Above represents current passenger option for

 CALIFORNIA HIGH SPEED RAIL – Fresno to Bakersfield

CURRENT ESTIMATED COST 88 TO 128 BILLION DOLLARS AND STILL RISING

I first wrote about California’s proposed High Speed Rail plan to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles back in 2013 in an article titled:   California – It Is What It Is (still available) when California approved the plan and using some $9 Billion Dollars in borrowed funds began a project which they claimed would be completed in some 3-5 years.  By 2019 they had spent the $9 Billion Dollars (or more-since real numbers are hard to pry out of State) and had scaled back the project with a hope to complete some 110 miles between Fresno and Bakersfield.  (See: California High Speed Rail 2.0  also still available).  Every year they have budgeted amounts in the range of $1 Billion more dollars for this money pit and, to date, –  this is 2024, not one single passenger has ridden one single mile on a High Speed Train.

In the latest “Pie in the Sky” investment proposal in this “Money Pit Black Hole”,:  The California Globe (Thomas Buckley – June 29, 2024)  reports:

“The consistently accurate and forward looking board of the California High Speed Rail Authority has decided that it is a good idea to dig 30 miles of tunnels to connect Burbank to Palmdale.

The purely political zig-zag to include Palmdale in the system (votes in the Antelope Valley) of the high speed rail from Los Angeles to San Francisco is about 38 miles and earlier this week the Board approved an environmental impact report that sets out an 8 mile above-ground, 30 mile below-ground route to make the connection.

The Authority claims the route will cost about $28 billion dollars to complete.  For comparison’s sake, that is about 80% of the originally promised costs of the entire system connecting San Diego to LA to SF to Sacramento.

It should be noted that the cost was originally reported by news outlets as being $22.6 billion – but the Authority clarified Thursday that was in 2018 dollars,  so now it’s really about $28 Billion Dollars.

The plan voters approved was to build a system of about 840 miles for about $33 billion.”

(For the complete article see: The California Globe – Thomas Buckley – June 29, 2024) CaliforniaGlobe.com

**************************

My editors note:  According to Google the actual distance from Burbank to Palmdale is 52 miles – not 38 miles as stated by the High Speed Rail Authority “brain trust”.

I find it an interesting “co-incidence” that this $28 Billion Dollar High Speed Rail Tunnel project is almost the same amount as California’s $27+ Billion Dollar annual budget deficit under California Governor Gavin Newsom.  This whole project is and has been in my, and other critics, view never been anything more than a thinly veiled “Pork Barrel” payoff to Organized Labor and Equipment/Material Suppliers for supporting California’s One Party Democrat controlled Legislature.  Frankly they have no incentive to ever complete the project and stop fleecing taxpayers.  It is not a High Speed Rail Project.  It is “California’s Pork Gravy Train” for those who continue to glean money from the “Rat Hole” it has become.

For related articles see:

https://www.stoppullingthewagon.com/california-it-is-what-it-is/ and 

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

Bob Bandy – July 2024

COME TO CALIFORNIA WHERE EVERYTHING PRICED BELOW $950 IS FREE

California decided to reduce its crime rate by putting into law that the theft of items valued at less than $950 is no longer a Felony Crime but a Misdemeanor/Infraction (think Parking Ticket).  This decision led to Proposition 47 which became law.  

AND

Your chance to live almost Free.  With California’s “Prop 47” in place you can help yourself to anything priced below $950 and not pay for it.  The worst thing that can happen to you is a misdemeanor citation and in the unlikely event you should ever find yourself in front of a judge you can just claim your “right” to a Jury Trial and a “Free” Public Defender as your Lawyer.  Since Jury Trial’s cost the City, County or State Thousands and Thousands of Dollars they will just dismiss your measly $949 case and you can go back to shopping. Talk about your land of “Milk and Honey”. 

California is a “Shoppers Paradise” with no need for cash or those pesky credit card statements.

There are documented cases of “shoppers” with calculators filling up shopping carts with items totaling less than $950 and giving Store Security personnel the “finger” on the way out the door and across the parking lot.  Oh, as an added bonus, shopping carts are “Free” in California.  What a great life if you don’t mind the homelessness, crime, drugs and filth!

Some near five years ago I wrote an article with the below title and it, still to this day, is one of the most commented on articles I have written.  It is reprinted below:

***************************

YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP

photo – Google

In (Feb. 2012) I wrote a “spoof” article on this site titled: MARK OF THE BEAST – THE CLUB CARD. It is still available on this site (type Mark of the Beast in the search box).  The point of the article was that these “Club Cards” and other methods of tracking our purchases are being advertised as ways to “Serve Us Better” but are really only vehicles to monitor our lives for the sellers purposes and potentially for the government to control what we can buy, sell or consume. All, of course, “for our own good” because they, the government, know best how to manage our lives. “Scared yet?”

Now I see on television that Insurance Company’s are “offering” an “App” to monitor your driving habits in order to offer discounts on your car insurance if you drive the way they have decided you should. This, and similar “Apps” can also track your movements, i.e., where you go, What you do, how long you stay and other morsels of personal data to be harvested by Google, Facebook and other entities.

Goodbye, private get-a-way weekend with your loved one. Your Cell Phone companion is a “tattle-tale” to all those companies and Government Agencies who want to monitor your life. “Scared yet?”

Facebook is offering a handy “Portal” to install in your home so that you can always be “on camera” for whoever has access to your “Portal” “on the other end”. Family, Friends, Facebook, IRS etc. Can you spell “hacked”? I am thinking of ordering one of these “Portal’s”, putting it in our house, then hanging a picture of a horses butt in front of the lens just for fun.

Google (and others) have “Algorithms” – no this is not a “hot” Latin Dance – that can monitor and predict your nearly every move, voting habits, purchases, favorite foods, character flaws, weaknesses etc. etc. Now, are you scared?

Our day to day world is filled with cameras, everywhere you go and no matter what you are doing. More and more of these cameras have “Facial Recognition” software. Not to mention listening devices and “other ways” to track our every activity.

We live in a fish bowl.

Hmmmmm! On the other hand, maybe this could present us with an opportunity to have a little fun? Want to trade “Apps”, identity and habits for a while?

Since the “Apps” and tracking often seem to depend on our Cell Phones, perhaps we could do something creative with said phones. Like using “disposable” phones purchased at Walmart while in disguise, using them for a short time and then slipping them into the pocket of non-English speaking tourists at the airport or duct tape them inconspicuously to a local commuter bus. That could keep the Fed’s busy for a while. Lots of possibilities!

(September 2019)

**************************

California prides itself on being the leader in “New Ideas” and “Cultural Change”.  California has banned the sale of new gasoline powered cars after 2035.  California has the highest gasoline taxes in the country (and some of the poorest roads). In California your 9 year old child can be recruited by “LGBTQ & Transgender Activist” School Employees and receive “Gender Affirming Care” including Castration without parental consent or even the foreknowledge it is being planned. I could go on and on.  As said above: 

YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP

Bob Bandy  –  June 2024

SACRAMENTO – CALIFORNIA’S  CAPITOL

   HOMELESS UP 52% IN TWO YEARS

For the record:  All the following numbers are taken from Google.

The State of California under (failed) Governor Newsom is facing a $60 Billion Dollar or more deficit depending on what current numbers are being “floated” from the State Capitol. 

California’s State Capitol City of Sacramento is facing a $50 Million Dollar (or more) Budget deficit thanks in part to the $60 Million Dollar renovation last year of a dilapidated hotel to house 134 of the Cities multi-thousand homeless.

San Francisco, California’s once “Jewel” on the Pacific is facing a Budget deficit of $1.4 Billion Dollars with rampant crime and homelessness.

Los Angeles is staring at a $476 Million Dollar Budget deficit as it is inundated with crime, illegal immigrants, homeless encampments and a shrinking tax base.

The above four entities all have one thing in common.  They are all under proudly “Blue” mis-management, WOKE, wedded to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion principles in a race to the bottom.

Silly me.  I grew up thinking that government’s (City, County, State, Federal) Primary Mission and Responsibility was to provide we Taxpaying Citizens with a Safe and Clean environment and to spend the Taxpayers hard earned dollars in a way to accomplish this mission with restraint in a responsible manner just as a family has to live within a budget. 

Was I gullible or was I just wrong?

Turns out these, sometimes well meaning, folks too often turn into teen agers with keys to Mom & Dad’s new car, a credit card and a bottle of Jack Daniels finest.  Hello National Debt of  $34+ Trillion Dollars, invasion over open borders, rampant unchecked crime, mushrooming homeless encampments, heavily in debt students joining the cause of Terrorists, crippling inflation and loss of worldwide respect.

Some near 5 years ago (August 2019) I wrote a “spoof” article titled “Momma Tried”.  Over the years it has been one of the most commented on articles I have ever written.  Don’t have a counter on how many times it has been read and don’t keep track of more than a very small percentage of comments received but have gotten many, many thousands of comments submitted with 95% + being positive .  While the article was satirical in nature the underlying premise is that the homeless destruction of some of our cities could be stopped with a few simple, common sense steps rather than the mega-million dollar pork barrel projects government keeps implementing with little or no accountability of where the money is going.  Last year California State “lost track of” some $24 Billion Dollars “earmarked” for “Homeless solutions”.  The money has “vanished -poof” and there is no accountability for it.

A copy of my original article is printed below or you can find it anytime by typing Momma Tried in the search box and hitting enter.

*****************************

MOMMA TRIED

Recently while watching a documentary on prisons and prisoners, I saw a prisoner with “MOMMA TRIED” tattooed across his chest.

It got me to thinking. And, no I am not talking about the unfortunate homeless living on the streets.

I am talking about the City Administrators of these cities, like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland and, yes, sadly Sacramento and too many others.

Yesterday, I heard on the news that San Francisco was going to provide elevator operators in buildings because the “homeless” have been using elevators as public toilets.

I am ashamed to admit that in a moment of anger I would like to take these so-called “Administrators” and “Guardians” of their citizenry, and have “MOMMA TRIED” tattooed across their foreheads.

Their first duty is to provide the citizens of their city with safety in a clean, healthy environment – not hold meetings and talk about grandiose plans which will cost a gazillion more taxpayer dollars and in the end not produce the desired result. I have heard on the news that the State of Washington has spent a Billion (with a “B”) Dollars on homeless plans and the situation on the streets of Seattle are, if anything, worse.

Here is a two step plan to clean the streets:

First, provide Charter Buses to relocate these poor, miserable people living in filth and degradation to new, clean and prosperous locales. May I suggest places like Marin County (home of Nancy Pelosi), Malibu, Brentwood, Beverly Hills, Hollywood and other places filled with those smart, politically connected folks who believe they have all the answers for all problems. Be sure they arrive with a nice box lunch, map of the area of their new “home” and a crisp new $100 bill.

Second, using scrapers, loaders and dump trucks, remove the debris and trash from the streets. Then Fire Hose the remaining human waste and filth into a containment location (similar to the ones required on construction sites) and have it “sucked” up and disposed of in a sanitation facility. Preferably one in Marin County etc..

After completing these steps put up signs (in multiple languages) that henceforth the streets will be water-blasted on a regular basis for public health and safety reasons on an unannounced basis as needed. Then do it.

Problem solved at far less cost than all those “solutions” provided by those “Administrator” meetings.

Sorry about the “MOMMA TRIED” tattoo crack. Most of those Administrators foreheads are probably too narrow for it anyway.

Bob Bandy – (August 2019)

NASA maps California drought effects on Sierra trees. (Photo: climate.nasa.gov)

Shared photo from – California Globe

I am sharing a most informative and excellent article from the CALIFORNIA GLOBE – By Katy Grimes, May 13, 2024 2:55 am

My own comments and link follow the CALIFORNIA GLOBE article below

******************************

‘NO Climate Crisis’ Says Coalition of 1,600 Actual Scientists

The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is ‘one of the worst sources of dangerous misinformation’

“There is ‘NO Climate Crisis’ says a coalition of 1,600 actual scientists” in a recent letter to the California Air Resources Board. In fact, the scientists find that “California is in no danger of unusual drought: The annual precipitation in California has fluctuated greatly over the last 150 years, with only a slight decrease.”

California also has record low levels of air pollution that are below the threshold of human health effects, James E. Enstrom, PhD, MPH has told us repeatedly for years. He’s also one of the 1,600 scientists signed onto the letter to CARB.

The scientists also insisted that carbon dioxide is beneficial to Earth.

The CO₂ Coalition’s letter is particularly timely with Gov. Gavin Newsom taking his climate change road show to the Vatican later this week where he was invited to speak by Pope Francis at a Summit of mayors and governors. The Summit, which will be held from May 15th to May 17th, will cover “the impact of rising temperatures” in local communities, and “climate resilience.”

This one-page summary letter begins with a link to a 16-page detailed report containing the strong evidence.

An open letter to the California Air Resources Board

Dear Sir or Madam:

Good news: There is NO climate crisis in California. This claim was verified by the scientific data that were compiled by the CO₂ Coalition, a nonprofit organization with the goal of determining and propagating the facts regarding carbon dioxide (CO₂) and the climate (CO₂ Coalition, 2024). The key findings provided below stand in contrast to the climate crisis claims made in the March 1, 2024, California Priority Climate Action Plan (Priority Climate Action Plan, 2024) and the California Climate Disclosure Rules (Senate Bills No. 253 and No. 261) (Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, 2024). More details can be found in the attached letter and appendix.

• Modest warming of California is beneficial and not a cause for concern: Globally, more people have died from the cold than from the heat since 2000.
• Increase in agricultural production: The combination of lengthened growing seasons (from warming) and increased CO₂ concentrations has contributed to this increase.
• CO₂ is essential: Plants need CO₂, sunlight, water, and nutrients from the soil to produce food and oxygen, both of which are essential for human and animal lives.
• CO₂ is beneficial: Exposing plants to higher concentrations of CO₂ increases their growth, food production, and drought-resistance; and greens the Earth.
• California is in no danger of unusual drought: The annual precipitation in California has fluctuated greatly over the last 150 years, with only a slight decrease.
• Ski resorts are experiencing more snow: Most (21 of 22) ski resorts in California had increasing snowfall from 2012 to 2023.
• California is in no danger of drowning: North Spit, CA, has the highest rate of sea level rise of 0.005 meter/year, or 1.64 feet in 100 years, which is easily mitigated.
• Less natural disasters over the years: Significantly reduced number of wildfires and acres burned were reported in the United States and globally; California has infrequent tornadoes, no landfalling hurricane from 1851 to 2023, and no tropical depression from 1950 to 2023; and tropical storms are rare in California, with the last two reported in 2023 and 1997.
• Air quality in California keeps getting better: The concentrations of major pollutants have decreased over the years.

In conclusion, there is NO climate crisis in California and CO₂ is essential for all life on Earth. If you need additional details, the CO₂ Coalition will be happy to respond to any inquiries you may have, and the members of the CO₂ Coalition will be happy to meet with you for further discussions. Several members of the CO₂ Coalition have signed the No Climate Emergency Declaration (CO₂ Coalition, 2023).

The letter is signed by Gregory Wrightstone, Executive Director of the CO₂ Coalition.

The summary letter contains a link to the September 2023 “NO Climate Emergency” declaration signed by the 1,600 scientists, including long-time scientist and epidemiologist Dr. James Enstrom: https://co2coalition.org/news/over-1600-scientists-sign-no-climate-emergency-declaration/.

Dr. Enstrom says one of the most prominent signers is 2022 Nobel Laureate John Clauser, who described the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as “one of the worst sources of dangerous misinformation,” and was disinvited to speak before the U.N.’s International Monetary Fund (IMF) on July 25, 2023.

“The physicist believes that objective science on climate has been sacrificed to politics. The preeminence of politics is all the worse, he said, because so much money has already gone to climate,” the CO2 Coalition said.

“We’re talking about trillions of dollars,” he said, adding that powerful people don’t want to hear that they’ve made “trillion-dollar mistakes.”

end quote from article which can be seen at the California Globe.com website

******************************

I would add only that I have written on the Climate Hoax Scam a number of times and for a view of my thoughts on the subject I will refer you only to one such article which I wrote back in November 2019 which you can see at:

JUNK SCIENCE ALA CARTE

– https://www.stoppullingthewagon.com/junk-science-ala-carte/ –

Or, you can simply type Climate Change in the search box, hit enter and it will take you to a series of articles.

Bob Bandy – May 2024

P.S.  The California Globe is a well written, respected on line publication which you can find at California Globe.com

AN EVIL MAN WILL BURN HIS OWN 

NATION TO THE GROUND TO RULE OVER THE ASHES

SUN TSU – THE ART OF WAR

The sad truth is I believe we are living in the near end stages of just such a time as spelled out above.  I must hasten to say that I don’t believe this is the goal of just one man.  True, the current resident of our most high office is a man who is ego driven but he also mostly an “Empty Suit” doing the bidding of those “behind the scenes”.  A mere puppet of the Progressive Wing of the Ruling Party and appears indebted to and beholden to a foreign power who is not an American friend.   

However, the threat to our Democracy and Republic has deeper roots than just the oval office.

The ruling “Junta” in Washington D.C. has done everything possible to insure continued power.  They have politicized the Justice Depart, the Military Hierarchy, the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Education, the Environmental Protection Agency and innumerable other Federal Departments and Agencies. They will willingly do whatever it takes to remain in power, even if it means destroying the personal liberty American’s have enjoyed and counted on for more than 200 years.  Power is everything.

In so many ways the so-called “Deep State” has become a malignant “Cancer” inasmuch that it now holds unelected regulatory power to pass laws and regulations to control our lives in ways that we do not choose without ever being considered in, or passed by congress.  A very small example would be to announce that you will not, after a certain date, be able to buy a gas range for your kitchen. There are literally thousands of rules and regulations that are imposed on us that were never voted on by we mere citizens, just the result of a “pregnant idea” in the heart of an unelected Bureaucrat with their own agenda.

Ronald Reagan once said:

“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!”

The total problem runs much deeper even than the above.  The “Deep State” has become a law unto itself and is driven not only by a thirst for power but also avarice and greed.  

Sixty+ years ago, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower delivered his farewell address.  One of the points in his speech spelled out:

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.  The potential for disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”

The profit potential for the “Military Industrial Complex” in the United States is almost without measure whether our own military is directly involved or Congress votes large foreign aid military packages to foreign governments engaged in war.  The money flows from the aid package to those who produce the implements of war.

When Congress and the Administration passes a 60 Billion Dollar “Aid Package” to Ukraine (just one example) some generous portion of those dollars end up in the pockets or Swiss/Caribbean Bank accounts of corrupt administrators and bureaucrats on both sides of the water and the rest in the cash registers of the producers of the bombs, bullets, tanks and other materials of war.  The bill for all this largesse is added to our National Debt which currently stands at more the 34 Trillion Dollars and a debt on which our government does not have the resources to pay the interest without further borrowing.

The corruption of “Deep State Cancer” has spread beyond the Federal level and metastized to many state and local governments who now mismanage large deficits in crime ridden and homeless plagued environments.   

For example:

From the California Globe – Katy Grimes April 30, 2024

Gov. Newsom and the Democrat supermajority Legislature will be searching in every crevice and corner of the Capitol, under every couch cushion, and coat pocket in order to backfill the $73 billion budget deficit. And they won’t stop at the billionaires.

The State of California also owes the federal government more than $21 Billion after borrowing billions to pay unemployment benefits during the Covid pandemic. And while California already has paid more than $650 Million  in interest on the loan, there is another $550 million due Sept. 30, 2024, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Adding to the pain, The California Employment Development Department admits that $55 billion was lost in the pandemic, the Globe reported.”

**********

This is not to say there are not good people working in government.  There are, but often they find themselves alone “dog paddling” around to stay afloat in a Cesspool of corruption and greed. Most of our leaders and decision makers have so corrupted  the system it is likely beyond repair without some monumental monetary suffering on the part of most of its citizen taxpayers.

Too many of our leaders suffer from the thirst for “Power That Totally Corrupts”.

Bob Bandy – May 2024

P.S. Long ago I issued a challenge asking why do we have a Federal Department of Education with a budget of some $100 Billion Dollars?  What useful purpose does it serve other than meddle in what should be a State function?  I’m still waiting. 

IN CALIFORNIA THE MOST VULNERABLE MUST RUN A GAUNTLET

THE ABORTION OPTION GAUNTLET

In California pre-born infants in the womb can be aborted up through the ninth month, in fact, up to the moment of live birth.  Following a live birth the new born can be subject to a Peri-natal “termination of pregnancy” “loophole” signed into law by California’s Governor Gavin Newsom in 2022.  Not wanting to call it “live birth abortion” California passed into law the following:

***********

In California, in many situations you can be sued, lose your job, even be arrested if you do not address someone with the proper pro-noun.  Just stating the fact that at a scientific, biological and DNA level there are two, and only two genders can get you accused of a “Hate Crime”.   Citizens must not only accept and properly honor all these without question or face serious consequences, even sued in court. 

For those of us who cherish established values, the rule of law and protection of the family and church we must take whatever steps we can, to do everything still possible to protect the most vulnerable among us.  See/read also from October 2022: 

https://www.stoppullingthewagon.com/protecting-the-most-vulnerable/

A SAFE PLACE TO BE IN CALIFORNIA

The only place that I know of,  in California, where you can be assured of safety and a long well cared for life, is on Death Row in California’s prison system.  There California’s Taxpayers will provide for all your needs, including “Gender Care” should you feel inclined,  and it’s Governor will commute your death sentence and provide for your safety and protection no matter how many innocent lives you destroyed.  You see, California’s Governor does not condone the death sentence except on the pre-born and in the narrow 28 day window of the peri-natal period.  Two of the most vulnerable periods in life.

Bob Bandy – April, 2024