Will California’s high-speed rail line be vulnerable to drone-based jihad?

Assuming that they can get their hands on $100 billion (or maybe $200 billion, or maybe $300 billion) in federal tax dollars, Californians will eventually have a high-speed rail line (the groundbreaking ceremony was 10.5 years ago). In light of recent drone attacks within Russia and Iran, the question for today is whether the fancy new train will be a sitting duck for jihadis. From the Wall Street Journal:

From the BBC:

Maybe anti-drone defense systems could be built around U.S. airports and an airplane should be safe from low-tech attack at 30,000′, but how would a 500-mile rail line conceivably be secured? California has already experienced jihad from Syed Rizwan Farook, born to immigrants from Pakistan, and Tashfeen Malik, a legal immigrant from Pakistan (they killed 14 of their neighbors/coworkers with guns and had hoped to kill more, but their pipe bombs failed to explode). By the time the high-speed rail is finally ready presumably the knowledge of how to build suicide drones will be far more widespread. A drone can fly from a few miles away, park itself on the ground between the rails a few minutes before the train is due, and detonate when its camera sees the train rolling over it, thus derailing the train. All of this can be fully automated with no need for radio communication back to an operator. The tracks don’t move so the lat/long of the landing spot can be preprogrammed. Nothing drives over these tracks except high-speed trains and, therefore, the “detect a train” logic need not be sophisticated.

(Of course, I continue to be mystified as to how Californians can simultaneously say (a) they hate inequality, and (b) they want all of this federal money rather than seeing it spent in poorer-than-average states. Why don’t they want federal money spent in ways that reduce inequality?)

Maybe the answer will be a grid of sensor-equipped poles arranged along the entire route? They can use radar and optical cameras to look for aerial drones and also drones that crawl over the ground. But given that a drone can pop up from a shipping crate just a minute before a train is due and land 30 seconds before a train is due to pass, how can surveillance alone be effective? Californians didn’t object to a year or two of lockdown and school closure in exchange for a perceived higher level of security from Covid so maybe they would also accept a security corridor for a few miles on either side of the track in which humans are forbidden to enter. On the other hand, a clever jihadi could perhaps make a drone that looks like an animal of some kind.

Note that the same question can be asked about a lot of U.S. infrastructure. We have open borders by design, including to people who say that they hate the United States (an application for asylum is based on a fear of being harmed in some other country, not on any kind of affection for or loyalty to the U.S.). What stops a foreign power from sending a few hundred soldiers over as asylum-seekers and having them quietly build attack drones? The foreign power could guarantee that their asylum application will be accepted by publishing a list of the soldiers’ names and saying “All of the people on this list are sentenced to death due to their political opinions.” Anyone under a definitive sentence of death for a political point of view meets U.S. asylum criteria, right? “Membership in a particular social group” is also a slam-dunk and “LGBTI” is considered a “group” so the foreign power could make sure that its army gets into the U.S. by publishing a list of soldiers’ names and saying “All of the men on this list were discovered at a gay bathhouse and, therefore, are sentenced to death if apprehended.” From a USCIS training document:

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How to upcycle Tesla Cybertrucks

Californians found a way to upcycle the Cybertrucks whose creator they now hate:

Here’s how Tesla drivers in Los Angeles defend against vandalism:

I’m not sure why this excuses the inexcusable. “I voted for Hitler before I knew that he would attack Russia” would also work? Why doesn’t the Tesla owner have to sell the car to a Deplorable in Texas, for example, and buy a Chevy Tahoe (as Sen. Mark Kelly did) or a Toyota Prius or whatever?

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Memorial Day on Olvera Street in Los Angeles

Flash back to Memorial Day in the historic Olvera Street part of Los Angeles. This was prior to the outbreak of peace that resulted in the deployment of the U.S. military into the streets of the city.

The encampment and trash seen approaching the pedestrian street:

Some tips on hiding rom ICE, resisting Trump, and promoting immigration:

Information about the native-born residents of California who were all killed by immigrants:

One of the unhoused in a city and state where nearly everyone agrees that housing is a human right:

The street itself:

Any day is a good day to be an outdoor masker in California:

Nearby Union Station, ready for California’s High Speed Rail project, which the rich inequality-hating Californians say that they can complete only if working class taxpayers in less-wealthy states give them another $100+ billion in federal money. (Inequality haters in CA, MA, NJ, NY, and other rich states never say that they want federal money instead spent in poorer-than-average states such as Michigan.)

Walking back toward downtown:

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Los Angeles Art Museums

In case you need to duck into a #SafeSpace to escape the completely unnecessary military occupation of entirely peaceful Los Angeles, some recent photos from the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art and the Broad (both free, even to those who aren’t smart enough to have SNAP/EBT cards). The Broad:

It’s apparently rare for a Black person to enter the Broad, but in case one does his/her/zir/their flag is ready:

Size Matters (LA MOCA; Alfonso Gonzalez, Jr.):

Did you know that “artists are marginalized on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation” (LA MOCA)?

It’s important to look at the world through a “queer lens”:

If children want to adopt the queer lens they can start in the gift shop:

Equality is so important that artists who don’t identify as “women” are excluded from books in the same gift shop (the late great Louise Nevelson, who explicitly said that she didn’t want to be pigeonholed as a “woman artist” is pigeonholed as a “woman sculptor”):

The gift shop was a Black-free environment rich in books regarding the Black Queer lifestyle (also a book about abortion care):

Did a Deplorable get into the museum woodpile or does the painting make fun of the Deplorables? (Christine Tien Wang):

A painting about the Black body in a museum where I didn’t see any Black employees or visitors:

A painting about “LGBTQ+ rights activism” and “the AIDS epidemic” (which is not in any way a “gay disease”?):

Speaking of a virus that is not in any way “gay”, if you’re concerned about SARS-CoV-2 infection, Science says that the best job you can choose is one in which you’re guaranteed to be exposed to hundreds of potentially infected humans every day (extra points for the below-the-nose mask):

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How can California state law prevent federal ICE agents from wearing face masks?

Related to a bunch of “photos taken in downtown Los Angeles” posts that are coming up…

Even as they themselves partied unmasked at the French Laundry, the rulers of California had great success in ordering their subjects to wear masks for at least two years (school kids were the last to be freed from this requirement):

(Of course, the success was in making kids and peasants wear saliva-soaked face rags, not in preventing the transmission of SARS-CoV-2; young-due-to-immigration California ended up with one of the world’s highest age-adjusted COVID-tagged death rates and certainly fared no better than places such as Florida and Sweden that lacked these orders.)

Today, the Righteous of Sacramento are attempting to order the opposite, i.e., that law enforcement, including federal ICE agents, cannot wear face rags. “ICE Agents Could Be Banned From Wearing Masks Under New Proposal” (Newsweek):

California lawmakers are looking to stop local police officers and federal agents from wearing face masks or coverings while carrying out operations in the state.

The “No Secret Police Act” was introduced by Democrats in the state’s Senate on Monday, following criticism that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were trying to hide their identities while carrying out raids in Los Angeles.

“The recent federal operations in California have created an environment of profound terror. If we want the public to trust law enforcement, we cannot allow them to behave like secret police in an authoritarian state,” state Senator Scott Wiener said in a press release.

I personally agree with the idea behind this law. It’s unnerving for law enforcement to get out of unmarked vans while wearing face masks and, maybe, plain clothes. How do we know that they aren’t part of one of the migrant gangs that Democrats assure us do not exist (and of which Kilmar Armando Ábrego García was definitely not a member)? Also, the U.S. isn’t supposed to be so dangerous that an armed ICE agent and/or family can be hunted down at his/her/zir/their home. (Of course, even a state governor isn’t safe from the #FreePalestine progressives so maybe the U.S. actually is so dangerous for anyone who is engaged in an activity that a Queers for Palestine rally attendee would disagree with.)

So, much as I would like to see law enforcement work openly I wonder how a state can order the Feds to do something (or, in this case, not do something). There isn’t exactly a federal law that says ICE officers are allowed to wear face masks, but it seems seems as though the Supremacy Clause could be invoked.

If I’m wrong (as usual) and California actually can restrict what ICE agents can wear what stops California from creating a law that says ICE agents aren’t allowed to drive cars or vans in California? That ICE agents have to wear bikinis and have a BMI no higher than 22? Maybe there is a federal law that says ICE agents can detain migrants and therefore California can’t simply pass a law forbidding ICE from detaining any enrichers.

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Almost time for Queer Faith Festival in the San Francisco Bay Area

Happy No Kings Day to those who celebrate. Also Happy 79th birthday to King Donald I and Happy 250th birthday to the U.S. Army, founded on June 14, 1775 as part of the treasonous rebellion against legitimate British rule.

A Deplorable Californian sent me this event calendar from Grace Cathedral in San Francisco:

Pack up the kids because the online calendar shows that it is almost time for the “Drag Queen Story Hour for families and children” in the East Bay:

If you’re going to stay in the City, the cathedral itself is hosting “Queer Religion: The Exhibition”:

As a queer atheist Marshall wants to spotlight and celebrate prominent openly queer leaders in religion. These subjects risk so much personally in order to live in their truth and create positive change within the monotheistic religions. The subjects captured provide a safe space within institutions that historically have promoted queerphobia.

“Without a bit of queerness, religion can grow rigid and sour. Queer people and perspectives offer renewal, an opening out to those who would otherwise turn away. The ultimate queerness we can approach is the divine, the totally other which is also the elusive meaning within ourselves.” — Rabbi Mark Solomon

Maybe this wise rabbi has the explanation for why a lot of things don’t work out, i.e., due to “without a bit of queerness”.

In Boston, the assumption is that everyone who hates Kings also loves 2SLGBTQQIA+ (Boston.com) because the suggested way to demonstrate against Kings is to show up on the route of the Pride parade:

The groups are calling the demonstration alongside the Pride parade, “No Kings, but Yaaas Queen!” Spectators at the Pride parade are being encouraged to bring “Pride flags and signs showing steadfast support for LGBTQIA+ rights and protesting the tyranny of a fascist administration that seeks to erase our communities from public life, American history, and our nation’s future.”

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Los Angeles is peaceful and also too dangerous for a platoon of soldiers to walk around

Reason to love Legacy Media #479… we are informed that

  • Los Angeles is peaceful and therefore the (defunded?) LA police did not require any assistance
  • Los Angeles cannot be safely traversed by a group of soldiers clad in body armor and armed with M4 rifles (maybe they could be safe in this peaceful city if enclosed within an M1 Abrams tank or Bradley Fighting Vehicle?)

From the Financial Times:

A growing number of military veterans and serving officers have spoken out against President Trump’s decision to deploy marines and National Guard troops to LA, calling it a misuse of executive power that puts soldiers’ lives at risk

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A Greta Thunberg yacht trip to California?

Greta Thunberg is back in Europe after her heroic aid trip to Gaza. There are some open questions regarding this trip:

  • why does someone who says that the Earth is being destroyed by humans choose the Palestinians, close to world #1 in fertility and population growth, as her model society? Just imagine the CO2 output if every group of humans on this planet had 4-6 children per family, as is common among Palestinians entitled to UNRWA aid (i.e., free food, health care, education, etc., even if nobody ever works at any job other than Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad soldier)
  • why was a female do-gooder visiting a group of Muslims (the noble Gazans) not wearing hijab and/or burqa?

I’m not holding my breath for answers to the above, but now that we apparently need not worry about climate change, perhaps the highest and best use for Greta Thunberg would be a diesel-fueled yacht trip to deliver aid to the Californians who are currently #resisting an occupying military.

Let’s look at some photos from my recent visit to the teen section of the central Los Angeles Public Library, which officially teaches cooperation via smartphone to evade ICE. An important way to “keep our community safe” is to prevent federal government workers from doing their jobs:

The #Science section in which we learn that SARS-CoV-2 is no match for teenagers wearing masks and voluntarily receiving an injection of an experimental vaccine that is reserved for those 75 years and older in the UK:

The library has an official “favorite drag queen” and he/she/ze/they recently performed for teenagers:

Any books for the teens to read after the drag show?

Finally, remember that Los Angeles is a hate-free zone (which is why Donald Trump and ICE are being welcomed with love?):

Readers: What should Greta T deliver to the besieged folks in Los Angeles?

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Should Elon Musk get an award for reducing inequality?

Any time that money is spent in a richer-than-average state, e.g., via a federal handout to Harvard University or a Medicare/Medicaid purchase of pharma from California or New Jersey, America’s income inequality level is increased (and it’s already “a public health crisis” according to Stanford and “obscene” according to our best lawmaker).

We have tremendous inequality among U.S. states. Household income in California was $95,500 in 2023 dollars (Wokipedia) while Texas households enjoyed only $75,800 in income and in Mississippi the median household income was only $54,000. Who works to redress this inequality? Not the federal government, which keeps spending taxpayer money in the richest states, either directly (grants to universities, student loan subsidies, tuition subsidies) or indirectly (pharma and health care purchases).

But let’s consider Elon Musk. He has moved at least four companies from richer-than-average California to poorer-than-average Texas: Tesla, X, SpaceX, and The Boring Company. Is there anyone else alive who can be said to have done as much to reduce inequality among the states? If not, we must anoint Elon Musk as America’s Greatest Social Justice Warrior.

BBC:

The company is also getting an injection of $17.3m (£13.4m) from the Texas government to develop the site, a grant that officials say is expected to create more than 400 jobs and $280m in capital investment in Bastrop.

Although I can’t blame Elon for taking the state’s money, that last bit is upsetting to me as a 14th Amendment Equal Protection purist. Why is it acceptable for a government (state, in this case) to favor one business with tax breaks while hitting smaller and less-connected businesses with the full force of taxation. I would like to see all of these state programs eliminated so that 2-person company is on a more level playing field with a 2,000-person company.

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