DID YOU KNOW? Bonnie Donovan
Prince Harry and Meghan
Did You Know as we end 2022 and begin 2023, we are told yet again about people in need?
We think this upside-down, convoluted, world needs to be turned right side up, and we can start by saying “NO” to the nonsensical contradictions that are foisted upon us every day.
We are told that we must build more housing for people in need. Massive projects all over town and without parking because they say no one will need a car since we have a bus system. How often do people use the bus or train?
We are also told we must cut our carbon footprint to abate extreme weather, sea level rise, etc., all caused by climate change.
During Christmas the massive storm throughout the country, which caused many flight cancellations, made us wonder what all these people who traveled would do without these planes. Don’t they know, according to the media, they are causing climate change? At every airport, the majority of travelers continue to their destination by car, few walk, take the bus or the train.
We hear businesses need employees and that they cannot fill their job openings. Did You Know? investigated this, wondering how people can survive without working. We discovered that a two-person family can bring in $100,000 staying at home. No, not a mail-order business but that can be earned between President Barack Obama’s American Care Act and President Biden’s assistance.
This payout is unsustainable. The American public is paying this tab and will be for years. There is no equity with this formula. A just and productive society makes America a place that rewards work — not welfare. But a movement is afoot to adopt a “National guaranteed income” whether people work or not. The result is a record-low, labor-force participation rate. This means fewer Americans working and higher taxes for those who do work.
President Joe Biden and our government employees want the taxpayers to pay off all student loans. Why should they? Stanford University just issued a 13-page report of all banned words, including “American” and “Grandfather,” yet the word “Grandmother” is still allowed. What does that mean? Stanford is banning words. An institution of higher learning? Where is the return on investment on that?
Didi You Know? is bemused by the contrasts in our world.
Currently, 53.2 million people worldwide (twice the population of Texas) are displaced in their own countries because of war, floods, starvation and other calamities.
Around the world, there are 27.1 million refugees seeking asylum in other countries. In the U.S., 37.9 million people live below the poverty line. In California, alone, 4.5 million people (twice the population of New Mexico) live below the poverty line. There are 161,549 homeless people across California.
In contrast, in the United Kingdom, high inflation and high energy prices are driving widespread strikes of all essential services across the country. Sixty-eight million people (twice the population of California) are dependent on the government-controlled National Health Service, which is failing under the weight of under-funding, loss of key personnel, and strikes by Nurses, Ambulance Drivers, and support staff.
During 2022, more than 41,000 illegal immigrants landed on English beaches in small rubber boats. Together with immigrants using other means of entry into England, the immigration processing system is overwhelmed. (Compare that to the U.S. border crossers at over 2 million.) Their railway system has been brought to a standstill in most places around Britain. The postal workers and employees in other essential services are also striking or considering doing so.
Following Brexit, commercial enterprises are finding it difficult to trade with their biggest trading partner, the EU. The UK government is now facing the highest debt load in peacetime history. In essence, London is falling down.
Meanwhile, with much weeping and gnashing of teeth, we learn in a six-episode reality show from ex-pats, the Duke and Duchess of Victimhood, about their travails in living a life of Royalty. Some of the video content was shot from their Montecito mansion, with a reported square footage of 13,765 square feet, including a guest house. This is a luxurious 7.5-acre property, costing $14.7 million, with a reported nine bedrooms, 16 bathrooms, a guest cottage, tennis court, swimming pool, tea house, a five-car garage, and landscaped gardens surrounding it all.
By the way, they also lease from the British Royal Family, Frogmore Cottage, a 10-bedroom home, which we understand was extensively renovated by Prince Harry and the wife, for 2.4 million pounds (approximately $3 million) to create a five-bedroom home. We assume that at least five bathrooms were included in the renovation, among other luxuries. In contrast, the average home in California is 1,625 square feet in size with 3 or 4 bedrooms and 2 or 3 bathrooms.
So this forlorn couple is earning tens of millions of dollars maligning the British royal family and the British press, on whom they depend on for trashing, as their main source of income. They actually live like kings, compared with 97% of Californians, on these proceeds. Who else do you know has a total of 14 bedrooms and 21 bathrooms in their private homes?
Despite being avowed environmentalists and climate change activists, Did You Know? reckons that the “Disloyals” carbon footprint, in housing alone, not to mention private planes and helicopters, must be 12 times, or more, than that of the average Californian. In a recent interview, Prince Harry said he will not have more than two children due to climate change. Huh? Maybe the wife doesn’t need more than two.
On the local home front, more housing projects seem to be full speed ahead. We still wonder where the jobs are to pay for the housing.
A ludicrous idea is that 700 to 2,000 housing units could be built on La Cumbre Plaza and several hundred only a quarter-mile away on Hope/State Street without a massive reconstruction of the whole area of State Street. Remember the city staff and Santa Barbara City Council almost shut down Chick-fil-A due to a traffic backup. What is going to happen with the traffic when they have already added Grace Village, The Marc, La Estancia and the senior housing on Hope? Now we have another large Housing Authority project in the process at Hope and soon at La Cumbre.
The bike master plan is to eliminate a lane of traffic from both north and south on State in the same area. Imagine the constant gridlock. Ah, the future.
While we welcome 2023, please stop following wannabe stars. When your elected officials make a claim, make sure they live by it first. To start with, there should be no more natural gas in their homes. They must pay to have their homes “upgraded” to all-electric, including heating for their pools. They should no longer have the privilege of driving a vehicle, gas-powered or electric.
They must take the bus, take the train, carpool, bike, walk, run, or like our savior Jesus Christ, ride a donkey.
Happy New Year!
Bonnie Donovan writes the “Did You Know?” column in conjunction with a bipartisan group of local citizens. It appears Saturdays in the Voices section.
