Good News: High Speed Rail Company Declined To Work On California Project Due To State Being “Politically Dysfunctional”

By William Teach October 10, 2022 – 6:06 pm

First the shot

Multi-billion?

(Hoover) Back in 2008, California voters approved about $10 billion in bond funds to partially finance a HSR system that would stretch across the state, from the south to north, and from the valleys to the coast, promising travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles in just two and one-half hours, with trains traveling at 220 miles per hour. The system was to be operational by 2020, for a cost of about $34 billion. Too date, the cost has escalated to about $105 billion, just for the 520-mile Los Angeles–San Francisco leg. And now that we are in 2022, the only certainty is that costs that will rise further, and that a completion date—“completion” meaning whatever bits and pieces of the system ultimately are finished—will stretch further into the future.

A bit more than “multi-billion”, and, so far, nothing is operational

A company hoping to help California with its high-speed rail built one in North Africa instead, saying the region was ‘less politically dysfunctional’

The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (SNCF), a French state-owned railroad operator, came to California in hopes of helping the state build a high-speed rail system from Los Angeles to San Francisco but left for North Africa in 2011 because the region was ‘less politically dysfunctional’ than the Golden State.

Within 7 years, they built a functioning high-speed rail system in Morocco, the New York Times reported.

California sought to have the first high-speed rail system in the country, but a new report from the Times showed political disagreement on the train’s route slowed the ambitious project to a near halt — and raised construction costs by billions.

That Times piece notes that the Peoples’ Republik Of California is now thinking $113 billion. That Hoover piece is from mid-August this year.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority continues to build: The first section of the rail is under construction in Central California. The authority hopes to begin testing the section in 2025.

Some rail operators told the Times the entire project could potentially be a bust.

“I don’t think it is an existing project,” Quentin Kopp, a former rail chairman, told the Times. “It is a loser.”

The same types of Leftists want to force Everyone Else to take the train.

Read: Good News: High Speed Rail Company Declined To Work On California Project Due To State Being “Politically Dysfunctional” »

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Half Of Voters Say ‘Climate Change’ Is Super Important For Them Or Something

By William Teach October 10, 2022 – 3:00 pm

It’s obviously not important enough for them to change their own lives and make them carbon neutral

Half of voters say climate change is important in midterms, poll finds

climate cow…

With less than a month until Election Day, roughly half of registered voters say climate change is either “very important” or “one of the most important issues” in their vote for Congress, according to a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll.

As Republicans work to wrest control of the House and Senate from Democrats, the results are divided along party lines. Among adults, roughly 8 in 10 Democrats (79 percent) say climate change is at least very important in their vote, compared with 46 percent of independents and 27 percent of Republicans.

Similar shares of voters of all ages say global warming is a priority at the ballot box. That’s a change from previous polls that have shown younger Americans worry more about Earth’s rapid warming, which is more likely to affect them in the form of raging wildfires, rising seas and stronger storms.

They can say “half”, but, less than half of Independents care, and, let’s be honest, all those Democrats may say climate apocalypse is important, but, they won’t really factor it into their vote, as, again, it’s popular in theory, not practice. Other things they find

Overall, climate change ranked below the six other issues tested in the poll, including the economy, abortion, crime and immigration. While 51 percent of registered voters say climate change is important in their vote, that compares with 85 percent who say the economy is important.

The gap is smaller when it comes to the highest category of importance. Roughly 14 percent of registered voters say climate change is “one of the most important issues” in their vote, below the economy (27 percent) and abortion (22 percent) but similar to immigration (14 percent) and crime (13 percent).

So, it’s super important, but, as usual, below real world issues. This is from page 11 of the poll

When measured against those real world issues, ‘climate change’ is dead last, 11 points behind immigration. As usual.

BTW, the poll starts out noting that Biden has a 39% approval rating, with 53% disapproving. On handling the economy, it is 36% approve, 57% approve.

Read: Half Of Voters Say ‘Climate Change’ Is Super Important For Them Or Something »

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If All You See…

By William Teach October 10, 2022 – 1:00 pm

…is a horrible plastic straw causing Bad Weather, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is This ain’t Hell…., with a post on Kamala saying you can be religious and support abortion on demand.

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Bummer: New York State Sheriffs Refuse To Enforce Highly Restrictive NY Gun Law

By William Teach October 10, 2022 – 10:30 am

If you pass a law that is hard to enforce and probably unconstitutional, why would Democrats think anyone would enforce it? non-paywalled version at Yahoo)

Another Challenge to New York’s Gun Law: Sheriffs Who Won’t Enforce It

Robert Milby, Wayne County’s new sheriff, has been in law enforcement most of his adult life, earning praise and promotions for conscientious service. But recently, Milby has attracted attention for a different approach to the law: ignoring it.

Milby is among at least a half-dozen sheriffs in upstate New York who have said they have no intention of aggressively enforcing gun regulations that state lawmakers passed last summer, forbidding concealed weapons in so-called sensitive areas — a long list of public spaces including, but not limited to, government buildings and religious centers, health facilities and homeless shelters, schools and subways, stadiums and state parks, and, of course, Times Square.

“It’s basically everywhere,” said Milby, in a recent interview in his office in Wayne County, east of Rochester. “If anyone thinks we’re going to go out and take a proactive stance against this, that’s not going to happen.”

Everyone, including myself, said that it would be everywhere. Remember, it’s not just those places Milby mentioned

The big one is that private businesses must post their intent to allow CCW holders to enter while carrying. Because most won’t bother, mostly because most won’t know the rule. In most states private companies must post if you may not carry in the business. So, this NY law will mean concealed carry will be banned in most businesses across the entire state. Those few who are truly paying attention will post a “sure, go ahead and carry” sign, if they are gun rights supporters. Most won’t have any idea. Which means that CCW holders, who tend to be law abiding, won’t carry often because they cannot bring it anywhere. In a city like Albany they can at least lock it in a car. In NYC, they won’t usually have that ability, so, it will stay at home.

If not posted, it’s banned.

On Thursday, a U.S. District Court judge blocked large portions of the law, dealing a major blow to lawmakers in Albany who had sought to blaze a trail for other states after the Supreme Court in June struck down a century-old New York law that had strictly limited the carrying of weapons in public. Between the court challenge and the hostility of many law enforcement officers, New York’s ambitious effort could be teetering.

It was simply an attempt at a big blanket ban after the Supreme Court struck down New York’s “special need” law. If NY chooses to appeal the newest block, it will probably end up at the Supreme Court, and NY will be smacked down yet again.

The judge, Glenn T. Suddaby, agreed to a three-day delay of his order to allow an emergency appeal to a higher federal court. But even before Suddaby ruled, a collection of sheriffs from upstate New York were already saying they would make no special effort to enforce the law, citing lack of personnel, an overbroad scope and possible infringements on the Second Amendment.

Nationwide, conservative sheriffs have been at the front line of an aggressive pushback on liberal policies — often framing themselves as “constitutional sheriffs,” or as self-declared arbiters of any law’s constitutionality. Sheriffs in other states have also been part of efforts to prove a fallacious conspiracy theory that former President Donald Trump won the 2020 election.

Of course there needed to be a mention of Trump in a NY Times piece, because Trump Derangement Syndrome.

“I have to enforce it because I swore to uphold the laws, but I can use as much discretion as I want,” said Richard C. Giardino, the Republican sheriff in Fulton County, northwest of Albany. “If someone intentionally flouts the law, then they’re going to be handled one way. But if someone was unaware that the rules have changed, then we’re not going to charge someone with a felony because they went into their barbershop with their carry concealed.”

Such criticism has been heard from Greene County, in the Hudson Valley, to Erie County, home to Buffalo, the state’s second-largest city, as well as from groups like the New York State Sheriffs’ Association, which called the new law a “thoughtless, reactionary action” that aims to “restrain and punish law-abiding citizens.”

How many people even know that quiet part of the law, that it’s illegal unless a business or home (yes, private domiciles) states that concealed carry is allowed?

And as for who was to blame, Milby said the opinions in Wayne County were crystal clear long before Thursday’s decision.

“There’s a very strong sentiment in this county that the governor has just thumbed her nose at the Supreme Court, in what’s being touted as an unconstitutional conniption fit,” he said. “She’s absolutely overstepped.”

The law is a blatant attempt to circumvent the SCOTUS ruling, and all it does is harm law abiding citizens looking to protect themselves. It does nothing to stop criminals. As the NY Daily News wrote “Add it all up, and assuming these requirements survive inevitable court challenges, it’s going to remain fairly difficult to arm oneself legally in New York.”

Read: Bummer: New York State Sheriffs Refuse To Enforce Highly Restrictive NY Gun Law »

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St. Greta Says The Name ‘Climate Change’ Is Too Timid Or Something

By William Teach October 10, 2022 – 7:15 am

It’s been awhile since we heard from St. Greta Of Stockholm. Nice to see she hasn’t given up on doom, as this is and edited extract from The Climate Book created by Greta Thunberg and to be published on 27 October

Greta Thunberg on the climate delusion: ‘We’ve been greenwashed out of our senses. It’s time to stand our ground’

st greta carMaybe it is the name that is the problem. Climate change. It doesn’t sound that bad. The word “change” resonates quite pleasantly in our restless world. No matter how fortunate we are, there is always room for the appealing possibility of improvement. Then there is the “climate” part. Again, it does not sound so bad. If you live in many of the high-emitting nations of the global north, the idea of a “changing climate” could well be interpreted as the very opposite of scary and dangerous. A changing world. A warming planet. What’s not to like?

Perhaps that is partly why so many people still think of climate change as a slow, linear and even rather harmless process. But the climate is not just changing. It is destabilising. It is breaking down. The delicately balanced natural patterns and cycles that are a vital part of the systems that sustain life on Earth are being disrupted, and the consequences could be catastrophic. Because there are negative tipping points, points of no return. And we do not know exactly when we might cross them. What we do know, however, is that they are getting awfully close, even the really big ones. Transformation often starts slowly, but then it begins to accelerate.

So, doom?

The German oceanographer and climatologist Stefan Rahmstorf writes: “We have enough ice on Earth to raise sea levels by 65 metres – about the height of a 20-storey building – and, at the end of the last ice age, sea levels rose by 120 metres as a result of about 5C of warming.” Taken together, these figures give us a perspective on the powers we are dealing with. Sea-level rise will not remain a question of centimetres for very long.

So, um, what caused that to happen? Bueller? And why is that different from today? Of course, most of that ice is nowhere near the oceans, and wouldn’t make it there. Anyhow, there’s more doom and gloom from St. Greta, moving to

Saving the world is voluntary. You could certainly argue against that statement from a moral point of view, but the fact remains: there are no laws or restrictions in place that will force anyone to take the necessary steps towards safeguarding our future living conditions on planet Earth. This is troublesome from many perspectives, not least because – as much as I hate to admit it – Beyoncé was wrong. It is not girls who run the world. It is run by politicians, corporations and financial interests – mainly represented by white, privileged, middle-aged, straight cis men. And it turns out most of them are terribly ill suited for the job. This may not come as a big surprise. After all, the purpose of a company is not to save the world – it is to make a profit. Or, rather, it is to make as much profit as it possibly can in order to keep shareholders and market interests happy.

This leaves us with our political leaders. They do have great opportunities to improve things, but it turns out that saving the world is not their main priority, either.

Sounds like she wants government to institute those restrictions. You know, the ones that most Warmists won’t voluntarily put in their own lives based on their beliefs.

We cannot live sustainably within today’s economic system. Yet that is what we are constantly being told we can do. We can buy sustainable cars, travel on sustainable motorways, powered by sustainable petroleum. We can eat sustainable meat and drink sustainable soft drinks out of sustainable plastic bottles. We can buy sustainable fast fashion and fly on sustainable aeroplanes using sustainable fuels. And, of course, we are going to meet our short- and long-term sustainable climate targets, too, without making the slightest effort.

So, what economic system does she want? Maybe the full book will say. Not that I’ll read it. It will be very silly.

Read: St. Greta Says The Name ‘Climate Change’ Is Too Timid Or Something »

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Surprise: Bidenflation Ate Up Worker’s Raises

By William Teach October 10, 2022 – 7:00 am

Glad to see the media is finally catching on

Workers got bigger raises this year, but inflation has gobbled them up

John Bjorklund’s savings account is shrinking. Alex Bonifaz worries about skyrocketing heating oil costs. Rose White is delaying replacing the leaky roof on her house.

All three work for the Boston nonprofit 2Life Communities, where nearly everyone got raises in April — some at higher rates than normal. But soaring inflation has eroded those increases, wiping them away completely in some cases, as it has for workers across the country.

Prices have gone up 8.3 percent on average over the past year, according to the Consumer Price Index, and for some essential items it’s far higher — eggs are up nearly 40 percent, for instance — putting an especially large burden on lower-income workers. The inability to get ahead is further fueling worker frustration at a time when people are quitting their jobs at record rates. (snip)

Bjorklund, who also plays guitar in a rock band, got a 4.2 percent raise in April — more than he normally gets, but less than others received.

“I’m not complaining,” he said. “When they’re saying inflation is like a 7 or 8 percent increase, the 4 percent raise really doesn’t amount to a lot of money. But I’m grateful to have it.”

Most won’t be getting an 8%+ raise, but, even if they did, it wouldn’t account for the food and other goods they buy the most which have skyrocketed.

White, 47, has been spending $50-$100 more a week on groceries for her family of four, including a daughter, 12, and son, 14, who play sports and often have friends over to eat. “The volume of food is incredible,” said White, who has been making more trips to Costco — and buying less meat — and recently started growing vegetables to help combat high prices. She also worries about her children’s college fund and soaring electricity costs, and is seriously considering investing in solar panels.

When White and her husband get raises, they usually put the increase into their retirement savings. But White didn’t do that with her 2.5 percent bump this year for “cash flow reasons.”

If you can’t afford to buy meat as much, you can’t afford solar panels. Such is life in the Bidenconomy. Especially when it’s hurting the working class and low end of the middle class the most.

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If All You See…

By William Teach October 9, 2022 – 1:00 pm

…is a horrible fossil fueled vehicle causing drought, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Independent Sentinel, with a post on a report saying COVID began in May 2019 and was weaponized.

It’s ladies of Fall week!

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Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

By William Teach October 9, 2022 – 9:35 am

Happy Sunday! Another fine day in the Once And Future Nation Of America. The Sun is shining, the crows are singing me the song of their people, and I have the Giants at 930? That’s weird. This pinup is by Harry Ekman, with a wee bit of help.

What is happening in Ye Olde Blogosphere? The Fine 15

  1. No Tricks Zone notes Tokyo has seen no warming in 34 years
  2. Watts Up With That? covers a solar cell company shutting down in Europe
  3. Chicks On The Right has an answer to a teacher wondering how to talk about her polyamory
  4. Cold Fury is shocked by a survey on the mental health of vegetarians
  5. Common Cents Blog covers the latest election survey
  6. Don Surber explains why the Left went after sports
  7. Geller Report notes how many 3rd graders can’t read, but, they do get trans lunatics
  8. Gen Z Conservative covers Rivian recalling a massive number of EVs
  9. IOTW Report discusses crime stats being raaaaacist
  10. Jihad Watch notes that the protests in Iran are still going
  11. Legal Insurrection covers a gay man under asylum in Israel being kidnapped and beheaded by Palestinians
  12. Moonbattery discusses California looking to restrict parking
  13. Never Yet Melted features crackpot wokery after a violent attack
  14. Pacific Pundit notes another busload of illegals dropped at Kamala’s residence
  15. And last, but, not least, Powerline has Biden’s senior moment of the week

As always, the full set of pinups can be seen in the Patriotic Pinup category, or over at my Gallery page (nope, that’s gone, the newest Apache killed access, and the program hasn’t been upgraded since 2014). While we are on pinups, since it is that time of year, have you gotten your Pinups for Vets calendar yet? And don’t forget to check out what I declare to be our War on Women Rule 5 and linky luv posts and things that interest me. I’ve also mostly alphabetized them, makes it easier scrolling the feedreader

Don’t forget to check out all the other great material all the linked blogs have!

Anyone else have a link or hotty-fest going on? Let me know so I can add you to the list. And do you have a favorite blog you can recommend be added to the feedreader?

Two great sites for getting news links are Liberty Daily and Whatafinger.

Read: Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup »

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Washington Post: Say, Democrats Suddenly Notice That Voters Care About The Economy

By William Teach October 9, 2022 – 7:00 am

I guess they’re figuring out that things like climate crisis (scam), abortion on demand, Trump Trump Trump, and gaslighting people really doesn’t matter much to most voters (non-paywalled Yahoo version here)

High prices, economic volatility resurface as threat to Democrats

Biden Brain SuckerWith a month to go before critical midterm elections, inflation continues to be a top issue for voters and a potential liability for the White House, denting the confidence many Democrats felt just days ago that abortion rights and other issues would power them to a strong electoral showing.

With Republicans re-energized in their efforts to link President Biden to rising prices, falling markets and growing recession fears, Biden has begun using presidential events to aggressively confront his Republican detractors over their own economic policies, in addition to touting the positive parts of his record and highlighting new manufacturing jobs around the country. (snip)

But even as the labor market continues to power along, other parts of the economy have been an intractable concern for much of Biden’s presidency, with chronically high inflation, supply chain problems, rising interest rates and a slowing housing market. As Biden spoke Friday, the stock market dropped precipitously on fears that the tight labor market would do little to bring down inflation.

The volatility has revived Democratic fears that November’s elections could be an expression of economic angst, even after a Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade and a summer of headlines dominated by investigations of former president Donald Trump.

As those issues have faded somewhat from the headlines, Republicans have sought to highlight the economic head winds, arguing that Biden’s policies are to blame for the rising prices and slowing growth. “Don’t be fooled by Biden’s words today,” tweeted Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) “The reality of Biden’s economy is that inflation is crushing Americans, real wages are plummeting, and gas prices are going up again.”

The article attempts to somewhat protect Biden and Democrats, but, at the end of the day, it is the economy. It is inflation. It is average citizens dealing with higher prices of everything, on paying so much more for food and energy, and seeing the government not only not helping, but, doing things that make it worse. They see the White House say “Oh, go ahead and pay tens of thousands for an EV and solar panel to save a bit.” These inside the bubble folks just really do not know what’s going on with Americans. They’re divorced from reality.

Read: Washington Post: Say, Democrats Suddenly Notice That Voters Care About The Economy »

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Who’s Up For The Coming Climate Crash?

By William Teach October 8, 2022 – 3:00 pm

I’m still waiting for the LA Times to declare they will no longer use fossil fuels to gather and distribute (their dead tree edition) the news

Newsletter: I’m an alarmist on climate change, and you should be too

Good morning. I’m Paul Thornton, and it is Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022. Allow me to be the first half-Norwegian to wish you a happy Leif Erikson Day tomorrow. Let’s look back at the week in Opinion.

Interestingly, Paul fails to mention how he’s given up his own use of fossil fuels and made his life carbon neutral. Even though he’s an alarmist

This week we published an op-ed piece that I wish could run every day — though maybe with a few updates to more fully explore its theme. That piece was Eugene Linden’s ” Hurricane Ian and the coming climate crash,” which focused on the economic disaster looming over South Florida in the wake of Hurricane Ian, as the insurance industry realizes it cannot cover all the claimed losses in an area hit repeatedly by intense storms and pulls out entirely from the market. So the crash, for Linden’s purposes, is economic.

But the term “climate crash” evokes so much more, and appropriately so. The unsustainability of offering home insurance policies in flood and fire zones gets at a particular pocketbook issue — a very important one, sure — but “climate crash” could also apply to long-term climactic instability upon us. For example, consider a new study by climate researchers at the World Weather Attribution Group, which showed that the once-every-400-years drought underway in the Northern Hemisphere can now be expected to occur every 20 years. This is the drought that dried up rivers in Europe and China (which, by the way, is experiencing another heat emergency) and continues to desiccate California and the rest of the western U.S. Once every 20 years isn’t a drought; it’s an aridification that renders our entire water delivery system obsolete and will soon force our retreat from exurban communities and mountain villages that will burn every 10 years instead of once every few generations.

I’d call that a “climate crash.”

There’s no proof, just supposition, that any of that is caused by Mankind outputting greenhouse gases. But, since it’s a cult, they just Believe.

The fires too. Even the spread of diseases similar to COVID-19 and MPX. All are symptoms of a looming ecological and climactic collapse that can only be mitigated by ending our reliance on fossil fuels.

And there you go again, blaming COVID and monkeypox on ‘climate change’. Sigh

It might even turn you into a climate voter, because this country needs a lot more of them. Global warming and democracy’s decline merit top consideration by voters, but the crises are far from the top tier of concerns heading into the 2022 midterms, which are dominated by so-called pocketbook matters like inflation and gas prices. “I get it,” writes Nicholas Goldberg. “People have bills to pay and lives to live. But don’t be fooled. The big threats — especially to American democracy and to the fate of the planet — may seem abstract, but they matter more than ever.” L.A. Times

Doubtful. Poll after poll after poll show that ‘climate change’ is at the bottom of the list when put up against real issues, like the crap economy. Once again, it may be popular in theory, but, not in practice.

Read: Who’s Up For The Coming Climate Crash? »

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