A Small Man in a Big Office

The political hack at the SF Comicle sucked me in with the on-line teaser about Newsom talking about "small men in big offices".  I had higher aspirations for a New Year's Voice post, but I got sucked in by Joe Garofoli's hyperbole.  Joe G. is the epitome of a In-the-tank Chronicle columnist.  He has no shame insight.  Boy, do I miss Willie Brown.  So here are just a few of Gavin's misses courtesy of Joe G.:

Newsom:  “I’ve been thinking a lot about time,” Newsom said to open his 21-minute speech. “Maybe it’s my age. Maybe it’s being a parent. But time is now on my mind.”

Did he not see the 50,000 jokes about Kamala Harris and "the passage of time"?  The dude is 55.  His speech writer must be 30.  Garofoli calls him "the guy in charge of the world’s fourth-largest economy — a place he calls the “nation-state” of California."  This year the only thing he might be "in charge of" is the nation's largest deficit.  Want to make a name for yourself?  Go find the $30 billion dollars of taxpayer money that you let the EDD send to fraudsters.  THAT would be like "being in charge" and might balance the budget.

Challenges?  Garofoli notes

And there’s a lot to do in a state where 161,000 people are unhoused, wealth inequality is vast, the poverty rate is high, housing is unaffordable and less than half of students are proficient in reading.

Newsom couldn't "house" the "unhoused" when he was the mayor of EssEff.  What makes anyone thing he can do anything productive across the whole state except threaten local governments' payments?  And "wealth inequality"?  Really Joe G.?--Newsom better hope the wealth inequality holds firm for the rest of his term since that is what is payin' the bills.  Here's the kicker:

“In our finest hours, California has been freedom’s force multiplier, protecting liberty from a rising tide of oppression taking root in statehouses — weakness, masquerading as strength. Small men in big offices.”

I take it back.  His speechwriter must be 23.  California lost 343,000 people to net out domestic migration in the last year and the states he is trying fruitlessly to demonize accepted most of them.  Not that I think that is a problem.  I'd be happy to see California "lose" another million or two so maybe our second-rate politicians could get a handle on the problems we have now.  Not holding my breath.  Happy New Year.  Stay dry and save some of the rainwater because we are gonna need it.

Comments

[MBGA]

The speech writers are now ageless.

1) https://imgur.com/a/okaFfyp

2) https://imgur.com/a/6HiWgyc

3) https://imgur.com/a/7DzDrFP

(although GBT-4 is going to being released in a few months and the above will seem old.)

[resident]

The state is going all in on affordability. Just watch how this works.

California's ban on around 70,000 vehicles takes effect this week.

The final rule in a set of regulations adopted 15 years ago takes effect this week, banning some 70,000 big rigs from California roads.

A set of clean air regulations implemented by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) in 2008, and later signed into law as Senate Bill 1, states that any diesel vehicles weighing over 14,000 pounds and built before 2010 are banned from operating on California roads as of Jan. 1, 2023.

"Diesel exhaust is responsible for 70% of the cancer risk from airborne toxics," CARB states on its site. "Therefore, by January 1, 2023, nearly all trucks and buses will be required to have 2010 or newer model year engines to reduce particulate matter (PM) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions."

Make a trucker buy a new rig and see what happens to the price of lettuce.

[Cassandra]

Leaf blowers- ban those polluters first.
But no, too easy and to easy to see/hear/smell the immediate environmental improvement.

[Joe]

I found that trucker article:
https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/california-ban-on-70000-vehicles-17694178.php

This was interesting (at least to me)

"Others have said that the move to zero-emission vehicles for all fleets is logistically unfeasible. "This will do damage to us. We don't really understand how to charge these vehicles," construction company CEO Jaimie Angus said in a recent hearing on the proposed clean fleet regulation. "Those pieces of equipment go home with those men every day, so they'll need to be charged from home? How do you compensate that person for that?"
----------------
The bureaucrats never really think about the reality of running a business and the nitty gritty details that they screw up for people.

[MBGA]

I really get the feeling that our Californian politicians don’t mind screwing things up because that always gives them the chance to legislate more, in order to fix things. Isn’t that the fun of being a politician?

Way back in 2022 I posted this about some other legislation that gets implemented in 2035:
“Gavin and his minions must know it can’t be done and I imagine in the back of their minds or in the back rooms, they are saying “Well, it’s just a law, and we are making it, so we can always change it when we get to 2034, and we will just extend it for some politically beneficial reasons, like to save jobs.” The left has no integrity at all. They know they can do it because their base proves everyday that they are getting dumber, so hey, what the heck.”

The egg laws and the trucking laws passed years ago are now finally being implemented and I’m sure today our (D)emocrats are heroically working on solutions to the equity problems that these hardships are causing.

I’m sure there are lots of good solutions. Here’s just a few:

--- Clearly eggs are an important part of a child’s nutritional needs. Kids from poor transgender BIPOC communities will be disproportionately impacted, leading to a proven $750K lifetime difference in income based on their reduced opportunities if their brains don’t develop during their early formative years from lack of high protein sources like eggs. Egg subsidies should be easy enough to put in place --- just until equity is achieved of course.

--- And to bring down the cost of eggs and solve the trucking problems we need some high speed rail tracks from the egg farms, managed and constructed by favored groups of course.

[resident]

‘We’re keeping our promises:’ Gov. Newsom unveils $297 billion budget, $22.5 billion deficit

“I want folks to know that regardless of this modest shortfall, we’ll continue to make unprecedented investments,” Newsom attempted to reassure Californians.