GOODER AND HARDER, L.A.: Los Angeles County poised to return to mask mandates once again.
Related: VDH on Gavin Newsom’s Weird Idea of ‘Freedom.’
In a run-up to what is likely to be a 2024 presidential bid, California Governor Gavin Newsom hit upon the bizarre idea of boasting in commercials that California is America’s true “free” state.
Part of his ad campaign is to attack Florida — currently run by Newsom’s possible rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Yet, with the most burdensome regulations and high tax rates, Newsom’s California is arguably the most unfree state in the union.
In return for these steep costs, the state’s public institutions, infrastructure, and services are among the country’s worst.
California’s once-vaunted freeway system is near the bottom of all state comparisons. California’s Highway 99, which runs the length of the Central Valley, is one of the deadliest roads in America based on miles driven.
Over half the nation’s homeless crowd the state’s major cities. One-third of America’s welfare recipients have flooded into the state. A fifth of the resident population lives below the poverty line. Well over a quarter of Golden State residents were not born in the United States.
California public school test scores consistently fall among the bottom 10 states. San Francisco has the highest per capita property crime rate in the country.
The recently recalled San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin and his soon-to-be recalled Los Angeles counterpart George Gascon have nearly ruined their cities. Both are iconic of multibillionaire George Soros’ nationwide efforts to undermine the entire criminal justice system.
State residents are not free to drive safely because of their decrepit freeways. They are not free from filthy and toxic sidewalks or dangerous physical assault in their major cities.
Public school children are not free to enjoy competitive educations. San Franciscans are not free to park their cars without fearing that they will be vandalized or stolen.
The destruction of these freedoms is in direct proportion to the confiscatory taxes that the state collects — the highest bracket of income and gasoline rates in the nation, among the highest sales taxes, and property taxes that soar due to inflated assessments in spite of a 1978 state constitutional amendment.
Currently, California faces brownouts due to the longstanding, deliberate curtailment of electrical generation plants.
Yosemite’s historic redwood forest is currently threatened with what are now customary California summer conflagrations.
The destructive, dirty forest fires reflect a deliberate state policy of not gleaning the forests of dead trees, but rather letting the flammable debris serve as “natural” fodder for bugs and birds.
The state has not built a major reservoir in nearly 40 years.
There’s more, to which Zero Hedge’s social media writer responded with, “Hello police? We’d like to report a murder…”