with something that supports all of our values.

“That’s an extreme way of doing things,” said Kenneth Lu, a veteran living in Davis.

The opinions varied at the VFW in West Sacramento.

“I believe it’s a slap across the face, whether there’s a flaw in the context, I don’t see it that way. I have to stick with our traditions and our values and what we represent,” said Sydney Lugo.

“It won’t solve any problem,” said veteran John Cox.

Huffman says it may not solve anything, but it’s a step towards social justice that she says is long overdue.

“This is not about the flag. We love the flag. This is about a song that should never have been the national anthem. This country is a country that has shared values, and the more we respect each other, the better off we’ll be as a country,” said Huffman.

A separate resolution by the California NAACP is calling on Congress to censure President Donald Trump for his remarks about firing those who don’t stand for the anthem. They are also asking NFL teams to let Kaepernick play again.

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Democrats jack up gas taxes

Dems Demand: "Give till it hurts"

Democrats never met an illegal alien or corrupt businessman they did not want to give your money to.

(KABC) --

Nancy Alvarez , a mother of three, said her car is her second home. She is worried about how the price of gasoline going up 12 cents a gallon will impact her family financially.

"It's expensive, but I can afford it at the moment," Alvarez said. "I'm able to survive. Anything more than that, you're pushing the limit."

The money from the increase will add up to $52 billion over the next decade to fund transportation projects.

On the same day the gas tax increase will take effect, gas stations will switch from the summer gas blend to a cheaper winter blend which AAA said should minimize the impact of the tax hike.

Since the increase was opposed by the California Republican Party, some residents like Alvarez might change the way they vote.

"I do care about the roads, but I also have to care about regular people like myself, how it affects our bank account." Alvarez said.

Along with the 12-cent increase for regular and premium gas, diesel consumers can expect a 16-cent increase on a gallon of gasoline.

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