Newsom passes on gas

At City Journal Joel Kotkin observes the fate of Colorado, Oregon and Washington, formerly beautiful and prosperous states until they began to slavishly follow the California model in energy, housing and out of control regulation.

But that changed as these states began adopting the very policies—above all on energy, housing, and regulation—that many newcomers had fled from in California. Once politically purple, Colorado, Washington, and Oregon have turned solid blue, embracing the same agenda that even the New York Times concedes has turned “the California dream” into “a mirage.”

More like a nightmare. Gavin Newsom’s one, indisputable achievement as a California politician has been to make every aspect of California life measurably worse. Running for president, Newsom has nonsensically suggested he’ll bring the glories he’s imposed on Californians to the rest of America. Should he succeed, there will be nowhere left to run, no red, free states to which to flee his brand of socialism. And there won’t be any gas to help Americans run:

California gas prices could jump to $8 per gallon in 2026 thanks to the planned closure of two oil refineries in the state, according to an estimate by the University of Southern California.

Valero’s Benicia Refinery near San Francisco and Phillips 66’s Wilmington Refinery near Los Angeles are both slated to close in the coming year.

In explaining the company’s decision to close its Benicia refinery, Valero CEO Lane Riggs said on an earnings call that California’s tough “regulatory enforcement environment” was the main factor driving the closure of the state’s sixth-largest refinery.

The April announcement came six months after regional and state air regulators fined the company $82 million for exceeding toxic emissions standards for more than 15 years.

As far as Vivek's status as a natural born citizen (NBC), here's a summary:

NBC is a legal issue. Vivek Ramaswamy was born on August 8, 1985 in Cincinnati, Ohio to parents who were in the U.S. legally but not U.S. citizens. The U.S. Supreme Court (SC) has ruled that someone who is born on U.S. soil is an NBC if at the time of his birth, his parents were in the U.S. legally but not U.S. citizens. Therefore, according to the mandatory legal authority of sound constitutionally-based SC ruling and precedent, Vivek is an NBC.

Detailed argument

Since around 1900, (SC) rulings have become less and less valid because SC has gradually moved away from basing their decisions on the Constitution as written and originally understood and intended. But their ruling on NBC appear to be based on sound application of the Constitution.

In Perkins v. Elg, 99 F. 2d 408, Court of Appeals, Dist. of Columbia Circuit 1938, the Court of Appeals noted as part of the basis for their decision that...

In United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649, 18 S. Ct. 456, 42 L. Ed. 890, 1898 [the Court found that] [W]hen the Constitution was adopted, the people of the United States were the citizens of the several States for whom and for whose posterity the government was established. Each of them was a citizen of the United States at the adoption of the Constitution, and all free persons thereafter born within one of the several States became by birth citizens of the State and of the United States.

It appears the Court of Appeals in Elg (1939) agrees with Ark (1898) decison.

(Both Marie Elizabeth Elg and Wong Kim Ark were born on U.S. soil to parents who were here legally but not U.S. citizens. )

Again, the Constitution is properly applied as written and ORIGINALLY UNDERSTOOD and intended. What matters is what the ratifiers of the Constitution considered an NBC was. The Supreme Court decisions based on the good-faith and sound finding of original understanding of NBC in the Constitution is, therefore, legal precedent concerning NBC. Thus, Vivek should be considered an NBC.

Some argue that the term "NBC" is not specifically used in Ark or Elg, but these cases revolve around citizenship based on birth on U.S. soil, which is exactly what NBC is. An NBC is a citizen automatically because he was born on U.S. soil. He is “naturally” and automatically a citizen needing no further processing to become a U.S. citizen. He becomes a citizen under “natural” (birth) circumstances, exactly as Elg, Ark, and now Vivek.

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