California Gov. Gavin Newsom thrilled many this weekend by saying that his administration will model a new law on Texas’ abortion ban that would let private citizens sue anyone who makes or sells assault weapons or ghost guns. It won’t work. Legally, that is. It will be hugely successful politically, but not without costs to the state and potential litigants.
Gov. Newsom denounced the Supreme Court in Women’s Health v. Jackson for refusing to enjoin the Texas law that allows people to sue anyone who “aids or abets” an abortion performed after about six weeks. That led to widespread calls for the passage of legislation to “codify Roe,” including from the White House.
Newsom, however, wants to replicate the law to limit Second Amendment rights the way that conservatives used it to limit reproductive rights.
“I am outraged by yesterday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing Texas’s ban on most abortion services to remain in place. But if states can now shield their laws from review by the federal courts that compare assault weapons to Swiss Army knives, then California will use that authority to protect people’s lives, where Texas used it to put women in harm’s way.”
Newsom said that his staff will be working with the Legislature and California Attorney General Rob Bonta to craft the bill to let citizens sue anyone who “manufactures, distributes, or sells an assault weapon or ghost gun kit or parts” in California. They could seek damages of at least $10,000 per violation plus costs and attorney’s fees.
Good luck with that.
The problem is multifold. First, the Texas law was quickly found to be unconstitutional by the district court, as would the California law. Indeed, many of us declared the law as facially unconstitutional under existing precedent on the day that it was enacted. That means that, while there are litigation costs, those costs would decrease quickly as other courts declare challenges to be unconstitutional.
Second, the Supreme Court just allowed pre-enforcement challenges so the California law could be challenged to avoid any “chilling effect” on gun rights. Eight out of nine justices agreed that such early challenges are permissible against those with enforcement responsibilities in the abortion area. As a state that has led efforts to limit gun rights, there are a host of such officials with similar licensing powers in California.
Third, and most importantly, Newsom limited the law to gun manufacturers, distributors, and sellers” to the exclusion of a wider array of purchasers or “aiders and abetters.” The Texas law was so menacing because it exposed such a wide array of people to potential lawsuit. It would not be quite as popular to go after gun owners or gun rights groups. Yet, Newsom is targeting businesses which are going to be less intimidated by such litigation costs in a law that would be clearly unconstitutional.
That is why, if the law is crafted as Newsom suggests, this won’t work legally. Nevertheless, there will be much cooing on cable programs at the cleverness of Newsom and the comeuppance for conservatives. Newsom will seize the moment in terms of popularity while leaving the costs to others to bear in the later failed litigation.
Newsom did not help things by declaring “If the most efficient way to keep these devastating weapons off our streets is to add the threat of private lawsuits, we should do just that.” That is openly acknowledging that this law is meant to achieve indirectly what the state has failed to do directly: reduce gun ownership. That is precisely why the Supreme Court just green-lighted pre-enforcement challenges to the Texas law and now, with the help of Newsom, the California law would collapse quickly on the same grounds.
In the recent decision, Chief Justice John Roberts noted that
“The clear purpose and actual effect of S. B. 8 has been to nullify this Court’s rulings. … Indeed, “[i]f the legislatures of the several states may, at will, annul the judgments of the courts of the United States, and destroy the rights acquired under those judgments, the constitution itself becomes a solemn mockery.” United States v. Peters, 5 Cranch 115, 136 (1809). The nature of the federal right infringed does not matter; it is the role of the Supreme Court in our constitutional system that is at stake.”
With his bravado, Newsom has guaranteed that courts will strike down his law as an open “mockery” of gun rights precedent and he will actually box in liberal judges and jurists in voting against the California law on the same grounds.
Indeed, the California law would put the Biden Administration into a bind. It just intervened first as an amicus party and then an actual party in the Texas litigation. (As expected, the Court tossed out the Biden Administration’s lawsuit as “improvidently granted”). The Administration insisted that such a law is an abomination given that the rights of abortion are established and this is an effort to nullify those rights through exposure to lawsuits. Here Newsom himself said that that is precisely what they want to do.
So, will the Biden administration refuse to oppose the law in defense of established gun rights as it did reproductive rights? If so, it would support criticism of the Justice Department of advancing political agendas and make Attorney General Merrick Garland look like a feckless functionary. With the mid-term elections looming and falling polling numbers across the country, that is probably not a choice the Biden Administration would like to make to defend a legislatively-supported soundbite.
Once the early courts strike down the California law, some citizens could face sanctions for frivolous lawsuits seeking litigation costs (unless such motions are blocked under the law). Moreover, there will be a great expense of drafting and defending a law designed to support a soundbite. Many judges will be even less enamored with being asked to participate in what is largely political performance art.
That is why the new California law is certain to play better on cable than in the courts.
For the record I am not for totally doing away with Roe v Wade. Back in the 1960’s some catholic nuns were raped in the Congo. The church allowed them to get abortions. Life is not black or white. It’s different shades of gray.
It’s more free than China, North Korea, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Russia.
Did the people of California even ask for such a law?
The Sheople of California are imported, parasitic, llegal alien, foreign invader hyphenates who strictly follow orders from the communist party in order to obtain infinite amounts of “free stuff.”
Wow you need to take better drugs.
The people of California aren’t getting by on “free stuff.” The state is too expensive to get by on “free stuff.”
The people of Californua are smart, innovative, creative, hard working.
Who lives on my street?
Kanye West, Pink, Simon Cowell. Rob Reiner. A Google founder, the owners of the Detroit Pistons, Flea, Jonah Hill, Jim Carrey, Adam Sandler. Pam Anderson, the CEO of Google Life Sciences and a couple dozen anonymous gazlionaires.
Communist? You think communism created a $3.3 trillion GDP?
Sounds like pure-dee capitalism to me.
Better drugs. Even if you’ve gotta steal them.
Start here:
“But it is worse in California. Nearly 40 percent of Californians don’t pay any state income taxes and millions more pay next to nothing. Indeed, the majority of folks earning under $50,000 per year pay no state income taxes.”
– https://taxfoundation.org/tyranny-californias-nonpayers/
_____________________________________________
40% Don’t Pay Tax!
REPRESENTATION WITHOUT TAXATION…
for the foreign invader, illegal alien, hyphenated, dependent parasites who just got off the boat.
Unconstitutional affirmative action matriculation and employment, quotas, forced busing, “Non-Discrimination” laws, “Unfair Housing” laws, WIC, SNAP, TANF, HAMP, HARP, HUD, HHS, public housing, welfare credit cards, “Covered California,” etc., etc., ad infinitum, ad nauseam.
Actual Californians and Americans are compelled to pay for the translations from English in every publication…
AND THEY ALL GET TO VOTE!!!
Continue here:
Nationwide, Tax Foundation economists estimate that 43 million Americans filed a tax return last year and owed zero federal income taxes after they took advantage of the credits and deductions available to them. This means that one of every three Americans who filed a tax return got back every dollar that was withheld from their paycheck throughout the year. Indeed, many got an additional bonus check through programs such as the Earned Income Tax Credit – a welfare program administered through the IRS.
Washington collected $927 billion in income taxes last year, 86 percent of which (or $825 billion) were collected from the top 20 percent of taxpayers, or those earning more than roughly $72,000 per year. The other way of stating this is that the bottom 80 percent of Americans contributed just $0.14 cents out of every dollar of income taxes collected by Uncle Sam.
– https://taxfoundation.org/tyranny-californias-nonpayers/
People who have more money than they need pay more taxes.
People who have barely enough to get by pay less taxes.
You want the poor and middle class to pay the majority of taxes?
That wouldn’t work.
Tax the rich. Why not?
Funny that Rob Reiner proposed this, as he is very rich.
I think the Tax the Rich proceeds are why California came through Covid with a $38 billion surplus.
Tax people who have lots of money, and don’t tax people who don’t have lots of money.
Simple simon. You gotta problem?
Unfortunately, your math doesn’t work that well. Your policies are causing the middle class to disappear, the entitlement class to get larger, and the rich richer.
Simple Simon, first, you have to learn math and not use contrived anecdotes to solve problems.
Taxes are not causing the middle class to disappear and the middle class isn’t disappearing anyway.
You’re just a whiny chicken little, squawking interminably about nonsense to vent your personal dissatisfaction.
Cheer up. Go to Target or Applebee’s or something.
There a new APP you should try. It’s called AWSHADDAP!
Whiners never prosper.
And if the entitlement class and rich are getting richer = tax them. I’m surrounded by them.
And isn’t it nice we are no longer pissing away a quarter billion dollars a day in Afghanistan?
Why is that, then?
Ben, I didn’t say taxes are causing the middle class to disappear. Spend more time thinking and less time acting like a jerk. I said, “Your policies are causing the middle class to disappear, the entitlement class to get larger, and the rich richer.”
Your policies are the cause, and taxes are just one part though one has to look at how they define taxes.
I don’t include inflation as a tax, but it takes a toll on the middle class. The last time I looked, inflation was at 6.8%. Subtract 6.8% off of everyone’s spending money. Sound like a tax? In a way, its results are far more devastating to lower-income folk and even those that pay no taxes, for they lose 6.8% of their spending ability.
Do you think inflation is going down or up? Do you remember Jimmy Carter? Of course, you do, and you recently told us you trust him. The inflation rates under Carter went above 13%. That doomed all those with fixed-rate incomes. Seniors who didn’t have a lot of money suddenly went from middle class to poor.
Why are gas prices rising so fast? We were energy independent, and now we are dependent on other nations as Biden begs other countries to lower the cost of gas. Biden is dumping strategic reserves to reduce the rising gas price by a few pennies. Do you know why they are called strategic reserves? They are not to knock pennies off of a gallon of gas.
You realize that gas is used for heating and fuel, right? Guess what. Non-affluent sectors of the country get cold in the winter with freezing temperatures. They are poor or middle class. Guess what their heating bills will become? I’ll bet more sweaters and blankets are going to be purchased this year.
How about workers that are engaged in manual labor? Your policies think those people are worth cr-p. Generally, as the available labor market shrinks, their wages go up, but not if an illegal can compete with them. I like how you tell those good Americans to suck it up.
How about the American family that is producing for America’s future? You tell them to go to h-ll all the time as their kids compete with illegals in the classroom that is too large and too rowdy. You take from them to give to non-Americans. How about hospitals and other public services and entitlements that shrink because of illegals using the system while sending money out of the country.
You are a jerk. I am providing only a tiny bit of what we face because jerks like you have no understanding of economics.
Inflation is caused by the Trump administration.printing trillions of dollars to buy Lysol and Chloraquine for one and all
High has prices are supply and demand.
Demand increasing because of Covid restrictions lifting and the country moving again.
Supply messed up by transportation constipation around the world.
Americans consume and waste shocking amounts of a non-renewable, politically and environmentally toxic resource.
That era is beginning to end and the high prices are the shape of things to come.
Americans have to ween themselves from the juice- sooner than later.
Where I live you get a glimpse of tge future because people are wealthy and progressive.
The future is electric and the sooner the better.
I ride an EBike everywhere.
“Inflation is caused by the Trump administration.”
Are you that Stupid? It has been caused by every administration where the budgets weren’t balanced. That is a bad mark for Trump, who wisely spent a lot of money but spent too much. Obama and Biden spent without any emphasis on the economic effects. Whereas Trump said he regretted the expenditures but had no choice, Obama and Biden spent for the sake of spending. We can blame other Presidents as well.
“High has prices are supply and demand.”
Yes. You can parrot phrases but not in a productive way. Since you bring up supply and demand, what did Obama’s cash for clunkers do for the middle class that needed a car but didn’t have enough money to buy a new one? Obama created a shortage of inexpensive used cars. Once again, Obama screwed the middle class. Rich people don’t buy old cars unless they are antiques.
“Demand increasing because of Covid restrictions lifting and the country moving again.”
That is pent-up demand and lack of supply primarily due to Democrat governors that closed middle-class businesses promoting large businesses such as Amazon. Jeff Bezos increased his wealth by $75Billion while middle-class companies crashed all over the country.
“Supply messed up by transportation constipation around the world.”
No. Your type of policies and the policies of Democrat governors, along with some Republican ones, unnecessarily messed up supply. We have cargo ships that have moved from California port areas further into the ocean to make things look better.
“Americans consume and waste shocking amounts of a non-renewable, politically and environmentally toxic resource.
Yes. That happens while your friends try to control the needs of the poor and middle class. They fly to conferences on their private jets and yachts using more oil than many Americans use in a year. You are about as ignorant as they come.
“Americans have to ween themselves from the juice- sooner than later. ”
Again, you wish the government to take from the middle-class while promoting wealth in the already tremendously wealthy class.
“Where I live you get a glimpse of tge future because people are wealthy and progressive. ”
Where you live probably has the highest gap between the wealthy and the two lower classes. You provide your nonsense, not just because you are dumb but because you are also a jerk.
“Where I live you get a glimpse of tge future because people are wealthy and progressive.”
The future constantly changes things. Destructive innovation gets rid of the old and brings in the new. However, when the government starts spending to effectuate change, we see what happens in examples such as Solyndra. Bankruptcy.
You blame legal immigrants for all of this? Y
You’re scapegoating them the way Hitler scapegoated the Jews.
Proud of yourself?
Don’t be.
The world is overpopulated by a factor of 8 and its groaning under the weight.
China and America are almost exactly the same size – 3.7 million square miles – but China has 1.1 billion more people.
Imagine America with 1.1 billion more people.
No bueno.
The American middle class is a giant PacMan gobbling resources at an alarming pace.
Maybe the middle class needs to disappear.
Too many people. Way too many.
“You blame legal immigrants for all of this? ”
Along with being anti-gay (based on your rhetoric Golden Gaye Bridge) and anti-semitic, you now prove yourself to be a liar. I talked about illegal immigrants, not legal ones, and I spoke about many other things.
You were more than enough of a jerk before you decided to start lying.
“You’re scapegoating them the way Hitler scapegoated the Jews. ”
It seems you will stop at nothing, and now you wish to add garbage to your list of attributes. Illegal immigration is horrible for American citizens that are not well off. You don’t give a dam- about hard-working American families. You are a jerk who probably hates himself.
“The world is overpopulated by a factor of 8 and its groaning under the weight. ”
That is a debatable point that you cannot debate because you are a know-nothing and a liar.
“The American middle class is a giant PacMan gobbling resources at an alarming pace.”
If the American middle-class is gobbling, then the lowest classes are gobbling as well without producing much. That leaves us with the rich, who require the middle-class to keep them prosperous. I am not advocating communism rather capitalism that doesn’t have socialist politicians that feed the rich and starve the poor using the people’s money.
“Maybe the middle class needs to disappear.”
Doesn’t this confirm that Ben Marcus is an idiot?
You reference “art” approved by the local political officer and the communist party as effective propaganda.
Have you ever noticed that 12% of the population is presented in 100% of the scenes on TV?
The Soviet Union’s Communist Bolshoi Ballet was wealthy also.
Nina Ananiashvili – $30,000 per performance. …
Sylvie Guillem – $850,000 + per year. …
Benjamin Millepied – $900,000 net worth. …
Rudolf Nureyev – $7.9 Million* …
Mikhail Baryshnikov – $45 Million.
“The Red Poppy”
The Red Poppy was a staple of Soviet ballet, performed all over the USSR. But when the Soviets’ Chinese allies saw the production, they were not best pleased.
One day in 1926, Mikhail Kurilko, chief designer for the Bolshoi Theatre, noticed two interesting items in the 9 January edition of Pravda, the official paper of the still-young Soviet Union. One reported that a Soviet steamer called Ilyich – Lenin’s middle name – had been detained in England. Authorities searched the ship for communist literature, but found nothing and sent it on its way. The other reported a “new phase in the struggle in China”. The Soviets were supporting Chinese nationalists in their fight against Japanese-backed warlords, with the ultimate goal of bringing about revolution in the country. In Lenin’s view, successfully converting other countries into socialist allies was crucial to the Soviet Union’s survival.
At the time, the Bolshoi was still adjusting – painfully – to its new role as a tool of the state. Developing new, revolution-friendly repertoire for its in-house ballet company, the Bolshoi Ballet, was a priority. These two stories from Pravda inspired Kurilko to pitch what would become the first Soviet-themed and Soviet-endorsed ballet, The Red Poppy, which premiered at the Bolshoi 90 years ago this month. Its plot featured an opium-fueled dream sequence, a critique of Western decadence represented by people dancing the Charleston, an evil English dock master named Sir Hips, and star soloist Ekaterina Geltser in yellowface. A huge hit, it set the template for the Soviet ballets that followed it: concerned with revolutionary themes, and emphasising collective athletic movement. A few decades later, it would also trigger an embarrassing diplomatic moment between the Soviet Union and Mao’s China, exposing the fault lines of socialist brotherhood.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Communist and Capitalist billionaires are not the concern of most Americans; freedom and free enterprise are.
The American thesis is Freedom and Self-Reliance, not Communist Central Planning, Control of the Means of Production, Redistribution of Wealth and Social Engineering.
The entire communistic American welfare state is unconstitutional including, but not limited to, matriculation affirmative action, grade-inflation affirmative action, employment affirmative action, quotas, welfare, food stamps, minimum wage, rent control, social services, forced busing, public housing, utility subsidies, WIC, SNAP, TANF, HAMP, HARP, TARP, HHS, HUD, Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Labor, Energy, Obamacare, Social Security, Social Security Disability, Social Security Supplemental Income, Medicare, Medicaid, “Fair Housing” laws, “Non-Discrimination” laws, etc.
Article 1, Section 8, provides Congress the power to tax ONLY for “…general Welfare…,” omitting and, thereby, excluding any power to tax for individual welfare, specific welfare, redistribution of wealth or charity. The same article provides Congress the power to regulate ONLY money, the “flow” of commerce, and land and naval Forces. Additionally, the 5th Amendment right to private property is not qualified by the Constitution and is, therefore, absolute, allowing Congress no power to claim or exercise dominion over private property, the sole exception being the power to “take” private property for public use.
Government exists, under the Constitution and Bill of Rights, to provide maximal freedom to individuals while it is severely limited and restricted to merely facilitating that maximal freedom of individuals through the provision of security and infrastructure.
Are you a tax whiner? Is that what this is all about?
You’re free to live in the Northern Territory of Canada and rough it out on your own with no services or infrastructure paid for with taxes, and that includes roads, medical care, education, agriculture, transportation, commerce and hundreds of other things.
You don’t want to contribute, you don’t have to but you also don’t get to benefit, and you benefit from being part of a semi-socialist system every day.
I would suggest taking advantage of the local mental health care clinics. Definitely.
40% don’t pay tax and yet California is still, by far, the most prosperous state in the union.
We came through Covid with a $38 billlion surplus.
You can’t skate by on freebies in California – it doesn’t work, unless you are living under a bridge.
I wish there was some legal or moral way to put more criminals in prison and sweep the streets of homeless.
The English of the 1700s had the Transportation laws and they worked, but that wouldn’t work now.
The prisons are already full.
California is overwhelmed by population.
Simple as that.
Add together Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico and that’s still less people than California.
Too many people. Simple as that.
The politicians do the best they can with a difficult situation, but even with all the problems, California is still the most influential, most progressive, most innovative, most productive and most prosperous state in the union.
If the rest of the country had all of these qualities, there would be a lot less sideline whining from the likes of you, and small-minded people whingeing about shitty streets and homelessness.
We deal with it, and we’re still Numero Uno.
Which is why 1/9th of the population lives her – opportunity. Weather. Chicks. Good weed!
Swimming fools and movie stars.
40% of illegal immigrant, foreign invader hyphenates in California are “skating by on freebies.”
And they VOTE on ballots published in foreign languages all paid for by taxpayers.
All of this is antithetical, anti-American and unconstitutional.
Ben Marcus is an avowed communist.
Ben Marcus is a direct and mortal enemy of the U.S. Constitution.
Ben Marcus is a direct and mortal enemy of America.
_________________________________________
Ben Marcus, a Jew, must know the Bible:
Joshua 6
Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.
2 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”
20 When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city. 21 They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.
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I believe in the Righteousness of the Lord.
The Constitution does not forbid white people from uttering racial slurs, but it’s practically a crime to do so, anyway. Try it and see. There’s something that a First Amendment auditor can test.
A few dead people here and there is the price we pay to live in a free country.
I am disappointed that this site has had nothing to say about the railroading of Julian Assange. I bring this up because of the horrifying news that Assange suffered a heart attack in Belmarsh prison a couple of days ago. They’re doing their best to kill the man.
If Assange has important information, why hasn’t he spoken or published it? Why hasn’t he spoken or published who gave him DNC information. Was or was not the source of the DNC e-mails Seth Rich?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
…
On December 9, 2016, the CIA told U.S. legislators that the U.S. Intelligence Community concluded Russia conducted operations during the 2016 U.S. election to prevent Hillary Clinton[11] from winning the presidency.[12] Multiple U.S intelligence agencies concluded people with direct ties to the Kremlin gave WikiLeaks hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee.[12] WikiLeaks did not reveal its source. Later Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, claimed that the source of the emails was not Russia.[13]
…
– Wikipedia
There is no need to “make Attorney General Merrick Garland look like a feckless functionary” he’s done that, himself, already.
In Spades!
Newsom just undermined one of the arguments against the TX law. Apparently, there is no objection to using citizens to report on others.
If the TX legislature wants to allow abortion during the first trimester, then 6 weeks is too restrictive. Most women don’t find out they’re pregnant until at least 6 weeks, often later. A pregnancy test won’t flag positive until she’s actually late. If she takes it too soon, she’ll get a false negative. Some women aren’t regular, and others don’t keep track. If they actually want to allow early abortions, then they need to push the gestational limit just a bit. Whatever they decide should reflect the will of their voters.
I’ve long thought that abortion should be a state’s issue. Let each state decide. That way, the laws will be more easy to change if voters don’t like it.
I also think that abortion is inexpressibly sad, especially when it’s done for the most common reason, convenience. That’s not a ball of cells. It’s a human being.
If bellies were transparent, there would be fewer abortions.
“Karen:”–Without taking any sides on abortion, I would like to thank you for your very last sentence. It is a good, visceral reminder for all of us when considering all the competing interests and factors at stake.
Thanks, Lin. Abortion is such an emotional issue. I don’t know what the most fair law would look like, but I find abortion itself sad.
I can’t wait until a gay gene is discovered so women can abort LGBT fetuses.
I think a genetic component to homosexuality has been discovered though I don’t think it is a single gene.
Karen, agreed. There are a lot of legal issues that should be kept at the state level. An almighty federal government really scares me.
Me, too, Bob. We’re in good company. An almighty, tyrannical government scared the Founding Fathers, too.
You call it “performance art”, but the Supreme Court needs to understand the broader context of any precedent allowing SB8-styled legislation. They’ve already blown it this past week by falling one vote short of the Roberts declaration that evasions of federal review in State law intending to retract a Constitutional right or freedom (by precedent) are unconstitutional.
The Court needs to see in advance how “gaming” the Federal Courts out of their role would boomerang back in other areas, further driving wedges between the States, and destabilizing order.
I DO think it is “performance art,” but I also think your opinion is valuable, and thought-provoking. Thank you.
This assumes there is a legitimate role for the federal courts in this matter based on previous well reasoned decisions of the Court consistent with the Constitution and laws. Roe is anything but that. Legal scholars on boths sides have been pointing this out since Roe was decided. Is anybody else as sick as I am with Robert’s fixation on protecting the institution of the Supreme Court by assigning it – whatever “it” is – priority over every other consideration, including deciding cases based on the Constitution and laws without regard to whether powerful politicians, or interest groups feel served by these decisions or not? The Institution of the Supreme Court is not the sacred fiefdom of people like Roberts. It’s legitimacy to the extent is has or will retain it rests solely in its fidelity to the principle of following the Constitution and laws without regard to fear or favor. The Roberts approach as long as it continues and prevails will in the long run undermine the legitimacy of the Court.
There are some here who say that the people leaving California should go because it will lower the population and there will be more for those who remain. Somehow they can’t put it together that those who leave will no longer be paying taxes in California and those who remain will no longer be paying taxes because they no longer have wages from which taxes will be extracted. Then how will California pay for the future high speed rails to nowhere.
Tax payers and job creators keep leaving CA, while those who need benefits are moving to CA.
The CA economy relies upon Silicon Valley, and the movie industry. Already, major corporations are relocating their headquarters in states with lower taxes. Many movies are now shot outside of CA. Stores are closing due to rampant looting, and safety concerns for employees. Crime in CA is out of control.
What do we get for our astronomical taxes? Failing schools, potholed roads, gridlock, an unstable power grid that gets shut down when the wind blows, which coincidentally keeps including major holidays, massive theft, increasing crime, defunded police, and exorbitant taxes. “Yeah, but the weather” only goes so far.
Democrats have been laughing when people leave. There will come a tipping point, and they won’t be laughing any longer as CA’s economy collapses.
California has been prosperous from the ground up since January 24, 1848 and it will always be prosperous. Cannabis alone is worth what, $20,000,0000,000?
Would be great if the mass exodus whittled California down to 5,000,000 or so and then we’d be like Norway:
Filthy stinking resource-rich, low population, subsidized education, susdidized medical care, all-electric cars, renewable grid.
no more power outages from overpopulaiton. No more water shortages from overpopulation.
Lower demand on housing so lower cost of living.,
LEss demands on the infrastructure and roads, less taxes.
Small is beautiful. Jerry Brown is right,
California has more poor people than Alabama and Mississippi combined. It’s a state of the super rich and the super poor. The middle is evaporating.
The combined population of Alabama and Mississippi is 2/3 the population of Los Angeles County.
And California has become a dumping ground/penal colony for the country’s homeless.
And the middle class makes up the majority of Californians.
Stop talking nonsense.
If California had only 6 million people we would all live like kings.
Like Malibu!!!
It’s not a dumping ground. California attracts them.
Both.
The weather is good.
There is opportunity.
Some people thrive.
Some dive..
The cost of living is so high in California, you’d have to be a king to live ther.
You get what you pay for.
Where I live is one of the most desirable places in the workd.
You should see the weather today.
Perfect.
Which is why Kanye just bought a 3600 square foot house for $57 million just down the street.
The very rich and the very poor.
No where I live is rich but the majority of Californians are middle class.
The share of California’s income of the middle class is one of the lowest in the nation.
By who’s standards?
California, the home of smash and grab and your streets smell like $hyte.
Small minds see only small things.
Larger minds see a much bigger picture
Like average middle class people having safe streets is a small thing. Unlike the super rich having gated communities, with private security. Let’s keep defunding the police.
No one is defunding the police.
That’s a bunch of left-wing prole nonsense
And where I live the rich do not live in gated communities. Well maybe the Malibu Colony.
And yes you do need to get out and get around more.
Ben says, “No one is defunding the police.”
Well, Democrat politicians in Blue cities drastically slashed police budgets, with the idea that social workers could replace them on many calls. They told police to stand down during Leftist civil unrest. They got rid of cash bail, and refused to prosecute many crimes.
Crime, including theft and murder, skyrocketed.
That’s a policy failure, Ben. But as long as voters like you refuse to admit you were wrong, there won’t be any changes. That means more people will get killed, Ben. And stores will get robbed so many times that they’ll close for good or relocate to safer states.
Where the rich live, they fund their police. Yet so often, they vote for politicians that defund police in high crime neighborhoods, leading to criminals terrorizing black neighborhoods and driving black businesses to closure.
Why do they do that, do you think? Why do you think rich Democrats vote to make minority neighborhoods less safe, but demand better safety for themselves? Why do you think they vote for open borders politicians who flood middle class and poor schools which lack financial resources with so many ESL learners that the quality of class instruction plummets, while they send their own kids to super expensive private schools without ESL? They shrug off news reports of skyrocketing crime in poor neighborhoods, but as soon as their own homes get hit, or their Beemer, classic Shelby Cobra 427 Side-Oiler, or their Bugatti Veyron gets boosted, they panic and move to Austin or North Carolina.
One way for thee, another for me. Are you like that, Ben?
Ben, I know you love Malibu. How, with PCH traffic, I have no idea.
But remember this. Wildfires are like General Sherman’s march to the sea. Malibu has been hit by fire again and again. Woolsey, Flores, every couple of years, it seems, Malibu burns. It’s a miracle Neptune’s Net and Geoffrey’s survived. The cocktail aficionados are thrilled to still have Mon-Li. I know people with horses in Malibu. Getting out during a fire with panicked horses in a trailer and smoke so thick one can’t see really sucks. There are only so many escape routes through the mountains, and you know how PCH can stall. That paradise they loved so much turns to hell right quick.
Malibu isn’t the paradise you think it is. You know Venice Beach has been ruined for years. Honestly, with all the homeless allowed to camp out in dry riverbeds that wash down to the ocean during our short rainy season, I’m surprised anyone would walk barefoot on the beach anywhere near where the rivers drain.
Surely you are aware that Malibu has a high crime rate, although the north side is a lot safer. Your chance of becoming a crime victim in Malibu is 1 in 26. It’s only safer than 8% of US cities. Granted, the crimes usually do not involve drive by shootings, but still, it’s not the Nirvana you keep describing.
https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ca/malibu/crime
https://www.malibutimes.com/news/article_199c65da-c86e-11ea-aac8-23ca8b0ea1fa.html
The laid back city of bougainvillea is still beautiful, if a bit scorched from time to time, but CA’s policy failures are coming to Malibu. I did notice that Malibu rejected calls to defund police. But the city of Malibu’s entire budget is strained due to all the business closures. I wonder how many people in Malibu who oppose defunding their own police, contributed to BLM, which works to defund police.
Ben, are you fully vaxxed and boosted? still masking? any idea what the end game is?
Boosters and Masks 4 Eva, Baby!
Yeah somebody said “They’re giving away free vacations up at Pepperdine!”
So I drive all the way up there but it was free vaccinations.
So I got one.
Oh well. Before Trump.left office he said “Men with perfect hair are immune to Covid” so I don’t sweat it.
The Silver Lining in Covid is it swept Trump from office.
Does your large mind see the intentional obfuscation of reality going on right now? Or nah?
That’s rhetorical Q. We all know the A.
Yeah it’s all a big conspiracy theory. Covid is man made and the vaccine is going to sterilize everyone dumb enough to take it and what else?
So that’s a negatory.
Those large Red Pills are waiting for you, daddy-o.
Did you know Chemtrails are a government conspiracy by the Deep State designed to make Americans so gullible and dumb they actually believe Chemtrails are a government conspiracy and that there is a Deep State?
“Did you know Chemtrails are a government conspiracy by the Deep State designed to make Americans so gullible and dumb they actually believe Chemtrails are a government conspiracy and that there is a Deep State?”
I do know.
Censorship abounds right now.
Did you know the full court press to a Totalitarian Drug State is absolutely underway right now? Did you know that coercion is illegal? Coercing an employee into taking a drug currently under EUA, against their will, is illegal and unconstitutional.
Do not comply! Stay in the fight for your rights! Preserving your rights is the battle right now. Wake up!
Ben, I thought Kanye was staying in Calabasas?
You people would be like Nantucket, where billionaires have pushed millionaires off the island. They have a hard time getting electricians, plumbers and others to go there and work. Gee, I thought only dirty old republicans lived like this and democrats were more like common folk. Wow I should get out more and see the world the way it really is.
Ben.
CA has a higher percentage of poor than Mississippi. It’s not just that it has more poor people, but that it has the highest percentage of its population living in poverty than any other state.
That’s bad, Ben.
You’re fixated on the magic number of 6 million as a solution to CA’s problems. You keep saying we’d live like Norway or Malibu (hopefully not during fire season.)
Well, the responsible, taxpaying people, who behave like Norwegians, are leaving CA.
If those 6 million people were comprised of the homeless, drug addicts, criminals, high school drop outs…having no one who showed up to work on time or stayed out of trouble, would we be living like Norway or Malibu, Ben?
A magic number is not going to fix California’s problems. CA politicians are like drug addicts who refuse to admit their behavior is the problem. They’re never going to change as long as they won’t admit they’re doing anything wrong.
No, Karen, CA does not have a higher percentage of poor than Mississippi, nor is it anywhere near as high. CA is not the state with the highest percentage. It’s not even in the top 1/3.
Where are you getting your numbers from?
Look at the Census data: census.gov/library/publications/2021/demo/p60-273.html and click on the table labelled Percentage of People in Poverty by State.
You’re making a wildly mistaken argument based on false beliefs.
And in the next census they loose a congressional seat.
Ben, don’t be silly, they are thinning out the population right now. It’s called Covid vaccine.
Yeah right.
The Covid vaccine is a government plot, like PizzaGate and ChemTrails.
It’s killing people by the millions.
Especially gullible no-brain proles who cling to Conspiracy Theories.
If you believe that, I’d like to sell you the Golden Gaye Bridge.
“The Covid vaccine is a government plot, like PizzaGate and ChemTrails.”
According to the left, it was a plot when Trump led the search for the vaccine. We have to remember our present-day leaders that said they would not trust the vaccine. How quickly Ben’s mind can spin around. That is because it is an empty vessel.
“It’s killing people by the millions.”
That is what your present-day buddies were suggesting until suddenly Biden took office. When the politics change, you change. Why? Because you are a know-nothing, and your rhetoric is based on the politics of the day, not science or knowledge.
“Especially gullible no-brain proles who cling to Conspiracy Theories.”
Under Trump, what was a conspiracy theory is no longer a conspiracy theory under Biden. You are a dumb jerk.
“If you believe that, I’d like to sell you the Golden Gaye Bridge.”
Now, along with being an anti-Semite, you have chosen to become anti-gay. You have no tolerance for normal human beings. You surround yourself with the jerks of the world.
Golden Gaye was a typo but your sad little mind interpreted it as a slur.
I have nothing against gay people.
It’s screechy, nonsensical Trumper conspiracy theory proles that get my goat.
Vaccines save lives.
You can believe that or not. Some lives maybe aren’t worth saving.
There’s oceans of dumb out there.
Indeedy-o. There’s oceans of dumb out there and you are swimming in it.
Hey Ben, who paid the largest criminal fine in history?
Hint: it rhymes with Lie-zer.
If the pandemic was that bad, hospitals wouldn’t be creating healthcare worker shortages by firing nurses, doctors and aides for refusing a vaccine.
You are being conditioned to view your freedom from medical tyranny as selfish.
The freedoms you surrender today are the freedoms our grandchildren will never know existed.
Your obedience is prolonging this nightmare.
Oh and one last truth bomb for ya:
Fauci is a fraud.
Did you know ChemTrails are a government conspiracy by the Deep State designexmd to make Americans so gullible and dumb they actually believe ChemTrails are a government conspiracy and the Derp State actually exists?
Do the workd a favor and ignore Fauci and font wear a mask and don’t take the vaccines.
Mahalo for your kokua.
Get in line for Booster shot number 4! They are rolling them out soon!
Why? Because the solution to something that does not work is to push out MORE of it!
Duh!
Vaccines *do* save lives. But this Covid experimental genetic therapy injection is 1. Not a vaccine, 2. Not saving lives, 3. Not preventing Covid infection or spread, 4. It *is* harming, injuring, and yes, killing people by the hundreds of thousands, here in the U.S. and around the world.
You are being lied to.
Now get in line for your next Booster!
People are not dying by the hundreds of thousands because of vaccines you paranoidiot.
Lay off the cannabis and edibles.
It’s effecting your judgement and sense.
“People are not dying by the hundreds of thousands because of vaccines you paranoidiot.”
Of course not. Your government wouldn’t lie to you, now would it?
“We’re never going to learn about how safe the vaccine is until we start giving it.” ~Dr. Eric Rubin on the FDA committee that approved the Pfizer vaccine for use in kids 5-11.
YOU and your kids are the lab rats. And that ain’t no lie.
You’re seeing a whole team of psychiatrists, aren;t you?
My friend Dr Nick runs a stroke center in a hospital in Ventura.
He says 100+ people in his hospital have died and none of them were vaccinated.
No American should be as gullible, dumb and misinforned as you are.
Shouldn’t you be raiding the Capitol or something?
Cartoon shows 2 lab rats.
One rat asks the other, “Have you gotten your Covid vaccine yet?”
The rat replies, “No, they haven’t finished testing it on humans yet.”
#Truth Right Here
I’ve got a Golden Gaye bridge to sell you too, Ben.
Oh and ADE happens *in the vaccinated* NOT the unvaccinated!
If you can’t debate or question ‘science’…..then we call it ‘propaganda.’
Dr. Fauci is not ‘science’…..he is a lying little bureaucratic propaganda shill for big pharma.
“Golden Gaye was a typo but your sad little mind interpreted it as a slur.”
Ben, we have become accustomed to your slurs of many groups. Based on the distance of the T from the W on a keyboard and your overall demeanor on the blog, I think it more reasonable that you attempted to be provocative when you used Gaye instead of Gate.
All anyone has to do is read your posts to see the disgusting way you treat other groups when promoting your leftist ideology. You didn’t apologize. Instead, you felt the need to blame another, which further points to your comment as anti-gay, whether hidden or not.
“I have nothing against gay people.”
Yes, we know. You also have Jewish friends and are friends with Rabbis, so you can’t possibly be anti-Semitic even though your words show a different face.
“There’s oceans of dumb out there. ”
Yes, there are, and they seem to converge in your presence..
Im not left wing or right wing.
I’m Gull Wing.
A part of Amerucan society hovering above all the idiot proles fighting over nonsense they don’t understand.
You,clearly, are a right wing Trumper and a part of Amerucan society who elected a vulgar idiot for president and now point fingers at everyone except yourself for the messes the Republicans leave behind.
You’re a prole.
You’re not bright.
But you are irrelevant so that’s nice
We’ve missed you around here, Ben. Our very own Golden Gaye bridge boy has returned. Hark the herald angels sing.
Despite his personal life, I voted for the man best able to protect America and America’s families along with the working class.
All you can do is post hateful comments, whether anti-poor, anti-Semitic, anti-gay etc. You are a misanthrope who is envious of those that have created good lives for themselves. You have chosen a life of hate and disrespect.
If you want to discuss policy, take a side on the five policies you deem among the most important and talk about them. You can’t, so all we hear are your fantasies and blame for everyone but the one most deserving, yourself.
Not all my statements are hateful, only to dingaling Trumpers and small-minded people who point their small minds at California and people who are not terribly bright and full of beans.
Which seems to be the majority of people on this site.
And life is good. My friend A just passed her California real estate test so I am writing her biography and going to help her build her website.
Dumb people who are wrong just don’t like being told they’re dumb and they’re wrong, so they accuse the teller of being racist or anti-semitic or other things.
None of the above are true, except that you people don’t have a clue.
“Not all my statements are hateful,”
That is true even though a lot are hateful. You also make comments that make no sense or sound dumb. The amount of useful information you provide is near nil. We keep hearing what you are doing, but nothing of what you did with your name attached.
24 books and working on four now.
One translated into French.
One into German.
Dozens of magazine and online articles.
120 issues of SURFER magazine
That’s enough.
Ben, I actually believe you may have written some magazine articles. That is no big deal and not paid very well either. Being published isn’t hard. Being published and respected is. The latter is something that escapes you.
However, you continue to tell us of the things you are doing, but nothing substantial that you can put your name on that is done. Nothing plus nothing equals nothing and that is what you are all about. Nothing.
Wow you’re hard to.please.
Edited 120 issues of SURFER magazine 1989 – 1999. Which only means something if you’re a surfer.
But what was best was where I went and who I met and what got to do because of that job.
Australia, Fiji x 3, Norway, Brazil, Ireland, England, Wales, Alaska, BC, Bali, Sumbawa, Maui, Kauai, Panama, etc.
I was surprised how much clout working for a surf magazine had.
Met the King of Tonga.
Flew out to the Indy to watch John Milius shoot Flighr of the Intruder.
Hung out with John and asked him about Apocalypse Niw.
Did a cat shot the next day.
Stayed with some of the wealthiest people in Brazil on their private island in Angra.
Lots of cool stuff.
Couple dozen books.
Shorebreak Art of Clark Little sold 10,000 copies at $100 – $250.
Skateboard book was translated into French without my knowledge.
Got nominated for Sports Book of the Year in France and they were gonna fly me to Monaco and put me up in the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel.
But I was in Hawaii and it was too far so I sent the photographer who was in Hossegor.
Met Bill Clinton and Pierce Brosnan in Hawaii. When they came walking down E Dock.
That’s respected enough.
I can’t believe the stuff I got to do because of writing.
And the people I’ve met: Spielberg, Tarantino, Milius, Eastwood.
Wrote the first draft of the screenplay for Chasing Mavericks.
I ain’t complaining.
Way more interesting than I thought it was gonna be.
Sorry.
Oh and this story in LA Weekly pissed off Seinfeld and he gave me stink eye.
And then he tried to buy my friend Larry’s 1972 Lamborghini Miura 400S for two and a half million dollars.
But Larry wouldn’t sell.
https://www.laweekly.com/weekends-with-jerry/
“But Larry wouldn’t sell.”
Who cares?
Seinfeld cared.
He loves that car even though he’s a Porsche dude.
If you saw Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee with Chris Rock – that’s the exact car but a different color.
Larry’s is yellow and I don’t like yellow sports cars.
The day Seinfeld wanted to buy it he rolled up in a yellow Ferrari Dino.
Don’t like yellow.
Seinfeld says the Lamb9rghin9 Miura 400 S is the most beautiful car ever made.
Leno has a yellow one. A couple maybe.
There was an orange one at Malibu Kitchen a few weeks ago.
Might have been Leno.
Ben, interesting, but not overwhelming. It was a ten-year career where you mixed with many exciting people, but only superficially. Your responses on the blog have a lot of hyperbole with a desire for action, real or not. I guess that trait is what is needed in a surfer magazine. It’s an accomplishment, but no excuse for your ignorance or anti-xxx you have exposed on the blog.
Since you deal with politics on this blog, maybe you ought to dig in and try to figure out what is going on. Too much hype and fantasy destroy your reputation.
You’re kind of cheering me up with your nonsense. i didn’t name drop all the great waves i got to surf: Kalafesia, Mundaka, Frigates Pass, The Peak, Bundoran, Unstad.
And I also write for Fly Fish Journal and have fished the Tongariro, Thredbo, Bulkley. Babine, Kispiox, all along Cook Inlet to Homer, San Lorenzo, Yougheghenie (spell?), Warm Springs, Silver Creek, Big Hole, Lamar, Soda Butte Creek, Clark Fork, Snake, Smith. etc. etc
Wow that cheered me up.
Thanks.
“i didn’t name drop all the great waves i got to surf: ”
I’m more impressed with ideas.
Ben, if different places’ names interested me today, I would resubscribe to National Geographic.
I’m on this blog to discuss political events, but it seems most of the left would do better discussing surfing even if they know nothing about it. After all, they know nothing about the subjects being discussed on the blog.
Ben says: “I’m not left wing or right wing.”
No, I’m just a dingaling.
And you know what you can do for me?
You can ring my bell
You can ring my bell (ding, dong, ding, ah-ah, ring it)
You can ring my bell, anytime, anywhere (ring it, ring it, ring it, ring it, ow)
Ring it, ow.
Ben, CA has the highest poverty rate of all 50 states, around 15.4%. Only DC has a higher rate of just over 16%, and it’s not a state.
CA relies upon Silicon Valley and the movie industry, both of which have been working and relocating out of state. Your glee at people leaving CA does not take into account the logistics when taxpayers leave, and those who rely on government assistance move here. Surely, you know the math.
If you seek a less populous CA, then what is your opinion on the massive influx of illegal immigration that strains our support infrastructure? These are people who did not participate in the H1B visa program, skipped the legal immigration process, paid a drug cartel to smuggle them, which pumps billions of dollars a year into international crime syndicates. They did not go through a vetting process. Some of those who get smuggled across have been found to have terrorist ties.
Do you think importing massive amounts of illegal aliens is a good idea for the country and our state?
The right to bear arms is expressly encoded in the 2nd Amendment. The right of the people shall not be infringed.
Abortion isn’t mentioned in the Constitution at all, which is why many think Roe v Wade was legislating from the bench.
There is a trend. Democrats now openly disdain the Constitution, state, and federal law. Federal immigration law was ignored, leading to over one million illegal border crossings in less than a year. The court system doesn’t matter, either. By the time an illegal alien’s case makes it through the staggering backlog caused by massive illegal immigration, and is ordered deported, the argument becomes that it’s unfair. They’ve spent time in the community now.
Riots were left unchecked. Looting. Arson.
Biden admitted the vaccine mandate was unconstitutional but proceeded anyway.
Democrats seek to force all states to adopt federal voting guidelines that would allow massive mail in voting, and ban voter ID requirements, in direct violation of the Constitution.
We’ve all seen the infringement of free speech by the Left.
The examples are myriad. The Democrat Party has become the party of lawlessness. Remember when they accused Trump of being a despot who ignored the Constitution? The irony is that it’s Democrats who actually do so. And the media cheers.
Karen,
Do you ever worry that one day that you will see yourself as others see you?
You mean the way people see you Jeff.
Yes
Jeff, soemone who spends so much time insulting the host of an online blog, and trolling others views the world through a very dark glass.
The way you see people is not reality. Anyone who would see themselves with the same animosity that an internet troll views others would be in serious depression. My outlook on life is positive and happy so, no, I’m not worried that your constant ad hominem will somehow infect me.
The most precious treasure on Earth is time. How much each of us gets is usually unknown. Stop wasting yours with malevolence and connect with your fellow man. You could disagree with other posters and have a cogent, interesting, elevating conversation. You just choose not to. Meanwhile, I’m having fun looking at puppy breeders and planning fun things to do over Christmas break with my husband and kid. You’re missing out on life, Jeff. Stop being so mad all the time and go have some fun. You’ve said you’re a gourmand. Why not have one of your favorite meals out and then give us a review? Or share a recipe. Do something nice on the blog.
I see Karen S as being one of the more sensible, logical, thoughtful posters who uses facts and figures to make her points.
I find her grounded in reality.
“Abortion isn’t mentioned in the Constitution at all . . .”
Neither are eating, sleeping, or drinking.
How many times are you (and others) going to flog that incorrect view of the nature, purpose, and function of our Constitution?
Here, by implication, is the correct view of the Constitution: Where in the Constitution does it grant government the power to control a woman’s body or her medical choices?
Not to mention applying a document written in the 18th century to a profoundly different world 200+ years later.
When does common sense and humanity supersede an ancient, paper-thin document?
Women and humans in general are not plunked down on earth to be told by others what to do with their bodies and choices.
Abortion is irresponsible and sloppy and damaging but its a person’s choice.
Ben, if there is any part of the Constitution that does not belong in modern times, then there is a legal Amendment process in which to change it. You can’t just throw out certain parts as irrelevant, yet demand to keep certain personal liberties guaranteed in the Constitution.
But beware altering this document because of unintended consequences.
“Where in the Constitution does it grant government the power to control a woman’s body or her medical choices?“
Sam, it doesn’t and that is why many of us believe the legal issues of Roe V Wade was wrong and that the issue of abortion should have remained at the state level.
Except that ours is a *federalist* system — with a *federal* Constitution.
No grant of authority in the Constitution for the federal government — means ditto for state governments.
Sam, I might be misinterpreting what you are attempting to say. Still, the Constitutional authority permitted to the States is different from that of the federal government’s Constitutional authority except for the Bill of Rights (in specific. X) and the Amendments to the Constitution.
Sam, using your logic, are you saying that it’s unconstitutional for there to be any limits on abortion? For example, would it be unconstitutional for there to be a law against aborting a 39 week old, healthy fetus? Please explain your reasoning.
The central problem with abortion is that it affects a human being who is not the mother. This is not plastic surgery, or the removal of a lipoma. The entire argument centers around when this other person should have a right to live.
You said eating, sleeping, and drinking are not mentioned in the Constitution. True. This is why there can be laws against sleeping or drinking alcohol on the job, or against eating in an operating room. You can sleep, eat, or drink at your own home all you want under Life, Liberty, and your Pursuit of happiness. The government cannot unlawfully search and seize your bed, or the food and drinks in your fridge.
“[A]re you saying that it’s unconstitutional for there to be any limits on abortion?”
Given that there is no constitutional authority for the government to control a woman’s body or medical choices — yes. (Conservatives seem to sense this. Which is why they’re trying to punt the issue to the states.) If you want government to have that power, then pass a constitutional amendment.
The fundamental problem here is the upside-down focus. The issue is not: Where in the Constitution is the right to abortion? The issue — in our system — is: Where is the Constitutional authority for government to control a woman’s body and medical choices, and thus to ban abortion?
Many conservatives seem to be siding with the NJ governor, who infamously declared that the Bill of Rights is “above [his] pay grade.”
It really is shocking that conservatives support the *method* Texas used to enact its abortion law.
You’re supposed to be diehard fans of the Constitution, and of a constitutionally limited republic. You’re supposed to be against “government overreach.”
A proper government cannot empower a private citizen to take action that the government itself is not constitutionally permitted to take. Do you not see (or care to acknowledge) that the Texas law is as much of a “workaround” as is Biden’s vaccine mandate? Do you just not care about consistency, the rule of law, a “government of laws, not of men?” Are you so blinded by your desire to ban abortion, that you’re willing to endorse “any means necessary” — even if that includes destroying the very foundations of your Republic?
You don’t like Roe. I get it. Then try to overturn that decision. But don’t burn down your country in the process.
Libel laws are wnforced by private action.
Justice Gorsuch ciited Snyder v. Phelps
Defamation laws are not an attempt by a state (e..g, Texas) to do an end-run around a Supreme Court decision.
And as civil actions, plaintiffs have to meet certain burdens –none of which apply to the Texas “law.”
Newsome has done a lot to waste taxpayer money in California. The Latino grandmother in the105 degree heat in the valley can’t afford the cost of electricity to run an air conditioner even if she could afford to buy one. Conditions in California for the poor are like this and Newsome is all right with spending money on law suites that he knows are unconstitutional and in the end will fail. He says that he is concerned for the poor in California but his veneer is punctured when he declares that his show must go on. Welcome to the California circus ladies and gentlemen but please don’t notice that the popcorn is stale. I think that the California circus popcorn upsets my stomach. Excuse me I have to find some place to puke.
“law suites” It is proper spelling and grammar that distinguish us from the Mongol races.
California came through a national and worldwide economic meltdown with a $38 billion budget.
California is the ONLY state to write stimulus checks and California dedicated billion to pay the electric and water bills and rent of the neediest.
You Know Nothing Nitwit Nattering Nabob of Negativism.
Read Newsom’s California Comeback Plan
Is any other state offering this kind of aid?
Doubtful.
https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Immediate-Relief-for-Californias-Families-Fact-Sheet.pdf
FAMILIES & SMALL BUSINESSES
● Largest state tax rebate in history, Golden State Stimulus checks for two-thirds
of Californians
● Largest rent relief program in the country, $5.2 billion for rental relief and
additional $2 billion for overdue water and electricity bills
● Largest small business relief program in the nation, $4 billion in grants
California’s recovery is underway, with the state reopened after achieving the most vaccinations in
the entire country, and now we’re leading the nation’s economic recovery. But we still have a long
way to go and can’t be satisfied with just returning to the way things were. Governor Newsom’s
$100 billion California Comeback Plan is the comprehensive strategy needed to address the
state’s most persistent challenges and ensure California comes back from this pandemic
stronger than before.
Governor Newsom’s plan provides a multi-pronged approach to providing immediate relief to
Californians that need it most. Among the largest investments will be a tripling of the state’s
direct stimulus effort to include a total of $12 billion in direct cash payments to Californians,
creating the biggest state tax rebate in American history: two-thirds of California families will
benefit from a stimulus check of at least $600, and families with kids will get an additional $500.
The California Comeback Plan includes the largest statewide renter assistance program in the
country, helping qualified low-income Californians pay back 100% of their back-rent and rent for
several months into the future and giving billions to Californians to pay their overdue utility bills.
These actions are in addition to Governor Newsom extending the eviction moratorium.
Governor Newsom’s California Comeback Plan invests in small businesses with a total of $4
billion in direct grants, representing the largest small business relief grant program in the
country, on top of the $6.2 billion tax cut, the largest state small business tax cut in history.
In addition to these targeted intervention strategies, the California Comeback Plan has one
overarching goal – jumpstart our state’s recovery by confronting California’s top challenges:
● Providing Immediate Relief for Those Hardest Hit by COVID-19
● Confronting the Homelessness & Housing Affordability Crisis
● Transforming Public Schools as Gateways for Opportunity
● Building Infrastructure for the Next Century
● Combating Wildfires & Tackling Climate Change
Looks like Americans can’t make it without government help. Kinda scary when you stop and realize you can’t make it without the help of a bunch of hack politicians. If you are a citizen that depends on help from a politician, you realize that at anytime they can turn off the spigot. I mean what are friends for.
Just curious, where’d all this money come from? I think it was the tax payers. Why didn’t you just leave it with them in the first place?
The money comes from propetty tax, income tax, excise tax, government investments, sales tax etc etc.
UncleGavin collects it and redistributes it according to need.
California has a big heart, and the wealth to fund it.
California uber Alles.
If the rest of the country as as innovative and progressive and productive and prosperous as California, we’d be kicking China’s ass.
But nope, California has to do the heavy lifting, while a bunch of nattering nabobs of negativism whine about shitty streets and homeless and other small-minded BS.
You stay where you are and everything wil be okay.
California is paying for it, with a half a trlllion in gross Federal taxes every year.
Which is probably more than the entire GDP of whatever backward ass Red State y;all are from.
Like I said, it came from the tax payers.
Kicking China’s ass. I see Tim Cook(apple ceo) has made a pledge to invest $275 billion in China over the next 10 years. If California was so good why not invest in California? Why did Tesla move its headquarters to Texas? Lots of people and businesses either are moving out of California or have left. I see your governor was recently vacationing in Mexico. The resort he stayed at was owned by a wealthy Russian oligarch who earlier this year was in court in California on tax evasion charges. Also earlier this year, your states CEO was photographed at a swank San Francisco restaunt where the average plate is $375.00. Seated at the table with him were a group of lobbyists. I suspect they picked up the tab.
Kicking China’s ass. I see Tim Cook(apple ceo) has made a pledge to invest $275 billion in China over the next 10 years.
𝐎𝐡 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐚, 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮?
𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐈 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐰 𝐮𝐩.
𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 $𝟓 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞.
𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐤 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐨𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐚.
Why did Tesla move its headquarters to Texas?
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞-𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐏𝐀𝐫𝐤 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐬 in Santa Clara 𝐰𝐚𝐬 $𝟏𝟔𝟎 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧
𝟔𝟒𝟎 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐬𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐭 $𝟏𝟓𝟔 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 $𝟐𝟒𝟑,𝟕𝟓𝟎 𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐞.
𝐈𝐧 𝐀𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧, 𝐓𝐞𝐬𝐥𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝟐𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 $𝟓 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝟐𝟑𝟖𝟎 𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐞.
𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐞.
𝐀𝐥𝐬𝐨:
𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐓𝐞𝐬𝐥𝐚 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐟 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐤 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐛𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐝-𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐮𝐲 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐬, 𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠.
𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐮𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲.
𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐏𝐑.
𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐤 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐓𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐇𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐇𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐝𝐚 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐓𝐖𝐀 𝐟𝐨𝐫 $𝟓𝟎𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐢𝐧 𝟏𝟗𝟔𝟓 – 𝐭𝐚𝐱𝐞𝐬.
𝐂𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐚𝐱𝐞𝐬.
Lots of people and businesses either are moving out of California or have left.
𝐀 𝐟𝐞𝐰. 𝐒𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭? 𝐀𝐥𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐚𝐲𝐩𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐳𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐢𝐧’𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞.
𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐨: 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐭, 𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐭.
I see your governor was recently vacationing in Mexico. The resort he stayed at was owned by a wealthy Russian oligarch who earlier this year was in court in California on tax evasion charges.
𝐃𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡-𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐥.
𝐖𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞? 𝐖𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞?
𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐭?
𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 “𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐝𝐥𝐲.”
Also earlier this year, your states CEO was photographed at a swank San Francisco restaunt where the average plate is $375.00.
𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭;𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧. 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐢 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭. 𝐖𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐩 𝐝𝐞 𝐝𝐨.,
𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬.
𝐃𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐛𝐲𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐛𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠.
𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬𝐨𝐦 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲𝐬.
𝐇𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐭.
Seated at the table with him were a group of lobbyists. I suspect they picked up the tab.
The choice is to drive a car. The choice is to keep and bear arms. The choice is for a man and woman to have sex.
The Constitution affirmatively proscribes cruel and unusual punishment (e.g. abortion/capital punishment, dismemberment, decapitation) for social, redistributive, and fair weather causes.
“Newsom, however, wants to replicate the law to limit Second Amendment rights the way that conservatives used it to limit reproductive rights.”
And the chickens come home to roost.
Newsom is a tyrannical fool. But it is conservatives (especially those in Texas) who enabled his attempted usurpations, by their use of enabling acts.
Goose meet gander.
The current characterization of viability is a quasi-scientific, politically congruent (“=”) construct that denies women and men’s dignity and agency, and reduces human life to a negotiable commodity.
A human life is functionally viable with a beating heart, a coherent nervous system, both of which are observable, reproducible, objective metrics of human evolution.
All addressed in the article if you chose to read it. Newsome’s attempt at legislation will fail because of Texas’ law.
“That led to widespread calls for the passage of legislation to “codify Roe,” including from the White House.”
– Professor Turley
______________
There is no need to codify Roe.
Homicide was codified eons ago…
As was the right to keep and bear arms.
What, exactly, is the debate here?
The debate is over the complete failure of Supreme Court Justices to adhere to the oath they swore to which requires them to absolutely “SUPPORT” the Constitution – more precisely, the “manifest tenor” of the Constitution – and to preclude “Goofy Gavin” Newsom from “…acting by virtue of powers…[and doing] not only what…[his]…powers do not authorize, but what they forbid…,” per the admonition by Alexander Hamilton.
_______
“…courts…must…declare all acts contrary to the manifest tenor of the Constitution void.”
“…men…do…what their powers do not authorize, [and] what they forbid.”
“[A] limited Constitution … can be preserved in practice no other way than through the medium of courts of justice, whose duty it must be to declare all acts contrary to the manifest tenor of the Constitution void. Without this, all the reservations of particular rights or privileges would amount to nothing … To deny this would be to affirm … that men acting by virtue of powers may do not only what their powers do not authorize, but what they forbid.”
– Alexander Hamilton
The difference is that Newsom is trying to limit an explicit right, a right that is written in the Constitution. The right to abortion can not be found in the Constitution, it was created out of whole cloth
Really?
So the Constitution is an exhaustive list of all rights? And if an action is not named in the Constitution, you cannot by right take it?
Be very careful what you ask for.
What a ——- idiot.
_______________
9th Amendment
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
10th Amendment
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
(variously, “reserved to the people, or to the States”)
_________________________________________
The Constitution does not address abortion, which is the taking of nascent human life.
States legislate statutes which determine the character of codified homicide – abortion may or may not be legal, or may or may not be homicide.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The People are the Sovereign.
Government is the Subject of the Sovereign.
Government exists, under the Constitution and Bill of Rights, to provide maximal freedom to individuals while government is severely limited and restricted to merely facilitating that maximal freedom of individuals through the provision of security and infrastructure.
Article 1, Section 8, provides Congress the power to tax ONLY for “…general Welfare…,” omitting and, thereby, excluding any power to tax for individual welfare, specific welfare, redistribution of wealth or charity. The same article provides Congress the power to regulate ONLY money, the “flow” of commerce, and land and naval Forces. Additionally, the 5th Amendment right to private property is not qualified by the Constitution and is, therefore, absolute, allowing Congress no power to claim or exercise dominion over private property, the sole exception being the power to “take” private property for public use.
The entire communistic American welfare state is unconstitutional including, but not limited to, matriculation affirmative action, employment affirmative action, quotas, welfare, food stamps, minimum wage, rent control, social services, forced busing, public housing, utility subsidies, WIC, SNAP, TANF, HAMP, HARP, TARP, HHS, HUD, Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Labor, Energy, Obamacare, Social Security, Social Security Disability, Social Security Supplemental Income, Medicare, Medicaid, “Fair Housing” laws, “Non-Discrimination” laws, etc.
He never said an exhaustive list, strawman, but the 2nd Amendment is an explicitly illuminated right.
Putting limits on killing children should be a less morally and politically controversial affair.
“He never said an exhaustive list . . .”
I see you’re not a fan of the *implication* of a person’s argument.
The idea that one has an individual right to have a gun is an interpretation of the constitution and could be over ruled no different then Roe.
Read the Constitution and take note of what the Constitution is actually doing.
I did. Did you? For most of our history 2A was not read to mean an individual right.
Obviously you read another constitution and haven’t read much about the respective arguments.
There is no hope for you.
Now we all understand why the American Founders established a severely restricted-vote republic in which turnout in 1788 was a mere 11.6%, citizens must have been “…free white person(s)…,” and voters must have been male, European, 21 with 50 lbs. Sterling or 50 acres.
Ben Franklin et al. gave Americans a restricted-vote republic, IF THEY COULD KEEP IT!
They couldn’t…
and it’s going to take a huuuuuge effort to get it back!
“For most of our history 2A was not read to mean an individual right.”
That is patently false. It was read exactly that way for the entire 19th century.
(A while back, I posted a longer comment, and article citation, on that historical fact. The comment thread was deleted. Don’t want to run that risk, again.)
A child can’t become a child unless it survives the fetus stage first.
Obviously you do not have children to say that garbage. A heartless soul condemns to death the child in the womb.
Anonymous, and your explanation for the common phrase “unborn child” is what, exactly?
Go talk to a woman who had a miscarriage and tell her she didn’t lose her child. Tell Lacey Peterson’s parents that Scott didn’t kill their grandchild.
“An infant can’t become an adolescent until it survives the infant stage”.
ATS, you prefer to play with words rather than use your brain.
“The Texas law was quickly found to be unconstitutional.” Maybe I missed that. What court said that?
Secondly, defending the prospective California law would not “make Attorney General Merrick Garland look like a feckless functionary.” He has already made it clear that he wields his power to advance political goals. See https://www.wsj.com/articles/merrick-garland-one-ups-eric-holder-biden-obama-texas-redistricting-voting-repression-strassel-11639092297,
Lastly, the Texas law should ultimately prove to be impotent as soon as a Texas court determines that a plaintiff who is not harmed has no standing to enforce it. In In re Abbott, 601 SW 3d 802, (200291.pdf (txcourts.gov), the Texas Supreme Court was unequivocable:
Standing is implicit in the concept of subject-matter jurisdiction, and subject-matter jurisdiction is essential to the authority of a court to decide a case. Tex. Ass’n of Bus. v. Tex. Air Control Bd., 852 S.W.2d 440, 443 (Tex. 1993). The Texas standing doctrine derives from the Texas Constitution’s provision for separation of powers among the branches of government, which denies the judiciary authority to decide issues in the abstract, and from the open courts provision, which provides court access only to a “person for an injury done him.” Meyers v. JDC/Firethorne, Ltd., 548 S.W.3d 477, 484 (Tex. 2018) (citing TEX. CONST. art. I, § 13; Tex. Ass’n of Bus., 852 S.W.2d at 443–44). The Texas standing requirements parallel the federal test for Article III standing, which provides that “[a] plaintiff must allege personal injury fairly traceable to the defendant’s allegedly unlawful conduct and likely to be redressed by the requested relief.” Heckman, 369 S.W.3d at 154 (quoting Allen v. Wright, 468 U.S. 737, 751 (1984)).
California’s standing requirement is not as certain as Texas’ but a 2019 California appellate court said essentially the same thing:
“‘To have standing, a party must be beneficially interested in the controversy; that is, he or she must have “some special interest to be served or some particular right to be preserved or protected over and above the interest held in common with the public at large.” [Citation.]'” (Teal v. Superior Court (2014) 60 Cal.4th 595, 599 (Teal), italics omitted; accord, People ex rel. Becerra v. Superior Court (2018) 29 Cal.App.5th 486, 495-496.) This beneficial-interest standard “is equivalent to the federal ‘injury in fact’ test, which requires a party to [show] . . . that it has suffered ‘an invasion of a legally protected interest that is “(a) concrete and particularized, and (b) actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical.”‘
In sum, no injury means no case and any law in Texas or California that allows an uninjured plaintiff to sue a private party for damages is likely to wind up being toothless political virtue signaling.
Take a good look around. If the Democrats take your guns, they won’t protect you. THEY’LL BLAME YOU. They already do.
Dial 911. It’ll take the cops 20 minutes to respond. A .357 magnum travels at 1500 feet per second.