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Yeah! And sell California too. A hot bed of that extra special breed of democrat corruption.

California snowpack at 111% of normal, and the reservoirs are all around historical averages. No more drought in California (contrary to what you stated), the Midwest is still gaining in moisture (contrary to what you stated), and the Sahara is getting more moisture (contrary to what you stated). And yet somehow you're still correct? When the facts don't go your way - you really should change your position.

https://www.sacbee.com/opinion... - Caifornia makes up 13.3% of the United State's GDP https://blogs.voanews.com/all-... and holds 15.34% of all state debt going by the numbers I'm looking at here https://www.usgovernmentdebt.u... . I would certainly agree that the state has a liability problem (one of what I would consider to be one of the state's two key problems) but the scope of it isn't as big as the author tries to make it seem.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/0... - So an article about how our governor is trying to get California ready for another recession is bad? That sounds like a plus for California. Hopefully the governor of Texas is planning for another dip in their essential oil market.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/1... - The only really damning thing here is mentioning our high cost of living (the other major problem I'd say the state has). This certainly needs addressing and is likely already cutting into our economic growth in places like the valley but it is hardly a doomsday scenario.

https://www.investors.com/poli... - This is just dumb fear mongering with gems like...
"The carbon emissions laws and other regulatory overreach kill jobs and hope for many." So our record unemployment isn't real?
"The state's gas tax is the nation's highest, some 30 cents to a dollar per gallon above the national average." Oh heavens! Wait, doesnt every other first world nation have gas taxes far in access of what California has?
"Businesses won't hire more workers and invest in growth due to confiscatory state and local taxes and complex and contradictory regulatory regimes. Hundreds of striving small businesses face bullying and high fees from state agencies." Once again, current massively low unemployment rate. We also generated 20 percent of the country's GDP growth last year, so no, this is not a problem.
"California has become the modern equivalent of the Southern Confederates of 1860. Antipathetic to federal law, and seeking its own coalition with foreign governments via trade and environmental and immigration policy." HAHAHAHAHA. Right, we're a bunch of slave holding degenerates willing to dissolve the union so we can own people. What an apt comparison for the incredibly small amount of international outreach California has done.

"Not to mention my personal hope that high-state tax states (CA, like NY, MA, and my state of MN) *don't* get to wriggle out from under the state-tax-writeoff cap put into law last year. Because previously - being able to write off the high endemic state taxes - meant that RED STATES were essentially subsidizing your (our) social giveaways, which was/is bullshit. ...but I'm sure they're all just conservative publications funded by the Koch brothers, right?"

Are you referring to this? https://www.forbes.com/sites/m...

Well much like your self I can't find proper numbers on what the results are expected to be but I would anticipate it will not be the wonderful put down to blue states you want it to be. When have you heard of the South generating economic prosperity for our country? Only when they used to own people. All they do now is offer cheap American labor because they're that destitute. How about the bible belt? Well they have some reasonably solid agriculture whose backbone is illegal immigrant labor. Thankfully for them Trump is

You would think so, but people protest trimming of nearby trees when it's obvious they are WAY too close. Bend a few of those in high winds, or have them break during a heavy wind and they'll brush the lines on their way down, potentially flaming for the last part of it.

PG&E was prevented from trimming trees. It's a common thing to protest and sue PG&E for doing what they're supposed to do. To the point that councilwomen and citizens watch each and every cut to condemn PG&E for being too aggressive in their clearance trims. And while the protest/lawsuit is on-going, there cannot be any trimming allowed. So we get wildfires.

First off, the drought was a result of natural variation. And anyone that checks reservoir levels today will find were at about the historical average, overall. If we had a drought - it's gone.

The real cause of the fires was the handwringing and NIMBY Gaia worshipers throwing up legal roadblocks to PG&E cutting back trees near power lines.

This was a manufactured (in that environmentalists fought against accepted standards for power line clearance) disaster that is being blamed on a non-event (in that there was no climate-change drive to the drought).

I know it's fashionable for conservatives to pick at the Leftist policies of the United States' most prosperous state ....

The "United States' most prosperous state" has the highest poverty rate in the US

The "United States' most prosperous state" has the highest rate of tuberculosis

The "United States' most prosperous state" has the lowest graduation rate in the US.

Non-whites in California live in the WORST conditions in the US.

But since all that bad crap happens to the non-suburban, non-white population in California, you in your suburban, sheltered, white-privileged, "progressive", I'm-so-much-better-than-everyone-else-because-I-CARE, virtue-signalling, close-minded can't-be-bothered-to-actually-think-for-yourself bubble don't care.

So much for all that useless virtue signalling.

...To say that illegal immigration is killing the state is spot on.

Citation:
https://www.sacbee.com/news/lo...

Excerpted from your link (https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/health-and-medicine/article160786554.html):

"A large majority – 83 percent – of Medi-Cal enrollees are U.S. citizens, according to data from June 2014. The second largest proportion of enrollees, at 10 percent, are qualified noncitizens, a term for permanent residents, refugees, people granted asylum and others. Both citizens and qualified noncitizens are able to access the full scope of Medi-Cal benefits and services. Another 7 percent are undocumented and can only access emergency and pregnancy-related resources. "

Facts are pointless here dude, this place has been Misinformation for Nerds for many years. That even felt strange to type, for Nerds.. what part about any of this is for nerds, it isnt even news, it’s a bunch of stupid shit like California will go bankrupt because of an underclass of immigrants... +5 Insightful. Wtf happened

...To say that illegal immigration is killing the state is spot on. Citation: https://www.sacbee.com/news/lo...

Excerpted from your link (https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/health-and-medicine/article160786554.html):

"A large majority – 83 percent – of Medi-Cal enrollees are U.S. citizens, according to data from June 2014. The second largest proportion of enrollees, at 10 percent, are qualified noncitizens, a term for permanent residents, refugees, people granted asylum and others. Both citizens and qualified noncitizens are able to access the full scope of Medi-Cal benefits and services. Another 7 percent are undocumented and can only access emergency and pregnancy-related resources. "

As an outsider (living in Sweden, Europe) I am a bit curious, but mostly alarmed how the US have got such a seemingly malfunctioning health care system. Most other 1:st world countries (in Europe, Japan, South Korea ...) have some variation on a single-payer system, where hospital visits and drugs are in most part paid by everyone via taxes, without what seems like the bureaucracy of private or employer-paid insurance.

The advantage the EU and Japan have is that they don't have a huge underclass. This is changing as the EU is now committing suicide by importing a huge underclass. In California for example 1/3 of the state, a huge chunk of that illegal or anchor babies, is on free healthcare. Free. No co-pays to visit a doctor, no cost for medicine, no monthly fee. This is supported by virtually all legally working adults paying *lots* in taxes and getting nothing in return. It's unsustainable and will bankrupt the state. Working adults however pay hundreds a month just to have insurance, and the anger grows. To say that illegal immigration is killing the state is spot on. Citation: https://www.sacbee.com/news/lo...

The Tesla pulled over on the roadway and Samek was taken to a Palo Alto gas station, ABC 7 reports. Samek was arrested on charges of driving under the influence after he failed a field sobriety test, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. https://www.sacbee.com/news/st...

And do NOT vote for Gavin Newsom who has sexual misconduct in his own past. Nah, who am I kidding, it's SJWs in the Bay, they'll ignore that because he's the "correct" kind of guy...

Non-citizens legally register to vote in San Francisco school elections

San Francisco began registering non-citizens, including undocumented immigrants, to register to vote Monday in the November election for the city school board, reported The San Francisco Chronicle.

https://www.sacbee.com/news/st...

It is pumping up dissent and rivalry and anger, by foreign governments trolling myriad sites, that is the real problem.

This is like a rounding error on the actual problems, it's so small.

Tout racial friction? Attempt to portray right wing as synonymous with neo Nazis? Not point out some are, but touting they are the same, while posting simultaneously messages that are Nazi-like as if by a Trump supporter?

There are so many actual American democrats saying those things that any Russian influence is completely drowned out. Formerly respectable newspapers are playing the stuff, it's beyond typical conspiracy theorists. To be fair, Americans also compared Bush to Hitler, and Obama to the antichrist. We just don't like our presidents.

The real problem is not Russian meddling, it's the willingness of people to demonize the other side rather than try to understand.

Funny how you can only mention Texas, while you dare not speak of Mississippi, Alabama, or Kansas or other hotbeds of deep-seated conservative thought.

It's ok, you'd rather deny their failures exist. Or Texas's own.

How much did New York and New Jersey get from the banking bailout ?
No mention of California already having the highest poverty rate in the country ?
Just how do you count the value of warping our foreign policy so Hollywood can crackdown on "Piracy" all over the world ?
Seems you have a bigger set of omissions

But anyway the idea is conservatives predict problems from California's bad government and they don't come to pass ?

Hows those permanent water restrictions doing https://www.sacbee.com/news/po...

Hey the snail darter is thanking you that has to count for something.

https://www.sacbee.com/news/na...

I think it's great you're all hot and bothered for Pelosi, but not all of your people share your attraction for her.

I think it's great you've avoided talking about her twin ding-bat that's been hosting a Chinese spy for years.

Since you obviously follow Donald Trump on Twitter and I don't, you had me at a disadvantage. I had to go find what you were talking about that would have me spitting nails. I found this one about rigged algorithms. This isn't news, I've been using Google+ since it premiered and it's incredibly obvious during each election since it came out. Since we were talking about Obama, media and what Trump said about them, I did find a tweet from a couple of days ago where he mentioned Obama and media in the same tweet. Exactly which one is supposed to have me spitting nails?

You are demonstrating the difference between the rabbid left and the rest of us - and by the rest of us I mean Republicans, Libertarians, Don't Give a Shits, and non-radical Democrats.

I'm giving references and links. - You are not, and putting words into the mouths of others. Just like the press and lawyers attacking Alex Jones but not actually playing clips of him doing what they're accusing him of.
I'm using my real handle which is pointless to dox, I'm not hiding. - You on the other hand are A/C wearing a mask and on the attack like those Anti-First Amendment thugs, Antifa

Honestly I hope Pelosi cleans up and wins again, it's good for the entertainment value. It's California, so whoever wins is likely to a communist who cares more about bathroom politics than making the country work right anyways. Pelosi is good for a laugh and is a poster child for the Walk Away movement. I hope she stays out there.

1) The last thing the undocumented want is to bring attention from the state as that leads to them being deported.

You've ignored that the "sanctuary" state of California and the cities within have shown no inclination to do anything to deport illegal immigrants -- quite the opposite. San Francisco is now allowing them to vote in school elections, and some cities even bring them into the government.

2) The undocumented know that both political parties hate their guts.

*snort* The Democrats have become the party of illegal immigration. Immigrants are the party's base of the future. If Democrats were really serious about immigration, they'd work with Trump and bring a sane immigration policy that put American interests first.

Sure you don't have that backwards:

Gov. Jerry Brown defended the agriculture industry's heavy water use in an interview aired Sunday, but he said historic water rights are "probably going to be examined" if the drought persists.

"Some people have a right to more water than others," Brown said of senior water rights holders on ABC's "This Week." "That's historic. That's built into the legal framework of California. And yes, if things continue at this level, that's probably going to be examined."

Brown has faced criticism about agricultural water consumption since issuing California's first-ever statewide order to reduce water use last week. A mandatory 25 percent reduction in water use in cities and towns does not apply to agriculture.

No worries! Regulations and laws change so fast in CA it's hard to stay on top of them... And if you miss just one, you open up your company to 7 figure fines and penalties because you didn't realize you missed one of hundreds of new laws passed every year.

Once these become ubiquitous, California will more easily be able to implement their proposed Tax on miles driven.

Well, debt other than $1 trillion in unfunded pension liability, you mean...

This fall, nearly 40 percent of incoming freshmen at California State University were placed in developmental math or English courses. In the state’s sprawling community college system, three-quarters of any given incoming group is deemed unprepared for college-level work when they arrive.

http://www.sacbee.com/news/pol...

If you read through the article, you'll find that California's "fix" is to cover up the problem by merging the remedial courses into freshman classes so the unprepared students can get credits despite not being ready to graduate high school. Which is where the real problem lies, colleges are just being used to cover it up. At great public expense, since the law of supply and demand means costs are being increased for the students that are college-ready.

Students that aren't prepared for college-level work shouldn't be in college. They should probably still be in high school.

ell us again about that $6.1 billion surplus.

Be glad to. Here is a more recent article from the Sacramento Bee that tells us the state actually has a $19 billion surplus.

http://www.sacbee.com/news/pol...

Your other two citations are a right-wing "think tank" and a libertarian magazine. But you don't trust the Wall Street Journal, right? And really, jwhyche, why don't you get a life and stop stalking me? It's getting a little creepy.

Also, California now has a $6.1 billion SURPLUS

http://reason.com/blog/2017/09...

https://californiapolicycenter...

http://www.sacbee.com/news/pol...

Tell us again about that $6.1 billion surplus.

Heh. Not only is there no deficit, California has a $6,100,000,000 surplus for this year and projected $19,300,000,000 saved surplus. (source)

California also has the wealthiest people in the USA by far, which I'll grant you technically means more of them "flee" CA than anywhere else, because to leave you have to exist.

Cali politicians act like parasites to advance their failed political policies and transportation boondoggles.

Congratulations on citing a prediction which didn't prove to be accurate.

You are blinded by mindless prejudices.

California sends half its fresh water directly out to the ocean without use other than scenic rivers and other environmental desires (like delta smelt) . Agriculture is second place, at 40%, and urban is about 10%. Reduce the scenic rivers demand, and we'd have plenty of fresh water.

Except that pretty much completely wrong. The outflow from the rivers keeps saltwater from intruding into ground water and pumping stations:

Due to the drought and very low snowmelt, there simply isn’t enough natural runoff from the Sierra Nevada to keep salinity out of the Delta. Controlling salinity is essential because the Delta provides fresh water to 23 million Californians and 3 million acres of farmland.

Although water deliveries from the Delta have been reduced to historic lows because of drought, officials want to keep salinity out of the Delta because, once it intrudes, the salty water can take weeks or months to flush out. As the summer wears on, sufficient water for that task in upstream reservoirs could run out.

Under state law, salinity also must be controlled to protect water quality for users who divert directly from the Delta. This includes farmers on Delta islands as well several urban water consumers.

http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/...

California is virtually a case study in the politics of gerrymandering.

When they controlled all the levers in 1981 during Jerry Brown’s first governorship, Democrats gleefully grabbed every legislative and congressional district they could.

The late Congressman Phil Burton drew congressional maps so partisan and convoluted that he described them as “my contribution to modern art.”

After the 1970 and 1990 censuses, Republican Govs. Ronald Reagan and Pete Wilson refused to sign the Democrats’ gerrymanders and threw the issue to the state Supreme Court, which drew the maps itself.

It's the far right Christians who keep the war on drugs going.

Wait... Obama was a far right Christian?

You'd think given his eagerness to use a pen and a phone when he couldn't get his addenda passed legislatively, he would have done more to reduce the number of DEA raids of medical marijuana dispensaries in states where it was legal.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com...
http://www.sacbee.com/news/sta...
https://www.huffingtonpost.com...
https://www.politico.com/story...
http://www.sfgate.com/politics...

Take off your hate goggles for a bit and look around a bit more.

Oh, and people were leaving CA long before he fires...

https://www.charismanews.com/o...
http://www.sacbee.com/site-ser...

...salaries are public information by law. Curious what your professor or government-employed neighbor makes? Just look it up.

Hey, did you hear the one about the Marine who died in a bar fight ?

Sure, you may shoot a couple three, but do you think you can reload before the rest beat you into a grease stain?

(It's okay, I know the military brainwashed you to believe you're invincible. It's not your fault.)

I could accept that you were talking about Australia

"Brownout" is low voltage or low current and is a failure mode unexpected in developed countries (because it tends to break stuff) and is not what happened in South Australia.

Yet another problem that shows how you could have spoken better. But you said it, not me. I wasn't going to be unnecessarily pedantic, as we're hardly discussing things on the particulars of the supply, but rather concerned with the origination of the issues.

It's a sign of incredibly poorly managed electricity infrastructure. Good supply or nothing is what is supposed to happen. Also comparing two events to the hundreds that happened during the Enron debacle alone is a bit much.

Actually, what happened in South Australia and what happened in California are quite comparable. A lot of the blame-game, including a deliberately misleading attack on "environmentalists" but a real causation that was significantly different than widely understood.

You can also find that happening in Alberta in Canada regarding its grid, and I believe, one of the South American countries, or maybe Central America.

Over 11 billion dollars

On payroll for prison workers? They could move a lot of goalposts on that money. I really do not appreciate being seen as so stupid and what's with the dishonesty?

If you don't want to be seen with disdain (though I would characterize you as misinformed and ignorant, rather than stupid or dishonest. But what is with your selective quoting? Here, quote the whole line:

You see, even if somebody articulated their own understanding in a flawed way, that doesn't actually mean that the expenses imposed by their actual situation with incarceration weren't real. There's plenty of discussion on the particulars. Over 11 billion dollars? That is quite a chunk of their budget.

I even provided sources. I'm talking about their corrections budget as a whole being a significant concern. But if you want, yes, we could focus on payrollA as the state does make the information available. As you can see, the CDCR spends a bit under half their budget directly on payroll, or over 4 billion dollars. That's certainly a large enough sum to be a matter of concern. And here's a funny editorial.

Mysteriously, however, it seems you still want to focus on your pointless complaint over the unnamed, uncited persons, you purport made some statements of some character that you deplore. Unfortunately, not having presented anything except your own judgement, it is impossible for anybody else to scrutinize them. At worst, you may have heard from somebody that spoke poorly, but a reasoned analysis certainly does establish that the business of corrections is still a matter of significant concern.

You apparently believe that you can simply declare something, and that other people will simply nod their heads in agreement at the obvious wisdom you are espousing. But to the contrary, your demonstrated opprobrium, especially towards the legislators of California (a not uncommon practice, as I have already noted), leads me to instead consider your statements more carefully and view them with significant disdain as you repetitively demonstrate a lack of intelligence and integrity.

Since you clearly aren't a "gullible" "idiot," do you think someone with your mental powers could help get this all-Democrat mess get straightened out?

Why universal health care died in California

Should be easy for you, right?

California’s Single-Payer Healthcare Bill Isn’t Based in Reality

Exactly.

*NEWS FLASH* SCANDAL: Facebook lobbies governments.

If this is how they lobby, then this is some of the mildest I've seen. Compare this to NRA or Tobacco lobbies. E.g.

http://www.sacbee.com/news/pol...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/w...

Maybe California is using its much higher debt per capita to create the illusion of less poverty and wealth? I mean, you can live high on the hog on credit cards, but if you continuously spend more than you bring in - eventually that plan falls apart. And scholastically, Texas and California are essentially tied.

NOTE: I say this as a resident of California (Ventura, CA area). Beautiful place to live, but the State Government is seriously messed up (for example, firearm policy; much more liberal Washington State is shall issue and permissive about firearms and enjoys 1/3rd the gun murder rate as much more restrictive California), the State finances are in a shambles (it's all smoke and mirrors - hey, we have a $1 trillion shortfall in pension funding, which works out to about $30,000 per CA resident), and the State has ZERO plan on how to complete the "high speed" rail (I use quotes because it is nothing like HS rail in the rest of the world, being just over 160 kph) through the Tehachapi mountains - effectively cutting it off from LA. Thankfully I've economically relocated out of CA, so it's not too bad for me...

If you're leaving a state that has high unemployment and a ridiculously high cost of living, amd high taxes, going to a state with low costs, high pay, amd low taxes, recognize that those conditions were created by policies.

Well, turns outs out California is doing great. Unemployment is only 4.9%, lower than Texas at 5%. What a huge difference!

Of course, Texas has a history of poverty and failing schools as well as a dangerous obsession with bathroom inspections.

Even Texas's own governor admits that the state has a problem when it comes to transportation and congestion. And in fact, the California High-Speed Rail project is not light rail, but like the Houston-Dallas link a inter-city connection.

Furthermore, no, Trumpcare does not grant states more freedom. Of course, it turns out, somebody who voted for it admitted they didn't read it.

Maybe that's your problem? You didn't read it, so you couldn't find out what was in it?

So plainly the notion that money is the absolute determinant in politics is false.

Oh no, the Republican gerrymandering is also a significant factor.

North Carolina, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Virginia, Texas, Alabama, Florida, and Georgia all demonstrate the effectiveness of that manipulation.

Of course, they already lost in Arizona, so it won't be long before the people start taking back the power. Then what will they do?

People have no idea how badly they're been screwed

First of all we need to talk about California in particular to get some kind of an intuition for this.
The 2016 results for California are the fifth largest win, ever, for a poplar vote win in California.

In elections that California has had a large popular vote win, it has always been the case that the country as a whole was very partisan towars a particular candidate, or indeed against a particular candidate or mandate:

I cite these for reference, starting with the election of 1928 - the closest comparison of popular vote share in Californian history . ie.e ie in 1928, the Republican party won California by 31% of popular vote. In 2016, the Democrats won it by 29%.

But, the thing is, in 1928 it was an overall landslide
Electoral vote Hoover (Rep.) 444 Smith (Dem.) 87 Popular vote 21,427,123 15,015,464

Hoover kiled Smith, and California was just another symptomatic piece of that.

And not just that election, in every election where there has been a massive popular vote win in California, there has been a massive electoral college and popular vote win nationwide:

1920: Cox Harding (Rep.) 404 Cox (Dem.) 127 Popular vote 16,144,093 9,139,661

1936: Roosevelt (Dem.) 523 Landon (Rep.) 8 Popular vote 27,747,636 16,679,543

1904: T. Roosevelt (Rep.) Parker (Dem.) Popular vote 7,630,457 5,083,880

So, hopefully I've managed to convince you that it's very peculiar that California would in 2016 have a massive popular vote win and that somehow this was not reflected in the overall results. Something's got to give. Either there were irregularities with California, or there were irregularities with the rest of country and not Califonia. I beleive there were regularities across the county but just much worse in California.

You may not like the following source if you're a liberal - Fox - but I cite it:

Voter fraud California

It's just an example and not proof of widespread voter fraud, but where there's smoke there tends to be fire.

The billionaire, George Soros predicted Trump would win the popular vote by a landslide and lose the electoral college.
He was heavily vested in the election (to the tune of $1 billion) so I'm going to assume hea meant what he said.

And it's not just California:

Massive Non-Citizen Voting Uncovered in Maryland

Colorado Voter Fraud Runs Rampant

3.7 percent of voters in Burlington’s last big election not on rolls

Multi-state voting

Extensive voter fraud from DNC covered by Project Veritas:

Detroit irregularities

California has the largest economy in the US

As they should, because they have the largest population of any state in the US. About 1 of 8 people in the US live in California.

A more interesting statistic would be Gross State Product GSP per capita in each state. In 2012, California's GSP ranked 17 among all states and in 2015 it still only ranked 10. In 2015, California's GSP per capita was only about 11% higher than the US GDP per capita.

Income in California is also very much distributed at the upper end -- from 2012 through 2014, 48% of the state income tax was paid by the top 1% of taxpayers.

As well, according to the Department of Labor, in November 2016 California had relatively high unemployment compared to other states -- 38 states had lower unemployment rates.

Overall, California's economy isn't particularly impressive.

And also if you do. http://www.sacbee.com/news/bus...

I mean, UC Davis trying to wipe their history off the Internet is especially disappointing, considering that University of Calfiornia Davis is an institute of learning.

I'd expect more from UC Davis. The protests were partially in response to tuition hikes in the first place, so where did the money for this come from? Remember the pepper sprayer HIMSELF got $38K in compensation. So add that into the budget.

Oh, UC Davis, how many scholarships could you have created with this money?

No, GPS is not making people stupid, or destroying their inner mapping.

What GPS is doing is allowing idiots who are already pretty stupid to have access to technology that they cannot comprehend.

They started out stupid, and remain that way.

I use GPS daily, and I also have old school paper maps in the car. If something doesn't seem right, I refer to the paper maps as a sanity check. So I seldom end up 250 miles out of my way, or driving into a desert and ending up nearly dead http://www.sacbee.com/entertai...

http://abcnews.go.com/Technolo...

Not one of these fates was the fault of the GPS. It was the fault of the stupid stupid owners, who were stupid enough to end up near the Arctic circle, or stupid enough to ever ever go into the desert without provisions, then coupled with not having a paper map in their car and checking it the first second something didn't seem right.

One of the best was the case of Iftikhar Hussain, who last year followed his GPS off a demolished bridge in Indiana. Sad, but according to the Lake County Police:

a sheriff's office spokeswoman told the Times of Munster: "The Cline Avenue bridge is marked with numerous barricades including orange barrels and cones, large wood signs stating ROAD CLOSED with orange striped markings. There are concrete barricades across the road to further indicate the road is closed."

So if you are going to assume that the GPS is correct, as you drive around barricades and barrels and "Road Closed" signs and concrete barricades, It isn't the machine that is stupid, it is you.

GPS navigation is simply mapreading enhanced by GPS coordinates. The Mapreader doesn't always plot what it thinks is your exact position, it often assigns you to a nearby road. It doesn't always know the exact condition of the road it's trying to send you on, and if you choose "shortest route" it will often send you off on some interesting but time consuming shortcuts. It doesn't always know if a route is closed.

But if you are stupid, it will allow you to kill yourself.

Um, so . . . where is it going to be blow away to . . . ? Maybe Shanghai . . . ?

California!

Some Christians certainly are evil

KAMPALA, Uganda — Last March, three American evangelical Christians, whose teachings about “curing” homosexuals have been widely discredited in the United States, arrived here in Uganda’s capital to give a series of talks.

The theme of the event, according to Stephen Langa, its Ugandan organizer, was “the gay agenda — that whole hidden and dark agenda” — and the threat homosexuals posed to Bible-based values and the traditional African family.

For three days, according to participants and audio recordings, thousands of Ugandans, including police officers, teachers and national politicians, listened raptly to the Americans, who were presented as experts on homosexuality. The visitors discussed how to make gay people straight, how gay men often sodomized teenage boys and how “the gay movement is an evil institution” whose goal is “to defeat the marriage-based society and replace it with a culture of sexual promiscuity.”

Now the three Americans are finding themselves on the defensive, saying they had no intention of helping stoke the kind of anger that could lead to what came next: a bill to impose a death sentence for homosexual behavior.

This was just business as usual, nothing new.

Uganda is set to pass new anti-gay legislation with provisions calling for the execution of gay people under some circumstances. The rumor of the death penalty clause being removed seems grossly exaggerated. Dr. Warren Throckmorton, who has followed the legislation closely, indicates that some Western media are erroneously reporting that the death penalty clause has been removed. He writes that "the bill is the same bill it has always been. It cannot be amended until the committee report is presented to the floor of the Parliament." Even with the amendment the legislation remains a gross travesty of justice.

The "intellectual" fuel for this grotesque law came from Christian fundamentalists in the United States. According to The New York Times:

Much of Africa's anti-homosexuality movement is supported by American evangelicals, the Rev. Kapya Kaoma of Zambia wrote in 2009, who are keen to export the American "culture war" to new ground. Indeed, American evangelical Christians played a role in stirring the anti-homosexual sentiment that culminated in the initial legislation in Uganda.

Of course, it's also right at home in the US as well. Earlier this yesr:

California proposal to legalize killing gays hard to stop

A California initiative proposal is testing the limits of free speech. Lawyer Matt McLaughlin wants to authorize the killing of gays and lesbians. Yet legal experts say the state’s attorney general can’t block it.

McLaughlin’s plan refers to “buggery” or “sodomy” as “a monstrous evil that Almighty God, giver of freedom and liberty, commands us to suppress on pain of our utter destruction even as he overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.” Under the proposal, “... any person who willingly touches another person of the same gender for purposes of sexual gratification (would) be put to death by bullets to the head or by any other convenient method.”

Anyone transmitting “sodomistic propaganda” to a minor would be fined $1 million per offense, and/or imprisoned up to 10 years, and/or expelled from California for up to life. It would ban lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, or those who espouse sodomistic propaganda, or who belong to any group that does, from serving in publ

Anybody employed by a government agency is used to not only having the salary of their position public, but having their names and salaries published in major newspapers for everybody to read:

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I think we can all agree that the salaries of government positions should be public, but I'm not sure publishing actual people's names, positions, and salaries in a public database is ethical.

Actually, the state legislature passed some bills to regulate the drilling of wells and the pumping of groundwater back in August.

Amusingly, people have been conserving water so much locally that the water utilities are actually running out of money, they say, to maintain infrastructure. The article barely touches on it, but the Santa Clara Water District (termed affectionately by a local columnist as the "Golden Spigot") doesn't exactly have a record of sound spending. Hopefully this will bite them on the ass.

You can go talk to them and ask them yourself. Meeting

Also, Lake Tulloch / New Melones ...

Also 30 percent price raises in the Bay Area.

If you think people aren't actively working on the problem, you need to look around more. That information took me 5 minutes to find.