California Politics: Madame Senator, this is a morgue

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > California Politics: Madame Senator, this is a morgue

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etalian: Mar 20, 2006

computer parts posted:

Those greedy non-academic personnel who benefit from a minimum wage are truly the issue.

I'm glad over the whole minimum wage fight, serves as a really quick litmus test to find horrible people.

# ¿ Jul 24, 2015 04:59

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# ¿ May 11, 2024 11:53

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

Leperflesh posted:

Naw. Newsom wants to be governor. Everything he's done has been aimed at that, beginning from before he ran for SF mayor.

http://www.gavinnewsom.com/

After two terms as governor, maybe he'd run for senate, but I think he's honestly much more likely to run for (and lose) president.

Newsom is most likely a replicant

# ¿ Jul 27, 2015 03:47

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

Litany Unheard posted:

He may be a replicant, but he's our replicant.

# ¿ Jul 27, 2015 05:34

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

Baby Babbeh posted:

Frankly, one of the biggest political problems with California is we're a "liberal" state that can't seem to field Democratic candidates that aren't either completely ineffectual or mostly corrupt, but those candidates keep getting elected easily because the other side is SO BAD. I hate Feinstein and think she's done a lot to make us less safe while lining the pockets of her family, but I still voted for her every time she came up for election.

Similar to New York state it's a horrible limousine liberal political machine.

# ¿ Jul 28, 2015 06:03

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

Spite posted:

Repealing it would completely gently caress over the Bay Area. Currently the only way to afford a home in the Bay Area is to 1a) be rich 1b) make a bunch of money in tech or 2) have bought it 30 years ago. Suddenly making property taxes adjust would kick a huge portion of the populace out of their homes. And rent is already sky high.

It's a completely hosed situation all around. The best solution I can think of is to repeal it for businesses but not private homeowners, but that's not very realistic.

Not really, it would be up to local government to decide real estate tax rates and exemptions instead of just proving a big forced tax break for everyone.

# ¿ Jul 28, 2015 23:40

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

Lunitica posted:

Before moving to California, I was used to the municipality/state setting a budget and then calculating the mill rate = budget/total assessments. Year over year my p-taxes increased roughly with inflation and the municipality could afford to provide services without going crazy with user pay (building permits are crazy expensive here).

Having purchased in the bay area, P13 meant buying a heap and fixing it up myself to keep the p-taxes lower over the lifetime of my ownership as well probably passing the property onto any children so they can keep the benefits of lower property taxes indefinitely.

I am doing well under P13 even as a recent transplant but I still think it is stupid, and would vote to get rid of it having experienced a different p-tax regime. In addition, I would personally rather have higher property taxes and lower sales taxes, as sales taxes are the most regressive for low income families.

P13 is dumb since it removes the funding decisions from the local government.

# ¿ Jul 29, 2015 01:28

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

pathetic little tramp posted:

I'm all for giving the homeless homes (funny we're talking about this on the day Jimmy Carter has announced he's probably gonna die), but I feel like there have to be major health effects of having to basically sit down all the drat time and never be able to stand up when you're at home.

Ironically Utah of all states had a free housing program which ended up saving the state money and dramatically reduced the homelessness rates in the state.

Of course don't expect the limousine liberal state of California to ever try the above plan.

# ¿ Aug 13, 2015 00:48

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

TildeATH posted:

Has there been any work done mapping where people go after they're pushed out of gentrifying neighborhoods?

Ironically due to whole city is now cool for rich people, people end up in up in the suburbs.

# ¿ Aug 15, 2015 16:36

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

Sydin posted:

I still find it incredible that despite living a five minute walk from a lightrail station that drops me off across the goddamn street from my office is still slower than slogging all the way up SJ to Milpitas through rush hour. gently caress at grade public transit forever. If you're ever going to hear me say nice things about SF, it's that Bart & MTA are appreciably fast, at least in my experience.

VTA is pretty horrible in general

# ¿ Aug 15, 2015 23:12

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

Sydin posted:

I still find it incredible that despite living a five minute walk from a lightrail station that drops me off across the goddamn street from my office is still slower than slogging all the way up SJ to Milpitas through rush hour. gently caress at grade public transit forever. If you're ever going to hear me say nice things about SF, it's that Bart & MTA are appreciably fast, at least in my experience.

Problem is BART really doesn't have good coverage and do to ever increasing population/traffic the SF light rail part of the muni system gets slower each year due to not being grade separated.

# ¿ Aug 16, 2015 02:41

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

Bip Roberts posted:

Also outside of the SF corridor BART trains run at a pathetic frequency.

It was originally intended as commuter rail type system to the Caltrain hence the really long waits outside the city.

I like this fantasy map of the BART:

# ¿ Aug 16, 2015 18:06

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

The Wiggly Wizard posted:

Lmao at BART being built through any part of Marin County just lmao.

# ¿ Aug 16, 2015 20:56

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

Minarchist posted:

Can't we just ban groundwater pumping in the central valley for the next 25 years until the aquifer can kind of sorta recharge? CA state government isn't above just arbitrarily laying down bullshit rules so why can't they do something that will actually ...you know, keep California functional in the long (+10000 years) term? I'm not a treehugger or anything (delta smelt can sit in an aquarium until conditions permit a release) but permabanning our aquifers which won't be fixed on a geologic timescale seems horribly irresponsible and then what happens? The billionaires just pack up and move somewhere else while half of our state is left to rot? The lobbying money will go with them so why can't the govt just tell them to go gently caress themselves if they don't stop setting up rice paddies in a drought and collapsing irreplaceable aquifers?

aquifers take a few hundred to a few thousand years to recharge.

# ¿ Aug 22, 2015 05:12

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

I guess it's local referendum season again, got a good laugh out of radio ad in SF opposing proposition F.

Please vote against it or Gavin Newsom will show real emotion.

I guess the techies finally realized lobbying and running ad campaigns is really important for morally dubious high valuation startups that encourage illegal behavior.

# ¿ Oct 14, 2015 21:54

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

Jerry Manderbilt posted:

http://www.mercurynews.com/politics-government/ci_15340236?source=rss don't forget that usual "rural red-leaning areas take in more money from the state than they give back" deal

lol

# ¿ Dec 2, 2015 20:40

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

computer parts posted:

Not really, because most work involves coordination with other team members and/or management to a degree that makes it simpler for everyone to be in a central location.

For those code monkeys that never interact with anybody though, it's technically more possible for them to work at home.

It's also more common in SV especially because you have employees from all over the world working on the same projects.

# ¿ Jan 19, 2016 01:39

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

Sydin posted:

In other news, politicians will continue to claim that [insert terrible thing here] is the reason we need to break encryption, until they finally push something through that breaks encryption.

At least the hilarious level of influence the tech lobby has over California politics has a good shot at quashing this particular permutation of the current outcry.

Remember that dumb rear end speech Hillary made about how Bay Area tech companies could Disrupt ISIS?

# ¿ Feb 8, 2016 02:51

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

Boot and Rally posted:

Bay Area home owners tell newcomers, poor to commute 90 miles one-way.

I like the use of loaded language: crowded.

So glad to escape the Bay Area this week, it's a really strange place that's becoming increasingly unlivable each year due to issues such as traffic and ridiculous cost of living.

# ¿ Apr 29, 2016 16:52

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

Jerry Manderbilt posted:

here's this article, which even predates the oil crash

Yeah not having a personal income tax means raising money through less progressive means.

It does make a good right wing talking point about the people's republic of California

# ¿ May 21, 2016 14:40

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

Dead Reckoning posted:

You're telling me that doctors aren't willing to sell their ethics for a 1/3 filled Pfizer clicky pen?

they sell their ethics to bang the hot drug company saleswoman.

# ¿ Oct 29, 2016 19:03

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

side_burned posted:

Edit: FYI my hometown is an hour east of Bakersfeild it is a terrible terrible place.

Central Valley is very bad

# ¿ May 13, 2018 19:29

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

Sydin posted:

You forgot the best bit though:

loving

Stolen Valor?

# ¿ Jun 26, 2018 01:38

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

Sydin posted:

I can't speak for the UC's but I worked for a state school for a number of years. In the eyes of administrative leadership, the school's purpose was not to provide the best possible education, it was to make the most amount of money possible, place it in the slushiest slush funds possible, and get that money into the hands of leadership and friends/family of leadership, either by creating cushy admin positions for them or handing them expensive campus construction contracts.

While I was attending my school dropped it's age old policy of admitting any local HS graduates who met the minimum qualifications. The rationale for this policy was that local families paid local taxes that helped fund the school, so their kids get in easy as compensation. Except the problem is that these kids then lived at home and the school made no money off their housing/meal plans/etc. So we axed it and increased the out of state admittance cap because those kids definitely have to live here!

tl;dr our "world class higher education system" is hosed and on the road to imploding.

It's pretty much like the private sector in which the CEO and his cronies get sky high compensation despite not doing poo poo each day at work

# ¿ Jul 10, 2018 01:51

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

Vincent Van Goatse posted:

I hope this means more kickass taco stands.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhGn5AXA1SM

# ¿ Sep 19, 2018 22:59

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

Trabisnikof posted:

No the primary problem is that PG&E has failed to maintain their equipment and perform vegetation management as they should have and instead spent that money on executive payouts and stockholder returns.

Blaming this mostly on the climate is giving PG&E a huge pass. PG&E would still be murdering people even if we were not experiencing climate change.

Yeah was the San Bruno pipelane explosion caused by climate change?

The root cause is PGE corrupt "shareholder" value focused leadership culture and they have also been actively lobbying to prevent any regulations that would affect their bottom line.

Lock them up!

# ¿ Oct 28, 2019 02:18

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

Leperflesh posted:

Also to be fair, much of PG&E's difficult infrastructure is not in the densely urbanized areas: they're burning down rural towns and setting fire to the countryside outside cities where they have vast networks of cross-country power lines subjected to high winds due to steep elevations, and where regular maintenance is more difficult and more expensive.

Which is no excuse because as others have said repeatedly, they A) refused to spend the money they were allocated for maintenance and B) rewarded their shareholders and their executives with that money instead.

And keep in mind this is a company that already just presents its costs to the CPUC, which lets them then tack on a profit margin and charge the result to rate payers. So they already have a government-guaranteed profit. The poo poo about environmental regulations is so transparently bullshit because PG&E can just charge ratepayers whatever it costs to meet those regulations, period. The only costs they're not being allowed to pass on to ratepayers are the settlements to the victims of the disasters they've caused through criminal negligence, and that is the only reason they're in bankruptcy. Everything else is as easy as <costs> + <state-set profit margin> = <amt. charged to ratepayers> + <dividends and bonuses>.

The San Bruno pipeline explosion was another PGE cost costing shareholder value success story.

# ¿ Nov 2, 2019 12:47

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

Leperflesh posted:

Also to be fair, much of PG&E's difficult infrastructure is not in the densely urbanized areas: they're burning down rural towns and setting fire to the countryside outside cities where they have vast networks of cross-country power lines subjected to high winds due to steep elevations, and where regular maintenance is more difficult and more expensive.

Which is no excuse because as others have said repeatedly, they A) refused to spend the money they were allocated for maintenance and B) rewarded their shareholders and their executives with that money instead.

And keep in mind this is a company that already just presents its costs to the CPUC, which lets them then tack on a profit margin and charge the result to rate payers. So they already have a government-guaranteed profit. The poo poo about environmental regulations is so transparently bullshit because PG&E can just charge ratepayers whatever it costs to meet those regulations, period. The only costs they're not being allowed to pass on to ratepayers are the settlements to the victims of the disasters they've caused through criminal negligence, and that is the only reason they're in bankruptcy. Everything else is as easy as <costs> + <state-set profit margin> = <amt. charged to ratepayers> + <dividends and bonuses>.

The San Bruno pipeline explosion was another PGE cost costing shareholder value success story.

# ¿ Nov 2, 2019 12:47

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

Great Metal Jesus posted:

Huh, that's a really good article to have handy if I ever get in an argument with some "the regulations are strangling PG&E!" dumbfuck.

Yeah San Diego utility story proves that it's all about money and rolling out the right corrective actions.

Of course the improvement are expensive which would take away from PGE shareholder value.

# ¿ Nov 3, 2019 18:44

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

Cup Runneth Over posted:

lol

lmao

The company's plan relies on coverage from the fund created last summer to insulate PG&E and other utilities from losses caused by future wildfires that could be ignited by their transmission lines. That specter looms large, given that PG&E�s outdated equipment and managerial negligence has been blamed for the series of deadly wildfires that raged through Northern California in 2017 and 2018, killing dozens.

# ¿ Dec 21, 2019 02:47

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

DukeDuke posted:

Uphold Gavin Newsom Thought on Socialism with Californian Characteristics

# ¿ Mar 8, 2020 14:12

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

BeAuMaN posted:

Take them camping?
(Assuming the forests aren't crowded with other people who had the same idea and you can do so safely)

Most states are shutting down the parks this month since there was a surge of activity.

I know FL shut down all the main state parks this week.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2020 00:09

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

predicto posted:

Well, the Winchester Mystery House and Santana Row are not quite enough to qualify San Jose as a real city.

Bill Burr's city tours and roasts are pretty amazing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LP4oJcMOO4

# ¿ Apr 22, 2020 17:40

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

predicto posted:

that was a pro-click

Made me laugh about the time I someone convinced me to visit santana row in SJ and it was just as cheesy/artificial as Bill Burr points out.

# ¿ Apr 22, 2020 21:43

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# ¿ May 11, 2024 11:53

etalian: Mar 20, 2006

Skippy McPants posted:

Robot overlords really were the answer all along.

The Deus Ex Helios ending is best for the world.

# ¿ May 18, 2020 21:40

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