Bullet Train Work Blows Past Cost Estimates

This is the biggest scam ever.

It's astounding that the Democrats can pull off these boondoggles, but the "sheeple" continue to vote them back in. Maybe a reckoning's coming? We're seeing some trouble brewing in cities around the state over the sanctuary law. Perhaps change will ripple into other policy areas as well.

At LAT, "High-speed rail project vastly underestimated cost of relocating utility lines beneath Fresno":

High-speed rail project vastly underestimated cost of relocating utility lines beneath Fresno https://t.co/PM2oJxoNVb pic.twitter.com/3GC2qkRVbk

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) April 18, 2018

Another day, another embarrassing headline for the Capitol Democrats' High Speed Fail. It's time to defund #CAHSR and invest in projects that actually provide benefits to ordinary Californians. #CADeservesBetter https://t.co/1SXaNnOCEZ

— CA Assembly GOP (@AssemblyGOP) April 18, 2018

#CAHSR is a national disgrace. With no federal money and no current private sector investment, this project is now California taxpayers’ worst nightmare as they are left holding the bag. https://t.co/a5uHYQDB3C

— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) April 18, 2018

Buried beneath Fresno were some costly surprises for the California bullet train authority, which disclosed Tuesday that the price of utility relocations along a 29-mile section of railway has surged from a 2013 estimate of $69 million to $396 million.

Although it was known that moving gas lines, sewer pipes, water mains and communications wire to make way for the route would be more expensive than originally expected, the magnitude of the increase — nearly a six-fold jump — puts into better focus why the project's costs are rising so sharply.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority board on Friday took up the problem, hearing from its staff that the original estimate contained a number of miscalculations.

The number of linear feet of utilities that have to be moved was underestimated, as was the cost per foot for the job, according to a staff memo. Then, there were utilities that nobody even knew were in the ground. The authority changed its mind about some of the work, as well, the report said.

The original cost estimate was based on work performed by the rail authority's regional consultant, the staff memo said. It did not identify the company, but rail authority records indicate the regional consultant from before 2013 through at least 2015 was Los Angeles-based Aecom. By 2017, the company was no longer on the job. The company did not have an immediate response when contacted.

The history of the utility relocations suggests some turmoil in management decisions — which the rail authority staff said it would not repeat in the future.The original plan was to have AT&T and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. move their own equipment, rather than allow the main construction contractor, Tutor Perini, to do the work.

After getting started, however, the two utilities came back and told the rail authority that they were having trouble meeting the schedule. So, the rail authority handed the job to Tutor Perini in February 2017 and increased the budget to $159 million.

By September 2017, the rail authority arrived at a new cost estimate of $396 million, which was not made public until Tuesday. The price hike is part of the $2.8 billion in cost increases for the Central Valley work that were disclosed in January and were incorporated into the draft 2018 business plan released last month.

The higher costs would deplete the budget for the utility relocations by April, according to the staff memo. So the board approved moving $40 million from a future contract reserved for installing track in the Central Valley to cover the utility work in Fresno. That $40 million will fund the utility work until July, the memo said...

Total waste. This is actually sad. Just a minuscule fraction of that funding could finance 10s of thousands of underserved students at community college, and that'd be just a start.

Disgraceful is right. Sheesh.

ICYMI: Vox Day, SJWs Always Lie

*BUMPED.*

You gotta read this book, dang!

At Amazon, Vox Day, SJWs Always Lie: Taking Down the Thought Police.

John Putnam Demos, Entertaining Satan

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, John Putnam Demos, Entertaining Satan: Witchcraft and the Culture of Early New England.

Nancy Houston, Love and Sex

At Amazon, Nancy Houston, Love & Sex: A Christian Guide to Healthy Intimacy.

'They Were Never Going to Let Me Be President'

Heh, this is hilarious.

At the Daily Beast, "Hillary Clinton on Election Night: ‘They Were Never Going to Let Me Be President’":

Hillary Clinton: "They were never going to let me be president." From @GideonResnick: https://t.co/Nv0LnTUu5A

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) April 20, 2018

“No one in modern politics, male or female, has had to withstand more indignities, setbacks and cynicism. She developed protective armor that made the real Hillary Clinton an enigma. But if she was guarded about her feelings and opinions, she believed it was in careful pursuit of a dream for generations of Americans: the election of the country’s first woman president.”

That would have been the nut graf of The New York Times story about Hillary Clinton’s historic victory that would have run under the headline “Madam President” spread across six front-page columns, according to reporter Amy Chozick’s new book, Chasing Hillary: Ten Years, Two Presidential Campaigns, and One Intact Glass Ceiling.

Chozick writes that the Clinton campaign, which she covered from the beginning, had reacted furiously to the prospect of a Joe Biden run, as floated first in an August 2015 Maureen Dowd Times column and then in a reported story by Chozick. In the book, she writes that “Biden had confided (off the record) to the White House press corps that he wanted to run, but he added something like ‘You guys don’t understand these people. The Clintons will try to destroy me.’”

Throughout the book, Chozick refers to her fellow journalists in the small pool that flew on the campaign plane as “Travelers,” while referring to many Clinton staffers collectively as “The Guys.”

Asked to comment on the book, a former campaign staffer who’s referred to in it as one of “The Guys” told The Daily Beast: “The challenge on the campaign was that you had a reporter holding the Clintons to a higher standard through a lower standard of reporting. Amy was not always an honest broker, and this book seems to be more of the same. It ridicules people with a smile, contributing little to the public discourse.”

From early on, the Clinton camp saw Trump as an enemy to encourage, Chozick writes. During the campaign, as had been previously reported, there was an effort to elevate Trump into a so-called Pied Piper in order to tie him to the mainstream of the Republican Party.

“An agenda for an upcoming campaign meeting sent by [Campaign Manager] Robby Mook’s office asked, ‘How do we maximize Trump?’” Chozick writes, describing a time when the GOP primary was still crowded...

Sweden's Collapse (VIDEO)

I can't think of a more attractive person --- and I mean "attractive" as literally attracting people to her ideas with so much persuasive, logical, and common sense power --- than Katie Hopkins.

Here's she's interviewed by Mark Steyn at Fox News:

The Authoritarian Right

This is interesting.

From old Pat Buchanan, "Why the Authoritarian Right is Rising":

Why the Authoritarian Right Is Rising - https://t.co/PCKumU3K3N Patrick J. Buchanan - Official WebsiteBy Patrick J. Buchanan

A fortnight ago, Viktor Orban and his Fidesz Party won enough seats in the Hungarian parliament to rewrite his country's constitution.

To progress... pic.twitter.com/SlKrG4pzzI

— Patrick J. Buchanan (@PatrickBuchanan) April 20, 2018

A fortnight ago, Viktor Orban and his Fidesz Party won enough seats in the Hungarian parliament to rewrite his country’s constitution.

To progressives across the West, this was disturbing news.

For the bete noire of Orban’s campaign was uber-globalist George Soros. And Orban’s commitments were to halt any further surrenders of Hungarian sovereignty and independence to the European Union, and to fight any immigrant invasion of Hungary from Africa or the Islamic world.

Why are autocrats like Orban rising and liberal democrats failing in Europe? The autocrats are addressing the primary and existential fear of peoples across the West — the death of the separate and unique tribes into which they were born and to which they belong.

Modern liberals and progressives see nations as transitory — here today, gone tomorrow. The autocrats, however, have plugged into the most powerful currents running in this new century: tribalism and nationalism.

The democracy worshippers of the West cannot compete with the authoritarians in meeting the crisis of our time because they do not see what is happening to the West as a crisis.

They see us as on a steady march into a brave new world, where democracy, diversity and equality will be everywhere celebrated.

To understand the rise of Orban, we need to start seeing Europe and ourselves as so many of these people see us...

More.

Leftist Media Obsessed with Sean Hannity (VIDEO)

Background at the Los Angeles Times, "Judge orders Trump lawyer Michael Cohen to reveal a secret client: Sean Hannity," and "Fox News supports Sean Hannity after just learning he's a client of Trump lawyer Michael Cohen."

And from last night's opening monologue, on Hannity:

Aly Raisman's Empowering Photo Shoot (VIDEO)

She's got a body that won't quit, dang!

At Sports Illustrated:

Soros' Antifa 'Protesters'

Bleedin' anarchist criminals.

At the Other McCain, "Tax-Exempt Terrorism: Cash From Soros Sponsors Communist ‘Antifa’ Group."

Tax-Exempt Terrorism: Cash From Soros Sponsors Communist ‘Antifa’ Group https://t.co/zM5i7F4BTz

cc @vadum @KirbyMcCain @AmPowerBlog @benshapiro pic.twitter.com/ZdPOg9t2Sc

— The Patriarch Tree (@PatriarchTree) April 18, 2018

Hey, Normal Americans, Donˊt Worry About Us Locking Up Your Guns

At Director Blue:

GUN CONTROL FASCISTS: Hey, Normal Americans, Donˊt Worry About Us Locking Up Your Guns https://t.co/EJXni1cQsB pic.twitter.com/e7ov5Zv9t6

— Doug Ross 🔵 (@directorblue) April 18, 2018

Social Justice Standards for Seven-Year-Olds

*Eye-roll.*

Seen on Twitter just now:

Parents of 7-year-old children: How would you feel about your child's teacher using "SOCIAL JUSTICE STANDARDS" to teach your kid that Cinderella is a victim of female stereotyping instead of say MATH. SCIENCE OR READING?

This is what @WCPSS has just imported into our district. pic.twitter.com/jdvIVaHlDY

— A.P. Dillon (@APDillon_) April 18, 2018

ADDED:

Teaching Tolerance is the social justice indoctrination 'education' arm of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
It exists to peddle Leftists narratives on political issues in classrooms nationwide. The entire point is to create little social justice warriors.https://t.co/HiiEGRlxJL

— A.P. Dillon (@APDillon_) April 18, 2018

Mama Gorilla Gives Baby Moke Tender Kisses (VIDEO)

This really is tender. It's almost like the mama gorilla is human. Imagine that.

Moms give the best kisses. The @NationalZoo announced the birth of a baby #gorilla named Moke. https://t.co/0bejzHG8lm pic.twitter.com/fimCXQJPDR

— ABC6 (@wsyx6) April 16, 2018

Megan Parry Wonderful Weather Forecast

It's going to be about 70 today in the O.C. Very pleasant and relaxing.

At ABC News 10 San Diego:

Leftist Sociology Professor at Brookdale Community College Drops F-Bomb on Conservative Student

At Instapundit, "HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE":

Sociology prof swears at conservative student during class. “The student said he had contended that sexual abuse was not a problem exclusively dealt with by women, and that men can be affected too, causing the professor to shout ‘f— your life’ at him.”

There's really no respect in society any longer. I'm not surprised by leftist hatred and disrespect. I'm surprised when I meet and teach nice, well-mannered young people. I'm almost shocked to find out they're usually people of Christian faith.

'The tone of the article is that it's just very funny, but bashing an animal with a shovel isn't a joke...'

Oh my, this is awful.

And Bill de Blasio's the guy that dropped a groundhog.

At Althouse, "'De Blasio’s rat-killing demonstration is a complete disaster'..."

Woman 'Sucked Out' and Killed on Southwest Airlines Flight (VIDEO)

What a freakin' nightmare.

At CBS This Morning, "Southwest victim was partially sucked out of shattered window."

Playboy Playmate Jayde Nicole Flashes

At Drunken Stepfather, "JAYDE NICOLE FLASHING HER TITS OF THE DAY."

BONUS: "JAYDE NICOLE BIKINI OF THE DAY."

Randa Jarrar, English Professor at Fresno State, Cheers Death of Former First Lady Barbara Bush

This is really some hateful spew.

At the Fresno Bee, "Fresno State professor stirs outrage, calls Barbara Bush an 'amazing racist'."

And at Gateway Pundit, "Muslim Professor Cheers Death of Former First Lady Barbara Bush “Happy the Witch is Dead”."

Statement by @Fresno_State President @JosephICastro regarding tweets made today by a faculty member: pic.twitter.com/h3ZbQyMmxd

— Fresno State (@Fresno_State) April 18, 2018

Oh no no no no. This isn't quietly going away with one tweet.

One of their professors wished for the death of Americans. We are demanding to know why Fresno State thinks it's acceptable that one of their professors hates white people and wants Americans dead. https://t.co/2314TY6s9m

— Cristina Laila (@cristinalaila1) April 18, 2018

Iceland's First Black Citizen

I love this story.

Hans Jonathan, a Danish slave from colonial St. Croix, was denied his freedom in Denmark and subsequently escaped to Iceland where he lived out the remainder of his life.

Iceland's really proud of this history. Denmark wants to bury it, the freakin' hypocritical "tolerant" Scandinavian progs.

At NYT, "Iceland’s 1st Black Citizen? An Ex-Slave and War Hero Denmark Now Disregards":

Iceland’s 1st Black Citizen? An Ex-Slave and War Hero Denmark Now Disregards https://t.co/69fWcPWmKF

— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 15, 2018

COPENHAGEN — Long after his death, Hans Jonathan has, at last, gotten some attention. He is the subject of a well-received biography and a groundbreaking genetic study, and is something of a celebrity in Iceland, where he is thought to have been the first black person.

But in Denmark, where Hans Jonathan (he had no surname) was a slave, fought in a war, lost a noted case on slavery, and escaped bondage by fleeing to Iceland, his extraordinary story has not drawn much interest.

An American descendant got a polite rejection when she asked the Danish government to declare him, posthumously, a free man. When people stroll past a five-story mansion that sits less than 100 yards from the royal Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen, there is no historical marker to tell of the Schimmelmann family who owned it, or the slaves they kept there, including Hans Jonathan.

“People who speak or write about slave trade and Danish colonialism speak to deaf ears,” said Gisli Palsson, a professor of anthropology at the University of Iceland, and author of “The Man Who Stole Himself: The Slave Odyssey of Hans Jonathan.”

The colonial past has largely disappeared from Danish collective memory. The country has communities of people with historic ties to Greenland and the Faroe Islands, but relatively few residents whose ancestry traces to its former colonies in the Caribbean, Africa and India.

Danes’ long-ago status as slave owners and colonial masters rarely appears as a theme in mainstream culture. Today, Danish views of ethnic minorities are heavily influenced by recent tensions over waves of migration to Europe from the Middle East and Africa.

Other western European countries have had trouble squarely facing such history; many Belgians were unaware of the atrocities in Congo under Belgian rule until the past generation. But Denmark, with less of a colonial record to confront than some countries, has had more trouble confronting it, according to Mr. Palsson.

“Somehow it annoys them more than others knowing about this background,” he said.

Hans Jonathan was born in 1784 in St. Croix, then a Danish possession and now part of the United States Virgin Islands. His mother was a black house slave owned by the Schimmelmanns, a Danish-German family, and his father was a white man.

When he was about 7, the Schimmelmanns took him to Copenhagen. In 1801, he volunteered to fight with the Danish navy, and emerged unharmed from a fierce battle with British ships.

“It was crazy warfare,” said Mr. Palsson, whose biography of Hans Jonathan was published in Icelandic in 2014, and in English in 2016. “The ship was bombarded heavily.”

Hans Jonathan earned the support of his superior officers, who spoke on his behalf to the royal household. Denmark’s crown prince and de facto ruler, the future King Frederik VI, wrote in a letter that Hans Jonathan “is considered free and enjoys rights.”

The French revolution had unleashed new ideas about equality and liberty. Like several other colonial powers, Denmark still allowed slavery in the Caribbean, but abolition movements at home were gaining ground, and the status of slaves brought to Europe from the colonies was murky.

Henrietta Schimmelmann tried to reclaim Hans Jonathan and take him back to St. Croix, and he went to court to assert his freedom, in a case that was famous in its time. But he could not produce the letter from Prince Frederik, for reasons unknown, and in 1802, the court dismissed his claim and ordered him to return to the Schimmelmanns, who wanted to sell him in St. Croix...

More.