We USED to live in California. We actually loved California, the people, the weather, the endless opportunities to visit places like Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, Monterey and years ago, San Francisco. Then things started to change. California became increasingly run by public sector unions. No candidate could win a statewide election without solid support from the public sector unions.

When we first moved to California, we were shocked to discover they never bothered to check our ID while voting. At first, they just asked where we lived and handed us a ballot. Later, we got a ballot in the mail and an envelope. We could mail the envelope or take it to a voting center. We did that once, offered to show our ID, but they didn’t care and just pointed to the ballot box.

California also issued drivers’ licenses to almost anyone. There was no need to provide proof of citizenship or even legal residence. We later learned that California never bothered to reconcile voting records with national databases. As a result, an illegal alien could get a drivers license and he or she would be automatically given voter registration documents.

(This has changed because people using California Drivers’ licenses were at risk of not being allowed to fly on a commercial airliner. Now California issues a “real id” drivers’ license, in addition to the, I guess, “not real id” California drivers’ license.

In addition, ballot harvesting is allowed in California. The result is that one would have to be incredibly naïve to expect anyone other than a liberal Democrat endorsed by the public sector unions to ever come close to winning a statewide election. California just elected Adam Schiff to be a Senator. I rest my case.

Yesterday, April 22, 2025, was Earth Day. Predictably more than 50 California elected officials signed a letter urging lawmakers to make oil and gas companies bear the cost of climate change. They want to create the California Polluters Pay Superfund that would assess a fee on large oil and gas companies to pay for programs to mitigate damage from climate change.

This Earth Day, elected officials promote CA bill to ‘make polluters pay’

The current average cost of gas in California today is $4.84 per gallon. Here in Hillsborough County Florida it is $3.12 per gallon. At Sam’s Club it is $2.99 per gallon. California plans to require all new cars, trucks and SUVS to run on electricity or hydrogen by 2035. They are having challenges with this since hating Tesla because of Elon Musk isn’t the best way to encourage people to buy electric cars.

I personally know some very brilliant scientists. When they are asked if CO2 emissions are really causing climate change, they have difficulty suppressing the giggles. They are quick to point out that there is zero science behind this and a ton of real science, ignored, showing the exact opposite.

So California, which already has the highest gas prices in the nation, wants to increase those prices significantly by fining oil and gas companies. Brilliant! They also want to force people to buy electric vehicles, as long as Tesla does not make them. Incredibly, this is far from the dumbest thing proposed if not endorsed by California politicians. They are currently borrowing money to reimburse Medicare for payments to illegal aliens.

There is more, but what would be the point. I was recently in California testifying as an expert witness at a trial in Hayword. This reminded me of a lot of things I loved about California. Then I had to fill up the car with gas. I was surrounded by other people filling up their cars with gas. I wondered what idiot thought that making gas prices even higher was a great idea. That night I watched Govern Gavin Newsom interviewed on a local TV broadcast. Asked and answered.

I am now back in Florida. We have lots of friends here. Most of them moved here from other states, run by Democrats. Imagine that!

TDM