The Bay Area's always good for some giggles, though it's generally the politicians who are doing the giggling. Taxpayers? Not so much. But hey, they keep electing them....
Governor Moonbeam's signature was barely dry on the document authorizing initial construction of California's $68 billion high-speed rail line when it occurred to some San Franciscans that they're about to be taken for a ride - to the cleaners. Politicians have revealed that Bay Area residents will need to pony up $650 million in toll hikes and new San Francisco taxes:
That's how much will be needed to help pay for a tunnel to connect the Transbay Terminal to the Caltrain station at Fourth and King streets.
As it turns out, none of the $2.5 billion in tunnel costs were included as part of the narrowly approved high-speed-rail deal.
It's up to the locals to make the tunnel happen. If they don't, the $68 billion high-speed-rail line from Los Angeles will dead-end several blocks from downtown proper.
Even better, the folks running BART need that cash to extend lines into San Jose, so there's going to be some infighting. Just the way things are done in the Portland area!
Meanwhile, Feinstein has rushed to politicize the Aurora shootings; totally ignoring the bombs scattered around the perp's apartment. By contrast, the Democrat governor of Colorado stated unequivocally that this isn't about gun control; this is about a madman bent on killing and maiming - just look at what he left in his apartment.
The governor gets it; Feinstein, predictably, doesn't.
Referring to the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle used by Jim Holmes to murder 12 people and injure many more, she portrays the popular sporting rifle as nothing but an instrument of murder and mayhem. ”I have no problem with people being licensed and buying a firearm. But these are weapons that you are only going to be using to kill peoplein close combat,” said Feinstein. [emphasis added]
The AR designator stands for “Armalite Rifle” not assault rifle as the anti-gun liberals would have you believe. In fact, because it’s an AR-15 and not an M-16, it is not an automatic or select-fire weapon that would be used by troops in an assault. Instead, it’s a venerable sporting rifle used in competitions such as 3-gun, NRA high-power rifle (service rifle) and hunting.
What she and the other nutballs don't seem to get is that gun restrictions don't actually do a lot of good, because something has happened during the past 40 years or so. Used to be, you could order guns from the Sears catalog. There were no background checks or waiting periods - but the shootings at Columbine, Texas A&M, Virginia Tech, Springfield, Oregon, and now Aurora have all been carried out since restrictions were implemented.
And as they all demonstrate: gun bans kill people.
