California Doing California Things

[TSwizzle]

The fifth (or is it fourth) largest economy in the world has chased Valero out of California

California just lost another giant, and this one came with a billion-dollar receipt. Valero Energy is reportedly taking a staggering $1 billion loss to shut down and exit California by April 2026 rather than comply with the ever-expanding mandates pushed by Governor Gavin Newsom and his regulatory agencies. Let that sink in. One of the largest energy companies in the country looked at Sacramento’s rules, did the math, and decided it was cheaper to walk away than play along. This is not a market failure. It is a policy failure. Valero’s billion-dollar exit should be a five-alarm fire for California Democrats, but don’t expect a course correction. Newsom and his allies remain committed to doubling down, even as refineries close, prices climb, and jobs vanish. Ideology comes first. Reality comes later.

News

Newsom should definitely run for president.

IOW they have been ostentatiously flaunting their disregard for state law ever since they bought the plants, and the resulting fines and suits are getting more expensive than one last billion dollar hit for breach of contract. You feel, I suppose, that it is worth overlooking a few laws

What laws are you talking about?

if it keeps one or two more billionaires in the state?

lol, that facility is one of the biggest employers in the area. When the billionaires get tired of abusive taxes and leave, who's going to pay for all the free shit that is handed out? How do you suppose Newsom will brag about being the fourth/fifth largest economy in the world!!!111!!! if these companies leave the state?

 

[TSwizzle]

The California High Speed rail project that has been ongoing for 17 years, billions of dollars spent and no tracks laid, well the corrupt state doesn't want people to know just how corrupt it really is

The auditor of California’s High-Speed Rail Authority wants the power to keep certain records confidential, drawing concerns from transparency advocates that the agency could shield vital information about a controversial and costly public infrastructure project from the public. Assembly Bill 1608, authored by Assembly Transportation Committee Chair Lori Wilson, would allow the inspector general overseeing the high-speed rail authority to withhold records that the official believes would “reveal weaknesses” that could harm the state or benefit someone inappropriately. The bill would also prevent the release of internal discussions and “personal papers and correspondence” if the person involved submits a written request to keep their records private. The legislation appears to have the blessing of Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose administration released a nearly identical budget trailer bill — a vehicle for the governor and legislative leaders to adopt major reforms swiftly with minimal public input — on Monday. The language for both proposals came from the inspector general’s office, said H.D. Palmer, spokesperson of the state Department of Finance. The rail line, designed to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles, was approved by voters in 2008. At the time, it was estimated to cost $33 billion and be completed by 2020. It is now estimated to cost more than $100 billion, with only a 171-mile segment connecting Merced and Bakersfield planned for completion by 2033.

News

And just like that, half a billion dollars gone.

California’s High-Speed Rail Board of Directors approved a settlement costing more than half a billion dollars, a move that comes as lawmakers debate how transparent the long-delayed and over-budget project should be.
During a January meeting, the High-Speed Rail Authority’s board of directors approved more than $500 million to settle a dispute with a company contracted to design portions of the project. The settlement was approved as a change order, meaning it involved changes within an original contract, and the amount was decided during a closed session meeting.

News

Newsom should definitely run for president.

 

[Politesse]

The fifth (or is it fourth) largest economy in the world has chased Valero out of California

California just lost another giant, and this one came with a billion-dollar receipt. Valero Energy is reportedly taking a staggering $1 billion loss to shut down and exit California by April 2026 rather than comply with the ever-expanding mandates pushed by Governor Gavin Newsom and his regulatory agencies. Let that sink in. One of the largest energy companies in the country looked at Sacramento’s rules, did the math, and decided it was cheaper to walk away than play along. This is not a market failure. It is a policy failure. Valero’s billion-dollar exit should be a five-alarm fire for California Democrats, but don’t expect a course correction. Newsom and his allies remain committed to doubling down, even as refineries close, prices climb, and jobs vanish. Ideology comes first. Reality comes later.

News

Newsom should definitely run for president.

IOW they have been ostentatiously flaunting their disregard for state law ever since they bought the plants, and the resulting fines and suits are getting more expensive than one last billion dollar hit for breach of contract. You feel, I suppose, that it is worth overlooking a few laws

What laws are you talking about?

if it keeps one or two more billionaires in the state?

lol, that facility is one of the biggest employers in the area. When the billionaires get tired of abusive taxes and leave, who's going to pay for all the free shit that is handed out? How do you suppose Newsom will brag about being the fourth/fifth largest economy in the world!!!111!!! if these companies leave the state?

So your answer is yes? Either change the law or allow them to break the law so they'll stay? Do you think Newsom should have given them the 120 mil extra they were demanding in September?

 

[TSwizzle]

The fifth (or is it fourth) largest economy in the world has chased Valero out of California

California just lost another giant, and this one came with a billion-dollar receipt. Valero Energy is reportedly taking a staggering $1 billion loss to shut down and exit California by April 2026 rather than comply with the ever-expanding mandates pushed by Governor Gavin Newsom and his regulatory agencies. Let that sink in. One of the largest energy companies in the country looked at Sacramento’s rules, did the math, and decided it was cheaper to walk away than play along. This is not a market failure. It is a policy failure. Valero’s billion-dollar exit should be a five-alarm fire for California Democrats, but don’t expect a course correction. Newsom and his allies remain committed to doubling down, even as refineries close, prices climb, and jobs vanish. Ideology comes first. Reality comes later.

News

Newsom should definitely run for president.

IOW they have been ostentatiously flaunting their disregard for state law ever since they bought the plants, and the resulting fines and suits are getting more expensive than one last billion dollar hit for breach of contract. You feel, I suppose, that it is worth overlooking a few laws

What laws are you talking about?

if it keeps one or two more billionaires in the state?

lol, that facility is one of the biggest employers in the area. When the billionaires get tired of abusive taxes and leave, who's going to pay for all the free shit that is handed out? How do you suppose Newsom will brag about being the fourth/fifth largest economy in the world!!!111!!! if these companies leave the state?

So your answer is yes?

My question was, what laws are they breaking?

 

[Politesse]

The fifth (or is it fourth) largest economy in the world has chased Valero out of California

California just lost another giant, and this one came with a billion-dollar receipt. Valero Energy is reportedly taking a staggering $1 billion loss to shut down and exit California by April 2026 rather than comply with the ever-expanding mandates pushed by Governor Gavin Newsom and his regulatory agencies. Let that sink in. One of the largest energy companies in the country looked at Sacramento’s rules, did the math, and decided it was cheaper to walk away than play along. This is not a market failure. It is a policy failure. Valero’s billion-dollar exit should be a five-alarm fire for California Democrats, but don’t expect a course correction. Newsom and his allies remain committed to doubling down, even as refineries close, prices climb, and jobs vanish. Ideology comes first. Reality comes later.

News

Newsom should definitely run for president.

IOW they have been ostentatiously flaunting their disregard for state law ever since they bought the plants, and the resulting fines and suits are getting more expensive than one last billion dollar hit for breach of contract. You feel, I suppose, that it is worth overlooking a few laws

What laws are you talking about?

if it keeps one or two more billionaires in the state?

lol, that facility is one of the biggest employers in the area. When the billionaires get tired of abusive taxes and leave, who's going to pay for all the free shit that is handed out? How do you suppose Newsom will brag about being the fourth/fifth largest economy in the world!!!111!!! if these companies leave the state?

So your answer is yes?

My question was, what laws are they breaking?

An exhaustive list would be quite long, but the most egregious case, the one that they settled for a huge sum last year and which immediately precipitated their talks of leaving the state, concerned air pollution. At the end of the day, the facility was never up to date, never in line with our laws, even after the state kept giving them allotment after allotment of your tax dollars supposedly to fix and update the refinery. For more than ten years, Valero willfully and knowledgeably emitted toxic hydrocarbons in excess of the legal limit - 360x what is permissable by the law, and that's just an average. On certain times of the year, they were emitting more than 2.7 tons of toxic gasses from their hydrogen facility per day.

If you don't believe me, believe Fox News:

Benicia's Valero Refining Company fined $82M for air quality violations

This penalty is the largest ever assessed in the Air District’s history, officials said.

www.ktvu.com

Or if Fox isn't a reliable enough source, do you need me to find a British tabloid reporting the same information? Or a two hour long Youtube video by a Neo-Nazi/John Bircher?

 

[thebeave]

The fifth (or is it fourth) largest economy in the world has chased Valero out of California

California just lost another giant, and this one came with a billion-dollar receipt. Valero Energy is reportedly taking a staggering $1 billion loss to shut down and exit California by April 2026 rather than comply with the ever-expanding mandates pushed by Governor Gavin Newsom and his regulatory agencies. Let that sink in. One of the largest energy companies in the country looked at Sacramento’s rules, did the math, and decided it was cheaper to walk away than play along. This is not a market failure. It is a policy failure. Valero’s billion-dollar exit should be a five-alarm fire for California Democrats, but don’t expect a course correction. Newsom and his allies remain committed to doubling down, even as refineries close, prices climb, and jobs vanish. Ideology comes first. Reality comes later.

News

Newsom should definitely run for president.

IOW they have been ostentatiously flaunting their disregard for state law ever since they bought the plants, and the resulting fines and suits are getting more expensive than one last billion dollar hit for breach of contract. You feel, I suppose, that it is worth overlooking a few laws

What laws are you talking about?

if it keeps one or two more billionaires in the state?

lol, that facility is one of the biggest employers in the area. When the billionaires get tired of abusive taxes and leave, who's going to pay for all the free shit that is handed out? How do you suppose Newsom will brag about being the fourth/fifth largest economy in the world!!!111!!! if these companies leave the state?

So your answer is yes?

My question was, what laws are they breaking?

An exhaustive list would be quite long, but the most egregious case, the one that they settled for a huge sum last year and which immediately precipitated their talks of leaving the state, concerned air pollution. At the end of the day, the facility was never up to date, never in line with our laws, even after the state kept giving them allotment after allotment of your tax dollars supposedly to fix and update the refinery. For more than ten years, Valero willfully and knowledgeably emitted toxic hydrocarbons in excess of the legal limit - 360x what is permissable by the law, and that's just an average. On certain times of the year, they were emitting more than 2.7 tons of toxic gasses from their hydrogen facility per day.

If you don't believe me, believe Fox News:

Benicia's Valero Refining Company fined $82M for air quality violations

This penalty is the largest ever assessed in the Air District’s history, officials said.

www.ktvu.com

Or if Fox isn't a reliable enough source, do you need me to find a British tabloid reporting the same information? Or a two hour long Youtube video by a Neo-Nazi/John Bircher?

KTVU is a Fox affilliate TV station. That's not same entity as Fox News.

 

[TSwizzle]

Newsom hands over $94m of California taxpayer money to “Planned Parenthood” abattoirs

Planned Parenthood will receive $90 million from the state of California after the reproductive health care provider and its affiliates lost federal funding from the Trump administration last year. Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 106 Wednesday, granting the one-time emergency funds to Planned Parenthood and its clinics California has provided $145 million to Planned Parenthood since last fall, the governor's office said.

News

 

[Politesse]

KTVU is a Fox affilliate TV station. That's not same entity as Fox News.

A thrilling contribution to the discussion. Remarkable how quickly you ascertained what the real, salient issues at hand were and responded exclusively to the main point, ignoring all possibility of an irrelevant derail.

Do you think we should keep paying hundreds of millions of dollars in annual bribes to keep the Benicia plant open? It's your tax money too.

 

[Elixir]

Newsom hands over $94m of California taxpayer money to “Planned Parenthood” abattoirs

Planned Parenthood will receive $90 million from the state of California after the reproductive health care provider and its affiliates lost federal funding from the Trump administration last year. Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 106 Wednesday, granting the one-time emergency funds to Planned Parenthood and its clinics California has provided $145 million to Planned Parenthood since last fall, the governor's office said.

News

Lol! You voted for the fucktard who forced that money out of your pocket. A much better investment, BTW than spending that much every three days (est. over a billion to date) playing with YOUR toys in Venezuela. Did you get your share of the dirty oil yet, Swiz?

 

[TSwizzle]

Newsom thinks he runs a country

Newsom will visit Germany for the Munich Security Conference this weekend, his office confirmed to Inside California Politics. The world’s largest security conference, the German event has been held annually for more than half a century.
The governor will frame California as a leader in democracy, climate action, artificial intelligence and other areas — a steady partner for foreign governments regardless of which political party is in charge. The U.S. is walking away from common sense, Newsom said at a news conference Tuesday. “I’m going to walk into that conference … and make the case that California is a stable and reliable partner,” he said. “That California has significantly grown its GDP … and we have significantly reduced our greenhouse gas emissions.”

News

Newsom is such an insufferable prick.

 

[Politesse]

Newsom thinks he runs a country

Newsom will visit Germany for the Munich Security Conference this weekend, his office confirmed to Inside California Politics. The world’s largest security conference, the German event has been held annually for more than half a century.
The governor will frame California as a leader in democracy, climate action, artificial intelligence and other areas — a steady partner for foreign governments regardless of which political party is in charge. The U.S. is walking away from common sense, Newsom said at a news conference Tuesday. “I’m going to walk into that conference … and make the case that California is a stable and reliable partner,” he said. “That California has significantly grown its GDP … and we have significantly reduced our greenhouse gas emissions.”

News

Newsom is such an insufferable prick.

Good. California should be an independent nation. There is no tangible benefit for us in being chained to the US, its corrupt leadership, its crumbling economy, or its plummeting international reputation.

I doubt appearing at a few international summits will change anything, though.

 

[TV and credit cards]

Newsom thinks he runs a country

Newsom will visit Germany for the Munich Security Conference this weekend, his office confirmed to Inside California Politics. The world’s largest security conference, the German event has been held annually for more than half a century.
The governor will frame California as a leader in democracy, climate action, artificial intelligence and other areas — a steady partner for foreign governments regardless of which political party is in charge. The U.S. is walking away from common sense, Newsom said at a news conference Tuesday. “I’m going to walk into that conference … and make the case that California is a stable and reliable partner,” he said. “That California has significantly grown its GDP … and we have significantly reduced our greenhouse gas emissions.”

News

Newsom is such an insufferable prick.

In these regards, he kinda does. California has the economic clout, does it not? Whole industries have changed their practices based on California law.
And making the case that California is a stable partner to is a very smart thing for him to do and beyond self-serving.

If you think California has an immigration problem now, split it off from the rest of the US and see what happens.

 

[TSwizzle]

Newsom thinks he runs a country

Newsom will visit Germany for the Munich Security Conference this weekend, his office confirmed to Inside California Politics. The world’s largest security conference, the German event has been held annually for more than half a century.
The governor will frame California as a leader in democracy, climate action, artificial intelligence and other areas — a steady partner for foreign governments regardless of which political party is in charge. The U.S. is walking away from common sense, Newsom said at a news conference Tuesday. “I’m going to walk into that conference … and make the case that California is a stable and reliable partner,” he said. “That California has significantly grown its GDP … and we have significantly reduced our greenhouse gas emissions.”

News

Newsom is such an insufferable prick.

In these regards, he kinda does. California has the economic clout, does it not? Whole industries have changed their practices based on California law.
And making the case that California is a stable partner to is a very smart thing for him to do and beyond self-serving.

If you think California has an immigration problem now, split it off from the rest of the US and see what happens.

Ah, you seem to think that this trip is about what is good for California. No it is not. This is about Gavin Newsom. Newsom will be termed out of being governor this year.

 

[TV and credit cards]

Newsom thinks he runs a country

Newsom will visit Germany for the Munich Security Conference this weekend, his office confirmed to Inside California Politics. The world’s largest security conference, the German event has been held annually for more than half a century.
The governor will frame California as a leader in democracy, climate action, artificial intelligence and other areas — a steady partner for foreign governments regardless of which political party is in charge. The U.S. is walking away from common sense, Newsom said at a news conference Tuesday. “I’m going to walk into that conference … and make the case that California is a stable and reliable partner,” he said. “That California has significantly grown its GDP … and we have significantly reduced our greenhouse gas emissions.”

News

Newsom is such an insufferable prick.

In these regards, he kinda does. California has the economic clout, does it not? Whole industries have changed their practices based on California law.
And making the case that California is a stable partner to is a very smart thing for him to do and beyond self-serving.

If you think California has an immigration problem now, split it off from the rest of the US and see what happens.

Ah, you seem to think that this trip is about what is good for California. No it is not. This is about Gavin Newsom. Newsom will be termed out of being governor this year.

I think this goes beyond Newsom's ambition. California is and in all likelihood will be a stable partner to other nations for the foreseeable future. Newsom's ambition takes nothing away from California's position on the world stage.

 

[Elixir]

Newsom's ambition takes nothing away from California's position on the world stage.

The presence of foreign-born trumpsuckers is rather a blight upon its reputation though.

 

[TSwizzle]

Ah, you seem to think that this trip is about what is good for California. No it is not. This is about Gavin Newsom. Newsom will be termed out of being governor this year.

I think this goes beyond Newsom's ambition. {snip}

Actually it doesn't. This trip is about Newsom. Same goes for his earlier trip to Israel and his trip to Davos where he looked a fool.

 

[TSwizzle]

lol, Newsom's wife is such a card



totally shoves the governor of California out of the way to let the mostly female press have it.

I doubt the "war on women" she talks about mentions the males competing in female sports in California or males hanging around inside women's changing rooms.

 

[Politesse]

totally shoves the governor of California out of the way to let the mostly female press have it.

What course of action are you recommending here, exactly?

 

[Politesse]

At least California isn't as bad as Spain. Have you seen how delayed and over-budget the construction of the Sagrada Familia is getting. And don't get me started on France. 600 years to build the thing and Valérie Pécresse just lets it burn down? What an affront to taxpayers!

 

[Elixir]

Newsom is such an insufferable prick.

I love love love seeing NDS (Newsom Derangement Syndrome) torturing the Rumpsuckers. Now, THAT’s entertainment!!