What a difference six weeks can make: Covid-19 hospitalizations in California have plummeted over the last six weeks. On Jan. 7, California’s Covid hospitalizations peaked at 22,851 people. By yesterday, that figure had fallen by 63 percent (nearly two-thirds) to 8,566. New cases have fallen even faster. It's time for social and economic restrictions to lift to reflect this new pandemic prevalence. Gov. Newsom announced this week that many counties may see relaxed restrictions next week. There's no excuse any longer to keep kids out of schools.
Reopening equals much-needed jobs: Yesterday, the U.S. Labor Department announced that 158,600 Californians filed initial jobless claims last week, up 20,660 from the prior week. Despite having only 11.8 percent of the nation’s labor force, California accounted for 18.4 percent of all the unemployment claims filed in the country last week.
Vast majority of counties have reached school reopening benchmarks: A new CPC analysis finds that 47 out of California’s 58 counties have met Gov. Newsom's Safe Schools for All reopening benchmark. The population of these counties makes up 83% of California’s population. Though most counties have met the Governor’s threshold, they’re unlikely to reopen anytime soon due to teachers unions’ unworkable demands, including requiring the vaccination of all teachers as a precondition of reopening.
Language Warning! Candid camera footage of the school board reopening roadblock: Teachers unions fund school board officials to do their bidding. This week, officials from the Oakley Union School Board in the East Bay were caught on camera discussing what they really think of desperate parents who want to get their kids back in classrooms:
"Are we alone?" asked Trustee Kim Beede before referring to an unidentified, non-present parent critic: "Bitch, if you're going to call me out, I'm gonna fuck you up." Classy.
"They forget there's real people on the other side of those letters that they're writing," chimed in board member Lisa Brizedine. "They don't know what we know behind the scenes, and it's really unfortunate they want to pick on us because they want their babysitters back."
Who should be more offended here at this babysitters reference: parents or teachers?
Board member Richie Masadas then suggests that parents are merely frustrated with distance learning because they can't "smoke up," claiming that his distributor contacts say parents are a major marijuana clientele.
The rot in California public schools runs deep – and it begins with the California Teachers Association.
Parent Union shows real parents with real problems: CPC’s Parent Union was featured in an article this week published by The Monterey County Weekly about the need to reopen classrooms: “The school district has failed our most vulnerable children,” said Parent Union member Jenny Tsai. Another Parent Union member was featured on Univision.
Moorlach in the union crosshairs: In his latest op-ed for the Southern California News Group, CPC President Will Swaim discusses why police unions are attacking John Moorlach, who is running for a seat on Orange County's Board of Supervisors:
Moorlach is to government unions what clouds of locusts, rivers of blood, biting bugs and a sudden downpour of befuddled, croaking amphibians were to the pharaoh of ancient Egypt. His return to county politics after years in the state Senate signals the end of a free-wheeling casino-style party that accelerated in the first decade of the 2000s and which shows no signs of ending — barring a Moorlach win on March 9.
California is an embarrassment to progressives: On the latest episode of National Review's Radio Free California podcast, Will and CPC board member David Bahnsen discuss Kevin Williamson's education of New York Times columnist Ezra Klein, who claims California's myriad problems are merely unintended consequences of progressivism. Williamson schools Klein that unintended consequences are a predictable outcome – sometimes a feature, not a bug – of progressive projects wherever they're tried. Will and David also highlight how Joe Biden’s nominee for the No. 2 spot at the Education Department has come under well-deserved fire for her incompetence at San Diego Unified.
Public compensation records are working on government time: In his latest analysis, CPC contributor Edward Ring discusses how most California school districts have still not filed their payroll records from 2019. He notes:
None of the financial reporting by California’s public sector comes even close to what is routinely expected of publicly traded corporations. Public sector accounting, in general, is a mess. Payroll data, because it is so straightforward, ought to be available within a month or two of year-end. Why can’t public agencies report their payroll data to the state controller at the same time as they issue W-2 forms to their employees, something that has to be done by the end of every January? Why can’t these files be consolidated and available for downloading within days after they’re submitted to the state controller’s office?
Elite private schools go woke: In his latest piece, CPC contributor Larry Sand highlights how political correctness has infected even the most prestigious private schools. For example, Los Angeles' "Brentwood School has gotten into bed with the diversicrats and the segregationists. The school’s 'Community-Building Sessions' are right out of the Jim Crow South," segregating activities by race. (See the school's session schedule below.)
Trash-based accounting: CPC’s Lance Christiansen sent a letter to the Governmental Accounting Standards Board to oppose its recommendation to continue cash-based accounting, which allows public agencies to paint a rosier picture of their finances because they don't have to show expenses when money is committed – only when it's paid.
California exit interview: The San Francisco Chronicle is out with a fantastic new recurring feature called "California Exit Interview," which, as the name implies, quizzes members of the California Exodus about their reasons for leaving. The first profile is of Kieren Biebert, a 33-year-old Incubus-loving tech worker, who's moving from San Fran to Dallas.
See if his reasons for departure sound familiar: crime, junkies, out-of-control homelessness, expensive housing, human feces on sidewalks, and $17 salads – and, as he puts it, "I live in a nice part of town."
SFC: What would make California better? KB: “We need more police. There’s a general lawlessness that’s just scary.”
Before the mob descends on Kieren and tries to get him fired for this "racist" and "white-privileged" POV, take a moment to appreciate what is almost surely the prevailing sentiment among California's apolitical, Forgotten Man (the private, middle-class, generally unremarkable person who works, votes, “generally prays, but always pays”).
Ten bucks says the Chronicle's next "Exit Interview" installment features someone with far more politically correct reasons for leaving the Golden State.
Enjoyed this newsletter? Subscribe HERE. Donate HERE. Please forward this email to your friends.
