LA Citizens standup to the man!!!

It is refreshing and heartening to see citizens living in LA who have FINALLY had a enough to lead the charge against the city council wanting to make LA a Sanctuary city.

Prop 65 strikes again: California may declare coffee a “cancer risk”

A law that is supposed to ensure that people are safe, does nothing of the sort.  Evil and disgusting.  Companies are forced to spend money for no reason and for nothing.  What does this mean for the people?

CA touts itself as being the 9th largest economy in the world.  What happens when there's no one left to buy anything? You will find CA become the last place a company will want to do business there.  When will this happen?  Sooner than you think.

In 1986, California’s Proposition 65 (the Safe Drinking Water & Toxic Enforcement Act) was passed, placing restrictions on toxic discharges into drinking water and required that people be notified who were exposed to carcinogens and reproductive toxins.

While the idea sounded wonderful at the time, the implementation of the rules has created a plethora of warning labels that get ignored and an astonishing number of revenue-generating lawsuits targeting businesses selling products that contain trace amounts of substances unlikely to be harmful, given the dose and the typical use situation of the consumer.

Because coffee contains a trace amount of a chemical known as acrylamide (“known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm”), it may be subject to these warnings and the coffee sellers may be facing fines:

A judge in California will soon decide whether coffee should carry warnings stating that it contains chemicals known to the state to cause cancer.

A long-running lawsuit that claims Starbucks and about 90 other companies, including grocery stores and retail shops, failed to follow a state law requiring warning signs about hazardous chemicals found everywhere from household products to workplaces to the environment.

At the center of the dispute is acrylamide, a carcinogen found in cooked foods such as French fries that is also a natural byproduct of the coffee roasting process. The coffee industry has acknowledged the presence of the chemical but asserts it is at harmless levels and is outweighed by benefits from drinking coffee.

A verdict in favor of the little-known Council for Education and Research on Toxics could send a jolt through the industry with astronomical penalties possible and it could wake up a lot of consumers, though it’s unclear what effect it would have on coffee-drinking habits.

The effect?  ZERO!  ZERO!  ZERO! Millions of dollars spent on NOTHING.

California Considers $1,000 Fine for Waiters Offering Unsolicited Plastic Straws

So now EVERYONE is a criminal....except the real criminals.  And THIS is the CA you really want?  IS IT?

Calderon, the Democratic majority leader in California's lower house, has introduced a bill to stop sit-down restaurants from offering customers straws with their beverages unless they specifically request one. Under Calderon's law, a waiter who serves a drink with an unrequested straw in it would face up to 6 months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.

"We need to create awareness around the issue of one-time use plastic straws and its detrimental effects on our landfills, waterways, and oceans," Calderon explained in a press release.

This isn't just Calderon's crusade. The California cities of San Luis Obispo and Davis both passed straws-on-request laws last year, and Manhattan Beach maintains a prohibition on all disposable plastics. And up in Seattle, food service businesses won't be allowed to offer plastic straws or utensils as of July.

The Los Angeles Times has gotten behind the movement, endorsing straws-on-request policies in an editorial that also warned that "repetitive sucking may cause or exacerbate wrinkles on the lips or around the mouth." Celebrity astronomer Neil DeGrasse Tyson (always up for a little chiding) and Entourage star Adrian Grenier have appeared in videos where an octopus slaps them in the face for using a plastic straw.

What words are there to describe this?  Stupid?  Insane?  Pathetic? Extreme micromanaging?  How far can we go to describe this micro-control of behavior?

CA'ians, is this the sort of State you really want to live in?

GET OUT!  GET OUT!  GET OUT!

"Update: Reason spoke with Voleck Taing, a senior assistant to Assemblyman Calderon, who said they intend to amend the bill to remove the fines."

But, I guess the jail time will still apply...

Apple "Spaceship" new Headquarters....Apple about to peak??

So, I'll refer to a great short article concerning Buildings that were built as testaments to the companies that were at the pinnacle of their power. But then....

(FORTUNE Magazine) – Please listen carefully, Mr. Roark," newspaper mogul Gail Wynand instructs the architect hero of Ayn Rand's 1943 novel, The Fountainhead. "I wish to undertake the construction of the Wynand Building at once. I wish it to be the tallest structure of the city."

Wynand's skyward spirit still animates his fellow media barons. Last month, the massive Time Warner Center grabbed the commanding heights above New York City's Central Park. Directly to the east, Bloomberg L.P.'s telescoping tower is nearing completion. A few blocks to the south, Hearst is topping its 1920s headquarters with a steel-and-glass prism, while the New York Times breaks ground on a giant that will rival Rockefeller Center in height. At 3 and 4 Times Square, Reuters and Conde Nast theatrically announce their presence with a pair of deconstructivist skyscrapers.

Together these buildings announce the dawn of the Media Age--yet the very fact of their construction could indicate that the companies' bright noon has already passed. A quick architectural tour suggests that when trophy buildings go up, companies' fortunes go down. Across the street from the Time Warner Center is the 1969 Gulf & Western Building, which boldly declared the Age of the Conglomerate until its conversion to Trump International Hotel & Tower. Chicago has no Sears in its Sears Tower, no John Hancock in its Hancock Tower, no Ward's in its Montgomery Ward Tower. Many of Houston's landmark skyscrapers--Transco Tower, Republic Bank Center, Texas Commerce Tower--have been renamed for companies that still exist.

Real-life publisher Joseph Pulitzer knew none of that, of course, when his 1890 World Building placed him higher than the spire of New York's Trinity Church and, more important, above the Tribune Tower next door. If he was among the first to tap the power of tall buildings, it was the 1908 Singer Building--whose slender New York tower marked the high point of the sewing-machine company's fame--that was the first trophy skyscraper. "Wherever I went," Frank Woolworth said after a trip to Europe, "[people] asked about the Singer Building and its famous tower." Metropolitan Life Co. would briefly eclipse Singer's 612 feet with its 700-foot clock tower on Gotham's Madison Square. But with the push of a button in 1913, President Wilson illuminated a new Gothic spire whose 792 feet would remain unchallenged until Walter Chrysler entered the picture in 1930: Woolworth had built a tower of his own.

Ego wasn't the only force summoning these structures from the ground. New construction techniques, soaring land prices, and competition for light and air all conspired to push them higher. But the corporate trophy building was above all an identity statement. "This is who we are," it said. "This is why we're powerful." The black-and-gold crown of American Radiator Co.'s New York headquarters glowed like a radiator coil at night. The decoration on American Piano Co.'s 57th Street headquarters was the medal it had won at an 1867 Paris competition--taunting rival Steinway down the block.

The Singer Building didn't survive. Demolished in 1968 to make way for the boxy U.S. Steel Building (now the former U.S. Steel Building), it was also, fortunately, an exception. Under the turbulent gales of capitalism, the glass, steel, and stone of America's pyramids have proved far more durable than the corporate Pharaohs who built them. Intended as symbols of bedrock permanence and power, they survive instead as giant tombstones--many of them beautiful.

And now...the new gleaming powerful  Apple Headquarters:

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When I see this... it makes me sad.  I wonder...when will the For Sale signs or For Lease signs start to pop up? 2024?  2026?  2028?

I can already see Apple employees reading this, saying to themselves "What an idiot. How could he write something like this?  Apple will never go away.  They will always reinvent themselves.:

Reinvent themselves?  I never doubted that.  But....will they reinvent themselves...smaller?

REPORT: Democrats Worry As Wealthy People Flee California Over High Taxes

The gutting of CA continues. I would say we are about to reach or have reached the peak.

The Sacramento Bee reports:

Wealthy exodus to escape new tax rules worries California Democrats

The Republican-backed federal tax bill flipped the tables on a never-ending question for California politicians: Will high taxes lead the state’s wealthiest residents to flee the Golden State for the comparable tax havens of Florida, Nevada and Texas?

Republicans reliably raise that alarm when Democrats advocate for tax increases, like the 2012 and 2016 ballot initiatives that levied a new income tax on very high-earning residents. But now, with the federal tax bill cutting off deductions that benefited well-off Californians, the state’s Democrats suddenly are singing the GOP song about a potential millionaire exodus.

“People with higher incomes pay a lot more money, and some of them may be tempted to leave,” Gov. Jerry Brown said when he unveiled his 2018-19 budget proposal last week. “This was an assault by the Republicans in Congress against California.”…

Democratic state lawmakers are worried because California relies so heavily on the income taxes it collects from high earners to fund government services. The state’s wealthiest 1 percent, for instance, pay 48 percent of its income tax, and the departure of just a few families could lead to a noticeable hit to state general fund revenue.

Christian convert from Iran converting Muslims in Sweden

I for one celebrate whenever someone converts to Christianity.  And in the end, we as Christians no who wins. What we can do is pray for revival and spiritual renewal in Europe to counteract what the Elites are doing to these countries.

Parsan, a convert from Islam to Christianity and mother of two, has emerged as one of the most prominent religious figures in Europe, both because of her unlikely geographic and spiritual pilgrimage and her decision to reach out to Muslims with the gospel -- at great personal risk.

“My life is completely different since coming to Jesus,” said the 47-year-old Parsan, whose memoir, “Stranger No More: A Muslim Refugee Story of Harrowing Escape, Miraculous Rescue and the Quiet Call of Jesus,” was published late last year.

A "meet with Jesus moment" is life altering.

New Polish PM sees return to Christian roots as only way to stop Europe’s decline

It is truly amazing that it has come to this in Europe.

During the interview, Morawiecki contrasted Polish culture and traditions with the EU’s values, which require “serious work.” He called Poland “a very proud, important and great nation, which will be even greater” thanks to pro-family and pro-demographic programs, introduced by the ruling Law and Justice party.

Referring to the EU threat to withhold funds because of Poland’s refusal to bow to immigrant quotas, Morawiecki asserted that the country “will not allow this sort of a blackmail.”

Morawiecki reflected, “May God give me enough strength to serve Poland well.” He spoke about the need for prayers and work for all Poles, not only those who voted for the Law and Justice Party.

Morawiecki is a former banker, manager, and lawyer who is fluent in English and German and understands Russian. He has four children. Morawiecki joined the Law and Justice Party in 2016.