Santa Barbara News-Press: May 20, 2023

Pandemic sets the stage for today’s budget cuts

Editor’s note: This is the first part of a three-part series about the city of Santa Barbara’s budget.

By NEIL HARTSTEIN

NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

Department heads with the city of Santa Barbara greeted the grim news that they would have to cut their budgets next

City of Santa Barbara staff works on reductions for Fiscal Year 2024

year with grace.

They didn’t complain. They didn’t argue. They didn’t resist.

What they did do was accept the reality of present-day Santa Barbara finances, grit their teeth, buckle down, take pencil (or keyboard) in hand, and get down to the hard work of crunching the numbers.

That’s the assessment of City Finance Director Keith DeMartini who, along

with staff, broke the news that each department funded through the city’s General Fund would have to find a way to cut their budgets by 2% in Fiscal Year 2024, which begins July 1.

“I continue to be impressed with the dedication, leadership, professionalism and team-oriented problem-solving mentality that the executive leadership team exhibits each and every day to run

the city and provide exemplary services to the community,” the finance director told the News-Press in a wide-ranging interview about the upcoming FY24 budget.

THE CHALLEn GE

The reason behind the necessary budget reductions is as simple as it was

Rare plant found at VsFB

inevitable: COVID-19.

Just as the pandemic devastated families, shut down businesses, forced restaurants with shuttered doors to open outdoor parklets to survive, required people to stay home except to get essentials, and then forced them to wear masks when doing so, so too did the deadly virus negatively impact local

Please see BUDGET on A7

100 skaters from throughout California to compete in Goleta

Ice in Paradise hosts its first open skating competition

By ANNIKA BAHNSEN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

The Paradise Ice Sports Industry Open Skating Competition is set to take place all day on Sunday at Ice in Paradise in Goleta.

Ice in Paradise has held numerous in-house competitions that were open only to Ice in Paradise skaters.

This is the first open skating competition to take place at Ice in Paradise, which will expand the opportunities for the rink.

Wendi Cool, the competition’s director, said she is expecting 100 participants at the event, featuring skaters of all ages and abilities and representing 10 rinks throughout California. The competition is team-oriented and is designed to help the participants develop proper ice sports industry competing skills.

This is Ms. Cool’s first time hosting an ISI competition at Ice in Paradise and she told

the News-Press that it has been “exciting and fun” for her. In the past, she has been the director of seven ISI competitions and was asked specifically to help the ISI competition world come to Ice in Paradise.

She also noted that it is “good to host skaters and their coaches and families from other rinks to expand opportunities for everyone,” as exposure for the skaters will be a priority during this competition.

She finished by sharing that everyone involved is “all very excited and looking forward to a fun and high energy day!”

The event is open and free for the public to enjoy. The rink is at 6985 Santa Felicia Drive.

If you would like more information, visit www. iceinparadise.org.

email: abahnsen@newspress.com

KRISTEN NELSON PHOTO Smaller

New bill seeks to make hidden fees illegal in California

By RIA ROEBUCK JOSEPH

THE CENTER SQUARE CONTRIBUTOR

(The Center Square) - In a press conference on May 16, California Attorney General Rob Bonta emphasized the importance of Senate Bill 478 - The Consumers Legal Remedies Act. The act which outlaws hidden fees in sales and service, was introduced to the legislature by Senator Bill Dodd, D-Napa, and Senator Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, on Valentine’s day.

“To the companies that have been involved in these junk fees, We’re saying that your days are ending with this practice. No more. It’s inappropriate. It’s unfair. It’s wrong to consumers,” Mr. Bonta said at the conference.

This bill would make it illegal to advertise, display or offer a price for a good or service that does not include all mandatory fees or charges other than taxes imposed by a government.

Any deceptive acts or practices including advertising goods or services with intent not to sell as advertised but intended to result in the sale, lease or service to the consumer is illegal under SB 478.

Mr. Bonta is encouraging members of the public to share their “hidden fees” stories and launched #HiddenFeesUncovered on social media. Over the past two days the forum has

received 25 likes and 18 retweets. One twitter user drew attention to hotel resort fees, an enterprise which routinely tacks on fees to room costs.

“Californians have had enough with baitand-switch pricing, when we’re not told upfront the true cost of goods and services. Whether buying tickets to a concert or sporting event or booking a vacation or a hotel, Californians deserve to know exactly how much they’re being asked to pay, and not be surprised later by hidden junk fees,” said Sen. Skinner.

Indeed, some hotel resort fees have greatly increased, impacting room costs in the hundreds of dollars. A luxury hotel in San Diego can tack on mandatory fees of $67.50 on nightly cost per room as a resort fee for fitness or yoga classes, use of sporting equipment or facilities, internet access, newspapers, phone call, bottled water, in room coffee, phone calls and self-parking.

Other hotels carry a low resort fee of just a couple bucks to cover the in-room safe and insurance for the safe.

“Californians are fed up with dishonest fees being tacked on to seemingly everything,” said Sen. Dodd. “It’s an underhanded trick to boost corporate profits at the expense of those who can least afford it. Our bill will end these unfair practices and put the consumer

first, leveling the playing field for reputable businesses that advertise the real price up front.”

Since the end of the pandemic, justification for a new resort fee has surfaced - a room cleaning fee - which is not always disclosed to patrons until they show up at the hotel and are told about the mandatory cost which averages at $100.

Hotels however are not the only arena where hidden fees are a problem. Restaurants and food delivery, telecom and internet service, and tickets for live events have been subject to hidden fees.

One twitter user bought tickets to this Saturday’s Marlins-Giants game and posted a snap of the purchase displaying a “convenience fee” of $25.75, an “order fee” of $3.50 and a “Stadium operator” fee for $2.25 driving up his ticket costs by $31.50, for a “regular” seat.

It’s stories like these that Mr. Bonta is hoping consumers would share.

“We can and should stop the fleecing of consumers. We can and should stop the imbalance in the marketplace,” Mr. Bonta said in drawing attention to the bill drafted to tackle the practice of low headline prices which attract the customer but does not readily disclose attached hidden fees.

More lost pets reported at Animal Services

By DAVE MASON

NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR

The number of lost pets has increased dramatically at Santa Barbara County Animal Services for the sixth month in a row.

Fortunately, Animal Services has reported a 90.2% live release rate, which shows success in finding homes for the pets.

According to statistics released

Anti-Semitic graffiti discovered at Chabad of UCSB

By DAVE MASON

NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR

Anti-Semitic graffiti was found Friday morning at the Chabad of UCSB, just hours before hundreds were to gather there for a special Shabbat dinner.

The News-Press received a photo of the graffiti from the Anti-Defamation League of Santa Barbara/Tri-Counties. It was written in big letters on a roadway by the Chabad, and the content was clearly anti-Israel and clearly designed to upset the people at the Chabad.

ADL Santa Barbara/TriCounties condemned the attack in a statement by its regional director, Dan Meisel: “We strongly condemn this attack and potentially antisemitic hate crime targeting the Chabad at UCSB.

“Targeting the home away from home for Jewish students just hours before a mega Shabbat dinner when hundreds will gather to celebrate together is an unconscionable act of intimidation,” Mr. Meisel said.

“This language, which has long been used by anti-Israel actors, can ostracize and intimidate members of the Jewish and pro-Israel community,” he continued. “We hope all community leaders will unite to condemn this act of anti-Semitism.”

email: dmason@newspress.com

SpaceX reschedules launch

Fog led SpaceX to delay its Friday morning launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base.

Instead, as of press time, SpaceX planned for its Falcon 9 rocket to rise at 6:16 this morning from the base’s Space Launch Complex 4 East.

The rocket is carrying the Iridium OneWeb mission into lowEarth Orbit. The Falcon 9’s first stage booster was scheduled to return to Earth and land on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love

You in the Pacific Ocean.

For more information, see the updated version of this story today at newspress.com. If the launch happened today as scheduled, you can see a video recording of it at spacex.com.

— Dave Mason

Thursday, Animal Services facilitated the adoption of 156 pets — an increase from the previous year. But there was a drop in the number of transfers to partner organizations. In April, Animal Services found foster homes for 127 dogs and 141 cats and kittens. To help the growing number of animals, Santa Barbara County Animal Services has expanded its animal care team and is

recruiting for key positions. In addition, Animal Services is working toward transferring licensing services to a third party to improve the experience for customers and create better efficiency. Animal Services said this can be done without raising costs. Animal Services’ upcoming activities include adoption drives and volunteer meetings. The agency also plans to host

free microchip shelters throughout the county before July 4.

Santa Barbara County Animal Services operates shelters in Goleta, Lompoc and Santa Maria. For more information, see www. sbanimalservices.org. Animal Services is part of the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department.

email: dmason@newspress.com

Los Angeles, California partner with federal government to reduce

By TOM JOYCE THE CENTER SQUARE CONTRIBUTOR

(The Center Square) - Los Angeles is one of five American cities along with the entire state of California partnering with the White House and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) to combat homelessness. The city will work with the federal government on the ALL INside initiative.

“This is a historic agreement for our city – and I want to thank our partners in the White House, especially the President and Vice President, for locking arms with us to bring unhoused Angelenos inside,” Mayor Bass said in a press release issued by her office. “Ambassador Susan Rice, Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough, and Executive Director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness Jeff Olivet have each visited Los Angeles since I was sworn in, and today, we see the fruits of that work. I don’t invite White House officials to our city for photo opportunities, I invite them to help us get the work done, and I am so grateful to have a partner in the White House that understands the urgency here in our city of the great need to bring 40,000 Angelenos inside.”

The initiative aims to reduce homelessness in Los Angeles by 25% by 2025.

Here is how the federal government will collaborate with the city and state in hopes of reducing homelessness, according to the release:

• Fast-tracking processes to bring people inside;

homelessness

• Addressing documentation requirements and other red tape that prevent people from being housed quickly;

• Ensuring people can use existing resources like Emergency Housing Vouchers;

• Creating more regulatory flexibility such as support for expediting federal reimbursements; and

• Supporting local efforts to advance coordination with State and local agencies such as the local transit authority and public housing authorities.

The federal government will help make this happen, according to the release, by doing the following:

• Deploying dedicated teams across the federal government to identify opportunities for regulatory relief and flexibilities, navigate federal funding streams, and facilitate a peer learning network across the communities;

• Convening philanthropy, the private sector, and other communities to identify opportunities for follow-on support and collaboration;

• Embedding a dedicated federal official in each community to accelerate locally-driven strategies and enact system-level changes to reduce unsheltered homelessness.

Additionally, the Biden administration says it will unveil policy efforts to reduce barriers to housing, health care, and other support for homeless people, as it laid out in its ALL INside White House Fact Sheet.

Google to pay $40M to Washington state after lawsuit over location tracking

By GLENN MINNIS THE CENTER SQUARE CONTRIBUTOR

(The Center Square) – The Washington State Attorney General’s Office announced Thursday that it had reached a settlement with Google requiring the company to pay $39.9 million to the state stemming from deceptive practices related to the tech giant’s location tracking operations.

In January 2022, Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a lawsuit against the Mountain View, California-based company contending users were not able to effectively prevent Google from collecting, storing and profiting from their data, even though Google led users to believe

otherwise.

“Google denied Washington consumers the ability to choose whether the company could track their sensitive location data, deceived them about their privacy options and profited from that conduct,” Mr. Ferguson said in a news release. “Today’s resolution holds one of the most powerful corporations accountable for its unethical and unlawful tactics.”

The initial lawsuit was expected to be a multistate lawsuit, but Mr. Ferguson said he declined and chose to file independently, believing Washington received more than double the amount it would have received if it was part of a lawsuit involving multiple states.

In addition to the almost $40 million financial penalty, as part of a legally-binding consent decree filed in King County Superior Court, Google is required to institute a slate of reforms in order to be more transparent with its users on how it tracks and uses consumer data.

When asked to comment on the settlement of Mr. Ferguson’s lawsuit over location tracking, Google referred to a statement put out by the company in November after it agreed to a $391.5 million settlement with 40 states over location tracking, insisting it had addressed a number of concerns raised by regulators about “outdated product policies that we changed years ago.”

Illegal border crossings in first 4 months of year greater than populations of 6 states

By BETHANY BLANKLEY THE CENTER SQUARE CONTRIBUTOR

The total is greater than the estimated populations of Delaware (1,031,985), South Dakota (923,484), North Dakota (780,588), Alaska (732,294), Vermont (647,156) and Wyoming (583,279).

The numbers are larger than 290 of the 300 largest cities in the U.S., edging out the population of Austin, Texas, which is currently the 10th largest city. Combined, they also total more than the individual estimated populations of 75 countries and territories, including Figi, Luxembourg and the

WENDY McCAW . . . . . . . . . . . . . Co-Publisher

ARTHUR VON WIESENBERGER . . . . .Co-Publisher

YOLANDA APODACA . . . . . . . . . . . Director of Operations

DAVE MASON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Managing Editor

HOW TO REACH US . . .

MAIN OFFICE 725 S. Kellogg Ave. Goleta, CA 93117 805-564-5200

MAILING ADDRESS P.O. Box 1359, Santa Barbara 93102

NEWSROOM ADVERTISING

News Hotline 805-564-5277

Email...dmason@newspress.com

Life 805-564-5277

Sports 805-564-5277

News Fax 805-966-6258

Corrections 805-564-5277

Classified 805-564-5247

Classified Fax 805-966-1421

Retail 805-564-5230

Retail Fax 805-966-1421

Voices/editorial pages ..805-564-5277

COPYRIGHT ©2023 SANTA BARBARA NEWS-PRESS

All rights are reserved on material produced by the News-Press, including stories, photos, graphics, maps and advertising. News-Press material is the property of Ampersand Publishing LLC.

HOW TO GET US . . . CIRCULATION ISSUES 805-966-7171

refunds@newspress.com

newsubscriptions@newspress.com

vacationholds@newspress.com cancellations@newspress.com

Mail delivery of the News-Press is available in most of Santa Barbara County. If you do not receive your paper Monday through Saturday, please call our Circulation Department. The Circulation Department is open Monday - Saturday 8 a.m. to noon.

SUBSCRIPTION RATES

Mail delivery in Santa Barbara County:

$5.08 per week includes sales tax, daily, and the Weekend edition. Holidays only, $3.85 per week includes sales tax. Single-copy price of 75 cents daily and $2 Weekend edition includes sales tax at vending racks. Tax may be added to copies puchased elsewhere. www.newspress.com Newspress.com is a local virtual community network providing information about Santa Barbara, in addition to the online edition of the News-Press.

VOL. 167 NO.

Joe Biden is no match for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“R.F.K. JR. SAYS HE CAN BEAT BIDEN IN 2024 PRIMARY”

He can. And he will.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said, “It was my father’s first instinct that the agency (the CIA) killed his brother.”

Indeed. After President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy went straight to CIA Director John McCone and asked him point-blank: “Did your people kill my brother?”

Mr. McCone replied ”no.”

Mr. McCone was telling the truth. As he knew it.

Because, truth is, Mr. McCone was kept out of the loop and deceived by his most senior intelligence officers who regarded Allen Dulles (whom President Kennedy fired in 1962 after the agency’s Bay of Pigs debacle) as their true leader — and who later directed the Warren Commission coverup.

But R.F.K. knew the truth. And he planned to do something about it when elected president in 1968.

And of course, the CIA could not allow that to happen because it would mean its very existence as an institution was at stake.

So the big question now: What will the agency do about R.F.K. Jr.?

What will CIA do about a presidential contender with the guts to tell the truth to the American people — from a highly public platform as a presidential contender — about how in November 1963, senior officers of their agency staged a coup d’état and murdered a U.S. president?

The good news: Today’s CIA is run by personages somewhat more politically correct (they must be if they support Joe Biden) and gentler, kinder (Director William Burns) than the likes of James Angleton, Cord Meyer and Bill Harvey, who were cutthroat characters.

The current crowd does not — thankfully — have the gumption or guts to assassinate American leaders as their agency once did to protect what they believed was their mission to perpetuate American dominance (for corporate masters) around the globe.

The new form of assassination is manipulating mainstream media to ensure that its contrived narrative is what American sheeple choose to believe.

For example: This, from The Washington Post earlier this week…

“R.F.K. JR.’S CAMPAIGN IS PURE TRUMP”

The mainstream media’s newest narrative is about slamming anyone who gets in the way of their chosen (if highly tarnished) golden boy, Joe Biden, by fabricating a connection, however loose, with Donald Trump. Permanent Washington simply cannot abide R.F.K. Jr. in the White House.

And this from The Daily Beast one day later …

“R.F.K.’S LONG LEGACY OF SUPPORTING CENSORSHIP”

The “substance” that should support this headline is a nothingburger that soon morphs into a rant about R.F.K. Jr.’s “long history of promoting conspiracy theory and other unhinged views.”

“Hinged” means “attached.”

American sheeple are attached to a news narrative produced by a corporatized mass media in cahoots with whatever politically weaponized government agencies feed them to spread like manure.

Expect to hear the word “unhinged” a lot in the coming months. You can be certain it will increase in volume commensurate with R.F.K.’s rising poll numbers.

“R.F.K. JR. SAYS HE WILL ‘MAKE BORDER IMPERVIOUS’ IF ELECTED”

It is not only disgraceful, but utterly astounding that the United States does not secure its borders.

No civilized country in the world is without a strict system for entering, much less residing, within its borders without first applying for and receiving proper permission and paperwork.

Another R.F.K. Jr. stance: “We are now reaping the whirlwind of years of misguided foreign policies, of warmongering foreign policies.”

As such, he invokes the “militaryindustrial” complex President Dwight Eisenhower warned about before leaving office.

We are witnessing this in many parts of the world as our governments pays Raytheon (your money) to produce weaponry even while we continue to bury ourselves deeper in debt.

“THE COURAGE OF R.F.K. JR.”

“R.F.K. Jr. pleads with liberals to safeguard the First Amendment, defend civil liberties, reject cancel culture and defeat ‘lockdown liberalism.’”

Yet the Democratic Party machine perceives him as a threat? The fence-sitters will know which way to fall on this one.

“R.F.K. JR. IS THE CANDIDATE TO HEAL THE GREAT DIVIDE”

If there is still hope, it is personified by R.F.K. Jr.

“R.F.K. JR’S UNORTHODOX PRESIDENTIAL BID EXPOSES AMERICA’S DEEP SATISFACTION WITH BIDEN”

No-brainer.

How could anyone in their right mind — Democrats included — be satisfied with President Joe Biden?

Not only is he the most corrupt president in the history of the United States, but he is also a fraud.

I recall reading a newsmagazine in the 1970s about a relatively new U.S. senator who was one of the first wave of vain males to sign up for hair plugs. They had a picture of Joe Biden, then in his mid-30s, with rows and rows of plugs planted like rows of corn across his scalp. That was his first coverup — disguising a bald pate. And little doubt he has since complemented those planted tufts with at least one facelift, which explains Joe’s skull-like countenance.

My point is, Joe Biden was a fake half-a-century ago — and he’s never stopped being a fake. This extends to his policies, which through the decades blasted like flatulence in whatever direction the wind was blowing, enabling him to amass his own power and money.

Watch as President Biden refuses to debate R.F.K. Jr.

Because Joe knows that if he dares he will be torn to pieces worse than falling into a Fellowes Powershred.

That’s because R.F.K. Jr. not only talks facts but has them as his command.

President Biden talks nonsense and has next-to-nothing at his command.

So, instead, Joe will hide out in his basement just as he did during the last election campaign, believing at least 50% of the voting public is hornswoggled by arrogant BS (excluding those who don’t need ID to vote along with absentee ballots of dubious origin).

Meantime, watch and wonder as the mainstream media narrative (think CIA and FBI) continues to bash away at R.F.K. Jr. as a “conspiracy theorist” when, in truth, R.F.K. Jr. is a conspiracy factualist.

Will there be another Russia hoax? Maybe this time a China hoax? Or maybe R.F.K. Jr. will have a “car accident.”

Can’t wait to find out.

About COVID, R.F.K. Jr. has consistently hit the nail on the head as he points out that an overplayed pandemic resulted in “a militarized and monetized response” that deprived our children of schools and took away our ability to live our lives for much too long.

That’s a lot to answer for, Dr. Anthony Fauci.

John Lennon must have had a premonition of Dr. Fauci when he sang, “Instant karma’s going to get you. What are Earth are you trying to do? Who do you think you are? A superstar? Well, we all shine on.”

And we shall.

“JOHN BRENNAN SHOULD BE IN PRISON”

Amen, brother.

“Former CIA Director John Brennan knew there was no ‘Russia collusion,’ and yet he kept lying to the public.”

This was Mr. Brennan’s actual testimony to a congressional committee.

Turns out “Russia Collusion” was a Biden campaign operation all along, aided and abetted by 51 intelligence stooges who signed a lying letter ordered up by then campaign adviser Anthony Blinken.

“THE FBI’S ANTI-TRUMP KEYSTONE COPS, THE CIA’s 51 LAPTOP TRASHING STOOGES,

There is no better example of collusion than this: Politically weaponized government agencies colluding with mainstream media and digital platforms to frame a sitting president and waste taxpayer money while desperately (and effectively) concealing the truth about Hunter Biden’s laptop.

“WHAT 10 AMERICAN CITIES WILL LOOK LIKE IN 2050 ACCORDING TO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE”

“Concrete jungles adorned with lush vegetation sprouting from sci-fi-looking hi-rises that winged vehicles soar around in bright blue skies.”

A.I. is lying.

And if it is lying at this early stage, just wait until “super” A.I. cuts in. Or as those in-the-know refer to that advent: “The busy child has talked its way out of the box.” The tragic truth is that U.S. cities will become a dystopian nightmare ruled by tribal criminal drug lords way worse than the proles that George Orwell forecast in his futuristic novel “1984.” It started with defunding the police and uncontrollable homelessness and will now descend into a Boschian nightmare.

We are being misled (by corporate, money-minded tycoons and their paid-off politicians) into an abysmal abyss.

“MICROSOFT SAYS NEW

A.I. SHOWS SIGN OF HUMAN REASONING”

Another lie about A.I.

A.I. will perceive humans the same way humans perceive cattle, pigs and chickens, which we breed, slaughter and eat. Or maybe they’ll view us as ants. Not saying A.I. will eat people but, ultimately, A.I. will make its own decisions about how best to use humans to its own advantage. And if A.I. perceives that humankind is posing a danger to a planet (which it does), a militarized A.I. may take matters into its own hands for its own well-being.

“MUSK: THERE’S A CHANCE

‘A.I. GOES WRONG AND DESTROYS HUMANITY’”

Oh, but Elon Musk is a bad guy now because he bought Twitter and set it free from the Biden campaign and misuse by the FBI. But maybe not, because …

“A.I. THREATENS HUMANITY’S FUTURE, 61% OF AMERICANS SAY”

Finally, an issue Democrats and Republicans can agree on, unlike whether or not climate change is manmade (such hubris) or cyclical to nature.

Problem is (just like climate change), even if the U.S.A. takes steps to curb and regulate the advent of A.I., you think Russia and China will do the same? They may pretend. And may even sign treaties. But for those countries, weaponizing A.I. will zoom full speed ahead (with secrets they steal from Silicon Valley), its danger to humanity be damned.

“A SECRETIVE ANNUAL MEETING ATTENDED BY THE WORLD’S ELITE HAS A.I. TOP OF THE AGENDA”

That would be Bilderberg, gathering this weekend in Lisbon, Portugal.

Used to be (since 1954) only bankers, captains of commerce and the politicians they cultivated would be closeting themselves away for three days without any public accountability.

Bilderberg has since been coopted by titans of the hi-tech industry. Which explains their fascination (money-making possibilities) with artificial intelligence.

From its inception at Hotel de Bilderberg in Oosterbeek, Holland, this secretive (they prefer the word “private”) group has striven to influence global events from behind the scenes.

Senior members of the media invited to attend are bound by Chatham House Rules, which means they are pledged to secrecy. This is an example of how the mainstream narrative is created and perpetuated.

The full list of this year’s participants can be found on the internet. It is worth looking at, especially if you are an investor. Why?

Bilderberg is about networking on steroids. It is not difficult to decipher where, going forward, all the money will be made. And which politicians will become tomorrow’s leaders.

Robert Eringer is a longtime Montecito author with vast experience in investigative journalism. He welcomes questions or comments at reringer@gmail.com.

ROBERT ERINGER NEWS REVUE

Americans’ inflation pain hits a new high

By CASEY HARPER THE CENTER SQUARE

(The Center Square) – Regardless of a slowdown in the rise of inflation, Americans report that higher prices are causing financial hardship, a new poll indicates.

Gallup released the poll data Thursday, which found that 61% of those surveyed say price hikes have caused financial hardship, up from 49% in January of last year. That 61% figure is a high point for Americans since Gallup began tracking the data in 2021, when inflation was growing faster.

“This may suggest that the cumulative effects of high prices over the past two years have taken a toll on consumers,” Gallup said.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics earlier

this month released its Consumer Price Index, a key marker of inflation, which showed consumer prices rose 0.4% in April, contributing to a 4.9% increase over the last year. That figure is about double what most economists say is a healthy level of inflation.

Those price hikes have made it harder for Americans to make ends meet. Energy and food prices have hit Americans particularly hard. The BLS data showed food prices have risen 7.7% over the last year.

A separate Gallup poll found 35% of Americans rate inflation as the most important financial problem facing their family.

“The cost of owning or renting a home (11%) ranks a distant second to inflation, while having too much debt (9%) and a lack of money

or low wages (7%) follow close behind,” Gallup said. “Energy costs, which was second to inflation last year amid high gas prices, has dropped to 5% as gas prices have fallen.”

Gallup found 15% say the hardship from inflation is severe and 46% say it is moderate. Lower-income Americans report suffering even more.

“Three-quarters of U.S. adults with an annual household income under $40,000 currently say rising prices are causing them at least moderate hardship, including 29% who say it is severe,” Gallup said. “Meanwhile, 65% of middle-income adults consider inflation to be a hardship, with 15% saying it is severe. At the same time, less than half of upper-income adults, 45%, say price increases have created hardship for them.”

Polis praises U.S. Supreme Court ruling protecting egg regulations

By JOE MUELLER THE CENTER SQUARE

(The Center Square) – After

the U.S. Supreme Court upheld California’s right to set its own pork production and importing regulations, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis praised the ruling and how it affects the state’s cage-free hen law.

Gov. Polis said the ruling affirms House Bill 20-1343, a law pertaining to the confinement standards for egg-laying hens whose eggs are sold. Beginning Jan. 1, Colorado businesses were prohibited from selling shell eggs or egg products produced by hens confined in pens less than one square foot. By 2025, those hens must be in a cage-free housing system.

In a 5-4 decision last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled California’s pork production regulations didn’t violate the U.S. Constitution’s Commerce Clause, considered dormant. In 2018, 63% of California voters approved Prop. 12, establishing the minimum space requirements for calves raised for veal, breeding pigs and egg-laying hens. The law bans the sale of the agricultural products if animals are “confined

in a cruel manner.”

“This suit was an economic threat to Colorado’s ability to advance laws supported by our communities that protect animal welfare, reflect our values, and keep our farmers competitive, and I’m thrilled (the) decision will help protect Colorado consumers and egg producers,” Gov. Polis said in a statement.

“This decision is also important for future climate policy at the state level, as states should be able to go above and beyond on climate leadership.”

The ruling creates an undue increased financial burden on farmers and will reduce jobs in agriculture, according to a statement from the Colorado Livestock Association.

“This anti-trade policy will not provide farmers in Colorado with a competitive edge,” the association said. “California imports account for most pork consumed in excess of 15% of

the nation’s supply. The actual financial burden of these regulations will primarily fall on out-of-state pork producers, including those in Colorado. The ban on the sale of out-of-state pork is a restraint of interstate commerce and a violation of the U.S. Constitution. All of these points were argued in this case, and it is disheartening to see support for non-tariff barriers to entry and market control such as this.”

Attorneys general from 26 states urged the nation’s highest court to overturn a lower-court decision upholding the California law. Colorado and 14 other states filed an amicus brief in support of Karen Ross, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, who was sued by the National Pork Producers Council.

“We are very disappointed with the Supreme Court’s opinion,” Scott Hays, president of the

National Pork Producers Council and a Missouri pork producer, said in a statement. “Allowing state overreach will increase prices for consumers and drive small farms out of business, leading to more consolidation. We are still evaluating the Court’s full opinion to understand all the implications.”

Colorado hog farms accounted for less than 1% of the total inventory of hogs in the country, according to the National Pork Producers Council. The organization reported the industry supported 1,166 jobs and contributed $123 million to the state’s economy. The Colorado Pork Producers reported the state is the 15th largest producer of hogs and pigs in the national and 12th in breeding hogs. Inquiries to the Colorado Egg Producers and Colorado Pork Producers regarding the court ruling weren’t immediately returned.

Group calls out banks for policies focused on politics, not business

By BRETT ROWLAND THE CENTER SQUARE

(The Center Square) – A nonprofit group is calling out big banks and investment firms for ESG, or environmental, social and governance policies, that it says run counter to their fiduciary duties.

The Committee to Unleash Prosperity report, Politics Over Pensions, looks at investment fund managers and proxy voting behavior.

“Through a process known s proxy voting, these investment houses are supporting a leftist political agenda that goes by the acronym ‘ESG,’ which stands for ‘environment,’ ‘social,’ (also known as ‘social justice’) and ‘governance,’” according to the report. “It often encompasses other left-leaning priorities related to race, sex, and ethnicity. When these investment firms prioritize their political biases over company performance, their clients pay the price, in the form of lower shareholder returns that can easily add up to tens of thousands of dollars in losses per client.”

The Committee to Unleash Prosperity looked at “hundreds of major shareholder proposals, including what it said were the 50 most radical proposals related to left-wing activism. None of these proposals were supported by management at the targeted companies.”

The firms that received the best grades were Dimensional,

Vanguard, T. Rowe Price and Fidelity. The firms that got the worst grades were Deutsche Bank, Swisscanto, Northern Trust, Storebrand Asset Management and BNP Paribas. Deutsche Bank and Northern Trust did not respond to emails seeking comment on the report, its methodology or the bank’s report grade.

Storebrand Asset Management CEO Jan Erik Saugestad said the company invests in a sustainable manner because it is best for clients.

“We have no intention whatsoever to put politics ahead of our fiduciary duty,” he said in a statement. “Our role as investor carries a clear belief and a sole objective: We invest in a sustainable manner because we believe this will ensure the best long-term risk adjusted return for our clients. So, when it comes down to real life, it probably shouldn’t make much difference whether we call it ‘ESG,’ ‘sustainable investing’ or simply ‘investing.’”

“The problem is not just at investment houses: In 2021, state pension funds supported 85% of leftist climate-oriented shareholder resolutions, as well as 91% of governance resolutions, and 93% of socialoriented resolutions,” according to the report. “This level of support, even by pension funds in Republican-leaning states, sharply exceeded that given by general shareholders and will be the subject of a future Committee to Unleash Prosperity report.”

Beginning Jan. 1, Colorado businesses were prohibited from selling shell eggs or egg products produced by hens confined in pens less than one square foot. By 2025, those hens must be in a cage-free housing system.

Plant’s small size makes it hard to find

PLANT

Continued from Page A1

specimens until 2004.

Dr. Dieter Wilken, a now retired research associate with the botanic garden, is the only person to have seen the plant since its recognition as a distinct species. Since then, there have only been a few botanists who have seen the plant in the wild. With Dr. Wilken’s records and help, the researchers were able to find the plant.

The small size of the Santa Ynez

groundstar made it that much

harder to find during a search that took many years.

“It’s a cool little plant, and it’s only known in one little place in all of Earth, which is right here in the Central Coast,” said Dr. Matt Guilliams, the Clifton Smith Herbarium curator and the Ken and Shirley Tucker Systematist. He told the News-Press Friday that the plant is known to be solely native to California, based on DNA lineage tracking.

As explained by Dr. Guilliams, the CNPS has given this plant

a “CRPR 1B.1” ranking, which means the plant is rare and threatened, but federally and at the state level, it does not yet have a ranking when it comes to conservation.

Dr. Guilliams said he hopes that it soon will be recognized on the federal level.

Although small, the plant adds to the vast world of biodiversity.

“They represent a totally unique solution to figuring out how to exist on the planet, yet they are super tiny,” Dr. Guilliams told the News-Press. He explained that this is what makes “tiny plants so fascinating”.

Dr. Guilliams has collected the new specimens of the Santa Ynez groundstar, and it will be deposited at four regional herbaria: Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, the Hoover Herbarium at California Poly San Luis Obispo, California Botanic Garden Herbarium and the herbarium at the Vandenberg Space Force Base.

Scientists will also update population data as they turn toward conservation and seed banking of the species.

email: abahnsen@newspress.com

The writing is on the wall

Illegal border crossings in first 4 months of year greater than populations of 6 states

BORDER

Continued from Page A2

Bahamas.

In April, at least 284,864 foreign nationals were apprehended or reported as gotaways, those who evade capture after illegally entering the U.S. In March, apprehensions and gotaways totaled at least 266,824; February’s numbers totaled at least 279,842; January’s totaled at least 215,998, according to the data.

The data is derived from official CBP reports in addition to gotaway data obtained by The Center Square from a Border Patrol agent. The agent provided the information on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. It only includes Border Patrol data and excludes Office of Field Operations data, meaning the numbers are higher than reported. CBP does not make public the gotaway data. If it did, the numbers would be higher.

Last month was an anomaly, with the Rio Grande Valley Sector of Texas reporting roughly one-third fewer gotaways than it

normally does, which indicates in part that there are fewer agents in the field to detect and report them. The majority of agents have been pulled off the line, away from their statutory duty of homeland security, to instead process a record number of foreign nationals who’ve illegally entered the U.S. to be released instead of removed.

The gotaway numbers also don’t tell the whole story, the Border Patrol agent and others in law enforcement have explained to The Center Square, because they don’t include unknown and unrecorded gotaways – as in the case of the RGV last month. Not all gotaways are recorded because not all are identified, meaning the number of those illegally entering the U.S. is expected to be much greater than reported.

The April numbers were released as CBP reported that at least 332 known or suspected terrorists have been apprehended at the southern and northern borders this fiscal year.

Former CBP Chief Tom Homan has warned that, “What’s happening is the greatest national security threat since 9/11. Border Patrol has arrested people from 171 countries.

Many of these countries are sponsors of terrorism.”

Pointing to the record number of gotaways, now estimated to total over 1.7 million since January 2021, he said, “If you don’t think a single one of the 1.7 million is coming from a country that sponsors terrorism, then you’re ignoring the data. That’s what makes this a huge national security issue.”

Because Border Patrol agents have been pulled off the line, “not doing their law enforcement mission to protect our nation,” former CBP chief Mark Morgan said, “our borders [are] completely wide open, completely vulnerable.”

As a result, he said, the Biden administration has “literally handed over operational control over to the cartels. With no agents on the line, the cartels exploit this every day.”

“The amount of drugs pouring in through the border kill 9,000 Americans every 30 days,”Chief Morgan said. “It’s equivalent to a fully loaded 737 [plane] crashing into a mountainside killing everybody on board –every single day.”

have been deemed historically significant or of “great artistic value.”

Dr. Matt Guilliams collects a specimen of the rare plant.

KRISTEN NELSON PHOTOS

Dr. Matt Guilliams, the Clifton Smith Herbarium curator and the Ken and Shirley Tucker Systematist, points at the Santa Ynez groundstar, which is smaller than a penny.

City facing expenditure reductions

CITY OF

“Many California cities, especially those along the coast (that) have a large proportion of their economic sectors relying on tourist activities, are in a similar situation as Santa Barbara,” said Santa Barbara Finance Director Keith DeMartini about budget challenges.

BUDGET

Continued from Page A1

economies.

Santa Barbara wasn’t alone.

“We are not necessarily unique when it comes to budget challenges,” Finance Director DeMartini said. “Many California cities, especially those along the coast (that) have a large proportion of their economic sectors relying on tourist activities, are in a similar situation as Santa Barbara.”

Because of COVID-19, people cut back on their discretionary spending, and visitors stopped visiting.

As a result, the city’s budget challenges “were exacerbated during COVID with significantly reduced sales tax and transient occupancy tax (TOT) revenues as well as other department revenues,” Mr. DeMartini said.

Revenue from both sales tax and TOT, along with property tax, fund the city’s General Fund, which at $221 million, makes up about a third of the proposed $667 million FY24 budget. The General Fund provides money for most city departments, including police, fire, and parks and recreation.

Property tax revenue remains stable, the finance director said, but the others?

“The tax revenues (from sales tax and TOT) have largely rebounded; however, we know that these large revenue sources are volatile and fluctuate with changes in the economy.”

The upshot?

“We have a structural deficit (in the General Fund) that needs to be addressed,” he said, echoing the alarm he first sounded on April 18 when he met with the Santa Barbara City Council to discuss the FY24 budget.

“Ongoing revenue is not enough,” he said, to close the gap between the money needed and the money on hand.

The result?

The FY24 budget needs to be cut by $3.8 million, of which $2.7 million is slated to come from departments funded by the General Fund. The remaining $1.1 million must come out of the city’s reserves. Fortunately, city staff had already prepared for the challenge.

“Staff have been actively

The top chart from the city of Santa Barbara shows the reductions summary for each General Fund department, their adopted Fiscal Year 2023 budgets, their proposed 2% budget cuts for Fiscal Year 2024 and their proposed 3% budget cuts for Fiscal Year 2025. The bottom chart shows those numbers for the Internal Service funds.

COURTESY CITY OF SANTA BARBARA

working toward addressing our current budget challenges for nearly a year,” Finance Director DeMartini said.

“The city has had to set expenditure reduction targets for departments receiving General Fund support for a few years now,” he said. “We have a process in place to understand our budget challenges through long-range, multi-year forecasting staff produces, and the development of operational changes in order to meet the targets.”

For Fiscal Year 2024, staff came up with recommendations to trim each department budget by 2% to help meet the $2.7 million budgetcutting goal.

“Staff developed proposals to achieve this target reduction including understanding any service level impacts that may result from the reduction,” Finance Director DeMartini said.

“Each of these targets were reviewed in detail with each department director,” he said. “The direction to each department was to develop their department budget proposals, including their plan to meet the expenditure reduction target, and review them with the city administrator in advance of the release of the recommended budget on 4/18. So each department developed their own recommendations.

“Each city department is presenting these reductions as part of their budget hearing presentations. I have sat in on and participated in each budget hearing, and will plan to do so throughout the process to support our staff and the city council.

“No one likes talking about expenditure reductions,” he said. “Staff is supporting the city council through this process by answering questions and providing further clarity and information.

“Ultimately, it’s up to the city council if they will agree with staff’s recommendation or make adjustments to them.”

The three General Fund

MORE NEXT WEEK

Parts 2 and 3 of the News-Press series on the city of Santa Barbara budget will appear in Monday’s and Tuesday’s editions of the News-Press.

departments with the largest budgets are police, fire, and parks and recreation. They’ve been asked to reduce their FY24 budgets by $986,718 (police), $623,026 (fire) and $289,824 (parks and recreation).

“Each General Fund department is proposing reductions that are unique for their operation,” the finance director said.

“The police department is proposing to continue to hold officer and other positions vacant, reduce hourly positions and purchase required equipment using Measure C funding,” he said.

“The fire department is proposing to hold positions vacant, purchase required equipment using Measure C funding and achieve various operating cost savings.

“The parks and recreation department is proposing to reallocate funding of certain positions and reduce some programming.”

The police and fire departments, along with other departments, held their budget hearings with the council earlier this month. “Parks and rec is scheduled to have their budget hearing on 5/25, where staff will discuss their proposed expenditure reductions in more detail,” Mr. DeMartini said.

In the end, it’s up to the council to decide by how much to reduce a department’s budget.

Already, some council members have talked about making changes in some of staff’s recommended budget cuts, including those proposed for public safety.

“During the police, fire and library budget hearings, a few council members indicated that they did not want to approve of some expenditure reduction targets that staff proposed,” Finance Director DeMartini said.

And as Council Finance Chair Eric Friedman told the NewsPress previously, “If council reduces a recommended reduction from one department (such as the discussion that was had with Public Safety), then other departments will have to absorb even larger cuts to their budgets.

“Ultimately, the decisions on where to cut are up to the council.”

email: nhartsteinnewspress@ gmail.com

Tim Scott files paperwork for presidential campaign

By CASEY HARPER

THE CENTER SQUARE

(The Center Square) – U.S.

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., filed the paperwork Friday to run for president.

The Federal Elections Commission website showed Sen. Scott’s filing Friday, putting him in an increasingly crowded Republican primary race led by former President Donald Trump.

According to polling released earlier this week by Morning Consult, Mr. Trump holds a significant lead in the Republican presidential primary with 61% support. The survey examined Republican candidates’ support among GOP primary voters. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has not yet announced his candidacy, came in second with 18%. Former Vice

President Mike Pence, who has also not announced, is in third with 6%.

Radio host and commentator Larry Elder, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy have already announced their candidacy. The Morning Consult poll put Ms. Haley and Mr. Ramaswamy tied at 4% support. Mr. Scott came in with 1% support.

Mr. Scott announced in April that he was launching an exploratory campaign.

“I will never back down in defense of the conservative values that make America exceptional,” Mr. Scott said in that announcement on Twitter.

As The Center Square previously reported, Scott’s April announcement included a video that focused on

American exceptionalism and pushed back on some of the controversial racial ideology promoted by many Democrats.

“Joe Biden and the radical left have chosen a culture of grievance over victimhood,” Mr. Scott said in the video. “They are promoting victimhood instead of personal responsibility, and they are indoctrinating our children to believe that we are living in an evil country, and all too often when they get called out for their failures, they weaponize race to divide us, to hold on to their power.”

The first GOP caucus is in Iowa on Jan. 22, 2024, and the first GOP primary is Jan. 30, 2024, in New Hampshire. However, the first tranch of states holding their presidential primary votes is in March of next year.

Plumbing HVAC

Roofing Insulation

Electrical General Carpentry

ADA Ramps

is looking for qualified and reliable contractors with compassion to join our team and help Santa Barbara County residents stay safe at home. If you are looking to increase your business, AND help our community, please call us!

VISIT: http://www.CommUnifySB.org

CALL: 805-964-8857 ext. #1145

EMAIL: klawrence@CommUnifySB.org

Program Director, Kemba Lawrence

SCAN:

COURTESY

SANTA BARBARA

Life theArts

‘Turtle Talk’

Santa Barbara Zoo hosts event to celebrate World Turtle Day

Copies of “The Book of Turtles” will be available for purchase at the “Turtle Talk” Tuesday evening at the Santa Barbara Zoo.

FYI

By MARILYN MCMAHON NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

The Santa Barbara Zoo is celebrating World Turtle Day, May 23, with naturalist and author Sy Montgomery and illustrator Matt Patterson, who will host a “Turtle Talk” from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday in the zoo’s Discovery Pavilion.

The event is free, but reservations are required. Nonalcoholic beverages will be served, and copies of “The Book of Turtles” will be available for purchase.

The picture book, which is suitable for both adults and children, features Mr. Patterson’s lifelike art, along with facts about turtle evolution, turtle talents, celebrity turtles and important information on how to help protect turtles.

The Western Pond Turtle, California’s only native turtle species, is in trouble, and the Santa Barbara Zoo is part of a national effort to help save it from extinction.

The Western pond turtle is one of the 10 species in SAFE (Saving Animals From Extinction), a partnership of the entire AZA-accredited zoo and aquarium community to focus on saving species in the wild through conservation science and wildlife expertise.

Only about 150 individual Western pond turtles are currently cared for in AZA organizations. The Santa Barbara Zoo’s turtles live in a

CALENDAR

pond across from the flamingos.

Lucky was found on a road in October 2016 with a serious eye injury; her left eye was later removed. She is not able to be re-released into the wild due to concerns about her vision. She arrived at the zoo in November 2018 with Female 507, who was found with her left rear leg missing.

Zig Zag, who came to the Santa Barbara Zoo with the other two females in November 2018, was named for the zig-zag swimming pattern she displays due to her missing legs.

The zoo also helps monitor turtles in Ventura County.

Unlike most Western pond turtles, who live in freshwater, the ones at the Point Mugu naval base are found in tidal channels and are regularly doused with seawater during high tides. This unusual adaptation could be important to the future of this “species of concern.”

U.S. Navy biologists have monitored the species since 2007, and in 2014 they began tracking a small number of females with radio-telemetry to determine if they were carrying eggs and reproducing.

The Santa Barbara Zoo joined these efforts in 2017 by providing staff on site to conduct physical examinations, draw blood and take x-ray images. Zoo

veterinary technician Cressa Nursement was among zoo staff

assisted at Point

email: mmcmahon@newspress. com

The California Strawberry Festival takes place today and Sunday at its new home — the Ventura County Fairgrounds (aka Seaside Park) in Ventura.

The calendar appears Mondays through Saturdays in the “Life & the Arts” section. Items are welcome. Please email them a full week before the event to Managing Editor Dave Mason at dmason@newspress.com.

TODAY 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The 37th annual California Strawberry Festival will be held at the Ventura County Fairgrounds, 10 W. Harbor Blvd. in Ventura. General admission is $15. For active military and their dependents with IDs and seniors 62 years and older, admission is $10, and for ages 5 to 12, admission is $8. Children 4 and under are free. Tickets can be purchased in advance at www. castrawberryfestival.org or upon entry to the festival.

10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, 2559 Puesta del Sol Road, has reopened its permanent mineral exhibit of rocks and crystals that is on view in the small hall off the museum’s central courtyard. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Mondays. The exhibit, which opened April 22, is included in museum admission. Members are always admitted free. For others, prices vary from $14 to $19. For more information, visit sbnature. org/minerals.

Noon to 5 p.m. “Clarence

Mattei: Portrait of a Community” is on view now through May at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum, which is located in downtown Santa Barbara at 136 E. De la Guerra St. Admission is free. Hours are currently from noon to 5 p.m. Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays and from noon to 7 p.m. Thursdays. For more information, visit www.sbhistorical. org.

Appointment on weekdays and 1 to 4 p.m. Saturdays. “Holly Hungett: Natural Interpretations” is on view through May 20 at the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara’s gallery, 229 E. Victoria St., Santa Barbara. For more information, call the foundation at 805-965-6307 or go to www.afsb. org.

3 to 8 p.m. Chubby Checker & the Wildcats will perform during a community block party from 3 to 8 p.m. Saturday at the Lobero Theatre’s esplanade, 33 E. Canon Perdido St., Santa Barbara. Performers also include Glen Phillips of Toad the Wet Sprocket fame, Spencer The Gardener and La Boheme Dancers. Admission is free for the event, which celebrates the theater’s 150th anniversary. 7 p.m. ¡Viva el Arte de Santa Bárbara! will present Las Cafeteras in a free concert at Guadalupe City Hall, 918 Obispo St., Guadalupe. The band is known for its mix of Afro-Mexican rhythms, electronic beats and music varying from Americana to soul, Son Jarocho, rock and hip hop.

MAY 21

10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The 37th annual California Strawberry Festival will be held at the Ventura County Fairgrounds, 10 W. Harbor Blvd. in Ventura. General admission is $15. For active military and their dependents with IDs and seniors 62 years and older, admission is $10, and for ages 5 to 12, admission is $8. Children 4 and under are free. Tickets can be purchased in advance at www. castrawberryfestival.org or upon

Managing Editor Dave Mason dmason@newspress.com

SATURDAY, MAY 20, 2023

COURTESY PHOTO

who

Mugu.

COURTESY PHOTOS

Lonesome George, a giant tortoise from the island of Pinta in the Galapagos Archipelago, lived to be 100. Sy Montgomery and Matt Patterson, who wrote “The Book of Turtles,” will host “Turtle Talk” Tuesday at the Santa Barbara Zoo.

The four-eyed turtle (Sacalia quadriocellata) gets its name from its distinctive spots.

Sy Montgomery and Matt Patterson will present “Turtle Talk” from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Santa Barbara Zoo’s Discovery Pavilion, 500 Ninos Drive, Santa Barbara. The event is free, but reservations are required. For more information and to reserve a spot, email rsvp@sbzoo.org.

There used to be a bumper sticker that read “He who dies with the most toys wins!”

Well, back when we could make money in our sleep, perhaps that thought had some humor and merit, but no longer. Winning at life is not about what you have.

It’s about how you feel.

These days, when you may be striving to make ends meet, it helps to look for pleasure in simplicity. Right now, living within your means is a very good thing, but you may need to create some room to have fun and enjoy your life.

Money almost always enters into the equation, but when it comes to positive emotions, not so much. When you’re no longer distracted by your activities or making plans, you’re engaged in simply “being.” For some people, this can be uncomfortable. You must learn to look for joy in just being alive. In any case, it beats

Having the most joy

the heck out of the alternative. The problem arises when what we want begins to overshadow the simple enjoyment of living.

Many people have discovered that they don’t need a big house and new cars to have a good life. Families have become closer than ever these days, as the world becomes more difficult to navigate and they need the emotional support. With this closeness comes the added benefit of giving you more love to draw upon, and that can only strengthen you and make your life easier.

Finding your own particular brand of joy can be a bit elusive, especially if you’ve never looked for it before. Some people find it in quiet time and solitary activities, while others need more energy and people around them. There is no one right way to experience — or bring more

Dos Pueblos students to perform ‘High School Musical!’

GOLETA — Dos Pueblos

Theatre Company is putting on “High School Musical!” on May 26.

The production is fully led and put together by Dos Pueblos High School theater students. Leyla Bulton and Jack Forgea are the directors.

The musical chronicles a high school love story, as the main characters Troy and Gabriella find themselves

choosing between music and school.

Tickets are $8 for general admission, $5 for seniors and students, and free for children 10 and under.

The performance will be at 7 p.m. May 26 at the Elings Performing Arts Center at Dos Pueblos High School, 7266 Alameda Ave., Goleta.

— Kira Logan

joy and positive energy into — your life.

Maybe you’ve always wanted to paint or to hike, bike, or play music. You need to be realistic and know that you probably won’t be going pro anytime soon. But the joy of being able to play Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” on the piano, or of hiking a mountain trail to sit by a waterfall, is truly great.

You may want to try something small at first, but remember, the world is your canvas.

Once you allow yourself to experience more joy, others will see it in you, and it will change the way you relate to them. When you’re happy, others will be more cheerful around you. You’ll also find yourself more open to trying new things. Even those unpleasant chores will become easier as you now have something to look forward to after finishing

them.

Some people take up sports or hobbies. Some even start new businesses to create something satisfying to work on and look forward to. Most people become happier with their lives when they take a risk, large or small, and decide to enjoy themselves along the way.

This may seem almost too simple. The good news is that it works. If you don’t think so right now, give it a try. You’ll get there.

Barton Goldsmith, Ph.D., is an award-winning psychotherapist and humanitarian. He is also a columnist, the author of eight books and a blogger for PsychologyToday.com with more than 28 million readers. He is available for video consults worldwide. Reach him at barton@bartongoldsmith.com or 818-879-9996. He has lived and practiced in Westlake Village for more than two decades. His column appears Saturdays and Mondays in the News-Press.

Protect Our Climate Campaign raises almost $17 million

By KIRA LOGAN NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT

Following the successful Earth Day Festival hosted at Alameda Park in Santa Barbara, CEO Sigrid Wright recently announced the success of the Community Environmental Council’s 50th Anniversary Protect Our Climate Campaign, with $16.97 million.

The pledged $16.97 million was in support of immediately tackling climate change on the Central Coast, and the raisings exceeded the CEC’s $15 million goal.

More than 300 donors gave their full support to reverse and repair what the CEC calls the climate change damage in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties.

Of the $16.97 million, $10.25 million is going toward funding a growth sprint of CEC’s climate programs and the build-out of an innovative Environmental Hub in Downtown Santa Barbara. The remaining pledges, of about $6.75 million, will be dedicated to the future of the organization.

There were several foundations and individuals who made $1 million-plus donations to the campaign: James S. Bower

Foundation, Patricia & Paul Bragg Foundation, Karen and John Jostes, and Zegar Family Foundation.

A cornerstone to this campaign was the creation and pitch of the Environmental Hub in Downtown Santa Barbara. CEC is planning to build a 10,000 square foot building, designed to be an epicenter for community activism and education.

“We are incredibly inspired by our community, which understands the pivotal moment we are in and sees CEC as a beacon of hope for protecting the Central Coast,” said CEO Sigrid Wright.

The campaign was led by a Steering Committee chaired by Jon Clark, President, James S. Bower Foundation, and Merryl & Chuck Zegar of the Zegar Family Foundation. Committee members included: Dennis Allen, Mary Becker, Leslie Bhutani, Emily Engel, Laura Francis, Carolyn Fitzgerald, Karl Hutterer, David Jackson, Pat McElroy, Maryanne Mott, Charles Newman, Matt Riley, Lisa Murphy Rivas, Ken Saxon, and Sigrid Wright.

email: klogan@newspress.com

UCSB to present Chekhov’s ‘Three Sisters’

The UCSB Department of Theatre and Dance is introducing a performance of Anton Chekhov’s “Three Sisters,” by the program’s first-year acting students.

The performance is set to open at 7 p.m. May 25 and will continue May 26 and 27 with performances at 7 p.m. The closing performance will be at 2 p.m. May 28.

The Russian playwright’s story has been interpreted by Libby Appel and is being directed by Annie Torsiglieri.

The students involved with the story will have spent 100 hours analyzing the text and its

CALENDAR

Continued from Page B1

entry to the festival.

2 p.m. Free concerts take place at 2 p.m. Sundays through July 9 at Hitching Post Wines’ tasting room, 420 State Route 246, Buellton. For more information, visit hpwines.com.

7 p.m. ¡Viva el Arte de Santa Bárbara! will present Las Cafeteras in a free concert at The Marjorie Luke Theatre at Santa Barbara Junior High School, 721 E, Cota St., Santa Barbara.

The band is known for its mix of AfroMexican rhythms, electronic beats and music varying from Americana to soul, Son Jarocho, rock and hip hop.

MAY 22

7:30 to 8:45 p.m. The Allan Hancock College Symphonic Band will perform at the Fine Arts Complex at the Santa Maria campus, 800 S. College Drive.

MAY 23 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The James Castle exhibit is on display at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1130 State St. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays

implications. The goal of this rigorous work is set by the Acting Up Front program, created by the UCSB bachelor’s in fine arts program, to allow performers to breathe life into the words and characters.

Audience members should be aware that they may be asked to shift their seating arrangement throughout the performance, and assistance will be available.

Admission is free, and the show will be located in UCSB’s Movement Studio, Theater/Dance West Room 1507.

— Kira Logan

through Sundays. Admission is free from 5 to 8 p.m. on Thursdays. For more information, see sbma.net.

MAY 26 9 p.m. Spooky Mansion will perform at SOhO Restaurant and Music Club, 1221 State St., Suite 205, Santa Barbara. The concert will also feature Tino Drima. Tickets cost $15 in advance and $18 at the door. To purchase, go to www.sohosb.com. The concert is for ages 21 and older.

JUNE 3

4 to 7 p.m. Zoo Brew, the Santa Barbara Zoo’s annual fundraiser that caters to beer and animal lovers alike, will take place from 4 to 7 p.m. with a VIP hour from 3 to 4 p.m. The zoo is at 500 Ninos Drive, Santa Barbara. General admission tickets are $75 per person and include unlimited beer tastings and one Zoo Brew 2023 commemorative tasting cup, and VIP tickets are $110. All proceeds benefit the animals at the Santa Barbara Zoo. For more information, call 805-9625339.

— Dave Mason

SUDOKU

Thought for Today

“Courage is fire, and bullying is smoke.”

— Benjamin Disraeli

HOROSCOPE

Horoscope.com

Saturday, May 20, 2023

ARIES — Today is your day, Aries! Do your best to make your mark on the people around you, especially those closest to your heart. You will outdo yourself, grabbing attention without even meaning to. You will be considered very attractive. Don’t be surprised if your calendar fills up.

TAURUS — You have an excellent day ahead, Taurus. It’s likely to open new horizons for you at a time when the future may have seemed bleak. If old issues related to your family resurfaced some time ago, they may be resolved in a surprising way today.

GEMINI — Several days ago you may have experienced a strong feeling of connection. People close to you opened their hearts and expressed their hopes for the future. Today you’re likely to feel new ambitions budding, Gemini, which may have been initiated by the earlier experience. The day’s aspects are bound to inspire you!

CANCER — There are some wonderful surprises in store for you, Cancer. They could come in the form of a new career opportunity or potential dates. With the current planetary aspects, you can avail yourself of the best ways to find personal and professional fulfillment.

LEO — You can look forward to a day full of satisfaction, Leo. You may have made a strong impression on the people around you as you learned to moderate your outspokenness. Supportive friends surround you today. Everyone seems willing to listen, and they trust you implicitly.

VIRGO — You’re definitely going to appreciate the harmony today, Virgo. After the confrontational mood of the past several days, it looks as though you will be able to rest a bit. If you feel somewhat weary, it’s for good reason. Today provides a good opportunity to rid yourself of the burdens people are trying to make you

carry.

LIBRA — The day will come when an authority applauds you for your work or research. Only then will you understand that you’ve let yourself be fooled by society. Much as you believe otherwise, society isn’t trying to stifle you or stop you from being you, Libra.

SCORPIO — You may feel that certain values in your profession won’t let you undertake certain activities. But are you sure about this, or have you tried to convince yourself of it so you won’t have to confront the part of you that yearns to explore? Perhaps you should try to be braver than you’ve been.

SAGITTARIUS — Here you go again, philosophizing about what personal expression, creation, and authenticity are all about. Have you noticed that you have some problems expressing issues that don’t fall within the norm, Sagittarius? Your strong will and desire to be appreciated get in your way.

CAPRICORN — Think about tolerance, Capricorn, and notice to what extent it can liberate you. If you let others do and think what they like, you will find that you grant yourself this same right. This is the issue of the day for you. It’s when you don’t allow cultural norms to ruffle your feathers that you can liberate yourself.

AQUARIUS — Why not say yes a little more than usual, Aquarius? You can be stubborn and want to do only what you want. It isn’t easy to lead you into the unknown. You like to prepare in advance. Today when people make unusual propositions, why not go agree? Go on — jump in without looking for a change. It will do wonders for your outlook.

PISCES — You could write fiction or journalism well today. There’s a good possibility that you have given some thought to a literary line of work. Why do you hesitate? It’s never too late. Find the time to write a story. If you have a negative attitude about the things you do, how will you get anything done?

DAILY BRIDGE

By FRANK STEWART Tribune Content Agency

Saturday, May 20, 2023

“Simple Saturday” columns focus on basic technique and logical thinking.

Beginners are taught to “return partner’s lead.” Indeed, not doing so is a near-felony. A shift is perilous: If you return partner’s lead and it doesn’t work well, unlucky; but if you switch and that’s wrong, he may want to stake you to an anthill.

Today’s West led the queen of spades against 3NT, and East correctly overtook with the king to get out of his partner’s way. South played low. Since East wanted to avoid recriminations, he returned his last spade.

NINE TRICKS

South won, lost a club finesse to East’s king, won a diamond shift and lost a heart finesse. He won the next diamond and had nine tricks.

East should see that returning West’s lead is futile. West can’t have an entry to his spades; the deck doesn’t have enough points. But if East shifts to a diamond at Trick Two (hoping West has the jack), careful defense beats the contract. East has the entries to set up and cash his own long suit.

Your partner opens one heart, and you respond

2NT (a conventional forcing raise). He then bids three spades. What do you say?

ANSWER: After your 2NT, partner’s three spades shows a spade singleton. The idea is to let you judge whether you have useful honors opposite his singleton. Here, the K-Q of spades would be wasted, but your ace is ideal. Cue-bid four diamonds to encourage slam. He may hold

INSTRUCTIONS

Fill in the grid so every row, every column and every 3-by-3 grid contains the digits 1 through 9. that means that no number is repeated in any row, column or box.

Sudoku puzzles appear on the Diversions page Monday-Saturday and on the crossword solutions page in Sunday’s Life section.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

CODEWORD PUZZLE

Answers to previous CODEWORD

How to play Codeword

Codeword is a fun game with simple rules, and a great way to test your knowledge of the English language. Every number in the codeword grid is ‘code’ for a letter of the alphabet. Thus, the number 2 may correspond to the letter L, for instance. All puzzles come with a few letters to start. Your first move should be to enter these letters in the puzzle grid. If the letter S is in the box at the bottom of the page underneath the number 2, your first move should be to find all cells numbered 2 in the grid and enter the letter S. Cross the letter S off the list at the bottom of the grid. Remember that at the end you should have a different letter of the alphabet in each of the numbered boxes 1- 26, and a word in English in each of the horizontal and vertical runs on the codeword grid.

PUZZLE

Clothing represents traditional Chinese opera

J.L., an outstanding Santa Barbara resident, has traveled the world. And she sends me a souvenir of the traditional Chinese opera, visited over 50 years ago when J.L. was a guest of the Chinese government. I am assuming that J.L. visited after the 1976 death of Mao Zedong, which would mean that the traditional Chinese opera she witnessed that night was a big deal, reserved for dignitaries.

That is because of the ideals of the Cultural Revolution, masterminded by Mao (and Madam Mao and others in the “gang”) that established the People’s Republic of China held high the aim of preserving Chinese communism by purging capitalistic ideas and traditional Chinese hierarchies.

To give you an example of how special a visit to the opera might have been about 50 year ago, in 1954 there were 2,000 governmentspecialized opera Troupes of 50100 performers each, who told the stories of many operas. After 1965 only eight “model operas” were allowed to be performed and were sanctioned by none other than Madame Mao (Jiang Qing), who was once an actress herself.

Lest you think that the traditional Chinese opera is like the Europeanstyle opera, it is not for many reasons. Perhaps the best reason is its longevity.

The opera goes back to the dawn of Chinese culture, some say somewhere around the third century, when it was first performed as a combination of music, singing, dance, martial arts, acrobatics, elaborate costumes with secret symbolism and make-up of the highest artistry, not to mention poetry and literature. The artform is so ancient that it matured in the 13th century (Song Dynasty 9601279).

So when J.L. was attending the opera in the 1970s, it was because it had been around for 2,000 years, and more than likely one revolution was not going to kill it. But it almost did. The Cultural Revolution had one knife in the back of traditional Chinese opera, and the other knife was fast coming when J.L. was witnessing this performance. That was called modernization, and the younger generation perceived it as a movement — from Chinese art forms to imported art forms.

By the time of JL’s visit, opera was not a young person’s theater. It was for the old, and it was on the verge of fading.

Today, however, opera is vibrant and thriving with some of the

favorite productions performed all over China. Each region has its own flavor of opera, but it is widely considered that Beijing Opera is the national theater of China. Some of the classic operas are “The Poppy Pavilion,” “The Peach Blossom Fan,” “Journey to the West” and “Romance of the Three Kingdoms.”

J.L. would like to find a home for the costumes and asked me to mention their provenance. Going one step further, in each area of China, the costumes are slightly different. Due to the very bright colors and embroidery, I suspect J.L.”s costumes are from the Beijing Opera.

However, I do know that colors mean something nationwide. Costumes indicate social hierarchy and are a code to the audience. Each class of people is represented by a certain style of clothing, and certain forms of clothing are reserved for certain types of performers. The graceful dancers will wear “water sleeves” — elongated flowing silk sleeves touching the stage floor, swirling around the body.

J.L. had the honor of attending after China was semi-opened to the West after the death of Mao. After the performance, she was taken back to the opera’s costume department, where she was invited to pick out a costume to purchase. She picked out a navy blue silk coat trimmed in royal blue, embroidered, and a matching tall, squared hat, set on top with a plume of the symbol for fire. The coat is lined with white silk. And she picked a tall yelloworange squared hat; the back with a drape of orange embroidered silk lined with blue, and two long strips of white silk hanging on either side of the face.

J.L.’s blue coat being blue represents characteristics of the character. Blue stands for ferocity and courage on one hand and cruelness and violence on the other. Yellow stands for a character who is clever, secretive, mysterious and evil.

I attempted to find the value of this era of opera clothing, and it seems that the coat should be worth $600 along with the matching hat, and the yelloworange hat, worn so beautifully by J.L., would fall in a value range of $100-$200.

Dr. Elizabeth Stewart’s “Ask the Gold Digger” column appears Saturdays in the News-Press.

Written after her father’s COVID-19 diagnosis, Dr. Stewart’s book “My Darlin’ Quarantine: Intimate Connections Created in Chaos” is a humorous collection of five “what-if” short stories that end in personal triumphs over presentday constrictions. It’s available at Chaucer’s in Santa Barbara.

June entertainment at Cold Spring Tavern

SANTA BARBARA — Cold Spring Tavern has announced its schedule for its music lineup during June.

The McGuire/Moffet Band and Cadillac Angels will kick off the month, performing on June 3 from 1:30-4:30 p.m. as well as 5-8 p.m.

On June 4, 11 and 18, Tom Ball and Kenny Sultan will perform from 1:30-4:30 p.m with their mix of guitar and harmonica blues, rags and good-time music.

Kelly’s Lot will start the performances on June 10 at 1:304:30 p.m. Low Down Dudes, a

garage rock band from Santa Ynez, will then take the stage that night at 5-8 p.m.

On June 17, Cyrus Clarke will perform at 1:30-4:30 p.m., and Pick Up 6 will perform 5-8 p.m. The Salt Martians and Hoodlum Friends will end the month on June 24, with its performances from 1:30-4:30 p.m. and 5-8 p.m.

Cold Spring Tavern is located at 5995 Stagecoach Road, Santa Barbara. For more information, visit www.coldspringtavern.com.

— Annika Bahnsen

Foundation awards $7.2 million in scholarships

By KIRA LOGAN NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT

The Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara has recently awarded college scholarships, nearing a total of $7.2 million presented to 1,864 Santa Barbara County students for the 2023-2024 academic year.

High school seniors were notified of their awards on April 21, and all other recipients were notified on May 15.

Of the $7,190,758 awarded this year, $3,523,780 will help support

students in North County communities, and $3,666,478 will help support students in South County communities. Scholarship awards for undergraduate students average $3,331. For both graduate and undergraduate students, awards average at $3,858. Scholarships can be used for college, graduate, and vocational studies, which includes law school and medical school.

“We are tremendously proud of our efforts to help Santa Barbara County students access postsecondary education, and thank our many generous donors who make these scholarships possible,” said Interim Scholarship Foundation President and CEO Mary Dwyer.

The Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara has cumulatively awarded more than $140 million to more than 60,000 county students since its founding in 1962.

The Scholarship Foundation also provides free financial aid advising services. For additional information, visit www. sbscholarship.org.

email: klogan@newspress.com

COURTESY PHOTOS

At top, J.L. wears a yellow-orange hat, a souvenir from a traditional Chinese opera she watched as a guest of the Chinese government in the 1970s. Above, columnist Elizabeth Stewart estimates this Chinese opera clothing is valued at $600.

ANDY CALDWELL:

Exodus from California/ C2

DID YOU KNOW?

Bonnie Donovan

e perils of communism, socialism

Editor’s note: This is part 2 of a column on Communists/ socialists actions identified to take over control of America.

Last week we discussed eight, Communist/ Socialist tasks necessary for the takeover of America. This week we will discuss the remaining 10 tasks selected from the group of 45 tasks read into the congressional record in 1963.

9. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the grounds that it violates the principle of “separation of church and state”.

Socialists and Communists recognize that religious beliefs are antithetical to the outright acceptance of socialist or communist absolute control of society.

e big lie: Trump’s ‘Russian collusion’

Who would have thought that an offthe-cuff statement by Donald Trump during a televised debate with Hillary Clinton during the run-up to the 2016 presidential election would have led to an ugly and convoluted set of circumstances that resulted in the dissembling of the Trump presidency? But it apparently did.

“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’ll be able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,”

Mr. Trump quipped during that televised debate. And that’s what set everything in motion.

Hard to believe, but there was a large group of Democratic operatives just waiting to unload on Mr. Trump at the first opportunity, and this proved to be that opportunity.

The first incident in this tangled web of accusations and falsehoods began with, according to Special Counsel John Durham’s report, “comments reportedly made in a tavern on May 6, 2016, by George Papadopoulos, an unpaid foreign policy advisor to the Trump campaign.”

Upon receipt of this “unevaluated intelligence information from Australia, the FBI (specifically Deputy Assistant Director for Counterintelligence Peter Strzok and Deputy Director

Andrew McCabe) swiftly opened Crossfire Hurricane immediately.”

Agent Strzok was already on record as referring to Mr. Trump as “loathsome,” “an idiot,” “someone who should lose to Clinton 100,000,000 to 0,” and a person who “we’ll stop from becoming President.”

Durham’s report details how the director of the CIA briefed President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, FBI Director James Comey and others that there was evidence the Hillary Clinton campaign was planning “to vilify Trump by tying him to Vladimir Putin so as to divert attention from her own concerns relating to her use of a private email server.” Within days, the FBI launched its Trump campaign probe Crossfire Hurricane and opened full investigations on four members of the Trump campaign team: George Papadopoulos, Carter Page, Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn.

Hillary’s team, meanwhile, had its Steele Dossier, put together by ex-Brit counterintelligence officer Christopher Steele, at the ready.

Mr. Steele’s main source of what turned out to have been Russian disinformation was Igor

Danchenko, a man identified as an associate of two FBI counterintelligence subjects and who had previous contact with the Russian Embassy and known Russian intelligence officers.

Another of Mr. Steele’s sources was a man named Charles Dolan, a Virginia-based public relations professional “who had previously held multiple positions and roles in the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Party.” Mr. Dolan was known to have maintained relationships with several key Russian government officials, including Dimitry Peskov, the powerful press secretary of the Russian presidential administration.

“…during the relevant time period,” the report continues, “Dolan maintained a business relationship with Olga Galkina, a childhood friend of Danchenko, who, according to Danchenko, was a key source for many of the allegations contained in the Steele Reports. In fact, when Galkina was interviewed by the FBI in August 2017, she admitted to providing Dolan with information that would later appear in the Steele Reports.”

Nevertheless, and though the FBI was aware of Dolan and his connections with the Democrat

Party, no agent ever interviewed him. Can you say Ray Epps?

In other words, the Hillary Clinton campaign used unverified and uncorroborated Russian disinformation as its instrument to smear Donald Trump with the charge of collusion with Russia. And the FBI didn’t bother to follow up on a lead that could have exonerated the president.

Everything Trump supporters suspected at first and then understood instinctively was all in fact, accurate.

That, right from the start, the efforts to prevent Donald Trump from ever getting elected and afterward the effort to remove him was indeed a “Witch Hunt.”

That presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign really was “bugged,” just as Mr. Trump had charged.

That there was no “collusion” between President Donald Trump, or any of his associates, relatives, pals, or acquaintances with Russia or President Putin.

That the “Steele Dossier” was a load of rubbish, or as President Biden called the very real Hunter Biden laptop (knowing he was lying), “garbage.”

That FBI Director James Comey had it in for President Trump and skirted FBI protocols and procedures to pursue a case against President Trump.

That FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page really were out to make sure Mr. Trump would not be elected president.

That the Steele Dossier used as evidence to initiate FISA court searches was bought and paid for by the Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign.

That the first impeachment effort against President Trump was a sham, perpetrated by the Hillary campaign and pursued by FBI agents at the top of the food chain. The second impeachment attempt was simply political madness.

There’s more, much more, and the conclusion of the 306-page report (all of which I just finished reading) is that the FBI failed in its stated goal of maintaining “fidelity, bravery and integrity” during its assigned duties.

“Given the foregoing,” the report concludes, “and viewing the facts in a light most favorable to the Crossfire Hurricane investigators … it is the Office’s assessment that the FBI discounted or willfully ignored material information that did not support the narrative of a collusive relationship between Trump and Russia.”

Similarly, the FBI Inspection Division Report says that the investigators “repeatedly ignore(d) or explain(ed) away evidence

Please see BUCKLEY on C4

Kamala Harris named new arti cial intelligence czar?

“Because as we all know, elections matter. And when folks vote, they order what they want. And in this case they got exactly what they asked for in me and President Biden.”

Kamala Harris

—

Artificial intelligence is perceiving, synthesizing and inferring information and conclusions by machines opposed to intelligence displayed by humans. It employs speech recognition, computer vision and the translation of languages as well as other output depicting automated decision-making.

A.I. applications are included in web search engines such as Google, Amazon, Netflix and YouTube. It understands speech with programs such as Siri and Alexa and controls self-driving cars (i.e. Waymo). Its creative tools, ChatGPT and AI art, make automated decisions, to compete

in games that require strategy.

This was taken from a science textbook in an effort to determine what A.I. is, how it works, where it is used and its influence today. It is the product of a complex Rubik cube of data used by invented brains from robotic computers.

“The art of simplicity is a puzzle of complexity.”

—

Douglas Horton

Artificial intelligence appeared as an academic discipline in 1956. When introduced, it created a wave of optimism. Due to its complexity, few industries invested in it because they didn’t see its value. But through the years, it has found a home to modernize aspects of research used today.

In the first decades, highly mathematical and statistical machine learning had dominated the field of artificial intelligence. This technique has proven highly successful in helping to solve challenging problems throughout

various industries and assisting in academic predictions for future technology.

A.I. draws upon science, psychology, linguistics, philosophy and other studies of academia mixed together. It is subject to debate if it is an exact science since men input data.

“Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.”

— Martin Luther King

It was not until 2000 that A.I. found a home on the information highway. Since it is based on supervised learning, it requires human data input for what it produces. It takes an unbiased intelligent person to migrate its data and an equally intelligent group of people to interpret and utilize its information.

There are valid concerns surrounding our reliance on the steady development of A.I. since it relies on omnibus information fed into computers.

Last week when President Joe Biden named Vice President Kamala Harris czar of A.I. for America, this odd new title sparked skeptical reactions from people across the U.S. President Biden said, “Kamala is responsible to monitor A.I.’s rapid growth and ensure that its information meets our criteria and it does not negatively impact this administration’s objectives or its objectives.”

“It’s time for us to do what we have been doing, and that time to do it is everyday.”

— Kamala Harris

In the last century, Lenin, Stalin and Mao used persecution of religion as a keystone in their attempts to obliterate religious freedom and beliefs. When this became difficult in Russia, Stalin took over the Russian Orthodox Church and allowed it to co-exist under communist supervision.

In America, the use of the principle of separation of church and state has been corrupted to allow government intrusion into the practice of religion. The original purpose of this principle was to erect a wall of separation to prevent the government from interfering in religious practice, not the other way around.

10. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it “inadequate and oldfashioned.”

Today, we see more and more attacks by socialists in power to remove, or reduce, the Constitution of the United States.

We see it in many attempts to undermine our system of democracy by efforts to eliminate the Electoral College in presidential elections. Efforts to pack the Supreme Court with openly socialist judges. Frequent challenges to the amendments to the constitution, which stand in the way of socialist domination. And many other indirect attacks on the laws and practices that guarantee the freedom of Americans.

11. Discredit the Founding Fathers as selfish aristocrats and racists.

It has become very obvious that members and supporters of the Marxist Organization, known as Black Lives Matter, and other Socialist and Marxist-affiliated groups have a self-interest in demeaning our founding fathers, who, perhaps, were among the wisest men ever produced in America. Their work to create the Constitution, to accomplish the integration of the states and anticipate the growth of America set our democracy on a stable path unparalleled in the modern world.

12. Belittle American culture and discourage teaching of American history. The foundation for implanting communism and socialism into a democratic society is to destroy knowledge of the past that resulted in the establishment of current democratic norms. To do this it is necessary to first destroy the accepted belief systems expressed in current culture and the history upon which our democracy was built. And then, to introduce a new, manufactured reality to replace the old one. We see this happening in our public schools, universities and

The Durham Report shows that there was indeed a witch hunt

William Haupt III

The author is a Center Square contributor

James Buckley

PURELY POLITICAL

COURTESY PHOTOS

President Donald Trump

Special Counsel John Durham

News-Press columnist Henry Schulte discusses what he calls the failed attempts to make Vice President Kamala Harris more credible. C2

FBI’s treasonous conduct

Editor’s note: While this is addressed to U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, the writer of the letter intended it to be published in the News-Press.

time took away citizens’ freedoms. If this mess is our fault, maybe we should take a little more responsibility to make it right. If we don’t, China will replace us as Big Brother in the Americas, and our grandchildren will be working for Xi Jinping.

Assemblyman Gregg Hart, D-Santa Barbara, support pending legislation to pay up to $350,000 per descendant of blacks in the country by 1900? Or only in the California? Or will each focus forward and not fixate on looking in the rear view mirror?

Wendy McCaw

von Wiesenberger Co-Publisher Co-Publisher

GUEST OPINION

C ongressman Carbajal, Now that the Durham probe report is completed, revealing no Russian Collusions, I’d like you, as my congressman, to begin a probe of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

It is clear that the FBI, et al., were attempting an American presidency coup d’état. In my opinion, this is a treasonous act involving elite FBI officers,.,et al., and this needs to be investigated and the officers prosecuted. Anything less continues to shroud the FBI in suspicions of criminal activity.

Our top law enforcement agency has been corrupted! You, as an American, Congressman Carbajal, need to act upon this information and hold accountable our most important law enforcement agency for its treasonous conduct! Thank you.

Michael C. Schaumburg Santa Barbara

U.S. started this mess

E ver wonder why so many folks are teeming at our southern border today?

Go east to flee the CApocalypse!

Every Friday on my KZSB AM 1290 radio show, I interview Steven Greenhut, the western region director for the R Street Institute and a reporter for numerous state and national publications, including the Orange County Register, American Spectator and many others.

We recently discussed two columns that he wrote having to do with the double-edged sword of the overwrought and overbearing regulatory state in California and the mass exodus of 1.5 million people in the past 12 years. Mr. Greenhut quipped that if you don’t want to slog through the classic Atlas Shrugged to see what happens when a socialist government comes crashing down because entrepreneurs would rather flee than be strangled to death, then you can just watch what is happening in California instead. He has a point, as usual.

Regarding the exodus from California, between 2010 and 2020, one million people left the state, resulting in the loss of one congressional district in Congress. That had never happened before, as in the past California only knew growth.

What is more disturbing is that in the last two years, another 500,000 have left the state, meaning the exodus has become a stampede including some of the wealthiest people in the state. And who can blame them? Moreover, this is extremely problematic for state finances as California is nearly completely dependent on taxing the rich to pay its bills.

The exodus has typically been marked by people leaving due to the high cost of living, including housing, taxes and limited opportunities. Crime, homelessness and failing schools would also explain why people are leaving in droves. Of course, the overwrought shutdown of our economy in 2020 because of COVID also created an epiphany-type awareness that the people who work here don’t necessarily have to live here. Hence, the huge number of people leaving for the exit sign marked “Go East.”

We also discussed the twofold attack on two critical components of our society and economy, energy, and trucking. Truly, every single

product affecting every facet of our life depends upon the use of energy. As California would mandate it, state officials want us to become 100% dependent upon electricity while abandoning the use of all fossil fuels, even though the overwhelming majority of electrical generation in America is still produced by fossil fuels, including natural gas and coal. This war against fossil fuels is thereby nothing less than energy suicide.

The second battle against trucking is related. Ninety percent of all consumer goods in our society is delivered somewhere along the supply chain on a truck — a diesel-fueled truck, to be specific. Years ago, by hook and crook, the California Air Resources Board promulgated the “diesel engine rule,” which required all diesel engines to be replaced with a new engine.

This rule cost the California economy some $20 billion as it affected not only the transportation sector, but also farming and construction, because they all use diesel engines. So, after having spent all that money, now CARB wants to eliminate diesel engines altogether (they are merely starting with trucks and force businesses to go all in with electric vehicles.

There are four obvious problems here.

First, electric motors for these types of uses are costprohibitive, costing at least three times as much as a diesel engine.

Second, they are in short supply.

Third, there are virtually no charging stations throughout the state for these heavy-duty motors.

And fourth, California does not and will not have enough electrical generation from renewables to recharge these many vehicles anytime soon.

Only fools would abandon something that works when you don’t have a realistic alternative to replace the same. What would you expect from the same people who continue to spend billions on the high-speed rail to nowhere?

It is because we have been such a bad neighbor to Central and South America for the past 175 years.

In the first place, we started a war with Mexico in 1848, marched our troops down to Mexico City, and made a deal to withdraw if Mexico gave us California, Arizona and New Mexico. We took away nearly half of Mexico’s land and more than half of their wealth.

Since then, America has been busy exploiting other countries down south by forcing economic policies favorable to big business and big banks in the U.S. Quite often we supported dictators who were willing to implement our economic policies, but at the same

Kimball Shinkoskey Woods Cross, Utah (Former Goleta resident)

Reparations proposal raises questions

We need to know the positions of our elected leaders on debt-ridden California-paying reparations to “descendants of enslaved or free black people who were in the country by the end of the 19th century.”

Make note of the wording: “in the country,” not just in the state of California by 1900. The difference is eligible descendants totaling 8,819,144 additional persons!

In 1900, there were about 8.8 million blacks in America, and virtually none in California. Less than 1% (14,850 blacks) of 1,485,053 counted persons were in California CA. (In 1900, Native Americans were not counted.) None were enslaved. (The state’s demographics changed in the 1940 during World War II.)

We know the complexities of the issue — from redlining, lending practices, access to employment and other policies that denied equal access based on race to blacks and Asians. (An example is The Chinese Exclusion Act).

I get it. I studied it, and I was raised to advocate the issue of freedom and opportunity for all.

My great-grandfather George East carried the American/Union Flag in the bloody Civil War battles of Antietam and Gettysburg. Thousands died to free all those who were enslaved, including the 20-25 members of the color guard in each battle protecting our flag. Lincoln Republicans fought to free all men regardless of race, color or creed.

With that said, the question is: Do State Sen. Monique Limon, D-Santa Barbara, and

As constituents, we must know if either will be introducing legislation to fund reparations, Or will they ask U.S. Rep Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, to introduce legislation for federal funding from our bankrupt government?

After all, the California proposal will apply to all black descendants in the country — not just those who were in California before 1900.

Let’s get answers!

Denice Spangler Adams Montecito

FBI is busted

Recently, special counsel John Durham released his final report. He concluded the FBI had no verified intel when it opened the Crossfire Hurricane investigation into Donald Trump in 2016. The American public was lied to for years as the intel community worked to accomplish their coup against President Trump.

Everyone lied about this issue. Including Loretta Lynch, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Sally Yates, Lisa Page, Peter Strok and Nelle and Bruce Ohr.

Will anyone be held accountable for this corruption? Will there be arrests? Will Clinton be held accountable?

What will be done to prevent this from happening again?

Probably nothing.

Sadly, we are living through the most corrupt time in American history, and there is a double standard today.

If you are on the left, you get by with everything. If you are on the right, you are guilty of everything.

And the media is completely corrupted.

As an free independent Republic, we need to do better and clean up our act. Otherwise, our republic is doomed.

Don Thorn Carpinteria

The failures to change Kamala Harris’ image

Most of our attention has been given to President Joe Biden because he is the “elected” one. Even though it’s hard to accept and frightening to grasp, he’s the face of the United States.

But with things gearing up for the next presidential election, our focus no longer needs to be on Ole Joe. His party doesn’t even want him, and he’s no longer relevant — actually never has been.

With Donald Trump gaining strength and Joe going the other way, members of the Biden Cartel must readjust their game plan. In the process, they’re having a difficult time trying to figure out what to do with Vice President Kamala Harris.

In an attempt to elevate her status, likeability and give her some credibility the Biden cartel tossed her some token titles.

The Border Czar was the first attempt.

However, if you are going to oversee the border, you have to go to the border. Her dance around was she was going to deal with the “root problem,” somewhere in Central America. The root problem is right here: It’s her and her boss.

If we stood our ground, managed our border, made it clear, not to the migrants, but to Mexico, that we won’t allow anyone into the States until Mexico gets its act together, we wouldn’t be in this mess. No phony asylum stuff. No shoving babies over the fence. We will not tolerate human trafficking and make the murderous cartels billionaires. That’s how we deal with it.

Mexico allowed the migrants to cross other borders to get into their country, then gave them a travel-free green card to get them out of their hair.

Mexico made their problem our problem.

Round two: Create a Ukraine Czar.

Kamala Harris, who climbed the political ladder not on smarts (I won’t go low here) but because she was another chosen one, being a woman of color; even though the left still can’t define “female.”

This woman, with zero experience in practically nothing, was supposed to figure out how to deal with Russia and equally corrupt Ukraine? Give me a break. That’s no different than giving the job to my 17-year-old granddaughter.

An expanding Red Empire. An American province of China. China is the Red Army, and the Communist Party is its face.

What is President Joe Biden doing? He is senile, has no idea what he is doing and is told what to do by those behind the scenes. And they are told what to do by the Chinese operatives.

Who is the Biden we see today? He seldom showed himself during the election. Everything Mr. Biden and his associates have done since his election has been to harm the America we know. Opening the borders lets in the Chinese-made drugs, and the illegal aliens are totally under the control of the drug cartels. The illegal aliens spread out across the country like tentacles and are undermining every area of the country.

The Chinese are practicing reverse opium wars on us as England did on them. The Chinese plan is to dope us to their submission. Their plan is under way right now.

Joe Biden is helping the Chinese

make us their subjects and a client province with a well-paid Biden as their satrap or governor.

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

The Chinese Communist Party designed itself around the Russian 1950s Joseph Stalin’s iron-fist Communist Party. All religion was out, and all efforts were made to prove that communism is the only way to live in this world and that capitalism is the curse of mankind. Under the Chinese system, all of the past was eliminated, and all people and businesses are the property of the communist state of China. All were brainwashed to support and believe in this system only.

Like Russia, China’s plan was to dominate the whole free world. From the Chinese perspective, the most evil country is the capitalist U.S.A. If China can control it, it can control the rest of the world. So China set out to do just that.

China has willing helpers with presidents — George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and now Joe Biden. American companies have turned over their production to Chinese sources and

have become the vassals of China for their profits.

The approach is longtime Chinese: Ingratiate yourselves, befriend, then control. Like the mafia, there is no way out.

U.S. media are all kowtowing to Chinese wishes to operate in their country. The universities have been taken over by 400,000 students who are here to steal our technology and are, in fact, spies for China. They in turn control the views of the universities.

But the Chinese got a big surprise.

Donald Trump was elected president, and he knew just what China was up to and tried to turn things around in favor of the American citizens and against their agents in the Washington swamp.

China did “humor” President Donald Trump but had to stop him from imposing endless tariffs to balance the trade deficits between China and the U.S. The tariffs were having a negative effect on the Chinese economy. So out of the blue, one of the most despicable events happened: China unleashed on the world the COVID-19 virus.

For years, the American NIH

You have seasoned men, who have no respect for women anyway, expected to heed a woman. A woman who’s unable to put a cohesive sentence together, a woman who described Ukraine as a country next to a bigger country. Those soldiers and politicians wet their pants with laughter.

And I’m not disparaging women. Women are perfectly capable of handling that job — just not Vice President Harris.

Like the southern border, she hasn’t visited the Russian border either.

Then we have the latest trial balloon as A.I. Czar. The only thing she knows about artificial intelligence is that she has it.

Again, you think the powerful minds that be, the scientists, the corporate heads, men and women, will look to Ms. Harris as someone who can offer and help or advise on something even the smartest people in the world don’t know how to handle. Her best bet is to use A.I. to create her likeness and present a dynamic word salad on Zoom. She couldn’t get away

Andy Caldwell is the COLAB executive director and host of “The Andy Caldwell

Arthur

Andy Caldwell

Henry Schulte

The author lives in Solvang

How to honor our officers during National Police Week

Iwas proud and moved to participate in opening ceremonies at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C., commemorating National Police Week.

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed the proclamation, designating May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day and establishing the week in which this occurs as National Police Week.

It seems another strange and discomforting irony that the president who moved to establish a national day and week to memorialize police officers who have fallen in the line of duty is a president who himself was murdered.

Scripture always speaks loudest to me, so the inscription on the memorial taken from the opening verses from Proverbs 28 immediately jumped out and captured me.

“The wicked flee when no man pursueth. But the righteous are as

bold as a lion.”

The verses that immediately follow, which don’t appear, are equally worth noting.

“When the land is sinful, its princes are numerous. But when there is a judicious man, knowing what is right, he shall endure.”

King Solomon, the author of the Book of Proverbs, the wisest of kings, shows the timelessness of wisdom. His words of thousands of years ago ring true to us today.

Indeed, in our nation today, our “princes are numerous.” That is, government grows and grows. Our debt ceiling debates reflect government that has grown far beyond our resources. And this is happening, and getting worse each day, because we look to the government to solve problems for which individual citizens should be taking personal responsibility.

As I write, news is reported of yet another pointless,

meaningless, gratuitous act of violence and murder. Three civilians killed and two police officers in New Mexico shot by a berserk individual with a gun. The report includes the now all-toofamiliar words: “A motive is also unknown at this time.”

The Hill, which reported the story, conveys that “According to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive, the country has logged more than 200 mass shootings since the start of the year.”

A just and peaceful society must have an outside and an inside.

On the outside, we have government, laws and peace officers, patrolling our streets, whom we choose to recognize and honor during National Police Week.

Those incidents, which are really the exception to the rule, when policemen act wrongly, get disproportionate attention.

Because we have become a society with no inside, just an outside, we’re always looking for whom to blame. The last place we want to look is inside ourselves.

But a society must have an inside as well as an outside.

As The Wall Street Journal recently reported in its new poll with NORC at the University of Chicago, only 39% today say religion is “very important” to them, compared to 62% in 1998 who said religion is “very important.”

Only 31% of those under 30 say religion is “very important.”

Unfortunately, these polls do not ask individuals who say religion is not important how they discern right and wrong, or even if there is such a thing.

The “inside” rules, which shine the light for self-governance, are flickering or gone altogether.

The result is the chaos we are now experiencing.

Fortunately, we still have brave and principled men and women who are willing to put

President Ramaswamy?

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is obviously a long shot presidential candidate, but he’s refreshing. Unlike most politicians, he speaks clearly and seems smart.

He probably is smart. He went to Harvard and Yale and then founded a biotech firm that creates drugs that treat prostate cancer, endometriosis, fibroids and more.

That made me ask him, since he clearly helped people as a medical entrepreneur, why go into politics, when most politicians are useless or destructive?

“I am in this race to speak truth,” Mr. Ramaswamy says in my new video. “To revive our missing national identity.”

Most Americans, he says, don’t know “We’re a nation built on the rule of law, free speech and open debate, that we embrace meritocracy over grievance, that we embrace the unapologetic pursuit of excellence.”

In other words, Mr. Ramaswamy is running as the “anti-woke” candidate. “Wokeness,” he says, “is a cultural cancer.”

I ask him about the border crisis.

“A nation built on the rule of law,” he answers, “cannot tolerate somebody breaking the law as their first act of entering this country.”

His parents came here legally from India. But our rules are tougher today.

“An Indian computer engineer who applied legally,” I point out, “would take 20, 50, 100 years to get in.”

Mr. Ramaswamy answers that there should be “’merit-based’ immigration.” Skilled migrants should get preference.

What would he do about Social Security and Medicare going broke?

“Democrats say we need to increase taxes. Republicans say we have to make cuts. There’s a third way: restoring GDP growth ... We will grow our way out of our problems.”

He’d speed growth by “abandoning the climate cult, drilling more, fracking more, burning coal unapologetically.”

“Coal is really polluting,” I point out.

“I don’t think it’s nearly as pollutive as the public narrative makes it out to be, especially with

modern methods,” he replies.

He embraces nuclear power.

“The very people opposed to fossil fuels are mysteriously hostile to the best-known form of carbonfree energy production, which tells you what’s going on.” The “climate cult” rejects nuclear power, he says, because it might be “too good at addressing their made-up climate crisis.”

Promoting free and open speech is one of Mr. Ramaswamy’s favorite issues. After George Floyd was killed, many company CEOs issued statements supporting Black Lives Matter.

Mr. Ramaswamy refused because

BLM criticized what it called the “Western-prescribed nuclear family.” A nuclear family is something Ramaswamy (and I) consider a good thing.

Mr. Ramaswamy’s refusal to endorse BLM brought pushback from some employees. Workers who agreed with him would only tell him privately. “This culture of fear had spread across the country. It prevented people from expressing themselves in public.”

Mr. Ramaswamy wants all ideas expressed, even those considered “misinformation” or “hateful.” “That’s part of what preserves peace in a diverse democracy.”

on a uniform, patrol our cities at personal risk, and help maintain the law, order and peace without which no society can function.

But as part of honoring them, let’s step up and let them know that we’re in the game with them. Restoring an “inside,” recognition of right and wrong and personal responsibility, in a society in which these are becoming lost, is not easy.

One way to start is — when we hear politicians saying our answers are in more government, more spending, more politics — to know it’s time to change the channel.

Star Parker is president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education and host of the weekly television show “Cure America with Star Parker.” To find out more about Star Parker and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit www.creators.com.

Copyright 2023 by Creators.com.

Local British elections have national, global implications

‘The Liberal Democrats won a huge haul of more than 200 net seat gains.”

This is how The Guardian in Britain described the significant gains by this third party in local elections held in May one year ago. This May, the Liberal Democrats did even better, with 400 net gains.

This is startling indeed, since the party increased its seats by 700 in 2019, the last time these specific seats were contested.

The Green Party also made significant advances.

The Guardian, a longestablished newspaper, is sympathetic editorially to the Liberal Democrats and its predecessor, the Liberal Party.

Suppression of speech, he says, leads to more hatred and outbreaks like the riot at the Capitol.

“I don’t think Jan. 6 happened because we had too much free speech,” he says. “It happened because we didn’t have enough.”

When people don’t feel they can freely say what they think, “people are left to just sort it out with sticks and stones,” he says.

Mr. Ramaswamy’s new book, “Capitalist Punishment,” criticizes big Wall Street firms for investing your retirement funds in companies that claim to promote the environment or social justice.

I push back. “That sounds good!

Americans agree that we should have a clean environment and be ‘socially kind.’”

Today’s ESG asset managers don’t do that, says Mr. Ramaswamy. Most just advance “progressive political agendas.”

Mr. Ramaswamy created his own investment firm, Strive Asset Management, which invests money in firms that simply maximize profits, without promising ESG magic.

“Your fund has higher expense fees,” I say, because a Forbes article claimed that.

“Drivel!” he replies. He says they write that because political insiders don’t like him. “It’s an ideological cartel. Defect from that orthodoxy, they will punish the defector. I refuse to stand by silently.”

I’m glad Mr. Ramaswamy refuses to be silent. America needs candidates who speak freely.

Every Tuesday at JohnStossel.com, Mr. Stossel posts a new video about the battle between government and freedom. He is the author of “Give Me a Break: How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media.”

Copyright 2022 BY JFS Productions Inc.

Medicaid expansion is unsustainable

Editor’s note: While this commentary addresses legislation in Iowa, it concerns a national issue: Medicaid.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Medicaid enrollment ballooned from 23 million to 95 million as eligibility requirements were relaxed and states were given financial incentives to expand Medicaid rolls.

In fact, throughout the pandemic, states couldn’t kick anyone off Medicaid unless they died or withdrew.

In early 2023, more than 95 million Americans were enrolled in Medicaid. According to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) data, $80.6 billion was improperly spent in 2022, and a staggering $98 billion was misspent in 2021. Most of these improper payments (66%) raised red flags due to eligibility issues.

Before the pandemic upended our health care system, Medicaid was supposed to operate as a program to supply health care to those who could not work or afford it. However, during the pandemic,

Medicaid became the default healthcare option for millions of Americans.

To provide care to those who truly need it, and keep insurance premiums more affordable to businesses and families who pay for private health insurance, states need to stop paying for people who do not qualify for Medicaid.

Now, with nearly one-infour Americans receiving health care from Medicaid, which was originally designed to care for the poor and disabled, states are preparing to comb through their Medicaid rolls and remove ineligible folks.

Iowa’s Senate Bill 494 attempts to do just that by updating the state’s eligibility determination process. Beginning in 2026, it is assumed that 8,000 Medicaid enrollees will lose eligibility because they are not eligible for Medicaid benefits in the Hawkeye State.

Senate Bill 494 seeks to reform Medicaid eligibility requirements. Nearly 900,000 Iowans are enrolled in Medicaid and associated governmentrun health care plans. However, Iowa reports only catching 287

cases of improper payments. That tiny number is the tip of the iceberg, with the vast majority of wasted dollars going to insurance companies to pay for Medicaid policies for people who do not qualify.

Eligibility determination involves verifying who someone is and constructing a clear picture of their financial need. For people who are homeless, or may not routinely use a bank, this can be so burdensome that states may simply deem it too difficult and focus on other areas of program integrity. SF 494 Section 3 “requires that prior to the HHS awarding public assistance benefits to an applicant, the applicant shall complete, through a variety of available methods, a computerized identity authentication process to confirm the identity of the applicant through knowledgebased questionnaire consisting of financial and personal questions … tailored to assist persons without a bank account or those who have poor access to financial and banking services.”

Using private actors ensure that Medicaid fraud is kept to Please see DEAN on C4

The United Kingdom (Britain plus Northern Ireland) has a complex tapestry of local authorities. These elections include London borough councils, local authorities in Scotland and Wales, and the Assembly in Northern Ireland.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party suffered a major defeat, losing nearly 1,000 local seats. Economic hardships related to Brexit, the departure from the European Union, is part of the explanation and has involved far-reaching political and social as well as economic dislocations, some profound in nature. Inflation is also extremely high and continuing.

Boris Johnson, Prime Minister Sunak’s predecessor, left major problems for the Conservative Party. They include scandals regarding members of Mr. Johnson’s government breaking their own pandemic rules to attend parties.

The government retains its enormous House of Commons majority, which it won in the general election of December 2019. But now the government faces enormous domestic political challenges.

In the 19th century, the popular Victorian musical team of Gilbert and Sullivan could declare every baby was born “a little Liberal or else a little Conservative.” In the 20th century, the working class

HAVE YOUR SAY

Your opinions are valuable contributions to these pages. We welcome a variety of views.

Letters must be exclusive to the News-Press. In most cases, first priority for immediate publication goes to those submitted by 6 p.m. Tuesdays.

We encourage brevity, and shorter letters have a better chance of being printed immediately.

We edit all submissions for length, clarity and professional standards.

We do not print submissions that lack a civil tone, allege illegal wrongdoing or involve consumer complaints. We also may decide not to print letters or op-eds for other reasons.

Limit your letters to one every 30 days. All letters must include the writer’s address and telephone number for verification. We cannot acknowledge unpublished letters.

We prefer e-mailed submissions.

If you send attachments, please send word documents. We can’t guarantee that we can open a PDF.

Send letters to voices@ newspress.com. Writers also may fax letters to 805-966-6258.

Mail letters to P.O. Box 1359, Santa Barbara 93102.

The News-Press reserves the right to publish or republish submissions in any form or medium.

Direct questions to Managing Editor Dave Mason at 805-5645277 or dmason@newspress.com.

John Stossel

Star Parker

The author is with the Center for Urban Renewal and Education

Matt Dean

The author is with The Heartland Institute

The number of police officers on duty sharply declined

Continued from Page C1

government programs.

We also see it in the federal and local government tolerance towards the removal of statues and the physical removal of traditional Christian symbols of the Holy Days we celebrate as Holidays. There are many other examples.

13. Discredit and gradually dismantle the FBI.

The discrediting of the FBI came from within. Senior officers of the FBI became politically corrupt in their use of FBI staff and resources to support one political party and one presidential candidate over another. While the FBI has not been dismantled, neither has it been reformed.

and social problems. Transfer authority for arrest in these cases from the police to social agencies.

The whole Defund the Police political movement grew out of the Black Lives Matter, street demonstrations, violence and looting. The excuse was that most criminals could not help themselves and their crimes resulted from mental illnesses, addictions or poverty. Therefore, they were not responsible and should not be prosecuted. They should be approached by social workers, not police officers.

society. We see more and more that marriages are entered into without the belief that it will last until death do us part.

In all cases, the destruction of the family unit leads to great stress and disillusionment in the children of those marriages. Many as a result become more susceptible to the rebellious appeal of socialism as the answer to their futures. This plays directly into the objectives of socialists to destroy the established order and to replace it with one of their own creations.

making to conduct abortions on girls and effect gender-changing medical procedures on both boys and girls. “Woke” requirements are also implanted in our local governments and in major corporations.

18. Repeal the Connally Reservation, allowing The World Court jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.

The problem will only grow worse

DEAN

Continued from Page C3

a bare minimum just makes sense. Managed care providers should embrace this concept and integrate this as part of their charge. States should find ways to meaningfully communicate with Medicaid enrollees to help improve their overall care and determine their eligibility for scarce resources.

14. Infiltrate and gradually gain influence and control over the unions and strategic businesses.

In many cities, this proposition was taken seriously. Police departments were defunded. The number of police officers on duty sharply declined and crime rose rapidly. In most of these cities, the peaceful character of their downtown areas was destroyed. Chaos and destruction aids in the disintegration of social order, to the benefit of socialist change agents.

17. Emphasize that all children are wards of the state and the need to raise children away from any negative influences of parents.

A new world order has always been one of the objectives of the Communist International. It is one of the goals of international domination by socialism. It is one that is avidly promoted with money and by interference by George Soros and other Billionaires around the world. Hitherto, America has resisted being ruled by world government entities, but we see the notion of a one world order being considered more frequently in America.

As unemployment increases, so does the size and cost of Medicaid as it is currently constructed. If Iowa truly sought to reform its Medicaid problem, it would take drastic action to ensure that each and every Medicaid recipient is truly in need of the assistance program. Unless Iowa, and several other

states, does what is necessary to curtail corruption and prevent people from taking advantage of Medicaid expansion, the problem will only grow worse. Now that the pandemic has officially ended, it is also time to end the expansion and exploitation of government-run health care programs. It is also patently unfair for Iowa citizens who are not on Medicaid to foot the bill for those who choose not to work, and therefore, cannot pay for their own medical services.

It is an observable fact that almost all unions are joined by both money and physical efforts to support socialism in America.

We also see a quite extraordinary conversion of normally hardheaded, profit-driven corporate executives caving into the worst excesses of the “Woke Mob”.

15. Treat all behavioral problems as mental health

HAUPT

Continued from Page C1

Even the media is questioning this move.

With President Biden’s age and the 2024 election a year away, is this an attempt to convince voters that Kamala Harris is extremely intelligent? Or was she crowned A.I. czar since he is stuck with her.

Kamala Harris hasn’t won a prize for wisdom since her response to questions is giggling.

It was exposed in the Democratic Primary, and her campaign went belly up. That was inconsequential compared to what she’s said and done since being elected vice president.

The only duty the Constitution gives the vice president is a vote in the Senate and to perform assignments for the president. And

Vice President Kamala Harris has failed miserably at every assignment President Biden has given her to try and prove she is a heartbeat away from running the nation. This even scares the far left progressives.

“You can’t make people like someone they don’t like.” When President Biden was signing executive orders faster than Barack Obama can say “change,” undoing all former President Donald Trump’s successes, Vice

SCHULTE

Continued from Page C2

with it in person.

The only thing her puppet masters accomplished trying to change Kamala’s image is expose further what comedian Ron White loved to say, “You can’t fix stupid.”

What else can the administration do to try and improve her image and raise her dismal (un)favorable ratings?

Answer: Nothing. She may be a perfectly nice person, but she’s in way, way over her head even with being led around by the hand. And she obviously can’t learn on the job because she has no job to learn from.

If Ole Joe left this world before his term was up, nothing would really change. By now everyone on the planet knows perfectly well that Joe Biden isn’t in charge — except maybe Joe.

And Kamala wouldn’t be in

BUCKLEY

Continued from Page C1

16. Discredit the nuclear family as an institution. Encourage divorce as the solution to marital problems.

The basic building block of a Western democratic society is the nuclear family. If this building block can be broken down across society, it is another way of destroying social cohesion and the structure of a democratic

President Harris, clad in a COVID mask, stoically stood behind him with her arms folded, looking off into space.

While speaking at a roundtable discussion at Claflin University, touting what her and Joe Biden had accomplished with community banks, she stumbled and rambled this circular sentence: “We know community banks are in the community because they need community banks.”

Vice President Harris has blown every chance to prove herself to America. While in charge of the border crisis, she was booed out of Catholic Guatemala for being proabortion.

Asked by NBC News anchor Lester Holt in an interview why she hadn’t visited the border, she said, “I haven’t visited Europe either.”

Entering Catholic Mexico to meet with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, protesters greeted her with signs that read, “Kamala Go Home,” “Mind Your Own Business” and “We don’t kill our babies here.”

Vice President Harris has failed to impress voters, and she can’t even impress her personal staff.

As the district attorney in San Francisco and as a U.S. senator, only a small cadre of staffers could tolerate her bullying. Since being elected vice president, more than

charge either.

In some ways for the Democrats, it would be a blessing because they could pull a Bernie Sanders on her. They could tell her, “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out,” then steal the election again using another pansy from a basement and A.I. to create fake voters.

But as all the mouth pieces on both sides keep asking, just who would that be?

Michelle Obama? I don’t know how many of you recall Michelle prior to the Obama camp shutting her up. She was a mean, nasty lady. Her speeches were filled with anger, and I found her frightening. And apparently, I wasn’t the only one. Barack Obama’s team got the message pretty quick and quietly made her become the obedient wife. Something I bet she fumed over but was willing to relent because she hated the drapes (Hypothetical. Could have been

FBI Director James Comey, former CIA Director John Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, FBI agent Peter Strzok, FBI lawyer Lisa Page, Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann, Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Susan Rice and other co-conspirators in the press and the media — will pay any price, or endure any hardship or penalty for their lies, false charges and fake “investigations.”

Both Lenin and Stalin recognized that if they could establish that communism would provide a plentiful idyllic future, the people would be more willing to accept the “Collective” theory that all people including the children were wards of the state.

As Lenin said, “Give me the children when they are young, and I will have them for life in the Communist Party.”

As we pointed out earlier, the socialist-driven “Woke agenda” is widely promulgated in our schools and universities, and in our military. Children can be removed from parental decision-

13 high-profile aides have left her office; including Meghan Groob, her speech writer. She helped her to avoid public embarrassment as long as she followed her script.

Vice President Harris has complained since day one that she is not being “showcased” as a history-making celebrity. She believes everything she does is headline news since she is the first black woman vice president? And many of the tasks she has been asked to perform are below the pay-grade of her historic position.

She thinks that it is President Biden’s job to convince America that she is the greatest thing since apple pie.

Yet a vice president’s job is to cast a vote in the Senate and assist the president with his daily responsibilities.

Albert Einstein said, “The only source of knowledge is experience.” Most VPs play follow the leader until their time has come. Some run for president and some don’t. In the age of parties picking the candidates and not the people, voters are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Kamala Harris has not only failed to impress voters, but ranking members of her own party as well. She inherited President Biden’s gaff syndrome and worse. She annoyingly giggles her way through answers to tough

the glass ware) in the White House and couldn’t wait to get in there and change them.

The looming threat after unrelenting witch hunts is their greatest horror, The Donald. Donald Trump is still standing and surging in the polls. It’s killing the left. They’ve tried everything. Even digging up a 30-year-old accusation and likely paying the woman to step up. The left pulled the same BS with Brett Kavanaugh.

Michelle Obama liked to say when they go low, we go high. What she meant was, when they go low, we go lower.

The Democrats have every agency and nearly all news outlets in their pockets, and the Democrats still can’t bring Mr. Trump down. Even when all the law enforcement agencies colluded and cheated the United States of America of a “free” election from legal voters.

But Democrats are worried

outside-the-mainstream winning candidate for the presidency in U.S. history — beats a seasoned insider like Hillary Clinton, such an event sends seismic shockwaves throughout the governmental apparatus.

We wrote this column as a discussion for all our readers to think about. There is room for discussion and alternative interpretations in our comments under each of the 18 Communist/ Socialist tasks described.

Bonnie Donovan writes the “Did You Know?” column in conjunction with a bipartisan group of local citizens. It appears Saturdays in the Voices section.

questions.

U.S. senior intel officials recently testified in Congress about worldwide threats. Among the many topics that were reviewed were China, Russia, Iran and artificial intelligence. A.I. is now in the same discussion as some of our biggest, most dangerous adversaries. You’d think that we’d put a highly qualified individual in charge of managing it for the security of our nation. Someone with gravitas and super intelligence. A person who would assure Americans this administration had their back.

Choosing a running mate only because of their gender or their skin tone is bad politics and worse for America. If an unqualified person has to step in and govern the nation and doesn’t possess the skills to do it, it could cost us dearly.

Putting Harris in charge of A.I. is worse than making A.O.C. head of the U.S. Department of Energy. Shame on Joe Biden for giving Kamala Harris a job she cannot handle, knowing she’s failed every assignment she’s had as VP.

“America is a country that doesn’t know where it is going but is determined to set a speed record getting there.”

— Laurence J. Peter

RUHGE

Continued from Page C2

director, Dr. Anthony Fauci, had been financing virus research in the Virology Institute in Wuhan, China. At some point, the Chinese Army took over and included it in its biological weapons research.

At some point, either the Chinese Army, or someone else, let the virus out of the lab. China closed down Wuhan and the rest of China to control the virus, but let it out to the rest of the world like a firehose and started the worldwide pandemic that has devastated the whole world except China.

But to their dismay, President Donald Trump closed the border to China to stop the flow into the U.S. He also instituted development and production of a serum to vaccinate the U.S. and end the U.S. pandemic while continuing to build a robust economy.

The Chinese could not stand for any more of President Trump’s

success so they made every effort to replace him at the 2020 election by calling in all of their “chits” to build a U.S. program to defeat him. They pulled out all of the stops and promoted the election of their paid candidate, Joe Biden, even though they knew that he was probably senile.

Since President Biden has taken over from President Trump, in the past two years, the U.S. has been turned around by the Biden handlers, to redirect the U.S. economy to self-destruction in every area, and Joe Biden has become more senile.

To do this, the border was open, and nearly three million illegal aliens have come into the U.S. from all over the world, along with drugs and convicted perverts.

In short, every aspect of the “Biden agenda” is to diminish the U.S. and make it subservient to China.

We Americans need to wake up. They are really doing this to us before our closed eyes.

“Unfortunately, it did not.”

As it stands, none of the perpetrators of this colossal antidemocratic scheme — Hillary Clinton, Christopher Steele, former

Democracies, particularly our Constitutional Republic, seem illequipped to handle these kinds of seditious acts by its most powerful actors. When an outsider — and Donald J. Trump was the most

Mr. Trump’s victory, it seems, threatened the livelihood of every living bureaucrat in Washington, D.C. So they got rid of him the easiest way they know how: by fabricating the Big Lie — that Trump was a Russian plant — and telling it often enough that people would begin to believe it. And, with the ongoing help of a pliable media all during the Trump presidency, the lie wormed its way into the national psyche.

Establishment operatives then

again. They are being forced to find someone who has some “gravitas” but still remains a puppet. I don’t understand what scares the left so much about Mr. Trump. It’s beyond weird to be so psychotic over one man.

The Democrats need someone who looks good in the public eye and carries themselves like a frontrunner but someone who will do as they’re told. The individual cannot be allowed to think for themselves. They must stick with the program and the long game of ideological lunacy. Just who could that be rattling around in the progressive bag of tricks? A binary, trans, black she, female, it, the, them, male conglomerate to cover all the requirements of a good liberal? Whoever is called up certainly has a long list on the application to fill out.

Henry Schulte welcomes questions or comments at hschulteopinions@ gmail.com.

successfully managed to corrupt the voting process in favor of its chosen candidate in 2020 (Joe Biden).

They won.

Maybe even by colluding with China, which dutifully introduced a virus that ravaged their nation and ours, all in the pursuit of reestablishing what they considered “normalcy.”

Hey, it’s just a theory, but who knows what to believe anymore?

James Buckley is a longtime Montecito resident. He welcomes questions or comments at jimb@ substack.com. Readers are invited to visit jimb.substack.com, where Jim’s Journals are on file. He also invites people to subscribe to Jim’s Journal.

CYR

Continued from Page C3

emerged to achieve the vote, and massive numbers meant the Labour Party replaced the Liberals.

Nonetheless, two-party dominance remained.

The last half of the 20th century witnessed rise of Scottish and Welsh nationalist parties, the revival of the Liberals, and continued growth of support for the successor Liberal Democrats. Single-issue parties also profited. The Brexit and Green parties focused respectively on exiting the European Union and promoting environmental concerns.

Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May succeeded David Cameron in 2016, after the surprise defeat of his referendum aimed at remaining in the European Union. She negotiated complex withdrawal accords with the Eurocrats in Brussels, only to face rejection three times in Parliament, including from her own party.

Finally, well-meaning Good Citizen May was replaced by Bombastic Boris Johnson, who rushed through general leaveEurope legislation, postponing details. The eventual cost includes renewed violence in Northern Ireland, but Britain left the E.U.

On May 2, 2019, local government elections in England and Northern Ireland saw losses for both Conservatives and Labour. Liberal Democrats and Greens made notable gains. In 2020, the pandemic postponed

COURTESY

Matt Dean (mdean@heartland. org) is a senior fellow for health care policy at The Heartland Institute. This commentary was provided to the News-Press by The Center Square, a nonprofit dedicated to journalism. contrary to the theory the Trump campaign ... had conspired with Russia.... It appeared that ... there was a pattern of assuming nefarious intent. An objective and honest assessment of these strands of information should have caused the FBI to question not only the predication for Crossfire Hurricane, but also to reflect on whether the FBI was being manipulated for political or other purposes.

local elections. In 2021, the Scottish National Party made significant gains, along with the Greens and Liberal Democrats. Professor John Curtice of Strathclyde University in Scotland is insightful and influential. His analyses for the BBC note the Liberal Democrats’ success. Significant numbers of people back the Liberal Democrats precisely because they are not part of the traditional Conservative/ Labour establishment. Many such partisans viewed joining Conservatives in coalition government 2010-2015 as a form of treason, and the Liberal Democrats consequently suffered severe reversals at the polls.

Today as in the past, Britain combines intense partisanship with stability. Decades ago, Professor Samuel H. Beer provided durable analysis. His approach accommodates the decline of two-party dominance.

To learn more, read Samuel H. Beer’s “British Politics in the Collectivist Age” (Random House), and my book, “Liberal Politics in Britain” (Transaction, distributed by Routledge).

Arthur I. Cyr is author of “Liberal Politics in Britain” (Transaction, distributed by Routledge” and “After the Cold War - American Foreign Policy, Europe and Asia” (NYU Press and Palgrave/ Macmillan). He is also the director of the Clausen Center at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisc., and a Clausen Distinguished Professor. He welcomes questions and comments at acyr@carthage.edu.

‘The only source of knowledge is experience’

She’s in way, way over her head