∙ There is so much to write about I don’t know where to start. Like lots of Americans (certainly not all), I am very depressed by the recent decisions of the Supreme Court. And on a more local issue, by the situation of Ashley Bautista.
∙ From a previous issue of the Breeze; “The County of Ventura has selected Ashley Bautista as their new Public Information Officer following the retirement of Bill Nash. The position reports to County Executive Officer Mike Powers.”
She spent the previous five years as a public information officer for the city of Ventura and the Ventura Police Department and has won several awards for her work.
Ashley Bautista was arrested in Ventura in a suspected misdemeanor DUI hit-and-run crash. The accident was at the intersection of Paseo de Playa and Harbor Blvd. near the Ventura Promenade.
While at a stop sign, a car was rear-ended by Bautista’s and she continued driving away after the collision. When she was pulled over Ashley was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor DUI involving alcohol and misdemeanor hit-and-run.
She has since resigned from her position with the county. Even though our relationship has been on a professional level I have always considered her to be a friend and am very upset that this has happened to her. I hope this was an isolated incidence and she can put her life back on track.
∙ In a major expansion of gun rights after a series of mass shootings, the Supreme Court determined that Americans have a right to carry firearms in public for self-defense, a ruling likely to lead to more people legally armed. The decision came out as Congress and states debate gun-control legislation. The high court’s first major gun decision in more than a decade split the court 6-3, with the court’s conservatives in the majority and liberals in dissent.
From New York Daily News
“Using a garbled reading of history as a crutch, the U.S. Supreme Court’s supposed textualist conservatives have just managed to codify a cartoon cutout version of the Second Amendment, obliterating New York State’s concealed carry firearm permitting system. We will mince no words: This will cost the lives of civilians and police officers, as almost anyone in New York City will now be free to carry a gun. At a time when the proliferation of weapons is already killing record numbers of Americans, the nearly absolutist right of self-defense the majority canonizes will become a right to societal suicide.”
“It’s just 27 simple words written in 1789: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the six-member majority, brazenly ignores that first clause and renders the second in the most expansive terms imaginable.”
Ohio’s permit-less gun carry law for “qualifying” adults is a measure that would lift restrictions on school teachers, custodians and bus drivers from carrying firearms at work. Is a “qualifying” adult” one that signs a promise that they won’t kill a spouse, themselves, or students?
So, the solution to gun deaths is to arm more people with guns, right?
This might help, though, President Joe Biden has signed the most sweeping gun violence bill in decades, a bipartisan compromise that seemed unimaginable until a recent series of mass shootings, including the massacre of 19 students and two teachers at a Texas elementary school.
“Time is of the essence. Lives will be saved,” he said in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. Citing the families of shooting victims he has met, the President said, “Their message to us was, ‘Do something.’ How many times did we hear that? ‘Just do something. For God’s sake, just do something.’ Today we did.”
Even though the majority of American’s support Roe vs. Wade in the other depressing Supreme Court decision is the overturning of this long-running statute. Even though objections to abortions are supposedly based on religious beliefs I still have not seen, or have been sent the passages from the Bible that support this position.
∙ Writing in the LA Times Robin Abcarian stated:
“Goodbye, legal right to abortion.
Goodbye, separation of church and state.
Goodbye, common-sense gun laws.
Goodbye, Miranda rights.
And that’s just the beginning.”
∙ For some good news, with the debut of macOS Ventura (likely later this year) Ventura images will be seen throughout the day on the screens of almost every Mac computer in the world. The tech giant Apple has chosen the name “Ventura” for the company’s new Mac operating system.
Visit Ventura’s Digital Marketing Manager Mike Laan stated, “Literally every creative person in the world is going to be using this operating system, and Ventura photos will be on the desktop by default. I think it will bring more exposure to Ventura.”
∙ For now, single-family residential properties in the City of Ventura are encouraged to voluntarily reduce water use by 20%. Stricter measures, including implementing water shortage rates and mandatory outdoor watering restrictions, could go into effect if demand reductions are not achieved through voluntary efforts.
∙ Most of California beaches (including Ventura’s) are much cleaner than in past decades. In its annual report Heal the Bay graded more than 700 beaches and concluded that 94% logged clean water quality.
∙ Amazon plans to begin delivering some packages by drone to homes in a select few Northern California homes this year. My question is how much do you tip a drone when it delivers a pizza? And if it accidently delivers it to your next-door neighbor can your neighbor legally eat it by saying they thought it was a birthday present?
