Tag: state
100-Year-Old California Store Shuts Down, Highlighting State’s Suffocating Business Environment
A store that’s been a staple in the Eagle Rock community in Southern California for 107 years is closing its doors. While the owner, 78-year-old Kevin Strauch, said that his business model can no longer survive in an online world, he admits that the state’s added burdens, such as minimum wage rules, have helped to make his decision final.
Established in 1912, Eagle Rock Lumber Company remained afloat for decades because of its unique approach to the hardware business.
After two Home Depots opened nearby, Strauch made his lumber company the only place in town where homeowners could purchase vintage items such as old pull switches, redwood siding, and anything that the region’s 1920s-era homes required.
Unfortunately, Strauch told reporters, that wasn’t enough to keep him going.
“These kinds of circuit breakers for boxes they don’t even make anymore,” he said.
The fact large retailers have dominated the market, as well as the availability of goods online, has made his business model difficult to maintain.
“The model for retail has changed dramatically with the web and the buying and competition and the big warehouse stores,” Strauch explained. What also changed was how expensive it became for business owners to run their business in current-day California.
Saying that the homelessness problem taking over the state as well as the imposed minimum wage requirements have all contributed to his demise, he didn’t want to blame anybody for his store’s closure. Instead, he knows it’s time for him to walk away now.
“It’s hard for us to make any money,” he told reporters.
Only the Wealthy Can Afford Living in California
According to a study by the American Action Forum, the Golden State has some of the most burdensome regulations in the country. These rules, which make the cost of running business prohibitive to small business owners, also harm low-wage and low-skilled workers who are priced out of the labor market. Consumers, meanwhile, are left with fewer options as only a handful of large companies are able to sustain themselves in this environment.
As Forbes explains, it is precisely because of California’s regulatory nightmare that business growth is sluggish in the state — especially when compared to states where the regulatory burden is much smaller.
As small businesses and working-class Californians leave the state, the only ones left are those who are big enough to weather the costs, the miserable living on the streets, and those who rely on government assistance for support.
As California struggles to deal with the consequences of this progressive folly, the homeless take over the streets as the wealthy isolate themselves in Silicon Valley. In the meantime, stores that became a part of the California experience,s like Eagle Rock Lumber Company, become part of ancient history.
Established in 1912, Eagle Rock Lumber Company remained afloat for decades because of its unique approach to the hardware business.
After two Home Depots opened nearby, Strauch made his lumber company the only place in town where homeowners could purchase vintage items such as old pull switches, redwood siding, and anything that the region’s 1920s-era homes required.
Unfortunately, Strauch told reporters, that wasn’t enough to keep him going.
“These kinds of circuit breakers for boxes they don’t even make anymore,” he said.
The fact large retailers have dominated the market, as well as the availability of goods online, has made his business model difficult to maintain.
“The model for retail has changed dramatically with the web and the buying and competition and the big warehouse stores,” Strauch explained. What also changed was how expensive it became for business owners to run their business in current-day California.
Saying that the homelessness problem taking over the state as well as the imposed minimum wage requirements have all contributed to his demise, he didn’t want to blame anybody for his store’s closure. Instead, he knows it’s time for him to walk away now.
“It’s hard for us to make any money,” he told reporters.
Only the Wealthy Can Afford Living in California
According to a study by the American Action Forum, the Golden State has some of the most burdensome regulations in the country. These rules, which make the cost of running business prohibitive to small business owners, also harm low-wage and low-skilled workers who are priced out of the labor market. Consumers, meanwhile, are left with fewer options as only a handful of large companies are able to sustain themselves in this environment.
As Forbes explains, it is precisely because of California’s regulatory nightmare that business growth is sluggish in the state — especially when compared to states where the regulatory burden is much smaller.
As small businesses and working-class Californians leave the state, the only ones left are those who are big enough to weather the costs, the miserable living on the streets, and those who rely on government assistance for support.
As California struggles to deal with the consequences of this progressive folly, the homeless take over the streets as the wealthy isolate themselves in Silicon Valley. In the meantime, stores that became a part of the California experience,s like Eagle Rock Lumber Company, become part of ancient history.
I Pity Meghan McCain
Pamela Anderson and Meghan McCain engaged in a heated discussion on The View last Friday. The two clashed over Julian Assange and the military. Throughout the exchange, Anderson called out McCain’s blatant lies about Assange’s heroism. To say the least, McCain was smearing Assange by calling him a “cyber-terrorist.”
The crowd was on Anderson’s side, leading to an outburst from McCain. All in all, this exchange was an embarrassment for the War Party and its shills within the corporate press.
But this exchange goes beyond Julian Assange. It goes beyond American foreign policy. Rather, one can see a horrifying problem with America’s heart in this exchange. As the conversation continued. It became increasingly obvious that McCain has no concept of society, even humanity, without the state. It is not, however, her fault. She has fallen victim of years of indoctrination that American children, but especially the children of the power elites, suffer.
Meghan McCain Sees No Life Without Government
At an especially testy part of the exchange, Anderson explained that the US Military has killed far more people than Wikileaks could ever imagine. After she said this, McCain responded to Anderson by asking, “So you think the military is putting the government at risk?” I didn’t notice this line at first. But when I saw this video again, I felt chills thinking about this quotation. Pamela Anderson just pointed out that the military has killed thousands, if not millions, of innocent people; and the only response you have is that the military doesn’t endanger the government?
In order to believe this, you have to believe that there is no line dividing the people from the state. One does not come to think of the best interests of the state when the death of innocents come to mind unless they were conditioned to think that way.
Simply put, Meghan McCain is just as much a victim of indoctrination as the average mainstream adherent of political thought. For McCain, however, it is ten times worse. The probable source of this radical indoctrination is her father, John McCain, and his associates.
To be very clear, we are not the government. Until we realize this, the heart and soul of liberty and independence is at jeopardy. This is the real battle of our generation – autonomy vs. the absolute disintegration of a culture that separates us from the state.
We must fight against our social conditioning to view all that is good as the state, and all that is outside the state as bad. Such a cultural disposition is the road to totalitarianism.
So, condemn Meghan McCain’s sentiment, but don’t blame her for it. She is a victim as much as any other prisoner of government “education” is.
But this exchange goes beyond Julian Assange. It goes beyond American foreign policy. Rather, one can see a horrifying problem with America’s heart in this exchange. As the conversation continued. It became increasingly obvious that McCain has no concept of society, even humanity, without the state. It is not, however, her fault. She has fallen victim of years of indoctrination that American children, but especially the children of the power elites, suffer.
Meghan McCain Sees No Life Without Government
At an especially testy part of the exchange, Anderson explained that the US Military has killed far more people than Wikileaks could ever imagine. After she said this, McCain responded to Anderson by asking, “So you think the military is putting the government at risk?” I didn’t notice this line at first. But when I saw this video again, I felt chills thinking about this quotation. Pamela Anderson just pointed out that the military has killed thousands, if not millions, of innocent people; and the only response you have is that the military doesn’t endanger the government?
In order to believe this, you have to believe that there is no line dividing the people from the state. One does not come to think of the best interests of the state when the death of innocents come to mind unless they were conditioned to think that way.
Simply put, Meghan McCain is just as much a victim of indoctrination as the average mainstream adherent of political thought. For McCain, however, it is ten times worse. The probable source of this radical indoctrination is her father, John McCain, and his associates.
To be very clear, we are not the government. Until we realize this, the heart and soul of liberty and independence is at jeopardy. This is the real battle of our generation – autonomy vs. the absolute disintegration of a culture that separates us from the state.
We must fight against our social conditioning to view all that is good as the state, and all that is outside the state as bad. Such a cultural disposition is the road to totalitarianism.
So, condemn Meghan McCain’s sentiment, but don’t blame her for it. She is a victim as much as any other prisoner of government “education” is.
Warfare State Strikes Again: Another Life Lost to Endless War
The Warfare State claimed another needless victim on Saturday, April 20th, 2019, but the media’s silence is the only sign. Spc. Ryan Dennis Orin Riley died in Ninevah, Iraq in a non-combat related incident. This is just another person who will never see their family again thanks to the endless wars in “defense” of an American Empire. Spc. Riley’s death hits close to home to me, for he grew up less than two hours from my home. I know some of his friends.
While I never new Riley, I know how painful a loss like this can be. We must consider, however, whether or not this was necessary to protecting freedom. We have been in Iraq in some capacity since before I was born. That country isn’t any freer as a result. If we actually valued the lives of soldiers like Riley’s, we would bring them all home.
The Warfare State: America’s Deadliest Parasite
The military makes up around $989 billion of the US’s current spending. This number alone should raise eyebrows, but the human cost is simply inhumane. At least 8,000 US soldiers have been killed since September 11th, and thousands more have been wounded. None of these deaths happened in defense of liberty. Rather, every single casualty that has occurred is a result of the power-mongers in Washington DC. 9/11, after all, is a result of blowback.
While the American Warfare State has cost Americans trillions in tax dollars, it has cost thousands of lives and millions of people will suffer from PTSD as a result.
War is far from humanitarian. It has made us less safe and less free. Spc. Riley is just one of the millions of examples of the cost of war. The unfortunate truth is that the government has exploited incidents like 9/11 to indoctrinate the public into supporting the US’s illegal and immoral wars.
If we wish to be free, we must bring the troops home and refuse to fall for the siren song of the Military Industrial Complex. Those charlatans are an enemy of liberty, and they do not care for the trail of blood and corpses that they leave behind.
Spc. Ryan Dennis Orin Riley: A Forgotten Casualty of War
So why has no mainstream outlet reported on Spc. Riley’s death? To put it bluntly, because they can’t use this death to start another war. When 4 soldiers were killed in Niger, the corporate press served as the war trumpets for the neocons in power. Each outlet added their own spin for why we need to stay in Niger or why we need even more troops in that nation.
None of these “journalists” managed to ask: why are we in Niger in the first place? If we weren’t there, those four soldiers would be alive and with their families right now. Instead, the media used them as propaganda pieces to continue the endless wars.
Because Spc. Riley didn’t die in combat, there is only one group to blame: the United States Military. The US Military convinced Riley that he would fight for freedom by enlisting. They offered him a sense of belonging. They offered him a rite of passage into manhood. The military, had they not lied to him, would not have Riley’s blood on their hands. To do Spc. Riley justice, bring the soldiers home. It’s the only way to honor the troops of the past and the present.
The Warfare State: America’s Deadliest Parasite
The military makes up around $989 billion of the US’s current spending. This number alone should raise eyebrows, but the human cost is simply inhumane. At least 8,000 US soldiers have been killed since September 11th, and thousands more have been wounded. None of these deaths happened in defense of liberty. Rather, every single casualty that has occurred is a result of the power-mongers in Washington DC. 9/11, after all, is a result of blowback.
While the American Warfare State has cost Americans trillions in tax dollars, it has cost thousands of lives and millions of people will suffer from PTSD as a result.
War is far from humanitarian. It has made us less safe and less free. Spc. Riley is just one of the millions of examples of the cost of war. The unfortunate truth is that the government has exploited incidents like 9/11 to indoctrinate the public into supporting the US’s illegal and immoral wars.
If we wish to be free, we must bring the troops home and refuse to fall for the siren song of the Military Industrial Complex. Those charlatans are an enemy of liberty, and they do not care for the trail of blood and corpses that they leave behind.
Spc. Ryan Dennis Orin Riley: A Forgotten Casualty of War
So why has no mainstream outlet reported on Spc. Riley’s death? To put it bluntly, because they can’t use this death to start another war. When 4 soldiers were killed in Niger, the corporate press served as the war trumpets for the neocons in power. Each outlet added their own spin for why we need to stay in Niger or why we need even more troops in that nation.
None of these “journalists” managed to ask: why are we in Niger in the first place? If we weren’t there, those four soldiers would be alive and with their families right now. Instead, the media used them as propaganda pieces to continue the endless wars.
Because Spc. Riley didn’t die in combat, there is only one group to blame: the United States Military. The US Military convinced Riley that he would fight for freedom by enlisting. They offered him a sense of belonging. They offered him a rite of passage into manhood. The military, had they not lied to him, would not have Riley’s blood on their hands. To do Spc. Riley justice, bring the soldiers home. It’s the only way to honor the troops of the past and the present.
National Emergency: A Power Grab with No Justification
President Donald Trump has agreed to sign the funding bill to stop a government shutdown. In addition, he has stated that he will declare a national emergency. Trump is invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) so that he may build a wall along the US’s Southern border. This declaration, while law, has no constitutional authorization. In addition, a national emergency would lead to unprecedented federal power along the border. No opponent of omnipotent government can support this measure.
A National Emergency Destroys Individual Rights
The cost of the wall is only a small part of the problem. In a national emergency, the president will have the authority to enact the largest confiscation of private land in American history. This land grab is a clear violation of the 5th Amendment. While many legal scholars may argue that eminent domain is legitimate because the 5th Amendment claims the government may take land if “just compensation” is provided, one must ask what makes compensation just.
The amount of money does not make it just. The use of the land does not make it just. When considering justice, one must consider consent. Consent is Justice. If the government wants my land, then they should offer a price at which I would agree to sell. If there is no monetary amount I’d agree to, then no one has the right to my land. To say I have to forfeit my land to the state is an egregious breach of individual rights and gives more power to the government than anyone should ever have.
A National Emergency Decimates Checks and Balances
Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution makes it abundantly clear that Congress has the power to write the law. The president does not have this power. Even if a border wall is a good idea (which it isn’t), the president still does not have the authority to order it to be built. The IEEPA is unconstitutional whereas it allows the president to write and execute the law. This turns the American republic into a despotic state in which all public affairs must operate under the consent of one man: the president.
The IEEPA, of course, was passed in October of 1977, a time in which the Democratic Party controlled the House, the Senate, and the Presidency. In other words, both parties are to blame for this egregious power grab. If your worst enemy should not have power, neither should you or your greatest ally. If the establishment truly opposed a border wall and a national emergency, they would have had the forethought not to give the president this power, to begin with.
How to Stop the National Emergency and the Wall
But now there seems to be no way to stop Trump from stealing land and income to build a wall. Congress is spineless. The courts may step in, but the president may ignore them as Andrew Jackson once did. The one solution to this crisis is nullification. It is not just the right, but also it is the duty of the states to resist this tyrannical law.
This is the prescription James Madison, the author of the constitution, proposed. Simply put, the states created the federal government, and they have the right to refuse to comply with its mandates. There is no other way to resist the national emergency. If the states starve the federal government of its legitimacy, then it matters not what the president says. This is the only way to stop the Wall and the National Emergency.
Free Speech Advocates Sue University Of Texas Over Restrictive Policies
The University of Texas, a public college, is under fire for reportedly stifling free speech on campus. Now, free speech advocates are suing the institution.
According to Speech First, a nationwide community and advocacy group focused on fighting to protect the First Amendment, UT’s speech policies, the campus climate response team, and the school’s residence hall manuals all have policies in place that stifle the free debate of ideas.
In its release regarding the lawsuit, Speech First reported the school received “more than 100 reports of alleged ‘expressions of bias,’” which included posts on social media, fliers, verbal comments, posters, and others. These reports were all investigated by the school’s “bias response team” since September 2017, spreading fear on campus.
According to Speech First, this approach to speech crackdown prompted students to think twice before discussing matters such as abortion, immigration, and identity politics.
To the group, students now “fear their speech will be anonymously reported as derogatory, hostile, and/or offensive to university authorities through the Campus Climate Response Team.”
In addition to targeting the school’s bias task force, Speech First is also questioning UT’s response to speech considered “offensive.”
Because the school has failed to clearly define the terms it uses to describe unwanted speech in its Residence Hall Manual and Acceptable Use Policy, the group explains, the school “failed to appropriately safeguard students’ First Amendment rights,” Speech First President Nicole Neily told reporters.
“Students deserve to be able to express themselves and voice their opinions without fear of investigation or punishment – which is why these policies must be reformed.”
One of the cases highlighted by the group involved the Young Conservatives of Texas.
After the organization set up a table supporting then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who had been accused of assault but never convicted, the group suffered attacks from those who disagreed with them. And many students even said the school should have done more to shut them down.
After the incident, students said that pro-Kavanaugh posters “triggered” sexual assault survivors, pressuring the school to respond. UT eventually issued a statement saying that while it supports free speech it does not support messages that promote violence and threats.
On another occasion, UT cracked down on themed Halloween parties that would encourage “bigoted costumes” such as country or “border-themed” events.
The Public School As An Arm Of The State
To Speech First’s Niely, the problem isn’t about students debating their colleagues or trying to shun each other. What bothers freedom of speech advocates is that “a school as a state actor [is] stepping in and picking winners and losers.” She is right.
A college, especially a public one, stands as an arm of the state, especially in the minds of its students. To use this power to impose a point of view, no matter how harmless it may seem, is stifling the debate and shielding students from going through experiences that will push them to become better versions of themselves.
It’s time we begin to look at this nationwide trend of schools targeting free speech in the name of political correctness as the threat that it really is, especially to the younger generations.