Sir William Shortspeare here, with another rant. As you may know, I live in Southern California. Many of you may wonder why. So do I.
The State of California banned the sale of any firearm that fires the .50 Caliber BMG (Browning Machine Gun) round. This was specifically aimed at civilian versions of the Barrett sniper rifle that was used by the U. S. military to plink the Taliban from as much as 2 kilometers away. No crime has ever been committed by someone wielding a 14 kilogram, $10,000 Barrett. Ever. Barrett refuses to service any of their rifles owned by a California law enforcement agency. I wonder why.
The citizens of the City of Santa Barbara complained that their cell phone coverage was spotty and that the service provider needed to add more towers. When the provider submitted a plan to put towers that would fill the gaps, the same citizens complained that the unsightly towers would spoil their views. New towers in other locations would not fill in the gaps. The citizens could not comprehend the irony. Meanwhile, their multitude of private jets are polluting the hell out of the air in Santa Barbara.
Californians have demanded that the power companies switch to renewable energy sources. At the same time, they are suing solar energy companies to prevent any installations in the sunny desert regions of California because it might affect the habitat of the desert tortoise or some lizard. You’d think the critters would appreciate the shade. California is chronically short of water, but the state bureaucracy consistently blocks the building of desalinization plants.
There are some massive political differences. You can start in Berkeley, which is an avowed socialist haven, drive a few hours to Bakersfield and find yourself in the middle of the Fourth Reich. Most of the state is pretty normal but the extremes are just that – extreme. An inability to solve basic problems like homelessness is rampant despite the state spending billions to fix it. The Hollywood superliberals cry their eyes out over the problem but at the same time are the kings of NIMBY (not in my back yard) when it comes to housing. The Trump-is-God crowd is just as bad.
No need to go on. Perhaps other places are just as contradictory, but I doubt it is to the extent of the Golden State. So why do I stay here? Simply put, I’m too old and lazy to move again. Also, it’s comforting to know that Lady Shortspeare is some 8800 kilometers distant.
