During a photo-op recently at a stretch of Union Pacific railroad tracks in Los Angeles, Gov. Gavin Newsom expressed shock at the accumulated garbage: busted-open cargo containers, looted packages, cardboard boxes, and acres of trash. "I'm asking myself, what the hell is going on? We look like a third-world country," he said.
*****
I always knew California was a trashed out shithole but didn't realize just how much so until I left.
As soon as I crossed into Arizona, I started noticing the difference - no trash in the interstate median, no graffiti, and people were much friendlier.
No one to my knowledge has ever called him the sharpest tool in the shed. That comment proves he’s not!
ReplyDelete"I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!"
ReplyDeleteYeah, I noticed that same thing on a road trip when I crossed from New Mexico into Texas.
ReplyDeleteWhere New Mexico (at least the city I was in) had a shabby and dilapidated feel to it, in Texas, the houses were painted and the street was clean. It appeared that those Texans took pride in their city.
The difference was almost immediate.
NM, shittiest roads in the SW.
DeleteCC
I really doubt Jed Clampet would move to California these days.
ReplyDeleteDaryl
This also highlights the stovepiped nature of our media. If you don't watch the right station you miss out. It makes me wonder what my stations are obscuring.
ReplyDeleteGovernment workers and politicians suck dick.
ReplyDeleteIt's the one thing they'll take a mask off for, besides photo-ops, speeches, interviews, exclusive dinners at expensive restaurants,....
DeleteYep. Welcome to fucking Bangladesh.
ReplyDeleteTruly clueless is the operative word here. . .
ReplyDeleteI am old enough to see Michigan from 2 points of view. One from before we had a bottle deposit, and the other after we had the bottle deposit. The difference is shocking. Before the bottle deposit, the sides of major roads and highways were really horrific with bottles, cans, and the other detritus that lined both sides of the road, that drivers just threw out, without a thought.
ReplyDeleteNow, since we have the bottle deposit, it really is noticeable, that our roads are much cleaner. The roads are shit, and you can't be sure that your care won't be torn up after you make a trip, but at least you don't see the trash that was once just normal.
Of course, the state promised that all the money from the bottle deposit would go to fixing the roads. I am certain that it did. But just like the lottery money, that they got passed with the promise that it would all be used for education, only to then cut the same amount of money from the general fund, so that there was no net gain, but they had more money to spend on their pet projects.
And the government continues to come back with their hands out, time and again, and then scream that the people don't care about kids, or roads, or the environment, when we vote it down. Here in Michigan, we voted down a gasoline tax increase, and next spring the politicians just went ahead and raised it anyway. You can bet that cost them, come election time.
They did the same thing in WA state with the lottery funds, was supposed to be dedicated to education, but they took out the same, if not more, $$ that had been going to education.
DeleteI think they also change how our hunting and fishing license fees are allocated. Used to go to those budgets but now it is part of the "general fund" that they use for what they want, not what the deplorables want.
The people try to pass laws limiting the amount of money the state gets, but they fail to realize when those do pass, the GOV only cuts the budgets of things they don't care about.
I try to tell people the only way to resolve is true and honest audits.
Sounds like Maryland's roadsides - especially at ramps on and off the Beltway - looks just like those photos of that California rail yard. Third World - we're already there.
ReplyDeleteI've never felt as comfortable as I now do in Arizona. Should have left oregon 20 years ago.
ReplyDelete"Oh, this is MY state? Whatever."
ReplyDelete