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California Fire And Fury

(CNN)Officials with the Los Padres National Forest announced this week the largest wildfire in California's modern history is officially out, more than six months after it started.

The Thomas fire started December 4, 2017, and eventually burned 281,893 acres, a Friday news release from the US Forest Service said.

 

The fire, fueled by strong Santa Ana winds and dry conditions, devastated portions of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

 

It also set the stage for the Montecito mudslides that ended up killing 17 people.

 

And Xavier is really mad at Oklahoma, so California's attorney general has added the Okies to his travel ban list: “California taxpayers are taking a stand against bigotry and in support of those who would be harmed by this prejudiced policy."

 

Um, no. California taxpayers aren't; California politicians are. In fact, it's clear that they don't even know what the Oklahoma law, SB1140, actually does: in states like Massachusetts, religious organizations like Catholic Charities have been excluded from the adoption field; Oklahoma wants to ensure that sort of thing doesn't happen in their state.

 

The only bigot I see is Xavier Becerra himself.

 

Oklahoma's pretty sanguine about Xavier's blacklist, noting that they're not going to miss a few Californians.

 

Wiener Exposed

I know he spells it Weiner, but he'll always be a wiener to me.

A district court judge ordered the release of the Weiner laptop. This is the same laptop the James Comey FBI buried under mountains of sealed “protection” to keep secret. The laptop that had the entire Obama intelligence apparatus (and the Clinton Machine) in a panic shortly before the 2016 Election.

Things just got a lot more interesting.

 

No Worries, Eh. Gov. Moonbeam's Out To Catch Up To Vancouver

Want to fill up in Vancouver, British Columbia? It’ll cost you — a lot.

Gas prices surged to $1.609 a liter Sunday morning — almost $8 a gallon in USD.

In the real world, that's $1.61 per liter. 1 L = 0.264172052 gal US. And actually, the cost is closer to $6 USD per gallon, though it'll hit $8 soon enough. Still, if you have a ten-gallon tank in your vehicle, a fill-up will run you about $60 now.

Former Liberal Member of Parliament Dan McTeague, who now heads the petroleum industry watchdog GasBuddy.com, told CBC News that Vancouver has the dubious honor of having the highest gas prices anywhere in North America, from Alaska to Mexico. Vancouver was one of the first cities in Canada to proudly unveil a carbon tax that has continued to escalate year after year. 

But as noted here yesterday, Gov. Moonbeam is doing his best to play catch-up by increasing vehicle registration fees and increasing fuel taxes, and vows to fight any attempts to reject the increases through the initiative process.

Carbon taxes! They have no effect upon the environment, much less the climate - but plenty of impact on your wallet.

 

Stewards Of Natural Resources

The Indian encampments at Lone Pine fishing site, near The Dalles, Oregon.

SALEM, Ore.

The Trump administration is neglecting the U.S. government's obligation to build new homes for Indians whose original abodes were submerged by dams along the Columbia River, members of Congressional delegations from Oregon and Washington state said.

We're supposed to build new homes for them, presumably so that they can trash them as well.

On the one hand, we do have an obligation to keep the promises made by the government when they built the dams. On the other, seeing places like this, I get pretty tired of the portrayal of Indians as stewards of natural resources, living in harmony with Nature, and all that.

 

Totally Out Of Line

The latest Oregon scandal involves the Oregon Health Authority, its implementation of Obamacare, its efforts to influence the state legislature, and its work to undermine a local health Co-Op by planting negative stories about them in the media. State agencies aren't supposed to try to manipulate the legislature; their role is to provide legislators with objective information.

But, this is Oregon, so it comes as no surprise. They tried to refuse a Freedom of Information Act request, too, but lost on appeal.

At least in Illinois they occasionally send someone to jail for stuff like this.

Sweet Taxation

A judge on Friday put Cook County's penny-per-ounce tax on sweetened beverages on hold at least until July 12. It was set to go into effect Saturday.

The ruling by Circuit Judge Daniel Kubasiak to grant a temporary restraining order came days after the Illinois Retail Merchants Association and several grocers filed a lawsuit against the Cook County Department of Revenue seeking to block the tax, which they argue is unconstitutional and too vague.

In recent days, a common sight at stores was consumers loading their grocery carts with soda and other beverages, stockpiling items that would be subject to a tax. Retailers outside Cook County mentioned the tax in their advertising.

County officials have said the tax is needed to pay for services and will improve the public's health over time.

If it's a matter of public health, perhaps they can explain why people on food stamps can buy the stuff - exempt from the Cook County tax - with your money. One might think that food stamps should apply to basics like dairy, meats, fruits, vegetables only.

It appears that one would be wrong; food-stamp recipients were exempted from the soft-drink tax.

Yeah, it's all about public health.

Do dogs and cats drink a lot of softies? In today's America, even the pets are obese.

Merkley Fear-Mongers

I got a note from his office; the salient point being this one:

The politicians angling to dismantle our health care system want you to stop paying attention.

Um. Jerkley and his pals already dismantled our health-care system; they replaced it with the imploding Obamacare. He and his fellow Democratics also decided that full-time employment is now 30 hours a week, rather than 40, and they also required everyone over age 26 to purchase a government-approved product or pay a penalty come tax-time. Next thing you know, these clowns will require you to buy a government-approved "Smartcar", or maybe require you to buy at least 20 pounds of broccoli a month.

Maybe Democratics should quit dictating business and consumer terms of transactions.

Looks Like "LaVoy" Was Right

He said the cops would never take him alive. And they didn't.

The slow-motion video, however, does seem to contradict reports on the incident, especially in view of the finding that an FBI agent fired two shots at the truck he was driving - one of which hit the roof of the truck. In the video clip, it sure looks as though Finicum put his hands in the air after exiting the truck.

It looks more like a repeat of Ruby Ridge, at this point.

Well, There They Go Again

Oregonians who buy their mandated health insurance on the individual market will likely see yet another double-digit increase in premium costs next year, with Atrio and Providence leading the way - they want 21.8% and 20.7%, respectively. For many of us, the monthly premium payments alone are roughly equal to a mortgage payment. And that's not taking into account all of the co-pays, out-of-pocket minimums, and other expenses. We've not been eligible for any of the ballyhooed subsidies, so we've been paying the full tab.

Fortunately, as I've just aged into Medicare, my costs should be significantly reduced, so we'll mostly have to cover my wife's stuff. Individual purchasers are getting hammered. Some of the largest "insurance" companies are exiting the individual markets entirely. Only to be expected when government decides to muck around in business.

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Obamacare Implosion Continues

(Reuters) – Health insurer Aetna Inc said on Wednesday it will exit the 2018 Obamacare individual insurance market in Delaware and Nebraska – the two remaining states where it had offered the plans.

Aetna had previously announced plans to exit the individual commercial market in Virginia and Iowa.

It has now “completely exited the exchanges,” the company said in an emailed statement.

Things are working exactly as planned: if government won't continue to subsidize health insurance companies, they bail. And since many areas are now down to one or no "insurance providers", it's going to be difficult to purchase health "insurance" as required. I'm using quotation marks because health "insurance" isn't actually insurance; if you buy auto insurance so that you can drive on public roadways, for example, you can choose to buy a policy with zero deductible, $500 deductible, $1000 deductible, and so on. Health "insurance" doesn't give you those options, so it's not really insurance at all.

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