New York Times, Aug. 9, 1999: Gov. George W. Bush, who has his eye on one new house in Washington, went to settlement today on another west of Waco. “I am pleased to own this beautiful piece of land in Central Texas,” said Mr. Bush, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. Mr. Bush declined to disclose details of the purchase of the property, an 1,550-acre ranch … The settlement confirmed weeks of rumors that Mr. Bush was planning to set up a retreat here.
La Jolla Light, Aug. 18, 2011: Bob Schuman, a La Jolla-based political consultant who has made a long and successful career out of being the man behind the candidate, has found himself squarely in the media spotlight recently. Schuman, who lives and works in La Jolla, has made headlines by launching Americans for Rick Perry, a national, independent grassroots campaign to draft the Texas governor into the presidential race. He was successful — Perry announced his intention to seek the Republican nomination over the weekend.
La Jolla Light, Aug. 22, 2011: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is increasing his presence in San Diego, with plans to raze his 3,000-square-foot home in La Jolla to make way for an 11,000-square-foot house, according to documents filed with the city. The former Massachusetts governor … paid $12 million for the three bedroom, oceanfront house built in 1936 at 311 Dunemere Drive on May 30, 2008…
New York Times, Aug. 22, 2011: A [Romney] campaign official confirmed the report, noting, “Construction will not begin until the permits have been obtained and the campaign is finished.” The official also explained that the large renovation is family-motivated.
Pricey real estate: La Jolla had the highest home prices in the nation in 2008 and 2009, the average price for such a home in La Jolla was reported as US $1.842 million in 2008 and US $2.125 million in 2009.
Party Registration in La Jolla: La Jolla is in California’s Senate 39th District, in which voter registration is 42.6 percent Democratic, 27.9 percent Republican adn 24.7 percent Decline to State.
Jess Durfee, chairman of the San Diego County Democratic Party: Let’s hope [Romney] hires a contractor that provides union-equivalent wages and helps to stimulate the local economy. He also could register to vote here and help out the Republicans, whose numbers are dwindling.
After wandering away from D.C. for 54 days in the wilderness,
The House returned with some kind of collective mental illness.
They seem uninterested in legislating,
Focused instead on threats and censurings,
Leaving the nation to marvel in wonder at their childish pettiness.
“Relax. We are exactly on the trajectory of where we’ve always planned to be. Steady at the wheel, everybody. It’s gonna be fine. Our best days are ahead of us.”
“What I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things I’ve seen in my time in public service… You have two individuals and clear distress, without any means of locomotion, with a destroyed vessel, were killed by the United States.”
— Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT), quoted by CNN, after being shown the full video of the September 2 boat strikes.
A new Pew Research poll finds just 17% of Americans now say they trust the federal government to do what is right “just about always” (2%) or “most of the time” (15%). Frustration has long been Americans’ dominant emotion toward the federal government and 49% say they feel frustrated. Another 26% say they are angry, and 23% say they are basically content.
LAist.com: Voters notoriously do not show up for off-year elections in the same numbers, as say, a presidential election. But given how consequential Prop. 50 was, there was a lot of curiosity about how many voters would participate. The answer? About 11.6 million people — a turnout of 50% statewide. It’s not as high as California’s last special election in 2021 on whether to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom — turnout then was 58.4%. But it’s a solid showing for California, especially for an off-year special election. In fact, it’s on par with California’s 2022 midterm elections, which saw 50.8% turnout.
Donald Trump has golfed 79 days out of 317 days since returning to office (24.9% of the presidency spent golfing), according to didtrumpgolftoday.com. The estimated cost to taxpayers for Trump’s golf since returning to office: $110,600,000.
Reuters: “At least 470 people, organizations and institutions have been targeted for retribution since Trump took office – an average of more than one a day. Some were singled out for punishment; others swept up in broader purges of perceived enemies.”
Despite wider economic uncertainty hovering above this year’s holiday season, shoppers turned out in big numbers for Black Friday — spending billions of dollars both in stores and online, reported CBS News. Adobe Analytics, which tracks e-commerce, said U.S. consumers spent a record $11.8 billion online Friday, marking a 9.1% jump from last year. It was a slight increase from the company’s spending estimate of $11.7 billion.
