California Doing California Things

[Colonel Sanders]

And as further proof that Newsom hates democracy he’s trying to get a bill on the ballot to gerrymander districts to get more congressional seats. 43 out of 52 is not enough.

He's doing that in response to Trump wanting more gerrymandering in Texas. Other states are preparing to do so too in response.

Yep. Newsom would be negligent if he didn't try to fight back. Doing nothing would be more consistent with what the Democratic party does, so what California is doing is a step in the right direction,.

 

[Colonel Sanders]

And as further proof that Newsom hates democracy he’s trying to get a bill on the ballot to gerrymander districts to get more congressional seats. 43 out of 52 is not enough.

He's doing that in response to Trump wanting more gerrymandering in Texas. Other states are preparing to do so too in response.

He shouldn't be doing it at all. Regardless of the unethical gerrymandering attempts in Ohio and Texas.

Okay, what you're advocating for is one of the main reasons why the Democrats have become so ineffective. You want them to play by ethical rules against a party that has zero ethics. You want to play by the rules when the GOP makes no bones about following the rules.

You can't win doing what you're suggesting. This is a battle for democracy itself in this country. Despite the idea of not getting into the mud and wrestling with pigs, when the choice is to take a bullet in the head or wrestle the pigs, then you wrestle with the pigs.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

And as further proof that Newsom hates democracy he’s trying to get a bill on the ballot to gerrymander districts to get more congressional seats. 43 out of 52 is not enough.

He's doing that in response to Trump wanting more gerrymandering in Texas. Other states are preparing to do so too in response.

He shouldn't be doing it at all. Regardless of the unethical gerrymandering attempts in Ohio and Texas.

Okay, what you're advocating for is one of the main reasons why the Democrats have become so ineffective. You want them to play by ethical rules against a party that has zero ethics. You want to play by the rules when the GOP makes no bones about following the rules.

You can't win doing what you're suggesting. This is a battle for democracy itself in this country.

Exactly and doing it dissolves the Democracy into roughly 10 or 15 House seats that are actually elected by the people.

 

[Elixir]

S’pose that Dems go into a full gerrymandering battle (they’ll lose, because CA is the only place they can make significant gains), and suppose they “win” control of the House and Senate.
What then?
All they can do is stymie Trump; they can’t make any real world gains against the damage he has already done. That would augur poorly for their chances in ‘28, but again, suppose for a moment that they win and for one brief moment, have the trifecta of Whitehouse House and Senate.
Does anyone here imagine that they’ll outlaw the gerrymandering that got them there - and got us here, and close all the loopholes Trump uses to abuse his power?
I doubt it.

 

[TV and credit cards]

And as further proof that Newsom hates democracy he’s trying to get a bill on the ballot to gerrymander districts to get more congressional seats. 43 out of 52 is not enough.

He's doing that in response to Trump wanting more gerrymandering in Texas. Other states are preparing to do so too in response.

He shouldn't be doing it at all. Regardless of the unethical gerrymandering attempts in Ohio and Texas.

Okay, what you're advocating for is one of the main reasons why the Democrats have become so ineffective. You want them to play by ethical rules against a party that has zero ethics. You want to play by the rules when the GOP makes no bones about following the rules.

You can't win doing what you're suggesting. This is a battle for democracy itself in this country. Despite the idea of not getting into the mud and wrestling with pigs, when the choice is to take a bullet in the head or wrestle the pigs, then you wrestle with the pigs.

I have every confidence that in the end the Democrats will be effectively ineffective. They might put up a bit of a fight just to make a showing of it but then that will be that. It'll be up to we the people. And I don't expect much will come of that either. The oblivious Right will be basking in their winning. The Left will make its attempt at saving democracy, half-hearted it will be as all things Left are and that will peter out soon enough. We have had decades of good living. The GOP will boil the frog and we'll say this isn't so bad. At least I'm warm.
And my granddaughter will never know there was a time.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

S’pose that Dems go into a full gerrymandering battle (they’ll lose, because CA is the only place they can make significant gains), and suppose they “win” control of the House and Senate.
What then?
All they can do is stymie Trump; they can’t make any real world gains against the damage he has already done. That would augur poorly for their chances in ‘28, but again, suppose for a moment that they win and for one brief moment, have the trifecta of Whitehouse House and Senate.
Does anyone here imagine that they’ll outlaw the gerrymandering that got them there - and got us here, and close all the loopholes Trump uses to abuse his power?
I doubt it.

Winning the House isn't as big as the Senate (which seems like a long shot unless we are in a recession by then), but it is significant. Significant enough for the GOP to try and pull this Texas redistricting maneuver.

 

[Elixir]

Winning the House isn't as big as the Senate

Be that as it may, my scenario necessarily gives Dems both chambers plus the presidency, and with them, the power to write and pass legislation and have it signed into law.
What would they then do about all the cheats, loopholes, gray areas etc. that The Felon has either created ex nihilo or intentionally distorted and exploited? Would they attempt to get rid of or outlaw unconstitutional practices after such practices put them in power? I doubt it. I also doubt that the corrupt SCOTUS would allow that. In fact I think the dictatorship powers they gave Trump would be withdrawn at first opportunity if a Dem became president.
The current picture is such that in-kind “cheating” is the only way Dems have any chance to stop the Nazi takeover, let alone acquire the power to put a stop to this kind of bullshit in the future.
I’m putting forth the “best case” scenario for stopping this tragic progression, and I still think it’s not enough.
IOW we’re fucked, no matter what.
Thanks, trumpsuckers.

 

[Gospel]

S’pose that Dems go into a full gerrymandering battle (they’ll lose, because CA is the only place they can make significant gains), and suppose they “win” control of the House and Senate.
What then?
All they can do is stymie Trump; they can’t make any real world gains against the damage he has already done. That would augur poorly for their chances in ‘28, but again, suppose for a moment that they win and for one brief moment, have the trifecta of Whitehouse House and Senate.
Does anyone here imagine that they’ll outlaw the gerrymandering that got them there - and got us here, and close all the loopholes Trump uses to abuse his power?
I doubt it.

I don’t think the long-term impact of the Trump administration is automatically a tragedy. Sure, it’s going to suck for Americans, but if other nations are pushed to seek partnerships that go around the overbearing “hall monitor”, the world might actually be better off.

The real issue, in my view, is the denial many Americans have lived in for the past two decades. This idea that “We’re Number One!” and “The Greatest Place on Earth!” hasn’t been true for a while. Some people know this, but others keep voting for the same two parties as if either one can magically restore the unique advantage America had after World War II. That postwar boom wasn’t a normal, repeatable event, it was the product of a world where much of the competition had been bombed into rubble, and the U.S. had the good fortune of two big oceans that protected it from getting knocked to the back of the line like everyone else.

Sue me bitches!

 

[Elixir]

what the actual fuck are government doing getting into the real estate business?

YOU are among the few here who voted to install a career real estate fraudster as dictator. What were you expecting?
Just as sure as Trump Casino crashed and burned (a nearly impossible accomplishment), the old United States of America will follow suit.

 

[Gospel]

Another hair-brained scheme from the numbskulls that run California;

A California bill that would allow undocumented immigrants to qualify for first-time homebuying loans continues to progress in the state Legislature. The bill, formally known as AB 1840, would expand the eligibility requirement for the state’s first-time homebuyer loan program, the California Dream For All Shared Appreciation program, to allow undocumented immigrants who live in the state to use it. Most recently, AB1840 passed the Senate Appropriations Committee last week and now faces a floor vote in the Senate. The bill has already passed the Assembly. The program, which was launched in 2023, provides up to 20% for down payment or closing costs, not to exceed $150,000. The homebuyer would have to repay the original down payment loan, plus a share of the home's increase value upon selling the property.

News

Setting aside the "undocumented immigrants" part of it, what the actual fuck are government doing getting into the real estate business? What a convoluted piece of nonsense. The state is financially broke and still comes up with new ways to give money away that they don't have.

Programs like this wouldn’t even exist if there wasn’t massive demand for them, and that demand comes from regular people being priced out of the California housing market. That didn’t happen by accident. Big real estate investment firms and corporate landlords have been buying up properties in bulk, driving up prices and shrinking the pool of homes available to first-time buyers. The state is stepping in because without help, a huge chunk of Californians, regardless of immigration status, simply can’t compete with Wall Street-backed cash offers. Stagnant wages and high interest rates are both big parts of the equation as well. All private sector hands btw.

If you think programs like this are ridiculous, the answer isn’t just to complain about them, it’s to fix the broken housing market so people can actually afford homes without government stepping in. I agree that the government shouldn’t play in the private sector, but bruh, the private sector’s been doing such a craptastic job that they’ve practically invited the government to get involved.

When private sector actions harm the public or the economy, the main formal channel for recourse is through government, whether that’s legislation, regulation, or enforcement. Democracy, duh! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway, at least it’s not a free handout. The state gets its money back plus a cut of appreciation, so the funds can recycle into helping the next buyer. It can actually grow the program if the market stays strong. Downside is if housing prices drop or defaults & foreclosures get out of control the state can lose big time.

 

[Gospel]

Government involvement in the private sector is nothing new anyway. The Trump administration, for example, took ownership stakes in private companies during COVID relief, but that’s just one case. Every administration steps in somewhere: tariffs that reshape entire industries, subsidies and bailouts for farmers, tax breaks for oil and gas, incentives for renewables, even heavy regulation in crypto. Different sectors, different circumstances, but the same basic principle, government stepping into markets to achieve a policy goal. Unless we’re saying a corporation hit by lost sales or falling commodity prices deserves help, but a citizen hit by stagnant wages, inflation, and insane housing costs doesn’t.

 

[Politesse]

For reference:



My only correction would be that "farmers" are usually rich as hell, it's the farmworkers who are poor. And that SoCal extends quite a bit further into the desert these days.

 

[TV and credit cards]

Programs like this wouldn’t even exist if there wasn’t massive demand for them, and that demand comes from regular people being priced out of the California housing market. That didn’t happen by accident. Big real estate investment firms and corporate landlords have been buying up properties in bulk, driving up prices and shrinking the pool of homes available to first-time buyers. The state is stepping in because without help, a huge chunk of Californians, regardless of immigration status, simply can’t compete with Wall Street-backed cash offers. Stagnant wages and high interest rates are both big parts of the equation as well. All private sector hands btw.

If you think programs like this are ridiculous, the answer isn’t just to complain about them, it’s to fix the broken housing market so people can actually afford homes without government stepping in. I agree that the government shouldn’t play in the private sector, but bruh, the private sector’s been doing such a craptastic job that they’ve practically invited the government to get involved.

When private sector actions harm the public or the economy, the main formal channel for recourse is through government, whether that’s legislation, regulation, or enforcement. Democracy, duh! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway, at least it’s not a free handout. The state gets its money back plus a cut of appreciation, so the funds can recycle into helping the next buyer. It can actually grow the program if the market stays strong. Downside is if housing prices drop or defaults & foreclosures get out of control the state can lose big time.

B: When did you form this opinion, back in the seventies or eighties when the private sector was a cute little crocodile and government had a hand on the tiller?
I think it's high time government went full Bernie Sanders on them. Time to take off the mittens.

 

[Gospel]

I stand by the idea that the private sector should ideally be free from government interference, in a perfect world, markets could regulate themselves. The problem is we don’t live in that perfect world (never have), we live in one run by humans. And when human greed and short-term thinking takes over, the private sector invites government intervention. I think it’s fair to say I don’t want government in the mix based on my beliefs, but I do recognize that reality makes it unavoidable, even though I believe it shouldn’t be this way.

 

[Gospel]

My only correction would be that “farmers” are usually rich as hell, it’s the farmworkers who are poor. And that SoCal extends quite a bit further into the desert these days.

Yep, exactly this. California’s top ag producers are overwhelmingly large-scale operations, the average farm size in the Central Valley is over 300 acres, and the top 10% of farms pull in more than 70% of farm revenue. Meanwhile, the median farmworker in CA earns under $20k a year, often without benefits, and many live in overcrowded or substandard housing.

And yeah, culturally SoCal’s “footprint” keeps creeping east, Palm Springs, Coachella Valley, even parts of the high desert are now functionally LA’s extended backyard.

 

[Toni]

For reference:

View attachment 51757

My only correction would be that "farmers" are usually rich as hell, it's the farmworkers who are poor. And that SoCal extends quite a bit further into the desert these days.

Maybe in California or all of the big agribusiness farmers are. Regular farmers are not, unless you count the value of their land which, sure, they could sell but if they all did, we'd be pretty hungry.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

No arrests were made and no citations were issued when officers broke up a street takeover early Saturday in front of the Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles, authorities said. Officers were dispatched at about 2:50 a.m. to Figueroa and 12th streets, according to the Los Angeles Police Department's Media Relations Section. About 40 to 50 vehicles were performing donut maneuvers in the street and spectators were lighting illegal fireworks, police said.

Ness


Kinda wish Trump would takeover LA like he did in DC

So you're happy to head into fascism? Because that's where The Felon is going. Rapidly.

And what usually happens with these things is they only catch the spectators, not the scum.

 

[Politesse]

For reference:

View attachment 51757

My only correction would be that "farmers" are usually rich as hell, it's the farmworkers who are poor. And that SoCal extends quite a bit further into the desert these days.

Maybe in California or all of the big agribusiness farmers are. Regular farmers are not, unless you count the value of their land which, sure, they could sell but if they all did, we'd be pretty hungry.

I've known plenty of farmers in my time, and very few who I would describe as "poor". Not in California, at any rate. Financially tenuous, perhaps, but if they own their own land, even smaller family farms provide at least a middle class life for their owners. It's not dust bowl Oklahoma out here; almonds, grapes, and dairy are still very big business, and the families who got in on it before the big corporate players started buying up whatever land was left after the 97' floods have the means to live a good life. To say nothing of those quasi-mythical corporate farms, which outearn all private enterprises by an enormous margin.

You do meet people who are farmers but do not own the land they are farming. They are sometimes in a much more anxious situation, though again, exploited though they are they are almost never "poor" in the same sense that their employees are "poor".

 

[Loren Pechtel]

And as further proof that Newsom hates democracy he’s trying to get a bill on the ballot to gerrymander districts to get more congressional seats. 43 out of 52 is not enough.

He's doing that in response to Trump wanting more gerrymandering in Texas. Other states are preparing to do so too in response.

He shouldn't be doing it at all. Regardless of the unethical gerrymandering attempts in Ohio and Texas.

Okay, what you're advocating for is one of the main reasons why the Democrats have become so ineffective. You want them to play by ethical rules against a party that has zero ethics. You want to play by the rules when the GOP makes no bones about following the rules.

You can't win doing what you're suggesting. This is a battle for democracy itself in this country. Despite the idea of not getting into the mud and wrestling with pigs, when the choice is to take a bullet in the head or wrestle the pigs, then you wrestle with the pigs.

Violence against the grunts would be a godsend for fascism. The only non-horrible endpoint is for Washington to wake up and throw out the fascists.

 

[Politesse]

The only non-horrible endpoint is for Washington to wake up and throw out the fascists.

Why would "Washington" do that?