The deconstruction of America begins...

OCU

Nowhere is there anyplace along the Columbia River where water could've ever flowed into California, therefore, there was nothing to shut-off. The only water from the Columbia River that could possibly reach California would be what goes out into the Pacific Ocean and moves down the coast line, but that's not a very practical way of delivering freshwater from the Columbia River to a place like California. You know, all that salt and stuff.

OCU

When Trump was asked why he had pardoned individuals who had been convicted of attacking Capital police officers on January 6th, he seemed to not know that that was the case:

What could possibly go wrong...

OCU

BTW the reason Trumpanzee knows so much about Native treaties is because before his Atlantic City casinos ventures was because he was pissed off at the California casinos... which were only allowed on Rez land at the time... and he wasn't allowed to. It was a big stink in Indian Country

#12 | Posted by RightisTrite at 2025-01-21 09:07 AM

It was also the Indian casinos in Connecticut that Trump was outraged about. But looking back, all of Trump's casinos when belly-up while those unsophisticated 'ingenious types', they all seem to be doing okay.

OCU

Speaking of the need for investigations into the abuses by the FBI and the DOJ, Peltier should have been paroled in 1993 when he first became eligible because by then it had been revealed that the FBI had withheld exculpatory evidence from the court during Peltier's trial. This included the FBI stopping a vehicle which bore no resemblance whatsoever to the one that they had been looking for. It was also never determined who actually fired the first shots and that the FBI agents were driving unmarked cars on private property where the members of AIM, which Peltier was a member, had been given sanctuary. The judge refused to allow Peltier's lawyers to make a self-defense argument despite there having been another so-called 'Native American' group in the area, known as the 'Goon Squad', which had been at war with AIM but who had been getting clandestine support from federal authorities, in the form of money and firearms as well as looking the other way when they committed criminal acts, which included ambushing AIM members, that often resulted in deaths or serious injuries.

The 1992 movie, 'Thunderheart', was loosely-based on the incidents that took place in 1975 at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, which lead to Peltier being charged with murder and subsequently convicted:

And what is it with Trump and these get-togethers with currently or formerly indicted felons?

A couple of weeks ago this included Rudy Giuliani and Michael Flynn at some sort of banquet at Mar-a-Lago honoring someone or something.

OCU

Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg to attend Trump's inauguration

... The three will be seated together on the inauguration platform with other prominent guests. ...

#2 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-01-16 12:23 PM

And it's been rumored that the CEO of TikTok, Shou Chew, has been invited to the inauguration as well and will be seated in the VIP section, perhaps next to Elon Musk.

OCU

CA ( democrats ) let reservoirs run dry refusing to perform fire prevention maintenance to it's forests that have proven effective for literally 100's of years.

#20 | Posted by shrimptacodan at 2025-01-16 11:49 AM

The state of California is only responsible for 2% of the land area of the state. 48% is privately owned while the remainder, 50%, is federal land.

As for the letting the reservoirs run dry, most of the state's major reservoirs are at or above their normal levels for this time of the year, as shown in the diagram below, which is updated daily:

For someone who claims to be an originalist. You're ignorant about the first amendment. When the first amendment was ratified. Corporations couldn't donate to political campaigns because of the severe mistrust of them. Oh and campaign finance rules started in 1867. Just FYI Jeff.

#15 | Posted by LauraMohr at 2025-01-14 02:33 PM

Besides, when the United States first became an independent nation, it was understood that corporations were to be charted with the idea that they had a finite lifespan, because our Founding Fathers did not want there to be a concentration of wealth nor the domination of market places, ie, monopolies. While they had successfully thrown off the concept of generational rulers, Kings with heirs waiting in the wings, they were unwilling to trade that for 'institutions', living in perpetuity, enduring beyond the elected representatives of the people. However, over time, as corporations, and the people running them, managed to gain influence with members of Congress and the White House, these ideas slowly fell by the wayside.

OCU

But the Court did warn Congress that it was their responsibility to pass new laws regulating campaign donations, which of course they never did, as if anyone really expected them to.

OCU

Our oldest son and his wife and granddaughter #3 attended the LA Chargers/Houston Texans wildcard playoff game. Our granddaughter's boyfriend is fairly well off and he apparently had an opportunity to get a block of tickets for at least this game.

OCU

Only 2% of the lands in California are under the control of Sacramento. 48% is privately owned and 50% is the responsibility of the federal government.

OCU

From the reports that the read, the bullet from the first assassination attempt never hit Trump. Rather, it was the shock-wave of the bullet which ruptured the membrane of the ear channel. That's why there was never any wound or scar visible once Trump stopped wearing that silly 'sympathy' dressing.

OCU

And I wonder how Trump is going to react to the fact that both Canada and Mexico has been supplying hardware and manpower to help fight the fires in Los Angeles.

OCU

... the assassination attempts?

#1 | Posted by fishpaw at 2025-01-10 02:14 PM

Anybody ever wonder why it was that Trump, while he ALWAYS drives a cart when he golfs, on the day that they caught this guy tangled in the bushes on the fence line of his golf course, Trump had decided to walk the course? From the reports, he was never in any real danger, but he used it as another example of how the Left was out to get him despite the fact that the guy was a Republican and had supported Trump in the past.

OCU

How can you not have water in fire hydrants?

#267 | Posted by boaz at 2025-01-09 02:41 PM

It's mostly the hydrants that are up on the hillsides in L.A. where it takes much more pressure to keep them supplied, particularly when hundreds of hydrants around the other parts of the city are being used.

OCU

Prop. 13 has kept property taxes low and caused the homes in SoCal at inflated value.

#249 | Posted by lee_the_agent at 2025-01-09 10:10 AM

I have to admit that we're benefiting from Prop 13. We purchased our home here in SoCal in 1987, paying $245,000, which we thought was a fortune having moved from Michigan (our house is a single story ranch, four bedrooms, two baths, 1974 square feet, on a 5,250 square foot lot, albeit built by a higher end contractor in 1979 in a gated community with our own pool and tennis(pickleball) courts). Our first year's taxes were $2,450, 1% of the purchase price. Since then, the tax rate remains 1% of the 'assessed' value, which can only increase a maximum of 2% per year, based on the published rate of inflation (many years, the increase was less than 2%). This past year our property taxes were just shy of $5,000, and the value of our house is now listed on Zillow as $1,773,700. However, if we were to sell our house for this amount, the new buyer would have to pay $17,737 in property taxes their first year.

But we have an HOA (Home Owners Association) which assesses us a monthly fee of $220 so that's like an additional $2,640 in 'taxes' per year (which are NOT tax deductible).

OCU

Please check in and let us know how you are doing.

#31 | Posted by Miranda7 at 2025-01-08 10:11 PM

You too OCU.

#32 | Posted by Miranda7 at 2025-01-08 10:17 PM

We're a good distance from the fires, nearly 40 miles from the closest. And so far the winds have been such that we can't see the smoke let alone smell it. Now our granddaughter lives in Highland Park, which borders South Pasadena, and while they've been okay so far (we talked to her this evening) her school was closed today and will be the rest of the week.

That being said, the wind last night did take down a number of trees in our neighborhood, but were we live, all power-lines are underground so falling trees don't have the same impact as they do in some other places. And at the moment, the wind is down to only four or five mph while overnight it did hit close to 60 mph.

OCU

Is there a single poster from CA on this site who doesn't use the term "red state --------"?

I forgive you.

#153 | Posted by eberly at 2025-01-08 10:21 PM

I've never used that epitaph nor would I ever think of doing so.

OCU

Speaking of states where the population has grown, what has Florida done to mitigate the impact of hurricanes? Or places like Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, etc, when it comes to tornadoes?

OCU

If you lived in California you'd know that many of the cities and municipalities have been working very hard to improve their water systems with an eye on conservation. For example, we live in a city, Irvine, which recycles our waste water. Currently the water coming from the city's sewer system is treated and then reused for agriculture and to water green belts and common spaces. Also, large buildings, such as offices and schools, have two water supplies, a potable water line for drinking water, and a 'gray water' line for toilets and such (in an office building or school, the largest user of water is flushing toilets). The current plan is to improve the water treatment facilities so that in the near future, even the potable water will include recycled water which has been purified to the point where it'll be indistinguishable from the fresh water supplied from the California water system.

OCU

And keep in mind that during the first Trump presidency he continuously harped on California and it's leaders over their 'mismanagement' of the state's forestland. What Trump and most people fail to acknowledge is that the state has control over very little acreage. In fact, Sacramento only has direct control of 2% of the state. 50% is privately owned and 48% is under the control and management of the federal government. So if you want to blame Newsom or the Democratic controlled legislature, just keep in mind that 98% of the state is outside their control.

OCU

11 months ago Cali had record rain falls and snow melt but they let it flow into the ocean. Most of Cali is a desert and instead of building more reservoirs they've been tearing down dams and reducing capacity.

#103 | Posted by visitor_ at 2025-01-08 08:06 PM

The link below takes you to a page that shows the current (updated daily) water supply levels in all of the major reservoirs in California. If you look you will see that most of them are at or above their historical averages for this date.

Sorry, California has been doing a relatively good job of managing their water supplies when you consider the number of people who live here and the amount of agriculture here in the state.

Trump is blaming California Governor Gavin Newscum (as he calls him) for the fire disaster in Los Angeles, claiming that the Governor is responsible for there being low water pressure in the city's fire hydrants. Once again Trump went off on a rant about how Newsom has turned-off a 'giant faucet' preventing water flowing through the state. He also declared that once he's back in the White House, he'll order that that 'faucet' be turned back on and California's water problems will be solved. What Trump failed to mention is that since July, the start of the current rain reporting season, L.A. County has gotten 0.16 inches of rain, when normally by this date, the average rainfall has been 4.56 inches.

OCU