Our CARB Overlords

By
eric
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123
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People rightly complain about the federal government regulating – which is to say, controlling – practically everything. Well, how about California – as regards the cars you’re allowed to buy?

There is this thing called the California Air Resources  Board (CARB) which operates as a de facto Congress – for the entire country – as regards the cars we’re allowed to buy (and the electric care we’re being forced to buy) because the regulations it emits regarding which cars may (and may not be) be sold in the state effectively apply to every other state.

Because a majority of state governments (and their own regulatory apparats) decided to adopt and apply CARB’s regulatory emissions as their own. Thereby ceding the legislative function to a California bureaucracy that – in the very best light – emits regulations premised on conditions in California that are not warranted in Oregon, to cite one of the states that mirrors whatever CARB emits.

Keep in mind that no one in any of the states outside of CA had an opportunity to vote for – or against – CARB’s emissions. Their state overlords simply decided to mirror and impose them. So much for “our democracy.”

It began a long time ago – back in the ’70s – when CARB was created to deal with CA’s  air pollution problems, especially souther CA’s air pollution problems. In short order, CARB emitted regulations that effectively forced the car manufacturers to build vehicles specifically for California. These were called “California” cars at the time. They were fitted with different (more complex) emissions equipment than what were called “49 state” cars had to have at the time. Some “California” cars could not be sold with engines that were available in “49 state” cars because they could not comply with California’s standards.

One example being the “California” Chevy Corvette of this time, which was the only Corvette ever sold with a 5.0 (305 cubic inch) V8 rather than the 5.7 liter (350 cubic inch) V8 that was standard in “49 state” Corvettes. There were also deletions – equipment you could not get in “California” cars, such as the manual transmission that was available in 1979 Trans-Ams sold in the other 49 states but not in CA.

It was of course burdensome – and expensive – for the car manufacturers to make “California” cars and “49 state” cars. Eventually, the car manufacturers decided to make all their cars California compliant – and so now everyone pays more for CARB’s regulatory emissions when they buy a car.

And that is how CARB operates as a de facto legislature for the entire country with regard to cars.

It raises interesting constitutional questions – as regards interstate commerce, specifically. Which – per the Constitution – is a federal rather than a state power. Bad enough that the federal regulatory apparat operates as a de facto legislature, having somehow acquired what amounts to the power to legislate. For what are regulations? Are they suggestions? Or do they have the force and effect of laws? The federal EPA has the power to enforce the regulations it emits – and has armed enforcers who do exactly that.

This is power to emit – and enforce – regulations is what might you might fairly call tyrannical since the regulatory apparats that emit them are not elected by anyone and so cannot be held accountable to the people who are under duress to comply with the regulations emitted. There is no way to directly vote a bureaucrat out of his office. Especially one emitting de facto laws in California that residents of other states are effectively forced to comply with (and pay for).

It is at the very least arguably unconstitutional – because California is a state and no state has the constitutional power to dictate the terms and conditions of commerce nationally.

But that is only nipping at the heels of the foundational problem. That being the ceding of the legislative power – at both the state and the federal level – to unelected regulatory apparats that have acquired de facto legislative power. It is as undemocratic a thing as can be imagined. Arguably even more so than rule by a single dictator – who is at least identifiable as the source of the decrees. Who are the little dictators within the apparats? We can identify their chief – as for example Michael Regan of the EPA – but what of his minions? The minions are also the ones who have the real power because they are not political appointees (as Regan is and now was) and so are all-but-impossible to get rid of once ensconced.

President Trump could – and should – address this undermining of democracy by publicly asking how it came to be that the entire country is effectively ruled by unelected bureaucracies and how it came to pass that a bureaucracy in California got the power to effectively legislate for every other state as regards the kind of cars the people in those states are allowed to buy.

Or forced to buy.

How about the people of the states – each one, independently – get back the opportunity to vote for representatives who legislate rather than submit to the emissions of unelected bureaucrats who regulate? More finely, how about legislators – and legislative bodies do the work that is supposed to be their job rather than offloading their work onto bureaucracies they can then both blame for problems and use a foil to escape accountability for having caused the problems?

President Trump wants to make America Great Again? A good place to start would be freeing Americans from the unchecked and illegitimate power of regulatory apparats -and apparatchiks –  in California and Washington, DC.

. . .

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Related posts:
  1. The California Tax
  2. The Winnowing
  3. CA vs. the Rest of America
  4. Reader Question: Carb Conversion?
  5. Reader Question: Carb Cleaner Recommend?

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

123 COMMENTS

  1. eric, you correctly point out that “a majority of state governments (and their own regulatory apparats) decided to adopt and apply CARB’s regulatory emissions as their own.” Asking the Federal government to intervene is a violation of each State’s right to make whatever laws they please that aren’t enumerated in the Constitution. Do we really want the Federal government mandating more regulations?

    Moreover, just because these states have voluntarily chosen to drive cars according to these air quality controls, there is nothing that says these states must necessarily enforce them. I spent almost 50 years living in California with smog pumps and catalytic converters routinely being augmented or completely removed. This was done with impunity for the duration of my stay in what is now a hell hole.

    Now I live in Florida where it is still common practice to completely remove any and all catalytic converters after hacking into the computer to trick it into believing that they’re still there. At this point, there are still no smog checks required to register a vehicle in this state and I’ve never seen any law enforcement officers peek down under anyone’s car to see if their cats are in tact so CARB is effectively a moot point.

    Just about anyone with even the most rudimentary mechanical skills can take a reciprocating saw to their cats and install recycled pipe with butt joint exhaust clamps, or even pieces of pipe and a few clamps.

    The added cost of having cats installed on your car can then be offset by selling them once they’re removed. Admittedly, it’s a hassle which is why I’m working my way towards buying older vehicles rather than newer ones. Eventually, I’ll acquire vehicles that have no smog devices and no computers.

    • So this sounds like a good scam to me.
      1: Hire a couple “random fellas” to come chop off your cats. Don’t pay them, but tell them they can have the cats for payment.
      2: Call the police the next day and report the theft of your catalytic converters. “I woke up and they were gone.”
      3: File a claim with the insurance company. Cash the check.
      4: Fix the “problem” yourself with some straight pipe.

      Now you have no cats, better mileage, and a pocket full of cash.

      • Yep. That works, but I keep the cats in case I need them to sell the vehicle. Some people don’t want a vehicle that’s been altered, or they’re snowbirds and need the cats to pass their state’s smog tests.

  2. I remember watching the Price is Right as a little kid and whenever the car was the prize (A NEW CAR!!!), the announcer would run through its features, which always included “equipped with California emission.” My husband had the show on the other day and I noticed they no longer say that – I guess because it’s no longer a thing. We all have California emission now. What I wish is that when a state comes up with some onerous, unnecessary or nitpicky regulation, companies would just say “OK, have it your way, but we will no longer sell our product in your state,” instead of kowtowing to that BS. Let the state government deal with a citizen revolt because people can no longer get Pepsi, Skittles, vapes or cars or, lately, porn sites.
    On the bright side, State Farm and Allstate just did that – the only companies I have ever heard of to take that stand. I feel sorry for the people who are now homeless and have no insurance check, but their government brought that upon them.

  4. …”It raises interesting constitutional questions”…you mean we still have a constitution? It is time to face the undeniable fact that Trump is not going to save government. In fact, he is going to make more government out of the government we already have. ***please see his $500 billion Stargate plans*** for example. Anyway, as long as we have governments, we will always have tyranny and freedom will just be a word to be blown around like a far in a tornado.

  5. California for years would pass state laws and many other states would follow. However, that monkey see monkey do agenda seems to be dying out because California has become a huge negative to most people in most states. The recent fires that were/are out of control have shown that California is run by Whackjobs without a clue. Just give those Whackjobs enough rope and they will hang themselves every time it’s just law of nature.

  6. Our fedgov overlords:

    ‘Why was the Santa Ynez reservoir [above Pacific Palisades] empty for nearly a year?

    ‘For decades the reservoir sat uncovered, until the city in 2012 installed a large floating membrane to comply with federal regulations. The cover is meant to prevent animals and debris from contaminating the water and to limit algae and bacteria.

    ‘In January 2024, when a DWP property manager spotted a tear in the reservoir’s floating cover after a series of rainstorms, according to internal emails. The DWP has not detailed the timeline but said in a statement that the repairs were “subject to the city charter’s competitive bidding process which requires time.”’ — LA Times

    https://archive.ph/AOP0v#selection-3007.0-3007.165

    A floating membrane? WTF?

    Plenty of open-air water reservoirs exist. Lake Mead, which supplies drinking water for Las Vegas, is one of hundreds.

    Why did the US fedgov require covering the Santa Ynez reservoir? Instead, why not just put a fence around it to exclude animals, as they do back east?

    With the stacked, triple incompetence of Washington DC, Sacramento, and woke L.A., disaster was inevitable. Most of these people are prohibited from chewing gum, because they would trip while walking and hurt themselves.

    • Incompetence, lack of accountability or caring, a government 10x bigger than it has to be and getting in its own way, run on the DIEversity and work doctrine, that is the government of Commiefornia.

  8. ‘At least these folks [threatened by today’s Hughes Fire near Santa Clarita and Castaic, CA] won’t get gouged buying a gasoline-powered generator or chainsaw. They don’t sell them in CA.

    ‘The California generator ban (AB-1346) is legislation the California Air Resources Board (CARB) passed in October 2021. The purpose of AB-1346 is to end the sale of “small off-road engines,” including generators, in California.’ — comment by Plato de Panqueques on ZeroHedge

    Oh, the bovinity!

    • >gasoline-powered generator or chainsaw. They don’t sell them in CA.

      That is total bullshit.
      Gasoline powered chain saws and portable generators are readily available for purchase or rental here in ZIP code 92882, as are gasoline powered portable air compressors, which are essential to run air tools (such as nail guns) on construction sites.

  9. An American TikTok refugee gets red-pilled on the Chinese social media site RedNote:

    ‘We bought the f*ckin’ propaganda that was being sold to us our whole lives. We all got slapped in the face … dude, these skyscrapers and these cities, they’re beautiful. To me, it looks like the goddamned future. I’m telling you, man. These people are living in the year 2325. We … I’m not even sure we’re a First World country anymore.’

    https://x.com/BubblesToBurst/status/1880415496513949740

    Well, I’m not a city boy. And some his impressions are superficial and misleading.

    But he is quite correct that living standards are relentlessly declining in the dying Americlown empire. Flushing $1 trillion a year down the toilet on the value-subtracting US global military — and another $1.2 trillion a year to service the $36 trillion debt run up by Clowngress — guarantees that most non-elite Americans are struggling to stay afloat.

    Democracy works, until you run out of other people’s money to spend. 🙁

    • How interesting. I have a friend who was quite bent-out-of-shape regarding TikTok and went to this RedNote. He was telling me much of what this guy is saying here. This man must be quite the influencer.
      Am I paranoid to suspect this video is a plant meant to change the impressionable minds of millions of disgruntled TikTokers?

      Some people speak of China like it’s Elysium. Others say there is a tourist side and then there is reality, which is much, much worse.

      We’re having a rough time here, it’s true. But I’m fairly certain most of that stems from attempts to emulate places like China.

      I’m with you, Jim. I don’t like skyscapers, public transit or other mainstays of collectivist utopias. I don’t like interference in my affairs. I want to be Captain of my Soul and Master of my Fate, not a mere tool used in the machinations of someone’s megalomaniacal dreams of a synthetic paradise.

      • “I want to be Captain of my Soul and Master of my Fate, not a mere tool used in the machinations of someone’s megalomaniacal dreams of a synthetic paradise.”

        You’re mining gold, buddy.

    • Was watching a documentary on Youtube the other day about a remote village high in the mountains of China. 1000’s of steps up to the village, and at the top, what do I see? A surveillance camera. In a remote village on the top of a mountain. Total surveillance. Small price to pay for utopia, huh?

  11. CARB, in addition to being a regulatory body, is also an extortion racket. I live here, under their rule, and as a car guy, it’s really painful.

    Any part that has to do with “emissions” has to be certified by CARB or it can’t be sold here. Furthermore, each part has to be certified for every specific car, and certification is expensive. So, as an example, I have a Lotus Elise for which Lotus OEM parts are hard to get. It’s got an engine from a Toyota Celica GT-S, Toyota made a million of them. I am not allowed to use the air filter from Toyota because it hasn’t been certified for use in my Elise. The Lotus filter (which is a Toyota filter with a sticker on it) costs $50, the Toyota one is $11. It costs many $thousands to certify that part, so of course this is passed down to consumers.

    A couple of more examples. My catalytic converter stopped working (it shattered). OEM catalysts are no longer made. Generic catalysts, which are certified for many cars, don’t include my Elise, therefore, I can’t use a generic catalyst. They check this when you renew your registration.

    Another example is that I had an aftermarket fuel pressure regulation system, to keep pressure steady at the race track. Some idiots in trucks decided to modify their fuel systems to “roll coal”, which typically increases fuel pressure. So, the CA fascists banned fuel pressure regulation systems, and I had to remove mine. Now, my car has unsteady pressure and it pollutes more, but the rules are followed!

    • Sounds like you need to register your Lotus in South Dakota.

      You can establish SD residency by staying one night in a campground and getting a receipt. Then take your receipt to the DMV and register for SD plates.

      You just slip out the back, Jack
      Make a new plan, Stan
      You don’t need to be coy, Roy
      Just get yourself free

      — Paul Simon, Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover Communist Overlord

  12. “…Eventually, the car manufacturers decided to make all their cars California compliant…”

    A long time ago, I was sitting at lunch eating potato chips with some co-workers and the question came up as to why the bags always say “Reg. Pa, Dept. of Agriculture.” So I called the potato chip company and asked them why all the potato chips they (and their competitors) sell are “regulated” by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, even those sold in other states. She said it was because they had the strictest standards.

    Here we see a similar problem with cars. Rather than stop selling cars in California, or modifying cars for California, the manufacturers have chosen the “one size fits all” approach, like with the potato chips. While I do not like California and it’s nanny-state apparatus, I do not want the Feds getting any more opportunities to trample on state sovereignty. The only solution is to provoke the manufacturers into lobbying California and the co-conspiring states into backing off, or start making non-California compliant cars for the rest of us again.

    • It’s a big club, and you ain’t in it.” – George Carlin

      It can traced up to the Democrat Party, as an institution, who has the means to pressure the ~17? state legislatures into complicity with CARB, and EPA requirements for cars as they relate to California. It’s racketeering. It’s a death-pact. No amount of industry guidance will make blue states re-consider, they’ve got our politicians by the balls, and the name of the game is pretend every state is beholden to California because they can. It’s too bad Trump can’t just declare the democrat party a criminal organization. It’d be true.

      • Sigh.
        He’s either paid to say this, or he really believes it.
        Either way, it’s really sad.
        The “republicans” never seem to overturn any of it.
        People really don’t need to be kept asleep in false left/right paradigms, thanks.

        • All things aside, the Dem Party organization is a real problem. It’s a criminal gang, and they enforce on eachother the votes and operate as a voting block.

          You certainly don’t have a problem making everything into a jewish/non-jewish paradigm for Christs sake.

          The DNC is a criminal racketeering organization.

          • The DNC is one tentacle of many. Smart folks see this.

            What you propagandists call “the left” is controlled simply through entitlement and communism.

            What you propagandists call “the right” is controlled simply though “patriotism” and “the Church”.

            The same guiding hand rules both “parties” and only the weakest intellectual specimens don’t grasp this.

            • I’ll totally give you that. I’m just saying that particular tentacle is the one with the knot tying the state legislatures to the CARB. It’s part of the gang like voting block that’s keeping states from telling Cali to fuck off, and not issuing their own industry guidance instead.

              • So then it should be easy to agree, at least philosophically, that eliminating the “guiding hand” would be more important than getting rid of what amounts to “puppets”.

            • “only the weakest intellectual specimens don’t grasp this.”

              I gotta say that’s probably the most back-handed, passive-aggressive, ad hominem attack I’ve ever seen.

              • Say what you will.
                The fact we have a “uniparty” is even often stated by the “alt-media”. They might not say “jew party”, but “uniparty”, yes.

                So if even the “alt-media” seems to notice the painfully obvious, anyone who DOESN’T, has an agenda.

              • And you’ll notice how as soon as I mentioned the ‘ARC processor’, it shut up.
                And I mean RIGHT up.
                That’s called “being told by your bosses to quit engaging with that one.”

  13. The communists will scream “states rights” however this is just teachers pet extra credit. How come New Hampshire can’t simultaneously say fine, we have no emissions or mpg standards, carb big blocks are back? Because there are no states rights. The communist loves to twist your mind into a pretzel trying to get to the root of the problem though.

        • Ya Jewish, there, “Steve”?
          You seem to want people to think those Jewish-ran organizations are somehow sponsoring people to go out and talk about Jews.

          Which makes you a bit of a retard.

            • You want to talk about spyware?
              I know something about that.

              All Intel CPU’s (Intel, being an ISRAELI company), have what is known as the “ARC processor”, which is a separate sub-processor running on UNIX which loads before the HAL and thus loads outside of the OS, running completely independently.

              I’ll leave it up to you to google terms like “HAL” and “UNIX”.

              The point is, the ARC processor is a built-in hardware-level sub processor that spies on us at the hardware level.

              My guess is this is the first you’ve ever heard of this.
              My guess is you’re going to avoid this topic like a scared kitten.

              • Had me thinking of Sun’s SPARC for a moment there.

                Intel has that timeline shit they are building into the new architectures. Avoid. Perfect hardware level for tracking by your local fusion center, to search through your screen-timeline.

                If you want to get down and dirty, Y2K was so the light bulbs can talk to the computer, interpreted by the smart meter outside.

                Most retarded ass shit I’ve seen is bringing the Jews into it. The topic was CARB 🙂

                • “Most retarded ass shit I’ve seen is bringing the Jews into it. The topic was CARB 🙂”

                  Watch this, everyone…

                  Steve January 22, 2025 At 11:28 pm

                  https://stonetoss.com/comic/spyware/

                  That was you, right, idiot?
                  The topic was CARB 🙂
                  The topic was CARB 🙂
                  The topic was CARB 🙂
                  The topic was CARB 🙂

                • Now if you’d like to CircleBack to the WHY and HOW the DNC is responsible for keeping such a good lid on their politicians, none willing to step out of line, I couldn’t fault you for blaming their funding/blackmail arm AIPAC. Massie said everyone in congress has an AIPAC person. I guess you take the money and shut up about who it came from, and the DNC looks the other way, ultimately blackmailing their own party into following the rules.

                  • Um…so…you just said “It’s the Jews.”
                    Look man. You’re FOR the Jews, or you’re AGAINST the Jews.

                    Would you at least make up your mind?

                    • Said nothing of the kind, but you just did.

                      I said AIPAC as an organization is complicit. Has nothing to do with religion, or territory. I’d be willing to bet it’s an arm of MI6/CIA who operate out of foreign lands just to run domestic operations because their charters forbid it.

  15. California Air-rogant Resources Board

    Fixed it.

    California needs a fire prevention resources board.

    How’s the air in LA today?

    You can’t break up the western states into more states, five more states, 10 more senators and a plethora of idiots making a beeline to be Congresscritters.

    That’s crime think.

    Nonsense there.

    LA is a far better opportunity than the Gaza Strip.

    Sunset Strip reads much better. Sunsets look like gold there, plenty of sun, surf, and sand. Have to start over, nothing else you can do. You’ll have a new house, a new home.

    You currently have nothing, so you should be happy.

    Just have to haul away steel, rubble and ashes.

    Those lithium batteries are in the atmosphere now.

    A killer chance to make it much better than before.

    Davos 2025 is here today, so that should make you feel better.

    You can gaze out the window, get mad and get madder
    Throw your hands in the air, say, “What does it matter?”
    But it don’t do no good to get angry
    So help me, I know     – John Prine, Chain of Sorrow

    • Brown, Pelosi, Newsome, Getty = California. The “Cali compliant” 305 2bbl 75 Laguna with vinyl top, 2.63 rear end and mechanical everything was the worst POS vehicle I ever took to a junkyard.

      Can we just get rid of Cali to China as easily?

    • Thanks for that addition, Dave.

      Fuel cans these days are bullshit! Maybe I’m not coordinated enough, but the “compliant” nozzles cause me to spill much more fuel than I would otherwise. I bought a diesel can for my backhoe, but I leaned to just remove the nozzle and use a funnel when I fuel it up, lest the event becomes an environmental disaster.

      • I find that is the only way to pour fuel without it leaking everywhere, and it is much quicker than the slurp and gurgle with an unvented can.

      • Drill a hole where the vent belongs and stick a lag bolt or wood screw in it. The only real problem are the silly ass spring loaded Rube Goldberg nozzles. If you 3d print, that’s easy too and PETG is hydrocarbon resistant.

        • Hey Ernie,

          3D printing: One of these coming days.

          Many people are just buying polypropylene carboys adapted for fuel use with a flexible tube and a the proper plumbing accessories:

          https://is.gd/S47HvT

          Seems to work pretty well, and it’s the next thing I’ll try.

    • There is a special place in hell for the people who design these things. For lowering the standards of the earth, they shall be forced to drink from the lake of fire, through a melting anti-spill nozzle.

    • THANK YOU.

      Whoever mandated those nozzles needs to be forced to use one to drink and eat from for a year. All we ever needed was a plain nozzle with a cap on it. It’s worked just fine since we invented gasoline.

  17. Demanding that the rest of the country comply with California emission standards is just insane.
    California received an “exemption” from federal standards and was allowed to impose its own stricter emission standards for one reason only.
    The Los Angeles “basin” is a somewhat unique topographical area, a valley being situated between the Pacific ocean and mountains.
    The original inhabitants (native Americans) of the area called it the “Valley of Smoke”. This was the case long before the invention of the automobile and internal combustion engine.
    California should never have been permitted to establish its own emission standards.

    • If the rest of us are forced to obey BS California emissions standards then we should all be allowed to vote in all their elections, seeing is how their asinine laws seem to destroy the rest of us.

    • Here is the same chart, but with more data points

      https://cdn.imgpile.com/f/1ICvCk_md.png

      I’ve annotated the temperature decrease acceleration in the last 1,000 years. The Medival Warm Period was followed by the Little Ice Age when the Thames froze.

      This means the overall trend is colder. If the Thames freezes over again, in the next little ice age, it will prove CO2 is not stopping the downward trend, and should be a wake up call for our civilization which is batshit insane.

    • Here are more charts I have posted as a comment in a recent Unz Review article:

      https://www.unz.com/aanglin/as-free-speech-war-totally-lost-hate-speech-groups-now-moving-to-silence-global-warming-skeptics/#comment-6370539

      to read all my comments, just use your browser find again and enter “yukon”

      Bullet points:

      earth is currently in an ice age that started 2.6 million years ago

      the current interglacial optimum temps are lower than the previous ones

      earth is 8,000 years past the highest temps of this interglacial, arctic ice was 50% less then

      civilization thrives in warm temperatures and collapse when the intermediate cycles turn down. For example the Roman civilization collapsed in the Dark Ages when the warm period disappeared, disease and starvation ravages the human population

      CO2 has never forced temperatures on earth, CO2 is not correlated with temperature on any time scale, it is batshit crazy to assume CO2 will force temperatures when it has never done so in the past

      AGW and carbon credits are a financial scam to fleece the public, and Trump should shut it all down, stop funding fake science research to support false political narratives

      Some genius like Tony Heller should brief Trump on ice age facts

    • There are people that will claim the sun is warming, despite that being an absolute impossibility. Helium is “fusion ash”, and Helium is a HUGE molecule compared to hydrogen. Helium can only cool the output of the sun over time because larger molecules absorb and reflect more energy as it tries to escape the sun. The people claiming “Nuh uh, the sun is warming cause Neil DeGrasse Tyson SAYS SO!” are just…pathetic.

      The fact our planet is cooling is evidenced in the expanding deserts. Desertification is a “smoking gun” for global cooling. It’s why Mars is a desert today.

  20. Looking at that map, I recall my last day in Colorado, as I was driving a fully-loaded U-Haul truck headed for Virginia. Many of the cars I shared I-70 with that day had bumper-stickers which read, “DON’T CALIFORNICATE COLORADO”. The authors of that slogan saw their future and sadly failed to stop it. Maybe we, here in ‘The Old Dominion’, can immitate that movement with, “DON’T CALIFORNICATE VIRGINIA!” with better results. But first, stop voting for DEMWITS! They hate us.

    • We have political capture here in VA. We almost had a fair election this time, but no dice. It’s freaking gerrymandering. We managed to put NOVA in it’s box, but it’s the same story in Richmond. All the suburb districts turn blue because the lines are drawn to the center of Richmond, like a sphincter. If you have a plan I’d love to hear it.

      Senator Tim Kaine wasted America’s time today trying to conflate Project 2025(R) with mr. Vought at the OMB confirmation hearing today.

      • Nice takedown of Senator Tim Kaine here:

        ‘Tim Kaine’s son stormed the MN capitol in an anti-Trump riot in 2017, set off explosive devices and tear gas, and fought the police. He didn’t do any jail time because his father is a Democrat Senator.’

        https://x.com/GraduatedBen/status/1882089916513071328

        But Timmy thinks Trump’s pardon of J6 protesters is an ‘abomination.’ He doesn’t realize the internet remembers everything. And so do we.

    • A common bumper sticker in Oregon is WELCOME TO ORYGUN, HAVE A NICE VISIT.

      You all may be wondering why California is batshit insane. There is one reason, and only one reason, it is because of who controls it. You will deny it, but reality is reality:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_population_by_city

      Los Angeles United States 622,480 Newscum
      San Francisco United States 244,000 Kumaloho

      They are organized, they are powerful, they own Hollywood, they run the porn industry, the run big pHarma, the control all our Congressman and Senators, Trump loves them, Trump’s biggest donors are Miriam Adelson and other billionaire Jews, Jewish bankster banks own the stock of the Federal Reserve, they have hit squads like the ADL and SPLC, they control Youtube and Goolag, almost all the tech industry, they did 911 and got away with it, and now they are commiting in your face genocide and we fund it and allow it.

      • And it’s high time we stop being ostracized for understanding this and talking about this.

        I hear this crap all the time. “Why do you always make it about the Jews?”
        TACTIC: “TURN IT AROUND”.
        TRUTH: It’s not about ME doing anything. It’s the JEWS doing things, as in, the SOURCE of whatever topic is at hand (feel free to name one), and you’ve been psychosocially BRAINWASHED to avoid the Jew as a topic. THEY ARE BEYOND BLAME because of some non-existent “holocaust”.

        Blaming the messengers has to end at some point.
        They either wake up, or they’re the enemy working against us from within.

  21. As Judge Napolitano has stated that that the original language in the Constitution states under the commerce clause that *regulation* was intended to make *regular* trade amongst the states without tax, nor tariff.
    That was part of the deal by joining the union (a club which you could never leave) was the states were independent experiments in freedom but not independent countries with trade barriers. Strict regulations which cause products to be more expensive in a state is a direct violation of the constitution and thereby should be unconstitutional. But good luck getting Roberts and Amy Barrett to see that historical fact.

    • I came of age in the late 70’s and early 80’s in Northern California Bay Area. First thing we did was when we bought our muscle cars was strip the air pump and vacuum restrictor off the car and install a high rise with a Holley carburetor then headers on the exhaust. Problem was this was when the first mandatory auto exhaust testing was required for registration in California. Fortunately, my father’s company did business with an auto mechanic shop with mechanics that passed the visual then de-tuned our cars to pass the test, then readjust back to where they needed to be. We were lucky back then and almost free. This was our way of telling Longshanks that they can take our cars but not our freedom.

      This was the beginning of tyranny.

    • John RINO Roberts on Obamacare: “It’s a tax, not a penalty.”

      Hopefully, RINO Roberts soon will receive his long-delayed ‘Mitt Romney Pillar of the Uniparty’ award.

      He did a lot to us.

  22. CARB sees the handwriting on the wall:

    ‘California has decided to abandon its groundbreaking regulations phasing out diesel trucks and requiring cleaner locomotives because the incoming Trump administration is unlikely to allow the state to implement them.

    ‘The withdrawal comes after the Biden administration recently approved the California Air Resources Board’s mandate phasing out new gas-powered cars by 2035, but had not yet approved other waivers for four diesel vehicle standards that the state has adopted.

    ‘Trump has threatened to revoke or challenge all zero-emission vehicle rules and California’s other clean-air standards. By withdrawing its requests for EPA approval, Newsom is signaling a dramatic step back as the state recalibrates in the Trump era.

    ‘Environmentalists were distressed …‘ :crying-face:

    https://calmatters.org/environment/2025/01/trump-california-withdraws-diesel-clean-air-rules/

    CARB is now a turd on the run. Our job is to shell them as they flee. Road to Baghdad Sacramento, bitchez!

    • Note that:
      “Trucking companies had already sued the state to stop the measure, saying electric and hydrogen big rigs are not practical for long-haul uses and that it would destroy the state’s economy.”

      Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are the two busiest ports in the U.S.:
      https://www.porttechnology.org/news/top-5-ports-in-the-usa/#:~:text=The%20Port%20of%20Long%20Beach,friendly%20port%20in%20the%20US.

      Port of L.A.: 9.46 million TEU
      Port of Long Beach: 8.09 million TEU
      —————————————-
      Total: 17.55 million TEU
      3rd place:
      Port of New York & New Jersey: 7.2 million TEU

      IIRC, CARB, or SCAQMD, was also making noises about requiring “zero emission” locomotives for hauling out of the ports, which ain’t gonna happen. I live within horn sound of BNSF, and have waited many a time at on-grade crossings while enormously long container freight trains rolled by, headed east. The only feasible propulsion system to get to Flagstaff, or Albuquerque, and points east, is diesel electric, and BNSF is not going to remake the train enroute.

      • Some people are never happy:
        https://www.corvus-rising.net/blog/posts/racist-elements/

        >LA DWP is proposing to convert a natural gas fired power plant to GREEN hydrogen, produced entirely by electrolysis using electricity generated from solar panels. Clean energy, right?

        >But noooo.

        “Jasmin Vargas, an organizer with Food and Water Watch, described hydrogen as ‘fundamentally racist and inequitable.’ ”

        >Who knew? The most abundant element in the universe is “racist!”

        >Not the most racist, though. That would obviously be carbon, because the “black” form of carbon (graphite) is valued much less than the “white” form (diamond).

        • Hahaha, WTF? I was going to check out why they think hydrogen is racist, Adi, but ultimately, I don’t give a shit what morons think, and I really need to prioritize my time these days.

          Regarding carbon: I would describe graphite as more silvery, whereas “carbon black” is very black indeed. Otherwise, if you’ve ever worked with carbon nanotubes, you know they are quite expensive! Perhaps not as pricey as white diamonds, but DEFINITELY an “uppity” black carbon allotrope.

          • You can buy carbon nanotubes at Amazon. I was thinking about getting some to add to epoxy projects, as adding carbon nanotubes to the epoxy matrix increases the strength and thermal tolerance of it.

    • Keep in mind that “we the people” do not get to vote for CARB members, which are mostly appointed by the Governor (though “confirmed” by the State Senate).

      I suggest that anyone interested read the bios of *all* the current CARB members. It appears to me we have, to borrow a phrase, some of the good, the bad and the ugly. I fail to see how a PhD in “Sociology” qualifies anyone to make decisions regarding air pollution measurement and control. As the saying goes, “It’s who you blow, not what you know.”

      It started out well enough:
      https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/about/leadership/dr-arie-haagen-smit

    • Hi Jim,
      It might have been better to let California go ahead with its insane regulations and watch their economy go completely down the toilet with a bit of schadenfrued.

  23. Democracy IS mob rule, after all. Not like a Republic that the United States started off as. And then people complain when their “democracy” does not work? Hell, their “Democracy” is working just fine, the are just the 49% getting sh** on by the other 51%

    • It cannot be said often enough, democracy IS communism and deserves equal respect, precisely zero.

      Democracy is the 19 greasy stinky gang bangers voting that your 13 year old daughter (or son) has to f#$k them.

      There wasn’t even supposed to be democratic elections in this constitutional republic, as the franchise privilege was restricted to property owners of good character. And senators and presidents were elected by even less democratic electors.

  24. I am also very disappointed in the car, motorcycle, boat, snowmobile and recreational vehicle companies. Instead of fighting this draconian tyranny from the get-go, they caved and kissed the government jack boot. Now all of them are only too happy to jump when the government orders them to follow another illegal, unconstitutional “regulation”.

  26. Like the situation with AGWs the solution is simple – shun CA and its citizens that want to impose their environmental religion on the rest of us.

    Shun the animals in your own state legislatures that have abdicated their responsibility. Stop acting like these are honorable humans. They are not. They are filth and deserve to be treated as such.

    Nullify locally by ignoring their mandates and driving vintage vehicles.

    Move to localities where you know the local Sheriff will not enforce unconstitutional mandates to remove older vehicles from the roads.

    How to tell? If they enforced COVID – you can be sure they will enforce the motor laws. Hat tip to Rush for seeing what was coming long ago.

    • Around here you see lots of cars and trucks with the following on bumpers and back glass.

      “Californians – the newest invasive species”

    • ‘The Arizona Free Enterprise Club launched the “Don’t CA my AZ Campaign,” which aims to educate voters on the Democratic policies that have previously been proposed by legislators that mimic legislation currently in action in California.

      “For years, we have warned about the oppressive, big-government policies of California being imported to our state,” said Aimee Yentes, Vice President of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club. “Yet, as more people escape the high crime and unaffordability of California and other blue states, Arizona’s safe, affordable, and free way of life is in jeopardy.

      ‘The ‘Don’t CA my AZ’ campaign will educate residents all over the state about how they can help to keep AZ free.”

      https://dontcamyaz.com

      • The image of Clammy Kate, when you open that website, made me want to hurl. She’s the spitting image of that Nazi Herr Starmer of the UK, except with a wig. Makes me think there is a Deep State lab [maybe in Wuhan or Keeeeev] where they fashion these leftists out of random forearm and thigh meat.

        Its already too late to save the AZ I came from. The locusts will be a feature, not a bug of our future going forward. Sad really, formerly the freest state in the union reduced to a sanctuary for Illegal Aliens and people who cant decide which bathroom to use. I guess stolen elections really do have consequences.

  27. The western states are always under the thumb of California. California gets what California wants because it was settled before everywhere else. And because CA had the gold.

    California, thanks to the Colorado river compact, can dictate water policy for the entire Colorado basin. If Utah wants to build a nuclear power station that uses water from the Green River, California has veto power. Who cares if Utah is only going to use it for cooling and release it right back into the channel, that’s not CA’s concern.

    The 2020 census showed that, for the first time, California’s population declined. This has to be a trend as old aerospace and tech workers age out and get out. It has been a boon to the nearby states, including Colorado, who are seeing record growth. I think the recent disaster in LA might hasten the exit of a few more too. Not the celebrities, but the people who have been sitting on a small house bought by their parents back in the 1950s that is today worth millions only because of the neighborhood. Even if they sell for less than market value they’d still be able to pay cash nearly anywhere else.

    Will that change anything for California? Probably not. They’ll just refill the holes with International buyers who never bothered to look at the constitution and don’t care. They’ll bribe their way to happiness, while the rest of the people struggle, just like back home.

    • Many in Colorado wouldn’t characterize it as a boon. The money is nice, but I personally would be fine with a 10 year residency requirement to gain the voting privilege.

      • No way – 10 years to soon to allow them a full vote

        10 yrs =50%
        15 years 75%
        20 years 100% vote

        That still might be too aggressive 😉

    • I assume you’re talking about the Blue Castle Project near Green River, UT. California didn’t hold that up and being a Lower Basin state they wouldn’t have any standing. The Utah State Engineer gave them the water rights but it was held up by environmentalist lawsuits and looks like is a dead project. They were supposed to have started building it two years ago and be online by 2030. I’m sure the COVID b.s. had a lot to do this economically since the last activity was in the 2019 timeframe.

    • Also, for what it’s worth, the water wasn’t going to be returned. It was cooling water and that evaporates in the process, thus it’s consumed water. Upper Basin states are allocated the same 7.5 million acre-feet as the Lower Basin states. There’s side agreements that allow some of the Upper allocation to flow for use by the Lower states since the major urban centers are all uphill from the Colorado so it’s been historically difficult and costly for SLC, Denver and Albuquerque to get the water to them.

  28. It’s another case of the Oscar Schindler’s of Corporate America crawling into bed with these “regulators”.

    It’s the “go along to get along” attitude of compromise that has led us to this situation. The idea that GovCo should involve itself in the voluntary exchange between two parties is never challenged. That concept was carved in stone with the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 when GovCo decided that it should tell doctors what treatments can be performed and how by regulating opiates. So long as that law is in force, don’t expect anything to change. Neither the Left or Right wants to give up that power because it is the source of all their gratification. They get off on controlling others.

  29. There was an internet movement several years ago to boot California from the union. I signed the petition but of course, it was just a feel-good measure.

    • There’s also the State of Jefferson that would break out northern CA and southern Oregon. Good luck with that.

      I could see a continental congress convention that might force CA to break up into several states, starting with Jefferson, then SFO and LA becoming their own states. Extend the 37º parallel that creates the 4 corners which would put the border somewhere between Monterey and Sanda Cruz. Give northern NV to North California. Maybe break out Nevada too.

      But it will never happen. The status quo is too ingrained. Not enough people can imagine a world without 50 states, even if it doesn’t make sense.

    • No, my native state is in open rebellion against the union, with their treasonous gun control, bringing in millions of military aged invaders, and suppression of property rights and religious freedoms. We need to follow he well established precedent of “honest” Abe and crush them and install occupation government until the cancer of democracy/communism is forced back underground.

      • Lincoln is the worst example that you could use.
        He was a tyrant who destroyed the original concept of “states rights”.
        One aspect of life before the War of Northern Aggression was the fact that the federal government had little power and was subservient to the states.
        In those times, an individual citizen regarded himself to be a citizen of his respective state–NOT a citizen of the united States. A person living in Virginia considered himself to be a citizen of Virginia and likewise citizens of other states who were citizens of their respective states.
        At the time, the only responsibilities that the federal government had was to coin lawful money, run a post office, and have the ability to gather troops to repel foreign invasions, nothing more.
        The War of Northern Aggression was illegal on its face, as states always had the right to secede from the union.
        That all changed with the conclusion of the War of Northern Aggression when the states were subordinated to the federal government, illegal powers being taken by the federal government.
        The requirement that the states in rebellion sign a statement recognizing the inviolability of the federal government before readmission was done under duress and were not valid contracts. The only state that never signed a no secession clause was Texas. To this day, Texas could tell the feds to take a hike. There would be very little the feds could do about it.
        The final blow was cast in 1913 with the imposition of the income tax, creation of the Federal Reserve which the federal government ceded powers to the banks and effectively abdicated its responsibility to coin lawful money, and the direct election of senators.
        It was all downhill from there…

        • I am quite aware of all that. Preach to some other choir.

          Which is precisely why I chose the “honest” Abe precedent. We need multiple, adversarial, competing power bases much like the midieval church, cities, nobility, and gentry.

          It is entirely acceptable to come down on a state like California which is literally making war on American citizens with their gun control, their religious persecution, and their trampling of property rights. There are things worth banding together and fighting for. California has been invaded by foreign ideologies, foreign concepts, and just plain foreigners, and they need to go away. I as an individual am not up to it. If a few hundred of my neighbors got together we still wouldn’t be up to it. This is what great confederacies are for.

          • How about if we just give up on “governments” and “leaders” all together???

            Being dead serious…people say “What we need is another great leader!” To which I wonder…WHY? Why does ANYONE want to be “led”? Why do people SEEK that?

            No “leader” has ever led me to treasure or pussy. So I truly don’t understand the point of being led anywhere. Anytime someone comes along to “lead” you somewhere, it’s usually to your own demise.

            • Because it wont let up on me. Because it’s a natural phenomenon and a part of human nature. You can no more get rid of government than you can get rid of rattlesnakes, ticks, or black widows. And sadly, a big chunk of humanity WANT a boss, a leader, a master, so they dont have to think or take responsibility for themselves.

              • Morning, Ernie!

                Yup. I read once about a subset of Chimp called the Bonobos. The latter are peaceful chimps – unlike the violent, aggressive mainstream chimps. We – most of us – seem to have more of that DNA than Bonobo DNA!

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