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VOTE FOR PERFORMANCE

When was the last time your state or local

elected representative actually voted for

legislation that made your life better?

Automotive Fuels Simplified

Co2

   Some links to sites about CA politics. 

   I really don't need to repeat what these

   publications have already written:

Press California

Cal Matters

I live in Southern California so I thought I would list some of the great things that Sacramento has done for

its citizens in the last several years:

     -  Common drinking straws are becoming more restricted and even prohibited in some cities.  Safety issue? 

     -  I can no longer swim in the ocean after precipitation due to fecal contamination.  EPA, where are you?

            The news likes to call it high bacteria counts.  Sorry, it's fecal matters, urine, and needles.

     -  Gas tax just went up another $.12 per gallon.  What did we get.  Road diets and toll lanes. 

             Newsome just stole $5 billion from the road taxes to pay for the crazy train.

     -  Banning some rat baits allowing the rat population to multiply out of control along with typhus.

     -  Relentless attacks on Prop 13.  Because of the artificially high property valuations we already pay highest

           property taxes of any state in the country despite the 1.07% tax rate.  Voted bond issues make it higher.

              Local jurisdictions continue to pass school and sewer bonds that are added on to the property tax.   

Again, thank you California for your good work representing your tax paying, middle-class citizens.    

(fact source: See links above.)

I'm always trying to figure out why some people think the way they do or even why I think the way I do. It is not a secret that some people make decisions with their heart and some with their brains or some combination.  In my effort to categorize beliefs, I think I've been able to simplistically figure out the base difference between people with opposing beliefs that each holds true.  Some are typically into social solutions (heart) while others are into engineering solutions (brain).  Below are some examples of what I mean.  Here goes:

In conclusion, engineering solutions can solve most of today's problems in California. Sometimes, you have to trade compassion for effective, long term, physical solutions.   Unfortunately, California seems hell bent on solving its problems with social solutions.  This may feel good in the short term but only exaggerates the problems in the long term.  Remember, the only reason that the planet can support 6.5 billion people is because of engineering solutions and innovation in farming.

(fact source: General BS)

When a politician really hasn't paid attention to the facts or logically analyzed their position, they're most

likely to use the following phrases, which mean absolutely nothing. 

(fact source: General BS)

Comparing your mileage and costs of using gasoline, electricity, and hydrogen in your car is incredibly confusing.  It's really hard to make something simple. 

Gasoline Simplified:

If you pay $3.00 / gallon and get 30 miles per gallon, your cost will be $.10 / mile.

If the gas tank holds 15 gallons, you'll get 450 miles on a full tank. 

Electric Simplified:

If you pay $.16 / kWh for electricity and your electric car gets 4 miles / kWh, your cost will be $.04 / mile.

If the battery holds 100 kWh, you'll get 400 miles on a full battery.

(European cat makers are working on 20 miles range per 1 minute of charging.)

Hydrogen Simplified:

Fact:  The Toyota Mirai has a 32 gallon tank capacity with a range of 312 miles (EPA), that equals 9.6 MPG.

if you pay $4.00 / gal. for hydrogen and your hydrogen car gets 9.6 miles / gal., your cost will be $.41 / mile.

If the hydrogen tank holds 32 gallons, you'll get 312 miles on a full tank. 

 Assumptions never mentioned:

  1)  If NOT charging your electric car in the middle of the day, your charging it with coal-based electivity. 

  2)  When you fill 15 gallons of gasoline into your car, your tank gets 15 gallons of gasoline.

          When you charge 50 kWh of electricity in your car, you only get 85% efficiency.

  3)  When 1000 kWh of electricity is transmitted 1,000 miles from out of state, does CA receive 1.000 kWh   
  

(fact source: Toyota Mirai & General media)

Hydrogen CO2 Emissions per mile driven:

     1,000 cu ft natural gas produces 1 kWh electricity 

     1 kWh electricity creates 1.13 lbs CO2

     4.84 kWh electricity to make 1 gal hydrogen

     4.84 kWh x 1.13 lbs CO2 = 5.47 lbs CO2

     9.7 MPG  --->   0.56 lbs of CO2 per mile

Electric CO2 Emissions per mile driven:

     1,000 cu ft natural gas produces 1 kWh electricity

     1 kWh electricity creates 1.13 lbs CO2

     4 miles per kWh --->  0.28 lbs of CO2 per mile

(fact source: General media)

Take the quiz below and see how many you got right.  (Kind of a personal score card on your reality.)

 - Late 90's - Free trade with China would make U.S. stronger and China more democratic.

 - 2003 - Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

 - 2007 - Economy was strong and there was no financial crises looming.

 - 2016 - Hillary would easily beat Trump in the 2016 presidential election. 

 - 2019 - Trump colluded with the Russians.

67

I am proud to say that I only missed one, that Hillary would win the presidential election.  I was absolutely

sure she would.  Based on what I see in the news today, I suspect that they probably got most of them wrong. 

(fact source: General media)

Some of the factors affecting college admissions. (I use privilege and preference intermingled. If you are

for a certain policy, it's a preference.  If you're against it, its a privilege. The term privilege has become quite pejorative.  Not anymore.)

 - Legacy privilege - Without it, an argument could be made that there would be fewer places for poor people to attend.

 - Prep school privilege - Catholic schools are the hidden secret to getting admitted to a quality catholic university.   

 - Donor privilege - Donations from wealthy persons insure the availability of scholarships for non-paying students.

 - Sports privilege - Up to 40% of admissions receive credit for sports achievements.

 - Title 9 privilege - Sports scholarships must be apportioned equally between men and women. 

 - Minority privilege - Statistics are not available.

 - Celebrity privilege - Current college admissions debacle.

 - Local privilege - Admissions are reserved for local applicants in fast track educational programs for the poor.

 - Learning disability privilege - I learned about this from SAT test taking exemptions. 

Observation, there seems to be a lot of opportunities for most applicants except average intelligence, non-sports oriented, males.  That's what Junior College is for.  Take credited courses that will get you into a 4-year college in your Junior year.  It saves money also since you aren't likely to get any kind of financial assistance, you'll have the opportunity to work part time.  

(fact source: General Media)

(fact source: EIA)

Steyer believes the 5 Rights represent essential freedoms that should be"

       1) "the right to an equal vote"

       2) "the right to clean air and water"

       3) "the right to learn,"

       4) "the right to a living wage"

       5) "the right to health."

The population of California may have exceeded 40 million sometime last summer growing

240 M per year.

Fact & Opinion:

I read a lot of information about the population of California so I thought I'd put a few numbers together:

       Total births per year:          + 571 M

       Total deaths per year:        - 246 M

       Leave state per year:          - 143 M

            Sub total:                         +   82 M

     Unspecified immigration:      158 M

(fact source: General Media)

4

"I just can't live in New York anymore. Everything I hated about L.A. I'm beginning to crave.  L.A. is a place where you live behind a gate, you get in a car, your interaction with the public is minimal ..." 

Fact & Opinion:

The above is a direct quote from Alec Baldwin.  If you ever questioned whether the "liberal elite" even existed, this is your evidence.  It is a state of mind so really hard to pin down.  So here is a guy that mocks Trump on SNL and really, deep down, doesn't want anything to do with the public.  In the meantime, Trump is mixing with the public on a daily basis at his rallies. It is disconcerting that Baldwin has an oversized influence on the politics influencing regular people and their lives and really wants nothing to do with them.  Ironic.  In my mind, this is the definition of liberal elite.

(fact source: O.C. Register)

4

People sure like to beat up on Tesla.

Fact & Opinion:

The chart below kind of shows a different view.

(fact source: Borrowed from Forbes)

4

  Check out the "legal" migrant (net) column. 

Do the politicians really understand what "Medicare for all" actually means?

Fact & Opinion:

I personally started collecting Medicare a couple years ago at age 65.  What's funny is that many politicians want Medicare for everyone.  I don't know if they understand that myself and my employer have sunk hundreds of thousands dollars into Medicare over  the last 42 years for me, personally.  Since I still work, my employer and I are still funding Medicare in addition to the $800+ dollars per month that I pay personally for my wife and myself to cover the Part B penalty for working, plus Supplemental & Prescription insurance.  This can be more expensive than a individual policy.     

If the politicians REALLY mean "Medicare for All", it's fantastic that everyone would have to pay so much to get into Medicare and then pay the high cost of being on Medicare while employed.  There would be more money in Medicare than the government would know what to do with. 

Oh, wait a minute, those politicians just want everyone to receive the benefits of Medicare without paying into it before and during the time they receive Medicare benefits. I don't think they understand that this isn't Medicare.  It's MEDICAID.  What's the difference?  The choice of doctors, hospitals, and medical care is much more comprehensive under Medicare.  That's why it's much more expensive for participants.  If everyone were allowed on Medicare, it would simply go bankrupt and all those workers that paid into the program for all their working life would be left without medical care of any kind.  Thanks Bernie. 

(fact source: Political advertising on TV)

The CBO has scored the new Trump/GOP tax cut plan as adding $1.4 trillion over 10 years to the national debt on a static basis.    

Fact & Opinion:

The national debt is likely to stand at $20.1 trillion at the end of 2017. Trump has been in office for 1 year and is just now getting his economic plan together which will begin to go into affect starting in 2018.  Since it wont be fully in effect till 2019, that's when I'll start attributing any change in national debt to the current administration.  Isn't this fun. 

Just a little history using the 2 years data offset that I just described above:  (See debt calculations.)

     Obama:     National debt increased $ 7.5 trillion or 55.1%.

     Bush:        National debt increased $ 7.4 trillion or 119.4%.

     Clinton:     National debt increased $ 1.5 trillion or 31.9%.

     H. W.        National debt increased $ 1.5 trillion or 30.6%.

     Reagan     National debt increased $ 2.1 trillion or 190.9%.

Just an observation, both Reagan and Bush cut taxes during a healthy and growing economy and both wracked up record deficits.

(fact source: U.S. Dept. of Treasury)

Facebook announced Wednesday that a Russian propaganda organization used the social media platform to purchase $100,000 of political advertising.

Fact & Opinion:

I love it.  "Facebook found 470 inauthentic accounts associated with approximately 3,000 political ads from June 2015 to May 2017. The ad purchases and accounts are affiliated with a Russian “troll farm,” dubbed the Internet Research Agency, which spreads pro-Russian propaganda and false information across the World Wide Web". 

Zuckerberg is one of Trump's most outspoken critics and it turns out that FACEBOOK may have actually helped turn the election for Trump.  It turns out that a better case could be made for Zuckerberg colluding with the Russians than Trump.  I'm still waiting (and waiting) for the evidence that Trump colluded with the Russians. 

A much bigger and more important issue that doesn't get much press attention is the use of FACEBOOK by ISIS, the Taliban, and other radical groups to promote their own ideologies which ends up in the deaths of many Americans!

Update:

This is now old news and Zuckerberg has agreed to hand over everything it has on the issue.  I just like the irony of the most successful business leaders of our country and his self-righteous attitude about half the population of the U.S. 

(fact source: PBS)

President Trump announced that the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris Agreement on Climate change.    

Fact & Opinion:  

Ugh.  This will suck all the oxygen out of the room (politically).  Maybe that is what Trump wanted in order to divert attention from other issues.  In reality, this was not unexpected as this is what he promised his base during the presidential election.  Remember, neither the Democrats of the establishment Republicans wanted him for President.  It was his base that put him in office.  

The Paris Accord was a non-binding agreement which allowed the U.S. to take a leadership position on world opinion on global warming (if the U.S. was smart about it). While it prescribed CO2 reductions for nations of the world, in reality, it was about the money.  I wish Trump would have just said that.  Maybe he did. The U.S. has reduced its CO2 emissions 18% since 2002 while China and India don't have to start reducing theirs till 2030.

Trump's major objection was that the agreement requires the U.S. to pay the majority share of an annual $100 billion climate fund which allocates money to poorer nations including China to help them meet their CO2 reduction goals. Trump believed that would be unfair to the American worker/taxpayer who would actually be footing the bill.  He is not all wrong about that.  

As a conservative, I have already installed solar panels, LED lighting, drive a high mileage automobile, and planted a couple dozen trees.  My guess is that most of the climate zealots have not done that so why do I also have to pay for them.   Furthermore, CO2 is heavier than air and the CO2 produced on the ground is utilized by trees and shrubs to produce oxygen (and acidize the ocean), and the CO2 emitted from private jets at 30,000 feet from proponents of climate change flying to climate conferences, remains in the atmosphere and actually does cause global warming. It seems that hypocrisy is running rampant these days.

Succinctly, reducing all pollution is a fantastic idea.  The good news is that as you reduce criteria air pollutants (H2S, NOX, SOX), CO2 pollution is also reduced, and after Germany, the U.S. is a leader in this area.  It's just good business to reduce air pollution and companies and states will be financially motivated to continue to do so.  All Trump did was remove the "command and control" mandate. 

Update: Did Trump really withdraw the U.S. from the  Paris Climate Accord?  He could have reneged on the agreement and gotten the U.S. out now, but he didn't.  He announced that the U.S. was withdrawing under the termination process written in the agreement.  That process takes at least 4 years before even beginning.  Perhaps Trump just wanted a little time for some renegotiation.  Some European countries have refused to consider renegotiation but at least they have 4 years to think about it.  The general news media doesn't quite get it right again. 

(fact source: General News)

Feinstein announced that she believes that the election results would have been different if the DNC had not been hacked by the Russians.

Fact & Opinion:  

 - Trump won 3,084 counties, Clinton won 57. News flash, the US consists of more than just California and New York.

 - Comey and the prospect of a 3rd "Obama term" did more damage to Hillary than Putin could have done.

 - The Clintons left the White House broke and are now worth $111 million.  And democrats are worried about Trump!

 - The Clinton Foundation received $144 million in 2013 and $287 million in 2016 while Hillary ran for president.  Hmmm.

 - So far, none of the emails appear to have been modified.  (The Clinton Foundation was a "profit center" for many). 

 - I am stunned that anyone would think that Russia wasn't trying to not hack into the elections.

 - If my password was "Password", to gain access to the database at the company I work for, I would have been fired.

 - Hillary didn't get a lot of votes from disappointed Sanders fans who just didn't show up on election day.   

        (How ironic, Hillary may have lost the election because of another Democrat.)

In short, I held my nose and voted for Hillary (I live in a blue state).  Based on the recent Democrat reaction, if the election were held again today, I would definitely vote for Trump without any reservation. 

(fact source: Meet the Press)

17 U.S. Intelligence Agencies are in consensus that Russia hacked the DNC with the intent of affecting the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.

Fact & Opinion:

Really? Since when is consensus proof of anything?  The U.S. is still licking its wounds from a consensus that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction.  5,000 soldiers dead. 15,000 crippled for life.  750,000 other dead in the M.E. $3 trillion drained from the U.S. Treasury.  I don't remember hearing an apology from the Intelligence Agencies on that fiasco.   

The Russians trying to hack the US? I thought just about every country in the world was trying to hack the U.S. government and American companies.  I thought the Chinese recently hacked all the personnel records of the federal government.  Haven't they been hacking American companies for decades. Who knew! 

"Password"?  That was Podesta's password that led to the hack of the DNC.  Why does Podesta still have a job! 

McCain and other Republicans think that the act of hacking rises to the level of war.  What's his end game, dropping bombs on Russia. This guy is truly dangerous. By his logic, should Israel and Germany declare war on the U.S. after we hacked them and tried to affect their elections. 

Update: 01/06/17.  Clapper (head of US intelligence) has just announced that Russia was behind the hacking. Clapper has presented no proof to the American public. Julian  Assange (Wikileaks) says it wasn't. The intelligence community unanimously does not believe Assange yet it was Clapper last year who proclaimed that the CIA was not data-mining the American people, yet it turned out that he was.  Let's also not forget about the Benghazi fiasco where the American people were told that the attack was because of a video.  Who am I supposed to believe, an alleged traitor or an American official with a track record of not telling the truth?

The good news is that it turned out that none of Hillary's email were proven to be doctored or manipulated.  What Wikipedia published were her genuine emails.  Trump was absolutely correct when he tweeted that the U.S. Intelligence agencies need a change of leadership. 

(fact source: General Media)

The DNC was deliberately hacked by Russia to help Trump win the U.S. election.

Fact & OPINION:

Ugh.  I don't know about Russia but I do know that James Comey, Director of the FBI, threw Hillary under the bus right before the election be stating that the FBI may have found thousands more emails on Hillary's email server.  Nice.  Who needs enemies when you have friends like that. 

Yes, the RNC servers were not hacked.  Either the Russians didn't target the RNC or maybe the RNC just simply had better administration and electronic of their servers.  Remember, who was violating federal government email policy?  Hasn't Obama had 7 years to protect the "homeland" from hacking and viruses generated outside the U.S.  Isn't that what Homeland Security is supposed to be doing! 

In short, the election was Hillary's to lose.  Hillary had many opportunities to win but chose to focus her campaign on the "Coasts" instead the rest of the country. Wisconsin was a blue state that guaranteed Hillary 10 delegates but she never even campaigned in the state, and as a result, lost the state to Trump.  Even a recount ended up giving Trump 160 more votes. 

The fact that President Obama refused to admit that there was Islamic Terrorism in the world, recognize that tons of Heroin was flowing in from our southern border, and recognize that manufacturing jobs were rapidly moving to Mexico from the Mid-West, was also part of the problem.  In retrospect, it seems pretty simple. 

(fact source: Meet the Press and General Media)

Castro is deceased and we first learned about him while watching our 12" B&W TVs over 50 years ago.

Fact & OPINION:

This is too good to pass up.  In Cuba, the citizens are still getting their government news, if at all, on 12" B&W TVs while Americans get theirs on 65", UHD, 4K, backlit LCD TV's. Even poor Americans are watching their own 32" LCD TVs.  Isn't this a metaphor on the economic difference between Communism and Capitalism.  Castro literally took a tropical paradise and turned it into one of the poorest, per capita, countries in the world.  (There were some issues with the Mafia but that could have been resolved with police action, not a dictatorship.)

Castro was successful at equalizing all Cuban citizens, unfortunately to the lowest common denominator.  Average wage?  $20 per month.  Castro's own net worth? $900 million.  (But he was for the people!)

(fact source: Meet the Press and General Media)

Democrat pundits are concerned that Trump will use the Presidency to increase his own wealth.

Fact & OPINION:

On first thought, this is not an unreasonable opinion.  However, I sense a degree of hypocrisy on the part of the pundits promoting this idea. Bill and Hillary Clinton left the White House with little wealth and managed to accumulate $111 million in wealth since then.  Nice. They also created the Clinton Foundation which receives substantial contributions annually  from financial institutions and foreign governments. (In 2012- $51.4 million, 2013 - $144.3, 2015 - $291) Wow. The Clintons don't receive a salary from the Foundation but its seems that the foundation pays a lot of someone's expenses.

I do fear that Trump will use his position to reduce his income tax to an extent that it actually jeopardizes the financial integrity of the U.S. economy just like what happened during the last Bush administration.  Famous quote, it's Déjà vu all over again.     

(fact source: Meet the Press and General Media)

Many polls now have Donald Trump leading Hillary Clinton.  

Fact & OPINION:

I know there are a lot of people who literally hate Hillary Clinton but I can't believe that they would vote for a guy that has:

     Gone bankrupt 4 times (great businessman),

     Has thousands of lawsuits against him,

     Hasn't paid even more thousands of workers,

     Has 5 deferments (supports the military),

     Has never given a shit about the little guy (and won't if elected president),

     Licenses his name to developers to sell overpriced condos to unwitting individuals,  (who lose all their money)

     Trump University,

     Has had 3 marriages (for you evangelicals),

     Pays no income tax (he's worth billions), and

     Will more than likely use the office of the presidency to further enhance his own wealth. (as will Hillary)

This guy is really good. If you can vote for a person with this pedigree, you are a better person than I am.  

(fact source: General media)

Holy Grail

Issues

Fact: 

A position on any one of the "single" political issues below could cost a candidate the presidency in order of public awareness:

OPINION:

     1) Women's choice.    (Mike Huckabee would not rule out US troops to shut down abortion clinics.)

     2) Troops on the ground in the Middle East.

     3) Marijuana legalization.

     4) Gun Control.

     5) Flat tax - most of the electorate doesn't know and doesn't care.

     6) Common Core.

     7) Healthcare - (Jeb Bush also advised that he would phase out Medicare.)

                           (Ted Cruz was successful shutting down the US Government over Obamacare.)

(fact source: General Media -  June, 2015)

Fact: 

What will taxes be like based on current legislation for a family making $200,000 / year. 

(Does not include 401K tax credit.)

OPINION:  

Federal Tax	39.6%	After Bush tax cuts expire.
CA State Tax	9.8%
OC County Tax	na
FICA	6.2%	The employer pays another 6.2%!
Medicare	3.8%	After new healthcare tax kicks in.
CA Sales Tax	8.75%
Property Tax	3.0%	Assume $600,000 @ 1% residence = $6,000
Total Tax:	71.15%	Most deductions are going away at this income level.

(fact source: General news)

TIME FRAME:        WAR:                            OPINION:

1947 - 1991          Cold War with Russia     Russian people over threw Communism...stay tuned.

1950 - 1953          Korean War                   Cease fire, North Korea now a potential nuclear threat.

1964 - on going    War on poverty              Poverty continues to increase.  Widening wealth gap.

1969 - 1975          Vietnam War                 U.S. retreated; still Communist government.

1983 - ongoing     War on drugs                 Drug use still increasing. Evangelicals influence drug policy.

2003 - ongoing     Iraqi War                        Destabilized Middle East.  Note the price of crude oil.

2001 -ongoing      War on terror                 Significant increase in Islamic fundamentalism in world.