I just picked up a Ford Escape plug in hybrid (big enough for my father+wheelchair).

Surprisingly reasonable compared to the Honda and Toyota closest options, and so far it seems to be working quite well. I can get to and from work on battery, with a few miles of slack and it fully recharges on a standard outlet in 12 hours. Gasoline motor works when needed, and still gets very good milage.

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Tuesday, January 06, 2026 - 03:56 pm: Edit

California also has deliberate outages of power in certain areas when the demand becomes too high.

Given their reticence on building new electric power plants, I can see this problem getting worse.

While it is true that they're putting in solar cells in as many places as they can, those things have a limited lifespan and if the State is relying on them, they'll end up with a worse crisis when those things reach the end of their functional lifespan.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, January 06, 2026 - 04:04 pm: Edit

Everything has a functional lifecycle: nuclear, coal-burning, gas-burning, wood-burning. Not just the fuel, but the machinery that is running, heating/cooling, moving, processing electrons.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, January 13, 2026 - 08:29 am: Edit

California seems determined to destroy itself.

New laws forced 473 gas stations to close on 1 Jan as the could not afford the requirement to upgrade their storage tanks or afford the $15,000 per day fines. Various programs might have paid some of the cost but it takes years to get approval.

About 70,000 independent owners-operator truck drivers who have tiny one-truck companies were forced out of business when the truck industry groups abandoned their court battle against new California laws that declared them to be employees not contractors. This meant that freight lines will not hire them because those freight lines would instantly and automatically become liable for the truck drivers’ insurance, maintenance, overtime, and other costs. Freight lines have been bluntly telling the independent truckers who have worked for them for decades to sell their homes and move to Arizona or Texas. And non-California truck who delivers freight into California cannot get a load to take out of the state because they would become employees of the freight lines, so the freight lines won’t contract freight to them.

Major airlines are threatening to cut the number of flights into and out of California due to skyrocketing fuel costs, saying they lose money on every flight.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Tuesday, January 13, 2026 - 02:47 pm: Edit

Google to the rescue!

Quote:"every nation has the government it deserves" suggests that the quality of a nation's government is a reflection of the people's collective values, choices, and civic engagement.
Key Interpretations
The meaning of the quote generally falls into a few key interpretations:
Collective Responsibility: In a democracy, citizens are responsible for the leaders they elect (or re-elect). If citizens are disengaged, ignorant, or fail to participate (e.g., by not voting or not staying informed), they inherently accept the consequences of the resulting leadership.

In this case, it very well may be that the voting public in California intended to have this government.

The reciprocal position, is that California has become so corrupt, that the ruling class simple steals enough votes to win any election.

Either way, it has created a mess.

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Tuesday, January 13, 2026 - 05:43 pm: Edit

I am a lifetime Californian. I also desperately want to leave. Unfortunately, I am also my father's caregiver and all his health infrastructure is here, so I'm stuck...

That being said, I could, in theory, explain exactly what's wrong with this place. Unfortunately, such an explanation would see me fed to alligators in VERY short order.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, January 14, 2026 - 12:41 am: Edit

Jeff, email it to me.

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Wednesday, January 14, 2026 - 08:11 am: Edit

The death knell for California has been sounded before, and it's always been wrong.

I say lets see how it comes out. CA is the wealthiest state per capita and is a net giver to the Feds. So something there must be working.

I agree CA has its issues, but why should those elsewhere care; we are in America so we have "Freedom to Associate" & "Self Govern" as we choose?

I hear these pronouncements of doom and remember when the ending of leaded gas was the end of cars, integrating schools was going to be a disaster (busing was a huge thing here); every bar in KY would go out of business if closing time wasn't kept at 4 am, every restaurant would go out of business if smoking wasn't allowed inside, we'd have to drive micro cars (like the Yugo) if mpg standards got more restrictive...

Well none of those pronouncements came to pass. I trust in the ability of Americans to solve problems and keep going even better. It's kind of our thing, to be honest...

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, January 14, 2026 - 09:50 am: Edit

California has been rated the worst state for business for ten years in a row.

The current self-inflicted disaster is the worst in history.

By Chuck Strong (Raider) on Wednesday, January 14, 2026 - 10:54 pm: Edit

Wait until CA imposes their "one-time" wealth tax...because there is no such thing like one-time taxes...

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, January 15, 2026 - 03:33 am: Edit

They would not need to raise taxes if they eliminated the graft, fraud, and illegal immigrants getting checks illegally.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Thursday, January 15, 2026 - 08:36 am: Edit

As with so many other things, it comes down to who is doing the rankings, and what factors they use for those rankings.

Forbes' "Best States for Business" report puts California at #31 (#47 Business Costs, #25 Labor Supply, #40 Regulatory Environment, #1 Economic Climate, #10 Growth Prospects, #27 Quality of Life).

ChiefExecutive.net's "Best and Worst States for Business" report puts California at #50 (they do not provide a categorical breakdown).

US News & World Report's "Best States for Business" report puts California at #37 (#1 Business Environment, #33 Economy, #27 Business Creation Rate, #19 Top Company Headquarters, #2 Venture Capital, #1 Patent Creation Rate, #47 Low Tax Burden).

CNBC's "America's Top States for Business" report puts California at #22 (#12 Economy, #25 Infrastructure, #20 Workforce, #40 Cost of Doing Business, #48 Business Friendliness, #32 Quality of Life, #1 Technology & Innovation).

You get the idea. There's a lot of attempts to quantify states for best/worst for business, and they all differ.

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Thursday, January 15, 2026 - 08:43 am: Edit

Billionaires per million population (Wyoming is kicking butt!):
DC 16.3
Wyoming 10.3
New York 6.92
Nevada 5.30
California 4.78
Connecticut 3.58
Montana 3.51
Florida 3.44
Massachusetts 3.15

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_the_number_of_billionaires

And for good measure a list of Billionaire Wyomingites: About half inherited and half self made...

-John Mars: Mars, Inc. (Candy & Pet Food)
-Christy Walton: Walmart heir
-Joe Ricketts & Family: TD Ameritrade (Finance)
-B. Wayne Hughes Jr.: Public Storage (Storage Facilities)
-Amy Wyss: Medical equipment heiress/mogul
-Dan Starks: Founder of National Museum of Military Vehicles
-Timothy Mellon: Billionaire with defense industry ties, known for political donations

By Lawrence Bergen (Lar) on Thursday, January 15, 2026 - 06:46 pm: Edit

I mean if you look at the lines around In and Out Burger you would say that CA is in the top 10. But then you just have to look down the main street of many bay area cities to realize, no something does not compute.

Notice I said look and not walk down. (I mean you could but you will need your brown shoes for that stroll.)

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, January 15, 2026 - 07:35 pm: Edit

Apple is shifting 45,000 workers from California to Texas over the next few years. Everyone is being offered financial help to move or a severance package. Newsome is really in a panic.

By Carl-Magnus Carlsson (Hardcore) on Thursday, January 15, 2026 - 10:08 pm: Edit

That could be good for CA as it would leave room for new and growing companies, and maybe also for Texas.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, January 15, 2026 - 11:02 pm: Edit

New and growing companies are already in Texas. It's not even remotely good for California to lose the nation's biggest economic engine.

By Eddie E Crutchfield (Librarian101) on Friday, January 16, 2026 - 12:36 am: Edit

The notes actually said 5000 to the 1 location, in Texas the other tw locations did not mention any numbers, but the Apple expansion, said they would only be hiring about 20000 over the next 4 years. The site mentioned that the 5000 people location site would have room for about 15000, but no plans were mentioned. None of the expansion plans listed 45000 to Texas, the 600 billion dollar expansion plan listed 20 states. The only number with 45 in it was that the 600 billion dollar might creat 450000 jobs in the US

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, January 16, 2026 - 01:58 am: Edit

The numbers I saw on YouTube showed it adding up to 45,000 over several years. Basically their entire work force other than retail stores.

By Lawrence Bergen (Lar) on Friday, January 16, 2026 - 10:06 am: Edit

Cheveron relocated several departments worth of folks back to Texas over the past 10 years. This was a campus adjacent to where I work of 5000 workers, and a second location of about 2000. Not all moved but many did.

The campus sat idle for 3 years but is now filled with a different company. The second location was torn down as part of a huge construction project and is part of a huge retail outdoor mall complex that generates millions of dollars in revenues taxes and at least the same number of jobs.

San Jose is pushing to build a mega data center adjacent to the Silicon Valley players. They are pushing the utility company to double electric capability into the city to do so.

By Eddie E Crutchfield (Librarian101) on Friday, January 16, 2026 - 10:12 am: Edit

They are planning a Mega Data center here in Michigan just outside Detroit, in addition some of that Apple money is coming here also, not sure of the amount yet.

By Lawrence Bergen (Lar) on Friday, January 16, 2026 - 03:43 pm: Edit

Eddie do you know Aaron Adams who is on the F&E Facebook site?

By Eddie E Crutchfield (Librarian101) on Friday, January 16, 2026 - 06:14 pm: Edit

Lar no

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, January 24, 2026 - 01:33 am: Edit

ICE child bait hoax

ICE did not kidnap a five year old boy to use him as bait to trick the boy’s father into an arrest trap.

The truth
ICE went to arrest an illegal alien with a deportation order. Confronted, the man ran while abandoning his five year old son. As it was freezing and the boy could hardly be abandoned to freeze to death, they took the boy to lunch while other agents tracked and arrested the father. The two were reunited in the local detention center and scheduled for deportation. The man claimed he entered through the previous administration’s program, but there is no court record of such entry permit. A judge had issued a deportation and arrest order. Lots of things claimed by his lawyer, friends, and activists have been found to be false.

NO DISCUSSION OF THIS EVENT IS ALLOWED. DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Saturday, January 24, 2026 - 05:26 pm: Edit

ICE agents shot and killed another U.S. citizen in Minneapolis today: Alex Pretti, 37, a registered nurse working in the intensive care unit at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System.

ICE claimed that he was approaching agents with a handgun. Indeed, they claimed he was approaching them specifically with a Sig Sauer P320 9mm semi-automatic handgun.

He was not. He was holding a cell phone, which looks nothing like a handgun, let alone anything as specific as a P320. ICE sprayed him repeatedly with chemical agents, tackled him to the ground, and shot him at point-blank range.

We know this because there's clear video of the event, which happened in clear daylight this morning.

Pres. Trump has pre-emptively declared Mr. Pretti a "domestic terrorist".