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Posted by Battle Born Media | Oct 15, 2022 | Opinion | 2
Properly Subversive/Sherman R. Frederick
Is any state more pompous than California and its ballot measures?
Consider, if you will, the 2018 law regulating the size of cages for pigs eaten in California.
Golden State voters in their infinite wisdom passed Proposition 12 requiring bigger cages for certain farm animals, including breeding pigs.
Pork producers sued, advancing the argument that 99.99% of bacon eaten by Californians comes from out of state, so therefore Proposition 12 imposes cage dimensions on pig farmers in other states, which is kinda – just a little – unconstitutional.
Last week, California attorneys put on their straight faces to defend Prop 12 in front of the Supreme Court of the United States. It was tough sledding because even the tofu-loving Biden Administration argued against California, saying the law throws “a giant wrench into the workings of the interstate market in pork.”
“Both conservative and liberal justices on the nation’s highest court,” CalMatters reports, “seemed skeptical” of California’s pig-cage law.
– Justice Amy Coney Barrett” “Could you have California pass a law that said we’re not going to buy any pork from companies that don’t require all their employees to be vaccinated, or from corporations that don’t fund gender-affirming surgery?”
– Justice Brett Kavanaugh: “What about a law that says you can’t sell fruit in our state if it’s produced — handled by people who are not in the country legally? Is that state law permissible?”
– Justice Elena Kagan asked about existing laws. New York law requires imported firewood to be sprayed with a certain pesticide before entering the state. “Would that be forbidden?” Kagan asked.
Good questions. Now, would anyone like pickles on their soy-based BLT sandwich? The soybeans were raised in life-affirming California fields watered with Nevada water in which all the plants were sung to sleep by certified American and unionized employees – not any of those damnable gig workers.
This is quite a life Californians have carved out for themselves – a state that cares more about the size of a pig cage in Arkansas than the cardboard boxes homeless use to sleep on the streets of San Francisco. Of course, Californians don’t eat the homeless yet, so they have that going for them.
ON THE ROPES
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, in an attempt to seem less “woke” as she tries to appeal to moderate Democrats in her bid for reelection in Nevada, has stopped using the gender neutral term “Latinx.” This according to the reporting from the Washington Examiner. BTW: Cortez Masto is trailing Adam Laxalt in the latest polling.
ONE MORE THING
– L.A. gas station owners ridiculed claims they’re gouging customers, pointing out they make only two cents a gallon on gas, adding they have to sell steam-heated pizza and hot dogs at the cash register to make a profit. I am about to eat a gas station breakfast. Please tell my family that I love them. (H/T Comedian Argus Hamilton.)
– A horse walks into a bar. The bartender says “you’re in here a lot, are you an alcoholic?” The horse ponders for a minute and responds “I don’t think I am.” And, poof, he disappears. This is when philosophy students start to snicker, as they are familiar with Descartes postulate, “I think, therefore I am.” But telling you that first would be putting Descartes before the horse.
– You may be a Las Vegan if your girlfriend has six piercings and you can’t see any of them.
Until next week, ladies and germs, flu season is near, so get vaccinated, avoid soreheads, laugh a little and always – always – question authority. Cheers and thanks for reading.
(“Properly Subversive” is commentary written by Sherman R. Frederick, a Nevada Hall of Fame journalist and co-founder of Battle Born Media, a news organization dedicated to the preservation of community newspapers. You can reach him by email at shermfrederick@ gmail. com.)
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August 29, 2014
June 10, 2016
April 5, 2019
February 15, 2022
Should be “Descartes’ postulate.”
It would be nice if we could focus on making lives better for animals, and thus making a better product as its a win win for us, the animals and the environment. Not saying this is law to do it, but it is a start.
If this site does have any wide reach, which I assume it doesn’t, since it seems like an angry old boomers personal crying corner. If you could focus on the potential upsides of these laws instead of writing sarcastic articles with unfunny cheap jokes, then we might all be better off in the not so distant future.
Articles like this help neither side and come off as pedantic and childish.
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