Puterbac News Network and Political Discussion Thread

[AlabamAlum]

Tick, the elitist and his $75 dinners, fancy mowers, and knowledge of South Carolina golf courses.

[Johnette's Daddy]

Didn't San Bernardino declare bankruptcy recently?

Also, $40-$60-$100K sounds like a lot of money, and it is, especially here in flyover country. But I understand that $100K will qualify you for food stamps in LA or SF. People I know who moved to coastal CA tell me the rule of thumb is: take your current rent or mortgage, and double it. Then take the square footage of your current residence, and cut it in half. That's what you can expect when you move to San Diego, LA or San Fran.

Maybe San Bernardino is far enough inland to escape the astronomical cost of housing, and that $100K is still good money. That would also explain the bankruptcy.

San Bernardino is Red State California - the housing is not as bad as LA/SD/SF, but still more than Texas. However you do actually get a decent lot and nice sized house. $100K in San Bernardino is like $140K in LA.

The city of San Bernardino (not the county, but it is the county seat) went bankrupt, largely because it bet on a rising tide of tax income from the red-hot housing boom of the early part of the century. When the market went bust, a few commuter cities in cali (notably Stockton, which is a San Francisco commuter city) went bust, as well.

San Bernardino's bankruptcy is almost directly tied to coddling cops and firefighters. http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/jul ... ernardino/

Recent reports on the finances of San Bernardino have noted that its pension obligations were not much higher than those seen in many local governments – “only” 13 percent of the most recent budget – and thus couldn’t be blamed for the city’s decision to pursue bankruptcy protection. The union-backed Californians for Retirement Security, which contends the pension crisis has been exaggerated as part of out-of-state billionaires’ war on middle-class union members, trumpeted these findings.

But that leaves out the rest of the story. As detailed in City Journal, the primary factor driving San Bernardino into bankruptcy is a 1995 city charter amendment engineered by the police and firefighter unions that requires their pay be based on average police and fire pay in 10 comparably sized California cities. But all 10 – including Thousand Oaks, Irvine and Huntington Beach – are much wealthier than San Bernardino, which is one of the poorest cities in the nation.

The predictable result: Public safety costs now eat up three-quarters of San Bernardino’s budget. Average annual police pay is $95,000. Firefighters average more than $130,000. And last year, the city’s highest-paid employee was a police sergeant who made $317,179.

Given the city’s union-rigged charter, the only surprise about San Bernardino’s bankruptcy is that it didn’t happen sooner.

[Jungle Rat]

Obama just farted. I think he did it on purpose.

[Johnette's Daddy]

Of course, in "Red" areas, the politicians are COMPLETELY beholden to cops and firefighters, as the faces of good old American values, so even as they look to crush unions in every way possible, cop & firefighter unions are exempt.

Even in LA, with a mayor who fancies himself as the white Barack Obama (and is planning his 2024 Presidential run as I type), he kowtows to the cop union, because no white man can get elected to citywide office without their support.

In fact, there is a evangelical megachurch in the west valley where a few Assistant Police Chiefs, senior Captains (and a lot of rank-and-file cops) attend (a retired Assistant Chief is an associate minister there, and the retired longtime police union head attends). Our Jewish Mayor, Jewish County Supervisor & Jewish City Councilman routinely make Sunday morning pilgrimages there to worship with the evangelical cops.

[bluetick]

Tick, the elitist and his $75 dinners, fancy mowers, and knowledge of South Carolina golf courses.

heh

zero turn, bitches

[Professor Tiger]

Heh x2.

JD, I get the feeling you don't like Jews very much. (Funny; neither do most of my black friends.) You don't despise them like you do cops and black Republicans. You just don' like them.

[Johnette's Daddy]

Heh x2.

JD, I get the feeling you don't like Jews very much. (Funny; neither do most of my black friends.) You don't despise them like you do cops and black Republicans. You just don' like them.

Dead wrong. I'm tight with several Rabbis and the couples that my wife wife and I socialize with most often are Jewish. I regularly participate in a Shabbat dinner at my former business partner's house and participated in his kids' bar/bat mitzvahs. FWIW, after we moved out of the ghetto in Cleveland, we moved to Shaker Heights (home of Paul Newman), which was a jewish enclave in the 60s/70s.

I've done seders, pulpit exchanges, etc.

But, of course, I only like the liberal, progressive Jews now.

[AlabamAlum]

I have some Jewish blood.













(I keep it in a jar under my front porch)

[Professor Tiger]

Jewish AND Scottish. Interesting combination.

JD, I'm glad to know you don't side with "Hymietown" contingent, with the possible exception of Republican or law enforcement Jews, if such things actually exist.

[AlabamAlum]

Read the fine print

[Professor Tiger]

Heh. I'm intrigued by your unique ancestry, AA. IIRC your ancestors came over from Scotland only a couple of generations ago, so there was little time for the Jewish part to mix in here in the US.

I'm guessing your great grandfather went to the best jewelry store in Edinburgh to buy an anniversary gift for your great grandmother, had an unexpected afternoon of bliss with the help, and along you came later.

[AlabamAlum]

I'm not Jewish, although my doctor, my lawyer and my accountant are.

[Professor Tiger]

Wise.

JD, when are you gong to start posting dozens of stories about Jews being brutalized by the police?

[Jungle Rat]

I have some Jewish blood.













(I keep it in a jar under my front porch)

I have some Jewish blood too. I keep it under the sink.

[hedge]

The only time you have jewish blood under the sink is when you're fixing a leak...

[Jungle Rat]

I don't get it

[Professor Tiger]

[youtube]MNuS8IlhhrQ[/youtube]

[Johnette's Daddy]

Wise.

JD, when are you gong to start posting dozens of stories about Jews being brutalized by the police?

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php ... d=10005201

[aTm]

[img2]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCb37WOUgAAzpHK.jpg[/img2]

[Johnette's Daddy]

For the 2nd Amendmenters:

A friend of mine recently retired from a law enforcement agency here in L.A. and his wife and he just moved to Utah to help with their grand kids.

They are back in LA this week because his health insurance hasn't transferred over yet, so he's here to see some specialists about his medical condition. We went to brunch with them after church today and started talking about living in Utah and I happened to ask him if his wife was taking shooting lessons since they were in a Red State.

She (to my surprise) then pulls out her concealed carry permit (she had no interest in guns when he tried to tech her to shoot out here).

He then tells me that as a retired lawman, they basically mandated that he get a concealed carry permit, as well, and shows me his.

I was a little taken aback at that, given that he took a medical retirement last year because he went blind and cannot even walk without being led by the hand.