Friday, April 20, 2018

Capitol Update: Friday, April 20, 2018

Official CFRW Proposition Positions

That June Primary Election is sneaking up on us! The California Federation of Republican Women take official positions on each of the ballot measures each election. From now until June, the Capitol Update will provide our official positions, as well as a "Prop Spotlight" to explain further our position, talking points,background, and information about each proposition. It is up to YOU, as a member of the California Federation of Republican Women, to educate voters on these ballot measures! Californians are tragically uniformed, and the legislature thrives on it. Remind them that these propositions were placed on the ballot by the legislature, written with a bias, and are intentionally deceptive. Californians deserve better!

Prop Spotlight: Prop 68 - The California Parks, Environment, and Water Bond

The CFRW recommends a NO vote.

Ballot Title: Authorizes Bonds Funding Parks, Natural Resources Protection, Climate Adaptation, Water Quality and Supply, and Flood Protection

Ballot Summary:

Authorizes $4 billion in general obligation bonds for: creation and rehabilitation of state and local parks, natural resources protection projects, climate adaptation projects, water quality and supply projects, and flood protection projects.
Reallocates $100 million of unused bond authority from prior bond acts for the same purposes.
Appropriates moneys from the General Fund to pay off bonds.
Requires non-state matching funds for certain projects and favors disadvantaged communities for certain projects.
Requires annual audits
Background

This proposition began as SB 5 (De Leon, D) in 2016. It passed along party lines in the Senate, but was amended in the Assembly to raise the price from $3.8 billion to $4 billion, earning three Republican votes as it passed there 56-21. There are two types of bonds that we, as Californians, vote on: general obligation bonds and revenue bonds. Prop 68 is a general obligation bond. This means that the bond is sold to investors as taxpayer pays back the bond over many years, in this prop's case, 30 years. Accoring to our state's constitution, any bond issued over $300,000 must be placed on a statewide ballot to go before voters. Since 1993 when that law came into place, 39 general obligation bonds have been on our ballots. Of those, 31 of them were passed by our voters. An even more shocking statistic, just 6 of those 39 general obligation bonds were citizen-driven bonds. A total of 33 general obligation bonds, since 1993, have been put on our ballots by our legislature. The most common bonds are water and education bonds- 7 each have appeared since 1993. California has $73.33 billion in outstanding general obligation bond debt. Perhaps worse, we have $31.9 billion in unissued bonds that the voters have passed.

Talking Points

  • Prop 68 is deceptive. What is billed as a $4 billion bond will really cost us closer to $7 billion. This means higher taxes so that a few coastal politicians can divvy out our money for pet projects. The money issued here is not even fairly divided among Californians so that all could see local park improvements.
  • The authors of this prop would have you believe the funding is necessary for drought and groundwater investment. But only 13% of this proposition's funds would be allocated for that purpose. The rest would be doled out for conservation grants with little left over for necessary deferred maintenance.
  • With a 3.5% interest rate over 30 years, our politicians are passing the buck on this bond. At least $2.53 billion in interest will accumulate, bringing the total cost of this bond to $6.53 billion.
  • Currently our state has unfunded pension liablities costs that are rising. Our public school borrowed debt is $500 million a year, retiree medical pension liability is at $91 billion, and affordable housing debt is at $169 million a year. Why are we throwing more debt onto the pile?
  • We need to ask ourselves two simple questions: 1. How effective have past bond measures been (particularly our 2014 water bond)? and 2. Do we really need to add to our state's debt?
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Official CFRW Positions

  • Prop 68: NO
  • Prop 69: NO
  • Prop 70: NO
  • Prop 71: YES
  • Prop 72: YES
June Ballot Measures

Proposition 68: California Parks, Environment, and Water Bond- would issue a $4 billion general obligation bond, with a 3.5% interest rate over 30 years, bringing the bill to the taxpayers up to $6.4 billion total. The CFRW says vote NO.

Proposition 69: Transportation Taxes and Fees Lockbox and Appropriations Limit Exemption Amendment- states that Senate Bill 1 revenue from diesel taxes will be placed in a “lockbox” and used only for transportation fund purposes. The CFRW says vote NO.

Proposition 70: Vote Requirement to Use Cap and Trade Funds Amendment- would require a one-time vote in 2024 by a 2/3rds legislative majority to allocate state Cap and Trade program revenue. The CFRW says vote NO.

Proposition 71: Effective Date of Ballot Measures Amendment- changes the date for when voter approved ballot measures take effect from the day after the election to the fifth day after the Secretary of State certifies the election. The CFRW says vote YES.

Proposition 72: Rainwater Capture Systems Excluded from Property Tax Assessment- would exclude any new rainwater capture structures from property value tax reassessment from counting as a new structure. The CFRW says vote YES.

If you would like ALL the talking points for each proposition, please email our Advocate at advocate@cfrw.org.
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AB 1745 Update

AB 1745 (Ting, D) was scheduled to be heard in the Assembly Transportation Committee this week. Assemblyman Ting cancelled the hearing without rescheduling. This is good news! As you will recall, AB 1745 would have mandated that all gas-powered vehicles would be banned from DMV registration in California by 2040. This bill has no foresight, no plan, and so many unintended consequences. We will keep you posted on its status!
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Sharing is Caring!

We encourage our Republican Women Federated members to share the information they find here in the Capitol Update. As a member of the CFRW, you have access to information about what is happening in our state Capitol that is not readily available or easy to find. Now we want you to pass on this information to other Californians who need to know what is really being passed in Sacramento. You can print out your copy of the Capitol Update to hand out. You can copy and paste into your club's newsletter. You can forward this email to people you know (if you do choose to forward, remember to erase the “Unsubscribe” link at the bottom of the email. It will be a “live” link, even in the email forward, and if someone clicks it, they will unsubscribe the original receiver- you). You can even copy and paste segments of the Capitol Update into your Social Media. However you choose to share, please just share!
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Disclaimer: The Capitol Update is an activity of the CFRW Advocate's Office. The update is for information only. CFRW official positions on legislation are stated immediately preceding the stated legislation or immediately following the stated legislation in this report.

Thursday, April 19, 2018

RIP Barbara Bush. Marvelous woman. The glue that held two presidencies together.



















Trump Vastly Better than Obama at Foreign Policy





Now that we have learned CIA director and secretary of State nominee Mike Pompeo met with Kim Jung Un over Easter, it is time to acknowledge the obvious: the foreign policy of political novice Donald Trump has been vastly more successful that that of the supposedly experienced Barack Obama.

And vastly is an understatement. Obama's foreign policy was a disaster, beginning with the peculiar apology tour that mystified much of its Middle Eastern audience, through the yet more peculiar (misspelled) reset button with Russia that further mystified Sergei Lavrov, on to Obama's overheard whisper to Medvedev telling Putin he would be more accommodating on missile defense after the election (imagine the apoplectic reaction of our media if Trump did that!), to the Libyan war leading to the assassination of Qaddafi (the only Arab leader to voluntarily denuclearize) that created a failed state and a raft of refugees to Italy and elsewhere, and, of course, the rapid exit from Iraq that gave rise to ISIS.

And this omits the equally egregious examples -- the failure to enforce the red line on Assad's use of chemical weapons, about which he naively believed Putin, and the never-signed, never-published Iran Deal itself, which has done nothing but enrich the mullahs who wreak havoc from Venezuela to Yemen. This duplicitous and unverifiable non-agreement prolonged the monstrous Syrian civil war, causing the greatest refugee crisis since World War II and changing the character of Europe possibly forever.

There's more but you get the point. Not even Jimmy Carter had that bad a record. And this is without Obama's sickening lack of response to the freedom demonstrators in Iran. ("Obama, Obama, are you with us or are you with them?" Well, we know.)

And Trump? ...

Comey Book Event Packed With Press, Only One ‘Normal Person’ Attended







Since President Trump took office, food stamp enrollment has dropped by over 2 million.

JOIN US FOR LUNCH: Erin Cruz, US Senate Candidate, will speak at the HRWF Meeting

Join us for lunch Thursday, April 19, 11:30 – 12:30...


Our guest speaker this month is Erin Cruz, U.S. Senate candidate, will be the guest speaker at the Humboldt Republican Women Federated meeting along with the Crescent City Republican Women group. Please join us for lunch, meet Ms. Cruz to learn more about her platform To Make California Golden Again™. Erin is excited to meet all of you in Northern California.

A 38 year California resident, the author of Revolution America, producer and host of the Erin Cruz show, Erin is a Tea Party Republican and Constitutional Conservative, a "Conservatarian" - a cross between Libertarian and Conservative, with the ability to transcend.

Erin is a mother, the young widow of internationally renowned scientist -- Professor Rene L. Cruz -- who we lost to pancreatic cancer.

She is a hobbyist baker and photographer, a lifetime writer, an organic motivator, and is a fierce online personality with a passion and drive for our nation and political integrity.

Her professional background covers all areas of small business operations and administration in the private sector, as well as a solid stretch in academia covering safety management, business administration, payroll, specialized HR, immigration processing and policy and analysis, domestic and international policy analysis and interpretation.

She believes in America First as put forth by the President of the United States and grounded in the Founders' vision as outlined in the US Constitution. She see California as needing new representation in the halls of Congress.

She is listening to you, on the ground floor, networking. You can check out her website at ◼ voteerincruz.comErin Cruz events

She's running against Dianne Feinstein.

When: Thursday, April 19, 11:30 – 12:30
Where: Red Lion Hotel, 1929 4th Street, Eureka, CA 95501
RSVP to Valerie Simons (707) 839-3543
Text: 707-499-1650; email to: fritzsimons@suddenlink.net

Lunch $16.00
Coffee or beverage $4.00
Menu includes meat lasagna, with salad and bread
Dessert is a cookie platter

Make checks payable to HRWF
Doors open at 11:00 with meeting at 11:30 and program at 12:00
Please Note: A reservation made is a reservation paid

Obama Campaign Harvested Data from 100 Million More Facebook Users Than Cambridge Analytica



... in 2012 the Obama campaign harvested data from 190 million Facebook users.

The media cheered the sheer brilliance of the Obama campaign....

The IQ trap: how the new genetics could transform education

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Colluders on the Loose



Comey, McCabe, Clapper, Brennan, Lynch, Andrew Weissmann, Bruce and Nellie Ohr, Harry Reid, Samantha Power, Clinton attorney Jeannie Rhee . . .

If collusion is the twin of conspiracy, then there are lots of colluders running around Washington.

... Who set up the ruse in which an FBI director types up confidential notes of a meeting with the president and passes them to a friend to ensure a firewall conduit to the press, to publish as a “leak” from an “unidentified source” to damage the reputation of the president? All that would require a degree of collusion to leak a classified FBI document that is so sensitive that House Intelligence Committee members with security clearances cannot see what the media and a personal friend of Comey’s already have....

President Bush’s ‘Frighteningly Accurate’ 2007 Warning On Iraq

On Thursday’s The Kelly File, Megyn Kelly aired what she termed a “frighteningly accurate” 2007 prediction by President Bush about Iraq, if U.S forces were withdrawn before “our commanders tell us we are ready” - IJ Review

"What a life she led. What a family she built. What a legacy she leaves. America already misses you terribly, Mrs. Bush."







...What a life she led. What a family she built. What a legacy she leaves. America already misses you terribly, Mrs. Bush.



North and South Korea are officially set to end war after 65 years. This wouldn’t have been possible without President Trump.



Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Massive increase in organ donations from opioid overdoses is saving lives

The #SanDiego County Board of Supervisors voted to oppose the #SanctuaryState laws in #California and join the federal government's lawsuit to prevent enforcement and ultimately overturn unconstitutional #SB54. AND - Lake Forest, CA voted to OPPOSE Sanctuary State law











Across the nation, there are 20-week abortion prohibitions in 18 states, according to the Guttmacher Institute













Trump: US and North Korea are holding talks at "very high levels"







Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Trump Meet at Mar-a-Lago…

Along with increased wages and bonuses, Californians will pay less in taxes than they have in years! That’s no thanks to any Congressional Democrat in California.

California’s train system on track for federal audit

Comey’s McCarthyism Is Scarier Than Anything Trump Did with Russia

Even though tax reform has led to larger paychecks, increased wages, and more jobs, Chuck Schumer and Senate Dems are working to repeal it





LIST: Obama’s 29 scandals and the media’s campaign to hide them

Monday, April 16, 2018

California’s crazy one-party liberal politics is why I had to finally leave the state -- and I’m not alone



Twitter’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, infamously tweeted a link in early April to a story calling for a bloodless civil war to solve America’s problems. The piece, “The Great Lesson of California in America’s New Civil War: Why there’s no bipartisan way forward at this juncture in our history — one side must win” was authored by Peter Leyden and Ruy Teixeira.

The duo assert that this new civil war will follow a path blazed by California 15 years ago, namely, the crushing of the Republican Party. “The Democrats won; the Republicans lost,” they intone, “California is the future…”

Living and working in places like Washington and San Francisco as Teixeira and Twitter’s Dorsey do, tends to distort the view of the real world....

In 2011, after spending my adult life in California, working in the once-thriving aerospace industry there, serving 19 years in the state’s National Guard and six years in the legislature, I picked up my family and moved to Texas.

The first benefit of moving was buying a home that was close to twice as large as our old home in California for $110,000 less—providing needed room to care for two ailing parents.

That home prices and rents in California average 55 percent higher than in Texas isn’t just due to the former’s good weather—the Golden State’s high taxes, capricious regulations, onerous lawsuit climate, and powerful unions all contribute to constraining the supply of new housing while jacking up the price of existing housing....

Hannity - “I never retained him in the traditional sense” but I have asked him questions about the law and those conversations are privileged."















Republicans could be in trouble if John Cox and Travis Allen fairly evenly split the much smaller pool of conservative voters in liberal California, allowing two Democrats through the gubernatorial primary.

DOJ IG report presents new evidence Obama DOJ tried to shut down FBI investigation of Clinton Foundation.

President Trump hosts the Tax Cuts for Florida Small Businesses Roundtable













There are now 73(!) Republican seats in danger. And just 33 Democratic seats.

Trump approval at 51%





Flex your voice RT, share these sources often

Sunday, April 15, 2018

The Comey Show: Watching Comey very badly trying to 'explain' why he decided to NEVER tell President Trump that the Steele Dossier he was briefing Trump about was a paid political product of the Hillary Clinton campaign & the DNC?



























The world’s first climate propaganda satellite to be lauched?



Networks Desperately Move the Goalposts on #Syria



“If the Trumps were Democrats, Melania would be on every cover of every chic women’s magazine in the world every month.”



...During Barack Obama’s eight-year presidency, Michelle appeared on at least 30 US magazine covers, three of which were Vogue.

She also appeared twice on the covers of Essence magazine, Time magazine, More magazine and Glamour magazine. Other covers included Redbook, InStyle, and Radar.

A rep for the Obamas didn’t return requests seeking a precise number of covers....

The false intel on Cohen/Prague is a risk of exposure within the FBI and DOJ-NSD team that allowed *contractors* (FusionGPS) to "extract raw intelligence" from NSA and FBI FISA(702)databases. The mistake highlights how Steele Dossier was actually an intelligence laundry operation







































The Hubble Space Telescope finds an ‘Einstein Ring’



The bending of light by a gravitational body was predicted by Albert Einstein in 1912...

Crazy People Are Dangerous

How many times do I have to explain this? - RS McCain (banned on Twitter)

No, the reason is there's absolutely nothing to learn from this book. The five so-called takeaways listed by The Hill are so much pointless bilge.



...But speaking of books, I thought high-level government officials like Comey were not supposed to publish kiss-and-tell tomes like this what seems like minutes after leaving their position. It was contractually prohibited. Or was that just the CIA? Whatever the case, it's more than unseemly. It's repugnant. The publication of this book is just one more indication, as if we needed one, that the FBI is a rancid, corrupt organization that should be disbanded.

Northern and Southern California are very different places — but should they actually be separate states?

The DC’s Stephanie Hamill Exposes Facebook’s Devious Plan To ‘Steal The 2018 Election’ For The Democrats



Members of Congress grilled CEO Mark Zuckerberg this week over the company’s data privacy issues and also for the network’s alleged bias against conservatives.

During one of the hearings, Zuckerberg said combating election interference was one of his top priorities this year and that he has more confidence that Facebook’s going to “get this right this year.”

So what exactly does Mark Zuckerberg mean by right? He means the public was wrong when it chose Trump in 2016, that Trump supporters should be punished, and that Zuckerberg will do everything in his power to prevent politically incorrect election choices from happening again. That’s what he means....



Sunday Funnies