The Democrats "cave" . And Mueller presses ON!

Democrats "caved in ".

President Trump was celebrating this week that the (1)>>Democrats "caved in" ending a government shutdown . Surrendering to Trump Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday talks on immigration and border security are "starting over" after he and the White House have exchanged a series of blows about President Donald Trump's border wall. While lawmakers and sources say he was not heavily involved, the president was in full celebratory mode after Senate Democrats on Monday ended a government shutdown they forced over objections to immigration policy after just three days. Even though public opinion polls showed voters placed more blame on Trump and Republicans (48 percent) than Democrats (35 percent) over the shutdown, Trump’s tweets show he is sounding a message of victory. It took two weeks for Washington to agree on how it will fund the government for the next three weeks. When the resolution that ended the government shutdown came, shortly after noon, the  (2)>>Senate Democrats tried to claim it as a victory of sorts. The notion that the President and the Democrats might be able to find common ground hinged heavily on personality. Trump himself is ideologically erratic, the theory ran, obsessed with media approval and cutting deals. Senate Minority Leader  (3)>>Chuck Schumer opposes the immigration framework released by the White House — a potentially fatal blow for the prospective legislation in the closely divided Senate.The New York Democrat on Friday accused President Donald Trump of using a proposed path for citizenship for young undocumented immigrants as cover for making sweeping — and damaging — changes to the legal immigration system. "This plan flies in the face of what most Americans believe," Schumer said on Twitter. While Trump "finally acknowledged that the Dreamers should be allowed to stay here and become citizens, he uses them as a tool to tear apart our legal immigration system and adopt the wish list that anti-immigration hard-liners have advocated for for years."  Interestingly ENOUGH,  IN MY LAST BLOG POST I talked about why we really need immigration reform . (3.1)>>Both Parties in our Congress and Senate have kicked the problem of immigration to the curb . Trump's own actions are a wake -up call , how rational or un-rational they seem to the die hard left , they are injecting a voice into a broken system . While I find the "wall" ludicrous & expensive , we do need border security , but a wall with Trump's name on it  is antagonistic in nature .  Its really symbolic of a nation that is frightened of outsiders ,  foreign  invasion.  (4)>>Of Course the creation of a police state . Trump probably won't get everything he wants, but with the fight shifting to U.S. policy on legal immigration, he has outlined a clear path for Congress that could satisfy those who want to permanently protect Dreamers and those who voted for Trump because of his border wall plan and the larger crackdown on illegal immigration that it has always represented. If the wall works fully, it should exclude roughly 200,000 possible migrants per year. At that rate, it will take nine years to offset the inflow allowed by the accompanying amnesty for at least 1.8 million illegals. In that long run ,  sadly many will be deported, families broken up . before the dust settles, in the next years mid term election MAYBE , hopefully we will have sound legislation that grants new citizenship for  all immigrants  .

And Mueller presses ON!

←For me Mueller was in the inner circle of Mr. Trump for a while before he became a special prosecutor.  For almost one year now, the “Special Counsel” heading up the investigation into thoroughly  (4)>> allegations of “Russian collusion” during the 2016 election, has wasted taxpayer money and valuable time. Mueller’s investigation has been proven to be irredeemably biased, with practically his whole team consisting of Trump-hating, Hillary-loving, “activist” FBI agents and lawyers, and over the past few months, a litany of serious and shocking information has surfaced. President Trump said that he was willing and eager to be interviewed by Robert S. Mueller III,its interesting that he's not afraid  of Mueller . Trump can ask for special counsel 'to be fired for any reason,' says former independent prosecutor. Robert Mueller has hired several high-dollar Department of Justice prosecutors, seven of whom donated to (5)>>Democrat candidates including Hillary Clinton’s campaign. The order appointing a special counsel by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein didn’t even identify a crime to be investigated. He has said the DOJ doesn’t conduct “fishing expeditions,” but one expert said this is a backward investigation where there is no stated crime but an investigation where you search all over and see what you can come up with. The special counsel's team could interview Trump soon on some limited portion of questions — possibly within the next several weeks, according to a person close to the president, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal conversations. Asked on Saturday if he had agreed to be interviewed by Mueller, Trump said he had nothing to hide."Just so you understand, there's been no collusion, there's been no crime, and in theory everybody tells me I'm not under investigation. Maybe Hillary [Clinton] is, I don't know, but I'm not," Trump told reporters at Camp David. "But we have been very open. We could have done it two ways. We could have been very closed, and it would have taken years. But you know, sort of like when you've done nothing wrong, let's be open and get it over with.""Because, honestly, it's very, very bad for our country," the president added. "It's making our country look foolish. And this is a country that I don't want looking foolish. And it's not going to look foolish as long as I'm here."

............And the STATE of The UNION address.

This is Donald J Trump's first State of the Union Address . I think Trump is going to throw punches,first of the the "ratings" meter is going to soar along the lines of a shock -value-  speech . The media should get a "earfull" of Trump propaganda.Trump is giving the speech “with the lowest approval ratings of any president in his first year in the history of presidential polling, and can point to the least number of legislative accomplishments,” White House officials have offered few details of what Trump will say other than that he will take credit for a healthier economy and tie its continued growth to the Republicans’ new tax plan, as well as argue his case on immigration, trade, infrastructure and national security.While most of Tuesday's prime-time speech will be devoted to domestic issues, the president is also expected to discuss some foreign policy, officials said. They said that includes his plan to have China and other countries pressure North Korea economically to persuade it to give up nuclear weapons. Officials previewed the themes of the State of the Union on the condition they not be named, saying they didn't want to get ahead of the president's remarks. Early versions of Trump's speech indicate the president, facing an in-house congressional audience grimly divided along ideological lines, will adopt a unifying tone with the theme of a “safe, strong and proud America.” The approach marks an attempt to shift the national conversation from Trump's dismal public approval ratings, an election year that threatens (6)>>Republican control of Congress and a White House consumed by an investigation into Russian campaign meddling.Eleven long months later, Mr Trump has been President for a year, believes he has delivered on many of his electoral promises, and considers himself to be a victim of “fake” media coverage and Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller’s “witch hunt” into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential election.The probe has  often distracted from this president’s message. Trump’s address to financial and global leaders in Davos, Switzerland, last week followed reports that he ordered a top White House lawyer to fire Mueller last June but backed off when the lawyer threatened to resign. Trump called the report “fake news.”More than anything, the White House has indicated that the president's remarks will likely seek to strike a tone of command and stability against the backdrop of a political system that has been reeling since his arrival one year ago.Trump's speech on Tuesday night – even if he reads conciliatory rhetoric from his Teleprompter in flawless fashion – won't alter election outcomes more than nine months from now.

NOTES AND COMMENTS:
(1)>>Democrats "caved in".   Schumer always knew his government shutdown was untenable.Not only did Schumer come up short of getting a deal to prevent the deportation of "Dreamers" — people brought to this country illegally when they were children — but he divided a Democratic Party that had previously been unified. And he let Trump and McConnell walk away from it all as the clear winners on politics, policy and strategy. He’s putting up a faux resistance to funding The Wall, comprehensive immigration law enforcement and a narrow deal allowing highly vetted “dreamers” to stay. (2)>>Senate Democrats tried to claim it as a victory of sorts.  Now, the Republicans run the place! The Republicans run the House. The Republicans run the Senate. Trump made a deal with the Democrats only have (What do Democrats have?) 48 votes. Republicans have 52. Democrats made a deal with Trump. Democrats announced the deal, claiming victory.  Some Democratic strategists said Schumer got enough to justify re-opening the government.Schumer and fellow Senate Democrats have been accused of  the shutdown after insisting that any temporary spending bill to keep the government fully operational include permanent protections for the so-called DREAMers -- immigrants brought illegally to the United States as children.(3)>>Chuck Schumer opposes the immigration framework released by the White House —The White House's proposal to Congress would provide a legal path to citizenship for 1.8 million "Dreamers" who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children and a $25 billion "trust fund" to build the border wall. It would also sharply curtail legal immigration by ending the nation's diversity visa lottery program and limiting the ability of legal immigrants to sponsor family members who are not spouses or children. By offering to protect Dreamers who had signed up for President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and those who didn't, he's putting pressure on Democrats and their allies to concede to him not just advance funding for the wall with the "trust fund" but also to consider changes to the legal immigration system.(3.1)>>Both Parties in our Congress and Senate have kicked the problem of immigration to the curb .  The cheap-labor policy has also reduced investment and job creation in many interior states because the coastal cities have a surplus of imported labor. For example, almost 27 percent of zip codes in Missouri had fewer jobs or businesses in 2015 than in 2000, according to a new report by the Economic Innovation Group. In Kansas, almost 29 percent of zip codes had fewer jobs and businesses in 2015 compared to 2000, which was a two-decade period of massive cheap-labor immigration. Because of the successful cheap-labor strategy, wages for men have remained flat since 1973, and a large percentage of the nation’s annual income has shifted to investors and away from employees.    (4)>>Of Course the creation of a police state .  The potential for a police state is clear. There is little limit to what immigration cops could do. Under the order, they would be able to deport anyone convicted of fraud in any official matter before a governmental agency. Or unauthorized immigrants who have “abused any program related to receipt of public benefits.” That could include millions, including someone who put a wrong address on a school application, a common practice for parents trying to move their kids to a better school. The number of immigration police to enforce these laws is expanded under the order. The Department of Homeland Security is authorized to hire 10,000 more immigration and custom agents. In an Nazi like fashion , If the addition of all those ICE officers wasn’t threatening enough, Trump wants local police officers and sheriff’s deputies to work with immigration cops to round up immigrants.  (4)>> allegations of “Russian collusion”.  The direction the special council on Russian collusion is taking makes it likely to follow Darwinism into junk science. We establish a desirable answer to a subject, then hammer it into place like a malleable metal until the objectionable corners are made to fit the square hole desired.  (5)>>Democrat candidates including Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Unfortunately the Clinton's are right up their with him. The blind disconnect because of party affiliation is why he is the president. Bernie Sanders would be the President today had the Clinton's and Schultz not rigged the primary. So we had two slime balls run against each other... and in the name of 'winning', America got what it got.The country picked a painted orange reality TV show star, over a dredged up dynastic political family member. The facts of Hillary Clinton’s collusion are complicated and involve, as it were, many more entities than the fairy tale of Trump’s collusion. For this reason, in a world where good political fiction trumps confusing facts, it is tempting to prefer the Trump collusion narrative, if only to avoid a migraine.But doing so requires ignoring many interrelated facts already available in the public domain that make sense only in the context of the treasonous, un-democratic scheming of the Clinton campaign—first to deny Bernie Sanders a fair shot at the Democratic nomination, (6)>>Republican control of Congress.  Republicans will be defending just 8 of the 34 seats that are up for re-election in November, most of which are in solidly red states. Democrats, on the other hand, are defending seats in states that have a pattern of voting Republican for both Senate and presidential candidates.

Trump's "alleged" racism and Immigration Reform.

While putting America "first' , he might also be putting America
in second place . We need real immigration reform,
we can't just round up 11 million non- violent people
deport them , with out creating a police state .

When I first heard that President Donald Trump used a derogatory remark to describe people and conditions in Hati and Africa , How did this all come down ? Well, President Trump grew frustrated with lawmakers Thursday in the Oval Office when they discussed protecting immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and African countries as part of a bipartisan immigration deal, according to several people briefed on the meeting. (1)>>The "remark" he made may have been alleged a lack of "professionalism" .  In the wake of the latest allegations, Trump has accused Democrats of not wanting to strike a deal on a new immigration policy or make progress on preserving the protections in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which allows young immigrants brought into the U.S. as children to remain in the U.S. legally.  The fact that later Mr. Trump tweeted that DACA is "dead" is more disturbing . I honestly have said in several posts ago on my blog that politicians on both sides have played a game with the illegals . You have one Party on one side that has used for decades the concept that the

(1.2)>>"illegals will do work that American's will not do " , the other Party has also said "  that we need cheaper faster labor" .  So what the heck is stalling immigration reform ?  IS Immigration in the U.S. is broken. Contrary to the popular story spun today , the Democrats were not so kind to illegals . President Obama has implemented the most extreme incarceration and deportation policies in the history of the country. With the government deporting more than 400,000 migrants every year, the nickname "deporter-in-chief" is not too much of a stretch.  Now the new "deporter-in-chief" , Donald Trump is going further than ever . Trump's "plan" ,  In spite of a doubling of the money spent to increase border security in the last decade to more than $18 billion annually, the number of illegal aliens in the country has increased by 3 million. Increased border enforcement has not reduced the number of illegal aliens.  The crazy notion of building a wall that is costly , right now its holding the federal government hostage for a shutdown {see below } . In a politically riven capital where Democrats and Republicans agree on little, they agree on this. About 11 million people already live illegally in the U.S. after crossing the border unlawfully or remaining in the country when their visas expired. What should be done about them? That’s where the consensus falls apart. Most Americans say the undocumented should be allowed to stay — 77 percent said so in a 2017 poll by Quinnipiac University — although there are deep disagreements about what conditions they should have to meet to win legal residency or citizenship. There’s no doubt that our nation’s immigration system is broken. It no longer serves our nation’s interests, and has caused anxiety among native-born citizens and immigrant communities alike. We have seen that legal immigrants, who constitute the vast majority of the immigrant community, face long delays and high financial costs due to our very complex and confusing immigration laws. While current immigration law provides pathways to legalization for undocumented immigrants via the family reunification methods , many immigrants are dissuaded from even applying due to the complicated nature of this process. Fees run into the thousands. Most immigration lawyers charge between $5,000 to $7,500 to accompany a client through the green card process. Some cases can cost closer to $15,000 before adding on application fees and any potential family members.But the real cost is harder to quantify. Applicants can spend years marked by a feeling of lost opportunity and helplessness as they wait for the process to conclude. Right now fixing immigration has stalled , even worse hit a brick wall . President Trump touted hardline legislation that would slash the number of legal immigrants who come to the US annually in half and create a system based on merit and jobs skills instead of family connections.

Why certain immigrants are not going to get the American Dream too soon.

Many immigrants come to our nation for obvious reasons , they do come from the poorest countries , many do seek to really have the American dream . While others are here to work and send money to their families in other nations . Here is a vary hard and tough thing I am about to say , but as SHOCKING as it is , they want part of the Dream that America was .  JUST WHAT AMERICAN DREAM? It fizzed away decades ago .  The "truth' is harder to bare . Immigrants do end up on the tax payer tab , neither is sustainable. Economy wise -You can't even own a home because its so expensive , The wages don't keep up with the cost of living which is driving most American citizens into the the streets with no help from the government which taxes you to death. Healthcare costs are bursting the roof . Crazy . RIGHT !? WELCOME TO OUR COUNTRY !  (2)>>More than half of the nation's immigrants receive some kind of government welfare, a figure that's far higher than the native-born population's, according to a report {  the report }  from the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that advocates for lower levels of immigration.About 51% of immigrant-led households receive at least one kind of welfare benefit, including Medicaid, food stamps, school lunches and housing assistance, compared to 30% for native-led households, The "natives" are not doing so well either , it depends on which state in America you live. If you come here , your going to be poor , and your not going to get rich for a long time . Some people mistakenly think that immigrants are not eligible for welfare. Several years ago, Congress did attempt to render immigrants ineligible for most forms of welfare. However, subsequent backpedaling by Congress and the executive branch has undone most of those reforms. Furthermore, many immigrant families get welfare through the eligibility of their U.S. citizen children. (It is also important to realize that even when immigrants are ineligible for federal welfare programs, the burden of their support is simply shifted over to the state and local welfare agencies.) Over the past two decades, the United States has run an immigration policy that has substantially increased poverty in this country. Two-thirds of immigrant households—that is counting both immigrants and their U.S.-born children—from Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala live in poverty or near-poverty. Other Latin-American immigrant groups fare only a little less badly: more than 50 percent among Salvadorans; just less than 50 percent among Cubans. 

The GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN .

Here is the the outcome of years of kicking aside immigration reform . A Government shutdown !  The shutdown is entirely President Trump's fault . Several months ago last year in the making . It has been eight months since the president, in a tweet of pique during a soon-forgotten spending fight with Democrats, suggested that the country (2.1)>> “needs a good ‘shutdown’” to fix its mess. The two parties veered away from the brink then, and they have kept refueling the federal tank a few gallons at a time in the months since. The "mess" however is entirely Mr. Trump's fault by going after the DACA dreamers. Funny thing about it , is that the DACA students are "legal" , its "their parents that are here illegally ". The immigrants protected through DACA grew up in the US; people might not assume they are unauthorized immigrants, and they might not have even known it themselves until they were teenagers. The program was supposed to give them a chance to build a life here. The Strange part of the DACA deal is in part that the law was drafted by a Republican and a Democrat . The political debate over what to do about young unauthorized immigrants is, at this point, old enough that it could apply for DACA itself. The first proposal to allow (3)>>people who’d come to the US as children to apply for legal immigrant status and eventually become citizens, was introduced in 2001 by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA). It was called the DREAM Act — Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors— a name that versions of the bill have kept ever since. So what the hell is going on now , that the whole government has shut down ? But for a angry president and an impatient opposition, there may be no way out of the showdown that is building this week. At its core are the competing promises Trump made to his base—to crack down on illegal immigration and build a giant southern border wall—and that many Democrats made to theirs—to protect at any cost the young undocumented immigrants who face possible deportation under a March deadline set by the president.Government funding runs out Friday at midnight, and the Republicans who hold the majority in Congress will need at least nine Democratic votes in the Senate to defeat a filibuster and keep the lights on. Right now President Trump is relishing the shutdown ,Mr. Trump blamed Democrats, who are the minority in the Senate, saying they care more about illegal immigration than the military. Democrats wanted a solution to fix the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program Mr. Trump is ending, something Republicans did not agree to as a part of negotiations.  The most curious thing about the Capitol on Friday afternoon, when no solution to the partisan stalemate was to be found, was just how quiet it was. While Schumer was at the White House, Senate Republicans took a leisurely lunch together, eating barbecue in a dining room across the corridor from the chamber doors. The congressional press corps lingered in the hallways, waiting for negotiation updates that never came and wondering if UberEats would deliver pizza directly to the Capitol. Never mind an imminent federal crisis: when lawmakers emerged from their offices — if only to do a quick hit for cable news on said crisis — they seemed serene, if a little dazed Mr. Trump also said: "This is the One Year Anniversary of my Presidency and the Democrats wanted to give me a nice present."

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

(1)>>The "remark" he made may have been alleged a lack of "professionalism" . Trump's "alleged "  racism was not arrived solely by his shit hole comments but a lifetime of his actions and comments made since he entered his celebrity and political life.  Five days ago, President Donald Trump and a handful of congressional leaders got together to hash out the particulars of a bipartisan immigration deal. The meeting blew up. The deal was nixed. And Trump said something very, very intolerant/tough -- depending on who you believe -- about immigrants from African and Central American countries.What remains up for debate is what, exactly, Trump said. While the specific word he chose is immaterial.  But there are "nay sayers" within the Republican Party . Republican Sen. David Perdue (Ga.) on Sunday said President Trump did not use the word “shithole” to refer to African nations, Haiti and El Salvador during a White House meeting with lawmakers. During an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” Perdue said the comment attributed to the president in The Washington Post is a “gross misrepresentation.” “I’m telling you he did not use that word, George. And I’m telling you it’s a gross misrepresentation. How many times do you want me to say that?” Perdue said after host George Stephanopoulos pressed him for an answer. Perdue was one of several lawmakers participating in a meeting with Trump last week when the president reportedly referred to immigrants from African nations, El Salvador and Haiti as coming from "shithole countries." (1.2)>>"illegals will do work that American's will not do " . One of the "biggest" lies ever spouted . Its a political slogan for predatory modern slave labor . Many illegals who are "hired" to work , will work for lowest wages , paid under the table. Some of them work long hours that no normal American would do . While many have said that this has under cut wages for legal citizens. The American economy is dynamic, and it would be a mistake to think that every job taken by an immigrant is a job lost by a native. Many factors impact employment and wages. But it would also be a mistake to assume that dramatically increasing the number of workers in these occupations as a result of immigration policy has no impact on the employment prospects or wages of natives. The data presented here make clear that the often-made argument that immigrants only take jobs Americans don’t want is simply wrong.(2)>>More than half of the nation's immigrants receive some kind of government welfare. The data was obtained from the county Department of Public Social Services --example that immigrant families received nearly $1.3 billion in Los Angeles County welfare money during 2015 and 2016, nearly one-​quarter of the amount spent on the county’s entire needy population. Immigration is vary costly , these people have to work . Many thousands of illegal immigrants participate in the labor force, frequently in the restaurant, janitorial, construction, and domestic service industries.  Are these workers protected by federal, state, and local employment laws?  Generally speaking, yes.(2.1)>> “needs a good ‘shutdown’” to fix its mess. On Saturday, the president's reelection campaign released the ad, titled "Complicit," which hammers Democrats for opposing Trump's proposed border wall and other unspecified border security measures. "Democrats who stand in our way will be complicit in every murder committed by illegal immigrants," an announcer says over images of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).  (3)>>people who’d come to the US as children to apply for legal immigrant .  The question of immigration, particularly when it involves children, is always fraught with emotion. But the emotion and intensity of the debate cannot and should not overshadow the fundamental nature of the law itself. The "dreamers" should consider themselves fortunate to have been educated in the U.S. and return to their home countries to use their English to fill out those papers and enter legally.

CALIFORNIA MUSINGS . PART II.

California Budget,  a Back History of Chaos.

There are a lot of things to cover .  As a amateur writer I can't really keep up with Mr. ***Trump's antics.  There is the good and the "bad" I want to write about him . (1)>>First of all as a Californian , I eagerly anticipate Gov. Jerry Brown's budget . As a public school employee I have always been perplexed how our state seems over the last decades worth of budgets always is at the edge of being bankrupt . Gone are the days of Gov . Edmund J Brown , long gone are the days Ronald Reagan , the prosperous California . Way back during the 1990s through the 2000s , the state of California NEVER had a budget that was on time .  It would take the state legislature "months" to settle in a battle between the hardliner Republicans , the spend and tax Democrats . Always the main dish on the table was Education . How much money you put in . Of course the years since the 1990s , the passing of Prop 98 , various other pro- education measures there is NEVER ENOUGH MONEY for SCHOOLS ! . I roll my eyes back looking how much the state spends , we're  still come out 50th in spending for schools nation wide  . How many "governors" we had  that seem to be pro -education . I  have to skip on to  (2)>>Gov. Pete Wilson , a crusty Republican who first cut out out a billion dollars out of the budget causing waves of layoffs . It took three years to recover from that .  (3)>>Next we had Gray Davis who promised a state "surplus" of 20 billion , but he was wrong instead we ended up with 20 billion in deficit , it paved the way for Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger to win the vote after a costly recall of Davis . With strongman Arnold at the helm, his term was a total nightmare on the state . Its so similar what Washington D.C. is going through with Mr. Trump . (4)>>Gov. Schwarzenegger bullied his way demanding cuts to the budget . Yes,  he wanted to stop the insane spending problems that California has , but he went after the wrong people , it was the people on the bottom he wanted to cut . He made enemies of all the state Unions calling them special interests , the Democrats he'd called "girl-- y men" . Arnold wanted to cut the Education budget first , but how he cut it was pretty strange . While school districts were suffering from their own self induced budget mishaps , they were cutting before Arnold waved his ax out fear of being bankrupt . Yes, they laid off teachers , janitors , bus drivers , etc. Now things are a but peculiar here , just before gov. Davis was kicked out of office he signed into law a Bill (5)>>Called SB 1419 which prevented school districts from contracting out jobs done by its Classified Staff . The Bill was intended originally to prevent schools from outsourcing transportation . Well , oh hell broke out over it , for the next six years Gov. Arnold held the state budget hostage over the repeal of this bill . Democrats stood their ground and fought Arnold tooth and nail. Meanwhile state wide local school districts & school boards  started to like Gov. Arnold's attempt at repealing the bill . They somehow they { school boards - Superintendents}  became pro- republican and anti- Union. (5.1)>>The people under tow , the school employees were marginalized as part of the "greedy Unions" that swallowed up school budgets . School business managers statewide played dirty by not restoring any positions that were cut or reduced so they can wait for Gov. Arnold's repealing . Gov. Schwarzenegger for the two terms he was elected pretty much was a failure . He put many school districts under the gun to follow his scripted stanch written by  Ca Republicans  Issa and Pete Wilson who wanted to gut state spending levels . And part of the problem was the education spending part which occupies the entire state budget . SO ,   With the entrance of Gov. Jerry Brown ,

"Balanced budgets  have been
quickly followed by huge
deficits " Only in California .LOL !

appears poised to exit office next year with a top political priority in hand: free from the massive budget deficits that had weighed on his predecessors.  (6)>>Gov. Brown raised taxes in an unpopular move with out the vote of the people , the Gas Tax. Brown is also banking on the profits of legal Marijuana sales , that in "hopes" that AG Jeff Sessions wont arrest the Governor for pot . Either way , (6.2)>>the Marijuana  legalization is on thin ice . Brown expects the revenue from sales incorporated into his budget for K-12 funding , other "projects" like the 90 billion  dollar bullet train  .   Brown took office in 2011 with a $27 billion deficit and drastically slashed spending. In 2012 by slashing 20  out  slashing nearly $20 billion , he staked his governorship on a tax increase that voters approved that year and reauthorized in 2016. His spending plan for 2018 calls for $131.7 billion of general fund spending. Including special funds and bonds, which are pools of restricted money that can only be used for specific projects, total proposed spending next fiscal year is $190.3 billion.  The governor, however, warned again that California is overdue for a recession that could pummel the state budget that relies heavily on taxing the income and investment gains of wealthy taxpayers. "We've got ongoing pressures from Washington, and the economic recovery is not going to last forever," Brown said, stressing that he doesn't think further increases in spending will be possible. The Democratic governor staked out a conservative opening position in January, projecting a $1.6 billion deficit that the Legislature's budget experts said was excessively cautious. The projected deficit in his new plan is $400 million, due mostly to improved capital gains revenue.  With all the ensuing panic , (7)>>Public  Schools received 3 billion dollars more , The additional $3 billion for the funding formula in 2018-19 will consume most of the projected budget increase of $4 billion for K-12 schools. Brown’s funding law shifted authority over spending decisions from  (7.1)>>Sacramento to school districts, and funneled substantial money to districts to support high-needs students: English learners and low-income, foster and homeless students. The governor on Wednesday also proposed for the first time to base community college funding on the same concept.At his press conference to discuss the budget, Brown made a strong defense of the formula and the principle of local control. Asked why he should pour more money into education when test scores are persistently low, Brown said, “This is not going to be solved in Sacramento. Kids learn at home and in the classroom. People who really want to help in a school that is not performing, should go to the principal and find out what they need.”

Who Comes after Jerry Brown ?

Travis Allen .

We are nearing the Post Brown era . Question who takes the helm? While it possible that a sudden

Gavin Newsom .

change in the states political matrix could happen we have to caution if any Republican would become Governor. I believe that former Gov. Schwarzenegger may have  cooked the goose on having any Republican in office in California . ALONG with the damage being done by President Donald Trump We have the Democrats , Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Each has formidable strengths and significant challenges. All three stand a very good chance of succeeding Brown as governor. The Republicans do have serious contenders to the throne .  (8)>>One is Travis Allen who has been most vocal against gov. Brown's 12 cent gas tax hike. Allen looks like the strongest among the Republicans . The News Poll conducted by Survey USA gives us an early snapshot of the frontrunners for the open Governor's seat. The results show a three-person race so far to win the top two spots in the Primary and move on to the November General Election. Remember, the candidates finishing first and second in the Primary - regardless of political party - square off in November. Lieutenant Governor and  former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has a nearly two-to-one lead over his closest competitor, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Both are Democrats. Coming in third in the poll is Assemblyman Travis Allen, a Republican from Huntington Beach. Democratic State Treasurer John Chiang is fourth and Republican businessman John Cox is fifth.  California’s political culture seems no less dysfunctional. The state’s most urgent problem is its lumbering wreck of an economy. Not surprisingly, given California’s size, more people have lost jobs and more homes have been foreclosed on and more big banks have failed here in the last  FEW years than in any other state in the country. At the end of the day, can a political party that is now down to an all-time low of only 25.9 percent of California registered voters even get a Republican candidate into the gubernatorial runoff in 2018? Likelihood of that is kitschy at most right now .

***ADD NOTE :
Trump's antics,  there is the good and the "bad" I want to write about him . I  am going to write about his  "Sh**t hole" remake in a few days . Right now I think the remarks are lacking professionalism , the critics are at large . Giving the media ammo to roast Trump . In the mean time stay tuned .

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

(1)>>First of all as a Californian , I eagerly anticipate Gov. Jerry Brown's budget .  This is really a short Bio on what I experienced as it related to the California Budget as it related to Public Schools over the decades . Honestly writing about our states spending is difficult . Education is part of the backbone of the entire state budget . Its the fist that is always cut , its been that way since the 1990s .  There are a lot of good people in Public Education who devote their lives  like Principals ,  teachers ,  Music instruction , many work as Bus drivers , Custodians , Gardeners , Maintenance , Food Service . Its always sad that so many lives can be ruined by overspending by State Governments . (2)>>Gov. Pete Wilson. Was a miser , he called himself a "education Governor" , also during a state budget impasse  he ran for President { yes , I repeat RAN FOR PRESIDENT !!!, left the state of California going on a campaign  trail  }  of the United States while billions of dollars were banked on building more  prisons rather than building schools .    (3)>>Next we had Gray Davis. He was California's scapegoat Governor . During the Clinton era , Davis may have bolstered the fact that the state had a surplus of  $20 billion dollars . It looked rather rosy , but the state hit a snag . In  Reality the state was mounting a huge deficit that drained the surplus Davis had created for a rainy day . NEXT came  What became known as the  California electricity crisis, also known as the Western U.S. Energy Crisis of 2000 and 2001, was a situation in which the United States state of California had a shortage of electricity supply caused by market manipulations, illegal shutdowns of pipelines by the Texas energy consortium Enron, and capped retail electricity prices. The state suffered from multiple large-scale blackouts, one of the state's largest energy companies collapsed, and the economic fall-out greatly harmed Governor Gray Davis' standing. I remember watching the news and all of a sudden the power would go off . Mind you we never got any rebates from our utility company apologizing . On a federal level, the Energy Policy Act of 1992, for which Enron had lobbied, opened electrical transmission grids to competition, unbundling generation and transmission of electricity.On the state level, part of California's deregulation process, which was promoted as a means of increasing competition, was also influenced by lobbying from Enron, and began in 1996 when California became the first state to deregulate its electricity market.Perhaps the heaviest point of controversy is the question of blame for the California electricity crisis. Former Governor Gray Davis's critics often charge that he did not respond properly to the crisis, while his defenders attribute the crisis to the power trading fraud and corporate accounting scandals and say that Davis did all he could considering the fact that the federal government, not states, regulate interstate power commerce.In a speech at UCLA on August 19, 2003, Davis apologized for being slow to act during the energy crisis, but then forcefully attacked the Houston-based energy suppliers: "I inherited the energy deregulation scheme which put us all at the mercy of the big energy producers. We got no help from the Federal government. In fact, when I was fighting Enron and the other energy companies, these same companies were sitting down with Vice President Cheney to draft a national energy strategy."  (4)>>Gov. Schwarzenegger bullied his way demanding cuts to the budget . I Liked Arnold Schwarzenegger , just loved his movies : Total Recall , Conan the Barbarian , Commando, The Terminator , Yes Twins and Kindergarten Cop   . Schwarzenegger desire to run for Governor is a mystery , its really as mysterious as  having Donald Trump as President . AS Governor . Arnold was a "Benedict" , he betrayed his voters , while running for Governor he urged his voters to "join him" , he was going to bring changes  "blow up boxes" in Sacramento . Arnold also molded the California Republicans as the "party of NO".Its really sad . That Arnold could have turned everything around , but he chose to go after the base that elected him in the recall , namely Unionized Labor .(5)>>Called SB 1419. Gray Davis signed this Senate Bill into law just before he left Sacramento , a last ditched effort . Who ever drafted the law cleverly wove that school districts could contract out services otherwise done by unionized workforce as long as the district demonstrated the need in a tight budget year. Well it was bad news in 2003 -2006 , a bad law that it did not protect union workers , but Gov. Arnold tried to get the law gutted . It was a reign of terror how much fear the state government exerted on people , at the same time confusing them to vote for more propositions to raise taxes . Likewise Gov. Arnold laid down his Gov. Pete Wilson inspired agenda , he blew " I will work to repeal prescriptive state laws and rescind the burdensome state regulations that serve special interests and waste education dollars on non-instructional uses. SB 1419 demonstrates what's wrong with the top-heavy approach to education under Gray Davis, and I will call for its repeal. Passed in 2002, the bill restricts the ability of school and community college districts to contract out for non-educational services like transportation, maintenance, and landscaping.I will work to give principals authority for hiring qualified staff, managing their school's money, choosing instructional strategies and materials that work, and setting class schedules ". (6)>>Gov. Brown raised taxes in an unpopular move with out the vote of the people ,  As it stands, California legislators need a 2/3rds supermajority vote in order to impose higher taxes on their residents. Given the results of last year’s elections, however, Democrats in the state have surpassed that supermajority threshold and can now raise taxes on their own, without any Republican votes. The vote on Gov. Brown’s gas tax hike will be the first test on how easily California Democrats will leverage their supermajority status to raise taxes on a party line vote. California residents already contend with the nation’s sixth highest average state and local tax burden. On top of that, your constituents have been hit with more than 20 federal tax increases over the last eight years. The last thing individuals, families, and employers across California need is to have lawmakers in Sacramento pile on with further tax hikes at the state level, especially considering they live in what is already one of the most heavily-taxed jurisdictions in the world. (6.2)>>the Marijuana  legalization is on thin ice . With supply and demand , the state is likely to run out of Marijuana like Nevada . Taxing it as Gov. Brown envisions would generate "billions" of dollars . That I would call a false assumption on the state . A Lot of people don't smoke , or consume it . So you have to consider the whole population of Californians of 39.25 million , which only statistics shows at 14.9 % . Thats not enough to generate any money , just like the Lottery money  . Besides a new   bureaucracy,   Earlier this month, Gov. Jerry Brown proposed spending more than $50 million to establish programs to collect taxes and issue licenses while hiring dozens of workers to regulate the industry, a figure some say is too low. His office stresses that one regulatory framework is needed, not separate ones for recreational and medical cannabis, even though there are laws for each that could duplicate costs and confuse businesses.One of the new law's requirements calls for the state to develop a computerized system to track cannabis, sometimes called "seed-to-sale" monitoring. It's envisioned that scanners will be used to keep tabs on pot as it moves from the leafy raw product to street-level sales. (5.1)>>The people under tow , the school employees were marginalized as part of the "greedy Unions".  Not just school employees , Teachers , support staff , but Nurses who worked at Hospitals were attacked by Gov. Schwarzenegger as the "enemy" and the "cause" of the state fiscal problems . I remember that in 2003 while I had my hours and wages cut , my health benefit costs went up out of pocket . I was close to the point of dropping my employer health benefits , since I was no longer considered "full time" . I did just that .  I dropped my health insurance . My take home pay for the years 2003 to 2005 was below as a salary about 1800 $ . Now that was in 2005 , imagine right now you cant survive on a salary like that in California . NO one at the management levels took any cuts , they went to work with their 200,000 and above salary .  The people on the bottom, the sacrificial  lambs to the budget error. IT made me wonder if the budget crisis was a hoax all a long ?  (7)>>Public  Schools received 3 billion dollars more .  If we take Gov. Brown's word for a grain of salt. California has a projected $6.1 billion budget surplus and $131.7 billion to spend in 2018-19, Gov. Jerry Brown revealed Wednesday. The annual January budget proposal was his 16th since he was first elected governor in 1974.To the relief of fiscal conservatives and the dismay of those hoping to see more spending on child care, public universities and other programs, the governor made dire predictions of the next recession and proposed stockpiling the vast majority of the extra cash — $5.8 billion of it — to make the next downturn less painful.  This  Thursday Gov Brown  dialed back his proposed cuts for schools and child care, citing an improved fiscal outlook since January that could cover $1.5 billion more in general fund spending. Most of that money would go to K-12 education. He's also rolling back a plan to cut a half-billion dollars for child care for low-income families. If there was no 1 billion to cover K-12 schools .  I am certain that Gov. Brown's  intention was to reduce funding down to 2007 levels , but that information is based no evidence that in the future that any funding could be less . At this point,  it all depends who who Governor , how good the  Local School Business office is as far as monies.  (7.1)>>Sacramento to school districts, and funneled substantial money to districts .  2017-2018 Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP). eliminated scores of programs that targeted dollars to specific students for specific needs.  Instead, districts where students come from low-income families, those with English learners, and those with foster children get a substantial funding boost.  Districts with concentrations of these students got additional funds.The financing law is only one part of a very complex system built around a new, tough, system of state standards.  More than 15 interlocking reforms wheel around the state's standards, including curriculum, accountability, assessments, teacher preparation and recruitment, English learners, and special education. (8)>>One is Travis Allen .  Don't underestimate Allen he has serious potential to win , his power base is the anti-tax movement that is already boiling .  Since Allen’s statements goes the furthest in claiming the Gas  tax increase builds no new lanes and won’t ease traffic. He is also against Sanctuary cities . Allen added, “Sanctuary state policies, by their very nature, are contrary to being a nation of laws. As a nation of laws, we cannot pick and choose which ones we’ll obey. In principle, SB 54 is no different than Southern segregationist declarations of “massive resistance” to federal court orders to integrate public facilities.” In February, Allen introduced Assembly Bill 1252 (AB 1252), which sought to defund sanctuary cities from receiving state funds. However, Democrats blocked the bill.

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