While critics focus on the unpaid bills, the real story is the bump in regional GDP. I sat down with three mixologists in Shaw to discuss why Biden’s failure to pass a national zoning mandate is the only thing preventing the middle class from capitalizing on Patel’s liver.”
Kash Patel’s $40,000 Tab is Saving the Service Sector. Here’s Why That’s Bad News for Biden.
By Ezra Klein
That, too
And, prosecutions for Trump 2 officials, please
George Lucas Saying “And then 'Senator Crappo' will be the guy who makes the taxes worse"
We should have never doubted this man
You’re right but isn’t that an argument for rewilding or restoring ecosystems, even at a limited scale?
This is the answer
I've written before about how USAID was the first government agency killed by conspiracy theory. This confirms it.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-death-...
The bombing continues until morale improves.
Really, the worst timeline we live in
A WHOLE CIVILIZATION WILL DIE TONIGHT My son needs lunch, and I have to put his backpack together, but a whole civilization will die tonight, so I'm wondering if they've closed their schools. Like, a snow day, maybe, except instead of snow it's "keep your children home so if you die, you die together" — instead of "well open back up once the plows have cleared" it's "we don't know if we'll be here tomorrow, hold your babies tight." It's just "talk" I'm told, which I've been told before. "It's how the president makes his deals." But I've never heard anyone talk about other human beings this way, and I'm not certain I can look my son in the eyes if we all agree to stomach it one more time. A civilization will die tonight, but as I zip up his backpack and kiss him off to school I think: if this is what we call leadership then I'm not entirely sure ours isn't already dead. @michaelfdubois Mukad A QuBoy @michacifdubois
Brutal.
“We cannot risk the world nor the wellbeing of our nation any longer,” Rep. @aoc.bsky.social said following Trump’s “deal” announcement. “Whether by his Cabinet or Congress, the president must be removed from office. We are playing with the brink.”
www.commondreams.org/news/trump-2...
25th amendment. Impeachment. I will support any avenue to remove Donald Trump from office. We cannot leave this man in charge of America’s nuclear weapons as he threatens to end an entire civilization. And Congress must not fund this reckless administration.
Like I said earlier, political constraints (for better or worse) means regardless of the design choices, if the team was the best, if they hired Spain’s team, etc, it still means that they would run into the same or similar problems.
In other words: 9 pregnant women can’t make a baby in 1 month.
Or even a private project like Brightline West!
RE funding: sure, that argument may have been true in 2008 in some ways, but that’s not true now. 2008 had issues, mostly stemming from having to hit the ground more quickly than they were prepared for (eg ARRA funds).
They have a more competent team now but simply not enough money
Two sides of the same coin! The exact same politics are also what started the project and what is keeping it going right now.
It’s a difficult balance that exists for any large project, initiative, or agency which is what I think people are missing here.
If folks really want Altamont and 5 and Grapevine, fine, but that really should be a phase 3 project to address capacity issues
+1. Skipping over the millions in the Central Valley in favor of a 5 routing makes phasing more difficult, not less in terms of early revenue service. California is so much more than just SF-LA: there are so many different city pairs that the network effects and utility are maximized for 99 vs 5.
100%. This is the biggest factor here - the politics!
I also think Altamont would have been tied up in litigation for a decade vs Pacheco which has little opposition.
IMO: Altamont should be a regional project anyways (Bay to Stockton & Sacramento). Tri-Valley & CV would benefit from this a ton.
Thank you for saying this. I’m getting tired of the armchair quarterbacking lol
The issues we should be focused on:
What is the right phasing strategy? How can we get funding & speed up HSR? How can we get Congress and the White House to get behind the project (difficulty level: impossible lol)?
And, even the perfect plan and the perfect team in 2008 still doesn’t address those state/federal political issues, nor the funding issues, nor the inflation issues.
In short: I argue that the design choices were a political necessity, which helped start the project but also hurt funding prospects
My issue here is that folks argue for Altamont and 5 but completely miss the politics - forest for the trees.
Politics is also why we’re not getting enough funding, both from the state and from the Feds.
State issues are connected with the boom/bust tax revenue, fed issues are the Republicans.
I guess. The issue is that they never had enough funding in the first place, and now inflation alone costs close to $5B a year. Funding is $1B a year. Even with the perfect management and plan, that doesn’t change that reality - which also existed in 2008.
Again - political factors. California had to make promises & compromises on the project.
BLW has that luxury b/c not just of routing but b/c they’re a private business that has accountability only to investors/shareholders.
California’s props and projects are accountable to voters & politicians
That’s just speculation, I’m sorry to say.
Trump 1 and 2 would have taken away the money regardless if it was a $30B project or not
Not in the regulatory and political environment we have here in the US fwiw even if we had a 100% Spanish team doing everything
Sure, that’s a valid point. I guess what I’m trying to say is that we’re here now. What do we do next? How can we maximize the dollars we have now and still plan for the future?