California
October 9, 2022 — Steven Hayward
Well, well, look at what we have here: the New York Times has finally caught up with what every sensible person knew at least ten years ago—California’s high-speed rail project is a joke. “America’s first experiment with high-speed rail has become a multi-billion-dollar nightmare,” the Times says in a long feature today. Fun bits: The dogleg [route] through the desert was only one of several times over the years when
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September 30, 2022 — Steven Hayward
California apparently didn’t get the Biden Administration memo about the good news of falling gasoline prices. Here’s the price chart for my local gas station on Monday: And here’s the same station today: (Fortunately, I drive two diesel cars, which both get better mileage than equivalent gasoline cars.) I asked the station manager about it, and he told me their wholesale supplier has hiked prices *four times* this week. I
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August 26, 2022 — Steven Hayward
The New York Times reports: If you read the fine print, however, the picture looks a bit different: California would fine automakers up to $20,000 for every car that falls short of production targets. The state also could propose new amendments revising the sales targets if the market doesn’t react as state leaders hope. In other words, California reserves the right for future Gov. Emily Litella to say “never mind,”
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August 25, 2022 — John Hinderaker
Well, we all know the answer to that question. But I confess to being a bit shocked by this: liberals in San Francisco and Los Angeles are capitalizing on the Uvalde shootings to urge residents not to move to Texas: Billboards in San Francisco and Los Angeles warn against moving to Texas by invoking mass shooting https://t.co/ZuJNqLqhm7 pic.twitter.com/GGpkJ0JI8n — New York Post (@nypost) August 25, 2022 I guess we are
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August 20, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Los Angeles police are looking for participants in the flash mob that flooded the intersection of Figueroa and El Segundo just past midnight on August 15. First they took over the street to make way for the “donut” action with which we have become familiar in Minneapolis. Then they proceeded to ransack the 7-Eleven at the northwest corner of the intersection (video below). What is to be said? A good
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August 19, 2022 — John Hinderaker
Via InstaPundit, the Babylon Bee’s parody version of the Beach Boys’ “California Girls.” The parody is beautifully executed, and quite poignant: it reminds us of a time when everyone wanted to go to California. Now? The last person leaving can turn out the lights. No, wait. The lights are going out already, due to the state’s insane energy policies. So here it is, the Babylon Bee on America’s poorest state:
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July 8, 2022 — Scott Johnson
The RedState headline provides the necessary update to the Gavin Newsom story we took up yesterday. RedState’s Jennifer Van Laar takes the story all the way home in “Newsom Admits State Paid for His Security Detail’s Travel to Montana, Laughably Claims ‘Public Safety’ Exception to Law.” What more is to be said? I would simply add my own comment to the original story. It screams LOSER! Newsom spox @anthonyyork49 tells
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July 7, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Having sought to pick a fight with Ron DeSantis, Gavin Newsom has been exposed yet again as a lowdown hypocrite of the kind we love to hate. California has imposed a state-funded travel ban on trips to Montana, but it turns out that a ranch owned by the parents of “First Partner” Jennifer Siebel Newsom is the destination of the California governor’s family vacation. Reminder: He’s rich (and you’re not).
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July 6, 2022 — Steven Hayward
Tomorrow or Friday I’ll have a formal announcement here about an extended hiatus I am about to take on account of some lengthy foreign travel (3WHH listeners heard about it last Saturday), and one of the guest writers I’ve lined up to fill in for me has produced an exquisite rant about the preposterous idea that Gavin Newsom could run for president. This particular writer will, because of his high
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July 3, 2022 — John Hinderaker
Under Gavin Newsom’s leadership, California has become a disaster area: the highest poverty rate in the nation, population dropping, major cities turned into battle zones, businesses fleeing, utilities unable to keep the lights on. One might expect the state’s governor, who survived a recall election last year, to be holed up in his Sacramento office working feverishly on plans to turn his state around. But no: Gavin Newsom is pumping
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June 8, 2022 — Steven Hayward
One way to tell that progressivism is a weary, used-up creed, sustained only by raw power, resentment, and dreamy grasp of reality, is to listen to their increasingly banal cliches. Yesterday Rick Caruso ran ten points ahead of his pre-election polls to finish about six points ahead of leftist Karen Bass to be the next mayor of Los Angeles. (Pre-election polls had Bass around 36-37 percent, and Caruso around 32.
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June 8, 2022 — Steven Hayward
As we know from the long-ago Thomas Frank book, Kansas is a red(state) hot mess, but what’s the matter with San Francisco that it recalls its celebrity progressive district attorney? Let me give you a two-word hint: “Dirty Harry.” No, I’m not making this up. The late film critic Richard Grenier remarked that Dirty Harry was the first Hollywood film of that era that “talked back to liberalism.” But Dirty
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June 8, 2022 — Scott Johnson
In today’s feelgood election story, San Francisco’s Soros-approved District Attorney Chesa Boudin decisively lost his recall election after a mere two and a half years in office. The outcome was decisive. Sixty percent of 125,000 votes were cast in favor of Boudin’s booting. Recall is a particularly good word in this case. He was a defective prosecutor. Among his innovations was the elimination of cash bail, the nonprosecution of a
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June 7, 2022 — Steven Hayward
Is there really a need for another long feature story about how Sen. Dianne Feinstein is senile and needs to go? You wouldn’t think so, but New York magazine has a long cover story about how she’s lost it. Yes—strange that a magazine with a supposed focus on New York would be so interested in California’s very senior senator, and while the piece is swathed in lots of sympathetic biography
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June 6, 2022 — Steven Hayward
All eyes will be on California tomorrow, where the three most interesting questions are whether Chesa Boudin will be recalled as D.A. of San Francisco (likely); whether Rick Caruso finishes on top (or wins outright with more than 50 percent of the vote) to be the next mayor of Los Angeles; and whether independent Michael Shellenberger edges out the little known Republican candidate Brian Dahle to take on Gavin Newsom
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June 2, 2022 — Steven Hayward
The phrase “transitional housing” has been around a long time, but San Francisco has come up with a whole new dimension. Behold, a recent Tweet from the mayor: Turns out the mayor has included $6.5 million in next year’s budget with the intent of eliminating trans-homelessness over the next five years. San Francisco is estimated to have up to 20,000 homeless living on the streets. How many are trans? “According
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May 27, 2022 — Steven Hayward
As mentioned previously, the race for mayor of Los Angeles features a non-leftist candidate, Rick Caruso, who is polling well and just might win. LA badly needs some adult supervision. The city has around 40,000 homeless, rampant crime, and a corrupt culture at city hall. The main leftist candidate is Rep. Karen Bass, who is more a Leninist than a “progressive.” Given the seriousness of the issues and discontent of
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