I realized the other day that I’m my own worst enemy. I’m not alone. You’re probably your own worst enemy too.
The reason is that our political system has no real process for airing grievances. Well. OK. We can air grievances, but there’s no simple process for undoing something stupid that an elected official has done.
There’s so much background stupidity going on that most of it gets ignored. But every once in a while, something so incredibly nonsensical happens that we have to fight back. And the only real way to fight back is to take them to court.
So, someone will file a lawsuit to stop whatever stupid thing the politicians did. Sometimes, a judge agrees and rules that what was done was not only stupid, but also illegal. Then, inevitably, the politicians will ask for a stay to the judge’s order while they try to figure out a way to get around the ruling. And then whoever is trying to stop the stupid politicians will take yet another legal action.
And all this takes money. Lots of money. Oftentimes, an organization will take up the cause as their own and fight against stupidity for us. Then, anyone who wants to lend support can donate money to support the fight.
Opposition Research
About once a week, I get an email from Rob Bonta, the Attorney General of California, detailing his recent accomplishments. He calls it a newsletter. I call it opposition research. As angry as it usually makes me, by reading his newsletter, I keep up to date on the stupid things he’s doing. I can only presume that what’s highlighted in his emails are things that he’s particularly proud of or things he believes will get him reelected.
Whatever the reason behind it, I’ve found it a useful tool to keep track of some of the boneheaded things he’s doing to our state.
Let’s look at some of them. You should pay attention even if you don’t live in California. Craziness tends to start in California and then move its way eastward across the country. Especially when the Attorney General of California starts poking his nose in other people’s business.
Case in point.
On April 4th, he wrote:
“This week we filed a legal brief pushing back against an absurd legislative effort which prohibited an 11-year-old transgender girl in West Virginia from playing on her school’s all-girls cross-country and track teams.”
First of all, I find nothing absurd about protecting girls’ sports. But apparently, he does. And he states his belief like it’s a matter of fact. It’s not absurd to want to protect girls’ sports. What is absurd is that anyone would think otherwise.
Second, why is his California-taxpayer-funded department spending time worrying about a law in West Virginia? That’s not what he’s paid to do.
We have plenty of our own problems, so I don’t see any value in looking for trouble someplace else. If he has enough money in his budget to spend any time at all thinking about issues in other states, then maybe his budget can stand some trimming. Every penny he spends worrying about problems in other states is a penny less that he can spend fixing the issues in our own state.
But maybe that’s a good thing. Because if his attention is focused elsewhere, there’s a good chance he’ll do less damage here at home.
Misinformation by any other name…
On April 16th, he wrote:
“There is no reason that the gun industry should be the only industry exempt from responsibility for the harm that its products cause.”
Now, he’s either stupid, ignorant or just plain lying. I suspect it’s a bit of each. Umm…Rob? You might want to take a look at the pharmaceutical industry. I’m pretty sure you’re going to find that drug companies can’t be sued when their COVID vackseens kill and maim people. And, while you’re at it, take a look in the mirror. Most governments, ours included, declare themselves exempt from responsibility for the harm they cause.
The Babylon Bee is suing the Rob Bonta’s office to block the enforcement of a law requiring social media companies to regularly report “misinformation, disinformation, extremism, radicalization, and hate speech.”
I think the Attorney General of California’s statement that the gun industry is the only industry exempt from the damage caused by their product is clearly misinformation, disinformation, extremism and radicalization. I’m leaving hate speech off the list because I believe the whole concept of hate speech is ridiculous.
So, answer me this. If companies are supposed to report “misinformation, disinformation, extremism and radicalization” to the California Department of Justice, which is controlled by the Attorney General of California, to whom is someone supposed to report when the Attorney General of California is guilty of breaking his own law? Maybe it just seems this way to me but I’m seeing an obvious conflict of interest.
But wait…there’s more…
Here are a couple more accomplishments that the Attorney General of California is proud of.
June 3rd – He talked about how he’s “safeguarding healthcare and gender-affirming care, and ensuring our students can learn about LGBTQ+ history and heroes.” In my opinion, gender-affirming care should be illegal. So should be teaching about it. Instead of feeding their delusions, we should be providing mental health care to these obviously mentally ill people. And, how about if we make sure that the kids can read and do basic math before changing the curriculum to push a political agenda?
July 22nd – He bragged about how he’s going after Chino Valley Unified School District because they instituted a policy requiring disclosure of a student’s gender identity to their parents. Now, the Chino Valley school district didn’t say they were banning the concept of gender identity, although they probably should. They simply said that they were going to inform the students’ legal guardians. And the Attorney General of California took offense with that.
I disagree with nearly everything Rob Bonta does. Because he’s an idiot. But a bunch of other idiots voted for him and now he’s the Attorney General of California.
And the Attorney General of California has a lot of power. Me? Not so much.
In fact, just about the only thing I can do to fight against his stupidity is to financially support organizations that are fighting against him to minimize the impact of the stupid things he does.
Thanks in part to Rob Bonta, California has some of the most restrictive gun policies anywhere. But I don’t agree with most of them. Lucky for me, the NRA works hard to fight against Rob and his crew.
If I believe in the Second Amendment, I can fight against Rob’s useless gun-control policies by donating to the NRA. And if I believe in the First Amendment, I can also donate to The Babylon Bee to support their fight for free speech. I’m proud to say that I support both of those organizations.
So, on one hand, I’m giving money to organizations to fight on my behalf. On the other hand, I’m paying taxes that will be used to fight against those organizations. Even if my team puts together a solid case, the government will just spend more of my tax dollars to work against me.
See? I’m my own worst enemy.
It gets worse…
As bad as that is, I’m glad I don’t live in Chino Valley. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure it’s a lovely place. But the people who live there have it worse than I do.
Because the citizens of Chino Valley are paying tax dollars to the State of California. And those tax dollars are being used by Rob Bonta to wage a legal battle against their local school district. But they also pay taxes to fund their local school district. And those tax dollars are being used to pay for attorneys to fight against Rob Bonta.
Instead of improving the education of the children of Chino Valley, their tax dollars are being used to fill the pockets of lawyers on both sides of the issue. And that’s not good for anyone.
We need a better way to stop the stupid things politicians are doing before they can cause more harm. Because what we have now clearly isn’t working. Unless, of course, you’re a lawyer.
