“During my first week in office, I proposed making crucial updates to modernize our antiquated 911 system. The idea that it’s 2019, and we are using analog systems designed decades ago is astounding, and we need to make investments to make sure the technology aligns with the devices people are using in their daily lives. California’s antiquated, analog microwave network must be upgraded to a digital network to maintain safety operations that can integrate into the 21st century technology everyone is using.”
The problem is that “when the time came to turn that system on, it didn’t work.” Of course, as with his high-speed rail, many became fantastically wealthy off the project while the public got stiffed. California citizens “still are depending on an emergency communication system that Newsom denounced as antiquated.”
Just the high-speed rail and emergency call systems are hundreds of times overbudget. Yet, it does not seem to matter to California voters, who seem to have no expectations that their government officials will be either competent or accountable.
NB: The original column was edited due to typos. One more reminder for me not to post and edit on my cellphone on the way to the airport.
When does a boondoggle become fraud? Trump gets blasted for questioning the multi $B renovation of a single building by the same people who don’t give a whit about this insanity in their own state. As always, utopia is just around the corner as Newsom weekends at his dacha in Napa.
Bullet train, 911, many other projects…it seems that with Democrat big projects the grift, the fraud, the cheat have become so extensive that nothing ever actually gets done except that criminals get rich.
What should we learn from your words? Never vote for a Democrat even for a low office. Even if they start out good they end up bad in high office. Today there is only one exception, Fetterman. Did his stroke kill the Democrat gene?
He’s no exception; he still votes with the Democrats all the way.
S. Meyer,
I doubt I would vote for one even in a local election unless I got to know him and found he was a Democrat like Senator Moynihan who likely would be a Republican today. In fact, we have one such on our city council. Professor Dershowitz has declared he is now a Republican and Barnie Frank from his Hospice bed has warned Democrats they are getting too extreme.
With the ideas they have embraced I think saying they have gone too far left isn’t enough–they truly seem insane at times. Other times they seem simply evil. It’s a mix of both I suppose.
Spanberger pretended to be moderate and look what she has become.
And then there is Obama. At least his ugly bookless library polluting the neighborhood reflects the little man and his ugly soul truthfully.
Well, it’s been about twelve hours and the original post was gutted like what Todd Blanche would do to a fish, but it still claims “the high-speed rail and emergency call systems are hundreds of times overbudget.” To say “hundreds of times” literally means >= 200x. Yet the numbers Prof. Turley provides say high-speed rail went from $33 billion to $231 billion (7x) and the emergency communications system “is 300% over the original cost” (4x). With all due respect, once again I call “innumeracy”.
So your argument is that these systems are only 7X and 4X over budget?
Exactly! Several times, not “hundreds of times”. Those numbers are stunning without exaggeration.
Too all those that complain about “Commiefornia” but don’t live here there is one factor I never hear you mention. Specifically that California, like the rest of the pacific coast, has spent the last 70+ years absorbing the most virulent, bleeding heart, do-gooders from the rest of the country. “Go west young man” and many did taking their wanna be socialist politics with them. Being allergic to the hard physical labor of actually providing for themselves they tended to concentrate in the large urban centers turning California, once one of the most can-do, self reliant States in the country into Commiefornia. So the next time you start ranting about how bad we are just remember that you have that luxury because the worst of your nut bars came here. Thanks for nothing.
P.S. If we had an electoral college for governor in this state the metroplexes wouldn’t hold so much sway. But if wishes were reality I would be be the mayor of Londinium and wear a shiny hat!
Absolutely agree that the worst of the nut bars went to California, or at least a great many of them did. Many stayed in the Northeast and other blue states and cities and those places have become just as bad as California.
It is also true that for years now many of those nut bars or those decendants have been fleeing the mess they made of California and have been infecting places that never contributed nut bars to California in the first place. Those nut bars are not so nutty as to fail to recognize that California has become a mess and are fleeing to places with less regulation, lower taxes, more employment, and so on. And once they are in those new places they start to scream that they do not have the laws and programs they liked about California, but they are still nutty enough to fail to recognize that those things brought about all the regulations, higher taxes, and lower employment that made them leave California. And in the process they are now slowly making those other places into new versions of the California mess. Still nut bars and will remain nut bars.
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This is concisely why we need precision Blockchain Accounting. Newsom and Other Politicians, Bureaucrats and Line Management have not nor will they accepted accountability. Peter Thiel and Alex Karp (Palantir ~ DOGE, Ramp, surveillance and government contracts) recipient of numerous U.S. Governmental Contract (worth $B), know this well and have Blockchain Accounting systems that track every penny from creation to expenditure (i.e.: on-chain accounting).
But you won’t find this in use most everywhere, particularly in California because the old systems bury the waste and corruption better than anything else (They still use Monarch to translate late budget data into usable input/reports).
This won’t get modernized (fixed) until the threat of ‘responsibility’ to Politicians, Bureaucrats and Line Management is removed by legal means (until They have blanket immunity).
Ref.:
Palantir/Ramp:
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-peter-thiel-ramp-gsa-smartpay-expense-payment-system
Altair Monarch (formerly Datawatch Monarch)
https://altair.com/monarch
“. . . Gavin Newsom’s train-to-nowhere project. It is now projected to cost $231 billion . . .” “. . . $450 million on Newsom’s “Next Generation,” which, according to the Sacramento Bee, will be scrapped entirely.” (JT)
Such are the “achievements” of the party that believes in participation trophies.
Isn’t it beating a dead horse? The Amtrak breaks down regularly, 3rd world style.
The whole thing is a feeding frenzy. It’s disgraceful. There is a thing called spirit. Things, places have spirit. Spirit if good is helpful and if ill unhelpful. People carry them or it. Things just don’t go well in some worlds.
“There is a thing called spirit. Things, places have spirit. ”
You, evidently, had too much spirit before breakfast this morning.
California should have never even “conceived” of a train to nowhere when it desperately needs water.
California is the staging area for the “Seceded Sanctuary Welfare State Foreign Invasion Population Replacement Campaign” when the Constitution directs it simply to provide freedom.
California gave America Ronald Reagan, and now it will impose Kamalala II (Eleven), The ’28 Sequel, on America, which started with a severely restricted vote-where the —- did that go?
California requires Lincolnesque corrective action.
_______________________________________________________
“[We gave you] a [severely restricted-vote] republic, if you can keep it.”
– Ben Franklin, 1787
_______________________
You couldn’t.
________________
“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
– Declaration of Independence, 1776
It really isn’t a “train to nowhere”. It is a train to great riches if you are well-enough connected inside California Democrat political circles.
Gavin and his “friends” don’t care. It’s not their money, so they spend, spend, and spend!
Gavin out. Kamalala in. 2028!
That is not funny.
One of my few regrets is that I did not live in CA and scam my way to wealth via contracting with the CA governments (local and state).
DEI for (California) Politicians! (Examples abound, i.e. Pacific Palisades Fire – fought with empty reservoirs)
You know how you MAGA morons are constantly whining that liberals are unable to define a woman.
Consider the following:
Kevin Hassett, President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser, stammered Sunday when pressed on the U.S. war against Iran, telling CBS News’ Margaret Brennan that he didn’t fully comprehend the definition of the word “war.”
He said, ““Uhh… you know, what – I… I don’t know what the definition of war is”.
Good one but how does this compare to not knowing what a woman is? Maybe Kevin Hassett was making fun of the question and Democrats.
Something much more interesting, Seattle AI founder looks to leave as taxes rise: ‘Everybody that I know … is in the process of leaving’
“Jesse Proudman says Venice.ai is looking at Texas, Nevada, Florida and Tennessee as alternatives to Seattle’s tax climate”
https://www.foxnews.com/media/seattle-ai-founder-looks-leave-taxes-rise-everybody-i-know-process-leaving?utm_source=referral&utm_medium=offthepress&utm_campaign=home
Meanwhile, Seattle’s mayor says, “And the ones that leave, like, bye,”
Not better, California High-Speed Rail Authority misses deadline for plan
https://www.thecentersquare.com/california/article_577b0968-71f2-4818-9ecd-cb952ee6e3d0.html?utm_source=referral&utm_medium=offthepress&utm_campaign=home
You get what you vote for. They had their shot at a recall and decided to keep it. I don’t cry for them. The only concern is that they will California where they’re fleeing to, and the data shows that they are fleeing. the building a sales of homes in the million dollar plus price range in my county is proof of that. Unfortunately dogsdon’t lose their fleas without help, and we are certainly going to try to see to that
Hey Trapper! “You get what you vote for.”
You may be right — but I am not sure. If we knew that our voting system was honest, then you would definitely be correct. But between gerrymandered districts, counterfeit ballots, double counting, and rigged software, the single thing which we can be sure of is that we have no idea — zero! — what the voters of California actually vote for.
Anon- “we have no idea–zero!–what the voters of California actually vote for.”
What I thought.
California government appears to be a criminal syndicate designed to enrich insiders and keep them in power by any means necessary.
Lately I have wondered how much help they are getting from foreign regimes hostile to the United States.
I should add that one wonders how much media, universities and ‘demonstrations’ have hostile and foreign investment. It seems an easy way to attack a country.
Re: ” the single thing which we can be sure of is that we have no idea — zero! — what the voters of California actually vote for.” Perhaps, However, consider this. When I repeatedly say. Do not send to know who was elected, rather send to know who voted’, this is why. 41.5 percent of the eligible NYC voters voted in the NYC election. The highest percentage turnout in a mayoral race since 2001!!!!. Incredible!!!!! Mandami received 50.78 percent of the vote. That’s 20.5 percentage of all registered voters in NYC. Thus 1 in 5 registered voters were responsible for setting that most important local, national, and international hub on the road to perdition. Bandying about the words ‘saving our democracy’, which in its purest form denotes ‘majority rule’ is a pathetic joke given numbers such as those. Why bother with a ‘Save Act’. So that only citizens of the USA can vote and rule by the minority?? Perhaps Californians should be asking themselves, how many of those who are registered to vote, actually vote and, if not, why not?? Perhaps we should change our voting laws such that a candidate must prevail by a percentage in excess of 50% of the eligible registered voters. Then instituting, enforcing and protecting SAVE ACT would make more sense. But not with numbers the likes of NYC, and elsewhere I’m sure. Useless fools supporting useless tools, There-in lies the rub.
Trapper: “41.5 percent of the eligible NYC voters voted in the NYC election”
Including many of the ‘eligible’ dead people and illegals.
There is a reason the Democrats/Communists fight purging voter tolls and requiring voter ID.
“Trapper: “41.5 percent of the eligible NYC voters voted in the NYC election”
“Including many of the ‘eligible’ dead people and illegals”
It’s a Democratic Party tradition. Kennedy would never have beaten Nixon in 1960 without the deceased voters that the mob delivered from their graves for the occasion.
To the virulent yet hapless citizens of CA; you are living the government that you voted for so STFU or elect republicans – the choice it yours.
There are millions of us here in Commiefornia who are routinely outvoted by the majority morons. I truly believe that there are no conditions under which a most of the people I know would vote for a republican–no gas price too high, no housing cost too expensive, no crime rampaging too much. They’re insane. I’m an old-school “liberal,” i.e. a screaming, ultra-right fascist. Such is the modern world.
Coming from NY State I understand the logistics of outvoting blue urban centers that will always vote for free stuff, but at this point I am wondering if there are enough sentient citizens who can overcome their family tradition of voting D because they see a far worse future for their state than being run by republicans. I do hope mamdani implodes NYC to the point where it collapses of the weight of socialism/communism and the added turmoil of invasive illegals and islamists.
Were you one of the “virulent and hapless” voters who put Biden in office? If not, then you should be able to grasp that I wasn’t one of the people who put Newsom in office either. So maybe skip the smug lecture about what “California voters” supposedly deserve.
whimsicalmama is right.
If you spent more time converting California residents with your self-government shhtick instead of online.
Perhaps you do not understand that the vote was not unanimous, that there was much vote harvesting, illegal mail in ballots, and other irregularities. Your gratuitous insult to California’s rational voters does not suggest rationality.
California has a long history of buying something that does not work and has to be completely scrapped. 2002 we lost over $2 billion for a reworked Irish tax collection system to run our courts. Interestingly, there was no requirement to have a law degree to be an administrative judge until 2003. Decisions are made so badly and unsupported that I have appealed three times and won all three based on the ignorance of the judge. They rely on the splitting the baby method of adjudication.
Meanwhile, in the state of Maryland we have Gov. Wes Moore handling the rebuilding of the Key Bridge that was destroyed by a runaway ship two years ago. The rebuild project started out at $1.8 billion, estimated to be complete by 2028. We are now at $5.2 billion with a completion date of 2030. And the contract with the current builder has just been terminated. Situation Normal, All Phucked Up!
California fas the 4th largest economy on the planet. It has a really big share of the best minds in all things digital. Including best practices to bring up a new system. When we see the financial success of places like Silicon Valley in the private sector, it makes the contrast with Sacramento outcomes even starker. Silicon Valley has to worry about shareholders. Sacramento owes worry to the voters. From very wealthy to grinding poverty. In a representative democracy “voting it done” is the guiding principle. In a liberal California the emphasis is on all sorts of minorities as victims. I wonder if the sheer size of the economy numbs thinking at the ballot box. What happens there if the voters as a whole come to an epiphany that they can make themselves victims by how they vote?
Re: “In a liberal California the emphasis is on all sorts of minorities as victims.’ The elected officials and representatives in failing local, state and federal jurisdictions are the useless tools of the useless fools who support them. In the present time we are seeing the rise of one such ‘half-moon’ in New Hampshire. One never ceases to wonder at what hand winds the clocks of that sort and those who support them. When one thinks back to that state establishing its own independent government in 1776, the first of the colonies to do so, the question arises as to whether or not there is a new revolution brewing among the citizens thereof. Certainly not MY cup of tea. Attention must be paid.
It works like this: You get a fat budget from the democrat politicians, then staff the place with your cronies who have zero experience doing anything but drawing a paycheck. Soon the money is gone, and the pigs are at the trough for more.
For those saying “this is what California voted for” so there’s no reason to feel sorry for us, that’s a rather ignorant take. California’s map looks just like the rest of the country: a vast amount of red territory with deep‑blue high‑density metro pockets that dominate the statewide numbers.
I didn’t vote for Newsom, haven’t, wouldn’t, and there are millions of us here who are trying to claw our way back in a system where Los Angeles County and the Bay Area effectively set the outcome for the entire state.
I would never say the rest of America is “bat‑shi* crazy” just because Biden or Obama won; those results don’t mean everyone in those states asked for it. The same is true here. We didn’t abandon California, and we’re fighting the same electoral dynamics here that people are fighting in their own states.
So maybe instead of getting smug about “what California deserves,” folks could recognize there are plenty of us behind enemy lines doing the work, and we’re going to be in the next governor’s race trying, again, to turn this around.
I got my ballot for the Calif primary. There are 60 people running for governor. California can not say “no” and disappoint. This is beyond crazy, most likely designed by some math weenie to dilute the republican vote and squeeze out reformers, who will surely help the DoJ put them in prison.
Or it also means there are plenty of choices to pick from. Far better than just to two. Seems California is where anyone can truly run for governor instead of party picked candidates on some states.
Got mine yesterday. 61 candidates for Governor. Wow. 6 pages of “Language Access” is also a tell.
Olly, Amen.
(My mother and her best friend used to speak “pig latin” to each other when they did not want us to understand what they were saying. And they spoke with such rapidity! At least that is still not on the ballot!)
🙃
I counted 61. Are you omitting Swalwell? I hope he gets lots of votes, or at least more than Barack D. Obama Shaw.
Re: “a vast amount of red territory with deep‑blue high‑density metro pockets that dominate the statewide numbers.” It has nothing to do with the numbers and has everything to do with the mindsets of those who present themselves as suitable to hold high office and the electorate of all stripe who are in sync with them and make it happen. Do not send to know who was elected. Rather send to know who voted. “Bat‑shi* Crazy” is an appropriate descriptor for the lot. The fact that there are more of theirs, and less of yours, populating California, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota and others of that ilk whilst the population of Florida has grown by 2 million refugees from administrations of that sort, and likely of their making, is the reason why your turn around is an Everest climb. Until the Democrat centrists who wish to remain in the state along with Republicans of that ilk, finally decide that they’ve been had by the advocates of the extreme left and vote otherwise, you’ve a tough row to hoe. While the nation is waiting for that miracle from on high, the hope of Florida, and others like it are that the refugees arriving every day will not be so foolish as to California their new homes. Otherwise all will be have been for naught and will come the realization that they have not be found negative for stupid, their disease is incurable, and even if there were a vaccine to prevent it, they’d refuse it. Therein lies the rub.
Fair enough, Trapper. Not everybody is cut out to stay and try to make a difference in states that lean this blue; some folks are better off in solid‑red states. Those of us who stay in California are doing our best to hold the line here so others can rest a little easier where the numbers are already more in their favor.
“Not everybody is cut out to stay and try to make a difference in states that lean this blue; some folks are better off in solid‑red states. Those of us who stay in California are doing our best to hold the line here so others can rest a little easier where the numbers are already more in their favor.”
(sigh) I live in PRNJ. I have for my entire life, with the exception of 4 years where I followed a job elsewhere. My family on both sides have all been here for generations; one side goes back to 1654. As much as anything, I remain here and hope for change for the better out of stubborn loyalty to that family background. But I fear it is a Quixotean quest..
Time to split up the state into maybe five states where the people who live in the hypothetical them actually have a say in how they’re governed.