"The California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) has spent more than $11.2 billion on construction and planning since 2006. As of the end of 2023, the project has received about $23 billion in combined state and federal funding. The total estimated cost for the project is now between $89–128 billion."

The CHSRA has made progress on the project, including:

Completing ten structures on the first 119 miles of construction
Environmentally clearing 422 miles of the 500-mile project
Creating over 12,000 jobs, with 70% of those going to Central Valley residents
Entering into an agreement with 13 rail labor unions for system operation

Doesn't sound like much for a project that's 19 years old.

Well, yeah! Who the hell is going to hire someone who doesn't know which bathroom to use and requires cry rooms and safe spaces?

I'd like to hear Patel's pitch to the senators. I wonder if it includes the word "Gitmo"?

Thanks for the information and the links, I'm going to bookmark these for future reference. I didn't read everything, but I read a lot. My situation is nothing compared to yours. It's a travesty that you were clearly targeted for harassment that you had to endure for years. I applaud you for standing up and fighting back and wish you luck in your litigation.

So far so good. We left the chaos of Orange County and moved to southern Oklahoma in a rural area. Our house is on 5 acres with oak, pecan, and elm trees and it feels like I'm living in a park, but I have to mow the park. I'm retired so I don't know much about the local job situation, but I've learned that rural Oklahoma is the land of the side-gig. People have regular jobs and many of them have tractors, skid steers, stump grinders, chain saws, welders, and an endless supply of power tools, so if you have some overwhelming project you're facing it's easy to find someone willing to do the job for a reasonable fee while making themselves some extra cash.

Compared to California, these are things I like about OK: People are much friendlier, $2.30 gasoline, $69 registration for my 10yo truck, Constitutional carry, dining out is cheaper, no traffic within 75 miles, no smog alerts, driving country roads just to explore, no quinceaneras with live bands until 1am, closest neighbor is 300 feet away, Starlink, sitting on the porch watching thunderstorms, quirky yard art, scissor tails, and 95% less woke bs in general.

Things I don't like about OK: Healthcare. It's easy to get in to see a doctor and the local hospital is okay, but seeing a specialist sometimes involves a 2-3 month wait or half a day spent driving to Norman or OKC and back. I miss the number and variety of restaurants in OC. There's 5 Costcos or Sam's within 75 miles, but they're all 70-75 miles out in 4 different directions. We often combine doctor visits, Sam's/Costco, and a nice restaurant into a single trip.

Tornadoes suck, 2/3rds happen at night which adds to the unease, but big ones are rare, the moderate ones affect relatively small areas and most hit empty areas thanks to all the open spaces. The earthquakes in California are worse in my opinion.

Sonic booms. Nothing get the house shaking and adrenaline pumping like a peaceful day interrupted by a sonic boom. We probably get 2 a month when the weather's nice and it's almost always T38's out of Sheppard AFB in Texas. Then there's that jerk in the F1 Mirage that made a couple of passes over us last March before heading back to the Dallas area.

TLDR: Yeah, I'm happy here.

Yep, I've received 2 notices from the CA FTB claiming that they're going to garnish my wages and bank accounts for $780 because I didn't register my truck last Feb. Nevermind that my truck was titled, garaged, registered, and insured in Oklahoma last Jan. and I sent them the paperwork telling them so twice! I just sent in the $69 fee for 2025 OK tags.

Also a CA native, but I gave up and moved to Oklahoma last year. I hate hearing how CA expats are ruining other states as folks don't realize that it's mostly the tax-paying conservatives that are fleeing the state, not the life long leeches that are sucking the government teat dry. I spent over 40 years socking away extra money in my tax deferred IRA and who gets the taxes now that I'm withdrawing it to live on? Oklahoma!

They probably couldn't legally certify the previous 3 elections either and since the media ignored weeks of ballot manufacturing after those elections, 2024 was business as usual for the state democrats.

Canadians may wish they had 2̶A̶ bamboo.

We have cellphones so even if we're treading water or clinging to debris in water rushing back to the ocean we'd see the alert!

Sounds like the wish list of a psychopath and this guy is a pediatrician? I sure as hell wouldn't advise any parents to let this monster treat their children.

Well it was unanimous among the people that were present. Where were the other 110 representatives of the National Assembly?

Russian-built missile system that fits inside a shipping container.

https://www.reuters.com/article/world/deadly-new-russian-weapon-hides-in-shipping-container-idUSTRE63P2XB/

Our shelter was installed in April 2018 and the first time we had to use it was March 24th of this year and then again last week. Both of those were radar indicated rotation that never touched down. On April 27of this year we had a pretty bad outbreak with tornadoes striking nearby Marietta, Ardmore, and Sulphur. 2024 has been an unusually active year.

As far as "normal" weather in southern Oklahoma? Warm in the summer, "mostly" mid 80s to low 100s along with moderate humidity. Cold in the winter, "mostly" low 30s to low 50s with occasional freezing winds from the north. Spring and fall are "usually" pleasant temperature-wise.

Please notice I used "normal", "mostly" and "usually" because the weather here is VERY dynamic. At any time of year the weather can change dramatically, like boating on a lake on a sunny day to snow and iced over roads the very next day. OKC once set a record high and a record low in the same day. The phrase “If you don't like the weather, just wait a few minutes” seems to fit Oklahoma rather nicely.

I've been an Oklahoma resident for a full year and a part-timer for the preceding 5 years. We're in a rural area with a little bit of property so I've seen plenty of snakes, but I have never seen a venomous snake of any type. I'm sure they're out there, but it's not like the place is crawling with them.

Actually Oklahoma has been solid red for the last 6 presidential elections.

Unlike Jeffrey Epstein, George Floyd killed himself.

He sure acts like a whiny little b1tch and is desperate to keep something hidden. Wonder what it could be?

Disappointed she didn't burst into flames.

That's not a militia, those are fedbois.

Our small Oklahoma town gets it's water from a local well. Every once in a while you can smell hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg smell) that results from bacteria processing organic matter buried long ago. When they get enough complaints someone runs out and dumps chlorine in the well which takes care of the problem until bacteria levels build back up again. Needless to say we buy R.O. water for drinking and cooking.

I am certain Iran's F-4 Phantoms are fully capable of doing maneuvers like that, well after their pilots punch out anyway and they'd be smoking way more than normal.

You would figure with that kind of money she would have dropped some of it on a plastic surgeon to fix that mug of hers.

Actually someone pointed out that the woman self-identified as a lesbian, so he is indeed being punished for calling her fat.

I'm worried about the other 120% of Democrats who are going to vote for Biden.