Perusing the EV Republican Women Patriots’ Instagram; Allstate OK’d for Big Premium Increases–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: Aug, 29, 2024

Indy Digest: Aug. 29, 2024

Karina Quintanilla made a mistake. As The Desert Sun reported last week:

A Facebook post by Palm Desert Mayor Karina Quintanilla criticizing a Republican-run store on the city’s main shopping drag sparked fierce pushback during Thursday’s council meeting, with just over a dozen people decrying her post and a few calling for her resignation. …

The council meeting turned partisan nearly two weeks after Quintanilla posted on her mayoral Facebook page, criticizing a recent article in El Paseo Catalogue that highlighted shopping at the Patriot Store. The store is run by the East Valley Republican Women Patriots, a local political group that moved its base to El Paseo from La Quinta last year.

“I don’t know if it’s more painful or embarrassing that as much as the other councilmembers boast like El Paseo is the only place to shop, and that it is what brings people to shop here, bragging about the luxury name brands,” Quintanilla wrote. “How in the world is it going to bring a broad range of shoppers if you don’t see green, you only see red?”

She added: “Double shame on #ElPaseoCatalogue for publishing the extremists’ souvenirs gift shop in the El Paseo Shopping District. How can other councilmembers say that El Paseo is welcoming to everyone, when articles like this will send the message that we are not? This does not #UnitePalmDesert.”

The mistake? She posted these comments on her official mayoral page, rather than a personal or campaign page. For that, she apologized, as she should have.

However, even as she faces death threats, she’s standing by her comments—as she should, because she’s indisputably correct when she says the store is not welcoming to everyone.

The store in question is run by the East Valley Republican Women Patriots, and the store is chock-full of Trump 2024 merchandise, including, according to Quintanilla, T-shirts that “alluded to violence against President Joe Biden.”

• Earlier this year, the group published a post accusing President Biden of treason. “You don’t steal an election, give money and weapons to the Taliban, destroy your military, destroy the food supply, destroy energy and gas, disassemble your border and encourage an invasion of your own country and it NOT be a TREASONOUS act against your own country and people,” the post said. “LOCK HIM UP.”

• They presented a talk earlier this year by James O’Keefe, known for “theatrical stunts, undercover stings and other deceptive tactics in efforts to inflict embarrassment and charges of hypocrisy and wrongdoing on perceived liberal enemies in politics and the media,” as The New York Times put it, with Project Veritas.

• On Oct. 19 of last year, they published a post promoting the “Worldwide Stop the War on Children Rally,” an event funded by anti-LGBTQ groups that, among other things, claim homosexuals “groom” children.

I could go on, but I’ve made my point.

While I find the views of the East Valley Republican Women Patriots to be bigoted and abhorrent, they have every right to express these views.

Just like Karina Quintanilla has every right to express hers.

—Jimmy Boegle

Best of Coachella Valley Voting: Last Chance!

The first round of voting in our Best of Coachella Valley readers’ poll ends tomorrow (Friday, Aug. 30) at 11:59 p.m. If you have voted already … thank you! If you haven’t, please take a few moments, if you can, to head over to vote.cvindependent.com and tell us what your picks are for the valley’s best!

The top vote-getters will move on to the final round of voting, which will start on Monday, Sept. 16!

More News

• A lot of California homeowners are going to be paying a lot more for insurance. The Los Angeles Times explains: “Allstate has received approval to raise its California homeowners insurance premiums by an average of 34% starting in November — the largest rate increase this year amid the state’s insurance crisis. The rate increase approved earlier this month by state regulators affects more than 350,000 policyholders statewide and exceeds a 30% increase sought in June by State Farm, the state’s largest homeowners’ insurer. That request is still under review. … The rate hike also includes discounts for homeowners who take steps to reduce wildfire risks on their properties, the company noted. Allstate stopped writing new California homeowner insurance policies in November 2022, citing such challenges. But as part of this increase, the company agreed to not engage in mass nonrenewals of policies through the end of January, the department said.”

• The Desert Sun points out that Sheriff Chad Bianco is being “false and misleading” regarding the deaths of Riverside County jail inmates and the access he’s giving to local media: “Bianco discussed the issue in an ‘RSO Roundup’ episode released Aug. 2 on the sheriff department’s YouTube channel. Bianco discusses a range of topics … and describes ‘a disturbing trend of misinformation that comes from anti-law enforcement media,’ specifically naming The Desert Sun and The Press-Enterprise. ‘We have offered (the outlets) unfettered access to everything that we have, and they either will not take us up on that information, or they don’t want to,’ he added. However, that claim is inaccurate, according to a review of prior reporting by The Desert Sun, which shows the sheriff’s department repeatedly ignored reporters’ requests for more information and did not release information on jail deaths beyond brief press releases. In addition, when a reporter noted Bianco’s statement about ‘unfettered access’ and asked this week for investigative records on jail deaths, along with a meeting with sheriff’s officials and a visit to jails, Bianco refused. The sheriff said through a spokesperson that news outlets he deems unfair or untruthful ‘will get no additional information other than press releases and info we legally must provide’ because of public records laws.”

• The Capital and Main headline is “Number of U.S. Residents Without Health Insurance Rose by 2 Million Under Trump, Fell by 3 Million Under Biden.” The lede: “At the end of the first two years of Joe Biden’s presidency, 3.3 million more U.S. residents had health insurance than did so in 2019, according to a Capital & Main analysis of U.S. Census data conducted with the support of Thomas Data Consulting. That increase led to a 1.2% decline in the national uninsured rate and the lowest rate of residents without health insurance in U.S. history. By contrast, Donald Trump oversaw an increase of 2.3 million uninsured people during the first three years of his presidency and a 0.6% increase in the national uninsured rate.”

• CBS News offers a horrifying update regarding the deadly listeria outbreak involving Boar’s Head: “Inspectors turned up dozens of violations at a Boar’s Head plant in Virginia now linked to a nationwide recall of deli meats, according to new records released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, including mold, mildew and insects repeatedly found throughout the site. Last month, Boar’s Head recalled all of the deli meats made at its plant in Jarratt, Virginia, after a listeria outbreak was blamed on products distributed from the facility. The outbreak has grown to 57 hospitalizations in 18 states linked to recalled products from the plant. At least nine deaths have now been reported, including two in South Carolina and one each in Illinois, New Jersey, Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, New Mexico and New York.” The details later in the story may make you swear off lunchmeat for a while.

• An investigation by CNN and the Centre for Information Resilience found a lot of fake social-media accounts using photos of … European influencers? Yep: “Luna, a self-described 32-year-old ‘MAGA Trump supporter’ from the battleground state of Wisconsin, has gained a huge following since she joined X, formerly Twitter, in March. Her timeline has become a digital bullhorn for the ‘Make America Great Again’ movement, praising former President Donald Trump’s re-election bid, promoting conspiracy theories about his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, and touting Republican talking points to nearly 30,000 followers, who she addresses as ‘patriots.’ … But Luna isn’t real. The photos of the smiling brunette posted periodically on @Luna_2K24’s timeline are of Debbie Nederlof, a German fashion influencer who lives across the Atlantic and won’t be voting in the U.S. presidential election in November. … Nederlof is one of 17 real European women—fashion and beauty influencers from the Netherlands, Denmark and as far away as Russia—whose online photos have been stolen by unknown actors to promote Trump and his pick as running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, on X, a CNN investigation in collaboration with the Centre for Information Resilience (CIR) has found.” The story also notes: “There’s no indication that the Trump campaign is involved.”

• And finally … a number of Disney fans with disabilities are calling out the House of Mouse for making it much harder to visit and enjoy their famous theme parks. According to the Los Angeles Times: “Less than two hours after being dropped off at ‘The Most Magical Place on Earth,’ Florida resident Paula Roland tearfully called her husband to take her and their son Noah home. That June 5 was supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. But days earlier Noah—a nonverbal autistic child with sensory processing disorder—had been denied Disney’s Disability Access Service, or DAS, pass. The 8-year-old struggles to stand in line for more than 15 minutes, and the pass would have provided him with shorter wait times at attractions. Shortly after entering Disney World and attempting to wait in line with his family, Noah suffered an autistic meltdown—an involuntary and intensely emotional response to an overwhelming situation. … The child joins various individuals The Times spoke to who say they were denied a DAS pass after Disney changed the program earlier this year to eliminate overuse and potential abuse of the popular system. Some feel betrayed by the company known for its inclusivity and are reconsidering patronizing the parks. Others have gone a step further, questioning whether Disney’s changed DAS policy complies with the law. Disney says it does comply.”

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