CARB started off with a noble goal and got rid of leaded gasoline and reduced the actual toxic pollutants from partial combustion byproducts and compounds causing low hanging smog. That was accomplished decades ago, where even big trucks and SUVs have long been classified as ULEV (ultra-low emissions vehiciles). e.g. https://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/features/emissions-test-car-vs-truck-vs-leaf-blower.html
- 2011 F150 Raptor (with the big 6.2L V8, no longer offered) vs 2012 Fiat 500 (1.4L I4)
"The Fiat 500 produced more than double the NOx and more than three times the hydrocarbons of the truck
... Yes, there were actually fewer hydrocarbons in the Raptor's exhaust than in the air it — and we — breathed. In the Raptor's case, the ambient air contained 2.821 ppm of total hydrocarbons, and the amount of total hydrocarbons coming out the Raptor's tailpipe measured 2.639 ppm."
So even back in 2011, not only was the big ass truck with the big ass engine classed as ULEV-II, meaning it was as clean as you can get, it was cleaner than the smaller car with the tiny engine and cleaner than the ambient in terms of hydrocarbons! The catch? It produced more CO2.
CARB's mandates should've stopped right there. They should've said: "Mission accomplished" But then they shifted their sights to gas mileage and CO2 emissions. As a result they've adopted EV mandates which means the other 17 states will have to follow.
Anyone following the auto industry will notice that exponential push to EVs in the last few years. Way before any charging infrastructure is even built out or the power grid and capacity to handle it. Some may have also heard about Washington states's all-EV mandate by 2030 or California's all-EV mandate by 2035, which is the same as EU's deadline. It's still more than a decade away to 2035 yet by 2020 all of a sudden car companies have shifted towards EVs even at a loss, with GM and Cadillac wholesale cutting of its ICE lineup last year (only a few of the pickup trucks remain ICE, although not for long, with only heavy duty truck versions being granted exemptions and may probably remain gas and diesel for the time being)
Some people blamed car companies from drinking the green ESG koolaid, as if the car execs were really true believers. However, the real cause turns out to be due to what few including myself didn't know until more recently--that one of CARB's rule also mandates this:
"Sales of new ZEVs and PHEVs will start with 35% that year (2026), build to 68% in 2030, and reach 100% in 2035."
Note: You can substitute ZEV (zero-emissions vehicle) with EV and PHEV is plug-in hybrid (older car platforms are retro-fitted with hybrids but all new cars are being built on EV platforms as the better "investment" to meet the global political goals)
That means of course, those 17 other states also have to follow and thus the car companies.
Personally that I have nothing against EVs themselves and really like EV power-trains (the motors themselves are wonderful) but this is a full on destructive distortion of the marketplace.
Anyways, that ends my ranting as a car enthusiast. You mentioned prop 187 and ballot propositions are really the only legal tool left to barely keep the legislature in check (unless they don't get overruled by the courts). So prop 13 which stringently limits property tax rates is one of few things CA has left going for it. If it were to go then most of the businesses will leave too.
One bit of good news among the crap California passed:
"Senior Judge William Shubb of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California Wednesday granted a preliminary injunction in Children’s Health Defense’s (CHD) motion, halting Gov. Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta and California Medical and Osteopathic Boards’ enforcement of California’s COVID-19 misinformation law.
The judge found that the “plaintiffs have established a likelihood of success on the grounds of their Fourteenth Amendment vagueness challenges.”
Rick Jaffe and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. are lead attorneys on the case representing plaintiffs, Physicians for Informed Consent, LeTrinh Hoang, D.O. and CHD-California Chapter members"
So the that terrible medical misinformation bill has been stopped for now.
Thanks for the kind words, but I'll pass for now. It's hard enough for me to write decent comments. I like reading yours and all the others writers' works more than I like writing.
I would not focus on the craziness in California alone. While doing so a lot of other stuff is occurring under people's noses in other states and at the Federal level. The backlash against the left is well deserved but the government is using that push through Trojan Horse legislation. (.. and I have a theory that a lot of the woke insanity is manufactured for this reason)
Utah (SB 152) and Arkansas (SB 396) just passed laws requiring age-verification for all "social media" users, where the term encompasses all forms mass communications, including forums, etc. That means users must upload their government IDs and provide real world identities. Substack, currently may be under their size exemption rules for those 2 states for now due to revenue or user count, but it soon won't be exempt if its growth trend continues. There are a few similar laws already proposed at the Federal level that will de-anonymize and require IDs from everyone online, including here at Substack without those exemptions.
One such bill is this bi-partisan bill the "Protecting Kids on Social Media Act":
.. which also creates a Federal digital ID program.
These bills at the state levels and Federal including other's like Josh Hawley's version and KOSA, etc all have one crucial thing in common: they outlaw anonymous mass communications and require uploading of ID documentation and/or establish digital IDs (already available in many states)
I've been spamming different people trying to bring attention to this because I don't know about you, I certainly will not be uploading my government ID documents to everyone online. I'd use a VPN to obscure my location if it comes down to that. However this appears to be a global effort:
So it might be hard to avoid the ID mandates for Substack, et. al. via VPNs in the future if other countries start passing the same types of laws.
And since you touched on CDBCs, one thing to remember is that a critical requirement for CDBCs is digital IDs. Since these states and the Federal proposed bills are mandating IDs for most online activity, then I can think you see where this is going..
Montana just passed its "ban TikTok bill" --but it since it's unconstitutional for laws to target specific entities, it just became a mini, more confined version of the RESTRICT Act after revision, (where again social media simply equates to any mass communication medium) that does not require the platform or application to be owned by US adversaries, but just used by them to obtain data. The clear implications of the actual bill's text would mean it allows Montana to ban vKontakte (aka the Russian Facebook) and likewise banning of various Chinese websites for example. What about open source tools or platforms? The authors most likely didn't think about that either.
There's also the EARN IT act which is terrible and dangerous, again with a fair amount of support on the right which aims to break private messaging and put backdoors in end-to-end encryption
Interestingly I noticed this deluge and huge push in these last couple years perfectly coincide with the sun-setting of all the various spying provisions introduced by the Patriot Act, including expiration of its last multiple extensions.
Absolutely. They get a lot of bang for their buck because they control the dialectic. Trump was manufactured (and we may see his return in a very Hitler kind of way). Covid was manufactured and they got a lot out of that. Wokeism - manufactured. 9/11 manufactured and probably the most important of the manufactured events in terms of symbolism.
"...Reagan appointed more than 80 individuals to his administration who were members of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission or both..."
The liberal-fascist CFR network has controlled US policy and the media since WW2. Reagan's VP George H.W. Bush was a CFR director. Same stuff, different decade. CFR members on the "Biden team" include the secretaries of State, Treasury, Defense, Commerce and 'Homeland Security'. Also the CIA director, Fed chairman, and dozens of deputies, advisors, ambassadors, etc.
Cali gov Newsom is a member of Davos WEF Young Global Leaders cabal. The WEF is a node in the CFR network, with interlocking directorates and corporate sponsors. Billionaires Larry Fink (BlackRock) and David Rubenstein (Carlyle) are WEF trustees. Fink is a CFR director and Rubenstein is the CFR chairman. cfr.org/membership/corporate-membersweforum.org/partners#search
"What we are seeing, essentially, is an establishment that no longer has any fear of the general population."
As last week's indictment of Trump for "crimes" that Biden and Hillary Clinton are KNOWN WITHOUT DOUBT to have committed proves, it's getting worse fast. Our rulers no longer believe that it is possible for them to suffer repercussions of any kind or to any degree.
As a Texan temporarily residing in the state of California, the reminder of how backwards this state can be continue to amuse me to no end. California is doomed to its fate, as the rest of the US. It is exciting to know that I will someday (sooner than later) be one of the estimated 300K/year that leave the state for greener pastures. Texas ain’t perfect, but she is home.
BTW, thank-you for pointing out the fakeness of George W. Bush acting as if he is Texas born and bred. He was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and hides his New England WASP superiority very well to most.
Not to add to the California bleakness, but more than just being used as a test case, there is at least one thing in CA that directly affects 17 other states -- emissions regulations for cars due to those other states adopting CARB rules and as I understand it, with legally binding agreements: https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/resources/documents/states-have-adopted-californias-vehicle-standards-under-section-177-federal
CARB started off with a noble goal and got rid of leaded gasoline and reduced the actual toxic pollutants from partial combustion byproducts and compounds causing low hanging smog. That was accomplished decades ago, where even big trucks and SUVs have long been classified as ULEV (ultra-low emissions vehiciles). e.g. https://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/features/emissions-test-car-vs-truck-vs-leaf-blower.html
- 2011 F150 Raptor (with the big 6.2L V8, no longer offered) vs 2012 Fiat 500 (1.4L I4)
"The Fiat 500 produced more than double the NOx and more than three times the hydrocarbons of the truck
... Yes, there were actually fewer hydrocarbons in the Raptor's exhaust than in the air it — and we — breathed. In the Raptor's case, the ambient air contained 2.821 ppm of total hydrocarbons, and the amount of total hydrocarbons coming out the Raptor's tailpipe measured 2.639 ppm."
So even back in 2011, not only was the big ass truck with the big ass engine classed as ULEV-II, meaning it was as clean as you can get, it was cleaner than the smaller car with the tiny engine and cleaner than the ambient in terms of hydrocarbons! The catch? It produced more CO2.
CARB's mandates should've stopped right there. They should've said: "Mission accomplished" But then they shifted their sights to gas mileage and CO2 emissions. As a result they've adopted EV mandates which means the other 17 states will have to follow.
Anyone following the auto industry will notice that exponential push to EVs in the last few years. Way before any charging infrastructure is even built out or the power grid and capacity to handle it. Some may have also heard about Washington states's all-EV mandate by 2030 or California's all-EV mandate by 2035, which is the same as EU's deadline. It's still more than a decade away to 2035 yet by 2020 all of a sudden car companies have shifted towards EVs even at a loss, with GM and Cadillac wholesale cutting of its ICE lineup last year (only a few of the pickup trucks remain ICE, although not for long, with only heavy duty truck versions being granted exemptions and may probably remain gas and diesel for the time being)
Some people blamed car companies from drinking the green ESG koolaid, as if the car execs were really true believers. However, the real cause turns out to be due to what few including myself didn't know until more recently--that one of CARB's rule also mandates this:
https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/news/california-moves-accelerate-100-new-zero-emission-vehicle-sales-2035
See chart: https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/inline-images/new_vehicle_sales_drupal.png
"Sales of new ZEVs and PHEVs will start with 35% that year (2026), build to 68% in 2030, and reach 100% in 2035."
Note: You can substitute ZEV (zero-emissions vehicle) with EV and PHEV is plug-in hybrid (older car platforms are retro-fitted with hybrids but all new cars are being built on EV platforms as the better "investment" to meet the global political goals)
That means of course, those 17 other states also have to follow and thus the car companies.
Personally that I have nothing against EVs themselves and really like EV power-trains (the motors themselves are wonderful) but this is a full on destructive distortion of the marketplace.
There is some hope though for other states: https://wtop.com/virginia/2022/09/17-states-weigh-adopting-californias-electric-car-mandate-as-va-republicans-push-back/
Anyways, that ends my ranting as a car enthusiast. You mentioned prop 187 and ballot propositions are really the only legal tool left to barely keep the legislature in check (unless they don't get overruled by the courts). So prop 13 which stringently limits property tax rates is one of few things CA has left going for it. If it were to go then most of the businesses will leave too.
One bit of good news among the crap California passed:
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/press-release/historic-win-district-court-judge-blocks-doctors-censorship-law-in-california/
"Senior Judge William Shubb of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California Wednesday granted a preliminary injunction in Children’s Health Defense’s (CHD) motion, halting Gov. Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta and California Medical and Osteopathic Boards’ enforcement of California’s COVID-19 misinformation law.
The judge found that the “plaintiffs have established a likelihood of success on the grounds of their Fourteenth Amendment vagueness challenges.”
Rick Jaffe and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. are lead attorneys on the case representing plaintiffs, Physicians for Informed Consent, LeTrinh Hoang, D.O. and CHD-California Chapter members"
So the that terrible medical misinformation bill has been stopped for now.
This is good and detailed stuff. You should start a substack; I would read it.
Thanks for the kind words, but I'll pass for now. It's hard enough for me to write decent comments. I like reading yours and all the others writers' works more than I like writing.
I would read the Substack as well. CARB has become drunk with power, declaring unattainable goals for the not too distant future.
I would not focus on the craziness in California alone. While doing so a lot of other stuff is occurring under people's noses in other states and at the Federal level. The backlash against the left is well deserved but the government is using that push through Trojan Horse legislation. (.. and I have a theory that a lot of the woke insanity is manufactured for this reason)
Utah (SB 152) and Arkansas (SB 396) just passed laws requiring age-verification for all "social media" users, where the term encompasses all forms mass communications, including forums, etc. That means users must upload their government IDs and provide real world identities. Substack, currently may be under their size exemption rules for those 2 states for now due to revenue or user count, but it soon won't be exempt if its growth trend continues. There are a few similar laws already proposed at the Federal level that will de-anonymize and require IDs from everyone online, including here at Substack without those exemptions.
One such bill is this bi-partisan bill the "Protecting Kids on Social Media Act":
https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-schatz-murphy-britt-introduce-bipartisan-legislation-to-help-protect-kids-from-harmful-impacts-of-social-media
the actual bill:
https://www.cotton.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/social_media_bill_text.pdf
.. which also creates a Federal digital ID program.
These bills at the state levels and Federal including other's like Josh Hawley's version and KOSA, etc all have one crucial thing in common: they outlaw anonymous mass communications and require uploading of ID documentation and/or establish digital IDs (already available in many states)
I've been spamming different people trying to bring attention to this because I don't know about you, I certainly will not be uploading my government ID documents to everyone online. I'd use a VPN to obscure my location if it comes down to that. However this appears to be a global effort:
https://reclaimthenet.org/global-push-for-age-verification
So it might be hard to avoid the ID mandates for Substack, et. al. via VPNs in the future if other countries start passing the same types of laws.
And since you touched on CDBCs, one thing to remember is that a critical requirement for CDBCs is digital IDs. Since these states and the Federal proposed bills are mandating IDs for most online activity, then I can think you see where this is going..
Montana just passed its "ban TikTok bill" --but it since it's unconstitutional for laws to target specific entities, it just became a mini, more confined version of the RESTRICT Act after revision, (where again social media simply equates to any mass communication medium) that does not require the platform or application to be owned by US adversaries, but just used by them to obtain data. The clear implications of the actual bill's text would mean it allows Montana to ban vKontakte (aka the Russian Facebook) and likewise banning of various Chinese websites for example. What about open source tools or platforms? The authors most likely didn't think about that either.
There's also the EARN IT act which is terrible and dangerous, again with a fair amount of support on the right which aims to break private messaging and put backdoors in end-to-end encryption
Interestingly I noticed this deluge and huge push in these last couple years perfectly coincide with the sun-setting of all the various spying provisions introduced by the Patriot Act, including expiration of its last multiple extensions.
This is great information, VJ, thanks for sharing.
Absolutely. They get a lot of bang for their buck because they control the dialectic. Trump was manufactured (and we may see his return in a very Hitler kind of way). Covid was manufactured and they got a lot out of that. Wokeism - manufactured. 9/11 manufactured and probably the most important of the manufactured events in terms of symbolism.
"...Reagan appointed more than 80 individuals to his administration who were members of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission or both..."
The liberal-fascist CFR network has controlled US policy and the media since WW2. Reagan's VP George H.W. Bush was a CFR director. Same stuff, different decade. CFR members on the "Biden team" include the secretaries of State, Treasury, Defense, Commerce and 'Homeland Security'. Also the CIA director, Fed chairman, and dozens of deputies, advisors, ambassadors, etc.
Cali gov Newsom is a member of Davos WEF Young Global Leaders cabal. The WEF is a node in the CFR network, with interlocking directorates and corporate sponsors. Billionaires Larry Fink (BlackRock) and David Rubenstein (Carlyle) are WEF trustees. Fink is a CFR director and Rubenstein is the CFR chairman. cfr.org/membership/corporate-members weforum.org/partners#search
"What we are seeing, essentially, is an establishment that no longer has any fear of the general population."
As last week's indictment of Trump for "crimes" that Biden and Hillary Clinton are KNOWN WITHOUT DOUBT to have committed proves, it's getting worse fast. Our rulers no longer believe that it is possible for them to suffer repercussions of any kind or to any degree.
"black pilled post ahead." You were not kidding.
As a Texan temporarily residing in the state of California, the reminder of how backwards this state can be continue to amuse me to no end. California is doomed to its fate, as the rest of the US. It is exciting to know that I will someday (sooner than later) be one of the estimated 300K/year that leave the state for greener pastures. Texas ain’t perfect, but she is home.
BTW, thank-you for pointing out the fakeness of George W. Bush acting as if he is Texas born and bred. He was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and hides his New England WASP superiority very well to most.
Black pill indeed.