The Rice Experiment Shows that Intentions and Words Have Power


[This is not really news, but we think it comes under the heading of “Need to Know”].  Aaron and Melissa Dykes performed an experiment on the power of intention by placing rice in sterilized jars and then exposing them to different human emotions.  The rice exposed to affectionate human intentions became only slightly discolored with age, while the jar of rice treated with threatening intentions became filled with mold, condensation, and rot.  Rice that was completely ignored responded with modest condensation and small spots of mold.  Unless there is fraud in this experiment, it indicates that emotions and intent can have a much stronger impact on living things, including us and those around us, than ever imagined possible. [If you have some rice, three jars, and a little time, how about repeating this experiment and letting us know your results?] -GEG




Parts of Affluent California Look Like the Third-World

A disturbing video shows thousands (literally) of tents and shacks where homeless people are living along the Santa Ana River Trail in Orange County, an upscale area in California. More than one-quarter of the nation’s homeless population now lives in California. Most sleep on the streets, under bridges, and tucked away in fields and parks. This video will haunt you. -GEG

A new disturbing video from Orange County, California shows the devastating effects that the Democratic Party’s left-wing politics have had on the West Coast state.

The video shows thousands of homeless people living in tents along the Santa Ana River Trail in Orange County — an upscale area in California.

The New York Times reports:

More than one-quarter of the total homeless population nationwide lives in California, roughly 114,000. The vast majority are “unsheltered” — a more bureaucratic term to describe the thousands living on the streets, under freeways and tucked into grassy fields and parks in cities all around the state.​

A recent article in the Los Angeles Times touched on the issue in California by pointing out that the deep blue state has the nation’s highest poverty rate.

People expressed their shock at the video over social media as many noted how the area has drastically changed over the past few years:

Read full article here…




Why California Is the Poverty Capital of America

California has the highest poverty rate in the US, based on the cost of housing, food, utilities, and clothing. With 12% of the American population, California is home to about one in four of the nation’s welfare recipients. The welfare state, supported by a massive bureaucracy of 883,000 full-time state and local employees, is incentivized to expand its ‘customer’ base by bringing in more and more welfare recipients, which includes illegal aliens. In short, California is the poverty capital of America because it is ruled by collectivists. -GEG

Guess which state has the highest poverty rate in the country? Not Mississippi, New Mexico, or West Virginia, but California, where nearly one out of five residents is poor. That’s according to the Census Bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure, which factors in the cost of housing, food, utilities and clothing, and which includes noncash government assistance as a form of income.

Given robust job growth and the prosperity generated by several industries, it’s worth asking why California has fallen behind, especially when the state’s per-capita GDP increased approximately twice as much as the U.S. average over the five years ending in 2016 (12.5%, compared with 6.27%).

It’s not as though California policymakers have neglected to wage war on poverty. Sacramento and local governments have spent massive amounts in the cause. Several state and municipal benefit programs overlap with one another; in some cases, individuals with incomes 200% above the poverty line receive benefits. California state and local governments spent nearly $958 billion from 1992 through 2015 on public welfare programs, including cash-assistance payments, vendor payments and “other public welfare,” according to the Census Bureau. California, with 12% of the American population, is home today to about one in three of the nation’s welfare recipients.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, some states — principally Wisconsin, Michigan, and Virginia — initiated welfare reform, as did the federal government under President Clinton and a Republican Congress. Tied together by a common thread of strong work requirements, these overhauls were a big success: Welfare rolls plummeted and millions of former aid recipients entered the labor force.

The state and local bureaucracies that implement California’s antipoverty programs, however, resisted pro-work reforms. In fact, California recipients of state aid receive a disproportionately large share of it in no-strings-attached cash disbursements. It’s as though welfare reform passed California by, leaving a dependency trap in place. Immigrants are falling into it: 55% of immigrant families in the state get some kind of means-tested benefits, compared with just 30% of natives.

Self-interest in the social-services community may be at fault. As economist William A. Niskanen explained back in 1971, public agencies seek to maximize their budgets, through which they acquire increased power, status, comfort and security. To keep growing its budget, and hence its power, a welfare bureaucracy has an incentive to expand its “customer” base. With 883,000 full-time-equivalent state and local employees in 2014, California has an enormous bureaucracy. Many work in social services, and many would lose their jobs if the typical welfare client were to move off the welfare rolls.

Further contributing to the poverty problem is California’s housing crisis. More than four in 10 households spent more than 30% of their income on housing in 2015. A shortage of available units has driven prices ever higher, far above income increases. And that shortage is a direct outgrowth of misguided policies.

“Counties and local governments have imposed restrictive land-use regulations that drove up the price of land and dwellings,” explains analyst Wendell Cox. “Middle-income households have been forced to accept lower standards of living while the less fortunate have been driven into poverty by the high cost of housing.” The California Environmental Quality Act, passed in 1971, is one example; it can add $1 million to the cost of completing a housing development, says Todd Williams, an Oakland attorney who chairs the Wendel Rosen Black & Dean land-use group. CEQA costs have been known to shut down entire homebuilding projects. CEQA reform would help increase housing supply, but there’s no real movement to change the law.

Extensive environmental regulations aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions make energy more expensive, also hurting the poor. By some estimates, California energy costs are as much as 50% higher than the national average. Jonathan A. Lesser of Continental Economics, author of a 2015 Manhattan Institute study, “Less Carbon, Higher Prices,” found that “in 2012, nearly 1 million California households faced … energy expenditures exceeding 10% of household income. In certain California counties, the rate of energy poverty was as high as 15% of all households.” A Pacific Research Institute study by Wayne Winegarden found that the rate could exceed 17% of median income in some areas.

Looking to help poor and low-income residents, California lawmakers recently passed a measure raising the minimum wage from $10 an hour to $15 an hour by 2022 — but a higher minimum wage will do nothing for the 60% of Californians who live in poverty and don’t have jobs. And research indicates that it could cause many who do have jobs to lose them. A Harvard University study found evidence that “higher minimum wages increase overall exit rates for restaurants” in the Bay Area, where more than a dozen cities and counties, including San Francisco, have changed their minimum-wage ordinances in the last five years. “Estimates suggest that a one-dollar increase in the minimum wage leads to a 14% increase in the likelihood of exit for a 3.5-star restaurant (which is the median rating),” the report says. These restaurants are a significant source of employment for low-skilled and entry-level workers.

Read full article here…




Antifa Professor Admits Carrying Rifle and Chasing James Fields’ Car Before Deadly Crash


University of North Carolina anthropology professor, Dwayne Dixon, is the leader of an armed Antifa group called Redneck Revolt. He has admitted chasing chasing James Alex Fields, Jr. with a rifle, causing Fields to drive into a crowd of other Antifa and Black Lives Matter protesters, resulting in one death and dozens of injuries. The media was quick to brand Field’s actions as terrorism but, according to authorities, Fields expressed remorse and shock after the incident, asking “Are they okay?”, suggesting the tragedy was not intended but a result of fleeing from Professor Dixon and his rifle. -GEG

An Antifa leader admitted on social media to chasing down the Charlottesville driver with a rifle, causing him to ram into a group of counterprotesters.

University of North Carolina anthropology professor Dwayne Dixon is the leader of armed Antifa group Redneck Revolt, who admitted to using armed intimidation to chase James Alex Fields, Jr. into a group of fellow counterprotesters which resulted in one death and dozens injured last August.

“I take perverse pleasure in having carried this Spike’s lower in the defense of Justice Park on August 12th. I used this rifle to chase off James Fields from our block of 4th St before he attacked the marchers to the south. Spike’s needs a good lesson in ethics and antifascism,” Dixon posted on Facebook.

The post included a picture of Dixon holding a rifle. His account has since been made private.

The “Spikes” Dixon refers to Spikes Tactical, a firearm company that triggered leftists last week with a social media ad that read “not today Antifa.”

The corporate media was quick to brand Field’s actions as terrorism, but according to authorities, Fields expressed remorse and shock after the incident, asking “Are they okay?”, suggesting the tragedy could have been an accident.

“He did appear to be very shocked,” detective Steve Young said.
Read full article here…

 

 




Twitter Suspended Account of Conservative Congressional Candidate

Twitter suspended the account of Congressional candidate, Chris DePizzo, after he tweeted that his Democrat rival was a “liberal media darling” who ignores the concerns of his own district. He also said that his opponent’s donors in California and New York were more important to him than his constituents. Clearly, Twitter is no longer just a provider of a channel of communications, it has assumed the role of censor as well – and an extremely biased one at that. -GEG

Amid Project Veritas’ bombshell report on Twitter’s discriminatory practices against Conservatives, the social media platform allegedly suspended Ohio Republican congressional candidate Chris DePizzo after simply  tweeting about his Democrat rival Rep. Tim Ryan.

ACTForAmerica Grassroots Director Thomas Hern first drew attention to Depizzo’s Twitter suspension, tweeting on Sunday, “Twitter just suspended Chris Depizzo a conservative candidate for Congress in Ohio for quote tweeting his opposition. Twitter is literally trying to rig elections in favor of liberals.”

According to Hern, DePizzo was suspended from Twitter after calling out “liberal media darling” Ryan for discussing the Democrat Party in Iowa and New Hampshire, while ignore the concerns of his own district.

Read full article here…




Google and Facebook Emerge as a Threatening Duopoly over Personal Communication.


Google and Facebook have become a duopoly, capturing 84% of digital revenue worldwide, excluding China. That adds up to 30% of all revenue on the entire planet. The companies have a strong left-collectivist bias and are weaponizing their ideology. Tucker Carlson says the companies are even more powerful than governments. [Congress has the power to regulate them, but backs away partly because politicians fear this power and partly because many of them also are collectivists.] -GEG