greetings from silicon valley
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greetings from silicon valley
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By Steve Cañón…

Just what do the tech giants and working remotely have to do with guns? With gun control? Plenty.

Many things about America will be forever changed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Some of them have been good for those of us who care about gun rights, such has the hundreds of thousands of first-time gun buyers who have decided that owning a firearm and armed self-defense is an option they want.

But not all of the news is potentially good.

There have been a number of articles this last week on how the employees at many of California’s high tech giants are taking advantage of the Wuhan virus to lower their cost of living (and their exposure to COVID-19). Despite the tech companies’ ethos of giving people the ability to access everyone from anywhere, telecommuting in the industry has been relatively rare.

The very companies who are selling the ability to improve productivity via remote distributed services have, for the most part, kept their employees pretty much tied to their Silicon Valley office desks.

The Wuhan virus seems to be changing all of that.

So if the tech giants’ employees no longer need to be in the office, they don’t have to be in California.

What does this have to do with gun control laws? The result of a more distributed Silicon Valley workforce would be a swarm of coastal exports spreading like locusts to much lower cost-of-living states in the great middle. As those coastal employees disburse, they will bring with them not only their technical prowess and incomes, but their culture and voting habits, too.

This could result in a blue wave overspilling the California border, funded and even encouraged by the high tech industry. In truth, it would actually be an acceleration of a slow-moving exodus that has already been long under way, with Golden State refugees fleeing astronomical real estate prices and confiscatory taxes.

A virus-driven acceleration of this emigration could overrun Second Amendment-friendly outposts, overwhelming bastions of “flyover country” that have, until now, represented the bulk of Second Amendment support.

From The Atlantic:

Western states taking in new Californians might be more anxious about change than they once were. Texas, for example, has been the most popular destination for outbound Californians for more than a decade, consistently averaging about 60,000 to 70,000 new Golden Staters per year. But now the state is at an inflection point, between its history as a ruby-red conservative stronghold and its future as a more mixed state with blue metros and red rural areas. In this context, the next SoCal family that U-Hauls into North Texas isn’t just some nice couple with different taste in barbecue; instead, they’re potentially the demographic straw that breaks the GOP’s back.

That was written in January, pre-pandemic.

The 2016 and 2018 elections proved there are more Democrat voters, than Republican voters. At least more who are willing to get out and vote. It was only because the blue states had such a high concentration of left-leaning voters that the 2016 Electoral College was an effective defense against a Clinton victory and what likely would have been more assaults on gun rights.

Now that companies have discovered that they can operate with their employees working from, well, anywhere, if the projected break-out of a significant number of California tech types happens, the politics and the nation may be irreversibly altered. And the result could be devastating for the right to keep and bear arms.

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127 COMMENTS

  1. Will most/all of those extreme Left Progressives working in Silicon Valley actually leave? I would not be so sure about that. As far as I can tell, they love the climate, scenery, and culture in California, which they most certainly will not find in Texas, nor anywhere else for that matter.

    Love it or hate it, the densely populated region of California (along the coast from San Diego to San Francisco) is unique. Will a bump in pay outweigh the expensive housing and taxes in California? I guess time will tell. I certainly have my doubts.

    • And we have to ask a very important question about the exodus from California: how many of the masses leaving the state are far Left Progressives and how many are middle-of-the road or Conservatives? I have a suspicion that many/most of the people leaving California are middle-of-the-road or Conservatives.

      • “I have a suspicion that many/most of the people leaving California are middle-of-the-road or Conservatives.”

        That’s a good point, which means that it could make the political situation in CA worse.

        • New york is poised to lose 2 or 3 house seats after the census is in. CA is actually in a static population position after years of growth so they are trying to count as many illegals as many times as they can to secure their hold on the House and the EC. imagine losing even a little in either.

        • I don’t think it can get any worse…

          What I am thinking is that, in fact, the recipient states/counties can always setup some welcome programs for new homeowners and teach team the value of rural, suburban living as well as the conservative mindsets.

        • One look at Colorado should clear that question up…over the past 20 years it has flipped from solid red to solid blue, because of California migration. California migrants began pouring in to take advantage of the lower taxes, paying top $$$$ for housing and driving the price of real estate through the roof. The immediately started voting for the same slime-balls they left in California, with the same results. They are like locusts. I expect once they completely destroy Colorado (they don’t have much further to go), they’ll move on to the next red state and consume it as well.

        • It’s rare anyone actually changes their mindset.

          More likely, I fear, is that they will be eager to tell the hicks how much better *their* way of ‘thinking’ is…

        • Realistically, just how would the political situation in Cali get any worse for conservatives? They can’t get enough seats, or ballot initiative votes, even now to do very much. At least if enough conservatives leave, the deep-blue regions in California might lose a few House seats.

        • I don’t think it really matters if all the conservatives and moderates leave CA, they didn’t have any voting muscle anyways, and haven’t had since Pete Wilson left office…the last good governor that state had.

      • That’s my guess too. The very few CA folks I knew that left CA were moderate, slightly left leaning, or slightly right leaning. They didnt bring with them any extreme leftist views.

      • Oregon shows otherwise. From moderate Republican in the early 90s to hard left Democrat now, in the Portland metroplex that dominates the state. You the same in microcosm in Deschutes County as Bend filled up with Californians. Some are conservative, some are gun people buts lots are stereotypical Dem voters who made Bend the first city East of the Cascades to virtue signal over plastic bags and straws. I’m hoping for a volcanic eruption and a bad fire season to scare the Californians and in the meantime I think I will commission ” Move to Boulder” bumper stickers.

        • New York and California were Republican strong holds too, until they weren’t. People and attitudes change,….. especially if Commies are pumping money and people in to education and media.

        • Hey Slow Joe, I have lived in Deschutes County since 1970 (’73 BSHS grad) and have observed the slow
          erosion of our collective conservative values and mindset due to the influx of Californicators. If you have some bumper stickers made please let me know.

      • rc, that’s exactly how they do it. On this side we have to deal with libtards from NY, NJ, PA, Boston, Baltimore, Chicago….I am pretty confident they are as mentally ill as the ones from CA, but more obnoxious. We deal with obnoxious parasites here. What I have noticed is the Canadians keep a low profile when they visit, you don’t hear them yapping about gun control, and Trump did this, and in New Yaaaark this is so much better….very polite and discrete people compared to our liberal idiots.

    • I use to live in S California for about 25 years, loved the weather, loved the fact that I get get to the beach or the mountain in a short time, I rode my bicycle nearly every day…BUT, I found myself for some strange reason getting older, and I knew retirement age was coming sooner rather than later, so I left.

      Why did I leave? All I could afford was a small 1,200 square foot home making $120,000 a year! I was raising a family on top of it, I also knew that because my income was tight I couldn’t but the money I needed to into my 401k, I had some but I also knew that by the time I retired it wouldn’t be enough to live off of in Calif even though my house would have been paid off at 70. I also doubted if I was going to be able to fully retire, not sure on that point, but if the stock market plummeted for sure I would have to work part time past 70, as it was I was going have to wait till I was 70 to collect SS just to get the max on my payments.

      So I got to looking around, I had friends and family who lived in the Midwest, my wife and I decided to move to NE Indiana, where after selling my home I was not only able to buy a 2,300 square foot home but I had enough left over from my house and my 401k to buy a duplex and a bit later an 8 plex and only have a very small loan on the 8 plex after putting down 80% cash. My taxes on my house is about 100% less than the my taxes were in CA. I could have never been able to afford rental property in CA; over the long haul I was a bit leery of what mutual funds performance might be as well since the US was showing signs of potential serious problems that could affect the market.

      So now I’m going to retire at 68 (4 more years) because by then the small loan will be paid for, and I will have pretty decent income coming in, plus I’m working on another 401k but I’m not putting much hope into it, maybe? depending on what happens, it’s more of a cherry on top of the desert thing, however I went from 5% of my income going into a 401k in CA to now I can afford 20%.

      I’m telling you all this because while I liked living in CA, I didn’t like the expense of doing so, high taxes, high sales taxes, high gasoline prices, high expenses on everything, my electric bill was at least twice of what it is now, though my gas bill is a bit higher here due to winters. The lifestyle in the Midwest is a bit more laid back as well.

      Are the winters a pain here? yeah, but the financial strain and stress of living in CA isn’t worth it, the pain of winter here is a lot less frustrating then financial misery that’s constant.

      I lived here in Indiana now going on 15 years.

      • Wait, taxes on your home are 100% less? That would mean you don’t have any property taxes, you might want to rethink your math.

        • Duh, yeah my percentage was off, LOL! I don’t remember exactly what my taxes were in Cal, but it was around $4,800 a year, our tax is now $1,200, so I’ll let you do the math for the percentage! God knows I can’t do it.

      • Well put fred rose! I live a scant mile from Indiana. Cook county. I spend most of my $ in Hoosierland. “Planning” on a move east when the wife gets her SS in 18month’s. Our lives will change a little. Way better 2A state,much better taxes and not(generally!) run by demorat scum. Not a fan of the south or either coast so there you have it…

      • @Fred Rose: you could have been writing my own story, except I landed in Utah rather than Indiana. Very well stated. Thank you.

      • An 8-plex? Yikes.

        I had the joy of being a landlord once, my first home was a duplex.

        It’s not for the faint-of-heart. Your fire insurance goes up, because a renter has a high chance of having a fire in what they rent. Then there’s the joy of late rent…

        • My previous occupation in CA I had to learn to be a quick study of people, so that skilled as been a blessing with renting units to others, since I took over these units I haven’t had one person I had to kick out for failure of paying rent, I do have two renters that are consistently late, but they pay and they pay the late fee…so it’s like getting a rent increase from them each month! LOL!! So actually I’m good with that. One of the constantly late tenants was there before I bought the place so they are a long term tenant and a long term paying their late fee thing. I have two renters that are on SSI, they pay most of the time on time, but sometimes the government is late depositing their money so I don’t charge them a late fee, I also didn’t give them a rent increase in over 4 years, just trying to help them out in some small way.

          I ran a business before, so this is nothing compared to the headache the other one was. As with any business there are ups and downs, you just have to go with the flow. If I get too old to handle it I will either turn it over to a management company, or sell and forget it…but at least I have those options.

      • REal estate taxes really depend on where you move. In Illinois, when I lived there, taxes were adjusted based on your current market value, and as that went up, so did your taxes. California readjusts real estate taxes no more than 0.011 percent per year. New York the real estate taxes are so high people have started to move out–which of course leads to calls for even higher taxes to replace lost revenues. I pay about $2400 per year for an 1800 sq ft home on 1/3 acre. My brother in law pays over $15,000 for a 1200 sq ft home in NY just outside NYC. I have a cousin who lives in Miami; not only are his property taxes high, but because of the risk of hurricanes, his annual insurance bill is $25000 with a $25000 deductible.

        Yes, California has the highest income tax rates in the country, which is 7.25% for most people, hitting 13.3% for those earning more than a million. The state sales tax rate is 7.25% (with some localities adding local taxes on top). The only really onerous places are the big cities with astronomical real estate costs, like San Francisco where the AVERAGE residential home ( a two bedroom one bath bungalow) is over $1 million. Where I live a million bucks will buy a big mansion with a pool on a private golf course, less than that will buy you 40 acres, a 5000 sq ft home, and a view of the mountains.

        • Mark N.,

          I had a nice conversation with someone who recently left Southern California (just outside the San Diego area). Your analysis is spot on. It turns out the total cost of living is notably higher in his new Midwestern state where you would never think that the cost of living is high.

          Aside from the area surrounding San Francisco and perhaps the most expensive areas from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles, housing isn’t that outrageous.

    • When they are in large enough numbers, leftists change the local culture, I have seen it happen in parts of Florida and Texas (or any other state) isn’t as exceptional as some people want to believe. Of course the rural areas are usually safe from a spread of libtardism, but you never know as leftists from CA have recently invaded Boise, Idaho which means they don’t all want the sun, the beach, the big metro areas, etc. What many leftists do is they vote for clowns in their home state, then when and if they can afford it they move, and they repeat the same stupidity. Don’t underestimate them, these folks are great at screwing life and entire cities or counties, one at the time.

  2. It’s just like international immigration: people flee shitty conditions at Point A; forget or ignore the fact that Point A’s culture and laws created those conditions, and insist on replicating all those causal factors at Point B – with obvious, inevitable negative results not only for themselves, but for everyone else.

    • For example: Section 8 housing stipends were intended to move low-income families out of high-crime neighborhoods and into middle-class neighborhoods where—it was theorized—they would transform themselves into upwardly mobile citizens with middle-class values. Instead what happened is that once in the formally middle-class, safe, neighborhoods, their kids promptly formed into gangs and destroyed the quality of the local schools.

      • INS dropped illegal aliens all over the country to seed counties and towns where they never would have ended up on their own. It’s how we got MS13 in every state and so many rural areas. From above these small towns look idyllic but the drug abuse, crimes, murder and trafficking are shocking.
        And its not just gang members that were transported. Take uneducated people who don’t speak English and lack skills into communities where there isn’t much work or industry and you light a fuse. They can’t all work in agriculture like Cali. Many areas appreciated people for numbers sake but then realized it created more problems. To draw attention to this situation is to be called a racist xenophobe so best to be quiet. Those that can leave certainly do.

        • After retiring from a career in what was once called INS, starting in the Border Patrol and ending up giving the country away to one liar at a time, (thanks, Obama) the Service by whatever name it is called today, did not sprinkle aliens hither and yon because they wanted to. The lawmakers in DC, et al., forced them to do so. And we all know which party played the biggest, but not the only, part.

        • DanC says: The people who did the theorizing were left leaning socialist progressives….

          Also known as communist party USA…..

  3. Maybe anybody moving to a red state from California should have to go through a mandatory quarantine period of a couple of years. You know, just to make sure they aren’t carrying the virus.

  4. Geez, yet another cookie-cutter article that casts all Californians as Leftist morons (“locusts”, as referred to by this author). Outsiders have absolutely no idea – or choose to ignore – just how many millions of conservatives live here, and how many own guns.

    A few days ago, YouTube channel Blue Collar Logic opined (mirroring my own forecast I posted here at TTAG) that the eyes of enough people in CA may have been opened recently to finally turn our state purple. Not red, of course, but enough to stop the madness coming from Sacramento and possibly reverse some of the damage.

    Per the City of Boise’s (ID) own report, they acknowledged that they turned from a purple state in 1990 to solid red by 2010 precisely because of the influx of so many conservatives leaving CA. So please stop with the nonsense that all emigrants from CA are “locusts” infecting the nation with the Blue Virus.

    • “all Californians as Leftist morons”

      Welcome to my world. Switch it out for southerner as racist morons. Those attacks usually come from the Left, but I’ve seen plenty on here partake as well. How many derogatory terms are in use for southerners? Now, how many do we have for northerners? Yank, Yankee? It was so bad they named the baseball team after it?

      • Ok, so Southerners aren’t racist morons.

        How do you get around the “bunch of inbreds who married their cousins” jokes? 😉

      • Sorry but the reason stereotypes exist is because they do cover the typical behavior of whatever group is being identified.

        Sure there are a lot of Hispanic people who work hard, became citizens and who’s kids are well behaved and not in gangs. Maybe even over 50%. Problem is it’s the OTHER 50% that gets the focus and it’s also true.

        Same with other folks. Let’s face it, California Democrats voted themselves laws that give them likely majorities for all elections. As time went on it’s gotten worse. yes the GOP is at fault but there’s still voters who haven’t or won’t or don’t care to figure it out and organize to make changes.

        That they’d rather move than change indicates they don’t want to put the effort in because all the stuff people tour as being so great about california don’t do a damn thing for making ones life and livelihood easier or better. Thus the immigrants to other states.

        Wait till they get a load of what they’ll have to go thru to get the California tax man off their back. New York and California have the toughest laws in so far as leaving the taxing district and not paying anymore. Prepare yourself beforehand and line up lots of proof and paperwork cause you will need it.

        Now take a look at what’s left in california; the rich who can do what they want and pay people so they don’t pay as much taxes and poor immigrants who do what they want cause they don’t care or know they won’t pay all that much for a price and consider it heaven compared to where they came from. And as long as the Democrats pander to them they will continue to vote for them. Thus the situation festers.

        I’d advise anyone concerned to make note of new neighbors and find out where they come from and if they might seem problematic you might try to re-educate them or at least show them why the area is so nice (no Democrats in charge) and why the taxes are so cheap (no Democrats again) and that they are an aritificial bubble that could ruin what is there for everyone.

        Don’t forget, there have to be Democrats for them to vote for so make the effort to make that less likely.

        Just sayin’

        • Very true about the California juggernaut clawing at ex-residents for continued taxes. That’s why the advice provided to people preparing to leave is that they close their bank, financial, and business accounts/ties and set up new ones in their new resident state. If you run a small business, cancel your DBA and sales tax exemption. It’s the only way to prevent Sacramento from claiming you still have any tax exposure/liability.

      • Born and raised in the serious south, I have a pronounced southern accent (see what I did there?) and those that take the time to get to know me realize I’m actually intelligent. I dated not only a black female but a lovely black Haitian female for a long time. Mostly I let the racist stuff roll off until others with my background assume I agree with their racist views. Somehow that seems worse than the average twit that has never even visited the south.

    • I think voting for the lesser of two evils is a far worse problem. Republicans are a slow decline toward europeanization of politics here.

      If Republicans knew they couldn’t get elected if they were not Constitutionalists these things would be far less of an issue.

      Instead people vote for anti constitution candidates because they are slightly less anti rights even though the infringe on all of them the same as democrats.

      Democrats are doing what they are supposed to do. Republicans are just demorat lite. They believe in different degrees of privileges.

      There are like 2 or 3 people in congress who could be called freedom loving Constitutionalists. The rest are fudds and tyranny lovers.

      No one will stop supporting tyranny though. They will complain about gun control, property rights violations and privacy violations and then vote for more. They will point at how open the democrats are about it and say republicans are bteer because they pretend to love freedom.

        • I disagree with your depiction of both democrats and republicans. What you are describing is politicians. They can be detected by the fact that they firmly believe that everyone except themselves are so stupid they cannot take care of their business, so we politicians must take over and take care of it for them, it is so critical that if they won’t allow it we must kill them. What will end that would be term limits on all positions from dogcatcher up, combined with an overall limit on government service. I’d guess each elected position needs a limit of once. Total government service, probably 30 years. I can guarantee AOC plans to spend the next 65 years in Congress.

        • Term limits won’t do anything but kick out the few Constitutionalists. Career politicians are there because people are voting for them. You are simply taking choice away from people and all it will do is polarize and take away representation.

          I should be able to vote for someone I like as many times as I want. There are a lot of people I want out of office but telling people they can’t have who they want to represent them is tyranny as much as the democrats are tyranny.

          If we do that the candidates will lie more, not care about being held accountable even more and pander even more. There will also be more and more unknown candidates who there is no information on and push out anyone decent.

          It’s purely an illusion of solving the problem. People are still going to vote for tyranny if they are already voting for tyranny.

          Anyway I’m kind of going on too much now. I really can’t get behind term limits though. I don’t think they should of added one to president either.

      • When it come to guns, this is true. The reality is that neither side wants to actually change gun laws significantly because both sides get tons of funding from their bases that might go away if they actually changed something.

    • Millions of conservatives do live in California. And they are outnumbered by the progressives who gleefully import more dependent voters each year to silence the right. At the end of the day 50.1 tells 49.9 what to do and how to do it. The legislature is so lopsided you effectively have one party rule and the guvnah can do whatever he wants.

      My state is almost there except the democrats have to tone it down for now. Once enough liberals move into the massive housing tracks being built they will have the clout to do just about anything. I’ll probably have to move somewhere else then. Where is still a question since a state can change in as little as 10 years.

      • Speaking of change, California used to be reliably republican. This is why democrats are fighting tooth and nail over border security. They want to flood the country with illegals so we will be forced to eventually give them amnesty and make them citizens. Unfortunately, famous Californian and “real” republican Ronald Reagan gave them the blueprint for this. “Real” republican Jeb Bush would have done the same.

    • This is exactly why you should leave California.

      You’re never going to outvote the progbots in that state. Never. You’re too far outnumbered. But if only 10% of the freedom-minded people in California chose a less populated west-coast state to move to, you could flip Oregon and Washington easily. Raise the numbers a bit, and you could ensure multi-generational majorities in Montana, Idaho, Utah, and Nevada, too.

      Leave California and encourage everyone you know to do the same. It’s the best thing you could possibly do.

  5. “blue metros and red rural areas”

    When we’re talking about major cities, this is the case just about everywhere.

    Indoctrination is a thing ya know:
    “Then I went to college at Columbia in Manhattan, where I suddenly was submerged into a liberal muck. All the non-STEM professors were radical left, and I was a social sciences major. The political science classes all had Marx and Engels on every reading list. By the time I graduated, I had been assigned to read Marx so often that I practically could quote his every anti-Semitic statement by heart. The leftists were everywhere.

    When the Columbia Daily Spectator, the student-run newspaper, took an on-campus poll before the 1972 presidential elections, they found that something like 80 or 90 percent were voting for George McGovern against Nixon. I don’t even think Nixon came in second in the poll. He got beaten by the pro-Soviet Communist Party candidate, Gus Hall, the guy supported by Obama’s future CIA director, John Brennan. Nixon may even have come in third or fourth, behind some other communist.”

    That’s what you’re up against when dealing with the “educated” folks.

    And if you’re black, you HAVE to vote democrat. You’ll be disowned if you don’t. According to Sleepy Joe, you ain’t black if you don’t vote for him. I love how the left is acting like this was just some accidental off color comment by Joe, when they use the exact same technique when referring to gays, women, Latinos, etc.

    • A little story about being in class in NYC Columbia the day Regan was shot –

      According to the story, someone burst into the class and shouted “Regan has been shot!”. The classroom erupted into *cheers*.

      That’s all you need to know about the Leftist ‘elites’, and what they think of you…

  6. This is why the instructors in the education system has to be unbiased & just teach their coarses, no adding their opinions on politic’s,
    With the ratio being 12 libs to 1 conservative instructors in the public school system you can see why the people are being brain washed. It starts with the schooling the young folks are getting.
    And this is why the libs are flooding the red states & bring their bad habits with them.
    Public Schools are NOT the way to go.

    • I completely agree that it starts with the school system. People need to look directly into the eyes of teachers unions.

      And teachers themselves expect raises?

      Common Core?

  7. If they’re coming, seems people have the choice of viewing them as a swarm of locusts (thereby perpetuating whatever stereotypes they have) or welcoming them as neighbors (and opening the door to invite them shooting some time).

    • Exactly. Most people aren’t bitter partisans. It’s a known fact that the Left is less likely to accept right leaning friends in this age of over the top partisanship. It isn’t socially acceptable in some left leaning circles to be open to ideas outside of their ideological norm. People are influenced by their surroundings. More people coming to red states could end up being a net gain. However, it could also end up making CA even worse politically.

    • Agreement. Two short examples, the first was on Oregon, the second was in the midwest.

      Several years (It is getting close to Decades) ago I was working as a copier technician. I showed up at an office in Oregon and the guy came out asking what I was doing, driving a California car. He made a big point of my license plates, I told him that I lived in Yreka, CA and serviced a territory that covered Northern California and Southern Oregon. For those of you that know the states, I covered Siskiyou and Modoc counties in California and Ashland and Klamath Falls in Oregon. Yes, I spent most of my time driving.

      I was then in his office fixing whatever the problem was, and with me there he called to complain that they had sent someone from California. He complained for a while as they told him basically the same as I had in regard to service territories. He finished the call by saying, “well, he’d better not steal anything.”

      For that matter, as you probably know, self serve petrol is illegal in Oregon. I had service stations in Oregon refuse to pump fuel for me after seeing the California plates. I could go on with these types of examples, but I think you get the idea.

      Now move forward a decade or so. I had finished my Master’s degree and was getting tired of the college teacher gig, the low pay and constant job insecurity was grinding me down. As such, I took a job at a middle school in the midwest. Better pay and job security leading to a pension were strong incentives to take what most see as a demotion.

      When I got here I was quickly invited to go to a meet with the teacher 3-gun team, just to see if I liked it. I also got a few invites to go to the city range. This was before I had admitted to being a gun nut. I was living in a hotel, which made having firearms here a bit problematic. It didn’t matter to them.

      Now, imagine you a person leaving California, for whatever reason. Which of those two is going to lead to faster assimilation?

      Will it be the, “You’re scum,” approach, or the, “Welcome, and let’s go shooting,” approach?

      • If the historical behavior of California transplants in my old home town is any indication, they’ll get a cold shoulder, and most of them will deserve it. But that’s just one limited example, and in an area where people don’t accept outsiders easily anyway; the problem can and does go both ways.

  8. There is a very real concern with all of this turning Texas blue. All kinds of companies including ISP’s approach Texas with a cookie cutter mentality treating it like it can be dealt with the same way California is. Well, that does not work. Heads of companies and captains of industry need to understand that. You CANNOT do in one place what you do in the other. Not without destroying both. Corporations seem to be forgetting that it is about people. They are dealing with differing cultures. We might all be Americans but each state is unique. Every single one of them is a precious jewel all it’s own. Politicians don’t seem to understand that either. No other place on Earth is like the USA.

    What amazes me is that so much of this remote working from home and not in the office functionality has been there for quite a while. It is nothing so brand new. Not every kind of job could do it but employers need to have more vision and step outside the box. The only thing I’ve seem them do with regard to any of this is ship all the work over sees taking jobs away from the very people they expect to buy their products. That is an insane practice that must stop.

    Borders, Language, and Culture!

  9. It’s true that disgruntled tax payers and gun opponents vote with their feet when the policies they voted for turn out to hurt them after all. By the same token we don’t want them in our state they view many free states as backwards, racists, xenophobic, third world countries without a decent arts program or tolerance of their views. That’s the firewall we need.

    Colorado was gradually overrun because the residents were warm, accepting and friendly types who didn’t complain much. At least in general. By the time they realized their towns and cities were run by progressive refugees it was too late. Governor Dickinlicker was the end result of years of work.

    Texas is being absorbed very slowly as is Florida. Michigan might actually go the other way. Kentucky is getting a taste of left that might not sit well. But if these Silicon Valley missionaries do leave they might find their remote salary abridged a bit. It won’t take facebook long to realize they can pay their remote boys and girls less money, the other tech firms will follow suite as well. They already hire H1Bs to dilute wages, this will be another way.
    If they don’t like it they won’t like their options. Middle America doesn’t pay 200K a year for a java developer. So despite the new idea of making 20K a month while paying 350 a month for a house in Nebraska thrills them it’s probably not going to work out that way. Most will stay in their golden cage in CA and enjoy all the gun control it offers.

    • “But if these Silicon Valley missionaries do leave they might find their remote salary abridged a bit. It won’t take facebook long to realize they can pay their remote boys and girls less money, the other tech firms will follow suite as well.”

      The tech companies have already said as much. They are looking forward to cutting costs with remote workers.

      Some of the workers may not like how they are planning to make sure those workers are ‘productive’, as in key-stroke counting and other ‘methods’. When they do it, it will be by using Orwellian spy tactics.

      It will be interesting to see what die-hard ‘Progressives’ think about those methods being used on them… 😉

  10. Most people I know that are leaving the state are more conservative than liberal. I’ve just bought a place in Idaho and am still working in Silicon Valley until I tie up a few loose ends. A 654 mile commute, but I’ve heard worse.
    The recent trend for tech people to work from a greater distance from HQ will likely change this dynamic though.

  11. It’s time for the USA to break apart peacefully. You want to defecate in public? You want to have sex in public? You want to expose your genitalia to small children in a public school? Then california is for you. But No guns for you there. And no 1st amendment either. You can legally smoke dope in public. You can shoot up crystal meth, in public, to improve your sexual experience.

    And having children getting an abortion to hide a rape or consensual sex from their parents, is allowed and performed in public school buildings. All without the parents knowledge or consent. And done during the school day. Adults support 5 year olds having sex with 17 year olds. There all children correct? Your children don’t belong to you. They belong to the state.

    No 2A education or rifle teams in California. They were removed by the proud white gay man. State Senator Tom Ammiano. The same man who wrote the law making rape victims, and everyone else, wait up to 10 days to get a gun in California. He is one of the white Liberals who is uncomfortable, and afraid, seeing law abiding black people, gay or straight, with guns.

    • Chris T in KY, you’re thinking way too hard about these things. Let me make it simple for you. Are you black, yes or no? If yes, you have to vote for Sleepy Joe. See how much easier that is? You’re welcome. 😉

    • “It’s time for the USA to break apart peacefully.”

      Peacefully you say? Do you think that could actually happen vs there will be blood?

      I posed the question here on another post a short while ago. How many would allow the Southern States to form their own nation? Guaranteed there are those that would fight against allowing that even the freedom loving posters of TTAG.

      • A Southern state like Mississippi, former member of the Confederacy, a former slave state, has constitutional carry. Kentucky also a former slave state. Also now has constitutional carry. Alabama a former slave state is working on getting constitutional carry.

        Libertarians Liberals and the Left really need to update their canned responses. Its 2020 now. Not 1864. I have a list of books anyone can read to help you, get up to speed on the current situation in the USA.
        There is more freedom outside of Blue states then inside blue states. Any Liberal democrat who supports keeping the states together is a supporter of slavery. Czechoslovakia was a country in Europe. They broke apart peacefully to form two independent nations. If they can do it. Then so can we.

        Liberals hate the USA. They hate Jefferson, Washington, and all the founding fathers. They are like the Taliban. Removing statues of past leaders. Even including the art work. Liberals are the true fascists in the 21 century.

        • btw
          To answer your question. Yes, I think there would be some violence. The three L’s would make sure there was violence.

        • Agreed. I submit that there would be much blood.
          A marriage by force and no one can ever leave. A Federal Leviathan that was created by Lincoln and not, absolutely NOT what was envisioned by the founders.

          When Lincoln is no longer falsely worshiped and his temple is closed, then I will believe a separation can occur peacefully.

  12. NYS has long been loosing residence ,now Cuomo wants to take over the school system and healthcare. He bankrupted the hospitals ,and questioned why we need school buildings . He has Bill Gates and some other billionaires working on it .

    In the next few years , it’s going to be difficult to find a Uhaul to rent around here .

    A large number of our friends and relatives already left, but mostly they’re gun owing , conservatives . But then we live close to 400 miles from NYC .

  13. My suggestion is that if you meet one of these recent California escapees, invite them to the range. Take this opportunity to acclimate them to real American culture and give them a chance to integrate into normalcy.

    • Agree 100%. This is one of those times where we can make a material contribution (as opposed to whining on the internet).

  14. There is a more consequential crisis just coming into view that will occupy the politicians’ time and efforts. This arbitrary economic lockdown put in place by governments of all levels has pushed forward the massive public pension crisis, the underfunding of Social Security and Medicare, and not to mention drained local, state, and federal coffers of tax revenues. Federal debt has increased by almost $4 trillion dollars since government over-reacted to the fake pandemic. What is just starting to happen is the biggest sovereign debt crisis in civilized history. We’re talking 5000 years. There has never been anything like it before in all of human history.

    All of the luxury problems we have wasted so much time and effort on, like sexual and racial identity and gun control, are ripples in the water compared to the tsunami of financial problems heading our way. The water has receded from the beach, the wave is on its way in from the depths, and it will wipe clean all before it.

    The country will not survive it. It just won’t. Enjoy the last fleeting months of relative peace, because the wave is coming, and few will survive it.

    • It didn’t have to be like this. Now Nancy & Co. want to double down on stupid and bail out the preferred local and state governments that were already spending too much. Don’t worry, she’ll throw out some crumbs to the masses so they won’t have to think about the consequences too much.

  15. Those people moving to Texas may be more open to adopted Texas culture and supporting gun rights if you stop calling COVID-19 the “Wuhan virus”. We don’t call Syphilis “the American bacteria”. Times have changed.

      • Or maybe it’s the fact that we stopped naming diseases by geographic origin decades ago, because it’s stigmatizing to the people who are from there and because human disease knows no boundaries.

        • The Chinese government should be stigmatized. Everyone knows the average Chinese citizen isn’t at fault. Why are you propagandizing on their behalf?

        • Like Zika? It’s the Wuhan virus, maybe Chinese Coronavirus. They own it. Deu Neh Lo Moh!

        • This country, and the world, needs to tag China with this. And make them pay in a myriad of ways.

    • You seriously have to be kidding! If that’s the case, they will likely move right the fuck out again, snowflakes such as that have no place here. It simply *IS* the chinese or wuhan or whatever virus, just as they are CA morons, don’t let the door hitcha …

      • No one calls it the Wuhan virus but the Trump administration. We stopped naming diseases by geographic origin a long time ago. Call them snowflakes or not- but if the POTG let attitudes like that go unchecked, is it any surprise the 4% of the Texas population that is Asian (and growing rapidly) will be far less likely to vote for 2A supporting candidates?

        You can appeal to people about the things they care about, or you can drive them away over stupid, small things like this. Chinese-Americans who hear “Wuhan virus” will be rather less happy to come to a gun range for the first time. And they’ll wind up donating money (they’re one of the richest groups in America), volunteering, and helping people who disagree with us on 2A win.

    • Syphilis is the Native American virus. Europe and the natives swapped diseases — syphilis for small pox.

      I have never heard anybody Spaniard object to the 1918-19 being called the Spanish Flu.

  16. Usually comes down to people wanting the government to give them stuff.

    We get rebounders here in the Florida Panhandle.

    Yankees that retired and moved down to bottom of the state and the decided it was too expensive to live there (property taxes, insurance)…..so they leave their park model trailer in Boca and move into a 2400 square ft house up here.

    Then they complain cause there isn’t a wine bar that opens at 9am, or there isn’t enough public transit, or one movie theater, only one place to oxygen.

    Of course they want the local government to do more stuff (for them) and then really wail when they talk about raising the millage rate. And rail against any new industry (industry is dirty).

    Go figure.

    • Y’know I used to hear this from another fine gent from Fl. (Jay I hope you’re still with us and I pray for your health) .
      I moved from the people’s republic of Connecticut six or so years ago (I referred to it as I escaped) and now live very happily in the Tampa Bay area as another retiree. Up North I never thought about guns and 2 nd amendment issues even though I lived “in the woods” and drove over the road ( a prime candidate for burglars). I now live in suburbia and have purchased several pistols (with CC permit) and feel free to vote for whoever I want to elect, not just the lesser of oppressors. Don’t pick on those who escaped purgatory ,but welcome and convert them to be a real Floridian you might like us. just my thoughts……..PM

      • Plenty of transplants that love the Republic of West Florida. I am one.

        A lot of my friends moved here because they wanted to….beaches, cattle, timber, etc.

        I dont mind anyone who wants to be a part of community especially if the wanted to escape a slave state….or city.

        I was referring (should have done a better job) to the folks who didnt want to live in Podunk but got run out of spots in the lower third due to high costs. Those often do nothing but whine about what they “had” in Boca, Croal Springs, Sarasota, etc.

        Most moved to Florida because of a lack of income tax. They then find the State is going to get their pound of flesh in some way. Then the metro of South Florida is going to get their due to oil the machine.

        And we’re not big enough to have a suburbia. We might be a bedroom…..with a twin bed.

        • No…south…we seem to get more than our share of rebounders from there.

          Cheaper land and house I guess.

        • Geoff…oh I get it. No again Sarasota is on the west side of the peninsula.

          West Florida is the greater panhandle area.

    • Isn’t that what private industry is for? If they want a wine bar that works different hours or a new theater, they should start one up rather than begging for government intervention.

        • When I worked for them extension service i was amazed at how many people called and demanded I tell them who to call to keep their neighbors from cutting timber.

          They would angrily explain the main reason they bought the property was for the view. And some landowner had no business harvesting that timber and ruining their property.

          I pointed out if they wanted that land….they should have bought that land.

          I think it happened 10 or 12 times in 8 years Boggled my mind.

    • I may be joining you up there soon. Grew up in Navarre and Mary Esther. I may build a new Franco’s on the beach.

  17. I am not as worried as many here. This half the year, we live in very rural NW MT. I don’t think that you can remain that liberal in such an environment. I carry openly at times. No one blinks. Ok, maybe when one of our local mentally challenged did last year. It was like when they would take the mentally challenged guy who delivered the mail around the building on drunken hunting trips when I lived in Fort Collins several decades ago. This guy waters plants down main street and collects shopping carts for employment. Sure, you check out what people are carrying, out of curiosity. And you might strike up a conversation about their gun. Maybe how it shoots, but never about how horrible it is that they are flaunting their substitute masculinity.

    The other thing is that we have all off the big predators in the county, with the addition of brown bear Maybe two decades ago, and wolves a bit later. On the other hand, the county is 100 miles long, with a single deputy sometimes working graveyard shift. That means that it can sometimes take an hour for them to respond. There is only one rational response to that – self reliance. Self reliance in the face of an attack by a predator – two legged or four. Nothing is probably going to turn you conservative faster than being forced to take care of yourself and your family, and not depend on the government to do so.

    • It’s never the regular folks you need to worry about.

      It’s the wealthy, leftist, elitists like Tom Brokaw and David Letterman owning property.

      They are equal in every way and more equal on issues that matter. Money talks.

  18. “The result of a more distributed Silicon Valley workforce would be a swarm of coastal exports spreading like locusts to much lower cost-of-living states in the great middle. ”

    With them they bring the dreaded disease more deadly that the CCP/Wu Flu or the black plague,it renders one functionally brain dead, unable to think for ones self.
    It is known as Leftardism,perhaps it’s time to lockdown the Commiefornia borders.

  19. Here is an honest Libertarian who says California is a “lost Cause” for gun civil rights. This is why I say let them go. They are more concerned with drugs in public, sex in public, and getting “free Stuff” from the government. The rest of us will just go our own way.

    Death to Tyrants podcast. Timestamp @ 20.00 minutes in. Podcast 48 minutes long.

    “Gun Lobbies, Gun Control Myths and Gun Rights With Jose Nino”
    https://deathtotyrants.libsyn.com/gun-lobbies-gun-control-myths-and-gun-rights-with-jose-nino

  20. I wouldn’t worry much.
    1. Those who supports illegal immigrant sanctuary won’t leave CA because they’re benefiting from it one way or another.
    2. Those who are scared of guns will do their homework before leaving and they won’t choose the 2A states hoping to flip it to their taste. They may choose Nevada, Washington instead.
    3. There’s no such thing as voting habits. I believe the only way CA politicians could the support they have there is via misinformation & propaganda campaigns. As long as there’s no such things in TX or the other red states, those people will vote smarter. The importance is how the GOP in those states would fight against misinformation & propaganda.

    • A bit too optimistic. Our public schools have been rife with way-far left liberal propaganda for over 30 years. Converting the state quicker than immigration ever could.

  21. Please, God, don’t let them come to Florida. We have our hands full with the Damn Yankees as it is.

      • A God-damn Yankee is one that visits, and then moves here.

        We get a lot of that. A New York state union guy visits Disney World with the family and then decides to retire here…

        • LoL.

          Went to Devil Ray’s game down south years ago. When I called for tickets, they told me I was lucky to call early and get tickets as the Yankees were in town.

          At the game, it was a sea of blue pinstripes and Yankees caps. You would have thought the Devil Ray’s were visiting.

          In a way, I guess they were.

  22. The exodus from blue states is nothing new. California and other blue states routinely lose people due to high taxes, traffic, and just terrible standards of living. True, it IS unfortunate that the people who run away from these cesspools tend to vote for the exact same things in their new home states that lead to the blue state mess, but I think it’s contingent on the red state patriots to put their foot down and not to let these new yuppies ruin your neighborhood. For starters, don’t give AN INCH to these grifters. They may come in to your clubs with proposals of “this will make it more diverse and welcoming” — EFF that. If they want a diverse club, let them start their own. Don’t bring that nonsense to existing institutions.

    But you along with a strict “don’t mess with Texas” policy, you can also reach out with a hand. Bring these newbies to the range, show them the joy of guns, and hopefully with that comes an appreciation for responsibility, self reliance, and less of a dependence on a big government. Small steps like this will red pill these blue state grifters and transform them to actual red state patriots.

  23. Working from home? Works if the infrastructure is provisioned for it. I’m supporting my state’s transport agency. The Wuhan Flu forced most (90-95%) to work from home. But the VPN services were only set to allow about 15% at most. So there were lots of issues being dumped on those who could do nothing about it. Eventually capacity was improved and new systems brought online, but it has been a tough few months.

    The only real success was my son asking to take his PC home to do schooling. He says his PC (with two screens) let’s him get his schoolwork done in 3 hours.

  24. I bailed on CA, and moved to Oregon. Yes, I know Kate Brown is not Our Friend …

    But surely we are also our own worst enemies.

    Do you even vote? A lot of relatively conservative Californians won’t register – they say they ‘don’t want to get on some list …’

    Conservatives everywhere generally want to be left alone, and look at anything political as getting into other people’s business. They’re not wrong in that. So, mostly they will not run for office.

    Well, who benefits from that? The Left-crazies, whose whole reason to exist is getting into other people’s business.

    And we certainly know they have no intention to leave anyone alone.

  25. It also works the other way – it opens up employment opportunities for those who don’t live in the Silicon Valley Bubble, and thus might have other viewpoints on life…including the 2A.

  26. “It also works the other way – it opens up employment opportunities for those who don’t live in the Silicon Valley Bubble, and thus might have other viewpoints on life…”

    Yes. Foreign nationals working for less money.

    It’s the American way of business.

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