By Samuel Strait – February 20, 2022 Looks like the local crew in Del Norte's government circles can't claim all the accolades for promoting the dumbest ideas for governing. Governor "Hair Gel" Newsom is right there with them. In a recent announcement, Hair Gel has pronounced the answer to all our Pandemic problems going forward. The SMARTER Plan. According to Newsom, now that Omicron is in its waning stages, his "new" equity plan for preparedness will save the day should any more of that dastardly Covid rear its nasty head in California. He's got all the answers, Shots, by which he means vaccines, Masks, Awareness, Readiness, Testing, Education, and Rx. Now where have we heard all of those before? And what happened to social distancing, lockdowns, and washing hands? Maybe, only for the last two years and have finally begun to move past that insanity. At least most other States have. Hair Gel, late to the party once again. While no actual funds have been tied to this out of date monstrosity, just wait, it is sure to have a breath taking price tag once it catches up with his breathlessness. According to Newsom, some places were "under served" during the Pandemic. He didn't spell it out, but there is sure to be some talk of minority communities being the "under served". No one is ever sure why minorities are always the ones seeking "equity". Oh right, he's a Democrat and being wealthy and white it is printed just below the waist band on his boxers. Must keep the progressives in his shrinking corner happy. He goes on in his packaged bit of propaganda glorifying it with false numbers, nothing like consistency. The disaster his response has been for California's citizens is next, then he bores us with a reprise of all the things he did wrong while "guiding" us through the past two years of his incompetence. On the grand scale of puffery, it is a masterpiece of bloviating, while completely missing the part about recent developments on Covid response. Must have not gotten the memo, of course neither did Biden, but what can you expect from those two. He pats himself on the back for what is essentially a warehousing of PPE supplies and commitments to have medical staff standing at the ready should any of California's 58 Counties need backup. From there on his message is "how well California" did in its clown show attempt to slay the Covid dragon while turning the state into a quagmire of rising crime, homelessness, and economic devastation. He must have missed the part that Californian's deaths were the highest in the nation inspite of all the "heavy lifting" on his part. Oh, and by the way he is going to "study the impacts both direct and indirect of Covid-19 on California's individuals and communities over time." Could be a real page turner of contemporary fiction. Safe to say, other than the assurance of more wasted tax payer money, this is more of the same from Hair Gel. "Built on proven tools, rooted in science and data gathered over the past two years" most of which has been proven to be wrong, Hair Gel prattles on. If there ever was a politician that was so out of step with "science and data" it has to be Newsom, no wait…Biden by a nose…