Some world leaders are bypassing the White House and dealing directly with blue state governors like California's Jerry Brown.

Courtesy of WaPo:  

Nearly a year into the Trump presidency, countries around the world are scrambling to adapt as the White House has struggled to fill key government positions, scaled back the State Department and upended old alliances. Now some nations are finding that even if they are frustrated by President Trump’s Washington, they can still prosper from robust relations with the California Republic and a constellation of like-minded U.S. cities, some of which are bigger than European countries. 

Brown’s 10-day trip to Europe, which ended Tuesday, was just the latest in a growing transatlantic back-and-forth that bypasses the Trump-era White House. In July, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio headlined a protest in Hamburg against the Group of 20. Several European countries have stationed ambassadors in Silicon Valley to boost trade ties.

Meanwhile, state and municipal governments are expanding or building new offices to help them manage the increased interest in Europe and Asia. This year, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti (D) created the position of deputy mayor for international affairs to better manage relations with foreign governments. 

Last week Garcetti huddled in Los Angeles with the Israeli president and Armenian defense minister. The latter stopped by on his way to a peacekeeping conference and briefly described his country’s ongoing dispute with Azerbaijan over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region. 

The mayor’s motives for taking the meeting were simple. “We have a big Armenian population in Los Angeles that cares about events in Armenia,” said Nina Hachigian, who filled the international affairs position and previously served in the Obama administration as U.S. ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Jakarta, Indonesia. 

Many world leaders say they have no illusions that they can avoid the White House on critical issues at the core of global stability, especially those related to security. But they have embraced efforts by Democratic governors and mayors to present a different face of U.S. power to the world, albeit at a lower level than the White House or State Department. 

“There is an impression by politicians here that President Trump in person is no longer the voice of the free Western world,” said Christian Ehler, a German lawmaker who heads the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with the United States and helped broker Brown’s visit to Brussels. “We are much more carefully looking now to the diversity of what is being discussed in the United States, and we see that California is one of the powerhouses of the world economically.”

Typically I would think that overall this would be a bad idea, because even though states do indeed make individual economic deals with foreign governments, the main negotiations have always been the work of the White House.

However since we have a White House that is currently critically understaffed, and in constant disarray, I am not sure what other options exist for keeping things moving forward.

One has to wonder however if this may devolve into a kind of quiet economic civil war where blue states continue to make trade deals and negotiate exchanges of information with foreign governments, which inflates their coffers, while red states sit on their hands waiting for the Republican White House to lead the way, and slip further and further into abject poverty?

Of course the solution to this is to elect a Democratic President next time and the entire country will have the opportunity to prosper as one.

Jerry Brown seems to already be doing the job, so maybe he really will be the best bet in 2020.

California Governor Jerry Brown compares Trump supporters to "troglodytes" as both "dwell in deep dark caves."

Courtesy of Politico:  

California Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday called President Donald Trump’s approach to climate change and North Korea “stupid and dangerous and silly,” sharpening his criticism of the president and comparing his supporters to cave dwellers. 

“They’re both kind of very similar,” Brown said at a climate change event in New York. “You should check out the derivation of ‘Trump-ite’ and ‘troglodyte,’ because they both refer to people who dwell in deep, dark caves.”

“President Trump is the null hypothesis, which he’s proven,” Brown said. “Everything he’s doing is … stupid and dangerous and silly. I mean, come on, really, calling the North Korean dictator ‘Rocket Man'? … He is accelerating the reversal through his own absurdity.”

While acknowledging he was making “lemonade out of a lemon,” Brown predicted Trump will “fail very soon” in the face of economic and other international forces. 

“These other powers are going to gang up on Mr. Trump, and he’s going to find out, ‘You’re fired,’” Brown said.

I'm really hoping that Governor Brown is correct with that last assessment. 

In my opinion Jerry Brown is essentially the anti-Trump in that he believes in the power of government, sees public service as an important responsibility, and makes decisions for the benefit of his constituents and not himself. 

I have been a fan of Jerry Brown since back in the days when he was dating Linda Ronstadt. 

Brown took what was essentially a smoking corpse of a state, and turned it around almost completely after Arnold Schwarzenegger spent two terms trying to terminate it.

If Jerry Brown were not already 79 years of age I would seriously consider him as the perfect presidential candidate for the Democratic party in 2020.

However there may be another option as California's Lt. Governor, Gavin Newsom, is only 49 years old and is just as forward thinking and progressive as his boss.

Newsom has run a business, been mayor of San Fransisco, is a promoter of public schools, and was an early advocate for same sex marriage.

I know it's early, but I think it's time to start thinking of strong Democratic candidates, and Newsom clicks all the right boxes.

California Governor Jerry Brown signs sweeping new gun control legislation into law.

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

California Governor Jerry Brown on Friday signed a sweeping package of gun control bills, banning high-capacity ammunition magazines and expanding the definition of prohibited assault weapons in the wake of mass shootings in San Bernardino and Orlando. 

Democrats in the legislature rushed the measures through in hopes of passing them before their summer break, in part to try to forestall a competing gun control proposal headed for the November ballot. 

California already has some of the toughest gun control laws in the nation, but after the shooting spree in the Southern California city of San Bernardino last December, lawmakers began work on measures they said would close unintended loopholes. 

“My goal in signing these bills is to enhance public safety by tightening our existing laws in a responsible and focused manner, while protecting the rights of law-abiding gun owners,” Brown said in a signing measure.

The bills signed by Brown ban so-called bullet buttons, which allow quick changes in the magazine of a military-style weapon, and require background checks for purchasers of ammunition. 

Ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 bullets at a time will also be banned, and background checks will be needed for people borrowing guns from non-family members. 

Brown also vetoed several bills, including one that would have allowed co-workers, educators and mental health professionals to request restraining orders forbidding people deemed dangerous from owning guns.

Leave it to California to always be on the cutting edge of where this country is going.

Of course it's going there at a fucking snail's pace, but I have confidence that we will all get there eventually.

I just hope I actually live long enough to actually see it.

Apparently it is Bernie Sanders' plan to piss off every high ranking Democrat in California before the primary.

Courtesy of Politico: 

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) sharply criticized Bernie Sanders on Wednesday for lumping her and Jerry Brown into the "establishment" wing of the Democratic Party after the California governor announced the previous day that he, along with Boxer and other high-ranking California lawmakers, would be supporting Hillary Clinton. 

"For Bernie to say that Jerry Brown is establishment is kind of the biggest joke of the day," said Boxer, a top Clinton ally in the Senate. She made her remarks in an interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" while promoting her latest book, "The Art of Tough." 

Sanders on Tuesday told reporters that he has "taken on the entire Democratic establishment" in each state that he has contested in the primary process. 

"It’s not surprising to me that, you know, we will have the Democratic establishment supporting Hillary Clinton," Sanders said Tuesday, according to the Sacramento Bee. "I like Jerry Brown, but people can make their own choices.” 

What in the actual fuck?

Calling Governor "Moonbeam" part of the establishment is almost unbelievable.

How does he expect to woo ANY super delegates while he is bitching about the "Democratic establishment?"  Where does he think the super delegates come from?

At this point it seems that Sanders is acting like a spoiled child, and since he cannot win the nomination is simply willing to pour gasoline all over the process and light a match.

And his actions appear to be having a rather negative impact on his followers who more and more are threatening to take their ball and go home.

Courtesy of CNN: 

Three words are hanging over the final days of the Democratic presidential race: Bernie or bust. 

"When you say Bernie or bust, that means if we don't get Bernie, we're just not going to automatically vote for the demon because you're saying the devil may be there," said Billy Taylor, who is organizing a coalition of Bernie Sanders supporters to protest at the Democratic convention here in July. 

Sanders has inspired a movement, but it's unclear whether he can control it. Or if he wants to.

Jesus, what a mess.

The Sanders supporters have even started to go after Elizabeth Warren after news leaked that she is likely going to endorse Hillary after the final primary in California.

Speaking of that California primary, it may not be quite as tight as the polls are predicting.

Among those who have already voted in CA, Clinton leads 58%-41% in NBC/WSJ/Marist poll

— Mark Murray (@mmurraypolitics) June 1, 2016

Oh well, it's almost over folks.

Just keep a happy thought until the end of July. 

Popular California Governor Jerry Brown endorses Hillary Clinton days before primary.

Courtesy of Jerry Brown.org: 

On Tuesday, June 7, I have decided to cast my vote for Hillary Clinton because I believe this is the only path forward to win the presidency and stop the dangerous candidacy of Donald Trump. 

I have closely watched the primaries and am deeply impressed with how well Bernie Sanders has done. He has driven home the message that the top one percent has unfairly captured way too much of America’s wealth, leaving the majority of people far behind. In 1992, I attempted a similar campaign. 

For her part, Hillary Clinton has convincingly made the case that she knows how to get things done and has the tenacity and skill to advance the Democratic agenda. Voters have responded by giving her approximately 3 million more votes – and hundreds more delegates – than Sanders. If Clinton were to win only 10 percent of the remaining delegates – wildly improbable – she would still exceed the number needed for the nomination. In other words, Clinton’s lead is insurmountable and Democrats have shown – by millions of votes – that they want her as their nominee. 

But there is more at stake than mere numbers. The Republican nominee, Donald Trump, has called climate change a “hoax” and said he will tear up the Paris Climate Agreement. He has promised to deport millions of immigrants and ominously suggested that other countries may need the nuclear bomb. He has also pledged to pack the Supreme Court with only those who please the extreme right. 

The stakes couldn’t be higher. Our country faces an existential threat from climate change and the spread of nuclear weapons. A new cold war is on the horizon. This is no time for Democrats to keep fighting each other. The general election has already begun. Hillary Clinton, with her long experience, especially as Secretary of State, has a firm grasp of the issues and will be prepared to lead our country on day one. 

Next January, I want to be sure that it is Hillary Clinton who takes the oath of office, not Donald Trump. 

With respect, 

Jerry Brown

And that folks is the benefit of being an actual Democrat running in a Democratic primary.

Jerry Brown is a superstar on the political stage, and much beloved by California voters for all of the hard work he did to fix their state, so this is an endorsement with some real oomph behind it.

Guess which is the only state targeting anti-abortion pregnancy centers? Did you guess California? Of course it's California.

Courtesy of Mother Jones:  

California on Friday became the only state to target anti-abortion pregnancy centers with a law cracking down on deceptive practices some have used to prevent or dissuade women from having an abortion. 

The new law, which forces some crisis pregnancy centers to offer information about public assistance for reproductive services and others to notify patients that there are no medical professionals on staff, passed the California state assembly with a large majority in late May. Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, signed the bill on Friday night. 

It is the first time reproductive rights groups have succeeded in pushing regulations on crisis pregnancy centers across an entire state; only a handful of cities or counties have passed similar laws. Shortly before the act became law, Amy Everitt, the director of NARAL Pro-Choice California, a reproductive rights group that helped draft the bill, said in an interview, "There is more to come."

Okay I am REALLY loving California right now. 

It was just on Sunday that I was touting the fact that California had passed automatic voter registration, and laws restricting conceal carry on college campuses.

And now this?

It's like the Liberal version of Nirvana.

Too bad it costs an arm and a leg to live there, and keeps bursting into flames.

Former GOP gubernatorial candidate arrested after shooting neighbor and killing horse.

Tye "Glenn" Champ proud supporter of the 2nd Amendment and horse murderer.

Courtesy of Liberaland:  

A California man who campaigned for governor this year has been arrested in connection with the shooting of his neighbor and the shooting death of a horse Thursday afternoon, according to The Fresno Bee. 

48-year-old Tye “Glenn” Champ was taken into custody around noon on Friday without incident, after a Tulare County sheriff’s deputy caught up to him on a traffic stop. 

According to the Bee, Champ previously served a prison term for manslaughter, has several convictions for weapons offenses and is also a registered sex offender. But since then, Champ claimed to have “found the Lord.” 

A “neighbor dispute” over work being done on a road led to the shooting, according to witnesses. On Thursday afternoon, Champ first approached a 13-year-old boy. 

“Champ was angry at the 13-year-old and slashed the tires on the ATV that the child was riding,” Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims said. “The parents came to the scene and confronted Champ and that’s when the father was shot, then other witnesses — including the victim and the 13-year-old — ran away as more shots were being fired at them from Champ.” 

A horse in a pasture was hit and killed. Mims said Champ was “shooting pretty indiscriminately … it’s fortunate no one else was hit.” 

As reported Champ was one of four candidates running to unseat California Governor Jerry Brown.

However he was the only one of the four with the distinction of being both an ex-con AND a registered sex offender. And not only that but he is clearly a big supporter of the right to bear arms.

A right by the way that he is clearly not opposed to exercising any damn time he sees fit.

In other words the perfect GOP candidate.

DNC Chair expresses outrage at new Breitbart ad that depicts Nancy Pelosi using offensive sexual imagery.

Courtesy of TPM:

The chair of the Democratic National Committee on Monday called a Breitbart News ad portraying House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) "disgusting" and urged Republican leaders to condemn the conservative outlet. 

Breitbart News launched a new vertical focused on California politics with an ad campaign that included a Miley Cyrus-referencing image of Pelosi in a nude bikini with her tongue lolling out. Pelosi-as-Cyrus is pictured on all fours below an image of Gov. Jerry Brown's (D) head photoshopped onto his predecessor Arnold Schwarzenegger's body. 

“To say the least, the Breitbart News ad is foul, offensive, and disrespectful to all women," Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) said in a statement. "It is a disgusting new low and would be reprehensible against any woman – regardless of party. It’s no wonder the Republicans are having problems appealing to women." 

Invoking Republican efforts to change the way the party messages to women, Wasserman Schultz challenged GOP leaders to condemn the ad as well as stop publishing on Brietbart News. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) wrote one of the pieces inaugurating the new Breitbart California vertical. 

"If GOP leaders are serious about their rebrand, then both their elected and Party leadership should condemn this outrageous behavior, call on Breitbart News to immediately remove the ad, and not continue to use this website as a forum for their views," the statement continued.

I can almost hear Sarah Palin's ghostwriters firing up their coal burning word processors now, preparing to offer the claim that Palin has also been portrayed in sexual terms as well, on late night comedian shows, cable news networks, and blogs. (Political pole dancer comes to mind.)

Of course the difference is that Nancy Pelosi is a serious politician, who has not lowered herself to play up her sexuality in order to gain attention, or used sexually charged comments to attack her enemies.

When Nancy Pelosi appears in a magazine spread with fake bolt on breasts like this.

Or like this, then clearly somebody can be excused for pointing out that the person pictured is using a provocative sexual image in order to garner attention and promote her brand.

However until Nancy Pelosi goes to these lengths to advertise herself in a prurient manner, then what Breitbart did must be considered completely out of line, and an attempt to demean a strong woman who they fear and wish to reduce to an image they find less threatening.

Bill Maher explains how liberalism saved California and that it can do the same for the rest of the country.

Courtesy of HuffPo:

 New Rule: Conservatives who love to brag about American exceptionalism must come here to California, and see it in person. And then they should be afraid -- very afraid. Because while the rest of the country is beset by stories of right-wing takeovers in places like North Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin, California is going in the opposite direction and creating the kind of modern, liberal nation the country as a whole can only dream about. And not only can't the rest of the country stop us -- we're going to drag you along with us. 

It wasn't that long ago that pundits were calling California a failed state and saying it was ungovernable. But in 2010, when other states were busy electing whatever Tea Partier claimed to hate government the most, we elected a guy who actually liked it, Jerry Brown. 

Since then, everything Republicans say can't or won't work -- gun control, immigration reform, high-speed rail -- California is making work. And everything conservatives claim will unravel the fabric of our society -- universal healthcare, higher taxes on the rich, gay marriage, medical marijuana -- has only made California stronger. And all we had to do to accomplish that was vote out every single Republican. Without a Republican governor and without a legislature being cock-blocked by Republicans, a $27 billion deficit was turned into a surplus, continuing the proud American tradition of Republicans blowing a huge hole in the budget and then Democrats coming in and cleaning it up.

In lots of areas, California seems to have decided not to wait around for the knuckle-draggers and the selfish libertarian states to get on board. They can mock "European style democracies" all they want, we are building one here, and people like it -- the same way when Americans come back from a vacation in Europe they all say the same thing: "Wow, you can see titties on the beach!" But they also remark on the clean air, the modern, first world infrastructure, the functioning social safety net, and bread that doesn't taste like powdered glue. And they wonder, "Why can't we get that here?" Unless they're Republicans, in which case they wonder, "How can people live like that?" 

Well, swallow hard, guys, because California is eventually going to make all Americans live like that. Why? Because we're huge. The 12th largest economy in the world, the fifth largest agricultural exporter in the world, and of course number one in laser vaginal rejuvenation. There's 40 million of us -- so, for example, when California set a high mileage standard for any car sold in this state, Detroit had to make more fuel-efficient cars; we're just too big a slice of the market, and it would be too expensive to make one car for us, and another for shit-kickers who want something that runs on coal. 

It's so ironic -- the two things conservatives love the most, the free market and states rights -- are the two things that are going to bend this country into California's image as a socialist fagtopia. Maybe our constipated Congress can't pass gun control laws, but we just did. Lots of 'em. Because we don't give a shit about the NRA. Out here that stands for "Nuts, Racists, and Assholes." So while the rest of America is debating whether it's a good idea to allow guns in bars or a great idea to allow guns in bars, California banned lead bullets. Which is a no-brainer, because bullets don't need lead, and lead kills birds and gets into the food supply of people who hunt their own food. Which explains why Ted Nugent is such a raving lunatic. 

This in only a portion of the article which goes on for many more paragraphs and I recommend that you read all of it.

I guarantee it will provide new hope if you are a liberal, and make your head explode if you are a conservative. 

I anxiously await Sarah Palin's spittle saturated response. 

California Governor Jerry Brown FIRST governor to outlaw "reparative therapy."

Courtesy of the LA Times:

Gov. Jerry Brown has signed legislation prohibiting a form of therapy aimed at changing a minor’s sexual orientation from gay to straight, the first law of its kind in the nation, officials said Sunday. 

Sen. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) introduced the measure based on his belief that so-called conversion therapy isn't based on science and is dangerous. 

“This bill bans non-scientific ‘therapies’ that have driven young people to depression and suicide,'' Brown said in a statement. ``These practices have no basis in science or medicine and they will now be relegated to the dustbin of quackery." 

Lieu commended the governor and hoped other states would follow California's lead. 

“No one should stand idly by while children are being psychological abused, and anyone who forces a child to try to change their sexual orientation must understand this is unacceptable,” Lieu said.

``These practices have no basis in science or medicine and they will now be relegated to the dustbin of quackery." God I love that!

I hope that this starts a trend in this country so that people STOP this ridiculous idea that gay people suffer from a sickness and that homosexuality needs to be cured. They don't, and it doesn't!

What should really happen is that people need to be educated about the acceptance of diversity and respect for basic human rights, and preachers need to stop using a handful of ancient scriptures to vilify loving human beings.

You know I was a big fan of Jerry Brown in the seventies and I am glad he is back in this new millennium showing our current crop of Democrat pussies how to get shit done!

California gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown uses Sarah Palin insults to raise campaign donations.

What is it that Keith Olbermann says about Sarah Palin every time he has to talk about her on his show?

In the end it may turn out that Sarah Palin is the BEST thing that ever happpend to the Democrats in this country.

Palin: Obama surrounded by "inner circle" of "Chicago thugs".

From Fox News:

And, you know, I've offered the greatest oil and gas team in the world assembled, I believe, because they're up there in Alaska helping to produce nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy. But not just with the oil spill, but with the economy and with our military and how it is that we should be treating our allies, not poking them in the eye.

All those things. He needs to call in those around him and kind of broaden his inner circle of confidants because right now it sounds like the inner circle that he has are some Chicago thugs. And that's not doing our country much good.

Number one Palin is no longer the Governor of Alaska, so she cannot "offer" the "oil and gas team" to ANYBODY.  She once again seems to have conveniently forgotten that she is just another piece of eye candy in Rupert Murdoch's stable of bullshitting botoxed beauties.  And when she is not doing that she is either giving the same ridiculous speech, chock full of lies about her days on the basketball court and Palin family mythology to rooms full of people who really just came to see the circus freak up close, or demanding that her ghostwriter blog for her on Facebook in a desperate attempt to stay relevant.

And number two, does she NEVER get tired of showing the whole world how jealous she is that Barack Obama won the election and she didn't? I mean this kind of poison pen stuff seems like something a middle school girl would write on the bathroom wall about the cheerleader who stole her boyfriend, rather than something you say to a cable news host in front of a national television audience.