California – praag.org

Letter: Wyoming, the White Zion

Wyoming is the ideal destination for any serious effort at a Northwest Migration. This post is a rough sketch at pitching the Wyoming heresy to “White zionists”.

(1) Aesthetic Beauty – If I were to ever move anywhere out West, I would pack my bags and head toward the Tetons, where Old Faithful blows and the buffalo roam. Few other places in North America can compete with Wyoming in terms of sheer natural beauty. The discovery of Yellowstone caused mankind for the first time in history to stop, pause, and preserve a piece of nature for the enjoyment of future generations.

(2) Population – Wyoming has the smallest population (544,270) of any state in America. It thus has the smallest hurdle to political power to clear for aspiring White Zionists on the make.

In the Wyoming House of Representatives, each district represents about 9,000 people. In the Wyoming Senate, each seat represents around 17,000 people. The number of registered voters who participate in Wyoming state elections is much smaller in each district. A simple majority is sufficient to acquire representation at the state level.

In Wyoming, White Zionists have their most favorable political map for a BNP-style breakout into mainstream politics. It is easier here than anywhere else. If White Zionists can’t win in Wyoming, they are far less likely to win on more challenging terrain in the Pacific Northwest.

Governor-Elect Matt Mead of Wyoming won the Republican nomination for Governor with only 30,272 votes. Wyoming has 2 U.S. Senators (the same as California and New York) and 3 votes in the Electoral College.

In Wyoming, each vote in the Electoral College represents 164,594 people. In California, each vote represents 627,532. Whether it be on the federal or the state level, White Zionists can have their greatest impact on the American political landscape in Wyoming.

(3) Favorable Demographics – Wyoming is the most conservative state in America. In Wyoming, 53 percent of residents identify as conservatives. By comparison, 53 percent of residents in Mississippi and 49 percent of residents in Alabama are conservatives.

Wyoming is effectively Alabama or Mississippi without blacks. It is Utah without Hispanics. In Wyoming, 86 percent of residents (2009 Census) are Non-Hispanic White. The concentration and political hegemony of “Reds” in Wyoming provides White Zionists with a far more receptive local population to work with than the SWPL-dominated Pacific Northwest.

52 percent of Wyoming’s population lives in 5 major cities. The population in Wyoming is more dispersed across the countryside than in other Western states like Nevada. This is one of the major reasons Wyoming has proven so much more resistant to leftwing ideas.

As of 2009, Washington is 74.6 percent White. There are roughly 25,903 blacks, 686,412 Hispanics, and 466,493 Asians living in that state with Harold Covington.

As of 2009, Wyoming is 86 percent White. There are roughly 7,619 blacks, 14,151 American Indians, and 44,140 Hispanics living there. Most of the Hispanics are illegal aliens that can be driven out with an Arizona-style immigration law.

Demographically speaking, Wyoming is clearly a more favorable state than Washington: there are far less total non-Whites, Whites are a higher percentage of the population, the Whites who live there are rock ribbed conservatives, not SWPLs.

(4) Nordic Reservoir – If you are a Nordicist, Wyoming is an attractive state to relocate to. By ethnicity, the White population of Wyoming is 25.9% German, 15.9% English, 13.3% Irish, 6.5% American, 4.3% Norwegian, and 3.5% Swedish. Wyoming is a healthy mix of Americans of Northwestern European ancestry.

(5) Taxes – Wyoming has far more attractive land prices and tax rates than Washington.

Property Taxes:

Wyoming – $1,012, 1.57% of income
Washington – $2,595, 3.52% of income

Excise Taxes – Cigarettes:

Wyoming – 60
Washington – 202.5

Excise Taxes – Beer:

Wyoming – $0.02
Washington – $0.26

Excise Taxes – Gasoline:

Wyoming – 14
Washington – 37.5

State Sales Tax:

Wyoming – 4.0
Washington – 6.25

State Income Tax:

Wyoming: No State Income Tax
Washington: No State Income Tax

Wyoming has lower property taxes, lower excise taxes, a lower state sales tax, and no income tax. Land is cheaper.

In Wyoming, there is no corporate sales tax. There is no sales tax on food or inheritance tax on estates. There is no tax on out-of-state retirement income. Personal property for personal use is tax exempt. There are no taxes on intangible assets such as bank accounts, stocks, or bonds.

Wyoming has the most “business friendly” climate of all 50 states. If you are a White Nationalist small business owner, it is relatively easier (and might actually be more profitable) to relocate to Wyoming.

Wyoming’s cost of living is 7.60% lower than the national average.

(8) Education – Under the Wyoming state constitution, the state government is prohibited from establishing curriculums and textbook selections. This is the prerogative of local schools boards. The public schools in Wyoming could theoretically be hijacked by migrating White Zionist families.

Wyoming public schools spend $7,447 per student. The average school expenditure in the U.S. is $5,678. Wyoming ranks last among the states in terms of students enrolled in private schools. The low numbers of non-Whites in Wyoming (combined with local control of school boards) translates into a stronger public sector.

(9) Low Crime – The Whiteness of Wyoming is reflected in its crime statistics and national ranking: 47 in total crime, 32 in crimes per 100,000 persons, 43 in violent crimes per 100,000 persons, 45 in murders per 100,000 persons, 36 in rapes per 100,000 persons, 49 in robberies per 100,000 persons, 30 in aggravated assaults per 100,000 persons, 43 in burglaries per 100,000 persons, 22 in larcenies and theft per 100,000 persons.

(10) Grievances – Wyoming has ready made grievances against Washington that can easily be exploited. 48 percent of land in Wyoming is owned by the federal goverment. 6 percent of land is owned by the state government. Over 50 percent of land in Wyoming is effectively closed to private development.

What’s more, Wyoming is an energy intensive state like West Virginia. It is America’s largest coal producer. It is the second largest producer of natural gas and the fifth largest producer of oil in the United States.

“Cap and Trade” is a mortal threat to Wyoming’s economy. In West Virginia, Joe Manchin literally had to shoot a target of Cap and Trade to get elected to the Senate. A future Democratic Congress even more in thrall to environmentalist groups would provide a useful foil in stirring up anti-government sentiment in Wyoming.

(11) Climate – The climate in Wyoming is not as bad as some have made it out to be. Wyoming is a dry state with warm summers. The wind could be harnessed as yet another energy source. It has a better water supply than California, Nevada, Arizona or other parched Southwestern states which are more populous. There is plenty of land for cattle ranching and growing wheat.

If White Zionists relocated to Wyoming, they would adapt to the climate like they have everywhere else: Iceland. Norway, Russia, Rhodesia, etc. It is far easier to live in Wyoming today than in the Deep South (with its hurricanes) during the nineteenth century before refrigerators and air conditioning.

(12) Anti-Blue – Wyoming is not a “fun state” with a lot of flashy cities like Seattle or Portland. Greg Johnson would never move there. This is another advantage that Wyoming has over Washington. Like Nebraska or Kansas, it has not yet become an attractive destination for SWPLs migrating out of California and the Heartland, who are adverse to the rural conservative mores of Wyoming.

(13) Successful Model – There is already a successful model of a White Zionist migration to the Interior West: the colonization of Utah by the Mormons.

If the Mormons can create a civilization in the Great Salt Lake Valley, why can’t White Zionist homesteaders enjoy similar success in Wyoming? Is the climate of Utah more or less hospitable to colonization?

(14) Ready Made Cities – Instead of carving cities out of the wilderness, there is nothing stopping White Zionists from relocating to Wyoming’s five largest cities or its smaller towns:

Cheyenne – 57,618 (population), 79.2% (non-Hispanic White)

Casper – 54,874 (population), 94.03% (non-Hispanic White)

Laramie – 28,850 (population), 90.81% (non-Hispanic White)

Gillette – 28,726 (population), 95.50% (non-Hispanic White)

Rock Springs – 20,905 (population), 91.75% (non-Hispanic White)

By way of comparison, there are 602,000 people in Seattle, 68.4% of whom are non-Hispanic White, 3,407,848 in the Seattle metropolitan area.

There are 529,121 people in Portland, 74 percent of whom are non-Hispanic White, 2,217,325 in the Portland metropolitan area.

It goes without saying that the vast majority of Whites in Seattle and Portland are SWPLs, not “Reds” like in Cheyenne or Casper, and that White Zionists would have a far greater impact in Wyoming than in Washington or Oregon because of the smaller, more conservative population.

In the second tier of Wyoming cities, you have Sheridan (population, 17,461), Green River (population, 12,149), Evanston (population, 11,781), Riverton, (population, 10,032), and Jackson (population, 9,806). Now how hard do you suppose it would be for White Zionists to get elected mayor, sheriff, or city councilman in those cities?

Undoubtedly, it would be a A LOT easier to raise your head above the water on that kind of political map.

(15) Attractive Neighbors – Wyoming’s neighbors share many of its favorable characteristics: Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota. A successful White Zionist free state project in Wyoming could inspire a real Northwest Migration to Idaho, Montana, and the Dakotas.

(16) Jobs – As of September 2010, the unemployment rate in Wyoming was 6.2 percent, well below the national average. By comparison, the unemployment rate in Washington state (dominated by SWPLs who favor higher taxes and bureaucratic red tape) is 8.6 percent.

(17) Fiscal Responsibility – Wyoming has a small budget deficit of $31.8 million in FY 2010. It is in great shape compared to Blue States like California, Illinois, New York, and Connecticut which are tottering on the brink of a Greek style fiscal meltdown.

The same is true of North Dakota which has a budget surplus and the lowest unemployment rate in America. It is easy to imagine a future scenario where fiscally responsible states like North Dakota and Wyoming go their own way, repudiate the national debt, and refuse to bailout the Californias of America.

(18) The Jewish Question – Jews are 0 percent of Wyoming’s population. By comparison, Jews are 1 percent of Washington state, which translates into about 66,641 Jews on the ground. Ron Wyden, U.S. Senator from Oregon, is Jewish.

(19) Non-Religious – In terms of religion, 79 percent of Wyoming residents are Christians. 18 percent are non-religious. For White Nationalists who can’t get over their aversion to Christianity, Wyoming is a more attractive destination than the Deep South.

(20) Realistic Strategy – Wyoming is a more realistic destination for White Zionists. The definition of a tactic is what you can do with what you got. Decades of experience has shown the following:

White Nationalists are adverse to social ostracism and employment discrimination. They will not go public with their beliefs in a setting in which they are outnumbered.
Aside from unhinged vanguardist lone wolves like James von Brunn, White Nationalists are adverse to physical violence, and favor lawful methods of resolving their disputes. This fact alone rules out the fantasy of an IRA-style terrorist rebellion that Harold Covington advocates.

Taking these critical facts into account, a White Zionist migration to Wyoming could succeed where Harold Covington’s Northwest Migration is doomed to failure.

In the second tier Wyoming cities like Sheridan, Green River, Evanston, Riverton, and Jackson, the population is small enough to allow a critical mass of White Zionists to take over the public schools, city governments, and local law enforcement positions with a simple majority. In such a context where White Nationalists are an outright majority, the stick of social ostracism and employment discrimination wouldn’t work.

White Nationalists could seize power without firing a shot. Such an experiment (wholly theoretical and still highly unlikely) would be interesting to watch. It could potentially demonstrate the efficacy of the White Zionist model. If White Zionists are going to uproot themselves in pursuit of their racial ideal, it stands to reason they should at least go to the place where they are most likely to succeed.

(21) Objections – The most common objection to the Wyoming scenario is that the state is landlocked and that it is an unviable destination as a White homeland. This is not as persuasive a criticism as it seems at first glance.

SWPLs dominate the Pacific Coast. Any success that a Northwest Migration would have would be in Idaho or Eastern Washington and Eastern Oregon where the population is more conservative and receptive to pro-White ideals. In other words, where the population is more like that of Wyoming.

If every White Nationalist in America moved to Eastern Washington or Eastern Oregon, they would still be outvoted by the SWPLs in Portland and Seattle, and if they launched a rebellion (an even more unlikely scenario), the SWPL dominated state governments would quickly call for the White House to dispatch federal troops which have legal authority to suppress any insurrection.

This type of thinking is also symptomatic of thinking in terms of light years instead of inches, yards, and miles. The biggest problems facing the White Zionist model is that (A) most White Nationalists are not convinced it can work, (B) it is currently based on unrealistic vanguardist expectations (i.e., successful armed insurrection) and (C) the mainstream media is suffocating the White Nationalist movement through lack of positive publicity.

These are all problems where the Wyoming model shines through: (A) the small population of Wyoming, especially in the second tier cities, sets the lowest bar anywhere in America for White Zionists to achieve the small victories necessary to build confidence, (B) the method of acquiring power (voting with your feet and at the ballot box) is completely legal and can be done anonymously, and (C) the success of White Zionists in Wyoming (say, taking over a city and then parts of the Wyoming state legislature) would draw the publicity that is the indispensable, life giving oxygen that a Northwest Migration would require to succeed.

Within a matter of two or three years, White Zionists in Wyoming could show the White Nationalist movement that it is actually possible to acquire political power and live a healthy White life in a community setting in the Interior West. That would be a far more persuasive argument than browbeating people who live in Illinois and North Carolina to drop everything they are doing and uproot themselves to migrate to a SWPL-dominated Blue State in the Pacific Northwest.

Finally, if White Zionists by some miracle were successful in taking over the State of Wyoming, they could use the unparalleled energy resources of the state (coal, natural gas, petroleum, and possibly wind) as a bargaining chip to negotiate their sovereignty and independence in a decaying America living in the aftermath of Peak Oil.

By that time, the neighboring states of Montana, Idaho, North Dakota, and South Dakota would be overflowing with White Zionists. Wyoming is unlikely to go out alone. Its potential lies in demonstrating the success of the White Zionist model and building the critical mass of momentum necessary to propel White Zionists to victory.

(22) Perks and Political Representation – Aside from all the above advantages to White Zionists, Wyoming is already a solid Red State and a pretty good place to live out West (low taxes, low unemployment, low crime, good public schools, low cost of living, cheap land, few non-Whites, no Jews, fiscally responsible government, conservative neighbors, great scenery, favorable political demographics) if you just want political representation and a healthy environment (lots of wide open space outdoors) in which to raise White cowboys and cowgirls in masculine and feminine virtues.

Fantasy fiction aside, that’s enough to satisfy most White Nationalists.

Republicans have controlled both chambers of the Wyoming state legislature for decades. Cynthia Lummis, Wyoming’s lone representative in the House of Representatives, is opposed to amnesty. She has a “B-” from Numbers USA. Senator Michael Enzi and Senator John Barrasso both get an “A” on their report card.

Final Thoughts

If a White Zion is going to be created anywhere in America, Wyoming presents the most favorable map for making progress toward that goal. A few thousand White Zionists could migrate to Wyoming like the Mormons in Utah or the Jayhawkers in Kansas and demonstrate the success of the PLE model. That would provide the necessary catalyst and exposure to spark a real and sustainable Northwest Migration.

Personally, I think the State of Wyoming can make its own case. It doesn’t need me to convince you to move there. If an endangered species like the bison can be reborn in Wyoming, so can the White man.

— John Pelham, From The Provinces – 19 August 2017

California declares state of emergency after oil spill

California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency over Tuesday’s oil spill off the Santa Barbara County coast. It follows news that up to 105,000 gallons of oil leaked out from the ruptured pipeline.

“This emergency proclamation cuts red tape and helps the state quickly mobilize all available resources,” said Governor Brown in a statement. “We will do everything necessary to protect California’s coastline.”

Brown’s office added that six boom boats, three 65-foot collection vessels and hand crews coordinating with the state as clean-up efforts continue. California state oil spill, wildlife and emergency officials are also working to alleviate the situation.

Originally, US Coast Guard officials estimated that the approximately 21,000 gallons of oil had spilled out of a pipeline operated by Plains All American Pipeline, though this calculation is being investigated. The type of oil was later identified as crude, and officials said the spill had stretched out to approximately nine miles across Santa Barbara County’s Refugio Beach.

The company stated to AP that the 105,000 gallon estimate was a “worst-case scenario”and that it does not know exactly how much oil actually seeped into the ocean. The pipeline itself is onshore, but oil traveled down a storm drain before hitting the Pacific Ocean.

Refugio Beach was closed after the oil spill occurred, as was neighboring El Capitan State Beach.

According to the Los Angeles Times, this particular pipeline was constructed in 1991 and had never leaked before this week, company officials said. It is capable of carrying roughly 150,000 barrels every day.

Darren Palmer of Plans All American Pipeline told the newspaper that the company conducted an integrity check on the pipeline two weeks ago but had yet to learn the results.

Local fisheries that have been affected by the spill have also been shut down for the time being, Brown’s office stated.

Linda Krop of the Environmental Defense Center told the LA Times that the Santa Barbara Channel is “one of the most biologically rich places on the planet” and that multiple species of animals could be affected, including migrating whales and seabirds.

Greening a drought

The spray-paint nozzle was aimed carefully at the edge as the painter stood back a few inches from the flat metal shovel meant to protect other surfaces. After laying down a couple of thin coats, he stepped back to admire his work.

The patch of grass had gone from a flat, yellowing green to a Wizard of Oz shade of emerald.

There are few people who see an upside to the record-setting drought in California, but Drew McClellan sees a path to business. Earlier this summer, when a friend began complaining about his browning front lawn, Mr. McClellan thought back to his childhood in Florida, where he often spotted golf courses using sprays to dye their greens. When a brief Internet search failed to show any local business offering a similar service, Mr. McClellan decided it was a prime opportunity.

And since he opened up shop in July, Mr. McClellan has been taking requests faster than he can keep up.

“No matter how weird people might think it is, everyone is getting to the point of considering something drastic,” Mr. McClellan said, taking a break from his other job working as a hair stylist at a retro-style barbershop.

As he and his wife sprayed down the lawn of Tony Felipe, who has lived in Long Beach for nearly 20 years, Mr. Felipe looked on with nods of approval.

For less than $400 — not much more than a regular water bill these days — he could see his lawn instantly turn green.

But even as browning grass or drought-resistant plants are popping up in front of ever more houses, few things are as alluring as a California green lawn, long a symbol of wealth and vitality.

Source: NYT

California hit by largest quake in 25 years

Over 80 people were treated at hospital and massive power outages were reported in North Bay area of San Francisco and around the city of Napa, after California was shaken by a 6.0 magnitude earthquake.

The 6.0 quake struck at 3:20 am (10:20 GMT), the US Geological Survey said. Its epicenter was 6 kilometers from American Canyon and 9 kilometers from the city of Napa, at a depth of 10.8 kilometers from the surface.

Residents of the cities of San Francisco, some 40 miles away, and Davis, just over 70 miles away, quickly took to Twitter reporting feeling the quake.

Three people – two adults and one child – sustained critical wounds. At least 87 people were treated for minor injuries at Napa hospital after the earthquake, the spokesperson told AP. Most patients have cuts, bumps, bruises, said Vanessa DeGier, spokeswoman for the hospital in Napa.

The quake caused six significant fires including a blaze at the Napa Valley mobile home park, where 4 trailers were completely destroyed, according to local firefighters.

“There’s collapses, fires,” said Napa Fire Capt. Doug Bridewel. “That’s the worst shaking I’ve ever been in.”

The city government said there were 50 gas main breaks and 30 water main leaks. Three historic buildings in Napa were also damaged, including the county courthouse, and at least two downtown commercial buildings were severely damaged.

At least 15,000 customers were left without power across Northern California, the utility provider Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s map showed following the massive quake.

The USGS initially measured the tremor as “moderate,” but then it was upgraded to “violent.” The immediate hours after the event saw at least five aftershocks measuring at 1.6 magnitude. Aftershocks of up to 5.0 magnitude may continue throughout the next week.

Source: RT

End of the road for affirmative action on US campuses?

Abigail Fisher outside the Supreme Court

After more than 60 years, is the end of the road near for affirmative action in college admissions?

The idea of using race to help determine who gets a seat in public colleges has been under fire for decades. Eight states have essentially banned the practice, and a Michigan case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court could prompt others to do the same.

College officials nationwide got a wake-up call last June from the high court, which set a high bar for using race as part of a complex admissions program in Texas. Many observers say the combined weight of the two cases could finally push state universities to find another way to promote diversity.

“All the trends are pointing against the continued use of race in admissions,” says Richard Kahlenberg of the Washington, D.C.-based Century Foundation, a liberal think tank. Kahlenberg has for years advocated using family income,not race, as a way to ensure that public K-12 schools and colleges have a diverse student body.

A year after hearing Fisher, the justices last October heard arguments in a case from Michigan, where a 2006 state constitutional amendment banned racial preferences in public university admissions. Seven other states — California, Florida, Washington, Arizona, Nebraska, Oklahoma and New Hampshire — do the same, and about 29% of students live in states where affirmative action is banned, Kahlenberg estimates.

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette says the state’s position was summed up well by Chief Justice John Roberts, who said the best way to stop racial discrimination “is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.”

“Our constitution requires equal treatment in college admissions, which is an expression by 58% of Michigan voters in 2006 that says it is fundamentally wrong to treat people differently based on race or the color of their skin,” Schuette says. “It’s just wrong.”

A July 2013 study by Georgetown University scholars Anthony Carnevale and Jeff Strohl found that in 2009, white students were more “over-represented” among the USA’s 468 most selective colleges than they had been in 1995. From 1995 to 2009, the nationwide share of young people ages 18-24 who were white dropped 6 percentage points, from 68% to 62%. But whites’ share of freshman slots at the USA’s most elite colleges dropped just 2 points during that same period, from 77% to 75%.

Another study, by Orfield’s Civil Rights Project, found that 15 years after California’s ban on racial preferences went into effect, increased competition has dropped the share of black in-state high school graduates admitted to UCLA from 47.6% of applicants to 13.7%; the percentage of Latino students admitted dropped from 54.9% of applicants to 14.8%. The percentage of white students admitted also dropped, but not as sharply.

Kahlenberg says the string of affirmative action cases has pushed universities to find alternative ways to create diverse freshman classes. He notes that Texas’ 10% rule has resulted in higher levels of black and Latino representation. Other state systems have gotten similar results by eliminating preferences for children of alumni and bolstering financial aid, among other measures. These strategies have led to more racially and economically diverse classes “in a way the Supreme Court can’t touch,” he says. “I think that’s the future of affirmative action.”

Recent surveys have found that Americans don’t like using race in admissions, Kahlenberg says, “but on the other hand, Americans don’t want to see universities and American higher education re-segregated.”

A decision in the Michigan case, Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, is expected this spring. If a majority of eight justices rule in Michigan’s favor (Elena Kagan, a former solicitor general, recused herself), it could prompt opponents of affirmative action in other states to push for similar bans.

But if the ban is overturned, states such as California again could weigh race in college admissions — and not a moment too soon, Orfield says. Admissions pressures there have become “very intense.” He notes that UCLA alone last year received nearly 100,000 applications. “It’s a big state, it’s growing … and we haven’t been growing the higher education system.” – USA Today

Contributing: Richard Wolf

Conned about marriage, constitution and ‘states’ rights’

by Ilana Mercer

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The ban on the ban is unconstitutional.

This was the gist of broadcaster Mark Levin’s angry tirade against the humdrum, and certainly predicable, decision of a federal judge to strike down “Oklahoma’s voter-approved ban” on gay marriage.

At the center of conservative contretemps are similar decisions in California, New Mexico and Utah, following on which U.S. District Judge Terence Kern had “determined that Oklahoma’s constitutional amendment” violated the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. It stipulates that “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Broadly speaking, WND’s Alan Keyes concurred with Levin, alluding to the Constitution’s 10th and Ninth Amendments by which “the judges and justices of the federal judiciary are forbidden to … deny the antecedent rights retained by the people.”

Indeed, “the prevailing view in 1791,” observed The Honorable Robert T. Donnelly, former chief justice of the Supreme Court of the state of Missouri, “was that the national government had only delegated powers and that reserved to the people was an undefined sphere of non-government within which people may not be interfered with by government.”

But that was then.

In voiding “voter-approved law,” Justice Kern has resorted to perfectly proper 14th Amendment judicial activism. Deploying the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, Kern nullified the 10th. It specifies that, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

As expressed in the once-impregnable 10th Amendment, the Constitution’s federal scheme has long since been obliterated by the 14th Amendment and the attendant Incorporation Doctrine.

What does this mean?

If the Bill of Rights was intended to place strict limits on federal power and protect individual and locality from the national government—the 14th Amendment effectively defeated that purpose by placing the power to enforce the Bill of Rights in federal hands, where it was never intended to be.

In their love of Lincoln and the 14th, conservative constitutional originalists will disagree. They’ll say the 14th was meant to limit the power of the states and enlarge the power of Congress, not the Courts. “Congress, not the Court,” was to “implement the provisions of the 14th Amendment,” subject to judicial review.

And that’s somehow a good thing?

They “say tomato, I say tomahto.” As I see it, the 14th Amendment was a gargantuan grant of power to the federal government. That the judiciary has done what was left undone by Congress does nothing to alter the dismal outcome for liberty. The 14th spelt the demise of our Constitution’s decentralized dispensation.

Either way, the freedoms afforded by federalism are no longer because American federalism is no longer.

“The natural progress of things [being] for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground,” this inevitable momentum, in the form of the invented legal doctrine of “selective incorporation,” soon progressed—regressed is the right word—to complete incorporation.

A précis of Incorporation-Doctrine jurisprudence in the legal dictionary admits that “most provisions of the Bill of Rights were eventually incorporated to apply to the states.”

Put differently, matters previously subject to state jurisdiction have been pulled into the orbit of the judiciary.

Among other legal decisions to have been implicated by Justice Donnelly in expunging federalism from the Constitution is Cooper v. Aaron. In 1958, “the United States Supreme Court asserted for the first time in its history and in the history of the nation that its interpretations of the written Constitution in a particular case in one State constitute the ‘supreme law of the land’ under Article VI of the Constitution and are of binding effect in all of the States.”

“It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is,” declared the Court. (See Cooper v. Aaron, 358 U.S. 1, 1958.)

So much for Alexander Hamilton’s promise, in Federalist No. 78 (May 28, 1788), that the Judiciary would be the weakest of the three branches of his proposed government.

“Instead of protecting the legitimate interests of the states,” surmised Justice Donnelly (in “The Demise of Federalism: With Consent of the Governed?”), “the Supreme Court competes with Congress to dictate to the states their ‘legitimate’ interests.”

Commensurate with the power they’ve amassed, nine unaccountable, unelected, Supreme-Court judges now sit as “a Council of Revision over the states.”

Just as the interpretation of the 14th Amendment in Brown v. Board of Education became the supreme law of the land, so, too, will the states likely lose their (petty) marriage-licensing jurisdiction, once that coven of casuists, the Supreme Court, embroils itself in setting social policy for all the states.

Conservatives as astute as Mr. Levin, Esq., ought to quit misleading their readers and listeners about the restoration of a constitutional structure that has suffered death by a thousand cuts, long before the dreadful cur Obama appeared on the scene.

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Fliers threaten violence against blacks in California city

Alleged flier found on the scene threatening violence against blacks, from the pro-black site "Race Lies" — Alleged flier found on the scene threatening violence against blacks, from the pro-black site “Race Lies”

Fliers with racial slurs have been found scattered throughout the city of Lancaster for the past few weeks, reports KABC. Now the search is on for the person who made them. They include hateful and threatening messages aimed at minorities.

A racist flier, too graphic to show, is circulating in Lancaster. It uses a racial slur and makes serious threats. L.A. County sheriff’s detectives say the flier started showing up in various Lancaster neighborhoods about two weeks ago.

“At this point we are investigating it as a hate incident,” said sheriff’s deputy Miguel Ruiz. “Fliers have been posted throughout the city specifically targeting African-Americans with derogatory terms and racial slurs.”

Some of the threats include warning people of color that if they show up around certain addresses in Lancaster they will be shot.

“We’ve investigated those specific locations. One of them specifically is a vacant home, so there is no one there at that residence. So don’t feel incited that those specific addresses are the people involved with these fliers,” said Ruiz.

“In these days, in this city, it’s atrocious and has the city concerned,” said Darren Parker, Antelope Valley Human Relations Commission.

Detectives say the flier could have initially been put out as part of some neighborhood dispute before it spread throughout Lancaster. They hope to close in on a suspect soon.

Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris says the city and sheriff’s department will not tolerate racist, hate-filled threats of any kind.

“What people have to understand: The moment you elevate it to a hate crime we put more resources into that than if it’s a murder, and right now we have more deputies working on this than we do some unsolved murders,” said Parris.

The glories of Hussein’s proctology

by Ilana Mercer

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The message that greeted future Obamacare patients who logged on to Healthcare.gov was as follows: “Please wait. We have a lot of visitors on our site right now and we’re working to make your experience here better. Please wait here until we send you to the login page. Thanks for your patience.”

Healthcare.gov is the deluxe version of Obamacare.

The interminable waits on Healthcare.gov are a harbinger of things to come under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This so-called “Health Insurance Marketplace” is using the good name of the marketplace in vain. A healthcare cauldron of Obama’s creation, government-run exchanges constitute a planned economy, not a market economy. As such, they will result in long lines precipitated by the inevitable inability of central planners to bring demand and supply into balance.

Like Canadian, Cuban and British nationalized healthcare, Obamacare’s motto will become, “We have boatloads of patients, too few doctors, supplies and equipment and not nearly enough of your money. Don’t like it? Go jump in the lake.”

Like me, you must know Obama-heads (doctors included) who shrugged off the idea that a further centralization of healthcare by Obama’s politburo of proctologists—a modest expansion totaling $2 trillion—would cost them anything at all. (Doctors for Obamacare ought to revel in the 140,000 added codes into which they’ll have to categorize care rendered. These include nine new codes for injuries sustained from the common macaw! You’re more likely to be felled by an Obama-guided drone than by that gentle hook bill.)

I’m already feeling the care. How about you?

Mitt Romney was not “lying” when he told stupid voters that the cost of their healthcare would rise under Obamacare by about $2000 to $3000 annually. Before Obamacare, this household enjoyed 100 percent coverage. Shortly after Obamacare became law, we were notified, like millions around the country, that healthcare experts were hard at work hammering out the details of how to continue caring for us under current conditions (and keep operating).

Our healthcare plan has since altered for the first time ever. The complete coverage we were previously afforded is now a high-deductible, cost-sharing plan with a health-savings account. It has already cost us over 2000 additional dollars in 2013.

Perhaps like Michelle Malkin, I too will lose my coverage. It is not impossible that even a mammoth like Microsoft, whose chairman trumpets Big Government at every turn, will see the benefits to the bottom line of dropping spouses like myself. In this case, Avik Roy of the Manhattan Institute has more bad news. On the individual-market, “Obamacare will increase average … insurance premiums by 99% for men, 62% for Women.” Middle-class Americans Obamacare subsidies will not protect. They “face the double-whammy of higher insurance premiums, and higher taxes to pay for other people’s subsidies.”

Well before Roy, a healthcare expert had warned John Stossel’s viewers that the employer mandate forces every employer of more than 50 workers (insurers are employers) to provide them with a one-size fits all government-designed plan.

The costs of the employer mandate are such that it’s economically more viable for a proprietor to deny coverage and pay a penalty, considering that compliance will add about $1.75 per hour to the cost of a worker and may see a business go under.

Who does this onerous mandate hurt? Entry level hires. An additional $1.75 an hour doesn’t much matter when one is hiring a neurosurgeon. However, 2000 additional dollars a year for a relatively unskilled worker whose productivity—output per unit of labor—is not that high; this is a proposition only government can entertain, given that it derives its revenue fromtaxing, borrowing and minting money.

Not even CNN’s resident physician, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, can doctor the reports any longer. Sad to say, but across the country people have been reporting what Gupta admitted only yesterday. Those who had full-time employment and healthcare insurance may now find themselves downgraded to part-time employees with no insurance, or to the ranks of the unemployed bereft of a job and insurance.

Our staggeringly pompous president is incapable of comprehending that a businessman cannot pay a worker in excess of his productivity and hope to stay solvent.

This same belief plagues the simple-minded pinkos at Politico.com, where two female reporters gushed that “[d]espite the unceasing GOP campaign to sink the law, Obamacare has exceeded expectations in some significant ways.” The gush and tosh was over the fact that the central planner had instructed insurers on how to “better” allocate resources, forcing them “to issue more than $500 million in rebate checks to consumers because they failed to spend at least 80 percent of premiums on medical care.”

Another tenet of this prevailing worldview is that an act of force—a law—is all it takes to make medical manna fall from the heavens.

In April came news that Big Brother will be appointing “navigators” to show the beneficiaries of the bankrupting Affordable Care Act the way: 21,000 navigators in California alone translates into 140,000 of them nationwide, a bureaucratic army that will swell the already swollen federal oink sector. By Pat Buchanan’s telling, navigator pay will run from $20 to $48 an hour, almost $100,000 a year for one federal oinker, for a total of between $5 and 10 billion.

In California alone navigators will cost between $871 million and $2 billion a year.

These navigators will likely be members if the entrenched minorities who speak the languages of the welfariat for which Obamacare has been sculpted. Since the chosen workers will be Obama’s pepes—community organizers, union folks and PlannedParenthood advisers—recruiting new Democrats will be part of their job description.

Despotism is upon us when, as one wag put it, “government officials write laws that apply only to us and not to them.” Lawmakers and staff were supposed to have lost their generous Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, to be replaced by health insurance purchased at the comically calamitous Healthcare.gov.

The proctologist-in-chief caved to the squealing quislings. The 535 members of the Senate and House of Representatives and thousands of their Capitol Hill staff will still retain the subsidies provided by taxpayer largess. Obamacare for thee, but not for me.

That’s what you call the law of rule, not the rule of law.

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Saudi princess charged with human trafficking in USA for holding Kenyan maid

A Saudi princess has been charged with human trafficking for allegedly holding a Kenyan maid against her will in a luxury California apartment, news reports said late Wednesday.

Meshael Alayban, 42, was charged on Wednesday after being arrested at her home in a gated community in Irvine, California.

Prosecutors allege Alayban took the woman’s passport and forced her to work as a domestic servant for 16 hours a day, seven days a week for just 220 dollars a month, the Los Angeles Times reported.

A judge set bail of 5 million dollars for Alayban, and ordered her to wear a monitor if released from the women’s jail where she was being held.

“The law of our nation and California does not tolerate people who deprive or violate the liberty of another and obtain forced labour or services,” District Attorney Tony Rackauckas was quoted as saying.

The maid, whose identity was not released, began working for Alayban and her family in Saudi Arabia last year before moving to the US with them, the report said.

When police arrived at Alayban’s home they found four other women from the Philippines, who said their travel documents had also been taken by Alayban.

The Kenyan woman managed to escape from the apartment complex on Tuesday, before boarding a bus and contacting police.

Orange County prosecutors identified Alayban as one of the wives of Saudi Prince Abdulrahman bin Nasser bin Abdulaziz al Saud. She faces up to 12 years in prison if convicted of human trafficking. – dpa

The Great California Exodus

illegalinvaders — Mexicans heading for the Golden State

For decades after World War II, California was a destination for Americans in search of a better life. In many people’s minds, it was the state with more jobs, more space, more sunlight, and more opportunity. They voted with their feet, and California grew spectacularly (its population increased by 137 percent between 1960 and 2010). However, this golden age of migration into the state is over. For the past two decades, California has been sending more people to other American states than it receives from them. Since 1990, the state has lost nearly 3.4 million residents through this migration.

This study describes the great ongoing California exodus, using data from the Census, the Internal Revenue Service, the state’s Department of Finance, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and other sources. We map in detail where in California the migrants come from, and where they go when they leave the state. We then analyze the data to determine the likely causes of California’s decline and the lessons that its decline holds for other states.

The data show a pattern of movement over the past decade from California mainly to states in the western and southern U.S.: Texas, Nevada, and Arizona, in that order, are the top magnet states. Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Idaho, and Utah follow. Rounding out the top ten are two southern states: Georgia and South Carolina.

A finer-grained regional analysis reveals that the main current of migration out of California in the past decade has flowed eastward across the Colorado River, reversing the storied passages of the Dust Bowl era. Southern California had about 55 percent of the state’s population in 2000 but accounted for about 65 percent of the net out-migration in the decade that followed. More than 70 percent of the state’s net migration to Texas came from California’s south.

What has caused California’s transformation from a “pull in” to a “push out” state? The data have revealed several crucial drivers. One is chronic economic adversity (in most years, California unemployment is above the national average). Another is density: the Los Angeles and Orange County region now has a population density of 6,999.3 per square mile—well ahead of New York or Chicago. Dense coastal areas are a source of internal migration, as people seek more space in California’s interior, as well as migration to other states. A third factor is state and local governments’ constant fiscal instability, which sends at least two discouraging messages to businesses and individuals. One is that they cannot count on state and local governments to provide essential services—much less, tax breaks or other incentives. Second, chronically out-of-balance budgets can be seen as tax hikes waiting to happen.

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The data also reveal the motives that drive individuals and businesses to leave California. One of these, of course, is work. States with low unemployment rates, such as Texas, are drawing people from California, whose rate is above the national average. Taxation also appears to be a factor, especially as it contributes to the business climate and, in turn, jobs. Most of the destination states favored by Californians have lower taxes. States that have gained the most at California’s expense are rated as having better business climates. The data suggest that many cost drivers—taxes, regulations, the high price of housing and commercial real estate, costly electricity, union power, and high labor costs—are prompting businesses to locate outside California, thus helping to drive the exodus.

Population change, along with the migration patterns that shape it, are important indicators of fiscal and political health. Migration choices reveal an important truth: some states understand how to get richer, while others seem to have lost the touch. California is a state in the latter group, but it can be put back on track. All it takes is the political will.

Californian ban on affirmative action stays

A federal appeals court on Monday rejected an attempt to revive preferential admissions for minorities at the University of California and reaffirmed the legality of Proposition 209, the state’s voter-approved ban on affirmative action.

The suit – filed by 55 UC applicants and an advocacy group called By Any Means Necessary, and supported by Gov. Jerry Brown – argued that the legal rationale for Prop. 209 had been undermined by developments since the initiative passed in 1996.

One development was a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing universities to consider applicants’ race as a factor in promoting campus diversity. The other was a 50 percent drop in admissions of Latinos, African Americans and American Indians at UC in the first year after Prop. 209 passed.

Minority enrollment has risen somewhat since then under UC policies to admit the top 4 percent from each California high school, and to give less weight to applicants’ scores on standardized tests.

Brown also argued against Prop. 209 in court, saying it created unfair barriers by outlawing preferences for minorities and women, while allowing other groups – military veterans, athletes, children of alumni – to seek preferential admissions.

But in a terse 3-0 ruling, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said similar arguments had been addressed and rejected in 1997, when another panel of the court upheld Prop. 209.

The 2003 Supreme Court decision allowed race-based affirmative action in some circumstances, but “it did not hold that such programs are constitutionally required,” Judge Barry Silverman said in the appeals court’s decision. He noted that the high court has granted review of a Texas case that could lead to a nationwide ban on preferential treatment of minorities.

California’s Prop. 209 barred state and local agencies from considering race or gender in employment, contracting and education. The lawsuit challenges only the measure’s application at UC, but a ruling striking down any part of Prop. 209 would have made all of it vulnerable.

The measure was defended in court by its sponsors, an organization led by former UC Regent Ward Connerly. Their lawyer, Ralph Kasarda of the Pacific Legal Foundation, said Monday’s ruling was “good news for everyone who values fairness and equal opportunity.”

The plaintiffs’ organization said it would ask the full appeals court for a rehearing.