Where to begin? How about the lefty meltdown over Venezuela? Yes, the same cast of clowns that protest Trump (No Kings), Musk (No Teslas), climate change (No Fossil Fuels) are now protesting in favor of the Dictatorship in Venezuela? I wish they would make up their fragile minds!
Seriously, you need a score card to keep up with their neurosis! Seems like Socialism, is the new “Soup Du Jour” in lefty world?. That’s right, supporting of illegal criminals, terrorists, drug dealers, and now Somali scam artists!
You simply can’t make this stuff up. There is definitely a day of reckoning coming, as it appears that multiple scams in multiple states, has been going on for some time. Benefiting who? “Under represented,” “marginalized “ groups of people of color seem to be the benefactors from our tax dollars. Wait there’s more, these same “marginalized groups “ form NGO’s and then turn around and fund lefty politicians! This is starting to make sense. Yes, money that has been laundered in Somali daycare centers is now showing up to fund Seattle Socialist candidates.
Wait, maybe that’s why a RETARD like Tim Walz was selected to run as VP with fellow loser Kamala Harris? In order to access laundered money which had been scammed?
Enquiring minds want to know! Time to back up the paddy wagon, as many, many, of those involved need to be taken away in handcuffs!
At 8:36 yesterday morning the DNC sent an email using the elimination of the "King" in Venezuela as a reason to send funds to win the Midterm election.
Damn straight people are protesting what Trump has done with Maduro to he can "run their country." YOU should be protesting too if you are a patriot. Another regime change war that this page shamefully supports. Trump should be running (and improving) OUR country, not Venezuela, or any foreign country!
Hold on! First it was BLM, then Ukraine, No Kings, No Musk, then Free Palestine, then Transgender Rights, Anti Ice, now keep Venezuela under Dictatorship? Every week it seems to be a different flag and movement with you people.
Next week, anti-oil and all the winning at the gas pump (except California).
Stop lumping everything together. Palestine should be freed. So should America. You aren't helping. And yes, you should be protesting what Trump is doing in Venezuela, in spirit and in word on here, at least.
The objective was to protect Americans from the drugs being shipped from Venezuela. The objective was not to remove Maduro. However since the Navy could not stay there forever, and Maduro refused to stop the shipments: he had to be removed.
Respectfully, what in the heck do you THINK Trump is doing??? He IS supporting our country by taking control in Venezuela!! You really need to think a bit more extensively so you can understand that, by stopping other countries from having governments that are authoritarian, it will in the long run protect the U.S. You probably have a very incubated world for you to say what you are saying. Don't think for a minute that your world couldn't change drastically if we let other countries be overrun by terrorists and authoritarians!! But I have a first hand story to support this because my husband is one of the original "Freedom Flight" individuals who escaped Cuba in the early 1960's. Ask HIM what he would do if he was in Trump's shoes. He would have done the SAME thing, thank GOD! He knows first hand what all is at stake when other countries begin to influence our country negatively. Are you honestly going to say that we have no business protecting ourselves from terrorists and drugs?? Ask the mothers and fathers who lost their children to overdose or unwittingly consuming a drug that produces instant death. Yeah, they are real nice people and should be protected. More important, ask the Venezuelans who left and came here. Pleeeeeeeeaaaasssse, save your displaced sympathy for something truly deserving of it!!
The problem with Progressives is that they have fallen for the “broken window fallacy” (BWF). Under the BWF doctrine, the government can produce prosperity by (1) spending taxpayers’ money to hire someone to break a window and (2) then spending taxpayers’ money to hire someone else to fix the window. It is true that by breaking and then repairing the window the government increases hiring and puts money into the stream of commerce. The problem? Nothing productive has occurred. A perfectly serviceable window has been needlessly broken just to create the illusion of economic activity.
As to the rampant corruption in CA supported by the feds, the "Bullet Train" put millions into the pockets of folks like the PELOSI's ( over $10 mil from the corrupt contractor). The contractor was rated unqualified by the agency staff. Same contractor bid around $100 mil for the LAPD HQ and finished the job for around $500 million, similar issues with other major public works projectsw;
Just takes a lot of grease to the politicians California's Bullet Train contractor is very close to the Democrats who control the State. They have had a number of name changes.
LA Metro - close to a billion in change orders, court finding of fraud and filing false docs
LA Metro- $1 BILLION for a 1 mile extension - far over bid price
LAPD HQ. - $400 MILLION in change orders on $100 mil project
San Francisco Light Rail - Massive change orders , flawed construction
The problem is that the contractor controls the State and local officials responsible for administering the project
The endemic corruption within the State and major local government entities is one of the reasons so many businesses are leaving California.
In many of the cases those in the government agencies knew what the outcome would be and the politically greased contractor knew he would get change orders while the honest countractor would not.
The press and the public bear part of the responsibility. Papers like the LA Times fired or demoted courageous reporters who wanted to follow stories involving corruption. Voters failed to remove public officials who compromised or failed to protect the public's interests.
Most of the Board Members at LAUSD knew there was serious corruption at the top of the District ('Board) , consultants including legal counsel . Thankfully there were some very honest and hard fighting Board Members but they were often outflanked or out numbered.
Perhaps there's been a little progress thanks to a few and the collapse of the City (and San Francisco to the north) that it could no longer be denied.
In my view, the surest way to see money wasted is to turn it over to the government. Oh sure, some is put to good use, an occasional pot hole is filled or a street light bulb replaced but the bulk goes to projects like the Modoc bike lane expansion/road narrowing project or the destruction of a perfectly serviceable athletic center at SBCC. Certainly the lions share goes to public employees salaries benefits and pensions. Exhorbinate pay for an extraordinarily low standard of performance, but heck what else are all those UCSB environmental studies graduates supposed to do if not in service of the warm embrace of collectivism. In the end, of course, it is a massive redistribution from those who produce wealth to those who have found an easier way.
Dan, thank you for that. I can tell you not everyone in Santa Barbara agrees and that mentioning that I support Trump was enough to get me ejected from the Tee Off. I will never spend another dime there. I have to wonder what makes that SOB bartender think that he can control the content of customers conversations. Another customer came up behind me and put his hands in my shoulders in a conciliatory gesture as if expressing pitty for my poor misguided soul. I am truly repulsed by Santa Barbara Democrats and there are plenty of them.
Instead of everybody bitchin' and moanin' about the crooks stealing our money and ruining our state, how 'bout organizing a push to convice the jerk-offs who keep voting them into office that there's a better way.
We gotta get pros like Trump and Steve Hilton in place to kick-ass and make changes.
Is this the same Earl Brown who says slaughtering people in Iraq was "kicking ass"? Steve Hilton is as establishment as they come and isn't even American. He's a fox news neocon, so of course you'd swoon over him.
Thank you Andy. From what I understand and have read that California Fraud is much bigger than Minnesota's Fraud.
Four of Californias government Departments have been found to have millions of dollars in Fraud.
I wonder if Nick Shirley will have another expose on Calis fraud....
I also don't understand that if Venezuelans in Venezuela are cheering and celebrating the capture of Madura why are these folks not celebrating with them? Do they not stand with the people of Venezuela who had to stand in line just to get toilet paper and other atrocities committed against them. Or can they just not get over the hate they have for Trump tand admit that he is helping solve a problem and protect it's citizens.
And when Iran is free are they also not going to stand with those people too.
Does anyone stand with Ukraine anymore or was it just a way to sell Bumper stickers for cars.
Need a five year plan (+/-) to transition local and state "services" to the private sector as well as integrating AI into replacing antiquated and inefficient functions of the remaining bureaucracies. Given the track record of California voters I suspect just the opposite will occur.
This is dumb. Period. Private sector is why things are so expensive and no one is bringing down prices for anything. Customer service will completely disappear and AI is the single, stupidest thing ever to push on humans who are already lazy and entitled. And if right wingers want to be against science, then stop using cell phones and the electric heat in your house.
Agree with you on AI. The term "right ringer" means almost nothing these days considering the vast difference of opinions on this page. I wouldn't consider transhumanism/AI a conservative value and yet the neocons on this page seem to love it.
If you hate California so much then move to some shithole like Texas or Louisiana. You’ve clearly lived a sheltered life in a state that has mass amounts of resources but have become bitter with stupidty.
My sense is there’s a lot more hidden fraud we don’t know about. Why isn’t someone researching the California underground crime scene making life hard for we law abiding Californians. It been here for decades. In my lifetime our state has been lost. But thanks to your columnists for trying.
The state has “been lost” because your generation continually voted for the same shit over and over and expected something to change yet it didn’t for decades. Yall became complacent and now complain more than any other generation. I’m really tired of Gen X and baby boomers being such whiney little shits.
"The latest effort is to create a billionaires’ tax on wealth, rather than income. The difference being that the wealth the billionaires retain may have already been taxed, but that matters not to these government employees who want this money available to supplement their own salaries and pensions. Of course, at a minimum, this will lead to even more capital flight of the worst kind; CA is inordinately dependent upon taxing the rich, who have been leaving in droves, taking the jobs they helped create with them."
Is it a moral wrong to propose a wealth tax? No - wealth isn't something to hoard but to steward and this is very much a part of Catholic Social teaching, not socialism as a *protestant* conservative and American nationalist like Mr. Caldwell.
If a the wealthy are so enraged by such the loss of such a small amount of wealth, I say good riddance, for such people serve a master who is not Christ.
"Universal Destination of Goods: Earthly goods are meant for all humanity, and the promotion of private property must always serve the common good and respect the needs of the poor.
Idolatry of Money: Chasing wealth for its own sake, or hoarding it, risks making money an idol, leading to spiritual blindness and detachment from God and neighbor.
Obligation to the Poor: Those with surplus wealth have a moral obligation to help those in extreme or ordinary need."
Take it up with Christ and his Church if you find these notions repugnant.
Than you condemn yourself Jeff. You wouldn't spend a dime to enrich the poor or alleviate their suffering. It's curious how if something is in the self interests of the poor it's bad, but when it's of homeowners and landlord it's the baseline, tells me quite a lot about your views, and that they aren't traditional, moral, or Catholic.
It's certainly telling when contempt for the poor, as emphasized by individuals like Barton and Livingston are well received by the audience of SBCurrent, to me it is not simply immoral [not that such people care], but stupid. Congratulations, such rhetoric only drives younger people toward leftist solutions and older generations who are impoverished are going to naturally seek out the side who promises them [even if they don't deliver] assistance over the side whose supporters give nothing but derision and scorn.
Politically, this could fuel voter discontent, amplifying calls for reform in upcoming elections and possibly pressuring future administrations to reconsider conformity with federal incentives. If unaddressed, the divergence between wage policies and living costs may deepen income inequality, with hourly workers facing persistent barriers to homeownership and financial stability despite nominal gains.
Where to begin? How about the lefty meltdown over Venezuela? Yes, the same cast of clowns that protest Trump (No Kings), Musk (No Teslas), climate change (No Fossil Fuels) are now protesting in favor of the Dictatorship in Venezuela? I wish they would make up their fragile minds!
Seriously, you need a score card to keep up with their neurosis! Seems like Socialism, is the new “Soup Du Jour” in lefty world?. That’s right, supporting of illegal criminals, terrorists, drug dealers, and now Somali scam artists!
You simply can’t make this stuff up. There is definitely a day of reckoning coming, as it appears that multiple scams in multiple states, has been going on for some time. Benefiting who? “Under represented,” “marginalized “ groups of people of color seem to be the benefactors from our tax dollars. Wait there’s more, these same “marginalized groups “ form NGO’s and then turn around and fund lefty politicians! This is starting to make sense. Yes, money that has been laundered in Somali daycare centers is now showing up to fund Seattle Socialist candidates.
Wait, maybe that’s why a RETARD like Tim Walz was selected to run as VP with fellow loser Kamala Harris? In order to access laundered money which had been scammed?
Enquiring minds want to know! Time to back up the paddy wagon, as many, many, of those involved need to be taken away in handcuffs!
At 8:36 yesterday morning the DNC sent an email using the elimination of the "King" in Venezuela as a reason to send funds to win the Midterm election.
Damn straight people are protesting what Trump has done with Maduro to he can "run their country." YOU should be protesting too if you are a patriot. Another regime change war that this page shamefully supports. Trump should be running (and improving) OUR country, not Venezuela, or any foreign country!
Hold on! First it was BLM, then Ukraine, No Kings, No Musk, then Free Palestine, then Transgender Rights, Anti Ice, now keep Venezuela under Dictatorship? Every week it seems to be a different flag and movement with you people.
Next week, anti-oil and all the winning at the gas pump (except California).
Stop lumping everything together. Palestine should be freed. So should America. You aren't helping. And yes, you should be protesting what Trump is doing in Venezuela, in spirit and in word on here, at least.
Well, trump’s tactics are working, I haven’t heard anyone mention Epstein lately.
The objective was to protect Americans from the drugs being shipped from Venezuela. The objective was not to remove Maduro. However since the Navy could not stay there forever, and Maduro refused to stop the shipments: he had to be removed.
So continue the neocon imperialism? So typical of this page.
Respectfully, what in the heck do you THINK Trump is doing??? He IS supporting our country by taking control in Venezuela!! You really need to think a bit more extensively so you can understand that, by stopping other countries from having governments that are authoritarian, it will in the long run protect the U.S. You probably have a very incubated world for you to say what you are saying. Don't think for a minute that your world couldn't change drastically if we let other countries be overrun by terrorists and authoritarians!! But I have a first hand story to support this because my husband is one of the original "Freedom Flight" individuals who escaped Cuba in the early 1960's. Ask HIM what he would do if he was in Trump's shoes. He would have done the SAME thing, thank GOD! He knows first hand what all is at stake when other countries begin to influence our country negatively. Are you honestly going to say that we have no business protecting ourselves from terrorists and drugs?? Ask the mothers and fathers who lost their children to overdose or unwittingly consuming a drug that produces instant death. Yeah, they are real nice people and should be protected. More important, ask the Venezuelans who left and came here. Pleeeeeeeeaaaasssse, save your displaced sympathy for something truly deserving of it!!
Happy New Year, Andy. Thank you for always providing factual thought-provoking essays.
The problem with Progressives is that they have fallen for the “broken window fallacy” (BWF). Under the BWF doctrine, the government can produce prosperity by (1) spending taxpayers’ money to hire someone to break a window and (2) then spending taxpayers’ money to hire someone else to fix the window. It is true that by breaking and then repairing the window the government increases hiring and puts money into the stream of commerce. The problem? Nothing productive has occurred. A perfectly serviceable window has been needlessly broken just to create the illusion of economic activity.
And that broken window is what exactly?
Why not just require folic acid to be added to wine? That way the rich liberal white women will get their dose as well?
Or their $10 lattes
As to the rampant corruption in CA supported by the feds, the "Bullet Train" put millions into the pockets of folks like the PELOSI's ( over $10 mil from the corrupt contractor). The contractor was rated unqualified by the agency staff. Same contractor bid around $100 mil for the LAPD HQ and finished the job for around $500 million, similar issues with other major public works projectsw;
Just takes a lot of grease to the politicians California's Bullet Train contractor is very close to the Democrats who control the State. They have had a number of name changes.
LA Metro - close to a billion in change orders, court finding of fraud and filing false docs
LAX Runway - failed to meet contract specs, false inspection reports
LA Metro- $1 BILLION for a 1 mile extension - far over bid price
LAPD HQ. - $400 MILLION in change orders on $100 mil project
San Francisco Light Rail - Massive change orders , flawed construction
The problem is that the contractor controls the State and local officials responsible for administering the project
The endemic corruption within the State and major local government entities is one of the reasons so many businesses are leaving California.
In many of the cases those in the government agencies knew what the outcome would be and the politically greased contractor knew he would get change orders while the honest countractor would not.
The press and the public bear part of the responsibility. Papers like the LA Times fired or demoted courageous reporters who wanted to follow stories involving corruption. Voters failed to remove public officials who compromised or failed to protect the public's interests.
Most of the Board Members at LAUSD knew there was serious corruption at the top of the District ('Board) , consultants including legal counsel . Thankfully there were some very honest and hard fighting Board Members but they were often outflanked or out numbered.
Perhaps there's been a little progress thanks to a few and the collapse of the City (and San Francisco to the north) that it could no longer be denied.
In my view, the surest way to see money wasted is to turn it over to the government. Oh sure, some is put to good use, an occasional pot hole is filled or a street light bulb replaced but the bulk goes to projects like the Modoc bike lane expansion/road narrowing project or the destruction of a perfectly serviceable athletic center at SBCC. Certainly the lions share goes to public employees salaries benefits and pensions. Exhorbinate pay for an extraordinarily low standard of performance, but heck what else are all those UCSB environmental studies graduates supposed to do if not in service of the warm embrace of collectivism. In the end, of course, it is a massive redistribution from those who produce wealth to those who have found an easier way.
Happy New Year, Jeff. I think 2026 could be a great year since everything you mention here I agree with, 100%.
Dan, thank you for that. I can tell you not everyone in Santa Barbara agrees and that mentioning that I support Trump was enough to get me ejected from the Tee Off. I will never spend another dime there. I have to wonder what makes that SOB bartender think that he can control the content of customers conversations. Another customer came up behind me and put his hands in my shoulders in a conciliatory gesture as if expressing pitty for my poor misguided soul. I am truly repulsed by Santa Barbara Democrats and there are plenty of them.
No worries JB, the Prime Rib soup at TO is not my thing either!
Hahaha thank you for the laughs, this county is off the tracks and not coming back anytime soon.
Instead of everybody bitchin' and moanin' about the crooks stealing our money and ruining our state, how 'bout organizing a push to convice the jerk-offs who keep voting them into office that there's a better way.
We gotta get pros like Trump and Steve Hilton in place to kick-ass and make changes.
Is this the same Earl Brown who says slaughtering people in Iraq was "kicking ass"? Steve Hilton is as establishment as they come and isn't even American. He's a fox news neocon, so of course you'd swoon over him.
Thank you Andy. From what I understand and have read that California Fraud is much bigger than Minnesota's Fraud.
Four of Californias government Departments have been found to have millions of dollars in Fraud.
I wonder if Nick Shirley will have another expose on Calis fraud....
I also don't understand that if Venezuelans in Venezuela are cheering and celebrating the capture of Madura why are these folks not celebrating with them? Do they not stand with the people of Venezuela who had to stand in line just to get toilet paper and other atrocities committed against them. Or can they just not get over the hate they have for Trump tand admit that he is helping solve a problem and protect it's citizens.
And when Iran is free are they also not going to stand with those people too.
Does anyone stand with Ukraine anymore or was it just a way to sell Bumper stickers for cars.
Need a five year plan (+/-) to transition local and state "services" to the private sector as well as integrating AI into replacing antiquated and inefficient functions of the remaining bureaucracies. Given the track record of California voters I suspect just the opposite will occur.
This is dumb. Period. Private sector is why things are so expensive and no one is bringing down prices for anything. Customer service will completely disappear and AI is the single, stupidest thing ever to push on humans who are already lazy and entitled. And if right wingers want to be against science, then stop using cell phones and the electric heat in your house.
Private sectors are the ones providing Taxes to the State. Which ones specifically are taking down California.
Many have already left . The state employees are mostly government workers. Who is the largest employer in California.
You've got your facts all twisted
"This is dumb"...prologue to your rant? Candid.
Agree with you on AI. The term "right ringer" means almost nothing these days considering the vast difference of opinions on this page. I wouldn't consider transhumanism/AI a conservative value and yet the neocons on this page seem to love it.
If you hate California so much then move to some shithole like Texas or Louisiana. You’ve clearly lived a sheltered life in a state that has mass amounts of resources but have become bitter with stupidty.
Mr. Caldwell doesn't hate the state,he's trying to save it from the corrupt officials.
Because one is passionate and knowledgeable about something doesn't mean they hate something.
If he didn't care he would not be spending his career and time to save this state.
Not everything in life is perfect and rosy
Is that your version of meaningful dialog? Good grief.
That's quite ironic given your dismissive contempt that you offer to me in your responses.
My sense is there’s a lot more hidden fraud we don’t know about. Why isn’t someone researching the California underground crime scene making life hard for we law abiding Californians. It been here for decades. In my lifetime our state has been lost. But thanks to your columnists for trying.
The state has “been lost” because your generation continually voted for the same shit over and over and expected something to change yet it didn’t for decades. Yall became complacent and now complain more than any other generation. I’m really tired of Gen X and baby boomers being such whiney little shits.
You mean constantly voting in the entire Capps family over and over again.
As a boomer,I didn't vote for her or Lois.
So who specifically are you saying was voted in to change.
Lee is just a puppet of Capps at this point and I see no new policies or changes he's making at this point
"The latest effort is to create a billionaires’ tax on wealth, rather than income. The difference being that the wealth the billionaires retain may have already been taxed, but that matters not to these government employees who want this money available to supplement their own salaries and pensions. Of course, at a minimum, this will lead to even more capital flight of the worst kind; CA is inordinately dependent upon taxing the rich, who have been leaving in droves, taking the jobs they helped create with them."
Is it a moral wrong to propose a wealth tax? No - wealth isn't something to hoard but to steward and this is very much a part of Catholic Social teaching, not socialism as a *protestant* conservative and American nationalist like Mr. Caldwell.
If a the wealthy are so enraged by such the loss of such a small amount of wealth, I say good riddance, for such people serve a master who is not Christ.
"Universal Destination of Goods: Earthly goods are meant for all humanity, and the promotion of private property must always serve the common good and respect the needs of the poor.
Idolatry of Money: Chasing wealth for its own sake, or hoarding it, risks making money an idol, leading to spiritual blindness and detachment from God and neighbor.
Obligation to the Poor: Those with surplus wealth have a moral obligation to help those in extreme or ordinary need."
Take it up with Christ and his Church if you find these notions repugnant.
Self serving ideals whether blatantly self serving or wearing the skin of reitheousness are nonetheless self serving.
"Self serving-"
Than you condemn yourself Jeff. You wouldn't spend a dime to enrich the poor or alleviate their suffering. It's curious how if something is in the self interests of the poor it's bad, but when it's of homeowners and landlord it's the baseline, tells me quite a lot about your views, and that they aren't traditional, moral, or Catholic.
I contribute considerably via taxation. Look to yourself to improve your lot in life not a handout. Learn a trade dude.
Taxes which you'd rather not pay. How curious.
The Department of Government Efficiency can’t get to Sacramento fast enough. Audits shouldn’t wait for campaign season.
It's certainly telling when contempt for the poor, as emphasized by individuals like Barton and Livingston are well received by the audience of SBCurrent, to me it is not simply immoral [not that such people care], but stupid. Congratulations, such rhetoric only drives younger people toward leftist solutions and older generations who are impoverished are going to naturally seek out the side who promises them [even if they don't deliver] assistance over the side whose supporters give nothing but derision and scorn.
Politically, this could fuel voter discontent, amplifying calls for reform in upcoming elections and possibly pressuring future administrations to reconsider conformity with federal incentives. If unaddressed, the divergence between wage policies and living costs may deepen income inequality, with hourly workers facing persistent barriers to homeownership and financial stability despite nominal gains.
True that