As someone who lives in Southern California, I know what you mean. Things are deteriorating in this state. But all the new bike lanes being installed in areas where there are virtually no bicyclists are just awesome!
My favorite is the bike lane near me that is a two-way lane going down one side of a one-way street. With concrete bollards and parking spots (!) separating it from car traffic. So now, as a driver, driving down that one-way-but-for-the-bike-lane street, I have to watch for oncoming traffic when making a left turn. Or, if I’m pulling out from a parking lot onto said street, I have to stop on top of said bike lane to be in a position to check for (car) traffic. Luckily, not a lot of cyclists. But if there were, I’m sure they would enjoy the slippery green paint that coats the lane.
(Chris, I dare say you’ve probably seen this atrocity, living as you do in a neighboring city.)
There's a substacker I found once or twice who writes about the idiocies of bikelanes that (as it sounds like in this case) actually make things more dangerous for cyclists not less.
The particular bitching point mentioned in one post was one that I personally encountered some years back in Encinitas where the abrupt end of the lane more or less forced the cyclist to abruptly merge with traffic that couldn't see it (or be seen by it) thanks to the vehicles parked in between
PhD, we are in the same city, although nowadays it's hard to tell when all the cities are doing the same stupid things. This is the city's "transportation department" trying to justify its own existence, its degrees in "urban planning," and its super-high, beyond-belief salaries. The bike lane nightmare on that street is of course not the worst thing they've ever done, but it's close. Remember the street they dotted with mini-islands and other Lilliputian silliness (to slow traffic) so that in the end it looked like a parody of a mini-golf course. As you know...
I think you are talking about Union St. It was a pleasant street to drive on (or bike on) before they installed their little social engineering project and all those traffic lights to go with it. Now it's ruined. And I rarely see a bicyclist. On a recent afternoon we sat out on a friend's front lawn two houses down from Union St. for a few hours, having some drinks and counting bicycles that went by. We counted three. It cost $10 million to build that one and a half mile stretch. But the city manager assured me when I asked about this, and why do they not fix potholes instead, that the money came from a grant from Metro and other entities, not the city.
Gee, "a grant from Metro" is still taxpayer dollars, yes? Not private donations! Never mind, it's impressive that you cornered the City Manager about it.
I used to routinely drive Cordova, a wonderfully spacious street, from the college to the city center. Then the city wrecked that street too with a stupid bike lane project. They took out a lane or two too, in their zeal to frustrate drivers. I never ONCE saw a bicycle post-project on that street in the many many many times I was on it, although I once saw a guy in a "Hoveround"-type vehicle in the bike lane ---- you know one of those comfy chairs with a motor attached to it for people with mobility issues.
I believe progressive local politicians refer to it as a “road diet”, to control out of control carbon emissions from too much vehicular traffic. They are sooo damned smart!
Ha! Do you live in San Diego? All I hear about from my pals in San Diego (where I left after a decade) is about all the lost parking spots in No. Park all the way down University Avenue to the Pacific Ocean, replaced by bike lanes that are almost always totally empty.
Lived in SD 1979-2004, in University Heights. It was a great city with its beautiful hills and eclectic neighborhoods, right on the Pacific. I remember being proud to live there - we weren't like that dreadful Los Angeles far up the 5! Well... times have changed. Have lived in AZ since, in its reddest County. LOVE IT.
As a long time ‘San Diegan’, I am ready to ‘bail’ from what was once a beautiful and manageable city, to the S**THOLE it has now turned into. Certain parts of the city are barely recognizable these days.
Vancouver had a comfortable bridge into town, that is now a scary narrow bridge with two bike lanes. The bike lanes continue all the way through town. And the cars pile up for blocks because the ingress routes, where the supposed bikes are, all need to be turned off of to get to the main work buildings. But whereas before there was constant turning off now maybe 3 cars turn then the bike lane has time to be continued on. And the cars stop on a no right turn on a green light intersection. Consequently I have seen blocks of cars lined up trying to turn while bikes, not that there are any, have the right of way. Occasionally one lone geeky biker rides down a safe bike lane while 100s of cars wait to turn. It is pathetic. I live in Victoria BC now and we have bike lanes everywhere. In the summer they are used. Very seldom in the winter. Vancouver gets nearly 3x the rain as we do. Almost no one rides on a bike in Vancouver for six months of the year. This is changing somewhat with electric bikes. Parking downtown Victoria was $45 a month 12 years ago. Now about $300 a month. So practically some people are buying electric bikes.
Well, look on the brightside, maybe if CA keeps losing residents you won't have to drive around the Vons parking lot for 45 minutes for a pigeon hole of a parking spot.
I from San Diego (moved to FL at beginning of plandemic) and they've done their best to ruin the most beautiful city in our country.
We spent summer 2022 in San Diego, near the convention center. I am a native of So. Cal. San Diego used to be the jewel of Southern California. Now it is a sewer of illegals, pot heads, homeless and drug addicts. So sad.
We've got that in the Midwest now, too. Took out lanes for cars, so traffic would continue to flow well, for bike lanes and bus lanes. Oh, and parking, too! Haven't seen any of this on these streets.
Have heard it was done by federal edict, under FJB!, because it's a highway that runs through town. 🤔 Wouldn't you want traffic to flow well on a highway?
This must be a federal program, they did the same to the roads by me in south Florida. The traffic is already a nightmare, there solution, install bike lanes and eliminate driving lanes. In south Florida no less, where it’s 90 degrees with 80% humidity 8 months a year, and has tropical downpours basically every afternoon all summer long. It’s a place where biking is simply a hobby,or just exercise and not a real option as a form of everyday transportation. If you see 1 person a day biking in 1 of these lanes, it’s a lot.
I don't think anyone has a clearer picture of the Dems and what their self-inflicted ideological lobotomy has done to them than we OTHER Californians who don't reside in their gilded bubble.
The cognitive dissonance may be historically unprecedented:
On one hand, they are of course the apex and terminus of human history, Progress incarnate, the smartest, most-educated, most enlightened and compassionate leaders and minds of America, who are so obviously a race of superior superhumans that it drives them nuts that the rest of us just don't hand over all power to them in perpetuity, and with awe and gratitude at their brilliance and empathy for the marginalized and oppressed;
yet on the other hand, when they are given total power, they can barely keep the lights on, preach for years and spend billions about the climate and environment yet forget to fill and maintain our reservoirs, let a large chunk of coastal property burn up to save the protected milkvetch weed, open the jails, open the borders, flood the streets with deranged bums, graduate HS kids who are barely literate, give us the highest taxes, gas prices, heating prices, sales taxes etc—and can't even fix a damn pothole or get a cop to appear in less than an hour.
What do you do when an entire political party and so many of a nation's cultural and political leaders are so completely detached from reality that they might as well live on another planet? How do you solve a problem like Social Justice, which seems to make its disciples dumber and more strident and self-righteous while everything they touch turns to (equitable) shit!?!
These people don't need to lose an election, they need a cosmic intervention.
True, true, and true. I live in So Commieland, too. I managed to "escape" residing in this cesspool for the better part of four months beginning September 2024. I reluctantly returned just over a month ago, and guess what? My town is not accessible due to the fire, and PCH is closed indefinitely. It's a destination location that depends on people being able to get here, and they cannot! This is the death knell for our local businesses. Some have already closed up shop, and others don't bother to open. It's just a matter of time before more close their doors for good.
It really is sad and infuriating that we live in such a beautiful place and yet it's governed in such an inept and arrogant way. A one-party state seems to only elevate mediocrities and only care about maintaining its hold on power. Hopefully someday we'll get to see it crumble (the party not the state, that is).
Yes, I agree. My hubby and I emigrated from Toronto to California over 30 years ago. We had won a lottery most Canucks could only dream of, and we made hay while the sun shined brightly for many years. Two crazy entrepreneurs doing crazy things: things that COULD NEVER be done in Chinada. Don't get me started on Chinada. What a fecking disaster!
We shall see what the future holds for us here in Commieland. Until then, we are building a homestead with a thriving garden and ecosystem. If we have to move (which is looking more likely than not), we will take our well-earned skills and plant our "flag" in a more forgiving and palatable state.
I agree with you. What political party would think that flooding a country with illegal, perhaps terrorist or criminal aliens in massive numbers akin to a war invasion makes sense? How could this ever, in the history of humanity, be seen as a sensible choice? It does not make sense. Logical people see that. And yet there is this faction, nay a RICO conspiracy, that wants just this result. How can this be stopped?
Six of us retired MI officers on a text thread--actually one got out as a CPT, another still serves in the Air Guard--which is kinda like being in the military--started by a good friend of mine who's a lefty. 3 lefties with 3 sane people.
15-20 years ago our political eye poking was fun, today--not so much.
It is baffling to me, (saddening/frightening/depressing is more honest) how objectively intelligent people can become so insane with TDS.
We've had this thread for a few years, a hot topic pops up and we argue.
We went back and forth a few times, we had done this most recently just before the election.
I finally texted that I will no longer participate in these discussions. I feel like shit. Texts are a terrible way to communicate, no nuance, no facial expressions, no context. Perfect breeding ground for hyperbole and enflamed feelings.
I will only engage with them about non-current event shit. Family, sports, professional stuff--I just hate where we are.
Hyperbole and exaggeration is part of my schtick, always has been--but now, ugh, I can feel the seeds of deep distrust and borderline disdain in our responses. How did we get here?
They truly think Trump and everything they are doing is evil..and I truly am doing cheetah back flips of joy for everything Trump is doing. I went to war with some of these guys. WTF?
Conservatives think liberals are misguided/deluded. Liberals think conservatives are evil. It has always been thus. Johnson ran this infamous ad against Goldwater:
It’s called the “Daisy ad,” ran only once, and was widely criticized because it’s not “rational” in favor of raw emotionalism. Democrats love this kind of appeal: the 2012 ad using a Paul Ryan lookalike to throw Granny off a cliff from her wheelchair.
BSN - very accurate description of why texting sucks as a vehicle for human interaction. I’ve experienced the same…lost a (good?) friend due to text ‘interpretation’ of a clearly stated message. Part of why societal threads are fraying rapidly, IMHO…
Social media is, perhaps, the same phenomenon with speakers to 11. I was never on Twitter before X, now it is my source of current events. Facebook is all ads and anger.
I am as susceptible to being 'triggered' into an angry response as the most juvenile furry-wearing, trans leftist. I am realizing I need to put severe exposure limits into my life for any media.
Substack is different. It's like long form podcast vs cable news--it is thoughtful.
The ONLY plausible way through (and, yes, the only way out is through) for the Dems is what Ezra Klein is proposing in his new book Abundance (at least from what I gather from the reviews; I haven't read it yet).
The Groups will scream bloody murder, but at least the calls are coming from inside the house.
The Dems need to be reminded that no matter how much they think their candidate's poop smells like Chanel No. 5, they still lost to Trump. Scoreboard.
The smug pollution emanating from it is probably enough to make it a hazard under EPA regulations - a bookstore of them probably qualifies for a superfund site
3 hours ago I saw a homeless woman loudly berating and whaling on a homeless man. The fracas spilled out onto the busy street: a shopping cart, trash, a skateboard, and the man were all out in traffic at some point. No one crashed into him or the objects, but it was a disaster set to happen.
This scene was next to a hospital, in a densely populated part of a major West Coast city.
as i was talking to a homeless bum panhandling at a traffic light, a woman was yelling at him from across the street. i asked why she was yelling at him, he says "oh thats my wife, god bless her, she gave me seven children".
A plea for restraint: that homeless bum may have a background which has broken him. Notice I said, "may."
There have been two independent studies of homeless men done in North America in the last twenty years, the first in Toronto, the second in Dallas.
Each study found the same: about 50% of homeless men have suffered a traumatic brain injury. I don't mean a concussion, about which there is contention within neurology whether concussions rise to a level which can be considered mild traumatic brain injuries, I mean unambiguous traumatic brain injuries. An investigator on one of the studies noted with grimness that they tested only men because they were certain whatever percentage of TBI they found in men, they'd find a higher percentage in women.
It's been established as well as anything ever is in medicine that a traumatic brain injury, unlike a true concussion, is not a thing which dwindles in its effects as the years pass and the patient begins to re - engage with an active life again. A patient is lucky if he doesn't get worse.
This is particularly maddening in light of the fact that a remarkably effective, two part protocol has been known for forty years which if it were applied to every TBI case immediately could accomplish close to miracles: first, a hole the size of a half dollar is carved out of the skull just above the forehead, with the bone from the skull being seen into the lining of the gastrointestinal tract for safekeeping. This allows the insertion of some sort of device which measures intracranial pressure. Doctors figured out a long time ago that in many TBIs, the patient is damaged more by the swelling of brain tissue against the skull in reaction to the injury than by the injury itself. The removal of a small part of the skull by itself provides some protection, but its main purpose is to allow insertion of the device which measures intracranial pressure. When ICP becomes too much, the steroid drip which is the first remarkable TBI breakthrough, and which as I understand patients are given immediately when they get to the ER, is increased. ( Doctors, whatever I am not getting right in stating this, please correct and augment. )
The second part of the protocol is that overused word, "remarkable," and when I read about it, I was fascinated and just damned charmed by it: in the mid 1980s, a debate which had been going on among neurologists for years was resolved in the effect of a never before tried treatment on a fourteen year old boy who had been trapped under icy water for twenty minutes: could the intravenous administration of barbiturates actually rescue someone who would either die of a TBI or be severely disabled for life by it? ( You can understand why neurologists would have been hesitant to use such a treatment. )
The doctor who told me about this said that in the case of the fourteen year old it was a do or die matter. In addition to the ICP monitoring, the kid was kept unconscious by barbiturates for two weeks until acting by intuition, the doctors withdrew the drug. The kid woke up, was fine, and went on to live a life which my doctor had heard seemed to have been unaffected by his shocking injury.
As far as I know, this simple treatment is still not that frequently done. I welcome any doctors who can tell me if one, this is true, and two, why. Whether someone dies of a TBI or is ruined by one, he's a loss to society, obviously, and the Toronto and Dallas studies show the down the line effects of TBI on many patients who "survive."
Clearly, this is not the sole cause of homelessness, but it's a huge factor. Many of the rest are schizophrenics. Many of the homeless who are TBI survivors or schizophrenics certainly become drug and alcohol abusers, and then, as we know, many have become homeless because of substance misuse. And a significant number of the homeless are homeless because of unforeseeable catastrophe.
Excluding the last group, consider how many homeless you encounter about whom you don't think, there is something badly off in that person. Do you know why so many homeless resist being in shelters? First, many are, but most shelters have a ridiculous requirement that residents be out of the place by 9:00. They're allowed back at 6:00 PM. But the thing which drives the homeless battiest about shelters is the lack of privacy.
If that angers you, please remember the evidence that a great majority of the homeless are physically sick people, also, that The Golden Rule always applies.
If I were America's Cromwell ( come on, America, you know you want me instead of that pussy, Trump ) I'd build a couple of million low cost, quickly and easily constructed, very small apartments for the homeless, dragoon them off the streets, keep them housed with that invaluable thing, privacy, and over the next however many years it took, have them diagnosed and treated. ( Note: few of the homeless are career criminals. Such people are permanently employed in America's thriving crime scene. )
I wrote a lot more than I intended, but I wince every time I see the term, "homeless bum."
Fortunately the Dimocrats show no sign of getting their shit together, let alone convincing anyone with a brain they can get shit done beyond making shitty streets.
I do believe that some of their more gullible foot soldiers are about to have a FO moment having FAed and burned Teslas while forgetting that they have cameras. I suspect some are going to plea by shopping those who encouraged them, so that's probably going to be a win.
I don't think the government associated classes have quite grasped that others actively hate them for their grifting incompetence. Of course they don't associate with those sorts so they don't understand why seeing government employees panic about having to list 5 things they did last week is a cause for joy
its all just so patently stupid... just who do they think owns 95% of teslas on the road today?? (hint: not maga nation). if you want to burn the single most likely vehicle of your political opponents, i would probably start with lifted, extra cab, pickups with truck nuts?? its the same thing with the summer of george floyd riots... they didnt go out in the suburbs and burn chick filAs and hobby lobbys, they burned the businesses in their own community?? its like watching a toddler break his own toys in a tantrum...
And then burning a car that was already paid for. Which will most likely be replaced by a brand new tesla paid for by insurance claims. This tesla burning may actually boost teslas stock as they have to replace perfectly good cars with brand new ones. It will also let the evil insurance industry to raise rates to cover all there losses. These idiots are helping those they claim to hate.
But a member of the “never to be criticized” judiciary told me we treated the Nazis much more humanely during WWII than we are our “undocumented” friends today. Oh the humanity!
Do you think it’s possible that this entire mess is clearer to those of us who live in California, since we can no longer hide that this place is terminally ill and walking around in a hospital gown with its ass exposed ?
As bad as Calif is, I don’t think you guys have given $2B to Stacey Abrams or farmed $20B out to Citibank because it couldn’t be spent by the deadline (“…tossing gold bars off the Titanic”). But then again, you have spent $16B on 1600 ft of high speed rail, so there’s that… (For comparison, we spent $20.5B (2025$) on the Manhattan Project, but that wasn’t as complex as installing 2 steel rails over & over.
And it took 3 companies 6 yrs to build 1,911 miles of the Transcontinental Railroad.)
BTW, I’m not dumping on non-Democrat Californians; everybody else there however…
When I was in the Infantry, as a young man, it was emphasized repeatedly - your plan will not work, things will go to sh**, but you must not panic. Your RTO (radio telephone operator) may be shot while you’re on the radio with your commander, and you will be tempted to withdraw from the fight to care for him - but you must NOT! Fight the fight until you have restored control or you are destroyed - there is no other magical middle way of “doing it correctly” - there is only striving through the chaos to get to the other side. Once you are there (the other side), then you can shift your focus to restoring, repairing, and healing. But not one second before that point.
I hope Substack is giving you combat pay to read the Atlantic. I once said it was only fit to line a birdcage but I now have too much respect for our avian friends to permit that.
you writing is so good! chicago like la has suffered under the democratic party for way too long. black teachers in chicago are now saying freely and out loud how destructive social justice agendas have been to their students for decades. held hostage by the department of education they’ve been graduating generations of black children who CANNOT read. yeah,goose stepping for the democratic party but couldn’t spell the phrase if their lives depended on it. so so sad. one day hopefully people will wake up and recognize the democratic party is The KKK.
You just have to give the board of education more money. That way the 12% they filter to the schools becomes larger and the teachers will finally be able to teach the kids to read. What part don't you get Ryan???😜
Fled western WA where I was born and raised many years ago, first for cost and now add in the current cultural ambience. Couple hours south of Chicago now, and shortly after all the ICE raiding started, our local high school made a big to-do about protecting students on campus from them and how they wouldn’t let ICE on campus, etc, etc. Same school that somehow didn’t discover a former student wandering the halls (after school was done for the day) with a weapon until far longer than they should have. Thankfully nobody was harmed, but yes. Looking for a place with less ambience now. 😣
41st Place, Los Angeles, March 25, 2025: Trash on the curbs, and sidewalks. A homeless person face down on the sidewalk. Alive? Dead? Dog shit on the grass easements. So many vehicles parked on the street that more vehicles were double-parked, making a two lane street into a one lane street. Multiply by a thousand, and that is Mayor Karen Bass’s Los Angeles.
> See, government works so well that it gives the peasants a bunch of stuff, and then the peasants get resentful, because their appetites expand. They want even more stuff, so they get mad at the people who gave them all the stuff, for not giving them endless extra stuff. That’s why people were mad at, say for example, Joe Biden. He was too damn good, and it made us petulant.
If only we all lived in 15 minute smart cities and owned nothing while being 1000% connected to a CBDC-based social credit system administered via our AI implants--everybody would be happy!
After reading the Atlantic excerpt, the only conclusion that I could draw was that the writer truly believes that we are all ungrateful peons who don’t appreciate or deserve the crumbs that our ruling class deigns to give us. So “Shut Up,” they say.
As someone who lives in Southern California, I know what you mean. Things are deteriorating in this state. But all the new bike lanes being installed in areas where there are virtually no bicyclists are just awesome!
How else will you get to the highspeed rail to nowhere?
My favorite is the bike lane near me that is a two-way lane going down one side of a one-way street. With concrete bollards and parking spots (!) separating it from car traffic. So now, as a driver, driving down that one-way-but-for-the-bike-lane street, I have to watch for oncoming traffic when making a left turn. Or, if I’m pulling out from a parking lot onto said street, I have to stop on top of said bike lane to be in a position to check for (car) traffic. Luckily, not a lot of cyclists. But if there were, I’m sure they would enjoy the slippery green paint that coats the lane.
(Chris, I dare say you’ve probably seen this atrocity, living as you do in a neighboring city.)
There's a substacker I found once or twice who writes about the idiocies of bikelanes that (as it sounds like in this case) actually make things more dangerous for cyclists not less.
The particular bitching point mentioned in one post was one that I personally encountered some years back in Encinitas where the abrupt end of the lane more or less forced the cyclist to abruptly merge with traffic that couldn't see it (or be seen by it) thanks to the vehicles parked in between
PhD, we are in the same city, although nowadays it's hard to tell when all the cities are doing the same stupid things. This is the city's "transportation department" trying to justify its own existence, its degrees in "urban planning," and its super-high, beyond-belief salaries. The bike lane nightmare on that street is of course not the worst thing they've ever done, but it's close. Remember the street they dotted with mini-islands and other Lilliputian silliness (to slow traffic) so that in the end it looked like a parody of a mini-golf course. As you know...
If only there was a windmill that you had to drive through, timing it so that one of the blades didn't hit you.
Yes, if only! Ha ha
This seems to be the latest trend in urban planning.
I think you are talking about Union St. It was a pleasant street to drive on (or bike on) before they installed their little social engineering project and all those traffic lights to go with it. Now it's ruined. And I rarely see a bicyclist. On a recent afternoon we sat out on a friend's front lawn two houses down from Union St. for a few hours, having some drinks and counting bicycles that went by. We counted three. It cost $10 million to build that one and a half mile stretch. But the city manager assured me when I asked about this, and why do they not fix potholes instead, that the money came from a grant from Metro and other entities, not the city.
Gee, "a grant from Metro" is still taxpayer dollars, yes? Not private donations! Never mind, it's impressive that you cornered the City Manager about it.
I used to routinely drive Cordova, a wonderfully spacious street, from the college to the city center. Then the city wrecked that street too with a stupid bike lane project. They took out a lane or two too, in their zeal to frustrate drivers. I never ONCE saw a bicycle post-project on that street in the many many many times I was on it, although I once saw a guy in a "Hoveround"-type vehicle in the bike lane ---- you know one of those comfy chairs with a motor attached to it for people with mobility issues.
I don't like what they did to Cordova either, but at least they didn't install new traffic lights on every corner.
Yes, MC, at least that.
Funny how we are grateful these days for what these ridiculous departments DIDN'T do.
I look forward to Hanford to Bakersfield in 50 minutes after I have to drive 40 minutes from Visalia to Hanford.
Heads straight down up and down Interstate 5 LA to SF is the only route that makes any sense. But there are no voters on much of this route.
Painted a brilliant wide swath of green on each side reducing a 4 lane road to a 2 lane road for never to exist bicycles.
Brilliant, J.B., just Brilliant!
I believe progressive local politicians refer to it as a “road diet”, to control out of control carbon emissions from too much vehicular traffic. They are sooo damned smart!
Ha! Do you live in San Diego? All I hear about from my pals in San Diego (where I left after a decade) is about all the lost parking spots in No. Park all the way down University Avenue to the Pacific Ocean, replaced by bike lanes that are almost always totally empty.
Its such a joke. I lived in San Diego my whole life until the beginning of the plandemic.
Liberals have went out of their way to destroy one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
They’re still at it…
Lived in SD 1979-2004, in University Heights. It was a great city with its beautiful hills and eclectic neighborhoods, right on the Pacific. I remember being proud to live there - we weren't like that dreadful Los Angeles far up the 5! Well... times have changed. Have lived in AZ since, in its reddest County. LOVE IT.
Where did y’all go?
Sarasota area
As a long time ‘San Diegan’, I am ready to ‘bail’ from what was once a beautiful and manageable city, to the S**THOLE it has now turned into. Certain parts of the city are barely recognizable these days.
Vancouver had a comfortable bridge into town, that is now a scary narrow bridge with two bike lanes. The bike lanes continue all the way through town. And the cars pile up for blocks because the ingress routes, where the supposed bikes are, all need to be turned off of to get to the main work buildings. But whereas before there was constant turning off now maybe 3 cars turn then the bike lane has time to be continued on. And the cars stop on a no right turn on a green light intersection. Consequently I have seen blocks of cars lined up trying to turn while bikes, not that there are any, have the right of way. Occasionally one lone geeky biker rides down a safe bike lane while 100s of cars wait to turn. It is pathetic. I live in Victoria BC now and we have bike lanes everywhere. In the summer they are used. Very seldom in the winter. Vancouver gets nearly 3x the rain as we do. Almost no one rides on a bike in Vancouver for six months of the year. This is changing somewhat with electric bikes. Parking downtown Victoria was $45 a month 12 years ago. Now about $300 a month. So practically some people are buying electric bikes.
Well, look on the brightside, maybe if CA keeps losing residents you won't have to drive around the Vons parking lot for 45 minutes for a pigeon hole of a parking spot.
I from San Diego (moved to FL at beginning of plandemic) and they've done their best to ruin the most beautiful city in our country.
We spent summer 2022 in San Diego, near the convention center. I am a native of So. Cal. San Diego used to be the jewel of Southern California. Now it is a sewer of illegals, pot heads, homeless and drug addicts. So sad.
Never truer words. Lived there my whole life. Slow motion train wreck.
We've got that in the Midwest now, too. Took out lanes for cars, so traffic would continue to flow well, for bike lanes and bus lanes. Oh, and parking, too! Haven't seen any of this on these streets.
Have heard it was done by federal edict, under FJB!, because it's a highway that runs through town. 🤔 Wouldn't you want traffic to flow well on a highway?
This must be a federal program, they did the same to the roads by me in south Florida. The traffic is already a nightmare, there solution, install bike lanes and eliminate driving lanes. In south Florida no less, where it’s 90 degrees with 80% humidity 8 months a year, and has tropical downpours basically every afternoon all summer long. It’s a place where biking is simply a hobby,or just exercise and not a real option as a form of everyday transportation. If you see 1 person a day biking in 1 of these lanes, it’s a lot.
I don’t know if anyone has mentioned this in the replies Victor Davis Hansen writes a real good article this last weekend. Check it out.
there is a new 12 million dollar bike bridge in chico california.
low tech man is unable to link a picture. it is beautiful.
Isn’t that the truth!!!
🤣
Another brilliant article! Love everything you write!
"Government doesn’t fix us, we fix us, at which point we’ll be in a position to fix government."
THIS! :-)
Government doesn't fix problems, it subsidizes them.
Like!
I don't think anyone has a clearer picture of the Dems and what their self-inflicted ideological lobotomy has done to them than we OTHER Californians who don't reside in their gilded bubble.
The cognitive dissonance may be historically unprecedented:
On one hand, they are of course the apex and terminus of human history, Progress incarnate, the smartest, most-educated, most enlightened and compassionate leaders and minds of America, who are so obviously a race of superior superhumans that it drives them nuts that the rest of us just don't hand over all power to them in perpetuity, and with awe and gratitude at their brilliance and empathy for the marginalized and oppressed;
yet on the other hand, when they are given total power, they can barely keep the lights on, preach for years and spend billions about the climate and environment yet forget to fill and maintain our reservoirs, let a large chunk of coastal property burn up to save the protected milkvetch weed, open the jails, open the borders, flood the streets with deranged bums, graduate HS kids who are barely literate, give us the highest taxes, gas prices, heating prices, sales taxes etc—and can't even fix a damn pothole or get a cop to appear in less than an hour.
What do you do when an entire political party and so many of a nation's cultural and political leaders are so completely detached from reality that they might as well live on another planet? How do you solve a problem like Social Justice, which seems to make its disciples dumber and more strident and self-righteous while everything they touch turns to (equitable) shit!?!
These people don't need to lose an election, they need a cosmic intervention.
everything will be perfect once they get MORE FUNDING.
if i had a dime for every time a friend or family member says that about CA I'd be set for life.
its really bizarre that they just don't get it. not even worth debating.
Have you read Coffee & COVID today? The CIA's involvement in this hive think? Implications.....head exploding.
Lolol.
Not yet. About ready to.
They don’t ’get it’ because the fraud is pervasive and they keep getting reelected.
"I need wider powers!" - Wesley Mouch, primary statist villain in Atlas Shrugged.
Brilliant, CP.
Thanks for another fantabulous post, Chris.
True, true, and true. I live in So Commieland, too. I managed to "escape" residing in this cesspool for the better part of four months beginning September 2024. I reluctantly returned just over a month ago, and guess what? My town is not accessible due to the fire, and PCH is closed indefinitely. It's a destination location that depends on people being able to get here, and they cannot! This is the death knell for our local businesses. Some have already closed up shop, and others don't bother to open. It's just a matter of time before more close their doors for good.
It really is sad and infuriating that we live in such a beautiful place and yet it's governed in such an inept and arrogant way. A one-party state seems to only elevate mediocrities and only care about maintaining its hold on power. Hopefully someday we'll get to see it crumble (the party not the state, that is).
Good luck
I pray the party crumbles what a beautiful state .
Yes, I agree. My hubby and I emigrated from Toronto to California over 30 years ago. We had won a lottery most Canucks could only dream of, and we made hay while the sun shined brightly for many years. Two crazy entrepreneurs doing crazy things: things that COULD NEVER be done in Chinada. Don't get me started on Chinada. What a fecking disaster!
We shall see what the future holds for us here in Commieland. Until then, we are building a homestead with a thriving garden and ecosystem. If we have to move (which is looking more likely than not), we will take our well-earned skills and plant our "flag" in a more forgiving and palatable state.
Your town will be replaced by State of Calfornia office buildings.
It will be low income high rise apartments and the renters will complain that they live in a "food desert."
a 15 minute city
Watermelon green agenda slave shitty
The coastal beach areas from Santa Monica all the way up to Santa Barbara are toxic waste dumps, as is the ocean.
The coastal beach areas from Santa Monica all the way up to Santa Barbara are toxic waste dumps, as is the ocean.
It occurs to me that their objective is Nero’s Rome – the idle rich using the Christians as torches.
Oh, thank-you, Clever Pseudonym! Such truth is hard to come by!
You’ve described it very clearly CP! It’s a big part of why I left the Blue Bubble for red realism in Texas.
I agree with you. What political party would think that flooding a country with illegal, perhaps terrorist or criminal aliens in massive numbers akin to a war invasion makes sense? How could this ever, in the history of humanity, be seen as a sensible choice? It does not make sense. Logical people see that. And yet there is this faction, nay a RICO conspiracy, that wants just this result. How can this be stopped?
You carpet bag to other states to spread the gospel. Washington (the state) Oregon, the entire left coast has been infected by political AIDs
Six of us retired MI officers on a text thread--actually one got out as a CPT, another still serves in the Air Guard--which is kinda like being in the military--started by a good friend of mine who's a lefty. 3 lefties with 3 sane people.
15-20 years ago our political eye poking was fun, today--not so much.
It is baffling to me, (saddening/frightening/depressing is more honest) how objectively intelligent people can become so insane with TDS.
We've had this thread for a few years, a hot topic pops up and we argue.
We went back and forth a few times, we had done this most recently just before the election.
I finally texted that I will no longer participate in these discussions. I feel like shit. Texts are a terrible way to communicate, no nuance, no facial expressions, no context. Perfect breeding ground for hyperbole and enflamed feelings.
I will only engage with them about non-current event shit. Family, sports, professional stuff--I just hate where we are.
Hyperbole and exaggeration is part of my schtick, always has been--but now, ugh, I can feel the seeds of deep distrust and borderline disdain in our responses. How did we get here?
They truly think Trump and everything they are doing is evil..and I truly am doing cheetah back flips of joy for everything Trump is doing. I went to war with some of these guys. WTF?
It scares me.
bsn
When asked the causes of the Spanish Civil War, Franco’s brother in law replied, "We just hated each other."
Conservatives think liberals are misguided/deluded. Liberals think conservatives are evil. It has always been thus. Johnson ran this infamous ad against Goldwater:
https://youtu.be/riDypP1KfOU?si=p4lDl4yjCBxN0vhQ
There are no Democrat statesmen left like Daniel Patrick Moynihan or Joe Lieberman because the Liberal mind is too far gone.
Yikes! That was incredibly dark.
Johnson framed as the great peacemaker was so surreal I felt like it came from another dimension or some awful new Marvel multiverse movie.
It’s called the “Daisy ad,” ran only once, and was widely criticized because it’s not “rational” in favor of raw emotionalism. Democrats love this kind of appeal: the 2012 ad using a Paul Ryan lookalike to throw Granny off a cliff from her wheelchair.
BSN - very accurate description of why texting sucks as a vehicle for human interaction. I’ve experienced the same…lost a (good?) friend due to text ‘interpretation’ of a clearly stated message. Part of why societal threads are fraying rapidly, IMHO…
Social media is, perhaps, the same phenomenon with speakers to 11. I was never on Twitter before X, now it is my source of current events. Facebook is all ads and anger.
I am as susceptible to being 'triggered' into an angry response as the most juvenile furry-wearing, trans leftist. I am realizing I need to put severe exposure limits into my life for any media.
Substack is different. It's like long form podcast vs cable news--it is thoughtful.
bsn
Yes, severe mental illness is scary. That's why we used to keep those people locked away from mainstream society. It was a much nicer time, too.
“we used to keep those people locked away”
Rather than in office as mayor of LA or Governor of CA…
The ONLY plausible way through (and, yes, the only way out is through) for the Dems is what Ezra Klein is proposing in his new book Abundance (at least from what I gather from the reviews; I haven't read it yet).
The Groups will scream bloody murder, but at least the calls are coming from inside the house.
The Dems need to be reminded that no matter how much they think their candidate's poop smells like Chanel No. 5, they still lost to Trump. Scoreboard.
I want to find out what it means, but a whole book of Ezra Klein may be fatal.
Just buy a Haz-Mat suit first, the smug arrogance and condescension may prove fatal.
The smug pollution emanating from it is probably enough to make it a hazard under EPA regulations - a bookstore of them probably qualifies for a superfund site
Now you can get AI to summarize it for you.
Agreed, but I think I have to read it to understand the next game plan.
I’ve meet Ezra several times in DC. The best description is “evil shite”.
Some brave trusted person needs to take one for the team and wade through his actual text.
not me
not for all the NPR totebags in the world
This is why Blinkist exists
bsn
Dumbocraps all believe that their crap smells "like Chanel No. 5," too. Not just the morons they vote for.
>Edited for spelling.
You can get more of an idea of the book from Noah Smith without actually having to read it - e.g. https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/blue-states-dont-build-red-states
3 hours ago I saw a homeless woman loudly berating and whaling on a homeless man. The fracas spilled out onto the busy street: a shopping cart, trash, a skateboard, and the man were all out in traffic at some point. No one crashed into him or the objects, but it was a disaster set to happen.
This scene was next to a hospital, in a densely populated part of a major West Coast city.
Familiar
as i was talking to a homeless bum panhandling at a traffic light, a woman was yelling at him from across the street. i asked why she was yelling at him, he says "oh thats my wife, god bless her, she gave me seven children".
Frame that one. It's a lifetime memory.
A plea for restraint: that homeless bum may have a background which has broken him. Notice I said, "may."
There have been two independent studies of homeless men done in North America in the last twenty years, the first in Toronto, the second in Dallas.
Each study found the same: about 50% of homeless men have suffered a traumatic brain injury. I don't mean a concussion, about which there is contention within neurology whether concussions rise to a level which can be considered mild traumatic brain injuries, I mean unambiguous traumatic brain injuries. An investigator on one of the studies noted with grimness that they tested only men because they were certain whatever percentage of TBI they found in men, they'd find a higher percentage in women.
It's been established as well as anything ever is in medicine that a traumatic brain injury, unlike a true concussion, is not a thing which dwindles in its effects as the years pass and the patient begins to re - engage with an active life again. A patient is lucky if he doesn't get worse.
This is particularly maddening in light of the fact that a remarkably effective, two part protocol has been known for forty years which if it were applied to every TBI case immediately could accomplish close to miracles: first, a hole the size of a half dollar is carved out of the skull just above the forehead, with the bone from the skull being seen into the lining of the gastrointestinal tract for safekeeping. This allows the insertion of some sort of device which measures intracranial pressure. Doctors figured out a long time ago that in many TBIs, the patient is damaged more by the swelling of brain tissue against the skull in reaction to the injury than by the injury itself. The removal of a small part of the skull by itself provides some protection, but its main purpose is to allow insertion of the device which measures intracranial pressure. When ICP becomes too much, the steroid drip which is the first remarkable TBI breakthrough, and which as I understand patients are given immediately when they get to the ER, is increased. ( Doctors, whatever I am not getting right in stating this, please correct and augment. )
The second part of the protocol is that overused word, "remarkable," and when I read about it, I was fascinated and just damned charmed by it: in the mid 1980s, a debate which had been going on among neurologists for years was resolved in the effect of a never before tried treatment on a fourteen year old boy who had been trapped under icy water for twenty minutes: could the intravenous administration of barbiturates actually rescue someone who would either die of a TBI or be severely disabled for life by it? ( You can understand why neurologists would have been hesitant to use such a treatment. )
The doctor who told me about this said that in the case of the fourteen year old it was a do or die matter. In addition to the ICP monitoring, the kid was kept unconscious by barbiturates for two weeks until acting by intuition, the doctors withdrew the drug. The kid woke up, was fine, and went on to live a life which my doctor had heard seemed to have been unaffected by his shocking injury.
As far as I know, this simple treatment is still not that frequently done. I welcome any doctors who can tell me if one, this is true, and two, why. Whether someone dies of a TBI or is ruined by one, he's a loss to society, obviously, and the Toronto and Dallas studies show the down the line effects of TBI on many patients who "survive."
Clearly, this is not the sole cause of homelessness, but it's a huge factor. Many of the rest are schizophrenics. Many of the homeless who are TBI survivors or schizophrenics certainly become drug and alcohol abusers, and then, as we know, many have become homeless because of substance misuse. And a significant number of the homeless are homeless because of unforeseeable catastrophe.
Excluding the last group, consider how many homeless you encounter about whom you don't think, there is something badly off in that person. Do you know why so many homeless resist being in shelters? First, many are, but most shelters have a ridiculous requirement that residents be out of the place by 9:00. They're allowed back at 6:00 PM. But the thing which drives the homeless battiest about shelters is the lack of privacy.
If that angers you, please remember the evidence that a great majority of the homeless are physically sick people, also, that The Golden Rule always applies.
If I were America's Cromwell ( come on, America, you know you want me instead of that pussy, Trump ) I'd build a couple of million low cost, quickly and easily constructed, very small apartments for the homeless, dragoon them off the streets, keep them housed with that invaluable thing, privacy, and over the next however many years it took, have them diagnosed and treated. ( Note: few of the homeless are career criminals. Such people are permanently employed in America's thriving crime scene. )
I wrote a lot more than I intended, but I wince every time I see the term, "homeless bum."
You are a kind hearted person,
I thought a large percentage of the homeless were in that predicament due to self infected problems like substance abuse
They are. But that 50% figure grips my attention and won't let go.
There's a high level of insanity right now.
Fortunately the Dimocrats show no sign of getting their shit together, let alone convincing anyone with a brain they can get shit done beyond making shitty streets.
I do believe that some of their more gullible foot soldiers are about to have a FO moment having FAed and burned Teslas while forgetting that they have cameras. I suspect some are going to plea by shopping those who encouraged them, so that's probably going to be a win.
I don't think the government associated classes have quite grasped that others actively hate them for their grifting incompetence. Of course they don't associate with those sorts so they don't understand why seeing government employees panic about having to list 5 things they did last week is a cause for joy
The spectacle of people screaming "NAZI CAR, NAZI CAR!" I want to be on whatever the other side is. Literally just whatever isn't that.
did you see the video of the cyber truck with a big toyota logo on the tailgate.
made me smile.
Or this "honda" https://substack.com/profile/13379579-francis-turner/note/c-103446215
That's the best! 😂🤣😂🤣
Lmao!
I don’t know of any other major company that’s undergone a 75% replacement of its customer base in 9 weeks.
(Disney doesn’t count – it’s UNLOADED 75% of its former customer base but without replacement.)
Yes to both!
I love the sticker I’ve seen on Teslas to the effect of “I don’t support Elon!”
Yeah, that’s going to be kryptonite for the Antifa arsonists!
😂🤣 Brilliant!
its all just so patently stupid... just who do they think owns 95% of teslas on the road today?? (hint: not maga nation). if you want to burn the single most likely vehicle of your political opponents, i would probably start with lifted, extra cab, pickups with truck nuts?? its the same thing with the summer of george floyd riots... they didnt go out in the suburbs and burn chick filAs and hobby lobbys, they burned the businesses in their own community?? its like watching a toddler break his own toys in a tantrum...
And then burning a car that was already paid for. Which will most likely be replaced by a brand new tesla paid for by insurance claims. This tesla burning may actually boost teslas stock as they have to replace perfectly good cars with brand new ones. It will also let the evil insurance industry to raise rates to cover all there losses. These idiots are helping those they claim to hate.
But a member of the “never to be criticized” judiciary told me we treated the Nazis much more humanely during WWII than we are our “undocumented” friends today. Oh the humanity!
Absolutely. We humanely firebombed Dresden and other German cities and lightly killed hundreds of thousands of Wehrmacht and SS!
After which they make their getaways, in their 1960's era Volkswagen Vans.
🎯
I could never be a Democrat because I can’t imagine a life so devoid of accomplishment that I can’t come up with 5 things I’ve done in 40 hrs.
I could never be a Dumbocrap, because I can't see myself having a lobotomy.
Re: the Democrats and FAFO, Branco summed it up best:
https://www.creators.com/read/a.f.-branco/03/25/390617
This tableau is infinitely repeated in dozens of blue West coast cities every day. That, unfortunately, is their idea of good governance.
Do you think it’s possible that this entire mess is clearer to those of us who live in California, since we can no longer hide that this place is terminally ill and walking around in a hospital gown with its ass exposed ?
As bad as Calif is, I don’t think you guys have given $2B to Stacey Abrams or farmed $20B out to Citibank because it couldn’t be spent by the deadline (“…tossing gold bars off the Titanic”). But then again, you have spent $16B on 1600 ft of high speed rail, so there’s that… (For comparison, we spent $20.5B (2025$) on the Manhattan Project, but that wasn’t as complex as installing 2 steel rails over & over.
And it took 3 companies 6 yrs to build 1,911 miles of the Transcontinental Railroad.)
BTW, I’m not dumping on non-Democrat Californians; everybody else there however…
--> Pugetopolis enters the chat.
Stuck behind enemy lines... bad
Target rich environment..
Good
Let's hope so and that the clearness causes people to vote for people and statutes that will actually provide real solutions to fix some of the mess.
You’re not alone. Portland and Seattle say, “Hold our beer!”
When I was in the Infantry, as a young man, it was emphasized repeatedly - your plan will not work, things will go to sh**, but you must not panic. Your RTO (radio telephone operator) may be shot while you’re on the radio with your commander, and you will be tempted to withdraw from the fight to care for him - but you must NOT! Fight the fight until you have restored control or you are destroyed - there is no other magical middle way of “doing it correctly” - there is only striving through the chaos to get to the other side. Once you are there (the other side), then you can shift your focus to restoring, repairing, and healing. But not one second before that point.
Inspirational words of the day - thank you!
I hope Substack is giving you combat pay to read the Atlantic. I once said it was only fit to line a birdcage but I now have too much respect for our avian friends to permit that.
Perfectly written and packaged. 👍🏽
you writing is so good! chicago like la has suffered under the democratic party for way too long. black teachers in chicago are now saying freely and out loud how destructive social justice agendas have been to their students for decades. held hostage by the department of education they’ve been graduating generations of black children who CANNOT read. yeah,goose stepping for the democratic party but couldn’t spell the phrase if their lives depended on it. so so sad. one day hopefully people will wake up and recognize the democratic party is The KKK.
41 school districts in IL don't have one student that can read at a 7th grader level.
Nothing like success!
You just have to give the board of education more money. That way the 12% they filter to the schools becomes larger and the teachers will finally be able to teach the kids to read. What part don't you get Ryan???😜
Lolol. And we're paying for it whether you have school age children or not...or if you send your kids to a private school...or homeschool.
Its extortion.
Fled western WA where I was born and raised many years ago, first for cost and now add in the current cultural ambience. Couple hours south of Chicago now, and shortly after all the ICE raiding started, our local high school made a big to-do about protecting students on campus from them and how they wouldn’t let ICE on campus, etc, etc. Same school that somehow didn’t discover a former student wandering the halls (after school was done for the day) with a weapon until far longer than they should have. Thankfully nobody was harmed, but yes. Looking for a place with less ambience now. 😣
Sort of out of the frying pan & right back in?
From your lips to God's ears!
They really think we're all as dumb as their voters.
41st Place, Los Angeles, March 25, 2025: Trash on the curbs, and sidewalks. A homeless person face down on the sidewalk. Alive? Dead? Dog shit on the grass easements. So many vehicles parked on the street that more vehicles were double-parked, making a two lane street into a one lane street. Multiply by a thousand, and that is Mayor Karen Bass’s Los Angeles.
> See, government works so well that it gives the peasants a bunch of stuff, and then the peasants get resentful, because their appetites expand. They want even more stuff, so they get mad at the people who gave them all the stuff, for not giving them endless extra stuff. That’s why people were mad at, say for example, Joe Biden. He was too damn good, and it made us petulant.
If only we all lived in 15 minute smart cities and owned nothing while being 1000% connected to a CBDC-based social credit system administered via our AI implants--everybody would be happy!
🙌
We're gonna get Utopia sometime, sooner or later. 😭😭😭
After reading the Atlantic excerpt, the only conclusion that I could draw was that the writer truly believes that we are all ungrateful peons who don’t appreciate or deserve the crumbs that our ruling class deigns to give us. So “Shut Up,” they say.