A profound Republican turnout boom and rightward shift, a mini red wave that has some Democrats nervous for November.
Nobody Cares if He's Smart
By Anne Doherty
Back when Gavin was still San Francisco mayor, I wrote a show called “Absolutely San Francisco” in which the main character, a homeless woman, was in love with him. She crooned:
“It must be hard for the guy to be so darned good lookin’ When nobody cares if he’s smart.
311, Care Not Cash...He knows wine and cookin’
But when folks look at him, they see art.
Has he good common sense, or clear ideas? They just see his sleek shiny hair.
I’m in love with the man running San Francisco But he’s just too darned cute to be Mayor.”
One goal of the song was to write something controversial about Gavin that Gavin himself would agree with. After all, the time I met him (doing voter registration for SFGOP), women from both parties were throwing themselves at him, greasy hair and all. The lyrics rang so “true” they were quoted in The San Francisco Chronicle.
Not quite realizing it at the time, I had hit on what made Gavin a leader in identity politics. Just like those seeking special protection for race or gender, he got to be mayor, then Lt. Governor, then Governor, by his looks and his connections, in his case to the politically powerful Getty family. According to my then contacts in City Hall, he was a front man.
When Gavin side-stepped the will of Californians to make gay marriage legal, a picture in The Chronicle showed his arm wrapped around a lesbian...but with the hand against her shoulder balled in a fist. That’s when I knew he wanted to be President and that he’d say and do anything to achieve that. In fact, he’d even be willing to destroy the next generation or two.
In the world of LGBTQ+ rights, Gavin found a source that would buoy him for the rest of his career: rich, childless, angry, bitter homosexuals. This sad conclusion is inspired by what was said at the event where my husband and I were spontaneously blessed by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The Sisters - and most the folks there - voiced the desire to see the visceral destruction of anyone wholesome, straight or Christian. We left in shock, suspecting that in our lifetimes we’d experience a cultural roller coaster that would go far beyond sexual orientation - that this wild ride would become a tool for the wealthy to gain world power.
Years later, we see it playing out - for members of the Getty family are not only darlings of the World Economic Forum, they’re LGBTQ+ activists. Ditto members of the Pritzker family. Ditto so many other Silicon Valley and Hollywood elite.
Now that Gavin’s knocking on the door of a presidential run, he’s vacillating a degree. On one hand, he promotes sexually explicit material in the public schools, and signs bills that both include protections for “queer” children in foster care and require LGBTQ “cultural competency” training for staff working in public schools. On the other, he vetoes a bill requiring judges making custody decisions to take into account a parent’s willingness to affirm a child’s gender identity.
Newsom’s decision to sign some pro-LGBTQ bills but reject the one about custody shows him walking a fine line. He doesn’t want to seem totally in the pocket of the gay lobby - not before debating Ron DeSantis in November. One wonders why this debate is even happening. Have the powers in Washington decided that Gavin will be Joe’s successor should Joe one day fail to rise after one of his increasingly frequent falls? Have the powers decided DeSantis is the preferred candidate over Trump if they succeed in taking him off the ballots in enough states? In any case, the California branch of the World Economic Forum are the oligarchs and tech titans that cast a blithering Kamala Harris as VP, allowed Diane Feinstein to drive around with a Chinese spy chauffeur, have her daughter help cast votes (“Say ‘yea,’ Mom), and drop the name to Gavin to replace Feinstein with a black lesbian who doesn’t even live in California.
How did THAT happen? The answer I’m afraid lies in those lyrics from years ago: “Nobody cares if he’s smart.” This is high theatre played out to audiences following their confirmation biases. As with good theatre, we enjoy our hero’s looks and follow the story as if we’re in a dream. The US is still profitable and comfortable enough for citizens not to wake up - but they’re starting to. After all, what California is doing to generations of our children is a nightmare.
Casualties of the Civil War
by Anne Doherty
Anyone who is paying attention and over age 40 would likely agree with the statement that the United States is engaged in a cold Civil War. I say over 40 because people in their 30s are Millennials, and those Millennial age and younger have had such poor history education that they might not be able to spot a Civil War when they see one.
One thing that makes this period of history a war is the number of casualties. Even Millennials are starting to feel the threats to their future and their livelihood. However, the fact that so many Americans have died since 2020 and even a few years before that is astounding.
Some victims are obvious, with Ashley Babbitt, Rosanne Boyland, and the J6 prisoners being easiest to recognize as victims of a political attack. That one Capitol Police officer and another D.C. Metropolitan police officer died by suicide within days of January 6 is notable. Victims of Covid 19 and/or the multiple shots and boosters also come to mind, especially if you view the lockdowns as unnecessary and the vaccines as prematurely tested on the public. If you believe that Covid 19 was introduced to the world by the Chinese as a kind of bio-war test, the number of casualties, really fatalities, sky-rockets to 1,127,258, in the US, according to the World Health Organization.
Most victims are less obvious. “From 2011 to 2022, over half a million lives (539,810) were lost to suicide, with 2022 showing the highest number of deaths on record. Within this period, the adjusted suicide rate increased by 16%.” (KFF.org) According to the CDC, suicide rates significantly increased between 2020 and 2021 for males aged 15–24, 25–44, 65–74, and 75 and over. (So…all men except those between 45 and 65.) From 2020 to 2021, suicide rates increased significantly for non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White females. From 2020 to 2021, suicide rates increased significantly for non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native, Black, and White males."(cdc.gov)
The reason that so many would take their lives made some sense during Covid. The fear, confusion, isolation and disruption of the economy would naturally have exacerbated depression in the vulnerable. However, the suicide rate was rising before that. Would it not be true that the following are also factors? 1) The attack on traditional gender identity, 2) the perception of toxic masculinity, and 3) the disproportionate rise in housing and gasoline costs to actual wages (meaning it’s difficult to live independently, let alone marry and have children). Add in what Europeans call the Climate “Crisis.” The despair that comes with believing the world will end in 25 Page 5 years may have killed few, but in fact has handicapped many. The fact that the bureaucracy has been pushing that narrative for far longer than 25 years escapes most people, especially the under 40 crowd who accept this hope quelling “Crisis” as fact.
Also among the casualties are those whose lives have been turned upside down because they’ve been cancelled or wrongfully accused. I know several people who have been let go from their jobs just because someone randomly accused them of racism or sexism or, for that matter, voting Republican. To be wrongfully fired feels like being shot in the leg. It takes a while to heal from the trauma and shock of the accusation, and then one must face up to a less bright future than before.
Two generations have been wounded from the lies and indoctrination our children have been exposed to. That a man could actually become a woman or vice versa is a lie so great that Stalin or Hitler would have been afraid to float it. If anything proves that we’re in a war, it’s that statement. The people who believe it or say they do are offered a seeming protection from the Left for supporting the lie. The people who don’t are shunned, cancelled or ostracized.Their sanity is questioned. In short, they are taken out, just like soldiers on the front line.
This war is unlike any other in that, even though there are sides, it’s hard to know who the enemy really is. That’s how totalitarianism works; it’s a system that outlaws individual or group opposition to the ruling party. It’s a system that asks individuals to uphold big lies. It wounds, but only indirectly takes credit.
California is set to criminalize passionate parents at school board meetings. (SB 596) One year in jail for annoying a board member?
Reedley Chinese COVID lab received tax credit of $360,000 from Newsom's "GO-Biz." Lab contained mice genetically engineered to spread COVID-19.
Rewrite the Left’s Language DictionaryBy Anne Doherty
It’s no news that leftists, who tend toward the creative as a personality description, manipulate language to promote their agendas, while conservatives, who lean toward conscientiousness, fall into using leftist vocabulary simply because it feels less confrontational to do so.
Nationwide, leftists have now expanded their language dictionary to include words that mess with our fundamental self-perception. As a hypnotherapist, I know that language matters. Words should validate the human experience, not deny it. I’m not alone in thinking the left’s vocabulary power grab has become dangerous to society’s mental health. After all, if we’re required to call a person with xy chromosomes a “woman,” it does more than rob us of free speech. We’re on the verge of having to say “up” is “down” or “alive” is “dead.”
How to stop? First, use words that directly define what you’re talking about. Second, drop the leftist euphemisms and, if you hear one, correct it. Third, wherever possible, use positive constructions over negative.
Using positive over negative basically means avoiding the adverb “not” in your sentence structure. Style books have long cited negative construction as contributing to weak communication. For example, saying “I don’t want gender-affirming care in schools” is ineffective for two reasons: first, it emphasizes the euphemism, justifying its usage, and second, it fails to present a picture of the speaker’s intention.
As for using straight-forward vocabulary in an age where dictionaries are embracing woke, it’s become essential to preserve basic common sense. Here is an all too short list of leftist euphemisms in statements followed by questions that redefine each term. The theory here is to regain control over the definition by feigning ignorance.
Legal status
“I’m raising money for the homeless.” How noble! Do you mean drug-addicts or transients?
"I’m looking for an undocumented nanny.” Do you mean a woman who is in the US illegally? I thought nannies were trained in their field. Are you talking about a woman who can read and write?
“My son is engaged to a dreamer.” Is she absent minded - or do you mean she’s a child of illegal aliens?
“I support immigration reform.” So do I. Do you mean we should have strong borders?
“No, I mean we should have open borders.” How does that work? If a border is open, does that mean it has holes in it? Open borders sounds like no borders to me.
Sexual terms
I’m Pro-life so I think women ought to have the right to choose.” Choose what exactly? Do you mean you are pro-abortion? Or do you mean you are pro-adoption? Or pro-single mothers?
“I think Reproductive Health and Gender-affirming Care is important to have in schools.” Do you mean gender-altering procedures? Do you think children should have medical procedures or take hormones while schools keep parents ignorant? Do you think minor children should be allowed to make permanent changes to their health and well-being?
“They are a woman.” Do you mean he is male (human with xy chromosomes) masking as a female (human with xx chromosomes)?
“He’s a cisgender" man.” Do you mean he’s a heterosexual male? (FYI, Latin root buffs, “gender activists” claim “cis” means “on one side” and “trans” means “on the other.” But that makes no sense - as “trans” in “transgender” means “completely changed” as in “transform” and the “cis” root actually means “to cut or to kill” as in “scissors” or “homicide.”
“There are 136 genders.” Do you mean terms that describe how men and women can have sex? Or do some of those terms describe individuals with gender dysphoria?
“She is a trans woman.” Do you mean he is man (person with xy chromosomes) who has had surgery or taken hormones to appear like a woman? Does he have gender dysphoria?
Race
“I’m an Anti-racist.” Do you think that people should have advantages according to the color of their skin? Isn’t that racist?
“I believe in fairness and social justice.” Do you believe in the redistribution of wealth? How is that unfair to people who make wealth? Do you believe people should have advantages based on their social status or the color of their skin? Isn’t that unjust?
Environment
“The climate crisis is affecting the collective.” Do you mean that weather affects people?
“Energy needs to be sustainable.” Sustainable in what way? Do you mean energy costs should be affordable? That energy needs to be efficient? Or do you mean it should be clean?
General
“The electoral college is unfair because we live in a democracy.” Do you mean we live in a representative republic?
“I’m a Progressive.” Do you mean you’re socialist? A leftist? A communist?
“The poor have a right to social programs.” Do you mean the poor have access to services funded by tax payers?
“Changing the meaning of my words is a micro-aggression.” Do you believe that ignorance should be a crime?
It’s been a long way down from “The Golden State” to “The Child Trafficking State,” so let’s jump right into this week’s Insanity Wrap.