President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, said he plans to review the Obama administration’s recent decision to secure fuel efficiency standards through 2025.
Last week, outgoing EPA administrator Gina McCarthy bumped up the timeline for the final determination on the fuel efficiency rule in the hopes of maintaining the Obama administration’s climate legacy.
“It merits review and I would review that,” Pruitt said at yesterday’s Senate confirmation hearing. Later that same day, Pruitt confirmed that he would not permit California to continue operating under its own rules as part of its 2009 advanced clean cars program and zero emission vehicle mandates.
As predicted, California isn’t interested in being told what to do.
The California Air Resources Board released a report Wednesday considering the future of zero-emission vehicles. CARB says it considers the current national efforts to promote electrification and reduce emissions to be tolerable, but not exactly robust. It says if federal emissions standards are drastically altered by the Trump administration, the state would have to reconsider whether or not to keep its policies synchronized with Washington’s.
“The message we want to send is that post-2025 California is moving not just to moderate, but to very aggressive, stringency on greenhouse gases and zero-emission vehicles,” Joshua Cunningham, chief of CARB’s sustainable transport staff, said in an interview with Bloomberg. “We’re pushing the boundaries.”
Some automakers have been highly critical of CARB for being impracticable on environmental issues. The Board’s recommendation for no immediate changes to the current mandates is directly counter to the desires of the incoming administration and Global Automakers, a trade group that represents major manufacturers including Honda, Hyundai, and Toyota.
California remains the largest automotive market in North America, giving it the authority to implement and maintain pollution rules that are more stringent than the national standards.
“California will continue to lead the world in addressing climate change and advancing clean energy regardless of who is in the White House or at the EPA,” Kevin de Leon, president of the California senate, said in a statement. “Mr. Pruitt should get used to that and not try to impose his Oklahoma views on the Golden State.”
Well I think Calf will win this one way or another, the market is just to big to ignore so car markers will do what they have to do, most car makers think long term and Trump is short term,
Yeah, and California is one of those states that pays more in federal taxes than they get back in federal funds. I don’t think the feds would want to mess with that.
Years ago there were two types of emission standards, one for CA and one for the rest of the nation. So a car bought in AZ, NV, or TX could not be registered in CA. i.e. smog pumps, special engine variants, etc.
Eventually CA and the automakers came to a happy compromise and cars would be 50-state legal. Motorists were happy campers again.
It would be a step backwards, indeed, if CA requirements would result in a similar situation of CA-legal cars and all-others. That would make cars made for CA again higher in price because of compliance mandates, and they wouldn’t run worth a damn on a trip to the Rockies.
CARB exists because the EPA gives them a waiver on violating the commerce clause. All it would take is a an EPA that respects the constitution, and CARB becomes an anti-American memory.
Ruh roh.
“All it would take is a an EPA that respects the constitution, and CARB becomes an anti-American memory.”
That may yet happen. At this juncture we don’t know what the new administration is going to do.
We have some inkling of what is important to them. Muslim terrorists, illegals and jobs, jobs, jobs.
And we already know what the past eight years have wrought upon us, so to me it would seem that it can only get better under the new administration.
I think it’s kinda exciting. I mean we know what Hillary would have brought us; more of the same Obamanomics. Epic fail!
But Trump? Pretty successful guy. Didn’t need this new job. Would have lived pretty comfortable without it. Is taking a severe pay cut. Donating his salary to We, The People!
I think we should give him a chance, like we gave Obama a chance. Obama failed.
What have we got to lose with Trump? There ain’t no way to go but up.
All you proggie losermen now have less than t-minus 6 hours to move to Canada, eh.
I wouldn’t say there isn’t room to go down. On average Obama was well an average president. For the most parts most of his policies lined well (with a few liberal identity politics thrown in) with mainstream Left and Right ideologies. He continued most of the same major policies of every president since Reagan.
SO while there wasn’t much hope and change form Obama there wasn’t much downfall either. Right now we seem to be in a situation where it will either be great or awful.
—> And we already know what the past eight years have wrought upon us, so to me it would seem that it can only get better under the new administration. <—
Heh, thanks I needed a laugh for today.
I don’t think we have any way of knowing what to expect from this new guy in DC.
He knows his station in life, and understands his place in society. And he’s got a hell of a lot more money than I do. Hence he must be successful.
I missed the Inaugural due to previous commitments, but have seen enough of the replays on the news to recognize that Trump ripped the Obama, Bush II AND Clinton administrations a new @ss hole in his Inaugural speech, adding that all that stopped here and now.
The people who mattered put this guy in the job. If he keeps them happy by fulfilling his promises to them, he can’t help but be their champion.
But I can also understand that this is not a good time to be a far-left liberal progressive ‘crat, and out of power. That’s got to be the loneliest feeling.
All that violent protesting in the streets doesn’t mean doodly-squat. Things are gonna change in America. No two ways about it.
If the change is what his supporters asked for, then he will be in power for eight years.
I don’t believe there is an exemption. It’s been challenged in court before with mixed results. They way I understand it they can’t prevent people from bringing the vehicles in do to the commerce clause but they can control what can be sold in the state based on health, safety and environmental concerns. So they can’t prevent a non compliant vehicle from driving in the state they can prevent it from being sold unless there is a new Supreme court judgement. For instance several states ban chemicals like BPA where other don’t, and this has been upheld in the past.
So I expect you may see the challenge again it’s not a light switch then can be turned off.
> “CARB exists because the EPA gives them a waiver on violating the commerce clause. All it would take is a an EPA that respects the constitution, and CARB becomes an anti-American memory.”
LOL the right wing being gung-ho for “states’ rights” until a state does something they don’t like, at which time “states’ rights suck! ban them!”
Think harder. Fedgov may or may not be for state’s rights at any given time but certainly not at the expense of their own authority – this is key. Kinda like if you like your doctor, you can keep our doctor.
D.C. was real thrilled about the S.C. secession of 1860 and subsequent events of 1861 weren’t they? Under a state’s rights framework, they would have evacuated from Ft Sumter sometime soon after secession on Dec 20 1860 (thus respecting SC’s rights), assuming that mindset actually exists in the post 1803 US (it did not, Union tried to resupply the garrison instead of evacuation).
it was a bit more complicated than that, but no- you couldnt go to vegas, buy a car, then bring it back.
they let cars in that conformed to the 49 state fed standards, but had to have over 5000 (?) miles.
I tried to simplify it.
Many dealers would not touch out-of-state cars for trades.
I had four brothers in the car business for more than 30 years. They had to turn away people moving to CA and wanting to trade their old car for a CA car.
They did have car dealerships in CA, AZ, TX, and AL, but it cost trucking charges to move those cars back out of CA.
As long as you brought up the Rockies, at least Honda had a three-stage certification for cars in the last thirty years – 49 state, California, and high altitude(think cars being sold in Denver and surrounding area. As for Mr Pruitt bringing his Oklahoma AG attitude and sensibility to deal with CARB, both car buyers in California and manufacturers will work around him to build what the California Air Resources Board want in the way of emissions. In the 50 states, California accounts for 10 percent or more of all vehicles sold in the States. To them, Mr. Pruitt is only a short term tenant, and they’re having none of him, I assure all of you.
snakebit, I remember Honda’s 3-stage certification. High-altitude was sold in my area as well, elev 4800-9300ft.
As for the CARB thing, I’m more inclined to see Pruitt work around them and letting CA set their own standards, while relaxing standards for all other states.
That way, just about everyone is getting what they want.
Interesting how when it comes to burning questions like “should bakers have to bake wedding cakes for two guys named Jim,” States Rights become sacred.
But when it comes to emissions, apparently not.
Solution? California needs to say it’s their Christian right to set their own emissions standards. After all, God made the Earth. Right? Genius!
Came here to make read about the Republican’s hypocritical and ever-shifting take on states’ rights. Was not disappointed
Wait until Trump declares the marijuana laws in places like Colorado to be null and void (probably over Twitter, no less). Referendum? Popular vote? Nonsense! I am Twitter Duce!
Technically, the laws are null and void, it’s just the Feds haven’t been pushing the matter.
It appears those days might be over.
http://www.denverpost.com/2016/11/18/donald-trump-jeff-sessions-legal-marijuana/
What I find most interesting about Trump is that while I doubt he’s into the old-school, old-right, moral-majority playbook, the people he has been appointing to high positions are. That was probably the price he paid for getting the GOP to back him.
Technically, Colorado raised a petition to put a State Constitutional amendment on the ballot that overrode the anti-cannabis laws in the state.
Can the Federal Government force a state to outlaw something?
What does this tell us about the GOP in particular about their attitudes towards popular will and elections, and the basic tenets of democracy?
Snark-I await the jack booted Fed’s invasion and occupation of Colorado any day now.
It isn’t marijauna.
It is cannabis.
If they (old white boys) start to clue in, just say, “We dispense Cannabidiol and tetrahydrocannabinol blended products.”
Close. I prefer to refer to him as Cheeto-lini …
Don’t worry, freedmike. You’ll still be able to get your abortions and enjoy those intoxicating blasts of stupefaction.
“Don’t worry, freedmike. You’ll still be able to get your abortions and enjoy those intoxicating blasts of stupefaction.”
Fascinating, since I have never had an abortion (being a man kind of disqualifies me), wouldn’t get one even if I was a woman (unless the pregnancy was killing me…and I know women this happened to), and haven’t gotten high since 1994.
Personally, I’d look for another line of work if I were you…clearly, the mind-reader gig ain’t working out.
(Moral of the story: there’s a big difference between thinking someone has the right to do something and thinking it’s a good idea, much less wanting to do it yourself. Something about “I can’t control other peoples’ behaviors even if I disapprove of them” comes to mind. And now you have something new to ponder.)
Lighten up, Francis. You question the motivation of others. Turn about is fair play. What’s good for the goose is good for the gomer.
because alcohol prohibition worked so well, right?
if somebody wants to sit on their couch, smoke out and binge watch rick and morty, who cares? they arent at a bar, drinking until they cant see straight, then driving home.
and there would be a lot less abortions if female birth control was easy and cheap to get. and offer a male version too. id be sooo on that, because condoms suck.
“Lighten up, Francis.”
Oh, I see…act like an a-hole to someone and then accuse him of taking things too seriously when he gets back up in your face.
(That, or when you lose an argument, claim it was just a joke so you can make yourself believe it wasn’t argument to begin with.)
Attention TTAC: trolls like this are exactly why there should be an ignore button.
You left out an “h” Twitter du…
States’ rights are sacred when they can be used to override individual rights.
States’ rights are an abomination when they can be used to override corporate rights.
Wait, I thought corporations were people, too?
Not just people…special people.
Interesting how when it comes to burning questions like “should we burden auto consumers with extra regulation costs because of pop science,” States Rights become sacred.
But when it comes to respecting individual religious beliefs, apparently not.
Because emissions and religious freedoms are totally the same thing. Herp derp, #NotMyPresident.
For a while there CA-refinery gasoline was refined and blended to a different standard than all others outside of CA.
Which was strange since CA exports much of its gasoline, diesel and kerosene (jet fuels) to its neighboring states, where it was promptly mixed with additives prohibited in CA.
The end result was people buying gas in AZ and NV and bringing it back into CA. I used to do that when going into CA. I’d top off and fill 4 5-gal jugs with gas at Quartzsite and carry them in the back of my truck, to use along the way.
Others, closer to the southern border would fill up with PEMEX gas in Mexico.
Parts of CA still use a “winter blend”, including so cal. SCAQMD requires it. additives are additives- detergent packages.
“Pop science,” Trucky?
Sorry, smog ain’t “pop science.” Air pollution causes a huge range of proven health issues and environmental problems that have absolutely nothing to do with global warming.
those chinese arent wearing the surgical masks for their…
oh yeah they are.
ive only lived in the LA area since the late 80s, and the air is so much cleaner and less smelly. VOCs make air smell.
What is so hard to understand? Keep it simple:
1. Bakers should be able to bake or not bake whatever they want for whoever they want. No cannabis cakes though ;)
2. States have the right to pass their own laws within Constitutional limits. California can regulate its emissions controls/gas formulas etc, however, it cannot interfere with interstate commerce. I.e. out of state vehicles/fuels imported into CA are legal as long as they satisfy fed requirements.
The problem with Point #1 is that it was widely followed in parts of the USA for one hundred years. Called segregation. And found to be in contradiction of the Constitution.
re: “California can regulate its emissions controls/gas formulas etc, however, it cannot interfere with interstate commerce. I.e. out of state vehicles/fuels imported into CA are legal as long as they satisfy fed requirements.”
so how do you square your assertion above, with the fact that some older vehicles are still legal to operate in the ‘other forty-nine’ but illegal in california? i.e. maserati’s bora and original ghibli?
Now I want cake.
“Now I want cake.”
Yeah, I don’t care if it shows Thump grabbin’ it as long as the icing is thick.
I do not think I would like that.
THE CAKE IS A LIE
;-)
Why would anyone wanna marry a guy with the same name as them?
Damn Yankees.
The Red Sox used to agree.
One Californian kin whoop ten o’ them pasty-faced Yankees!
Th’ Saux. As in “Go th’ Saux!!!”
Good band, should have had more than one hit.
They did, kinda. “Coming of Age” wasn’t nearly as big a hit as “High Enough,” but it’s a slightly better song IMO. Too many power ballads make me gag.
People have apparently forgotten what clouds-of-smog over Los Angeles looked like, about how people couldn’t go outside for air quality problems. What’s next, allowing asbestos back in to buildings?
You don’t get it.
What’s the Republican population of Los Angeles County? That’s the consideration here.
(I wish I could say this ain’t true…but it is these days.)
If I could punch Scott Pruitt, I would. I lived through the Superfund cleanup of my hometown, and the carcinogenic chemicals that my dad worked near on a daily basis are certainly one reason he’s dying of cancer.
General Electric dumped that shit into our rivers and lakes despite knowing that it was a carcinogen, and barely cleaned up it when dragged kicking and screaming to do it.
“What’s the Republican population of Los Angeles County?”
Take the number of 9mm handguns in LAC to the minus 1 power?
“What’s the Republican population of Los Angeles County?”
Some article today pointed out that Trump got more votes in the city of Los Angeles than in West Virginia, for what it’s worth.
“Trump got more votes in the city of Los Angeles than in West Virginia”
Every morning, I wake up in Bizzaro World, so I’m not surprised.
Maybe my aching dread about the future is wrong, too.
“Trump got more votes in the city of Los Angeles than in West Virginia”
This statement, by itself is utterly meaningless. The City of Los Angeles has 4 million people, WV has 1.85 million. If Trump were to be even competitive in LA, he’d get about as many votes as there are voters in WV. Apparently, he didn’t.
We’ll be trading smug comments when the world goes up in flames, too.
West Virginia: 27% Clinton, 69% Trump
LA County: 72% Clinton, 23% Trump.
LA County has six times the population of West Virginia, so there is really no comparison. If you look at a map of LA County precincts, it is mostly a sea of blue.
He did say, “for what it’s worth”. Apparently it was worth a squadron of insects marching up several lower digestive tracts.
Well now let’s not be ridiculous. No one is talking about rolling back all emissions regs everywhere, they’re talking about CA losing their special snowflake status where they can essentially mandate electric cars over time. No question that some pollution controls are good, the question is whether more are better, and where you draw that line. CARB has always been very aggressive, and my guess is that they are close to if not past the point of diminishing returns to just being a pain in the A** and no longer making productive gains.
CARB blew by diminishing returns long ago. A 20% improvement in China would be a hell of a lot more effective than a 50% improvement in the US.
Oh, and CA is shutting down our last nuke plant (which produces 8-10% of the state’s power) to help product some bird nobody has ever heard of. In a state that already sees rolling blackouts and brownouts in summer. Fucking hippies.
people who use the word “snowflake” set off idiot detectors all over.
Yup that was the last word I read on that comment.
“libretard” is another
Not only are they ridiculous but they’re also petty and small minded. That’s why they need their safety pins.
Snowflake is the new term for commie or pinko since the right has no issue with Putin’and his Orange puppet/potis.
Just look for your safe spaces and chillax.
Since snowflakes are a meme,ergo safe space is an igloo. Oh and chillax?
That whole rebuttal explains the need to deny climate change.
Stay Frosty.
How exactly will they mandate electric cars? The consumer decides what he wants.
CARB has required a minimum percentage of cars sold be ZEVs. They’ve done this a number of times now and have to keep pushing the target back because its untenable.
“…he wants.”
Retro.
California also has a real local problem with smog in the Los Angeles basin and a history of state regulations to deal with that problem. The Clean Air Act preserved California’s ability to more aggressively attempt to regulate the precursors of smog than the national regulations. In contrast, carbon dioxide is neither toxic in these low concentrations nor is its concentration locally high. California can raise its fuel excise taxes to reduce fuel consumption and they can create state tax credits to encourage Californians to buy electric cars, but they don’t have unlimited power to demand auto manufacturers sell electric cars in California at a loss.
I was born there and much of that pollution was brought on by industry such as the tire and rubber plants, refineries and coal-fired electricity-generating plants.
True, HDC, but cars are a HUGE contributor to smog as well.
Yes, I agree that cars were huge contributors to smog back then.
One such factor (when I was a kid in Huntington Beach, CA) was cars in dire need of a ring and valve job, and a major tune-up. Billowing clouds of blue and black smoke.
Even new cars with carburetors ran far too rich all of the time, even at sea-level.
But the air got suddenly cleaner when the factories were banned from where they had been since WWII and moved to industrial parks on the outskirts.
It took about ten years, and electronic fuel-metering, catalytic converters, etc to make that happen. LAX is still a major polluter.
And the motorists had to pay more to get less. Fortunately the advances in electronics and micro-computers have given us the excellent engines and transmissions we have today.
But there’s no need to force Obama’s EPA mandates on every other state; all for his clean-air legacy?
The guy has NO legacy. It will be as if he didn’t even existed.
Anyone who grew up in SoCal back in the 60s and 70s (Anaheim in my case) remembers the smog days when drawing a deep breath was physically painful, let alone limited visibility. Regulation and the industries’ improvements had a huge, positive impact. But as has been mentioned, returns have been diminishing for several years. 2008 standards should be maintained. There a fine line between advocacy and ideological fanaticism.
(What General Malaise seems to forget is that the L.A. metro area has almost *twice* as many people today as it did when he couldn’t breathe there…could this be the reason why the state wants to keep the standards in place? Nawwww…)
You forget that 2008 standards are fairly exacting standards. They still work.
Given the population growth in places like L.A., the question is how much longer those standards will work. Again: L.A. is almost twice as big now as it was in the 1970’s.
Given that, walking the regs back seems like a really bad idea to me, and I’m a guy who never even set foot in L.A. when the smog was at its’ worst. I can’t fathom someone who actually lived there taking a chance on going back to that.
@GeneralMalaise
the real question is why you think you should be able to arbitrarily decide what “level” of standards should remain in place. there’s a reason we have these people called “experts,” and it’s not just so you can have someone to ignore when it’s convenient.
Your “argument from authority” rings hollow when you talk of “experts” and provide no evidence.
These companies do nothing unless forced, and somebody has to take the lead. I live in a state that has emissions standards pegged to California (Massachusetts) and I am perfectly A-OK with ratcheting standards, and I’m also OK with paying for them. When the cost is spread across more things, it makes it cheaper for everyone. Mass. also has sensible regulations for classic/antique cars and racers as well. Zero emissions should be a goal we all work to.
If I could punch Scott Pruitt, I would. I lived through the Superfund cleanup of my hometown, and the carcinogenic chemicals that my dad worked near on a daily basis are certainly one reason he’s dying of cancer.
General Electric dumped that crap into our rivers and lakes despite knowing that it was a carcinogen, and barely cleaned up it when dragged kicking and screaming to do it.
You’ve been under Democrat control in Mass for how long in the last half century?
I don’t usually get in political arguments in these comments, but this is one subject I do not hold back on. I have no quarter for people who pollute the environment, and I’m as country as they come (since I lived in a rural area where we passed our time by hunting, fishing, and camping).
GE dumped PCBs for decades in the mid-twentieth century, lied about the risks, and the state and federal EPA forced them to clean up their mess after years of fighting in courts. It took many years to learn just exactly how bad they were, GE fought the state and local municipalities tooth and nail, and did not go above and beyond to repair the damage they did to both the Berkshires and its citizens.
You should do some research on GE’s environmental travesties in Massachusetts and upstate New York and think twice about whether large corporations will choose profit or helping our environment. Hint, they’ll do the former unless forced.
“Democrat control.”
Oh, dear…it’s like that for this guy, I guess.
Seriously, TTAC…ignore button. Please.
“General Electric dumped that crap into our rivers and lakes despite knowing that it was a carcinogen…”
Jaunty Jack Welch thanks you, BTW. And… GO TRUMP
yeah, just google “LA freeway smog 1966” and do an image search.
i just found out you could burn trash in your back yard up into the late 50s in so cal.
i remember burning piles of leaves in suburban chicago in the 80s. brings back memories.
my last apartment building still had incinerators in the basement, built into the brickwork and with their own chimneys.
kefkafloyd, if they could get their way they would put lead back in gasoline.
“Mr. Pruitt should get used to that and not try to impose his Oklahoma views on the Golden State.”
oh SNAP
I felt the burn there.
That’s the thing when California is more progressive than most of the country. What are you going to do? Have federal police escort shipments of 49-state cars into CA and force dealers to buy them? Declare Californian marriages illegal?
California is going to keep being progressive and keep enforcing more stringent rules because it has the economic power and the mandate of its residents to do so. I hate that CA makes it difficult to own old cars, but I realistically acknowledge that change can only come from within and not from Capitol Hill.
“California is going to keep being progressive and keep enforcing more stringent rules because it has the economic power and the mandate of its residents to do so.”
Until they run out of other people’s money to spend on their progressive policies, and that day is coming sooner by the minute.
http://fortune.com/2016/07/19/pension-underfunded/
http://www.sacbee.com/site-services/databases/article32679753.html
http://www.breitbart.com/california/2016/08/06/9000-companies-left-california-since-2008/
https://rctom.hbs.org/submission/weathering-the-storm-kleiner-perkins-and-the-tragedy-of-clean-tech-venture-capital/
Other people’s money? California subsidizes the rest of the USA, its GDP exceeds that of all but 5 countries in the world. It is the red states in the middle of the country that are spending other people’s money.
Yes, Californian people and companies can up and leave, but by and large they do not.
As goes California, so goes the nation. I like that much better than whats good for General Motors is good for the country (and Ralph Nader ain’t no good for General Motors – I added that for fans of All in the Family).
California has the economic might to set policy and direction. Sometimes the needs of CA are also good for other states, other times not so much. That said, I’d rather err on the side of cleaner and more efficient. And let’s dispel the myth that such regulation “kills” jobs. It might skew the job market, but not nearly as much as technology does. Cars are made with fewer people, toll takers are being replaced with automation, trains no longer have “firemen” fueling the locomotive with coal. These technological changes to the market are inevitable. Such regulation can benefit those in the position that find ways to efficiently meet them.
“Yes, Californian people and companies can up and leave, but by and large they do not.”
They have been for years.
People who think CA has a financially sound economy must have attended the Obama school of Economics. The highly respected Mercatus Center ranks CA 44th in fiscal health. Numbers matters.
The state never really recovered. It just papered over the out of control spending by having Jerry Brown convince enough people that there’s such a thing as a ‘temporary tax increase’ and convinced them to vote for it.
Here’s the funny punchline: despite the temporary tax increases, Brown projects that the state will run over a $1.5 billion deficit this year.
Common fiscal sense left this state long ago.
“Numbers matters.”
So does grammar. I believe the phrase you were trying to utter was “numbers matter.”
(See, even a dumb old liberal like me knows that. But I digress.)
@jkross:
“Common fiscal sense left this state long ago.”
It left a LOT of states too…many of which are red as it gets.
Breitbart is a source?
Mercatus Center……. Opened and funded by the Koch Brothers.
There are studies on the innernetz that rank fiscal health on a state by state basis. The “Blue Model” is a failed model.
I’ll see your Koch Bros and raise you George Soros.
GeneralMalaise- Yin and Yang. 2 sides of the coin my friend.
And yet YOU will never mention Soros. What he donates far surpasses that from the Kochs. Google is your friend.
GeneralMalaise – My comment was in reference to Mercatus Center. Soros doesn’t fund them.
Since you went to the topic of election campaign funding, there is something seriously wrong with “the system” when EACH side spends over a billion JUST for the President’s office.
Here, I’ll help you, Lou: https://www.city-journal.org/html/connoisseur-chaos-14954.html
You can TML…
@GeneralMalaise – thanks for the link.
Neoliberal free market proponents exist on both sides of the political spectrum. Soros just like the Koch brothers function to serve and protect their own interests at the detriment of others. That is a fact regardless of political ideology.
As I said earlier. 2 sides of the coin.
Your reading comprehension is suspect, Lou. Soros makes his money off of shorting currency and other people’s misery. Hungary is about to drop the hammer on him.
Two sides, psshhhhhhh…
Everyone likes to talk about Soros and Koch, but that’s really missing the point.
http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php
Not to mention the whole dark money thing.
GeneralMalaise – Oh now i get it. Lying, stealing and cheating is only bad if someone from the left does it.
That explains everything.
Straw man argument, Lou. In the case of the Kochs and Soros, Soros is the only lying, cheating thief.
California is not “progressive.” California is certifiably insane. I sure as h-e-double-hockey-sticks would never live there. Many of us in the remaining 49 states would not shed a tear if the California fruits, nuts, and special snowflakes made good on their threat to secede because of the Big Bad Donald. Or if the Big One finally came and the state just fell off into the ocean. (“Goodbye San Andreas, ain’t our our fault, goodbye…”) Those of us in the heartland have had it up to “here” with California’s brand of jack-booted “progressivism.”
CO2 is not a pollutant. There is no reason to “control” or “restrict” it. It used to be that there were cars built to different standards – there were California cars and 49-state cars. California got the shittier, less powerful cars with fewer drivetrain selections.
There’s no reason not to go that route again. Let the idiot snowflakes have their battery-operated toys while their power grid goes down due to their refusal to build generating stations. The rest of us will be thundering around in gas guzzling V8s – and loving it.
ive got mixed feelings. is clean air great? yeah. when do the regulations start being onerous? i thought banning new 2 stroke engines was dumb.
weedwackers? offroad only (at the time) MX bikes??? who else used new 2 strokes?
@GeneralMalaise: President Trump’s handpicked Secretary of the Treaury was a partner in SFM Capital Management with George Soros. Just one among others of Steven Mnuchin’s other sordid activities.
This is a problem with the President’s most virulent supporters, they have problem with maintaining a consistent pattern of reasoning. It is very hard to drain the swamp and correct the system when the very people who created the problem are restored to power. For example 5 ex Goldman-Sachs employees in the new administration.
We will see how things go. The optimistic among us rest our case on the fact that the President appears to be more of a pragmatist than an idealogue. And that generally is a very good thing.
“This is a problem with the President’s most virulent supporters, they have problem with maintaining a consistent pattern of reasoning.”
I think you’re overselling what he believes in. He’s just a troll. Trolls believe in nothing besides the virtue of continuing to troll.
Man… I take back that accusation of you wanting to maintain your access to abortions. That really seemed to set you off.
Peace, my brother.
The last administration AND the failed Democrat candidate were controlled by GS and Wall Street. I didn’t hear or read too much of a fuss raised about that.
All of a sudden, it’s a bad thing.
“I hate that CA makes it difficult to own old cars…”
Huh??? In my family we have:
– ’19 Seagrave Pumper fire engine
– ’46 Chevy 2-Ton Truck
– ’55 T-Bird
– ’56 Austin-Healey BN2/100M
– ’65 Mustang 289 Convertible
– ’67 Austin-Healey 3000
Except for the fire engine, which has ‘antique’ plates, none require anything other than the nominal registration fees and taxes. No inspections–we maintain them all ourselves–and no smog checks for any of them. Now, painting them is a different story.
Sweet line-up there!
Actually many people complained about the Democrats and in particular Hilary being too close to the Wall Street fatcats. Including the many Democratic Party member who supported Bernie. And in particular Mr. Trump during his campaign. And his supporters. Now that multiple ex Goldman Sachs employees have been appointed to the administration does that not indicate some sort of circular logic or reneging on campaign promises?
It certainly is not compatible with ‘draining the swamp’.
Crap, I bit off more than I could chew.
I’m just stuck in an era (90s) that is not yet smog-exempt, but old enough that cats for my car are no longer available.
Yes, as long as your car is old enough to be smog-exempt CA is an awesome place to play with cars.
And for those who think people are leaving CA en masse, why is it that even more people are trying to move in? I’m waiting for home prices to drop!
So turnabout is not fair play, eh?
Kill CAFE, leave the emission standards alone, and let California do what it wants.
Agreed.
Uh Oh. THe wingnuts rise!
“THe wingnuts rise!”
Is that a “stand alone” Star Wars movie with Jar Jar?
That is definitely a sequel where I hope they all die ;)
Mesa no like being wingnut, mesa more like crackhead.
LOL
I always thought of Jar Jar as a rasta man, actually…
I think that was what he was supposed to be.
As a Trekkie, I’d say Jar Jar was supposed to be the redshirt who got beamed into a rock.
So many things wrong with Episode I…so many things…
I would have loved to see that character beamed into rock, or shot into space, or for Ving Rhames to have shown up and got medieval on his ass.
Darth Maul could have done given ol’ Jar Jar the coup de grace right where the good Lord split him.
For a laugh, look up “new Star Wars gangsta rap” on Youtube. Priceless stuff. Jar Jar has some good lines.
I think I’ve see that one.
You’re slower than the first, Pentium chip.
Oh s**t
Yoda on the scene
900 years old
Smokin Dagobah green
Luke use the force, before intercourse
But Luke, don’t forget
B*tches ain’t nothing but hos and tricks.
people who use the word “wingnuts” set off idiot detectors all over.
Jalop1991 – we both used that word.
…rise to drain the m00nbat fever swamp. EFF yeah!
It drained to the right. Any plumber knows sh!t flows downhill.
Drained left and currently acting out in the streets of D.C.
I guess protests were perfectly OK when it was the Tea Partiers doing it…
…but when it’s someone who opposes Trump, it’s bad, bad, bad, bad…
LOL
At least the TPers left their venue cleaner than they found it. Lots of broken glass, fires and such will be today’s result. So yes, in a sense it does and will in the future depend on who’s doing the protesting.
Be proud!
GeneralMalaise – Dubya was really constipated. His dump backed up the pipes all the way to the Middle East.
Realistically, Washington has no economic teeth to bite CA with. CA is a driver of the American economy.
It’s going to continue doing what its population wants. But that last statement about Oklahoma carried an arrogant passive-aggressive tone and was unnecessary.
The feds have the interstate commerce clause to override CARB mandates. California doesn’t drive the US economy anymore, all it makes is vaporware. Even the hardware for that is made in China, not Cali.
The only automaker still in Cali is Tesla, in a plant abandoned by GM and Toyota. All the other GM, Ford and Chrysler plants have long since shut down. In aerospace, Lockheed, General Dynamics, McDonnell-Douglas and Boeing’s purchases have all moved out, many to Texas.
The oil industry that once produced over 2 million barrels a day now produces less than 500,000 barrels, less than half California’s consumption, with 4/5ths of the shortfall from Alaska and the rest imported. Of 47 historical refineries, only 17 are operational, with four others idled. The other 26 have closed permanently, most of them since 1980.
The state’s largest employers are the Navy, Disneyland and various units of the University of California, which would be number one if combined. After that, there’s nothing but Taco Bell and McDonald’s.
That’s not driving the US economy.
“The state’s largest employers are the Navy, Disneyland and various units of the University of California, which would be number one if combined. After that, there’s nothing but Taco Bell and McDonald’s.”
I think you forgot a little place called “Silicon Valley.” That generates a fairly large percentage of the United States’ GDP. And last I checked, that’s in California.
Like many states, California’s economy moved away from smokestack industries a long, long time ago. The stuff that drives their economy now is tech, trade and finance. And the state is either near or at the top of the list when it comes to those sectors. It’s number 3 in income per capita. Someone’s making money.
Just sayin’.
and there are more costcos in california than in any other state, and a fair number are teamster shops.
the warehouse retail industry started with price club, in san diego.
Silicon valley is a bunch of super-rich a*holes and underpaid techs churning out the vaporware I mentioned. All the manufacturing is elsewhere.
“The feds have the interstate commerce clause to override CARB mandates.”
Er, the California waiver is included in the Clean Air Act.
I suspect that you had no idea that CARB was started when Ronald Reagan was governor of California.
If some of you had a new year’s resolution to get your facts straight, then you’re off to a bad start.
Pch101 – Trump won. Facts are no longer necessary.
I was living in California when Reagan was governor, and when the formation of CARB was intended to coordinate the policies of various air quality districts into a coherent set of rules statewide.
BTW the Clean Air Act AUTHORIZES the California waivers for those air quality districts, it was never intended to give CARB authority to set statewide auto emissions standards. EPA officials, not Congress, administratively yielded federal authority to CARB.
As for your suspicions of other posters without knowing their backgrounds, I’m not playing that game.
Maybe slow down on the standards (not scrap them), but definitely scrap the RFS. Get that ethanol outta my gasoline!
Good luck getting all the corn farmers in Iowa to agree.
Yeah! And get the high fructose corn syrup out of my Coke!
You’d think Trump would hate Mexican-made Coca Cola being sold in US grocery stores.
Make Coca-Cola Great Again.
The Mexican coke is actually great. Try it, you will like it.
Oh I love it, it’s great stuff!
Heisenberg disagrees. A certain blue product is far better.
Heck, they even wrote a ballad to him, you know.
Say. My. Name.
You’re Heisenberg.
You’re goddamn right.
AKA …Mr White
Man, I miss that show, and I haven’t had time to get into “Better Call Saul.”
Good news, though…my new 4K TV has Chromecast, so I can pop the “Ballad of Heisenberg” onto it at will with my smartphone and troll the kids.
Good stuff : )
I do love Mexican Coca-Cola. (Typing just Mexican Coke might be misinterpreted.) It is one product in which the Mexican version is noticeably superior than its American counterpart. But they are more expensive and much heavier to carry. Is Iowan land only suitable for farming corn?
its up to 15% of that crap in CA. its like watering down hard liquor
Pull highway funding if they won’t comply. Shoe’s on the other foot now.
Good luck with the silly high speed rail that keeps going over budget that they need federal funds to complete.
California doesn’t need the Feds anyway, they plan on seceding.
The Feds usually pull sewer funding for highway policy “infractions”. For emissions/air quality differences, who knows? Education grants?
Scott Pruitt: Fox guarding the henhouse.
Or Hitler in charge of investigating Nazi war crimes. He is that bad. 97% of the world’s climatologists are convinced that man is influencing climate. The head of the group that is supposed to do something about it is part of the 3%. Oh, wait he is not a scientist.
So not fully buying into climate change hysteria makes one Hitler? Hyperbole much?
No, but he is in charge of the agency that is supposed to protect the environment and he is willing to gut the very mechanism needed and entrusted to do so. His interests are not on par with the mission of agency, if fact they run the very opposite. He puts the energy industry’s profits before the people he is supposed to represent.
WOW you have a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.
Mtmmo – “Trump Derangement Syndrome” Wow. They have an official diagnosis pinned to putinspotus.
Wow, a lot of sore losermen here any more. Where’s vogo? Did he finally say, “my work here are dun?”
And we’re left with inebriated Canadian knobs picking up the slack. That ain’t what NAFTA is all about!
GeneralMalaise – well, if ad homeninum attacks work for putinspotus then it must work for his Oompa Loompas. You forgot CAPSLOCK. Deplorable’s’.
Why, I’m beginning to think you’re some kind of gingerist, Lou.
@GeneralMalaise – ” gingerist ”
I’m crushed.
Orange Crush!
Anti-gingerite.
“Anti-gingerite”
Only in a bad comb over.
LOL on the crushed
Where’s vogo?
As it turns out, I occasionally have to neglect my duties here and put food on the table.
Frankly, I’m glad to have missed the fireworks here. There are a few alt right voices who constantly resort to personal attacks rather than state their views logically. And I just don’t have the patience for this garbage anymore.
Yes, there are. And they get tolerated even though they persistently violate what are supposed to be the commenting rules and their sad vitriol contaminates my inbox.
Your alt left eliminationist rhetoric was almost missed, vogo. Glad to hear they got that drive-thru window fixed.
“Your alt left eliminationist rhetoric was almost missed, vogo. Glad to hear they got that drive-thru window fixed.”
This is a classic example of the mindless vitriol that has no place on this board. Mark, where are you?
Re: “Trump Derangement Syndrome”
Is that good or bad? I ask because I can’t find it in the DSM-5
April S – LOL. Might be in the 6th edition.
CARB should remember that the 49-state market is bigger than California’s, and so should the automakers.
But 50-state legal was a real boost to America. I brought a CA car of that era back to NM way back when, and it didn’t run worth a damn at my altitude, no matter what kind of gas I put in it.
At that time there was just something about a CA smog-pump that was not only annoying but downright power-robbing and valve-seat fouling because of EGR.
that was “way back when” though. but yes… you have a point.
ive got a 2005 yamaha XT225 dualsport, bought new, with CA emissions and carb. it was always finicky to start cold- lots of choke, always stumbled off idle.
unfortunately my riding partner sold his truck and the bike got parked for years. fuel system eroded. carb got trashed.
bought a used carb off ebay last year, from VA. bolted that thing on and it ran better than ever. instant start, little choke. ran smooth. granted, thats an 80s era bike.
I still have a 1983 Johnson 9.9 outboard. I’ve had to redo the carb a few times. It still runs well. Those old 2 strokes were the epitome of simple.
Get rid of CARB, a waste of California tax dollars. Even worse was CA mandating retroactive NOX mandates on vehicles not designed to meet the requirements, making the vehicles intentionally failing smog tests.
Sigh. These are the same automakers that claimed mandating seatbelts would put them all out of business in the 60s. Perhaps they should devote their attention to building cars that don’t kill their drivers, and leave emissions regulations to the adults at CARB.
Go check out the CARB website and look at the profiles of its board members. I counted 2 doctors and 1 scientist, so 3/14 have some level of technical, professional knowledge of the subject matter which they work. The rest were ex-CEO’s, lawyers and politicians.
Any guesses why CARB does what it does can be found in the professional background of its board members.
How does that differ from any other board?
Not sure that’s a solid rationale for staffing CARB with non-scientists.
jkross22, there’s a big difference between staffing and the Board of Directors. For the latter, you want people who understand how to run a complex organization and can provide strategic advice and direction to the CEO.
The CEO and his reports hire the staff, which is where you’ll find all manner of technical expertise.
“critical of CARB for being impracticable”? I think you meant to say “impractical”, impracticable refers to something that is unfeasible or overly difficult to make or accomplish.
It might have made sense back in the 70’s to have carb, but really carb seems locked in elitist environmental lobby pushing “regs” that are really want to outlaw IC engines.
EPA should be the ONLY one regulating emissions, NOT a state board that seems locked in west coast lunacy now.
As it is the EPA itself seems more like dogma in the CO2 stuff (which is NOT a harmful emission, no matter how much the elitist keep trying to stop debate.)
The real danger to the environment is loss of habitat, not how much co 2 a car, OR a HUMAN, or a cow breathes out.
Time to reign the EPA. They need to start answering to congress, NOT the Environmental lobby who seems more interested in dogma.
Maybe things will change. The entire political landscape will change at 12p EST tomorrow.
And Putin saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning…………
…and behold, two hackers, Leonid and Vitaly, were born. And Putin said, be fruitful and multiply.
Watch out for the book of Revelation……. or Wikileaks.
So is WikiLeaks good or bad today. I am confused since the OG WikiLeaker is being let out of jail 28 years early. Additionally I recall that circa 2010 the leaks were seen as a positive by most in the press with everything taken as gospel.
Depends on whether you get your opinions from Breitbart or DailyKos.
You’ve at least embraced the first one there, Mike.
Maybe the Democrats can round up a better candidate than Hillary Clinton next time.
Maybe the party members who engaged in a criminal conspiracy to fix the primary for Hillary can be brought to justice?
Uh, how does the manner in which the DNC selects a candidate have any criminal implications?
Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.
that’s not an answer.
Was your question rhetorical or did you just tune out of reality this past year?
It’s amusing that the Democrats never denied the content of the sordid emails, and used their “squirrel! … over there!!!” defense.
I asked you a simple, specific f**king question. if you’re just going to dodge, weave, and misdirect then don’t waste my time.
@GeneralMalaise
Precisely and speaking in a strictly neutral position it is dangerous to allow a major party to engage in criminal behavior to ensure a specific candidate is chosen. The heart of the matter is a national security issue. If I was a Bernie supported I would still be livid and as a citizen I ask rhetorically, where is the rule of law?
@Jim
Ouch, sand in your vagina today? Try to look past your PMS and see the bigger problem in allowing a criminal conspiracy to rig a national election primary. I’m not trolling, its a real problem with the end result being the exact opposite as the conspirators intended. The only other thing I find more shocking was Ted Kennedy’s 1983 clandestine attempt to reach out to Andropov/Soviet Intelligence in a quid pro quo arrangement to help Andropov defuse tensions in exchange for helping the Democratic party defeat Reagan in 1984. (kinda treasonous, see link).
http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/27/ted-kennedy-soviet-union-ronald-reagan-opinions-columnists-peter-robinson.html#
FTR I still say we are screwed, just slightly less screwed.
Watching the use of fascist tactics to allegedly fight against fascism play out on the streets of fever swampy America today is a schadenboner-y thing.
jkross22 – Hitlery and Cheetoman won their party’s selection process. Both had the poorest ratings of any candidate.
Inflation – a billion doesn’t get you much nowadays.
no, time to reign in CARB.
gas stations here have used vacuum boots to trap and recycle VOCs for years. but car makers have been using similar systems to trap and recycle vapors since 1996.
so you have 2 systems fighting themselves.
we could have nozzles as cheap and easy to use as arizona, knowing that 99.9% of cars in california already recover vapors and recycle.
Are you really this daft? The car’s evap system isn’t doing s**t while it’s off and the gas cap is out.
Exactly,
Where does SoCalMikester suppose that gas fumes go when he fills the tank?
Wrong.
Thank you, Dana Carvey as John McLaughlin.
Read up… http://www.aa1car.com/library/evap_system.htm
CARB keeps the regs honest and strong. If CARB goes away, or if Trump’s EPA becomes the final authority, then the industry will stop making progress and will go into reverse in favor of more profit. They sell dirtier cars in other markets already.
This reminds me of the Southern states saying they were done with that poll-taxy treatment of black voters. Roberts-Scalia court guts the Voting Rights Act and hey presto, the Southern states get very clever and active at putting fresh obstacles in the way of the black vote.
CARB has certainly enjoyed some success at the expense of everyone else, but like so much in government it is obsolete and should be retired. I seem to recall reading either from 1980 or 1990 emissions levels in LA were reduced something like 90%, which is incredibly commendable, but the next 3% per period is more expensive than it is worth. Pick a standard (i.e. that 90% reduced figure) and stick with it. Eventually the technology to go beyond 90% will get cheaper and be voluntarily installed, a pesky [semi-] free market tends to do that sort of thing.
Shhh. In California, government is only supposed to expand.
The are the government and they are here to help.
“CARB keeps the regs honest and strong. If CARB goes away, or if Trump’s EPA becomes the final authority, then the industry will stop making progress and will go into reverse in favor of more profit.”
I think it is all about reaching a balance. The EPA has over-reached its authority. CARB doesn’t have to go away but their mandates do not apply to many of the other 49 states. And never will. Different circumstances, one and all.
Why raise the cost of doing business for the other 49 states? NM, AZ, NV, and many other states do not have the same pollution as CA.
What applies to CA is not always good for everybody else.
I suspect that the new administration will also get “very clever” and active at circumventing what CA wants to inflict on the rest of the nation.
Maybe it is time for CA to secede. It would be no different than crossing the border into Canada or Mexico, or crossing borders in the European Union.
Fedgov has too many assets in Kali, they will have to find ways to maneuver and be open to compromise.
Personally I’d go Robespierre on all their asses and I’d enjoy watching the corruption burn.
I agree – this is all posturing. But there is no doubt in my mind that the new administration will exact their pound of flesh from CA by being “very clever” and active at circumventing what CA and Obama’s EPA want to inflict on the rest of the nation.
One thing would be to revert back to the double-standard of yore, one set of mandates for CA, another different set for the other 49.
It was done before. Nothing that says it can’t be done again.
After all, states rights……
“The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant.”
or chopping their heads off.
Once Cheetopotus gets the football, he can fix California and then blame it on tectonic activity.
Since Krugman likes the broken window fallacy, perhaps he’d agree a 9.2 courtesy of HAARP on the Bay Area could in fact be very bullish for the economy.
http://www.aei.org/publication/paul-krugman-a-broken-window-equals-economic-strength/
“Once Cheetopotus gets the football, he can fix California and then blame it on tectonic activity.”
Maybe he’ll take a page from Lex Luthor and call the new beach “Marina Del Trump.”
28-Cars-Later, I believe that the new administration will leave the blue-states blowin’ in the wind.
Even though NM has a Republican governor, Susana Martinez has not been supportive of Trump.
So now there is wide-spread fear that NM, along with other blue sanctuary states like CA, NY, et al will be left out in the cold.
Four years is a long time in economics to be left out in the cold while IL, GA, PA, MI, et al will get all the attention.
@FreedMike
Yes, I like that plan.
@highdesertcat
I suspect he will take either Chicago or IL through bankruptcy as the prototype model for other failed munis/states, but I doubt IL will be getting much in the way of praise or reward.
Regarding general ignorance of those Marxist utopias, I say f**k ’em.
28, the fiscal crisis in Illinois is on a statewide level, not in the city of Chicago.
Primary blame? The usual factors (loss of blue collar jobs and industry, underfunded pensions, etc), plus an unusually bad relationship between the (R) governor and the (D) legislature. Actually, “relationship” kind of overstates matters…it’s more like the president of South Korea and Kim Jong Un looking over the DMZ at each other. It’s that bad.
Apparently, though, both sides are starting to play nice. We’ll see.
But without Chicago, Illinois would be well and truly fornicated.
28-Cars-Later,
“Regarding general ignorance of those Marxist utopias, I say f**k ’em.”
Succinct and to the point, as always.
(BTW, the migration southward on US54 was something to behold today. All them illegals heading to Mexico to beat Trump’s eviction Executive Order tomorrow.)
There ain’t no such thing as a Marxist utopia on planet earth, HDC…and certainly not in the U.S.
And as far as Trump doing something substantive about illegals is concerned…I am not sold. He’s going to soon find out that you can’t flip a switch and get rid of these folks. It’ll take an immense amount of time…and God only knows how many hundreds of billions of dollars. We’ll see how he does. My money’s on lots of showy “operations” that don’t change a darn thing.
A while back I recall the whole “let debt ridden California secede” thing came up and I actually looked up their 2015? budget. Lo and behold the PRK was actually doing quite well, I think they were up several billion and were funding a rainy day fund to boot which did surprise me. Then I looked up IL and well, the numbers were not pretty. I recall stating at the time something to the effect of, Detroit was the first attempt but IL or Chicago will be the blueprint moving forward.
Based on what I can remember about the situation, I think someone named Madigan was a big part of the problem and the current governor (Rautner?) was adding gasoline to the fire with some of his behavior. What I’d like to see happen is an actual adult act as empire, everyone responsible for the situation goes to jail (5-10 at Club Med, out in 2 with good behavior), and the state enter federal bankruptcy to nullify all obligations. I would also add as incentive anyone living in the state who wishes to leave can be sent at Fedgov expense to a country of their choosing along with the revocation of US citizenship.
“But without Chicago, Illinois would be well and truly fornicated”
I don’t have the background on the situation you have, but I ask how much of the incurred state debt was Cook County related?
“migration southward on US54 was something to behold today. ”
Pictures? As we say in the geek business, screen shot it or it didn’t happen.
FreedMike, I think it is the fear of the unknown that’s driving the illegals to vacate the premises.
Trump won’t be in office until 12p EST tomorrow and already the ca-ca has hit the fan for a lot of people who didn’t see him coming.
I didn’t see him coming. I didn’t vote for him. Didn’t think he had a snowball’s chance in hell to get elected without divine intervention.
I was wrong. Divine intervention happened.
And I would say that because so many people have been emboldened by his election, the next four years will be an era to keep a low profile if you’re a muslim, an illegal alien or a homosexual.
This is not the time to draw attention.
And most people are smart enough to know this. Our cook, our gardener, two of our Vaqueros, and their families have departed for South of the Border.
And we miss them already.
A bunch of fraidycat, alarmist nonsense. One could even characterize it as deplorable. After 8 years of nonsense, the half-a-buffoon may prove to be a breath of fresh air.
@28:
My understanding of Illinois politics is based on being from St. Louis, and keeping up with what’s going on “back home,” so it’s limited. But what’s happening in Illinois, far as I can tell, is standard Rust-Belt-In-Decline stuff, complicated by a poisonous political situation.
And the state has a LOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG history of corruption to boot. Remember the governor with the hairdo who tried to sell Obama’s senate seat? Last in a long, glorious list of incredibly crooked Illinois politicians.
I’m sure some of the state’s problems are due to Chicago-related spending, but Chicago’s also the state’s key tax generator as well. Without that, what do you have – a bunch of farms and what else – Rockford? Peoria? East St. Louis?
Lot of the same issues in Missouri as well, but that state’s gone red as hell and appears to be going down the Kansas path. They just elected a governor whose campaign ads showed him literally blowing s**t up with a big-a** rifle. Yee-hah. We’ll see how that works for them.
All I can say is I’m glad I moved to Colorado…it’s expensive but the politics here are FAR more sane.
GeneralMalaise – for once, I hope you are right ;)
Highdesertcat – “divine intervention” ???
Is that the new code name for Putin and the KGB?
@Freed
Thanks for the local insight.
@Lou
I suspect he is, Lord Trump has already backed off all of the batsh*t crazy stuff much to my dismay. The more I think about it, he wants to, no needs to, have the respect and admiration of the people. This is someone who wants to go down as beloved and thought well of, not someone who wants to absolutely do what is necessary (think Godfather II ending). I will make a prediction, he wants to go out on top and to that end assuming he doesn’t have a major f**kup between now and 2020 he gets reelected but resigns 2 to 3 years in citing health. Thus setting up his VP successor (to succeed or fail is another story) but more importantly setting up for Ivanka after 2028 as the daughter of our beloved president.
@28 – he definitely is going to have to reel things in. His approval ratings are bad. Newly elected Heads of State traditionally have a Honey Moon period. That hasn’t happened here.
As you have pointed out, his ego needs the respect of the people. He has picked some bright people and most have stated in their respective hearings that they will chart their own course.
I don’t think that the swamp will get drained. Rotating the reptiles could be a positive thing.
I hope that his tenure does more than provide comedians with ample material. He’s made my satirical life much easier.
I agree with everything but the polls, we’ve already learned how inaccurate they are and today I read something alleging every Obama approval poll was 8 points off due to some kind of oversampling or something to this effect. I’d say Orange Jesus has 55-60% of the nation behind him at this point and the percentage he does not have is only concentrated in a half dozen regions who hate him with a passion. Short of miracles, he will have a difficult time gaining much approval in those regions IMO and thus won’t concern himself much. Media will only lie to the locals about him in any event, and as we have already seen many citizens are simply brainwashed.
@Lou_BC
Don’t give Lex Luther/Donald Trump any ideas. He will buy up land in Nevada and make it ocean front property via selected nuke strikes.
Gingerist!!!
I am a real ginger and I really want Cheeto’s hair color to be fake, to avoid embarrassment on behalf of my fellow firecrotches.
Re inaccurate polls: National polls had Hillary winning by 4%, she ended up with 3%.
I thought it was interesting that polls that had people fill out a form rather than answer a human were more accurate about Trump. People were uncomfortable/ashamed of their true position.
Judging by the behavior of so many of the Democrat voters, critical thinking folk know where the shame truly lays.
Funny how Texas and California don’t like being told what to do by the Federal government. Of course for different reasons, but shows we are more alike.
Not exactly. CA just doesn’t think the being told goes far enough.
Texans ought to pray that isn’t the case.
…and we grow a little farther apart
I sure am glad I missed this dumpster fire. What happened to the promise that TTAC would have less politics and would not tolerate personal attacks in the comments?
Seconded. The sooner this thread stops cluttering up the Recent Comments bar, the better.
The subject matter is relevant. A lot of the comments, not so much.
I had suggested the use of a spam filter and comment limits for the most banal of the bunch, but that idea was rejected. Instead, the crap is allowed to float to the top.
Best comment in the entire stream.
Semi-ironically (or maybe not), I completely “missed” this story on Thursday because I was out doing chores, including burning the unrecyclable garbage.
It would be less complicated and more cost effective to agree on Global Standards for emissions, fuel efficiency, and safety standards. Realistically that is not going to happen but in the long run it would save the manufacturers money complying with one set of standards and save buyers money. These standards should have input from automotive engineers as well.
The impossible dream, but an intriguing idea.
Maybe it is impossible but it is worth trying. It costs the manufacturers more to comply with all the different standards but if there were at least Global Standards among the developed countries it would stabilize costs for the manufacturers and ultimately would save the consumer money. Less developed and less prosperous counties would not be subject to these agreed upon Global Standards. Buying more standardized parts that can be shared among different brands and product lines along with sharing Global platforms cuts costs. The auto industry has become more competitive.