Gavin Newsom and the "train to nowhere"

If you're a Democrat, you probably think Gavin Newsom is faaaabulous!  You're probably already pushing your partei [sic] to make him your nominee for prezzy in 2028.  Yay!

Oh sure, you may have heard a couple of derogatory stories about him, like him having a birthday party at a faaabulously expensive restaurant during the covid lockdown; his cops would arrest or fine you for breaking the lockdown rules, but he broke 'em with total nonchalance--cuz he's special, eh?  Two sets of laws, citizen.  Wuzn't dat one of the main principles of the Founders? 

But dat story about a dinner wuz prolly jus' a right-wing conspiracy tale, eh?  He wudn't do dat, cuz he a guuuud Democrat, eh?  And as for dat picture of him dining with 20 of his supporters?  You know people can do anything with AI now.

See, if dat had reeelly happened, duh Media would'a tol' us, right?  Duh Media is honest!  So since dey din' say nuffin,' mus' be a lie. 

Of course the awful lies by doze awful right-wingers could be cleared up if some reporter asked him if that happened.  But there's no need for a "reporter" to ask him, cuz we Dems KNOW it's a lie.  Cuz duh faaaabulous Newsom wouldn't break his own commands to the peons deplorables ordinary people  hardworking, taxpaying citizens of his state, right?

And if you search the Internet (which everyone knows totally lies, unless it's something that hurts conservatives, in which case it's always true!), you may see some crazy story about him banging the wife of one of his top aides when he was mayor of San Francisco.  

But that's prolly a lie too, cuz such a dreamy, totally upstanding guy wud nevah do such a thing.  I mean sure, sex is a commonplace--no sophisticated adult so much as bats an eye.  But banging the wife of one of your aides seems like an abuse of power.  But that's gotta' be another right-wing conspiracy story--cuz duh Mainstream Media nevah sed nuffin' about it.

So now that we (the Dems and Mainstream Media) have easily disposed of those two right-wing lies, Newsom can run for prezzy without any worries about his record.

And now that he's running for president, he wants to show you his excellent management skills and character!  To do that, he just made a video of him bragging to viewers about laying the first foot of rail of California's "high-speed train."

If you haven't heard about this piece of shit project, you won't believe it.  It's the most expensive boondoggle in the history of the world. 

Way back in 2007 some clever hucksters promised California's Dem politicians lotsa cash if they'd support a faaaabulous high-speed rail line from Los Angeles to San Francisco.

The pitch was, European countries have high-speed rail, which automatically makes it cool.  An' California is the capital of cool in the U.S, right?  So the hucksters said "We can be like Europe, with a high-speed rail line:  San Francisco to Los Angeles, 520 miles in 3 hours!  All for a paltry $33.6 billion."  

But to get statewide support, the hucksters quickly proposed extending this faaabulous line to San Diego.  And north to Sacramento (the state capital).  Nice.

Powerful politicians and companies stood to make a fortune, so the key was to get voters to approve a modest few billion to get started, so that when it became obvious the project was gonna cost three times more than the original pitch, the hucksters would wail "We've already spent X billion, so you don't wanna that money to be WASTED, right?"

So for months the airwaves were FULL of ads with glittering animations of sleek silver trains going reeeel fast.  Republicans were skeptical, but Dems were totally giddy.  And because gullible Democrats outnumber Republicans 60/40, the flood of faaaabulous animated ads worked, and in November of 2008 voters approved a $10 billion bond issue to get things rolling.

And once that money was spent, it would be hard to pull the plug, eh?

By November of 2011--just THREE years after the $10 BILLION bond was approved, and before a single mile of rail had been laid--the projected cost had ballooned to between $65 and $75 BILLION.  That should have been a fatal warning sign, eh?  But the hucksters were SO adept at hyping, always touting duh faaaabulous benefits.  One of which was reducing car miles, cuz...you know, Climate Change! 

By the start of 2018--ten years after voters were conned into approving the $10 BILLION expense, they still hadn't laid a single piece of rail, but the hucksters proudly said the cost had now DROPPED to $64.2 BILLION.

Wait...wasn't the original cost estimate $33.6 billion?  Yes, but the hucksters said--and published--that the cost had *"dropped again"* to $64 BILLION.  Cuz that was down from $65 to $75 B in 2018, eh?  And the hucksters knew no Mainstream Media outlet would ever tell voters that the original cost was touted to be $33.6 Billion.

Brazen, lying sons of bitches, eh?  "Dropped again," huh?
 
So how did the cost "drop" from to $64 billion, eh? The hucksters simply cut the length of the route from 520 miles.  Then cut it again.  Forget San Diego and Sacramento.  Then forget San Francisco.

What they ended up with was a goal of--not 520 miles, but just 171 miles, linking the towns of Bakersfield and Merced.  And in 2016 the "official" plan said service would start in...2025.

The combined population of Bakersfield and Merced is roughly 500,000.  And there's a great divided highway between the two.  So how many people do ya think will ride the train per day, eh?  But what does that matter, citizen?  Cuz we'll have high-speed rail, just like Europe!

Newsom took office in January of 2019, so he didn't come up with this scheme, but he's totally supported it, even after it became obvious that the cost was gonna be three times the original bullshit pitch--unless they cut the route, which they did. 

So here we are, ten years after the 2016 prediction that service on the much shorter 171-mile route would start in 2025.  So did we miss the grand opening?  Ohh no.  Instead that's been "pushed back" just a bit.  The new estimated date is...wait for it...2033. 

Here's the update:  After spending $30 billion or so, they're finally getting ready to lay the first mile of track.  And Gavin Newsom instantly made a video to announce this faaabulous victory.  To show it, he stood beside a line of freight cars (which won't run on the high-speed line) on a conventional track, cuz..."SEE, citizen?  It's a train!"

If you listen to Newsom you'd think they've already started laying rail.  But if you ask AI/google/Grok "Has any rail actually been installed on the California high-speed rail line?" here's the reply: 

As of early February 2026, major progress has been made, with the Southern Railhead Facility in Kern County completed, marking the beginning of the track-installation phase for the California high-speed rail. While construction focuses on 119 miles of infrastructure, actual track installation is now commencing. 

Wait...I don't think "commencing" means "has started," eh?  And next we have this:

Track Installation Starts: The California High-Speed Rail Authority announced that the Southern Railhead Facility in Kern County is complete, enabling the start of track-laying operations.

"Enabling the start of" is not "has started."  AI continues:

• Infrastructure Status: Over 119 miles of construction are underway in the Central Valley, with nearly 60 structures completed.

Again, "construction underway," but construction of WHAT?  Structures.  That's not rail.

• Key Structures: Significant progress includes the nearly completed Hanford Viaduct and the finished Poso Creek Viaduct.

The question "Has any rail been laid?" should be easy to answer: Either they've started laying rail or they haven't.  But for some strange reason AI is spouting lawyerly bullshit like a politician: It's clearly implying to the unwary that they've started laying rail--but carefully avoids saying that. 

The explanation is simple:  Notwithstanding the hype, "AI" is not "intelligent" at all.  It gets its info by parsing every word in newspapers and books and...press releases by corruptocrats.  And that language above is essentially cut-and-pasted from bullshit press releases by the "California High-Speed Rail Commission," who are being paid extravagant salaries for spending billions. 

But if you "dive deeper" into the AI explanation you finally see this:

As of February 2026, no actual high-speed rail tracks have been installed on the main line yet. However, the project has just reached a major turning point to begin that process.

So since they're almost prepared to think about laying the first length of track, when can we expect dis faaaabulous high-speed train to begin service between two small-ish cities?  Uhh...2033.  And now the completed cost is projected to be $128 billion.  And there are still uncompleted environmental assessments and challenging tunnels through the mountains.

A competent chief executive would have pulled the plug on this crap a month after taking office.  Yes, leftists and contractors and the highly-paid members of the Commission would have been mad, but in the long run state taxpayers would have saved $100 billion or so.  And that's even before including the annual operating losses.

But don't worry, Democrats: Vogue magazine's Maya Singer knows just how to spin this to make Gavin look great, since he's been the front-runner for the Dem nomination.  Here's Maya:

He is embarrassingly handsome, his hair seasoned with silver, at ease with his own eminence…

Whoa!  Would you like a napkin to wipe your lips, Maya?  Newsom is counting on this type of fawning, swooning coverage from the media--and he's never been disappointed.  Who needs to be a competent manager when you're "embarrassingly handsome," with fabulous hair and “eminence,” eh?

In his dark novel "1984" George Orwell wrote, “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears.  It was their final, most essential command.”  Americans have heard an endless series of lies by the hucksters about this project, and a good manager would have pulled the plug in 2019, instead of stringing it out until 2033 and spending another $100 billion--to connect two small cities 171 miles apart.