Biden administration sends $6 billion

to California for high-speed rail projects

KCRA NEWS – DECEMBER 8 2023

More than $6 billion is going to high-speed electric rail projects in California President Joe Biden made the announcement today in Las Vegas.

The money is slated for two different projects, one connecting Las Vegas and Los Angeles and another linking Bakersfield with Merced.  Supporters hope the billions of dollars will get the high-speed rail system back on track.

“This massive federal investment takes us one step closer to high-speed rail as a reality,” said Rep. Nancy Pelosi, (D) San Francisco.  More than $3 billion is set to help build nearly 175 miles of track between Bakersfield and Merced.

In 2008, Californians gave the green light to the 500-mile project, which promised to carry passengers between San Francisco and Los Angeles in under three hours on a fully electric train traveling at speeds of up to 220 miles per hour.

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RIPE FRUIT FOR A CONSPIRACY THEORY

Given the fact that Washington D.C. and Sacramento are filled with fiscal financial morons, even they have to know that $6 Billion Dollars would not be enough funding to pay for a “Right of Way” access route for a high speed rail system between downtown Los Angeles and Las Vegas even with “Imminent Domain” theft of land.  California has already spent $9.8 Billion Dollars on a much reduced in size High Speed Rail System between Merced and Bakersfield  (Governor Jerry Brown’s original plan was for the High Speed Rail System to travel between San Francisco and Los Angeles).  Some 8 years  and 9.8 Billion Dollars later this Fiscal Black Hole has never carried a single passenger a single mile and almost assuredly never will.  These Big Budget “Pie In The Sky” projects are most often nothing more that a thinly veiled payoff to Political Supporters and Politically Loyal Labor Unions. 

For the conspiracy plan, maybe just maybe, this is Joe Biden’s way of throwing a $6 Billion dollar “bone” to his buddy and protege Gavin Newsom who is facing a 2023-2024 State Fiscal Budget Deficit of $68 Billion Dollars.  Once the state gets the $6 Billion who is to say they can’t just “delay” the rail project and use the $6 Billion Dollars to help finance a loan to balance the budget.  California already does this with gas tax dollars that are supposedly committed to roads.  That will be, of course, after some number of Millions of Dollars end up in selected pockets for “Feasibility and Engineering Studies” as well as “Executive Conferences” in specially selected “getaway retreats in private surroundings”.

Also it might help Governor Newsom in his “shadow” run for the Presidency just in case President Biden takes a further downturn and finds himself in a room with Winnie the Pooh wallpaper and a full time nurse helping him with his “jammies”, slippers, and warm cocoa “medicine”.  In such a situation  the Democratic Party would need a ready “stand-in” and Gavin is waiting in the wings.

As for High Speed Rail, California can continue with their current alternate system between Merced and Bakersfield.

Nine Billion Dollars Later

For my earlier writings on this subject you might want to visit:   

https://www.stoppullingthewagon.com/?s=high+speed+rail+2.0

Or, you can just type High Speed Rail 2.0 in the search box on this page.

I have found that sometimes it is better to laugh at the Clowns than get frustrated with their antics.

Bob Bandy – December 2023

University of Arizona Pro-Hamas Students Claim they were Too Unsafe to Protest

I have to admit that I am completely “Befuddled” by todays college students who pay thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of dollars a year to attend Universities to indoctrinate them with theories  and political ideologies which are in obvious and apparent opposition to everything we are told they believe.  Namely, the majority of College Students would appear to completely believe in a WOKE culture dedicated to the LGBTQ+ life along with Transgender and Multi-Gender at will “realities” along with Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.  Add to that the demand for Abortion on demand up through the ninth  month of pregnancy, and in a couple of states, the peri-natal period following live birth. 

I DON’T GET IT

These “Progressives” who believe you can be a “Guy” on Tuesday, a “Girl” on Wednesday and a non-Binary Leprechaun on Thursday and whose cultural values reject Christianity in large measure because they believe Christian teachings and moral code is too strict for their chosen lifestyle, seem to have chosen to set sail on the “Good Ship Hamas”.

Hamas, who on their best days are the illegitimate sons of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its absolute ruler, the Ayatollah Khomeini, a man who rules with the dictates of Islam as pronounced in the 7th Century.  That is a world in which women have no rights other than to be the “Chattel” property of men.  A system where women by custom can be “circumcised” to be sure they never take pleasure in their relationship with the men in their lives.  Daughters can be executed without penalty by their fathers if the father feels they have dishonored the family.  It is a “Man’s World” in an absolute way.  

In Iran, and some/most other Islamic based communities, the LGBTQ+ lifestyle is forbidden by law.  It was once joked that the life expectancy of an openly gay male in Iran was about 38 minutes.  

Hamas males consider women little more than breeders for the next generation of Terrorists.  They also look on women and children as handy shields in a firefight and consider them little more than propaganda “cannon fodder” in their war against Israel.

So why do America’s “Progressive” Students want to hitch a ride on the Ship of Hamas?  Because they have been fed a load of crap by their overpaid far left political professors who have told them the lie that the Palestinians are the victim of Israeli Colonialism.  Palestine was first given the name by the Romans when they conquered territory which was occupied at that time by the Jewish people and Hebrew claim on the land goes back to Father Abraham.

Israel is, and has been willing to live in peace with their Palestinian neighbor in a “Two State” solution in peace and prosperity for both sides.  Hamas totally rejects this and demands the total destruction of the State of Israel.   This is a fact, not propaganda.

So why the outcry from our mis-educated and over-indebted College Youth and other “Hate America Activists”?  Follow the money.  People like George Soros who will pay any price to destroy an America he hates and funds these activists while they are being fed lies.

If protestors really want to Free Palestine, they should be be asking that it be freed from the Barbaric Rule of Hamas.  Both the Palestinians and Israel are victims of the Terrorism of Hamas who treats the citizens of Gaza as serfs or slaves.

Like I said, I don’t get it.  How can an “educated” population group who say they are socially so “Progressive” align themselves, and partner with, a people who are historically and socially so “Regressive” and opposed to the values the so-called “Progressives” say they champion and espouse.  In my mind it makes them either hypocrites or just plain dumb.

Bob Bandy – November 2023

photo – Epoch Times

EVERY DAY – I find myself thinking that our government cannot become any more overbearing and intrusive in our lives than it was last night when I went to bed.  EVERY DAY – they find some new way to make my life more fearful of a ruthless totalitarian regime bent on making my day to day existence less content with endless mechanisms to pick my pockets of the few remaining, hard earned pennies left to me after a plethora of taxes on anything and everything.  This from a Federal Bureaucracy that cannot stop spending money and have our nation on the verge of 33 Trillion Dollars in debt. A debt which they cannot even pay the interest on.

Now they are going to unleash on us “Artificial Intelligence” to “sniff out” every possible corner of our lives for the very last bit they can glean to steal from us and waste.  This in preparation for the implementation of unwanted (by the public) a forced “Digital Currency” which they can monitor and control your spending with.  To the last “Nickel”.  The government will be able to control what you can, and cannot buy with a few clicks on some bureaucrats keyboard.  “Hey Bob”, you’ve been eating too much ground beef!  We will fix that – for your own good – of course!”

Hello George Orwell’s “Big Brother”.  Goodbye peace and privacy.  

And just last evening I hear on the news that our government is heading to a “Universal” “Global” Digital Identity Card which will contain every bit of information about you.  This card will be able to be read by government agencies and bureaucrats around the world.

WE CAN ALL BECOME DIGITS IN THE WORLDWIDE PROLETARIAT DATABASE!  

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IRS Launches ‘Sweeping, Historic’ Tax Enforcement Crackdown Using AI

Tom Ozimek – The Epoch Times – September 9, 2023

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced that, thanks to a new funding boost, it’s launching a “sweeping, historic” tax enforcement initiative using artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge technologies to catch tax evaders more effectively.

“The changes will be driven with the help of improved technology as well as Artificial Intelligence that will help IRS compliance teams better detect tax cheating, identify emerging compliance threats and improve case selection tools to avoid burdening taxpayers with needless ‘no-change’ audits,” Mr. Werfel said.

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Don’t you feel better knowing that your government is constantly looking for ways to help you?  Happy dreams!

And to think, just a few years ago I coined the phrase “Clowns, Criminals and Lunatics” to describe those we have elected to lead us.  I am now thinking that label is too kind.  Makes me want to sleep with one eye open….  as if that would help!

Bob Bandy – September 2023

No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth!

Ronald Reagan

Back in February of 2015 I wrote a satirical article titled “Paperwork Reduction” with the goal of showing how a good idea can lead to a sprawling government “make work” department that starts out with a noble goal and metastasizes  into a “forever” deep state bureaucracy.  The people working in this bureaucracy are not evil.  Mostly good folks like you and I doing a job to make a living and hoping the job will never go away and they can retire to a comfortable old age. 

What gets lost in the process is what is actually being accomplished and what is the end result of their efforts in the way of practical “stuff” that benefits the lives of we citizens?  Our governments, federal, state and even local have many such departments, agencies, bureaus etc. which started out with a perceived need to solve a problem and have grown into behemoth monsters that consume huge amounts of tax dollars to operate and produce little or no tangible results from their original goal and charter.

Just to mention a couple:  1. The 158 Billion Dollar a year Department of Energy  which was formed in 1977 and was originally tasked with making the United States Energy independent.  After 40+ years of effort, we achieved energy independence for only a short period of time when the department got out of the way of private enterprise.  2. The 88 Billion Dollar a year Federal Department of Education was formed in 1980.  Why do they exist?  Education should be a state function.  There are many others.  Many of these departments and agencies have budgets in the Tens of Billions of Dollars and employees in the Tens of Thousands or more.  Ever wonder why our nations “Debt Clock” is at 32 Trillion Dollars and growing?

Do any of the above noted government departments put groceries on our table, gas in our tanks or pay our rent?  You can say yes if you get your paycheck from them.  Otherwise the tax money they take from you to run these agencies only makes the cost for these necessities of life more expensive for you.  Remember, these agencies and departments don’t make anything you wear, eat or drive around in.  They don’t have to make a profit or justify why they are there.

So, just for fun, and keeping the above in mind, I again share the following “oldie but goodie” asking only if you can justify, beyond keeping some folks employed, what this imaginary department actually accomplishes “at the end of the day” as far as the stated goal for its existence?

PAPERWORK REDUCTION

Just imagine: 

Last night I dreamed that I was working in the California State Department of Paperwork Reduction.

A wonderful place to work that was a model of diversity.  We had one of every race, creed, gender, nationality, religion, mental and physical handicap and everything else you can imagine.  Even different political parties were represented though it was rumored that the token Republican had not been seen in a while and was possibly in a 24 step recovery program.  This is California after all.

We also had employees whose only job was to act as interpreters for employees engaged in conversations in different languages.

The mission of our department is to reduce the excessive use of paper within California to help in the war against Global Climate Change.  Three Hundred and Fifty, dedicated to the cause employees occupying four floors of a state office building in Sacramento.  Working diligently three, sometimes four days a week depending on holidays, vacations, jury duty, sick leave, comp time etc.

To fulfill our mission our job is to produce a 172 page workbook every year that is to be mailed to every place of business in California.  The title of this workbook is: YOUR PLACE IN PAPERWORK REDUCTION.

Within the information packed workbook will be a snap out set of forms (12 pages) which is to be copied and distributed to every employee at each place of business. Each employee is to fill out the 12 page questionnaire, sign it, copy it and then mail back the original to the California State Department of Paperwork Reduction for tabulation and completion of a 1500 page report which is to be distributed annually to all other State Departments.

In addition a copy of the 1500 page tabulated “Final Report” will be sent to each of the businesses within California who participated.

What could possibly go wrong?  This is government at work.

Just for fun,

Bob Bandy – August 2023

The Fall of California – Ikon London Magazine

EVER WONDER WHY GOVERNMENT HOMELESS PLANS DON’T WORK?

IT IS GOVERNMENTS FIRST RESPONSIBILITY TO PROVIDE IT’S CITIZENS WITH A SAFE, CLEAN ENVIRONMENT – SO WHY DO THEY FAIL IN THE FACE OF A HOMELESS EPIDEMIC?

Cities, Counties and States keep coming up with multi-million dollar plans to “Solve the Homeless Crises” but invariably after all the dollars  are spent,  the money disappears and there are more, not less homeless on the streets.  Why?

The easy answers as to why Government Homeless Programs don’t work are well known and I will get them out of the way first.  First, Government always seems to want to solve problems by throwing money at them, most of which gets eaten up in bureaucracy, waste and a lack of accountability.  Second, Government programs invariably fail to truly deal with the underlying cause of the problem and instead use these programs to say “Look how much I care by helping create this big pool of money to fix the problem”. 

The real reason these programs invariably fail is because politicians; Mayors, Governors, Legislators and City, County and other “Public Servants”, have no real personal incentive in solving the problem.  Creating media coverage and authorizing huge amounts of money to be doled out to their political supporters through the Multi-Million Dollar “Programs” makes their supporters rich and some of that money finds its way back into their own political coffers.  Most of the money gets paid out to “Consultants”, “Experts”, “Contractors”, “Specialists”, “Administrators”, “Staff”. etc. etc..  A year later the money is all gone, there are more homeless than there were before the program began and the politicians are back saying “We just didn’t spend enough to solve the problem and here is our new plan which will cost a “Gazillion” more Dollars but this time it will work.”  “Trust us”.

Understand, these “programs” are “Cash Cows” and if their plans worked we wouldn’t need to fund their next “Program” because the problem has been solved and so…..  no more endless pool of money for their supporters and benefactors to draw from.  The “Cash Cow” dies.  Rule #1 for “Smart Politicians” is NEVER kill a “Cash Cow”.

This is happening across the country, from Seattle to New York and up and down the State of California including San Francisco, Los Angeles and many other cities.  I live near Sacramento and we have had several years of multi-million dollar plans, all of which have not worked.  Intentional or unintentional, all these plans are a scam which costs the taxpayer without solving the homeless problem.

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JUST FOR CONTRAST HERE IS BOB’S PLAN TO REDUCE HOMELESSNESS 

1.  City streets, sidewalks and all public areas to be safe, clean and sanitary at all times.  Hosed down/washed clean on an unannounced irregular schedule as needed.

2. Strict law enforcement against public drunkenness, drug use, urination, “defecating”, aggressive “panhandling” and obscenity (nudity).

3. No general welfare funds without verifiable certificate of being tested drug free or active, current certification in rehabilitation drug or alcohol program. No exceptions.

4. If you don’t like my rules, leave town and look for greener pastures somewhere else.

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As an example of typical “Government” solutions  I am including below an excerpt from an article I posted back in August of 2021:

The Mayor’s 100 Million Dollar Homeless Plan

from August 2021

Almost two years ago Sacramento, California Mayor Darrell Steinberg and the City Council approved a 22.5 Million Dollar one year plan for Sacramento’s homeless.  The plan was to provide housing and beds for some 750 homeless.  (Search “Tweedledum & Tweedledee” on this site) At the time I calculated that the cost per proposed homeless recipient to be $29,605 per person assisted and questioned if any of these decision makers owned a calculator.

“Mayor Steinberg also approved tiny apartments in a renovated old downtown hotel, which cost more than $445,000 per unit for about 250 square feet of living space, as the Globe reported. This project only benefitted the union contractors.” (see California Globe Aug. 6, 2021)

The homeless problem has continued to grow worse, not better.

Now Major Steinberg and the City Council has approved a 100 Million Dollar plan on a unanimous City Council vote.

This plan is targeting about 9,000 people living on the streets and byways of downtown Sacramento.

A SPIN CITY NARRATIVE

Conrad Blowhard is the Mayor of Spin City, California.  His city has become infested with homeless encampments and vagrants numbering in the thousands.  To some this would seem a problem but Mayor Blowhard sees an opportunity.  

He will convince his City Council that in an effort to help the homeless and decrease their numbers on the cities streets and alleys he would like them to pass a funding bill in the amount of 80 Million Dollars with the proceeds dedicated to renovating a dilapidated, nearly abandoned hotel down on “Skid Row” and convert it’s 80 rooms into housing for the homeless.  The City Council passes the funding request and pats themselves on the back for “caring” about the homeless.

Closed bidding contracts are let out to major contractors who are supporters and donors to the Mayor for the work to be done.  A ceremonial event is held at the Foggy Bottom Hotel with the Mayor swinging a sledge hammer through a faded door of a shoddy 200 square foot room in front of live television cameras.  Everybody applauds.

Work begins.  Some effort is made to rid the building of most of the rats, termites and other vermin which infest it.  The leaking roof is patched.  Contractors workers “freshen up” the rooms with new paint, carpet, updated (cheap) fixtures from China and new window coverings.  Cost per room renovated is $400,000.  In addition, the hotel gets a new name:  “NEW BEGINNING’S” and a single fresh coat of exterior paint. 

Grand Opening Day arrives.  Brass Bands and Ribbon Cutting.  Mayor Blowhard and City Council members make grandiose speeches about how they have solved the cities Homeless Crisis.  A few ragged homeless people are seen entering the building to take occupancy of their renovated 200 square foot “apartments”.

The Mayor’s handpicked contractors, sub-contractors and suppliers go out and spend their profits on new boats, sports cars and luxury vacations but not forgetting to “tithe” back some of those profits to the Majors campaign re-election coffers.

The 80 “new” tenants of the once dilapidated hotel settle in and begin the task of de-renovation on the hotel to turn it back into a Skid Row Manor.  

The whole process is “spun” as a huge success and praise and credit is layered on all who participated in the project.  What could possibly go wrong.  Housing was provided, at least temporarily, for 80 homeless people for only 80 Million Dollars.  “WINK – WINK”.

P.S. I would like to give inspirational credit to Michael J. Fox and his long ago television series “Spin City”.

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TOO MANY POLITICIANS SEE HOMELESSNESS NOT AS A PROBLEM BUT AN OPPORTUNITY.

Bob Bandy – July 2023

Ronald Reagan

“…… government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”

 For regular readers of my articles, many might get the impression that I dislike government in general and also those who work in government.  This is not the case.  Most of the people who work in government are like you and I; working at a job to support our families with a hope of someday a comfortable retirement in our “golden years” with an adequate pension for our needs.  Most government workers endeavor to do a good job and should be thanked for doing so.  They are not the problem.

The “problem” with most government agencies is structural.  I will explain:  In my perfect world government should be responsible for National Defense, limited International Diplomacy and as a mediator to provide cohesion in those cases where there are conflicting interests between the individual states.  (Move the United Nations Headquarters to North Korea and cancel our membership).  Almost all other matters should be handled by the individual states and many of their functions should be contracted out with specific requirements, results and limitations – not the “blank checks” we often give to Government Departments and Services.  Police and Fire Protection, Public Education, Health and Sanitation services,  Emergency Services, Highway Maintenance, Water and Waste Management Services etc.

With government, not just Federal but all too often State and Local, a perceived problem is not handled with a meeting, finding a solution and then a plan to solve the problem on a contract basis at a specific cost within a specified time period by an independent contractor.  Government invariably decides the “problem” is a crisis that demands the creation of a whole new Branch of Government headed up by a Czar or Cabinet Secretary, a big new budget, buildings, employees, office furniture, a fleet of vehicles,  endless new regulations, an annual budget with a built in annual increase of usually 10% or more.  To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, “A Government Agency is the nearest thing to eternal life we will experience on earth”.  Once such a Branch of Government is created it has no incentive whatever to actually solve a problem and put all these people out of work.  That does not make them evil, just self serving which is a natural human trait.  The end result is horribly inefficient and these agencies end up going on year after year, growing in size and budget and too often not producing any tangible result.

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A True Example from an article I wrote and originally published in 2012

(April 2012) Does anybody remember the reason given for the establishment of the Department of Energy during the Carter Administration?  Bottom line is, we’ve spent several hundred billion dollars in support of an agency…. the reason for which not many who read this can remember!

The Department of Energy was instituted on 8/04/1977,  TO LESSEN OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL.   Now it’s 2012 —- 35 years later —- and the budget for this “necessary” department is $24.2 Billion a year.  It has 16,000 Federal Employees and approximately 100,000 contract employees and look at the job it has done!  35 years ago 30% of our oil consumption was foreign imports.  Today 70% of our oil consumption is foreign imports…..  Great job!   Good old Federal bureaucracy.  (And we could supply all our oil needs from the USA)…. 

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(2023 update) The Department of Energy proposed budget for 2023 is $48.2 Billion Dollars and it has 14,000 full time employees.  

Let us assume as a given that all 14,000 of these Department of Energy employees (and their families) are all wonderful, dedicated to the Departments Mission of making the the United States Energy Independent and you would just love to live next door to them and share a Bar-B-Que on the weekends. Ever wonder what these 14,000 employees do every day? Is there power flowing out of the Department of Energy Headquarters Building into the nations power grid?  Maybe you could ask them at your next Bar-B-Que? 

The Administration is now running around the world begging for oil from Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Mexico, Canada, “whoever”, while our current Administration has sold a million barrels of oil out of our National Strategic (Emergency) Oil Reserve to China.

The Department of Energy was formed in 1977 with the mission to make the United States less dependent on Foreign Oil.  If we kind of average out their annual budget over the last 46 years they have spent something in the lofty neighborhood of a Trillion Taxpayer Dollars and the U.S. is now going “hat in hand” to unfriendly nations begging for them to produce more oil for us.  This despite the fact the United States has enough energy reserves to supply our needs for at least 200 years.  We just need to pump it out of the ground.  This appears a little too complicated for these 14,000 employees to figure out.  Guess they will need to write a few more hundred pages of “Regulations”. 

In all those near 46 years the United States reached Energy Independence for a brief period of time near the end of the Trump Administration when the Government got the, excuse me, “hell out of the way”, and gave the nation’s energy producers a window to produce not only enough energy for our own use but also excess energy we could export to the world.

I’m still waiting to hold in my hand the bright, shiny thing produced for me by the Department of Energy!

This is your Government at Work.  How do you like it so far?  Want more Government Agencies on a “Mission”?

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OTHER GOVERNMENT “SUCCESS” PROGRAMS

Government Poverty Programs have produced, you guessed it, Poverty.   In California programs for the Homeless have, you guessed it again, produced more Homelessness.  

In FY 2023 total US government spending on welfare — federal, state, and local — is “guesstimated” to be $1,494 billion, (That is near 1 .5 Trillion Dollars) including $890 billion for Medicaid, and $604 billion in other welfare.  Have we seen any improvement in our inner-city ghettos, homelessness, reductions in crime or drug use?

In the meantime our $68 Billion Dollar Federal Department of Education Public Schools programs are focusing on Indoctrination and not Education. While children in China are learning about math and science our children are being taught about personal pro-nouns and being groomed for trans-gender medical procedures  in the third, forth and fifth grades by activist teachers and a curriculum that their parents are denied access to. 

I could go on and on.  So you see, it is not the people who work in government, it is just the nature of too many available/deficit borrowed  taxpayer dollars and not enough fiscal discipline and common sense.

Bob Bandy – June 2023