Don's Tuesday column

THE WAY I SEE IT   by Don Polson  Red Bluff Daily News   12/26/2023

God’s gift; man’s failings, hopes

Every so many years, writing this column falls in the shadow of Christmas, commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ. A great aspect of Christmas for believers is the ever-present singing and performing of hymns and Christmas carols; messages which convey hope for a deeply flawed humanity.

Amidst the celebration, camaraderie of friends and family, endless sports rivalries, gift-giving and wide-eyed children’s joy—there remains the one deep and abiding Truth: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

For those who embrace faith—and those who simply know what has been revealed in books, movies and accounts of “near death experiences”—the reality of eternal life beckons to our hopes for something unflawed, something awaiting our leaving this mortal skin.  Let those Christmas songs move hearts and souls.

Meanwhile, we approach a new year, 2024; a changed date with the same issues, conflicts and depredations of 2023. I’ve been informed of a local effort to shine the light of awareness on the issue of human trafficking, through a group, Empower Tehama.

An event is being planned for later in January to that end; I can do no more than share names and contact information for those interested in helping or attending. I know that the issue is among the most serious facing our fellow Americans and touches on the abomination of illegal immigration which fosters abuse and manipulation of people for the crassest of motives. “The Sound of Freedom,” was a theatrically moving exposure of international child and human trafficking serving the evil ends of those seeking to enslave others.

Contact Jennifer Moniz at jennifer@empowertehama.org and by phone, 530-727-9423. See also: Prevention Center at 151 Sale Ln, Red Bluff. The email I received had attached templates and a flyer with some basics and pricing levels for those interested in sponsoring and/or attending. Their flyer states that they have served a total of 16 human trafficking victims in 2022, including one under 18. My only involvement is in providing readers with the above information and letting those interested take it from there. Skiing in Oregon beckons us.

Old Stalinist (see: bloodthirsty Communist dictator, Joseph Stalin) adage: It’s not important who votes but rather who counts the votes. Without belaboring that issue, many of us are well aware of irregularities, illegalities and outright fraud affecting recent elections. It’s hardly limited to Republican Trump supporters; virtually every prominent Democrat has claimed fraud and cheating contributed to Republican electoral wins in the last 20+ years.

Apparent new Stalinist adage: It’s not so important who votes or who counts the votes; what matters is who gets to determine the candidates that appear on the ballot. It would not have been worth mentioning if the issue of disqualifying Donald Trump from ballots had not gone beyond the Colorado Supreme Court—the U.S. Supreme Court will likely overturn that thinly-decided court ruling by a 9 to 0 decision.

No less than California’s Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis has urged Secretary of State Shirley Weber (frankly, I’d never heard of either of those names) to follow Colorado and remove Donald Trump from Calif. ballots. Doing so makes it a state and local issue as the Colorado precedent would not even allow for write-in status for Mr. Trump by local voters.

This writer has little good to say about Governor Newsom but it does bear praising him for throwing cold water on Kounalakis’ literal anti-democratic call to remove Trump from our ballots. Short take: We don’t live in a “democracy”; it’s a “representative democracy,” or a “republic” (see high school civics).

Worth searching: “Gavin Newsom Sharply Criticizes Attempts to Remove Donald Trump From 2024 California Primary Ballot” by Jerry Wilson (Redstate.com). “There is no doubt that Donald Trump is a threat to our liberties and even to our democracy,” Newsom said, “but in California, we defeat candidates at the polls. Everything else is a political distraction.”

Newsom included the obligatory “Trump derangement” about an imaginary threat to liberties and “democracy,” because he had to let the progressive faithful know he’s with them. I take that as simply a politician putting his finger in the air and not wanting to be easily labeled a leftist loon.

California has earned its “radical kook” label: 1) Over 500,000 middle- and upper-income folks “escaped” to other states over several years, replaced by 2) 126,000 immigrants/illegals last year (see: “The exodus of productive citizens from California proceeds apace” by Ward Clark); 3) until courts rule against them, CA anti-gunners/anti-concealed carry fanatics think your 2^nd Amendment rights don’t exist; 4) “California admits its reckless renewable energy dream is failing,” by Zachary Faria;

5) “New laws for 2024 taking California further into crazy town,” highlights an anti-landlord measure, goofy rest room labeling signs, weeding out prospective foster parents that aren’t pro-LGBTQ for children, and our “state mushroom.” Higher minimum wage law=youth unemployment and higher prices/inflation.