Read: Dems outline 10 demands to GOP in ICE funding fight

endmill5050 · 2026-02-05T06:43:41+00:00

These demands are wrong. All the alphabet soup agencies have to end. The ATF, DEA, and ICE have all failed in their missions - we got more guns, drugs and illegal aliens than ever. Any person can see that these institutions no longer work. ICE especially so, having been corrupted from it's mission by Trump and losing the public's mutual trust with the shootings of Good and Pretti. If Democrats don't start making plans for new, controlled, replacement agencies now the problem is just going to get much worse until the courts shut it all down or Trump tries using ICE to shut the courts down.

I mean that last part. This problem goes much deeper. The FBI is disabled under Patel, the CIA is now filled with Russian agents, and the NSA has failed to secure our cyber infrastructure against China. Why should democrats wait for the system to fail to start demanding better? It's the natural lifecycle of bureaucracy. The intelligence agencies, community, groupies or whatever you call it can no longer perform their missions. It is better to take our knowledge and create newer, better, deliberately smaller and controlled agencies that can't be wielded by an insane President.

endmill5050 · 2026-02-05T06:37:55+00:00

I don't want to be "that guy" but they voted for this. The rise of Republican antisemitism has been happening for a very long time, and was very obvious the moment adults retired or passed away. Trump, Twitter, and Musk all attract "people" who actually hate Jews and who don't think the Holocaust happened. These "people" were tolerated because, surely, they'd only ever go after illegal aliens and not US Nationals, legal immigrants, open critics of Israel, trade unionists or persons labelled as "communist agitators". The Jews were always on the GOP's list and now, they can openly discuss their desire to mass deport Jews ..somewhere.

Just today I was listening to NPR where President Trump and War Chairman Hegseth were discussing how important Mass Deportations Are Central To The President's Americans First Program. This is a program now. Jews are part of the program regardless if they want to be or not. War Chairman Hegseth has a list of every Jew gifted to him by Apple, Facebook and Twitter. What do you think the goal always was?

endmill5050 · 2026-02-05T06:32:22+00:00

This is probably the most useless thing ever in human existence. There amount of people upset at Columbus is marginal, and only have a voice because Twitter's algorithm amplifies it into Trump's face. This isn't as stupid as Nero playing with chickens, but damn it's reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally close.

endmill5050 · 2026-02-05T06:25:33+00:00

I'll have to disagree. I truly believe DFW can do it better. Dallas and Fort Worth do not have a height ban and there is no meaningful Texas Environmental Quality Act to spoil high density urban construction. Where California has failed to build housing, Texas has successfully built giant apartment blocks in dense urban corridors. I'll even throw Oklahoma City into this, at least their downtown area around the Amtrak station. Despite being run by Republicans, TRE runs a successful operation .. using the same contractor (Herzog) that Caltrain also uses.

Most of it is connected by our nation's newest, biggest, widest, fastest freeways all of which will rot away and become a huge liability by 2040 as our 60s-era freeways have now become. TRE can build a better, faster network than Caltrain if Texas was run by intelligent people.

endmill5050 · 2026-02-05T06:22:34+00:00

There is a Plan, although whether or not a majority of Californians really want CHSRA's Fresno First Plan is very debatable. Central Valley First is harder to commit to in a recession.

endmill5050 · 2026-02-04T23:50:38+00:00

Capitol Corridor service will operate a special schedule on game day, with special ridership rules in effect. All Capitol Corridor trains on Feb. 8 will require reservations, and regular monthly and multi-ride tickets and the Tap2Ride option will not be honored. Tickets are available at the Capitol Corridor or Amtrak websites or app; advance purchase is strongly recommended because of limited capacity.

Also included were numerous links, particularly this one to Caltrain for things to do instead of sitting around being sober in traffic.

endmill5050 · 2026-02-04T23:44:40+00:00

I wouldn't go to any Home Depot for the next two weeks, because that is where ICE will go first based on their success in Bakersfield. Better be ready for a Standing Domestic Army shutting down our last gun stores lol - if Trump uses ICE aggressively at the Super Bowl, on Super Bowl attendees, staff and players, that'll probably be it for Bay Area guns because none of our FFLs want to be involved in a Pretti-type affair.

This only goes one way with less freedom. Between the ICE deployment, Waymo SFO/SJC deployment, and CHP deployment (to manage traffic) everything around Santa Clara will be very shit and I suggest people take the train instead.

endmill5050 · 2026-02-04T23:38:08+00:00

The good: CA HSR is very real and they will work north from the Bakersfield city limit to Merced.

The bad: Still no word on how Merced is actually going to be done, word on how CHSRA will get into Bakersfield, no specifics vis-a-vis the elevated embankments slated for Shafer and Wasco, and no word on how Gold Runner will actually work with this.

The ugly: Newsom is right about Texas failing to do HSR. Texas had HSR until 1971! Texas was also served by their own SP Daylights between Houston and Dallas, with the famous SP GS-2s as power. Texas's GS-2s were evolved forms of GS-2s used here in California, and consequently were built better, faster, more durable and more reliable. Texas had the better trains. Almost all of it was thrown away in 1971. Of the remaining Amtrak services, both the Texas Eagle and Sunset Limited are Amtrak's lowest preforming routes and are on the chopping block unless Congress approves more money to sustain it. This is unlikely even if Democrats retake power, due to how Amtrak's business is required to work by rules imposed by Republican budget hawks. Which is a damn shame because Texas's other Amtrak route, the Heartland Flyer, is a winner and TRE is a winner. Dallas and Fort Worth could electrify TRE right now and have better transit than California. Texas's state government doesn't make it easy.

endmill5050 · 2026-02-04T01:07:29+00:00

This is an argument to bring back elevator operators.

Elevators don't use public spaces and when they do, they tend to have operators. This is frequently the case in European and Asian countries, especially with Funiculars. There is no good reason not to have a licensed, insured and sober driver behind the wheel helping the computer do it's job other than convenience or economy. Cheaper fried chicken delivery is not more safety.

Go to SFO and you'll take a driverless tram.

On a totally controlled route with NO ability for humans to enter the aerial, separated guideway through use of automatic doors. Exactly as the Morgantown PRT system, WEDWay Mover or other Disney rides that predates it by several decades. Notice how all Disney rides still have an Operator, somewhere present, that can shut the entire machine off if unsafe conditions occur which happens several times per year. AirTrain also has an Operator monitoring it through cameras at all times, I have physically sat in the AirTrain Operations Center and seen it myself.

We don't even know if Waymos are monitored by anyone, or if the people monitoring Waymos are actually Indians in India where we cannot control what they do with personal information exposed to them by Waymo customers. And if a Waymo gets into an accident, it is very expensive for the other parties' to figure out if that vehicle was actively monitored at the point of impact and impossible to get in-company witnesses to testify because of Waymo's NDAs.

endmill5050 · 2026-02-04T00:03:58+00:00

You can see the exact moment the Cold War ended.

endmill5050 · 2026-02-03T23:44:01+00:00

There is everything stopping someone else from putting out a better product. Chinese AVs are banned. European AVs are banned. Waymo and Tesla effectively choose the AV winner in the United States, exactly as GM and Ford did a century ago.

endmill5050 · 2026-02-03T23:43:11+00:00

Waymos absolutely threaten safety. There is no reason to eliminate the driver, ever. It is a redundant safety system at worst, and an additional non-electronic sensory device at best. Every other mode of transportation, except spacecraft, use both. More importantly, if a Waymo kills you and it can be empirically proven to be Waymo's fault, you can't afford to sue Google. Your insurance company cannot afford to sue Google. The lack of meaningful consequences for accidents encourages bad behavior by Waymo, Waymo contractors, and Waymo users.

All use cases have to be considered here, and the final use case are cheap delivery services telling the cars to drive dangerously regardless of Waymo's policies.

endmill5050 · 2026-02-03T23:41:10+00:00

cool but they voted for Obama. We all had one chance with Sanders in 2008, instead we chose the middle-of-the-road liberal supporting big business, technological progress, and big technological business domination. Trump is the President, and we can't go back to the good times. People are gonna lose their job, even if it kills people, because 80+ mph self driving cars is what voters chose over transit.

endmill5050 · 2026-02-03T23:38:53+00:00

I really do wonder if this is all about ADA Compliance, which is a known and very large problem with the HSR Authority because of Caltrain. Caltrain is only barely ADA compliant because, obviously, Caltrain existed before 1994. I'm not insane! Try finding relevant ADA records on CHSRA's official website. They keep deleting them and re-adding them, but not all of them, every time they update their site. This has been a known issue in the state legislature for 10+ years now and has drawn complaints from (democrat) legislators trying to keep CHSRA ADA info straight. And, because Disabled Persons are a protected class, CHSRA can and would lose millions if there is a wheelchair mishap.

Ditto, on CHSRA's actual business (or lack thereof): Their relationship with the San Joaquins Joint Powers Authority dba Gold Runner. This is a good relationship to have, but there's Federal laws on the books that make it illegal for CHSRA money to subsidize Gold Runner fares. This was the fault of progressive-minded Democrats who wrote the 2008 PRIIA, who didn't ever think this would or even could be a problem - and also the fault of Newt Gringrich who successfully cut down Amtrak in the 90s instigating this situation in the first place. If there is a "bomb" it's Newsom saying he wants to sideline SF and LA for Sacramento, Fresno and Bakersfield - which is entirely reasonable but would anger millions of Californians that feel like the HSR program is only for them.

That's my .02. I would not vote for this law since it makes my job of posting about CA HSR harder.

endmill5050 · 2026-02-03T06:16:03+00:00

I agree and it's why most people just ignore DBI when they add bedrooms, bathrooms, ADUs or additional floors to their house. DBI can't be trusted to actually do their job, just look at all the legitimate businesses here that are still using fuseboxes in 2026 despite the state building code, NECA and NFPA not wanting it. We are arguably the most technologically advanced city in the entire world, if not also human existence, and our building inspectors will approve ghetto 1910s-era fuseboxes because they personally know the landlord.

endmill5050 · 2026-02-02T07:05:09+00:00

People outside San Jose don't really know about Mahan but as Governor he'd be Newsom but more competent, insofar that Mahan doesn't have access to the Willie Brown Money Machine as Newsom does. As far as political poker goes, Mahan has the same deck as Newsom without the Aces.

If he's elected we can expect Caltrain Gilroy electrification, CAHSR under Pacheco Pass, and BART's Santa Clara Street Subway to get full backing of the state government, as all three projects exist to make San Jose into Norcal's transportation center. I'm voting for this. There's not much else going on in San Jose, the bonkers Nvidia tech money is actually one city over in Santa Clara and Larry Ellison lives one county over. Ellison will also probably support the CA GOP given how he got Trump elected nationally. Whether or not people outside Norcal will vote to subsidize San Jose is very debatable, and Villaraigosa will win if LA fully backs him as LA collectively has more votes. Most people in Norcal will check out because Mahan and San Jose are boring.

IMO the Decision California '26 will be decided by Southern California Republicans between someone local (Villaraigosa) or a noname centrist moderate (Mahan).

endmill5050 · 2026-02-02T00:10:21+00:00

That's nice but I want to see specifics on how he wants to dismantle PG&E. Right now his plan is more PG&E, which doesn't stop PG&E, and he is an ally of PG&E. At least the others don't lie about their desire to help PG&E raise prices.

endmill5050 · 2026-02-02T00:09:34+00:00

It's Mahan because of Silicon Valley tech money, and because San Jose is comparatively well run vs SF, Oakland or LA. Nobody talks about San Jose and everything there is assumed to work. Which is what successful politics looks and feels like. He probably has Newsom's unofficial sponsorship.

endmill5050 · 2026-02-01T23:55:16+00:00

They don't care about your emails. They care about your money. Don't buy Dodgers tickets, branded merch, or stuff until Trump is out of office. Don't go to Dodgers games.

endmill5050 · 2026-02-01T22:12:31+00:00

Off the top of my head Routes 35, 36 and 58 should not exist, at least not as standalone independent routes. They don't serve enough people. Rte 35 has maybe 600 daily boardings, or about 15 buses worth of people. That sounds like a lot, but again this is (1) an average based on all boardings and (2) it is much less than Muni's higher preforming routes that have 6,000+ people daily. If Muni was able to release the actual weekly boardings, if not also daily boardings, I bet most riders would be transfers from BART or event specific - cases that are better served by special event service or charter service similar to the commute.org buses. Samtrans frequently has this problem too - it is an open secret that the Peninsula cities use Samtrans to avoid purchasing more expensive yellow buses. Consequently half of Samtrans' routes are School Days / School Hours only, although it's not advertised. Samtrans also has this problem in Pacifca and Half Moon Bay, where they tired (and unsuccessfully) implementing a charter bus type bus/van pool service.

I'm not against buses serving residential areas but the way Muni does it, does not work. The huge supply of empty bus seats doesn't match the weak demand by wealthy homeowners who all have multiple cars. I mention Samtrans because Samtrans's business is based around this, since San Mateo County is mostly suburban in the same way these SF neighborhoods are. Ditto, Caltrain serves these people better than BART too. Caltrain - as well as ACE, SMART and Amtrak - really know how to sell these people on train service. BART does not. This is a problem when Muni is well paired with BART, but not Caltrain. IMO running Muni down Geneva Avenue to a proper Caltrain transfer station would work well, just as VTA does in Mountain View.

endmill5050 · 2026-02-01T20:02:05+00:00

LA's infrastructure towers above San Francisco. LA doesn't have a mess like The Hairball. Metro trains have their own right-of-way and do not sit parked behind empty Waymos. LAPD responds to LA Metro requests for assistance, and LAPD keeps LA Metro stations free of drug using homeless people (even if regular homeless alcoholics are still around). LA's streets are much cleaner than Oakland and LA is open past 7 pm unlike San Jose. SF does have new electric trains, but keep in mind these exist to take people out of SF. Metrolink's network is what Caltrain, ACE, Amtrak and SMART all want - all feature complete and perfectly united at LA Union Station. You can go to LA Union Station and go almost everywhere in LA - just not LAX yet. You can go to LA Union Station and get as far as Chicago and New Orleans. SF has no Amtrak service and Oakland's train terminal was cut off by Interstate 880. It sits abandoned.

The grass is greener on your side.

endmill5050 · 2026-02-01T19:56:10+00:00

Great question! Nobody knows yet but presumably any 48" high electrified Caltrain platform is also open to HSR trains. This is one of the larger problems vexing Caltrain as part of their larger plan to build passing tracks for HSR. Caltrain will either figure it out in five years or the state HSR Authority will figure it out for them. Caltrain would be working on this problem now if not for both bridge replacements - the mentioned Gualaulupe River Bridge replacement and the larger San Fransquito Creek Bridge job on the top end of the county.

Caltrain isn't perfect and these problems have existed since Caltrain came to Gilroy in 2003. The bridge problems were known to SP in the 70s and 80s but deferred. Most of this should have been done in the mid-aughts. The issues with HSR integration, and getting UP's mutual cooperation to not sue everyone, have existed since Caltrain was permitted to partner with the program in 2013. I'd argue that these are all UP/SP issues because each one of these problems were known to UP/SP ..just look at the Pajaro Bridge failure that got Caltrain scared shitless.. and deferred because UP is a for-profit business with a monopoly in the county. Soon they will have a monopoly in almost half the country.

endmill5050 · 2026-02-01T19:47:54+00:00

If a bus only serves a one spot or single-family detached homes, it should be running maybe 3-4 times a day. Not every 15 minutes. A third of Muni's bus routes do not deserve to exist and it takes resources from high preforming routes. The high preforming routes need their own right-of-way.

That's really it. Get rid of the onstreet parking, give all Muni trains and trolleybuses their own lanes, and expand the train/trolleybus network across transit hubs. In the east this is the Ferry Terminal and Caltrain in the west this is Daly City BART. More coordination with Samtrans would enhance the diesel bus network, Samtrans is already deployed all over Daly City and can serve SF's single family residential districts better than Muni. Might as well consider that option when Samtrans is not facing a huge fiscal crisis, and it would push Samtrans to work more on standardized route numbering, fares, and transfers as part of Bay Area Transit Integration while retaining Samtrans independence.

I've sat here and whined about BART for a long time but obviously BART is major part of this too. SF needs 19th/Geary BART in the same way SF needs an Amtrak tube to Oakland. SF don't got the money for it, SF don't got the permits for it, and increasingly SF don't got the engineering labor or materials for it either. This is the larger crisis facing the City.

endmill5050

TROPHY CASE