SK80
Master Eminence Grise
Posts: 7,376
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Post by SK80 on Oct 31, 2019 5:51:55 GMT -8
As we focus on 2020 and the national and federal elections, the state of California is ever slowly falling into despair. This week wildfires again show the lack of infrastructure needed to assure its citizens of a better future. The costs, taxes and regulations are strangling the masses, many heading for the exits. I have said for sometime now that one day, the people will say enough is enough, is "progressive" proving out to be "regressive"? Read this article this morning from Victor Davis Hanson, and open this thread in the future to all things California. Democrats have turned California into a problem-plagued burning nightmare
Victor Davis Hanson Oct. 31st 2019www.foxnews.com/opinion/victor-davis-hanson-california-premodern"More than 2 million Californians were recently left without power after the state’s largest utility, Pacific Gas and Electric — which filed for bankruptcy earlier this year — preemptively shut down transmission lines in fear that they might spark fires during periods of high autumn winds.
Consumers blame the state for not cleaning up dead trees and brush, along with the utility companies for not updating their ossified equipment. The power companies in turn fault the state for so over-regulating utilities that they had no resources to modernize their grids."
These opening paragraphs are just a microcosm of what is happening to California over the past few decades.
Homelessness:
Californians know that having tens of thousands of homeless in their major cities is untenable. In some places, municipal sidewalks have become open sewers of garbage, used needles, rodents and infectious diseases. Yet no one dares question progressive orthodoxy by enforcing drug and vagrancy laws, moving the homeless out of cities to suburban or rural facilities, or increasing the number of mental hospitals.Energy, Gas and taxes:Taxpayers in California, whose basket of sales, gasoline and income taxes is the highest in the nation, quietly seethe while immobile on antiquated freeways that are crowded, dangerous and under nonstop makeshift repair.Gas prices of $4 to $5 a gallon — the result of high taxes, hyper-regulation and green mandates — add insult to the injury of stalled commuters. Gas tax increases ostensibly intended to fund freeway expansion and repair continue to be diverted to the state’s failing high-speed rail project.
Failing Public Schools:Residents shrug that the state’s public schools are among weakest in the nation, often ranking in the bottom quadrant in standardized test scores. Elites publicly oppose charter schools but often put their own kids in private academies.
Healthcare system overwhelmed: Californians know that to venture into a typical municipal emergency room is to descend into a modern Dante’s Inferno. Medical facilities are overcrowded. They can be as unpleasant as they are bankrupting to the vanishing middle class that must face exorbitant charges to bring in an injured or sick child.
Progressive policies, open borders, welfare stateNo one would dare to connect the crumbling infrastructure, poor schools and failing public health care with the non-enforcement of immigration laws, which has led to a massive influx of undocumented immigrants from the poorest regions of the world, who often arrive without fluency in English or a high-school education.Stores are occasionally hit by swarming looters. Such Wild West criminals know how to keep their thefts under $950, ensuring that such “misdemeanors” do not warrant police attention. California’s permissive laws have decriminalized thefts and break-ins. The result is that San Francisco now has the highest property crime rate per capita in the nation.
Has California become premodern?
So where do we go from here? We live in a state and a time where the leaders are doubling down....  |
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davidsf
Master Eminence Grise
Posts: 5,252
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Post by davidsf on Oct 31, 2019 6:02:26 GMT -8
This touches on a question I’ve pondered for some time, and not just about CA.
These areas controlled by liberal democrats, CAN OBVIOUSLY SEE the complete s*ithole these places become ... pretty much without fail. They know, with surety, their policies always lead to a Detroit.
Can it really be that is their goal? Can anyone, even a mindless drone liberal, possibly be that negligent... that evil?
Or do they have some other goal in mind for turning California and Illinois (etc.) into such maggot-ingested, disease ridden garbage dumps?
If the latter, I cannot figure out what that is. Maybe they really are insane. I know a couple of ‘em and that possibility is nit all that far fetched.
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Post by vilepagan on Oct 31, 2019 6:16:22 GMT -8
If only your ideas bore some resemblance to reality.
How much meth do you have to smoke to believe the nonsense that you write?
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duke
Statesman
Posts: 681
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Post by duke on Oct 31, 2019 6:25:16 GMT -8
That's the best you can do when confronted with reality? Please explain the error in VDHansons logic? BTW, these type of articles are all over the press in CA.
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Bick
Administrator 
Posts: 6,900
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Post by Bick on Oct 31, 2019 6:34:04 GMT -8
An objective mainstream media would've brought this to light, and skewered those leaders.
But doing so, would have put the very foundation of this new liberalism in the spotlight for all to see, and might actually lead to a productive dialog about the specific policy decisions that caused it...and MAYBE generate solutions to FIX those problems.
I think we come up short on this board, at times, by falling into the trap of leaving the discussing at just being critical. That's the easy part, and often very funny, as we've got a whole slew of witty characters in this bunch.
While I really enjoy the witicisms, and consider them the appetizer of a meal, I like the steak a whole lot more...even a Peter Lugers 0 star steak.
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MDDad
Master Eminence Grise
Posts: 6,814
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Post by MDDad on Oct 31, 2019 8:25:36 GMT -8
Bick, I agree with everything you said, and it's the kind of course correction that an administrator should encourage.
I enjoy a good laugh at a clever witticism as much as anyone, but sometimes it's worth the effort to actually think and discuss. One good example that comes to mind is SB 206 that mandates the right of student-athletes at California public colleges and universities to be compensated for the use of their names, likenesses and images. As is typical of this state, the legislature shot their wad early without thinking through the problems and ramifications of the legislation in an effort to "make themselves feel good about themselves". And as is often the case when legislation is rushed through without proper analysis, I suspect it will be the lawyers who profit from this the most.
In the interests of discussion, how about this for an alternative solution:
If a student-athlete graduating from high school places a high priority on getting a college degree, he enrolls at a college and plays his sport. However, he must sign a contract stating he will remain in school until he receives a degree, and he will receive no compensation other than free tuition, fees, tutoring, housing, food, books and supplies.
If a student-athlete graduating from high school plans on using college only as a jumping-off point for the NFL or NBA, he declares his intention in writing, he is drafted by an NFL or NBA team, he is assigned to a minor league farm team for whatever payment the system will decide is appropriate, and he works his way to the "big leagues" if he's good enough, just as baseball has done for over a hundred years. The NFL and NBA both have more money than most small countries, and they should bear the burden of setting up a minor league system. There is no point in having these kids attend college if they are just biding their time and have no intention of graduating.
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davidsf
Master Eminence Grise
Posts: 5,252
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Post by davidsf on Oct 31, 2019 8:28:39 GMT -8
That's the best you can do when confronted with reality? Please explain the error in VDHansons logic? BTW, these type of articles are all over the press in CA. I don’t know what the ass hat said, but asking him for a explanation (or any rational logic) is moot. He cannot provide anything even resembling it. |
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SK80
Master Eminence Grise
Posts: 7,376
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Post by SK80 on Oct 31, 2019 12:34:44 GMT -8
I was hoping Kamala harris got more traction as it was a sure fire bet the "Be like California" moniker would have sunk her across the nation... guess it did prematurely!
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Credo
Master Eminence Grise
Posts: 6,242
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Post by Credo on Oct 31, 2019 14:12:28 GMT -8
This touches on a question I’ve pondered for some time, and not just about CA. These areas controlled by liberal democrats, CAN OBVIOUSLY SEE the complete s*ithole these places become ... pretty much without fail. They know, with surety, their policies always lead to a Detroit. Can it really be that is their goal? Can anyone, even a mindless drone liberal, possibly be that negligent... that evil? Or do they have some other goal in mind for turning California and Illinois (etc.) into such maggot-ingested, disease ridden garbage dumps? If the latter, I cannot figure out what that is. Maybe they really are insane. I know a couple of ‘em and that possibility is nit all that far fetched. Why do liberal politicians keep doubling down on stupid? 1. The liberal elites and their wealthy donors are insulated from the negative impact of their policies. 2. They get to feel morally superior without actually doing any hard work. 3. They keep getting the votes to guarantee re-election, so why change course? 4. The media goes along because Democrats have the "correct" social and political views and refuses to call them to account for their failures, so they increasingly believe their own press clippings and become more and more deluded. 5. Fallen human nature absent a strong belief in God (preferably Biblical Christianity) is morally blinding. |
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davidsf
Master Eminence Grise
Posts: 5,252
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Post by davidsf on Oct 31, 2019 16:23:39 GMT -8
This touches on a question I’ve pondered for some time, and not just about CA. These areas controlled by liberal democrats, CAN OBVIOUSLY SEE the complete s*ithole these places become ... pretty much without fail. They know, with surety, their policies always lead to a Detroit. Can it really be that is their goal? Can anyone, even a mindless drone liberal, possibly be that negligent... that evil? Or do they have some other goal in mind for turning California and Illinois (etc.) into such maggot-ingested, disease ridden garbage dumps? If the latter, I cannot figure out what that is. Maybe they really are insane. I know a couple of ‘em and that possibility is nit all that far fetched. Why do liberal politicians keep doubling down on stupid? 1. The liberal elites and their wealthy donors are insulated from the negative impact of their policies. 2. They get to feel morally superior without actually doing any hard work. 3. They keep getting the votes to guarantee re-election, so why change course? 4. The media goes along because Democrats have the "correct" social and political views and refuses to call them to account for their failures, so they increasingly believe their own press clippings and become more and more deluded. 5. Fallen human nature absent a strong belief in God (preferably Biblical Christianity) is morally blinding. Any of those are possibilities. but knowing the end-state, I can’t figure out why anyone would want to run such a s*it-hole. |
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Bick
Administrator
Posts: 6,900
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Post by Bick on Nov 2, 2019 17:02:20 GMT -8
State run utilities...but of course!
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Luca
Master Statesman
Posts: 1,316
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Post by Luca on Nov 2, 2019 21:12:54 GMT -8
Well why not? They’re handling the water situation so well. ................Luca
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Bick
Administrator
Posts: 6,900
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Post by Bick on Nov 3, 2019 0:03:32 GMT -8
More critical thinking from the left on display.
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Bick
Administrator
Posts: 6,900
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Post by Bick on Nov 3, 2019 0:08:24 GMT -8
Bick, I agree with everything you said, and it's the kind of course correction that an administrator should encourage. I enjoy a good laugh at a clever witticism as much as anyone, but sometimes it's worth the effort to actually think and discuss. One good example that comes to mind is SB 206 that mandates the right of student-athletes at California public colleges and universities to be compensated for the use of their names, likenesses and images. As is typical of this state, the legislature shot their wad early without thinking through the problems and ramifications of the legislation in an effort to "make themselves feel good about themselves". And as is often the case when legislation is rushed through without proper analysis, I suspect it will be the lawyers who profit from this the most. In the interests of discussion, how about this for an alternative solution: If a student-athlete graduating from high school places a high priority on getting a college degree, he enrolls at a college and plays his sport. However, he must sign a contract stating he will remain in school until he receives a degree, and he will receive no compensation other than free tuition, fees, tutoring, housing, food, books and supplies. If a student-athlete graduating from high school plans on using college only as a jumping-off point for the NFL or NBA, he declares his intention in writing, he is drafted by an NFL or NBA team, he is assigned to a minor league farm team for whatever payment the system will decide is appropriate, and he works his way to the "big leagues" if he's good enough, just as baseball has done for over a hundred years. The NFL and NBA both have more money than most small countries, and they should bear the burden of setting up a minor league system. There is no point in having these kids attend college if they are just biding their time and have no intention of graduating. I'm actually surprised minor league football hasn't grown in popularity in small markets the way minor league baseball has. I like the idea you propose. Makes a lot of sense, and lets college kids stay in college for all four years. |
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SK80
Master Eminence Grise
Posts: 7,376
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Post by SK80 on Nov 3, 2019 6:25:47 GMT -8
Communism is alive in well in many minds in Sacramento, lets own the roads, own the schools and educational force, let control their needs like water and energy, and take more of what they earn to ensure they have less power. Any wonder why they want to take your guns and right to defend yourself from their tyranny?
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