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OPINION: California’s High-Speed Rail Foreshadows Disaster For The Green New Deal
The Green New Deal being pushed by congressional Democrats suggests building a complex cross-country high-speed rail system. The deal’s FAQ sheet said the taxpayer-funded rail system would be so extensive as to create conditions where “air travel stops becoming necessary.” Radically transforming the American transportation system is ambitious to say the least, and the California “bullet train” is a case study in the unrealistic nature of the Green New Deal.
Approved by California voters in 2008, the rail system would supposedly transport residents from San Francisco to Los Angeles in just two hours and forty minutes, saving almost four hours compared to a drive. Now, a decade later and $60 billion over its original budget, the rail is yet to see a single passenger, and will not until at least 2033.
Due to delays, cost overruns, and numerous route revisions, newly elected Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared the project will be scaled back, removing the Bay Area from the blueprint. He announced in his State of the State address, “The current project, as planned, would cost too much and, respectfully, take too long.”
Passengers were supposed to have access to the train by 2022. A Dornsife/LA Times poll, however, indicated that just 31 percent of California voters want the state to continue with the project. When originally approved, the 520-mile track was to cost $32 billion. After releasing its most recent business plan, the state’s high speed rail authority projected costs would top $100 billion. The change of heart by California voters was largely driven by this new figure.
The state has consistently failed in its management of the project. State auditor Elaine Howle pointed to a number of blunders that have cost California taxpayers dearly. Before securing land to build on, the project’s administrators began construction. With this uncertainty in direction, the project had to undergo a significant number of route revisions. In addition, the authority in charge of the building failed to inspect the work of private contractors.
To acquire the needed land, the Golden State has turned to eminent domain, a process by which government can take private property for public use. By 2015 the state had declared 192 resolutions for 425 acres of private land in the Central Valley. Families were removed from their homes and owners lost their place of business, all for a fruitless product.
Proponents of the Green New Deal argue that the example of California is an isolated incident — that with proper management, a cross-country high-speed rail system can be a reality. However, California is a microcosm of the high-speed rail system proposed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey.
Projects like the one in California fail because they are not subject to the scrutiny of market forces. Instead of assessing consumer demand, the deal starts with the conclusion that replacing a profitable industry (air travel) with an alternative that has no history of success is more than a utopian pipe-dream.
Studying government-run projects, researchers at PWC wrote:
There is a lack of incentive for project success, which is typical for public organizations. Successful completion results in fewer personnel and a budget reduced by the expected efficiency savings, and the manager being expected to deal with further IT projects.
In the event of failure, however, personnel and the budget remain as before, and the manager will not have to manage further IT projects.
Compared to high-speed rail, air travel has a significantly more impressive history of success. Since deregulation in 1978, the airline industry has seen its number of travelers spike 210 percent, while prices have fallen 40 percent, when adjusted for inflation. Airline companies have been able to compete against one another, benefitting consumers. Those companies that were unable to contend were not propped up by an endless stream of taxpayer funds, but reformed or went under.
When asked how it will be paid for, Ocasio-Cortez suggested that the Green New Deal would be paid for just as any other government project through a “combination of taxes, deficit spending and other kinds of investments.”
The example of the California High Speed Rail system, however, ought to speak to the non-potential of the Democratic Green New Deal. In addition to the trillions of taxpayer dollars to be spent on every other part of the bill, this portion is already a living failure.
Robert Wines is an associate at Americans for Tax Reform, a nonprofit group advocating for lower taxes and limited government.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.
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Report: Green New Deal Could Cost Every US Household $65,000 A Year
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The Green New Deal could cost up to $93 trillion over a decade, according to a new report by the right-leaning American Action Forum (AAF).
That comes to an estimated cost of $36,100 to $65,300 per American household per year to meet the Green New Deal’s goals, AAF reported Monday. Those goals include “net-zero” emissions, widespread high-speed rail, guaranteed jobs, universal health care and upgrading every building.
Thus, the potential cost of the Green New Deal could range from 63 percent of the median to nearly 106 percent of what the average household earns a year. The median U.S. household income was $61,372 in 2017, according to government figures.
AAF looked at what it would cost to achieve the Green New Deal’s main goals. For example, eliminating emissions from the electric grid is estimated to cost $5.4 trillion over 10 years. Also, “greening” the U.S. transportation system could cost up to $2.7 trillion, including building out high-speed rail.
Universal health care, on the other hand, would add an estimated $36 trillion in costs to the Green New Deal over a decade — this was included in the proposal despite having nothing to do with the environment.
The Green New Deal will be very expensive – our initial estimates are summarized below – @DJHEakin. https://t.co/O8KgIzfy5q pic.twitter.com/2iXzpCRFH9
— American Action Forum (@AAF) February 25, 2019
“The Green New Deal is clearly very expensive,” wrote AAF policy analysts, including economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former Congressional Budget Office director and adviser to former Arizona Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign. Holtz-Eakin is now AAF’s president.
New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Ed Markey to introduce Green New Deal resolutions in early February, calling for overhauling the U.S. economy to get greenhouse gas emissions to “net-zero” within 10 years.
The resolution also calls for a slew of welfare programs, from federal job guarantees to universal health care, and for the government to focus on “repairing historic oppression” of certain groups of people. (RELATED: Washington Post Rips Green New Deal: ‘We Can’t Afford Bad Ideas’)
Ocasio-Cortez said the resolution, though non-binding, was needed to take global warming seriously. In a livestream to supporters Sunday night, Ocasio-Cortez said global warming was “going to kill us” if nothing is done.
Republicans oppose the Green New Deal, seeing it as a massive expansion of government to control almost every aspect of American life.
“The American Action Forum’s analysis shows that the Green New Deal would bankrupt the nation,” Wyoming GOP Sen. John Barrasso said in a statement.
“Promising new technologies like advanced nuclear power, carbon capture, and carbon utilization hold the key to significant emissions reductions,” said Barrasso, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Democrats are divided on support for the Green New Deal, despite support from every Senate Democrat running for president in 2020.
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The Libertarian Enterprise | The False Red Flag
L. Neil Smith’s
It’s the left’s fondest wet-dream, unfulfilled before now: a right-wing would-be domestic terrorist — a “white nationalist” and a Coast Guard lieutenant, to boot, if the lying mass media are to be believed — with a hit-list of protocommunist politicians and a formidable and terrifying “arsenal” to carry it out.
However. “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is,” may not be one of Leroy Jethro Gibbs’ life-preserving rules (other examples: Gibbs’ Rule #40: “If it seems like someone’s out to get you, they are.”; Gibbs’ Rule #36: “If it feels like you’re being played, you probably are.”), but it damn well should be.
It turns out that the man’s “arsenal” is only formidable and terrifying to the wet-panties buttons-‘n’-bows crowd back east and on the left coast who know better about everything than you do, and want to run your life. To anybody else — to anybody who lives west of the Mississippi or south of the Mason-Dixon Line — it represents a small-to-moderate personal gun collection of fifteen pieces. My daughter laughed when she heard the actual number. They’re also reporting breathlessly that he had a thousand rounds of ammunition. That’s sixty-six cartridges per gun, just about enough for a sunny afternoon at the range, shooting just for fun.
Another thought: working your way up to the rank of full lieutenant in the Coast Guard (the equivalent of an Army or Air Force captain, but with fewer chances for promotion) represents a modest but respectable career — my own dad was only a major when he retired — and I’m not sure I believe a guy like this would throw away his life unless he had a tumor in his skull the size of a bowling ball. Once again, the socialists who think they own us have overreached absurdly. They say the guy was also in the Army — and the Marines. Yeah, right.
Historically, such “terrorists” — like the one who shot Gabby Giffords, just to name one example — have turned out to be leftists, or actors, pretending to be terrorists. The jury, figuratively speaking, is still out on the Las Vegas shooter. As Sir Arthur Conan Doyle put it so articulately, the police are baffled.
Personally, I call _bullshit_ — and it’s time that you did, too. Like so many other such incidents, I am confident that the guy — assuming he actually exists — will turn out to be a Democrat operative, dutifully advancing the collectivist agenda. And the hapless morons at FOX News are falling for it just like the other networks. But tell me: why is it that clearly leftist mass-shooters always manage to surprise the authorities, while the one advertised as right wing gets nipped in the bud?
Friends and neighbors, this exercise was _staged_ — as transparently as a Jussie Smollett hoax — to back up unconstitutional “red flag” gun confiscation laws that are going to end up costing — PAY ATTENTION, NOW, POLITICIANS — city, county, and state governments _billions_, if we do our work.
One thing we need to do better is communicate. If I’m any example, I’ve been writing about gun politics since the late 1960s, over fifty years. I’ve written thousands of essays, articles, and columns, not to overlook going on forty gun-heavy books. In all that time, over half a century, not even one of my so-called “comrades” in the same struggle has contacted me to exchange ideas or hire a piece of work, even though I have tried to reach them. The only thing they ever seem to want from me is money — with the notable exception of the late, great Aaron Zelman of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, a wonderful man and a genuine freedom-fighter who asked me to write two books for him and many, many articles.
I’m doing my part, boys and girls, I’ve been doing it for five decades, even when gun editors called me “hysterical” for predicting the mess we’re living with now.. We’re up against the worst threats we’ve ever faced and we need each other’s help to fight what looks to me like a homegrown communist revolution. You need my help. Ask anyone who actually reads my stuff.
Award-winning novelist and essayist L. Neil Smith is a retired gunsmith, Publisher and Senior Columnist of L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise and the author of over thirty books. Look him up on Google, Wikipedia, and Amazon.com and watch for the forthcoming ONLY THE YOUNG DIE GOOD and ARES. He is available, at professional rates, to write columns, articles, and speeches for your organization, event, or publication, fiercely defending your rights, as he has done since the mid-1960s. His writings (and e-mail address) may also be found at L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise, at JPFO.org or at https://www.patreon.com/lneilsmith, to which you can contribute, directly. His many books and those of other pro-gun libertarians may also be found (and ordered) at L. Neil Smith’s THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE “Free Radical Book Store” The preceding essay was originally prepared for and appeared in L. Neil Smith’s THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE. Use it to fight the continuing war against tyranny.
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Former Treasurer of Ventura Police Community Foundation Pleads No Contest to Four Felony Counts of Grand Theft
VENTURA, California –District Attorney Gregory D. Totten announced today that Gale Hartman (DOB 03/14/1938) pled no contest to four felony counts of grand theft.
Hartman, while treasurer of the Ventura Police Community Foundation and a civilian employee of the Ventura Police Department, is believed to have stolen approximately $119,000 from the Foundation by making systematic cash withdrawals over four years, using the Foundation’s debit card.
This fraud was discovered by the Ventura Police Department and submitted for investigation to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office, Bureau of Investigation.
Sentencing for Hartman is scheduled March 25, 2019, at 8:30 a.m. in courtroom 12 of the Ventura Superior Court, County of Ventura. The court has indicated it is likely to sentence Hartman to a jail term it deems appropriate, not exceeding one year, as well as up to five years probation.
The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office is the public prosecutor for the county’s 850,000 residents. The office employs approximately 280 employees including attorneys, investigators, victim advocates, and other professional support staff who strive to seek justice, ensure public safety, and protect the rights of crime victims.
Follow the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office on Twitter @VenturaDAOffice
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Oxnard | Residential Burglary/Narcotics Sales Arrest
Oxnard Police Department – Incident Press Release
On February 13, 2018, Detectives assigned to the Ventura County Sheriff’s East County Narcotics Street Team (ECST) were conducting a surveillance in the 700 block of South ‘F’ Street when they observed two suspicious subjects enter a residential property and begin removing property. The detectives documented their observations and conducted a follow-up investigation on February 14, 2018. While speaking with the homeowner, detectives learned that a residential burglary had occurred and several thousand dollars of property was taken.
Detectives from the Ventura County Sheriff’s East County Narcotics Street Team and the Oxnard Police Department were able to identify Jesus Monares, a 55 year old San Bernardino resident, and Mercedes Jackson-Resto, a 27 year old Oxnard resident, as the two suspects from the burglary.
On February 21, 2019, Jesus Monares was located by detectives in the City of Oxnard. Monares was placed under arrest for the residential burglary. After being placed under arrest, Monares was found to be in possession of almost 32 grams of Methamphetamine, packaging, and a digital scale. Monares was additionally charged with possession of Methamphetamine for sales.
On February 25, 2019, with the assistance of Oxnard Police Department’s Neighborhood Policing Team (NPT), Mercedes Jackson-Resto was located and arrested for the residential burglary.
Anyone with information regarding criminal activity is encouraged to contact the Oxnard Police Department at (805) 385-7600, or you can remain anonymous by calling the Ventura County Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477. You can also visit this site: www.venturacountycrimestoppers.org to submit a tip via text or email.
Suspects: Mercedes Jackson Resto, 27 year old, Oxnard resident, Jesus Monares, 55 year old, San Bernardino resident
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Evening Closures on State Route 126
Fillmore and Piru for Pavement Project
PIRU, FILLMORE – The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) announced plans to close a lane in both directions of State Route 126 (Santa Paula Freeway) for shoulder and guardrail work and traffic loop installation.
From Monday, February 25 to Friday, March 1, the following lane closures will be in place in the cities of Fillmore, Santa Paula and the unincorporated area of Piru:
Evening Closures 7 p.m. – 6 a.m.
- One eastbound lane from Los Serenos Road to Santa Clara Street in the city of Fillmore.
- One westbound lane from to the Los Angeles-Ventura County line to Hallock Drive in Santa Paula.
Some closures may start and end later. All closures are weather permitting and subject to change. Local city streets may be closed to allow crews to work on the highway.
Motorists should expect delays and are strongly advised to use alternate routes or avoid the area. Additionally, motorists can check traffic conditions before they leave by visiting the Caltrans Quickmap.
The closures are part of a road repaving project that stretches from the Ventura-Los Angeles County Line to Haun Creek. Granite Construction Co. of Santa Barbara, CA is the contractor.
Caltrans reminds drivers to be “Work Zone Alert” and to “Slow for the Cone Zone.”
Ventura and Santa Paula for Construction Activities
VENTURA, SANTA PAULA – The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) announced planned closures on State Route 126 (SR-126) for paving and guardrail work in the cities of Ventura and Santa Paula.
From Monday, February 25 to Friday, March 1, the following planned closures of SR-126 are scheduled in the cities of Ventura and Santa Paula between 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.:
Westbound:
- One lane from Hallock Dr. to Main St.
- Tenth St. on-ramp
- Briggs Rd. off-ramp
Eastbound:
- One lane from Main St. to Hallock Dr.
- Main St. off-ramp
- Kimball Rd. on and off-ramp
- Briggs Rd. on-ramp and off-ramp
- Tenth St. on-ramp.
Closures may start and end later. All closures are weather permitting and subject to change.
Motorists should expect delays and are strongly advised to use alternate routes or avoid the area. Additionally, motorists can check traffic conditions before they leave by visiting the Caltrans Quickmap.
The closures are part of a road paving project on SR-126 that stretches from US-101 to Haun Creek Bridge. C.A. Rasmussen Inc. of Valencia, CA is the contractor.
Caltrans reminds drivers to be “Work Zone Alert” and to “Slow for the Cone Zone.”
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Ventura County Wine Enthusiasts | Closing Vintura Wine Bar – Today!
Details Vintura Wine Bar has lost its lease and the last day is this Monday. Kristen wants to go out with a bang. 50 percent off wines today! Monday will be busy, different bands who have played during the years will be there.
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More Firearms Arrests in Oxnard
Oxnard Police Department – Incident Press Release
On February 24, 2019, at 11:21 pm, an Oxnard Police Department patrol officer conducted a traffic stop in the area of Rose Avenue and Gary Drive. During the traffic stop it was determined that the passenger, Jonathan Faagogo, was a Post Release Offender, a California voter approved supervised release status offered to nonviolent offenders.
A subsequent search of the vehicle was conducted and a loaded 9mm Ruger firearm was located inside the vehicle. The firearm was later determined to be stolen. The driver, Richard Chairez, was charged with multiple weapons violations. Faagogo was determined to be in violation of his PRCS probation and also taken into custody.
Anyone with information regarding criminal activity is encouraged to contact the Oxnard Police Department at (805) 385-7600, or you can remain anonymous by calling the Ventura County Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477. You can also visit this site: www.venturacountycrimestoppers.org to submit a tip via text or email.
Suspects: Richard Chairez, 22 year old, Oxnard resident, Jonathan Faagogo, 22 year old, Oxnard resident
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We’ve Found 3,989 Planets In Earth’s Neighborhood – And The Number Is Rising
Michael Summers | Professor of Planetary Science and Astronomy
The universe is awash in planets. As of this writing, there are 3,989 exoplanets (planets outside of our solar system) that have been confirmed by astronomers. Several thousand more have been detected, but await confirmation. The online Exoplanet Encyclopedia keeps tabs of exoplanet discoveries, and it must be updated quite often. The number of planets known will likely be larger by the time you read this.
Over the past few years we have discovered exoplanets at an average rate of over two per day! It appears that on average every star has five or six planets, perhaps more. With current telescopic detectors we can only discover those that are the largest — most of them larger than the Earth. As telescopes improve, we can expect to find many more, and smaller, exoplanets.
Most of these planets have been discovered over the past few years with the NASA Kepler Space Telescope. That telescope was recently retired. A somewhat different space telescope, known as TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite), is now in space and is focused on finding planets around the brightest nearby stars. TESS may find as many as 20,000 planets during its projected two-year mission lifetime!
The number of planets in the universe is truly staggering! Our galaxy has about 400 billion stars. That is very roughly 10 times the number of people that have lived on Earth. And there are well over 400 billion galaxies that can be seen in the visible universe. That means that there are more planets than the number of grains of sand on all the beaches on Earth. There are more planets than the total number of heartbeats of all the people that have ever lived on Earth.
And the types of planets that are being discovered truly boggle the imagination! There are planets that are mostly water. There are planets that are mostly metal. There are rocky planets like the Earth but that are over 10 times as massive. There are planets that have two suns in their skies, and there are planets that have four suns in their skies.
There are planets where the same side of the planet always faces its star, and it is so hot that the surface is covered with molten magma, and the atmosphere is vaporized rock. But it is so cold on the night side that when the hot air blows around to that side it “snows” rock snowflakes. There is even one planet that appears to have a large fraction of elemental carbon, which as everyone knows that at super high pressure is diamond — a “diamond world.”
The closest star beyond our solar system (Proxima Centauri) has a planet just a bit larger than the Earth. There is one system (TRAPPIST-1) a little farther away than Proxima Centauri that has seven nearly Earth-sized planets, three of which are probably about the same temperature as the Earth and have a large amount of water. Over 50 planets have been found that are about the same size and have the same temperature as the Earth, which means liquid water is stable on them. They may be habitable, at least for the most common life form that exists on Earth — bacteria.
And all of these exoplanets may be just the tip of the iceberg. There appear to be vast numbers of planets that float around between the stars. These are sometimes called “rogue worlds” or worlds that have no sun. These exoplanets are dark to the visible light that our eyes see. But they may not necessarily be cold inside. Many may have subsurface oceans of water like that which Europa — a moon of Jupiter has under a crust of ice. Europa has several times more liquid water than in all the oceans of Earth combined.
Is there life on any of these exoplanets? We really have no idea. But we have found that the requirements for life — liquid water, carbon and other raw materials, and usable energy — probably exist on numerous planets and moons.
Completely apart from the question of life elsewhere, it is sometimes good simply to pause and reflect on our amazing Earth and the truly, truly incredible universe we inhabit.
Michael Summers is a professor of planetary science and astronomy at George Mason University.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.
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