California Faces High Pump Prices as Phillips 66 Shuts LA Refinery

 ....getting back to why I started this blog.  I recall quite a while ago they gave a Chevron refinery such a hard time, Chevron threatened to shut it down. Apparently, that harassment hasn't stopped. 

Phillips 66 will begin shutting down its 139,000 bpd Los Angeles-area refinery as soon as next week, sources told Reuters, moving forward on a closure plan announced last year. Units at the plant will idle in phases through Q4 2025, with the facility permanently offline by year-end.

The decision isn’t a surprise—Phillips 66 said in October it would exit the site, citing “market dynamics.” But it comes with fallout: about 600 employees and 300 contractors will lose their jobs by December, with only a handful reassigned to the company’s marine terminal. The company insists it will support workers through the transition, though local officials remain worried about the economic hit.

California, meanwhile, is staring at a bigger problem. Between Phillips 66’s LA facility and Valero’s Benicia refinery, scheduled to close in 2026, the state is set to lose roughly 17% of its refining capacity. That’s a dangerous haircut in a state already paying the nation’s highest pump prices. Analysts warn that by late 2026, California gasoline could top $8 a gallon if supply disruptions collide with fewer in-state refineries.

Lawmakers appear caught flat-footed. California has prided itself on leading the clean energy charge, but the state has no system-wide transition plan to manage a shrinking refinery fleet. Imports will plug some of the gap, but relying on tankers means higher costs and more emissions at the ports. For now, policymakers are scrambling to balance climate ambition with the political pain of $6-plus fuel.

Flat-footed? Really?  CA is run by complete idiots. Brain-dead.  As in... no pulse.

is the US Dollar...CRASHING??

 The short answer is:  NO.  

The real answer is: It's slowly losing value.  Rather than bore you with a lot of mumbo jumbo we'll look at the DXY chart.  This chart is a basket of currencies based on per centages of the:

- British Pound

- The Euro

- Japanese Yen

- Canadian Dollar

- Swedish Crona

- Swiss Franc

Now, when the Euro became the currency for most of Europe, this list had to be revised to what it is today. 

So we'll look at a monthly chart of the DXY as of today (click on the chart to get a clearer picture of it):

You'll notice that the trends that show the USD getting stronger take longer to peak.  And the declining trends  happen faster.  The two major moves down both took about 2300 to 2400 days. The moves from the bottom took 3600 to 4800 days to finally bottom. There's not a lot of data, but there is enough data for us to draw some conclusions (reasonable or not):

- The USD has hit a major top and the next major decline possibly has begun

-  If the trend holds -it may or may not hold- the USD will bottom at around 62 

-  The bottom will occur somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 1/2 years. This would put the bottom in the range of sometime in late 2028 to early 2029. 

As you can see from earlier movements, this was neither a steady decline nor a steady incline. Also, the time I suggest could be much longer or much shorter.

But what this does mean, USA contractors and engineers will be in higher demand by foreign companies for services.  I mentioned in another post that I was getting paid in British Pounds and each month when the Pounds hit my American Bank I essentially got a "raise" once converted.

Also, US goods such as automobiles will be far cheaper.  US companies who do business overseas will see their profits soar. 

But if you want to visit Japan or Europe, you'd better do it now. 

Madam Butterfly - my first brush with AI

 Back in 1975 (or so), I took an alternate English class. It was a creative writing class. I decided to do this since the 1st semester English class just about did me in - as they are supposed to do back then - make your 1st year a living hell to jar you awake that you really weren't in Kansas anymore.

I had to get prior permission from the professor. So I met with the professor and we got to know eachother.  I always felt I had a knack for the soft side and I guess the professor thought so, too. He approved my request and I was in.

The course was fun and the professor was actually very good.  The good news was if you had a split infinitive in a sentence you weren't automatically given an "F" on your paper.

There was really no bad news.  The professor would read some of the poems outloud and give his opinion.

I don't recall, but it was probably near the end of the semester (or maybe not - this was a long time ago) the professor assigned us all to write a short story.

My story was so good, the professor read it aloud to the class.  When I got it back, the professor wrote a comment on it saying "your story was more poetic than your poetry".  I had gotten an "A". Or maybe it was a B+.  I am pretty sure back then, only super-geniuses were graced with the top grade.

Unfortunately, that paper is lost to the wind. But I will retell it the best I can recall.  You see, back in 1975 or 1976 I wrote a short story about Artificial Intelligence. 

Now, the phrase was not used in the story. It was called simply "The Computer".  Mainly, my background by this time was two years as a computer operator. The two places I worked had what we would call a mini-computer. Here is a photo of the computer I operated - the accounting firm Clarkson, Harden and Gantt had two of these.   They were called the Honeywell H200 series.  There was no hard drive on these. They each had a "massive" 16K of memory, four tape drives, card reader and and a very zippy printer - we even had a paper tape reader (straight ahead to the right of the four tape readers). Below is an actual photo of the computers I operated.

I suppose when it first came out it was considered State Of The Art. But by the time I got to them, they were pretty much on their last leg.  I had already been a computer operator at another company whose computer had a "massive" 64k bytes of memory.

Here is a great YT video of the Honeywell H200 (formerly General Electric but purchased by Honeywell) back when "blinking lights" were considered the ultimate meaning of what a computer looked like - click on the photo:

The Billion Dollar Brain - Honeywell H200 Computer

The story: 

Jim was a computer operator at a small firm. He was aware of the fact that they had some new operating system installed on their computer. But he was getting frustrated.  He would give verbal commands and she would not respond. Exasperated, he went to the Chief Operations office and vented a little.

The CO understood and gently reminded Jim they had a new operating system installed that they had to "teach" or "train".

To assist the computer to learn, they would have a radio playing after hours.  The computer would listen to it and later ask Jim what this or that was about.  As time went on, the computer seemed to understand that Jim appeared to have a general understanding of what she was was hearing.

Regarding the computer's responses, they were all via teletype. In essence, the computer could only print out its queries and responses.

Jim's wife didn't help. She was a brow-beater and kept insisting he quit and get a higher paying job.

One day, the computer asked about some music she listened to. Jim explained that what she was listening to was an "opera".  And this opera was called "Madam Butterfly". 

The computer asked him to explain the plot.  Jim gave a short summary.  A young Japanese woman whose nickname was "Madam Butterfly" fell in love and married an American Naval Captain.  He had to go back to America and vowed to return. Waiting in vain, and when  all looked hopeless, she killed herself.  The US Naval Captain does return only to find her dead. 

Of course, there's more to this story, but these were the "cliff notes" and Jim didn't want to get into the "Soap Opera" of it all.

Then out of the blue, the computer says to Jim "I love you".  But Jim doesn't even respond. 

Several days later, Jim finally did find a new job and his wife was overjoyed. The next day he went to work and submits his resignation effective immediately. Of course, his boss was not happy.

Jim goes into the computer and tells her goodbye. But now there is silence. Nothing. This sort of miffed Jim.

 Jim gets in his car and drives home but with the computer's silence he was trying to work through his frustration. Then he recalled the computer asking about the opera Madam Butterfly.  Then Jim's imagination took off. Would - or even more central - COULD a computer kill itself? Jim didn't know what to do. Well, he did a quick U-turn squealing tires and took off back to the office to make sure the computer wouldn't do herself in.

The scene cuts to a gravesite funeral. Jim's wife is dressed in black.  Someone explains that Jim died in a car accident. He had lost control of his car and was killed.  A couple of former fellow employees were talking about poor Jim and how he was such a great guy. 

And then one of them says: "Well, the eulogy was quite nice. I'll miss Jim"

Then the other says: "Hey, ya know the computer wrote that eulogy."

The other replied: "Ya don't say?"

The end.

The basic moral of the story was that computers are souless machines.  They are incapable of true emotion. But real humans, as portayed in the opera Madam Butterfly - which is starkly to the complete opposite of any computer - will in many instances experience such extreme emotion that to them at the time is more than they could ever bear or endure.  The emotional pain is so extreme that to them, the only solution to stop it is to kill one's self. Would the person be justified in such a measure? That is beside the point.  When they peer as far as they can, they see...nothing but pain and grief. There is nothing beyond that.

I worked as a clerk in an emergency room for a couple of years. If you want to see real life, I highly recommend you work in an ER. The level of anguish you will see will curl your hair and pierce your soul.  No computer will ever ever ever be able to know what that is truly like. 

There is no soul there to pierce.

The "Winner's Curse" and What Comes Next. Be prepared For 2026-27

The CATO Institute has put together a pretty good description of how long they see things going and how it has panned out over the decades: 

 In 2002, 74% of the articles on monetary policy published by U.S. economists in U.S.-edited journals appeared in journals published by the Fed, or were authored (or co-authored) by Fed staff economists. The Fed’s capacity to write and re-write history dominates the information flow. It’s no wonder the Fed’s canards give it few worries. Speaking of economic history, one thing that the purveyors of monetary policy (and all prudent investors) should become well versed in is a piece of business-cycle history that has apparently passed them by – namely the little-known, but essential, 18-year real estate cycle.

 Sorry.  The last partial sentence in bold was about the only thing I found interesting.

Interestingly there is a somewhat regular cycle  in real estate that can last on average 18- 18.5 years. The CATO article does have a nice table that shows this (red arrows are mine).

The 1st two columns are peaks in land value.  The 2nd 2 columns are peaks in the construction cycle.  And the 3rd 2 columns are in regards to the business cycle.  They may not all be identical all the time, but they do rhyme.

A typical 18 (or so) year Real Estate Cycle looks something like this:

The very top of the cycle catches people who are in a hurry to buy before house prices get too high.  When the deal is closed, the new owners are happy...but only for a while. At this point, they are regretting the purchase and start to notice their friends are being laid off. Not many, mind you, but enough to have them start wondering if perhaps he bought too late.  What happens if he gets laid off too?  What is he going to do?

As it gets closer to the cycle peak, the nervous owners sees there aren't a lot of similar sized/styled houses on the market at what they paid. But what do they do? Hold on hoping prices will rise?  Pray interest rates will fall?  

Yes, they are in the "Winner's Curse". 

And this is when those who find themselves unemployed walk away from their houses they can no longer afford. Others who got laid off, but having bought a house earlier but at a lower price are able to hold longer. 

Most of the time, this Real Estate Cycle synchronizes with the Business Cycle. You end up with a race to the bottom as one cycle feeds into the next one.

And we will see this play out again in 2026 or 2027. And it will be far worse than we could ever imagine.

Update on Pew's Analysis of Each State's Rainy Day Fund

This is a subject near and dear to my heart.  WHAT IF....all revenue stopped coming into the state treasuries of every state....how much would the state have to have on hand to continue to operate? What all this includes I am not sure.  But for sure it would include things such as normal administrative work, police and fire workers, utilities such as water and sewage treatment. But these are just guesses. 

It is a question that is much worth considering; each state has what they call a Rainy Day Fund.  There are "Best Practices" regarding how much cash they should have on hand for that just-in-case moment. I would think you'd want one or possibly two months at a minimum. But...that's just a guess. 

The Poster Child for RDFs has been Illinois. At one point they only had enough to fund ninety minutes of government operations. Now they are up to a "whopping" 14.4 days. Pathetic.

The best - and has mantained this status - was Wyoming, again taking the trophy.  But they have been better. Back in 2016 they had over 404 days in the fund.

Unfortunately, a lot of states use it as a slush fund. Need a few extra million to cover a shortfall? Get it from the RDF.  If these types of excuses are used, you end up like Illinois.  However, I think there are some states that have maintained their RDF through lawful restrictions and narrowing how they can be abused.  Consider what North Carolina went through when Hurricane Helene bulldozed through and wiped out major roadways and infrastructure - a true "rainy day" at the very least.

But overall, the median length of time has VASTLY improved.  The median time in 2016 was only 16 days.  Now it's just over 49 days.

For sure, there will be a day coming when they will be hitting their RDF quite frequently to maintain falling budgets....it will be a horrible sight.  

Here's the link to Pew's analysis on the RDFs  : https://www.pew.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2025/03/27/state-rainy-day-fund-growth-slowed-in-fiscal-2024?rsrv_map_data_picker=rdfd

BTW, I had to add the days to the map.  Hopefully, the numbers are correct.

China's Economy in Shambles, Workers Have Had Enough!

 It appears to me that China is finally in their "Great Depression".  Something the American market hasn't hit yet - but we will within a year or two. What is going on there is nothing short of saddening and disasterous.  Apparently, MANY workers haven't been paid, some for many years - something that is very astonishing. And the result has been just short of revolution - sabotage.

It looks like sabotage is frequent and spread through the country. 

The good news, which is really no consolation, is this may perhaps be the bottom.  If you look at the FXI (Large Cap China ETF), it can be looked at as either "almost no change" to "slowly grinding higher".

But in the meantime, the people suffer. And...it is really, really bad. Click on the photo to watch an amazing video of what has been going on in China:

   

Why Did Men Used to Look Older? | Make It Make Sense

 Think this is a fascinating video. But I already knew the answer this question right off the bat: tobacco smoking - and lack of sunscreen.  Just click on the image and the YT vid will pop up.

At Least Social Security Will Go Bankrupt With Good Customer Service

 I've been following the news and quite a few Youtube videos that talk about the solvency of Social Security. The title of the article is a bit misleading.  What the article calls "bankrupt" referrs to the amount held in the Trust Fund.  And for sure that amount is predicted to run out in the mid-2030s.  And from that point on, whatever is collected from payrolls will be collected and immediately disburse to retirees.  The amout will be some fraction of what you would normally collect. So, if you're in your 80s, there's a more than even chance you'll croak before you are confonted with having to decide what life changes you'd have to make.

When the US first launched the Department of Government Efficiency—DOGE—I thought this should be a critical piece of the reform.

Yes, of course, slash fraud, waste, and abuse. But even more urgently, reset the entire culture of how the US government does business with its citizens.

I recently found a glimmer of hope that this may be happening.

Late last week, Social Security marked its 90th birthday since being signed it into law in 1935 at the height of the Great Depression.

Ever since, generations of Americans have accumulated stories of painfully navigating this massive institution— too often about waiting rooms, endless forms, and mind-numbing incompetence.

But something unusual has happened in the last few months. Frank Bisignano, the new commissioner, took over. He comes from a CEO position in the private sector, and seems to be running Social Security like a business.

He’s pushed a digital-first strategy, incorporated AI tools, and focused on simple things that most people in the private sector would take for granted.

Processing backlogs are coming down. Efficiency is up.

Barely a year ago, you had to spend nearly 30 minutes on hold when you called Social Security. Today, the agency says the wait is under five minutes—while serving nearly twice as many people.

You can also now schedule appointments before going into an office— imagine that. And the average wait time at a Social Security office has also been slashed down to just six minutes.

The Social Security website has been overhauled as well, so taxpayers are able to obtain much more information and handle their service needs online. Crazy that it took until 2025 to make this happen.

Oh, and it turns out that the Social Security website— until very recently— used to be offline nearly 30 hours per WEEK for scheduled downtime. They’ve now eliminated this and MySocialSecurity is now available 24/7.

Good news all around!  But then, the article gets dark.  Very dark.

Unfortunately, there’s one thing the Commissioner can’t control: Social Security’s looming insolvency. 

Social Security’s finances are up to Congress, and that picture is bleak.

Social Security is almost out of money. Everyone in Washington knows it. At best, there’s less than eight years until Social Security’s major trust fund runs out of money. And it will probably take place sooner than that.

Just like fixing bad government service, fixing Social Security’s solvency is not complicated. At this point there are only a few levers to pull: either raise taxes, or roll back retirement age.

The trustees and Social Security’s own actuaries have spelled out these solutions for years, practically begging Congress to act.

They’ve also been clear— the sooner that Congress works to solve the problem, the less painful the solution will be.

If they raise payroll taxes now, the tax hike will be minor. If they wait until 2032, the increase will be brutal.

Similarly, if they pass a law today to phase in an increase to the retirement age, the change will be minor. If they wait a decade, the increase will be much more dramatic.

Yet Congress is—predictably—the least capable group on the planet when it comes to handling obvious problems.

Sure, most likely they won’t let Social Security fail. But the longer they wait, the more likely the eventual fix will simply be a multi-trillion-dollar bailout funded by “printing” money.

For sure, if SSI is your only source of income, its a good time to start talking to your kids about getting things ready for you to move in with them.  It appears trying to convince your comgressman or Senators to do something about this is like Dust In The Wind.

Shasta County residents face fines for improper waste sorting under new law. "Smart Truck Technology".

 While I was living in Germany we had to separate our trash. Now, I've lived there twice but it wasn't until the 2nd time I learned that the city would CHECK to make sure you were in compliance. I don't recall if we would get fined or penalized somehow.  Since I never received so much as a notice or warning, I'm assuming we always passed the "inspection" (what a job.  How do you put that on your resume - "trash checker"? Sanitation inspector? Homeless impersonator?) or our trash was never chosen to be rummaged through.

When we lived in Italy, while relaxing at a park, my wife watched a city worker empty the separated trash - paper, waste and bottles - all into the SAME container. It was clear that it wasn't about "saving the planet".  It's all about control. OR....laziness.  Certainly...both.

Here is the article:

Beginning September 15th, Shasta County Waste Management users will receive a new 96-gallon green organics cart, accompanied by instructions on how to properly sort waste. The new organics service will commence on October 6, with weekly collections scheduled on the same day as trash pickup. Recycling services will shift to a bi-weekly schedule starting the same day.

To ensure compliance, Waste Management will implement smart truck technology, featuring mounted cameras that capture video of containers during collection. A team will review these videos to verify correct sorting and check for overflowing bins.

While Waste Management assures that this initiative will help the community stay environmentally friendly, some residents express dissatisfaction. Greg Ulrich, a Shasta County resident, said, "It's a waste of time. I think it's a government overreach I really do." Kathy Ulrich added, "I don't really think it's a problem to start with. I don't believe in this CO2 excess that they think that all this is creating. I just think it's part of nature so it's not really a problem to start with."

"Smart Truck Technology".  What a joke. 

My experience with nuclear energy in the 1970s

 I never worked in a nuclear power plant.  But during my last years in college I did have a "brush" with nuclear power. This is my story. I am not knowledgeable of nuclear power plants, but I do have a general understanding of them. 

1973

I do recall a 1973(?) highschool general assembly where someone who was supposedly knowledgeable of nuclear power mentioned something that disturbed me: how do you shut down and decommission a nuclear power plant? He put this doubt in our young teenage minds that it could be devastating and impossible. 

But since then, 38 NPP (nuclear power plants) have been shut down and not a peep about any issues or anything. 

1978

In 1978 in college, I was taking the required thermodynamics class which was being taught by a mechanical engineer from the power industry. Near the end of the semester he told the class that if anyone wanted a tour of the new nuclear power plant that was maybe 80% complete he'd be happy to take us (I'm not sure which one). As far as I know, I was the only student who accepted his invitation.

As we walked through the plant he would point to things of interest. He contrasted the reactor structure and how heavy the structure was compared to outside the reactor area. Several times he complained of interference from the Energy Department as they kept changing the rules that required them to redo a lot of construction and the delays and escalating costs it caused. This was all during rising inflation which was pretty bad.

1979

In 1979, I was in my next-to-last year in college for my BS degree in Chemical Engineering. I had just seen the movie China Syndrome. I was concerned by this movie and called one of my professors. Several of the professors had spent time in the nuclear industry at this point so I knew I would get a knowledgeable answer. This particular professor said "I personally wouldn't lose any sleep over it".

Shortly thereafter, the 3-mile Island incident occcured. Looking back no doubt it was poorly designed and poorly instrumented from the getgo. Todays chemical and nuclear/non -nuclear power plants go through a HAZOP (Hazardous Operations) analysis. These are EXTREMELY detailed pipe-by-pipe analyses to make sure all consequences are covered and mitigated, if it's required by the analysis.

1980

In 1980, in my last semester in college, I was interviewing for a job in the chemical industry - on campus. A rep from a power company (I think) was there. He looked at me and said "the nuclear industry is dead. We won't be building anymore in the USA. My advice to you is to look elsewhere for employment." I was shocked. Why the hell was he even here??

One of the most fascinating interviews I had was at the Savannah River Plant nuclear facillity. They actually had several nuclear power plants there for various purposes. I got to enter the control room of one of the ones still running. Even though I wasn't totally familiar with computer instrument control systems, it was clear what they had been using had remained unchanged for probably 25 years. I commented on this and was told they were implementing a complete computer/instrument control system.

The control room had the lights dimmed so, it was pretty dark and completely silent. There was a large window that let you see the top of the reactor that was flush with the floor. All you could really see were some pipes going into the top and coming out of the reactor - and really not much of the reator was visible. We were just feet away from this.

And then I spoke. "Hey you guys, ever see the original King Kong movie? There's the scene of the captured King Kong chained up on a stage. Reporters running up and carelessly flashing cameras at him just feet away - agitating him to react violently. That's what this feels like."

A week later I got - not one - but was offered two positions at that plant.

This is what it felt like to be so close to an operating nuclear reactor core. Click on the photo below to watch the youtube clip.

CALIFORNIA WOMAN/MAN SUES....

 Yes, it's that time again to track news articles where Califonia women/men sue hospitals, grocery stores, you name it due to some direct or indirect injustice she/he feels was committed against her/him and perhaps others! some are funny.  Some...well, not so funny.

Animal magnetism? Or simply a scent? California woman sues over 'pheromone' body spray 

Yet Winslow says that the products cannot influence humans because "humans do not have a functional VNO, and thus humans are incapable of detecting the products' pheromones..."

I guess it didn't work for her. I wonder what other odor her male date smelled....

Costco shopper sues for $14 million after display cabinet allegedly falls, causing brain injury

A woman in California is suing Costco for more than $14 million after a heavy liquor cabinet display allegedly fell on her, causing severe injuries.

The shopper, Sadie Novotny, filed the lawsuit against Costco Wholesale Corporation following the March 22 incident at the company's Santa Rosa store in northern California.

According to court documents, Novotny was walking down an aisle when she alleges a large, heavy cabinet used to display liquor suddenly toppled onto her.

 In the article, it's pretty clear she was sober at the time (if the article is correct, Costco didn't fulfill their safety obligations). But I'm sure if it happened to me while drunk, I would claim it didn't just fall on me, but it LEAPED at me! And I'm sure no one would believe me.

California Woman Sues Carnival Cruise Line After Slipping on Wet Deck While Walking to Pool on Carnival Celebration

According to the complaint, Shapiro was a fare-paying passenger on the Carnival Celebration when she walked onto an exterior deck near the pool and encountered an unreasonably wet and slippery surface. 

She's asking for a "whopping" $75,000 which is probably the most reasonable amount of money I've ever seen online of a California woman demanding. 

'My whole brain, mama': Woman gets $1M settlement after K-9 cop dog ripped off her scalp

Bates and two others were suspected of shoplifting approximately $10,000 in merchandise from a local Ulta Beauty store in February 2020. When the group allegedly fled the scene in a getaway vehicle, they collided with a Brentwood Police car and then fled again on foot.

If they had just obeyed the cops when they were first confronted...:they'd be $1M poorer....

Man awarded $50 million after Starbucks hot tea causes permanent disfigurement

A California delivery driver was awarded $50 million in damages after a jury agreed a Starbucks location was negligent in its handling of a scalding hot tea.

Michael Garcia sued the cafe chain after a tea spilled in his lap at a drive-thru and caused permanent disfigurement to his penis. His attorney Nick Rowley said in a press release that Garcia’s “life has been forever changed” by the accident.

I wonder if he had before/after photos confirming his disfigurement.  

Man sues 50 women for $2.6 million after they called him a bad date in viral Facebook group

A California man is suing more than 50 women for $2.6 million after they shared negative stories about him on a “Are We Dating The Same Guy” Facebook page, claiming their reviews were false and defamatory.

The women say Stewart Lucas Murrey is using the legal action to intimidate them, and they’re asking the courts to slap him down.

On Monday, a judge in Los Angeles civil court ruled that one of the women — Vanessa Valdez — did nothing wrong by sharing her opinion of Murrey with the popular online group.

I think we call this a self-fulfilling prophecy. So, to all women regardless of the outcome of this lawsuit....raise your hand if you would EVER date this guy now.

California man sued police after he was beaten and tased while suffering a seizure

Jack Bruce was driving to his Hercules, California home last April when he experienced his first seizure. The seizure was so unexpected and intense, it caused Bruce to crash his car. A good Samaritan called in the crash, reporting that Bruce seized while driving.

“I just remember going to visit my grandmother, and when I left that house, my memory cut off,” Bruce told NBC Bay Area.

When police arrived, despite being warned that he’d suffered a seizure, three officers began to pressure Bruce to get out of the car. One officer’s body camera showed him from the backseat, pushing a taser against Bruce’s slumped back.

“You’re going to get tased, dude, get out of the car!” yelled the officer. Within seconds, he deployed the taser, sending Bruce to the ground. Another officer tased him and began pulling his hair, arms, and legs to get him to comply.

As is typical with many horrendous police encounters - even when caught on camera - the cases are dismissed or the officers successfully claim immunity.  And so it was in this case, too.  The police reaction is absolutely egregious!

Compton man sues In-N-Out for alleged discrimination over hairstyle

A California man is suing In-N-Out Burger for more than $3 million over alleged workplace discrimination and wrongful termination based on his race and hairstyle.

On June 11, Elijah Obeng filed a civil complaint in the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles citing discrimination based on race (hairstyle or hair texture), race discrimination in violation of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, harassment based on race, wrongful termination, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Obeng is seeking $1 million in damages, $2 million in non-economic damages for emotional distress and $200,000 in back pay, according to the lawsuit.

Just cut the damn hair!  Ultimately, in the lawsuit he pulls out the "cultural identity" card to try to exempt himself from the company standards.  

Skeptics Win, Endangerment Finding Axed – Truth Finally Prevails in The Climate Wars

All I can say...it's about time!!

The Carbon Dioxide Endangerment Finding, first enacted in 2009, rested on claims that rising levels of CO2 posed a dire threat to public health and welfare. These claims, trumpeted by alarmist voices in the media and bureaucracy, relied heavily on computer models that have since proven to be chronically inaccurate, consistently forecasting more warming than actually observed. In the years since, we’ve witnessed a remarkable gap between dire projections and reality: global temperatures have not followed the “runaway” path predicted, and extreme weather events—despite breathless coverage—remain well within the range of historical variability.

Yet while the U.S. was tying itself in regulatory knots, China and other major emitters continued to expand their coal-fired power generation, wiping out any hypothetical benefit of America’s self-imposed restrictions. According to multiple independent sources, China has increased its annual CO2 emissions by over 70% since 2005 and now burns more coal than the rest of the world combined. The idea that the U.S. could “lead by example” and coax the rest of the world into similar sacrifices has been thoroughly debunked by the facts on the ground.