Has anyone else noticed all of the chem trails that this state puts into our atmosphere. If the my is not blue it is because of all the chemicals being dispersed in our atmosphere. Ho much is this effecting our health and the weather. I predict that the rain forecasted for next week will not occur because of the chemicals being dispersed. Some states have outlawed chem trails. Do some research, this is not a conspiracy theory.
This post generated 135 responses in the four days it’s been up.
Here’s my comment about it all, and Rick’s response:
I have a BS degree in chemistry, nominated to who’s who in American colleges and universities, graduated with honors, I have a minor in Earth and Environmental science, two years of graduate work in biochemistry at ASU. Taught middle school physical science for 38 years, was nominated as one of top 10 teachers in region 7 of California. When I taught my students had some of the highest test grades in my district. Should I tell you more of my accomplishments. Master’s degree in computer education from Fresno Pacific. Was a research chemist. Should I go on?
And it goes on that way for over a hundred other replies. Most agreeing with Rick, and suggesting I do “research” to find the “research” that proves his claims. A few even provided links, but not to anything actually reputable.
“I always feel like somebody’s watching me And I have no privacy (oh, oh) I always feel like somebody’s watching me Who’s playing tricks on me?” Somebody’s Watching Me – Rockwell
London is a city well known for extensive video monitoring by CCTV systems. London Metro Police have eyes across the city. Jurisdictions in the United States are following suit, bit by bit. Starting last year (2025), Visalia jumped on that bandwagon, too, with (at this writing) thirteen Flock cameras. Not to the extent of London, but every place has to start somewhere, right?
I was a bit surprised when I checked out the https://deflock.org/ map for the Visalia area. I was expecting to see 13 cameras under the control of the Visalia Police Department. I didn’t expect to see seven of them covering the College of the Sequoias, four at the Packwood Creek Shopping Center, and four at the Willow Creek Shopping Center. (I don’t think those are for VPD. I’m sure they’re under the control of the property owners. Especially since all the cameras there are pointing inwards to the properties, and not out towards the street.)
The City of Visalia page on the Flock website is https://transparency.flocksafety.com/visalia-ca-pd. It gives some interesting information on Visalia’s system. At the time of this post, 13 cameras had logged 344,972 “vehicles detected” in the past 30 days.
I don’t believe in Bigfoot (we’d have found a body by now, if there was a population large enough to sustain a species – accidents befall even the most careful of us), alien visitation (too far, and there’s almost no science supporting the idea that FTL is possible), any of the popular – or momentarily in-the-news – ideas, like baby sacrifices going on in pizza parlor basements, or secret cabals running the world.
So, not a conspiracy nut.
But…
One has to wonder how the United States has so quickly fallen. It hardly seems like this is something we would deliberately do to ourselves, but it seems we have. We’ve gutted important government agencies, stopped aid to needy people around the world, broke alliances that had served us well since World War II, and disrupted the very fabric of our nation. Republicans in Congress have ceded their authorities and powers to the President, and the Democrats can’t seem to get their act together to present a unified resistance.
If I were an adversary of the United States, I would know one basic thing as truth. Nobody on the planet can seriously challenge the United States military, if the U.S. decided to stage an all-out response to attack. Military force is not an option.
However…
Americans are terribly myopic. The business world only sees as far as the next quarterly report. Politicians only see to the next election. People who are educated and study world affairs are ignored, most of the time. The general public is too focused on social media (now). Those who have been and are still watching television are enamored of “reality” TV, watching instigated drama in groups of people staged to be either physically attractive, or sufficiently sinister. News programming is increasingly dropping facts and analysis for ratings and clicks. Nobody is really “minding the store” that is the United States.
So how would a theoretical adversary on the United States overthrow them, destroy their leadership in the world, fracture alliances, and generally make them pariah in the world’s eyes, all without firing a single missile or bullet?
Now, this requires some long term planning, which at the very least, China has demonstrated they are willing to do. Russia keeps shooting itself in the foot, but it, too, has a longer outlook than does the United States.
Get compromising information on people who might end up in office. The most determined to attain power will probably have something in their closet they don’t want exposed to the light of day. If not, a honey-pot trap often works. Infiltrate other organizations, businesses, and universities. Feed disinformation to the internet and legacy news media. Be relentless with all of it. Convince people that “they, those people over there, the brown ones, the liberal ones, the media, the ‘others’ “, are the real enemies of the state.
Then along comes Donald J. Trump. They’ve already got all the kompromat they could possibly have over him (Epstein files? Pee tapes?), and they understand his narcissism and greed. Promise him money, threaten him with what they know, and he eats out of their hands. Feed his supporters with constant refrains of “only he can save us”, “only he can fix it”, “it’s the liberals fault”, “it’s the illegals fault”, “things will get better if you elect him”. Lie to them, but do it in a way that strokes their egos. Make them feel like they’re smart, they know what’s going on, their dire straights are not their fault, but the work of “them”. Elect Trump President.
So they did. What did we get?
He and his supporters in Congress and the Courts are systematically tearing down the framework of the United States, and putting long-time alliances that have kept the peace in Europe since 1945 in the position of no longer being able to trust the USA. Taking Greenland? Cuba? Venezuela? The Trump regime is creating chaos around the world. In the middle of it all, Trump is raking in the money faster than any one can count it. The rich oil states are shoveling money at him.
That, and more, might be what someone would do to undermine and diminish the United States, without firing a shot.
A charter city is a municipality where the governing system is defined by its own unique legal document—a city charter—rather than solely by general state, provincial, or national laws. Visalia’s charter was created in 1923, and updated in 1974. We’re due for some critical thinking on the charter, and some updates to reflect today’s world. Much of the charter still works, but much of it also needs amending. I uploaded the Charter to Grok, and asked it to analyze the current document, and suggest things to bring it into the 21st century. Here’s what it came up with. (The current Charter can be found at the end of this blog.)
Analysis of the City of Visalia Charter
The provided Charter of the City of Visalia, adopted in the early 20th century and last amended in 1974 (with Section 21 deleted), establishes a council-manager form of government with broad home rule powers over municipal affairs, as permitted under Article XI of the California Constitution. It is a concise document (around 25 articles) that emphasizes local control, fiscal conservatism, and procedural safeguards, reflecting the era’s priorities like post-Depression financial limits and mid-century urban planning. The charter aligns with California’s framework for charter cities, granting supremacy over “municipal affairs” (e.g., elections, officer compensation, zoning) while subordinating to state law on “statewide concerns” (e.g., housing mandates, labor relations under certain statutes).
Key strengths:
Home Rule Emphasis: It robustly asserts powers over utilities, zoning, franchises, and emergencies, consistent with charter city autonomy.
Fiscal Prudence: Strict limits on taxes (1% property tax cap, specials for libraries/parks), debt (20% of assessed value), and bidding (aligned with state thresholds) promote accountability.
Governance Structure: Council-manager system with appointed officials (e.g., City Manager handles operations) supports professional management.
Public Safeguards: Provisions for initiative/referendum/recall, open meetings, and audits enhance transparency.
Key weaknesses/outdated elements:
Language and Inclusivity: Gendered pronouns (“he,” “his”) assume male officeholders, excluding modern norms of gender neutrality.
Lack of Modern Priorities: No explicit focus on equity, sustainability, technology, or post-2020 innovations like remote governance.
Potential Conflicts with State Law: Some sections (e.g., zoning, elections) predate major reforms like Proposition 13 (1978), SB 9 (2021 on lot splits/duplexes), or redistricting laws (e.g., AB 764, 2024). Courts have increasingly classified housing as a statewide concern, limiting charter city exemptions.
Rigidity: Fixed processes (e.g., 2-hour notice for special meetings) hinder agility; no provisions for term limits, ethics commissions, or diverse representation.
Omissions: Lacks sections on climate resilience, data privacy, or economic development tools common in updated charters.
Overall, the charter functions but feels archaic compared to peers like San Francisco (reformed 1996, ongoing updates) or Oakland (1998 shift to mayor-council). Modern best practices, per the League of California Cities’ Charter City Toolkit and the National Civic League’s Model City Charter (9th Edition, 2021), emphasize flexibility, equity, and performance metrics. California’s 121 charter cities (out of 482 total) often use charters for tailored governance; Visalia could enhance efficiency without losing core principles.
In 2002, to settle a discrimination lawsuit filed by a Golden West student, the ACLU, and the GSA Network, the Visalia Unified School district agreed to the following consent decree. The decree was valid until June 30, 2005, with an extension to June of 2007 if VUSD failed to complete the agreement. In it, the District agreed to the following:
Adopt policies explicitly forbidding staff or student harassment or discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation;
Name “”compliance coordinators”” to help parents, students and teachers with incidents of discrimination;
Establish a community advisory group to help address discrimination and assess how the settlement is working.
It also required the District to facilitate any student requests to form a LGBT-related school club, and make the efforts to find a teacher willing to be the club’s advisor. Materials regarding discrimination and LGBT rights, staff training, student training, and protection from retaliation were parts of the agreement.
Flash forward to 2026.
Redwood High School students, on Senior picture day, decided to arrange tshirts with letters and numbers on them to form the derogatory “2FAG60TS” seen above. Students posted the images to social media, and the community erupted. See previous posts on this blog for further information.
It may be time for VUSD to dig into their storage units and dust off the materials required by the decree. They clearly need some review.
The next VUSD Board of Trustees meeting is Tuesday, March 10, 2026. It will be held at the Board room, VUSD, 5000 W. Cypress, Visalia, California, at 5:30 pm. A large crowd is expected.
Here is the consent decree as agreed to between VUSD, the student George Loomis, the ACLU, and the Gay Straight Alliance Network.
I was perusing the Charter of the City of Visalia, as one does, and I ran across a bit of a mystery, and a conundrum. I think it’s time for an update. It was last modified in 1974, and some of the things in it need some changes. For starters, it needs to become gender neutral:
Article VIII City Manager Section 1. The City Manager need not be a resident of the State of California at the time of his appointment. His powers and duties shall be:
The City of Visalia has had a woman as city manager for some time, now. The Municipal Code does, at least, cover itself in this situation, with the following:
1.04.030 Grammatical interpretation. The following grammatical rules shall apply in the ordinances of the city unless it is apparent from the context that a different construction is intended: A. Gender. Each gender includes the masculine, feminine and neuter genders. B. Singular and Plural. The singular number includes the plural and the plural includes the singular. C. Tenses. Words used in the present tense include the past and the future tenses and vice versa, unless manifestly inapplicable. (Ord. 9605 § 2 (part), 1996: prior code § 111)
But that’s not what this blog is about. This is:
Article VI Legislative. The Council. Powers and Duties (5) Appoint a City Attorney, a City Manager, a City Clerk, and five Library Trustees.
Change has come to Visalia. Specifically, on Tulare Avenue. From Demaree east to Cotta, new lane configurations have upset a lot of people.
I put a video up on Facebook and Instagram about these new lane configurations, and it’s garnered over 11 thousand views in just one day. (You can view the YouTube version, here.)
Change doesn’t come easily for some folks. My Facebook post has 55 comments so far in the 24 hours since I posted it. (That’s a lot for a post by me.) Most were not favorable towards the new layout.
Change doesn’t come easily for some folks. Here are some comments made, and my response to some of them.
My request for information regarding the purchase and “upfit” of 14 new Dodge Durango Police SUVs landed in the Visalia City Clerk’s email Monday, 1/12/2026, and the response landed in my email Tuesday, 1/13/2026, shortly after 5pm. Talk about quick service!
If you’d like to follow me down this particular rabbit hole, click on ‘more’ below, and you’ll see the pages of information about the Durangos, and the “upfit” equipment to be installed in each.
If you don’t want to fall down that hole, then I’ll just say that it takes a lot of equipment to outfit a modern police vehicle, and while I think $33,000 each is making someone a lot of money, I doubt this is a case of “we can get it cheaper somewhere else”.
Thank you to the City Clerk for the rapid response to my request.
Perusing the Visalia City Council agenda can be tedious, at times. Monotonous, filled with, frankly, less than enlightening information. Generally, there’s not much to grab your attention, as it’s the nuts and bolts of running a city. I often refer to it as “the sausage making” of city government. Sometimes, though…
Last November, I noticed consent calendar entries for new police cars (SUVs, actually. Seems nobody is producing sedans for police work anymore). Included in the agenda packet information was an approval request for:
“Award a Contract for 14 New Police Patrol Vehicles – Request authorization to award a purchase contract for fourteen (14) fully marked Police patrol units with National Auto Fleet Group located in Watsonville, CA, in the amount of $1,281,193 for 2026 Dodge Durango’s, appropriate $14,130 from General Fund, $106,395 from Measure T, and $122,674 from the Replacement Fund for total appropriations of $243,200.”
Each Durango had a purchase price of $57,193.47, with an equipment “upfit” of $33,895.03 each.
Now, we can ponder about a $1.3 million purchase being included in a “consent calendar” item, relegating it to the shadows and holding no public discussion on the expense. (You should see some of the “consent calendar” items and the associated dollar amounts that float through the Tulare County Board of Supervisors meetings. Yikes. And some retro-active, at that! – but that’s maybe for a different discussion.)
I’m a bit torn between the idea of not bogging down meetings with endless procedure, and I also firmly believe in hiring good people, setting their parameters and goals, and then getting out of their way and let them do their jobs, but… that’s a lot of money for important city assets.
Here’s my public records request to the City of Visalia (sent late on a Friday, so no action until next week at the earliest):
To: City of Visalia City Clerk cityclerk@visalia.city 01/09/2026
Dear City Clerk,
This is a request under the California Public Records Act (Government Code § 6250 et seq.).
I request that the following records be made available for public inspection and/or that copies be provided:
On 11/17/2025, the Visalia City Council passed consent item #8, “Award a Contract for 14 New Police Patrol Vehicles”. The agenda packet includes quotes from National Auto Fleet Group for 14 new Dodge Durango Pursuit AWD vehicles, at $57,193.47 per vehicle. Also included in the quote are twelve “upfit” specifications, at $33,895.03 per vehicle. These vehicles are listed as available under Sourcewell Contract 091521-NAF.
I would like documentation on the “stock” equipment level of the vehicles being purchased. This would be satisfied by the information included in the “Monroney” sticker attached to new vehicles. I would also like a detailed listing of the equipment to be installed in the “upfit” of the vehicle prior to delivery to the City of Visalia.
If any portion of these records is deemed exempt from disclosure, I request that you redact only those portions and provide the remainder of the records, citing the specific legal justification for each redaction as required by the CPRA.
Please inform me in advance of any fees associated with compiling or copying these records. If the estimated costs exceed $20, please contact me for approval before proceeding.
As provided by the CPRA, I look forward to your response within 10 calendar days regarding the availability of these records.
The Visalia Unified School District responded to my request for information. There were two parts to that response.
Part One:
So, if I’m reading this correctly, there is no policy that says ‘special meetings’ will not be video recorded. That seems odd. If it’s routine to record Board meetings when held in the Boardroom, why aren’t ‘special meetings’ video recorded? Does this mean some manager told staff to not record the meetings? On what basis was that order, if it happened, made? If no such order was made, is the staff member making the decisions themselves? I rather doubt that.
Part Two:
They want the name or title of the District personnel that I’m requestion information about in order to search email or other records. Unfortunately, the District does not list employee positions online. I am unable to determine who might be the person(s) whose records would be appropriate to check for information with an online search.
They also want a date range to search, but how do I determine what time frame would be appropriate, since they do not include all of the past agendas and minutes on their web pages.
I’m currently researching online documents from the District to see if I can figure out just why they don’t record ‘special meetings’, but if I can’t find anything I may have to start making phone calls.
Seems like a lot of work for such a simple request.
Random thoughts, occasional rants, illuminating commentary, and an odd story now and then from the world of 9-1-1 dispatching. All this and more from a gay liberal atheist living in California’s Bible belt. I recently married, so MAGA beware! I’m your worst nightmare! Some names have been omitted to protect the innocent, but the guilty will be hung out to dry!
JimmieJoe / KC6YRU 
CHEMTRAILS!
April 22, 2026
Jim Reeves commentary, News chemtrails, contrails, jet exhuast, NextDoor, urban legend, visalia Leave a comment
From my local version of the Nextdoor app:
Rick L. Bearfield
Parkwood/Cypress Ranch·
Has anyone else noticed all of the chem trails that this state puts into our atmosphere. If the my is not blue it is because of all the chemicals being dispersed in our atmosphere. Ho much is this effecting our health and the weather. I predict that the rain forecasted for next week will not occur because of the chemicals being dispersed. Some states have outlawed chem trails. Do some research, this is not a conspiracy theory.
This post generated 135 responses in the four days it’s been up.
Here’s my comment about it all, and Rick’s response:
Jim Reeves
Tell me you failed science class in middle school without telling me you failed science class in middle school. 🙄
Rick decided to respond with “appeal to authority”.
Rick L. Bearfield
Jim
I have a BS degree in chemistry, nominated to who’s who in American colleges and universities, graduated with honors, I have a minor in Earth and Environmental science, two years of graduate work in biochemistry at ASU. Taught middle school physical science for 38 years, was nominated as one of top 10 teachers in region 7 of California. When I taught my students had some of the highest test grades in my district. Should I tell you more of my accomplishments. Master’s degree in computer education from Fresno Pacific. Was a research chemist. Should I go on?
And it goes on that way for over a hundred other replies. Most agreeing with Rick, and suggesting I do “research” to find the “research” that proves his claims. A few even provided links, but not to anything actually reputable.
Just in case, here’s at least one reputable source that debunks “chemtrails”.
I now understand why Visalia is consistently rated very low in educational surveys.
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