Republicans in the House and in the Senate are threatening to hold hostage disaster aid to California because Californians voted overwhelming to support Harris over liar, fraud, con, felon Trump.
In my view, Californians should not take this threatened action sitting down. California’s vibrant economy generates the largest GDP in the country; Californians and companies who operate in California, thru the federal taxes they pay, subsidize the weak performing economies of red states.
It is NOW time for Californians and for companies in California to stop paying their federal taxes (income taxes and other types of federal taxes) to the Federal Government. Instead, those taxes should be paid directly to the State of California.
“Remember when hurricanes hit Florida a few months ago, and everyone, they were saying the Democrats, the far left secretly control the rain? Well, I think we finally proved we do not, OK?”
In 2022 (the latest year there's info for) CA paid $83B more than it received, the most by any state by a considerable margin. Next highest was NJ at about $29B
I could be reading too much into your I-5 reference, but I’d say, keep the eastern border as is. No reason to give up the Sierra or Cascades. In the PNW maybe Hwy 97.
I immediately "Liked" JOEL's comment because it created a Camelot moment-a brief shining fantasy when right triumphs over might. Of course what JOEL proposes isn't going to happen. Blue states have financed Red states for many years and that's the way our Democracy works in order to keep safety nets in place. But when those red-chapped a$$holes start placing demands on aid to a Blue state I get red in the face. And red does NOT look good on me.
Texas threatened secession , until it had to defend its borders by land and sea, they have plenty of oil but little else of any value. I begged them to follow through alas!
I’m all for leaving the red states to bask in their ignorance, but the masses that would attempt to migrate to a better “blue” life and opportunity, could create undue burdens on the blue states… revisiting slavery, civil rights insanity, and armed militias for renewed war could be one of the many consequences.
California has a very extensive water management system which works great. In fact after the northern CA rains from the last couple years, our reservoirs are full. But LA gets its water from other sources. And there are Santa Ana winds which have become stronger lately due to climate change atmospheric conditions. The GOP politicians like Tubby and Ronny really need to do some research about this, their lies are extremely hurtful. And Mikey should remember that the money he wants to hold onto comes mainly from CA citizens who pay our federal taxes. Maybe we should just keep it all in the state!
I have actually written to some blue state governors- our only chance to beat these fuckers is to stop paying for their party.
The billionaires plan on stealing it all- only the sending states can stop them. They have to figure out a way to direct withholding to state cofffers and not the feds. Gotta happen.
Joel, my thoughts exactly!!! No more federal taxes. We have to take care of ourselves and I'm tired of paying for the red states inability to support themselves. Caskadia Now!
What "consequences," Patrick? Seriously. That we won't be the mythical "United" States anymore? We are not now. And the next four plus years aren't going to be any improvement. So what are the consequences you are so afraid of?
I'm from one of the blue "giver" states (not California), and I am fucking sick and tired of bailing out these red state ingrates, only to have this "you aren't the real America, we are" bullshit thrown back in our faces when we need help.
This blaming of California for weather events beyond their control, the stubborn rejection of climate change, the lack of any empathy for the loss of life and property, the threats of "conditions" needing to be met before federal help will even be considered....I am sick to my stomach.
I am mad as hell. Fuck these people. I have no desire to keep subsidizing them and I don't particularly care. There is nothing "united" about their attitude toward us.
PTW, I live in the red state of texas and I say keep your money! I 100,000% agree with every word you say. texas repubs are starving our public schools so they can get their fucked-up vouchers. Fuck ‘em! Keep your tax money for all the good and decent things happening in your state.
I have been thinking this exact same thing. Although I have also had other iterations of it, such as:
1) California keeps the taxes, and income generated and secedes from the USA, becoming a small neighbor, and taking a goodly portion of the US economy with it.
2) Sending everyone who does not get money to rebuild to Florida and Texas to live as a big wave of non-immigrants to descend on these Red States and then changing voting patterns there too.
3) California negotiates with Canada to find what it would take to join it, and if they come to an agreement, put it on as a ballot initiative and go, setting up a process for other states to leave.
4) All Blue states should join California in withholding taxes to the federal government, and instead collect it and pool it and form their own economy. I believe that is around 70% of the US GDP.
Actually the University of British Columbia has apparently published some research papers on taking the West Coast as part of western Canada, called Caskadia.
I live back and forth between Illinois and Germany and would love for Illinois to join Canada. There would be much more continuity between my cultural lives.
Oh, stop with this lefty edgelord shit. Unless YOU personally will help every one of us out when our wages are garnished and liens are placed on our property.
I think Alison is saying that your idea would result in Californians paying federal taxes twice—once to the state and again through garnishments and liens to the federal government. She was asking if you would be prepared to reimburse those who end up paying their federal taxes twice.
Joel, your recent excellent posts are so well thought out and explained. With the impending takeover & intended destruction of the US, WE. NEED people to think outside the lines. Not sure who the "lefty overlord" was intended for. You are not that.
Telling people to stop paying their taxes, as though that will accomplish anything at all other than getting those people in serious financial trouble. It's pointless grandstanding BS.
We don't stop paying except WHERE we pay them. We pay the full taxes to our state, and then our governor decides when it needs to be used for emergencies for which Congress will not approve funding. An insurance policy...
No, Kathleen, we all understand the implications. After all, Joan Baez lives in California and I know I've understood what it means since the late Sixties and early Seventies. But, since Lincoln didn't let the southern states go, perhaps their strong antipathy towards the West Coast/California would allow them to let us go, or at least refuse to take our money earned so successfully.
Elump has clearly said that "crashing the US economy" is one goal. They "will build it back up". WTAF? Our economy has been roaring since Biden has been POTUS.
1000 percent. They want to withhold money until we start raking our forests? Dipshits. OK, we won't send them a DIME, and let's see how the red states fare without California dough.
CA should pressure its NINE CA REPUBLICAN HOUSE REPRESENTATIVES to vote to boot Tragic Mike out of the Speakership if they put any conditions on aid to CA. To vote with Democrats to boot his pathetic, sniveling, Jesus' ass-kisser out of the job. It no longer takes one vote to move to boot him, it takes nine. Voters in CA, pressure your lawmakers and make sure you tell them how pissed you are about this BS. (No, I cannot take credit for this idea, it's already out there to find.) Make them work FOR you!
Indeed, JOEL, the Crown bears responsibility for many of the world’s problems. The Uber-wealthy and TPTB, continue the Robber Barron ways here, in a rebirth gilded age… same old have, have nots problem. Your point is still well taken!!
Remember when the recent hurricanes hit Florida and flattened entire neighborhoods, and Biden and the Dems refused aid and blamed it on the shitty leaders Floridians elected? No, neither do I. Fuck every single one of these fucking fucks!
And we won’t even mention the devastation Helene did further on in SC, NC, TN and VA and all the maganuts screaming and hollering about FEMA not being there to help. Hell, even the Representatives(mostly republican)had to come into their districts to try to counter all the conspiracy BS. They broke it then found it was damn hard to try and glue back together. Idiots!
FEMA staff had to back off certain areas due to maga people confronting them in a threatening manner. I think it was in NC. F maga. At the same time, they were bitching about "no help!". Who threatens FEMA post-disaster. Fuck them.
Tubes is that guy that kept the rope in the back of his Ford to be ready for the lynching. Drunkin’ Ronny woulda brought the beers. That these guys and their fellow thuggish buffoons have the gall to appear in public, let alone to shout these vile inanities, is a shonda on the nation. Etcetera, etcetera.
It’s all sickening racist misogynist bigotry and theater and I fucking hate every execrable minute of it. Jeez, how’re we gonna make it?
I find it inspiring to think about the shit that black Americans went through from 1877 to 1954 (Brown versus the Board of Education). They had to face worse than we will probably ever have to face. They did it one day at a time. We have far more tools to resist than they ever did.
Black and brown folks have had to scratch and crawl their way out of the holes that white people put all of them in. Headways have been made because after building America, the masses have never given up. NEVER
The African Americans who face those challenges are no longer alive. When one compares the present moment to the past, how can you do it without saying “we” and "they?" What is the better way to compare the past and the present?
I just spent two hours of my life watching the Hegseth asshole being questioned. Besides wanting to die now, I have to say that Tuberville can't form a complete sentence. He is even dumber live.
Hannah, I couldn't suffer watching the inquisition because I loathe that young man. Instead, I read TPM in live posts from Kate Riga. Lastly, very few rightwing arselings can complete a meaningful thought, yet a coherent sentence.
Hogsbreath (I call him that because he is swine) is even worse than you think, you should read investigative reporter Jane Mayer's deep dive into him. He bankrupted two right wing charities, (when the Koch brother fires you, you really suck!) by stealing the petty cash and ran up a huge bar tab on the business cards.
i had (half-heartedly) wanted to see his testimony (is that the right word?). by the end, did you sense the room was going to go with him or nay. I did see a brief clip where Tammy Duckworth asked him for 3 countries that were in ASEAN. He answered in a smug way and she shot him down saying, none of the 3 were part of it and he should research more before coming in front of them. Thanks for doing this for me.
Wow. There are so much better, less masochistic ways to spend your time. Seriously, for your own mental health, why not avoid that BS? If you feel you have to follow the process, lots of pundits, including Jeff, will be publishing summaries.
It's the first time I have watched these people live. I really didn't expect such stupidity right out loud. Lesson learned. I don't have the heart for it.
He is an embarrassment to the decent people of Alabama, who are outnumbered by christo-facists, who had to be shamed, into not voting for a pedophile (Roy Moore) But were happy the next time to vote for a CTE victim who didn't even know what the three divisions of Gov't were.
Hannah, being so drunk at work that others have to carry you out. To lead our military? Another rapist who paid a woman off? Something permanent needs to protect us on Earth 1 from the crazy.
Don't forget the Christer Dominionist aspect of the MAGA right. The "faithful" followers of churches/governments that tell them "god" approves of their hateful and bigoted cruelty toward anyone who is not white, male, allegedly straight, and "chrisitian". I really don't know how we are going to make it. Living the absurd life? Not easy, but I am not seeing many other choices here.
Really good point about living the absurd, counterlife. Reminds me of reading French existentialists years ago, for a class. They tried to step back, acknowledge the absurdity they saw around them in post-war France, and carry on with their lives anyway.
What produces despicable deplorables like this? And why are there so many of them allowed to roam loose these days? It's like we have a plague of horrible bipedal skinbags with no hearts or brains who have oozed into the open. I can't even express my loathing that has turned into outright hatred of these entities... (so much for my attempts at maintaining a zen-like calm in 2025... another resolution out the door before the year is even a month old).
Me neither, Wendymae. My heart rate is soaring, and I caught myself from rage-crying yesterday while listening to great music. Little things have been making me feel murderous and teary at the same time. I don't trust that I won't start shriek-crying in public. The malice of the relentless race-baiting moron confederates needs to be permanently snuffed out with an improved and updated constitution. I don't know about everybody else, but I'm tired of constantly relitigating the fucking civil war and living in the 1800's. Don't even get me started about women's rights being taken away one cut at a time.
Cathy, make sure you use sativa gummies, more of an up than indica, which body relaxing effects isn't working for me as I find myself fighting off depression.
Christians! These scumbags can quote the Bible sufficiently enough that lemming guy-nailed-to-cross-followers ecstatically masturbate themselves in rapture to the raw hatred being preach-served to them.
It's very hard to not hate these dirtbags who bring nothing to the table but their science fiction horseshit and hate as per dear leader's orders and satisfaction. I get more pissed off along with high anxiety on a daily basis that we have to deal with this lunacy for four more years rather than Trump the Terrible's felonious fat ass being in a cell. As far as Johnson and those authoritarian "conditions" go, fuck him and the rest of the GOP. Our economy here in CA is strong enough to take care of business and we'll see how much the MAGA Howler monkeys bitch if the money flow from here comes to a screeching halt.
Counting on the largest contributor to the country’s economy, by making a mockery of their states leaders, shows the lack of intelligence in Trumps coterie of execrable wastrels Rick!!
In the summer of '23 Maui had the devastating Lahaina wildfire that killed nearly 100 people and razed most of the town. There were other fires simultaneously on Maui and on other islands.
Dry conditions, abundant fuel, and high winds were the main factors. Once a conflagration begins, the high winds will spread it very quickly and the increasing area of the fire makes it less and less containable. Global warming is surely a contributor. Even if conservative straight white men had been in leadership in LAFD, these facts and factors would be the same. It is just that conservatives have absolutely no shame in exploiting tragedy to attack their favorite targets like minorities. They have no moral boundaries at all.
Lest we forget, the high winds kept the firefighting aircraft from flying in the crucial early stages of the fires. People who say yada yada to climate change explanations can at least see the ferocious winds and understand what that means.
Understanding requires intelligence. A private drone nearly crashed a Canadian water bomber in those high winds. Plus, one of the fires may have been caused by smoldering embers from a fire set off by illegal fireworks on New Year's Day. What do these incidents have in common? Individuals who think they're entitled to be selfish assholes. The same mentality of GOP politicians and maggots.
My hubs and I have a friend who lost their home in that fire. He’s a Vietnam vet and just moved back to CA with his wife. He is finally getting a settlement on his condo there but not moving back because he is battling cancer. In this last month, his brother, also a Nam vet, passed away from cancer. Let’s talk about how Biden is taking care of the masses and how the previous governments poisoned our nurses, doctors, medics, and soldiers. Sorry for the rant but my hubs of 48.5 years is a Nam vet too and now Diaperstain is threatening to cut benefits for all veterans! I fucking hate this regime!
If Lahaina (or Gatlinburg) had been the size of LA it would have burned the same way. As I said yesterday when these fires start happening in places like Dallas or anywhere they don't have the resources (think ocean) that LA is utilizing they will burn uncontrolled as well. These republican simpletons have no idea what's coming and I hope they live long enough to see the hell on earth they are creating. Their grandchildren should never forgive them for being so ignorant.
In the case of Lahaina, the wind direction was almost directly to the sea, so the pathway of the fire was not as wide as it could have been. Even so, it was devastating. The rate of spread was so rapid that the emergency response was inadequate. High winds will do that. repubes are just assholes who make things worse with global warming denial, exploiting tragedy, politicizing issues that are not political, attacking minorities at every opportunity, and then whipping up and amplifying conspiracy theories. They are reprehensible.
I woke up to a call from my MAGA friend who decided early a.m. was a good time to call and bitch and blame Democrats in LA with every lie you just mentioned. I said look, for 50 years you have denied climate change had anything to do with human activity, fossil fuel pollution, the ozone layer, overpopulation, but NOW somehow climate is all humans fault. He complains California has environmental protection for endangered species. What these MAGA fools don't understand is that even when one little participant of an ecosystem is destroyed then the habitat you live in is not healthy and whole and doesn't function as it should. Nature can't find its balance without major adjustments when parts of it are excised. That Congress would put conditions on aid in a tragic situation like this is literally going to FIRE some more hatred and division.
Life is waayyy too short to put up with maliciously stupid early a.m. magats trying to alpha-dog you with bullshit. This moron thinks he's better and smarter than you and wants you to know it. Show him the fucking door.
I would block that number. My New Year's resolution for the last ten years has been to keep fidiots and assh0les out of my life. I recommend it to everyone.
I did the same and quickly heard from those who slipped thru. They were not replied to and were blocked/erased from my devices I don’t need it and all I missed is the same echo chamber, note what is it today and yesterday ‘the demon state’ you know they do it on repeat. It’s a technique we made up in grade school now since they rule we can accurately predict what ALL of them will lie about on any given day no matter the stupidity level (sewer) and all I hear is nothing they are also blocked by my autonomic brain cells.
Let's pretend Newsom did mismanage resources, they r saying because your governor is bad we must punish the citizens of California. Haven't they had this discalready?
They are saying that California’s non-Republican voters are to blame for electing the evil governor. And LA voters for allowing a woman with only 25 years of experience coming up through the ranks to be fire chief.
I just watched a bit of Hegseth with the committee interviewing him. Sen. Peters of Michigan finally pinned him down to having managed as many as 100 people. Peters: Not qualified to manage 3 million employed by Pentagon. Tuberville(I think it was): Well, that’s more than you, Senator. Republicans: laughter.
A Democrat would be ashamed of displaying an error of logic like that. Apples to oranges. Senators have constituents, not underlings except for staffers.
I mentioned already that I spent two hours of my life watching Hegseth be questioned. I kinda want to die right now. Tuberville was his usual articulate self. Markwayne Mullen was spellbinding.
I heard a reporter on TV mention the Fire Chief is female and a lesbian. Why that was being reported ...? So tired of maga's white straight Xian men fixation.
And of course, when prices spike as a result of the fires it will be because Gov. "Newscum's" didn't turn on the magic faucet. The only thing worse than trump spouting his idiocy is that millions actually believe him.
I focus on the Mexican bomberos, Canadian firefighters, and outfits like World Central Kitchen and Jollibee who are helping the LAFD and residents. They are the story here.
Great report on the contrast of fire/hurricane responses! C’mon maggots…this is America…we try to help people who need it..not make it more difficult or corrupted. Argh…and Merick Garland should be in jail for withholding Smith’s report! (well and duh…as should trump!)
As a northern Californian who went to HS next to Altadena, lived through the ‘17 tubbs fire, and has family in Pasadena and Santa Monica, I second your fuck these fucking assholes, but with a hot, rusty piece of someone’s destroyed house.
Ah, I'm a northern Californian too. Did you live through the Oakland Hills fire? Taught me everything I need to know about fires being pushed by high winds. You can't stop them until the winds stop. Then, and only then, you can put them out.
"they voting these— these imbeciles in office, and they continue to do it." You're right, Tubby. It's beyond my comprehension why ANYBODY voted for you.
Judd Legum did a post this morning on how landlords are gouging victims of the LA fires. This is a local version of what republicans are doing on a national scale. The landlords will give you a place to stay if you let them rob you blind. The republicans will give you money to survive if you let them rob you of your democracy - your right to elect leaders and enact policies of your choice.
So totally alienating a state that would be the fifth largest economy in the world if it was a country, is somehow going to be a win for them. Well , ok then.
Yeah, well, California only has 2 Senators -- each representing 20,000,000 people.
This compares to the great state of South Dakota, home of the Senate Majority leader, whose state has a population of less than 1,000,000 and 2 Senators -- each representing 500,000 people. For those mathematically challenged, including me, that comes out to a 40:1 ratio. So alienating Californians will have little, if any, effect on who rules this country. Like the Electoral College, the allocation of Senators is, IMHO, a crime. It MUST be rectified. The question is: HOW?? Thoughts?
kdsherpa; The politics of this cuts much deeper than how many senators California has. Alienating 40 million people for a reason like cutting off aid for a natural disaster to gain policy advantage is insane on many levels.
THE SENATE IS BROKEN even the founders saw it coming. They expected that the constitution would change with the times but we've got these "originalists" with their minority rule and here we are.
It's taxation without representation. A nation was once born out of such inequity. I for one am weary of the learned helplessness offered as a response to toxic right wing extremism. Don't say "fuck them." Actually fuck them up. Starve out the red states and export California agricultural products.
I don't understand allowing red states to be welfare states and literally no one ever lobbing that criticism their way and putting them on the defense for this. It's unbelievable. I've been irritated by this since Reagan. Mike Johnson and the who GOP crew are welfare queens.
The only fix to Senate is statehood for DC. It's not right. I would imagine the census isn't accurate for CA either due to migrant labor movements and CA is underrepresented in House.
I completely agree with you on statehood for D.C., which has been an issue for over 50 years. Your point about UNDERcounting the population in CA is something I'd never thought about before, and extremely important.
Texassistan has been doing that shit for fking decades now. As a resident of both WA and CA I would wholeheartedly welcome being a Canadian. Rethuglicans have fked up 'merikkka to the point that I don't want to live here anymore.
“I have a question for Daydrunk McPillmill: these “reforms” that California hasn’t been “willing to make” — are they in the room with us right now?” (Thanks, Jeff ☕️)
Republicans in the House and in the Senate are threatening to hold hostage disaster aid to California because Californians voted overwhelming to support Harris over liar, fraud, con, felon Trump.
In my view, Californians should not take this threatened action sitting down. California’s vibrant economy generates the largest GDP in the country; Californians and companies who operate in California, thru the federal taxes they pay, subsidize the weak performing economies of red states.
It is NOW time for Californians and for companies in California to stop paying their federal taxes (income taxes and other types of federal taxes) to the Federal Government. Instead, those taxes should be paid directly to the State of California.
💥💥💥💥JIMMY KIMMEL about the LA fires.
“Remember when hurricanes hit Florida a few months ago, and everyone, they were saying the Democrats, the far left secretly control the rain? Well, I think we finally proved we do not, OK?”
Those are the words of Jimmy Kimmel, not mine!
California is a Giver state; most of the red states are Taker states.
In 2022 (the latest year there's info for) CA paid $83B more than it received, the most by any state by a considerable margin. Next highest was NJ at about $29B
https://rockinst.org/issue-areas/fiscal-analysis/balance-of-payments-portal/
Exactly, secession to Canada would be warranted, as long as the other blue states are included!!
On the left coast we start at the border with Mexico, go up I-5 until we join Canada.
I could be reading too much into your I-5 reference, but I’d say, keep the eastern border as is. No reason to give up the Sierra or Cascades. In the PNW maybe Hwy 97.
That works too.
Secession
Succession: when secession is a success
😉 😂
Someone should remind magas of this.
I immediately "Liked" JOEL's comment because it created a Camelot moment-a brief shining fantasy when right triumphs over might. Of course what JOEL proposes isn't going to happen. Blue states have financed Red states for many years and that's the way our Democracy works in order to keep safety nets in place. But when those red-chapped a$$holes start placing demands on aid to a Blue state I get red in the face. And red does NOT look good on me.
Hear, hear! To be clear, this is in response to Joel.
Texas threatened secession , until it had to defend its borders by land and sea, they have plenty of oil but little else of any value. I begged them to follow through alas!
I’m all for leaving the red states to bask in their ignorance, but the masses that would attempt to migrate to a better “blue” life and opportunity, could create undue burdens on the blue states… revisiting slavery, civil rights insanity, and armed militias for renewed war could be one of the many consequences.
I’m in Minnesota, by the by, Canada is my neighbor…
Yes, with a reciprocity agreement on tuition fees for university students.
California has a very extensive water management system which works great. In fact after the northern CA rains from the last couple years, our reservoirs are full. But LA gets its water from other sources. And there are Santa Ana winds which have become stronger lately due to climate change atmospheric conditions. The GOP politicians like Tubby and Ronny really need to do some research about this, their lies are extremely hurtful. And Mikey should remember that the money he wants to hold onto comes mainly from CA citizens who pay our federal taxes. Maybe we should just keep it all in the state!
Yes, double yes, and triple yes!!!
I have actually written to some blue state governors- our only chance to beat these fuckers is to stop paying for their party.
The billionaires plan on stealing it all- only the sending states can stop them. They have to figure out a way to direct withholding to state cofffers and not the feds. Gotta happen.
Nancy, I am from Illinois and would love for that to happen.
Joel, my thoughts exactly!!! No more federal taxes. We have to take care of ourselves and I'm tired of paying for the red states inability to support themselves. Caskadia Now!
I’m on your side Ellen, but considering the consequences…
What "consequences," Patrick? Seriously. That we won't be the mythical "United" States anymore? We are not now. And the next four plus years aren't going to be any improvement. So what are the consequences you are so afraid of?
I'm from one of the blue "giver" states (not California), and I am fucking sick and tired of bailing out these red state ingrates, only to have this "you aren't the real America, we are" bullshit thrown back in our faces when we need help.
This blaming of California for weather events beyond their control, the stubborn rejection of climate change, the lack of any empathy for the loss of life and property, the threats of "conditions" needing to be met before federal help will even be considered....I am sick to my stomach.
I am mad as hell. Fuck these people. I have no desire to keep subsidizing them and I don't particularly care. There is nothing "united" about their attitude toward us.
EXACTLY!
I have friends and family in California, agree completely PTW!!
PTW, I live in the red state of texas and I say keep your money! I 100,000% agree with every word you say. texas repubs are starving our public schools so they can get their fucked-up vouchers. Fuck ‘em! Keep your tax money for all the good and decent things happening in your state.
Aren't you in Arizona?
You referring to me, Ellen? I'm in Washington State.
No, I was referring to Patrick.
I have been thinking this exact same thing. Although I have also had other iterations of it, such as:
1) California keeps the taxes, and income generated and secedes from the USA, becoming a small neighbor, and taking a goodly portion of the US economy with it.
2) Sending everyone who does not get money to rebuild to Florida and Texas to live as a big wave of non-immigrants to descend on these Red States and then changing voting patterns there too.
3) California negotiates with Canada to find what it would take to join it, and if they come to an agreement, put it on as a ballot initiative and go, setting up a process for other states to leave.
4) All Blue states should join California in withholding taxes to the federal government, and instead collect it and pool it and form their own economy. I believe that is around 70% of the US GDP.
Actually the University of British Columbia has apparently published some research papers on taking the West Coast as part of western Canada, called Caskadia.
Thanks Ellen, do you have a link?
I live back and forth between Illinois and Germany and would love for Illinois to join Canada. There would be much more continuity between my cultural lives.
Canadian Green Party Leader, Elizabeth May, teases President Elect Donald Trump
Copy the above on Youtube
Yes. I have seen her response to Trump's trolling.
sorry I'm an idiot about this stuff.
Ahh, not right off hand, I think Jeff published one last week.
For reading on your first point, Linda, I suggest Ecotopia, by Ernest Callenbach. An oldie but still relevant.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecotopia
Thanks Denise.
👏👏👏👏. Hadn’t read your post before posting mine. It’s time for all blue states to stop subsidizing red states
Oh, stop with this lefty edgelord shit. Unless YOU personally will help every one of us out when our wages are garnished and liens are placed on our property.
?? I think I AM personally helping out. I pay a ton of taxes.
I think Alison is saying that your idea would result in Californians paying federal taxes twice—once to the state and again through garnishments and liens to the federal government. She was asking if you would be prepared to reimburse those who end up paying their federal taxes twice.
I pay in two countries, and what I get for my Canadian taxes is how it should be here.
Lefty edge lord shit?
I don't have to tell you what the term "lefty" means.
As to edgelord (which I had to look up):
edgelord
/ˈejˌlôrd/
noun, INFORMAL
a person who affects a provocative or extreme persona, especially online (typically used of a man).
"edgelords act like contrarians in the hope that everyone will admire them as rebels"
I’m with Joel. If all blue states do it, they can’t prosecute every one of us. It will be up to the AG’s of blue states to fight it out
Joel, your recent excellent posts are so well thought out and explained. With the impending takeover & intended destruction of the US, WE. NEED people to think outside the lines. Not sure who the "lefty overlord" was intended for. You are not that.
Telling people to stop paying their taxes, as though that will accomplish anything at all other than getting those people in serious financial trouble. It's pointless grandstanding BS.
You made me LOL, again!
We don't stop paying except WHERE we pay them. We pay the full taxes to our state, and then our governor decides when it needs to be used for emergencies for which Congress will not approve funding. An insurance policy...
I don't think Joel is grandstanding, but I think he has not thought about all the implications of his idea.
No, Kathleen, we all understand the implications. After all, Joan Baez lives in California and I know I've understood what it means since the late Sixties and early Seventies. But, since Lincoln didn't let the southern states go, perhaps their strong antipathy towards the West Coast/California would allow them to let us go, or at least refuse to take our money earned so successfully.
WTF!!
My sentiment exactly.
LOL. As if you were a wage-earner and if you did own property?
Why are you assuming people don't earn wages and don't own anything?
hear, hear!
Nicely said Alison!!
Tubby can't walk and chew gum at the same time.
Tubby can't chew gum without step by step instruct--uh, make that step by step illustrations.
Seriously, if there's any way for us all to do this, I'll be first in line.
Elump has clearly said that "crashing the US economy" is one goal. They "will build it back up". WTAF? Our economy has been roaring since Biden has been POTUS.
1000 percent. They want to withhold money until we start raking our forests? Dipshits. OK, we won't send them a DIME, and let's see how the red states fare without California dough.
Dana, Elump plans to raid & ruin the US and economy. I am ready to pay CA my tax money. We gotta bring knives to the fight and not lay under our beds.
Exactly!
CA should pressure its NINE CA REPUBLICAN HOUSE REPRESENTATIVES to vote to boot Tragic Mike out of the Speakership if they put any conditions on aid to CA. To vote with Democrats to boot his pathetic, sniveling, Jesus' ass-kisser out of the job. It no longer takes one vote to move to boot him, it takes nine. Voters in CA, pressure your lawmakers and make sure you tell them how pissed you are about this BS. (No, I cannot take credit for this idea, it's already out there to find.) Make them work FOR you!
Although illegal, your point is well taken JOEL!!
Thank you, Patrick.
The "CROWN" considered the Boston Tea Party to be illegal.
The "CROWN" considered the Revolution to be illegal.
Just think, my great-great-great grandfather took up arms against the CROWN.
Indeed, JOEL, the Crown bears responsibility for many of the world’s problems. The Uber-wealthy and TPTB, continue the Robber Barron ways here, in a rebirth gilded age… same old have, have nots problem. Your point is still well taken!!
Remember when the recent hurricanes hit Florida and flattened entire neighborhoods, and Biden and the Dems refused aid and blamed it on the shitty leaders Floridians elected? No, neither do I. Fuck every single one of these fucking fucks!
And we won’t even mention the devastation Helene did further on in SC, NC, TN and VA and all the maganuts screaming and hollering about FEMA not being there to help. Hell, even the Representatives(mostly republican)had to come into their districts to try to counter all the conspiracy BS. They broke it then found it was damn hard to try and glue back together. Idiots!
FEMA staff had to back off certain areas due to maga people confronting them in a threatening manner. I think it was in NC. F maga. At the same time, they were bitching about "no help!". Who threatens FEMA post-disaster. Fuck them.
MAGA is a fucking virus that needs to be eradicated!
How do you stamp out stupidity? It just keeps on breeding, year after year.
Right On Stephanie!!
Tubes is that guy that kept the rope in the back of his Ford to be ready for the lynching. Drunkin’ Ronny woulda brought the beers. That these guys and their fellow thuggish buffoons have the gall to appear in public, let alone to shout these vile inanities, is a shonda on the nation. Etcetera, etcetera.
It’s all sickening racist misogynist bigotry and theater and I fucking hate every execrable minute of it. Jeez, how’re we gonna make it?
I find it inspiring to think about the shit that black Americans went through from 1877 to 1954 (Brown versus the Board of Education). They had to face worse than we will probably ever have to face. They did it one day at a time. We have far more tools to resist than they ever did.
Black and brown folks have had to scratch and crawl their way out of the holes that white people put all of them in. Headways have been made because after building America, the masses have never given up. NEVER
Tuberville : "woke inner city". Inner city being dog whistle for Black.
Important. Glad you said it.
“We” versus “they”?? Tsk tsk…
The African Americans who face those challenges are no longer alive. When one compares the present moment to the past, how can you do it without saying “we” and "they?" What is the better way to compare the past and the present?
I just spent two hours of my life watching the Hegseth asshole being questioned. Besides wanting to die now, I have to say that Tuberville can't form a complete sentence. He is even dumber live.
Boy, are you a glutton for punishment. Is he dumber than T? He can't form a complete sentence either.
Markwayne Mullen was dumber than Tuberville. It could have been a tie. I dunno, I am still shaking.
Poor Hannah. I love you.
❤️ thanks.
Do you live here in the Bay Area? East Bay???
Evenly matched?
Hannah, I couldn't suffer watching the inquisition because I loathe that young man. Instead, I read TPM in live posts from Kate Riga. Lastly, very few rightwing arselings can complete a meaningful thought, yet a coherent sentence.
I hadn't heard Tuberville or Markwayne Mullen live before. Hegseth was such an asshole, I think I best take blood pressure meds now.
You gotta take care of your health...
I never watch them. I didn't know how awful they are in real life. Thanks I will be fine soon.
Hogsbreath (I call him that because he is swine) is even worse than you think, you should read investigative reporter Jane Mayer's deep dive into him. He bankrupted two right wing charities, (when the Koch brother fires you, you really suck!) by stealing the petty cash and ran up a huge bar tab on the business cards.
i had (half-heartedly) wanted to see his testimony (is that the right word?). by the end, did you sense the room was going to go with him or nay. I did see a brief clip where Tammy Duckworth asked him for 3 countries that were in ASEAN. He answered in a smug way and she shot him down saying, none of the 3 were part of it and he should research more before coming in front of them. Thanks for doing this for me.
Wow. There are so much better, less masochistic ways to spend your time. Seriously, for your own mental health, why not avoid that BS? If you feel you have to follow the process, lots of pundits, including Jeff, will be publishing summaries.
It's the first time I have watched these people live. I really didn't expect such stupidity right out loud. Lesson learned. I don't have the heart for it.
Yes, Republican government at work. You can't make this stuff up.
He is an embarrassment to the decent people of Alabama, who are outnumbered by christo-facists, who had to be shamed, into not voting for a pedophile (Roy Moore) But were happy the next time to vote for a CTE victim who didn't even know what the three divisions of Gov't were.
Hannah, being so drunk at work that others have to carry you out. To lead our military? Another rapist who paid a woman off? Something permanent needs to protect us on Earth 1 from the crazy.
Don't forget the Christer Dominionist aspect of the MAGA right. The "faithful" followers of churches/governments that tell them "god" approves of their hateful and bigoted cruelty toward anyone who is not white, male, allegedly straight, and "chrisitian". I really don't know how we are going to make it. Living the absurd life? Not easy, but I am not seeing many other choices here.
We will make it. It’s gonna be rough and awful, but we will prevail because we HAVE TO!
Let’s hope we still have a democracy in four years.
Really good point about living the absurd, counterlife. Reminds me of reading French existentialists years ago, for a class. They tried to step back, acknowledge the absurdity they saw around them in post-war France, and carry on with their lives anyway.
I just pulled my copy of Camus' The Myth of Sysiphus off the shelf. Time for a re-read.
It's journalism malpractice to give Tuberville a microphone.
Indeed, his brain has been so systematically unassembled by crushing blows to the head he’s essentially a fucking vegetable!
Who says he's not already?
E u w now I blow my nose, it works so did the spitting but can we be over with him now?
That mental picture now is stuck, why me, why did you do that to me? I thought we were friends, I guess reality bites I have to spit now.
I think he already is, his tongue is glued to tangeranus' sphincter.
Eeew. Now I have that image stuck in my brain.
Nice Lisa, as it’s his own!!
What produces despicable deplorables like this? And why are there so many of them allowed to roam loose these days? It's like we have a plague of horrible bipedal skinbags with no hearts or brains who have oozed into the open. I can't even express my loathing that has turned into outright hatred of these entities... (so much for my attempts at maintaining a zen-like calm in 2025... another resolution out the door before the year is even a month old).
I don't know how I'm gonna make it through the first month, let alone 4 years of this crap.
Me neither, Wendymae. My heart rate is soaring, and I caught myself from rage-crying yesterday while listening to great music. Little things have been making me feel murderous and teary at the same time. I don't trust that I won't start shriek-crying in public. The malice of the relentless race-baiting moron confederates needs to be permanently snuffed out with an improved and updated constitution. I don't know about everybody else, but I'm tired of constantly relitigating the fucking civil war and living in the 1800's. Don't even get me started about women's rights being taken away one cut at a time.
Fucking racist bigot motherfuckers!
I’m, riding the same train Wendy/D, getting the F off when it leaves the country!!
DK, my cannabis gummies didn't work for the last 2 days because of that goddamn trump. Usually they work great.
Cathy, make sure you use sativa gummies, more of an up than indica, which body relaxing effects isn't working for me as I find myself fighting off depression.
Christians! These scumbags can quote the Bible sufficiently enough that lemming guy-nailed-to-cross-followers ecstatically masturbate themselves in rapture to the raw hatred being preach-served to them.
They're actually CINOs - Christians in name only.
You win "Comment of the Day."
You are too kind. Thx.
They are heavy into Martyrbation as well, whining about how "oppressed" they are when they can't spread their hate.
Well said D!!
Thank you, Crom.
It's very hard to not hate these dirtbags who bring nothing to the table but their science fiction horseshit and hate as per dear leader's orders and satisfaction. I get more pissed off along with high anxiety on a daily basis that we have to deal with this lunacy for four more years rather than Trump the Terrible's felonious fat ass being in a cell. As far as Johnson and those authoritarian "conditions" go, fuck him and the rest of the GOP. Our economy here in CA is strong enough to take care of business and we'll see how much the MAGA Howler monkeys bitch if the money flow from here comes to a screeching halt.
Counting on the largest contributor to the country’s economy, by making a mockery of their states leaders, shows the lack of intelligence in Trumps coterie of execrable wastrels Rick!!
Like
You're definitely not alone. Between this new incoming administration, the fires and these non-stop winds, it's very difficult not to be freaking out.
No consequences for any of them
In the summer of '23 Maui had the devastating Lahaina wildfire that killed nearly 100 people and razed most of the town. There were other fires simultaneously on Maui and on other islands.
Dry conditions, abundant fuel, and high winds were the main factors. Once a conflagration begins, the high winds will spread it very quickly and the increasing area of the fire makes it less and less containable. Global warming is surely a contributor. Even if conservative straight white men had been in leadership in LAFD, these facts and factors would be the same. It is just that conservatives have absolutely no shame in exploiting tragedy to attack their favorite targets like minorities. They have no moral boundaries at all.
True, they have no moral boundaries at all.
Lest we forget, the high winds kept the firefighting aircraft from flying in the crucial early stages of the fires. People who say yada yada to climate change explanations can at least see the ferocious winds and understand what that means.
Understanding requires intelligence. A private drone nearly crashed a Canadian water bomber in those high winds. Plus, one of the fires may have been caused by smoldering embers from a fire set off by illegal fireworks on New Year's Day. What do these incidents have in common? Individuals who think they're entitled to be selfish assholes. The same mentality of GOP politicians and maggots.
Selfishness, over and over.
Sadly, half of these connards, praying to the old man in the sky who watches over them, an apocryphal ending Carol!!
My hubs and I have a friend who lost their home in that fire. He’s a Vietnam vet and just moved back to CA with his wife. He is finally getting a settlement on his condo there but not moving back because he is battling cancer. In this last month, his brother, also a Nam vet, passed away from cancer. Let’s talk about how Biden is taking care of the masses and how the previous governments poisoned our nurses, doctors, medics, and soldiers. Sorry for the rant but my hubs of 48.5 years is a Nam vet too and now Diaperstain is threatening to cut benefits for all veterans! I fucking hate this regime!
If Lahaina (or Gatlinburg) had been the size of LA it would have burned the same way. As I said yesterday when these fires start happening in places like Dallas or anywhere they don't have the resources (think ocean) that LA is utilizing they will burn uncontrolled as well. These republican simpletons have no idea what's coming and I hope they live long enough to see the hell on earth they are creating. Their grandchildren should never forgive them for being so ignorant.
In the case of Lahaina, the wind direction was almost directly to the sea, so the pathway of the fire was not as wide as it could have been. Even so, it was devastating. The rate of spread was so rapid that the emergency response was inadequate. High winds will do that. repubes are just assholes who make things worse with global warming denial, exploiting tragedy, politicizing issues that are not political, attacking minorities at every opportunity, and then whipping up and amplifying conspiracy theories. They are reprehensible.
Trumps return is hell on earth enough for most of us Jayme, point well taken!!
I won’t even speak about it, I had been there and it was a precious and quant.
it is so sad. Anyway, the banyan tree has survived and that gives us hope.
👆👆👆🎯
I woke up to a call from my MAGA friend who decided early a.m. was a good time to call and bitch and blame Democrats in LA with every lie you just mentioned. I said look, for 50 years you have denied climate change had anything to do with human activity, fossil fuel pollution, the ozone layer, overpopulation, but NOW somehow climate is all humans fault. He complains California has environmental protection for endangered species. What these MAGA fools don't understand is that even when one little participant of an ecosystem is destroyed then the habitat you live in is not healthy and whole and doesn't function as it should. Nature can't find its balance without major adjustments when parts of it are excised. That Congress would put conditions on aid in a tragic situation like this is literally going to FIRE some more hatred and division.
I would have to lose that MAGA friend of yours. (“See ya, pal!”)
when my trumpy friend came calling shortly after the election I didn't let her in
Cathy, I have cut my Maga sister out of my will and won't have anything to do with her.
Good girl!
that's really tough. My brothers (3) all voted for Trump. One of them married an immigrant. So our relationship has become superficial and shallow.
So hard to lose a friend of 50 years over this insanity. However, I am putting up the wall of resistance just to keep my blood pressure stable!
Life is waayyy too short to put up with maliciously stupid early a.m. magats trying to alpha-dog you with bullshit. This moron thinks he's better and smarter than you and wants you to know it. Show him the fucking door.
I would block that number. My New Year's resolution for the last ten years has been to keep fidiots and assh0les out of my life. I recommend it to everyone.
Excellent idea Mary, let the unctuous derps huddle together with tosspots that share their common ignorance!!
I did the same and quickly heard from those who slipped thru. They were not replied to and were blocked/erased from my devices I don’t need it and all I missed is the same echo chamber, note what is it today and yesterday ‘the demon state’ you know they do it on repeat. It’s a technique we made up in grade school now since they rule we can accurately predict what ALL of them will lie about on any given day no matter the stupidity level (sewer) and all I hear is nothing they are also blocked by my autonomic brain cells.
Smart man, there is no benefit to putting up with their lies and incredibly stupid propaganda.
It's only human's fault in blue states.
Apparently. Maybe God was punishing blue states for attempting to raise up the downtrodden and protect the persecuted.
Let's pretend Newsom did mismanage resources, they r saying because your governor is bad we must punish the citizens of California. Haven't they had this discalready?
see, this is why I love the commenters. you all keep making good points that I didn't think of
The orange egomaniac is incapable of seeing anything beyond the end of his putter.
I bet you dollars to donuts that he can’t see his zeezee.
I think that's called an "innie"
Is there a reason we can't say penis or dick.
Hannah, you can write whatever suits your fancy. I’m sure if there’s an ethics code on this substack, we would have heard about it by now.
Hannah, they're trying to be polite so 10 year olds can read it.
Hell, I am a precocious 3 year old. I say fuck at least 30 times a day.
When my mother was in her 70s, fuck was her favorite word. I think she got it from my vocabulary.
❤️
Sometimes it's just funnier to use euphemism. Genital lymphedema doesn't have the same effect.
Can the OranginaChimpanzia even see the end of his putzer?
They are saying that California’s non-Republican voters are to blame for electing the evil governor. And LA voters for allowing a woman with only 25 years of experience coming up through the ranks to be fire chief.
But on the other hand the MAGA GOP is cheering on a completely unqualified drunk to be Secretary of Defense. What could possibly go wrong?
I just watched a bit of Hegseth with the committee interviewing him. Sen. Peters of Michigan finally pinned him down to having managed as many as 100 people. Peters: Not qualified to manage 3 million employed by Pentagon. Tuberville(I think it was): Well, that’s more than you, Senator. Republicans: laughter.
A Democrat would be ashamed of displaying an error of logic like that. Apples to oranges. Senators have constituents, not underlings except for staffers.
I mentioned already that I spent two hours of my life watching Hegseth be questioned. I kinda want to die right now. Tuberville was his usual articulate self. Markwayne Mullen was spellbinding.
His daddy gave him his successful plumbing company, or we would never have heard of him.
I agree about Mullin, and as much of the hearing as a could see. OMG, OMG, OMG!
An incompetent, white Nationalist, who bankrupted two wingnut charities.
Maybe she'd be qualified if she wasn’t a lesbian. Nah, probably not. Misogynist asshats.
they're staying loyal to his script.
I heard a reporter on TV mention the Fire Chief is female and a lesbian. Why that was being reported ...? So tired of maga's white straight Xian men fixation.
And of course, when prices spike as a result of the fires it will be because Gov. "Newscum's" didn't turn on the magic faucet. The only thing worse than trump spouting his idiocy is that millions actually believe him.
There is a large minority of the American Polity who gleefully embrace a bizarro world approach to reality... They may doom all of us.
May….May….they fucking HAVE doomed us. Look who they elected as president. We ARE fucking doomed.
I focus on the Mexican bomberos, Canadian firefighters, and outfits like World Central Kitchen and Jollibee who are helping the LAFD and residents. They are the story here.
Fuck the Republicans.
You win the comment section, vorpal.
Great report on the contrast of fire/hurricane responses! C’mon maggots…this is America…we try to help people who need it..not make it more difficult or corrupted. Argh…and Merick Garland should be in jail for withholding Smith’s report! (well and duh…as should trump!)
Trump first, Barr who tried hard to kill the investigation into 1-6 next… then you can pick out any of his coterie of miscreants Tess!
That’s one large piece of history not revealed in Smiths report!!
As a Northern California, I don't have anything else to say except fuck these fucking assholes.
As a northern Californian who went to HS next to Altadena, lived through the ‘17 tubbs fire, and has family in Pasadena and Santa Monica, I second your fuck these fucking assholes, but with a hot, rusty piece of someone’s destroyed house.
Ah, I'm a northern Californian too. Did you live through the Oakland Hills fire? Taught me everything I need to know about fires being pushed by high winds. You can't stop them until the winds stop. Then, and only then, you can put them out.
Please keep informing the idiots of that.
You said it well Alison!!
"they voting these— these imbeciles in office, and they continue to do it." You're right, Tubby. It's beyond my comprehension why ANYBODY voted for you.
Tubby should be jailed for murdering irony.
Not to mention murdering the English language.
LOL!
It’s freaking Alabama! Most of the white people are just like Tubbs
GAG! And yet -- that's where Joyce Vance lives. At least one redeeming feature.
And I still don't know how she survives it!
Judd Legum did a post this morning on how landlords are gouging victims of the LA fires. This is a local version of what republicans are doing on a national scale. The landlords will give you a place to stay if you let them rob you blind. The republicans will give you money to survive if you let them rob you of your democracy - your right to elect leaders and enact policies of your choice.
So totally alienating a state that would be the fifth largest economy in the world if it was a country, is somehow going to be a win for them. Well , ok then.
Yeah, well, California only has 2 Senators -- each representing 20,000,000 people.
This compares to the great state of South Dakota, home of the Senate Majority leader, whose state has a population of less than 1,000,000 and 2 Senators -- each representing 500,000 people. For those mathematically challenged, including me, that comes out to a 40:1 ratio. So alienating Californians will have little, if any, effect on who rules this country. Like the Electoral College, the allocation of Senators is, IMHO, a crime. It MUST be rectified. The question is: HOW?? Thoughts?
All of this! The US Senate is inherently undemocratic. We are currently being ruled by a literal confederacy of idiots.
kdsherpa; The politics of this cuts much deeper than how many senators California has. Alienating 40 million people for a reason like cutting off aid for a natural disaster to gain policy advantage is insane on many levels.
THE SENATE IS BROKEN even the founders saw it coming. They expected that the constitution would change with the times but we've got these "originalists" with their minority rule and here we are.
Exactly
They are ‘originalists’ when it serves their purpose.
They use it for purposes of garbage/treason.
It's taxation without representation. A nation was once born out of such inequity. I for one am weary of the learned helplessness offered as a response to toxic right wing extremism. Don't say "fuck them." Actually fuck them up. Starve out the red states and export California agricultural products.
SHARON, YOU NAILED IT. SPOT ON! THANK YOU!
I don't understand allowing red states to be welfare states and literally no one ever lobbing that criticism their way and putting them on the defense for this. It's unbelievable. I've been irritated by this since Reagan. Mike Johnson and the who GOP crew are welfare queens.
California should refuse to pay out money to the government untill they get 2 more Senators.
This is why the Senate is a failing body
The only fix to Senate is statehood for DC. It's not right. I would imagine the census isn't accurate for CA either due to migrant labor movements and CA is underrepresented in House.
I completely agree with you on statehood for D.C., which has been an issue for over 50 years. Your point about UNDERcounting the population in CA is something I'd never thought about before, and extremely important.
Exactly David, the ignorance of these people is astounding!!
Texassistan has been doing that shit for fking decades now. As a resident of both WA and CA I would wholeheartedly welcome being a Canadian. Rethuglicans have fked up 'merikkka to the point that I don't want to live here anymore.
Or join Canada. Wow, with one State, 🇨🇦 would double its size.
I keep saying, let's start at the border with Mexico go up I-5 until we reach BC. There. I fixed the left side.
Hannah, you're so gifted!
Oregon and Washington too.
“I have a question for Daydrunk McPillmill: these “reforms” that California hasn’t been “willing to make” — are they in the room with us right now?” (Thanks, Jeff ☕️)