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Year: 2023

Biden admin sends billions to California’s over-budget, behind-schedule ‘train to nowhere’

Biden admin sends billions to California’s over-budget, behind-schedule ‘train to nowhere’

The Biden administration is sending California more than $3 billion in federal taxpayer funds for the state’s high-speed rail project which was first approved 15 years ago and has since faced unprecedented delays and been dramatically downsized. The White House announced $3.07 billion in additional federal funding for the California Inaugural High-Speed Rail Service Project as part of a broader announcement Friday unveiling a total of $8.2 billion in new passenger rail corridors nationwide. The project — which has ballooned $80 billion over budget since it was first approved by California voters in 2008 — has been championed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “California is delivering on the first 220-mph, electric high-speed rail project in the nation,” Newsom said after the funding was announced. “This show of support from the Biden-Harris Administration is a vote of confidence in today’s vision and comes at a critical turning point, providing the project new momentum.” “California takes great pride in our ambitious status as the leading edge of high-speed rail in America. With this new $3.07 billion in federal funding, we take an important leap closer to making high-speed rail a reality in California,” added Pelosi. “An electrified high-speed rail network will dramatically improve the quality of life in the Central Valley and up and down California.” BIDEN ADMIN FACING CONGRESSIONAL PROBE FOR SENDING BILLIONS TO SOLAR COMPANY ACCUSED OF SCAMMING ELDERLY In its announcement, the White House failed to disclose the project has been under development for more than a decade and has faced significant delays, instead boasting of its climate benefits. An accompanying announcement from the Department of Transportation described it as a project to “help deliver high-speed rail service in California’s Central Valley.” Former Republican California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who left office in early 2011, first introduced the high-speed rail system project, and his Democratic successor, Gov. Jerry Brown, continued the project. The Obama-Biden administration secured more than $2 billion to support the project’s development in 2010 using funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the 2009 post-recession stimulus package. BIDEN’S BILLION-DOLLAR PLAN TO BUILD 500,000 EV CHARGERS HAS YET TO YIELD A SINGLE CHARGER The project was originally planned as a $33 billion project consisting of 1,955 miles of railway connecting San Francisco to Los Angeles. Since then, the cost has swelled to $113 billion and the project’s scope has been dramatically scaled down to a 171-mile railway connecting Bakersfield, Fresno and Merced that isn’t expected to be operational until 2030. Overall, if the project is completed in 2030, it will have taken a decade longer than expected, while costing $80 billion more and being 91% smaller than originally planned. Because of its repeated shortfalls, the project has been dubbed by critics as the “train to nowhere.” “This commuter train isn’t even ‘high speed,’ is at least 13 years behind schedule, and will now cost four times the original price tag promised to voters,” Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., who has opposed the project for years, told Fox News Digital. “Far too much taxpayer dollars have been wasted on this boondoggle. It’s in everyone’s best interest to cut the losses and rescind every cent dedicated to this foolish project.” “Any fool can see this project isn’t going to be completed,” LaMalfa continued. “The state is $68 billion in debt, hasn’t laid a single inch of track and is over $120 billion short. Biden and Newsom sure know how to waste your money.” HOUSE PANEL TO PROBE BIDEN ADMIN’S NEGOTIATIONS WITH ECO GROUPS TRYING TO TEAR DOWN KEY POWER SOURCE And fellow California Republican Rep. Jay Obernolte also blasted the project, noting that even when it is operational, its ridership will fall short of covering the expected operating costs. “I believe it is inappropriate for the federal government to subsidize the California High-Speed Rail Authority,” Obernolte told Fox News Digital. “This rail system is years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget, and even if it is ever completed, its projected ridership won’t come close to covering its operating costs — meaning that taxpayers will be asked to continue subsidizing it forever. This is not a wise or appropriate use of taxpayer money.” Shortly after taking office in 2019, Newsom acknowledged in his first State of the State address that he would scale the project down from its original ambitious plan, saying it would cost too much and take too long to stay the course. He noted during his remarks that “there’s been too little oversight and not enough transparency.” Months later, the Trump administration penned a scathing letter to California, informing the state that it was rescinding the multi-billion-dollar grant awarded for the project under the Obama administration. Former Federal Railroad Administration Administrator Ronald Batory wrote that California “has no foreseeable plans, nor the capability, to pursue that statewide [High-Speed Rail] System as originally proposed.” In June 2021, the Biden administration said it would reverse that decision and restore the funding. “This investment has already created over 11,000 good-paying union jobs, and California high speed rail is going to save people time, make it easy to travel across the state for the first time in history, and reduce carbon emissions by as much as 2 million metric tons — comparable to taking 432,000 passenger vehicles off the road every year,” White House spokesperson Robyn Patterson told Fox News Digital in a statement. Patterson characterized criticism aimed at the project as “hot air.”

Red state AGs move to block abortion ballot language pro-life group says is ‘deceptive,’ goes farther than Roe

Red state AGs move to block abortion ballot language pro-life group says is ‘deceptive,’ goes farther than Roe

After a successful abortion ballot measure in Ohio that enshrined abortion access into the state’s constitution, attorney generals in red states are making moves to address ambiguities and euphemisms in upcoming abortion measures in their states to avoid deceptive language, an issue that pro-life groups say was critical in the Ohio vote. In Arkansas, Attorney General Tim Griffin recently rejected a proposed abortion ballot that he said had a deceptive title and misleading text.  Griffin outlined concerns about “ambiguities in the text”, not enough clarity on the meanings of the words “health” and “access,” the potentially deceptive name of the ballot measure, and other facts that he says need to be addressed and resubmitted. In Florida, Republican AG Ashley Moody recently called a pro-abortion amendment initiative that made it to her desk “one of the worst I have ever seen.” TOP ABORTION GROUP FACED WRATH OF AOC’S OFFICE FOR NEGLECTING KEY PRIORITY TO PROTECT DEM MAJORITY: BOOK “As just one example of how misleading this initiative is, the initiative creates a right to abortion through ‘viability,’” Moody wrote. “As any mother knows, ‘viability’ has two meanings when it comes to pregnancy. First, it means whether a pregnancy is expected to continue developing normally through delivery. Doctors can tell during the first trimester, usually around about 12 weeks, whether a pregnancy is viable and would have a much lower risk of miscarriage. For that reason, many women often wait to tell family and friends about their pregnancy until that time.” “Second, viability is sometimes used to mean whether a baby can survive outside of the uterus, which currently is around 21 to 25 weeks of pregnancy. The two time periods, depending on your definition of viability, are starkly different, and the procedures performed to abort a baby’s life at either time period are dissimilar.” PRO-LIFE GROUP ADDRESSES WHAT WENT WRONG IN OHIO ABORTION VOTE, HOW TO RESPOND IN 2024 Moody wrote that regardless of her own personal opinion on abortion, “Floridians are entitled to know clearly and concisely what they are voting for or against.” South Dakota AG Jackley also took issue with the wording in a recent abortion proposal writing that “any suggestion that your proposed abortion amendment makes abortion legal only for the first trimester is contrary to the language of the proposed amendment.”  The comments by the three Republican attorney generals come after Ohioans voted to enshrine abortion access into their constitution in a vote that pro-life groups say was swayed by misleading ads from the abortion industry and vague language that they say goes even farther than Roe v. Wade did. REPUBLICANS CAN WIN ON ABORTION IF PRO-LIFERS TELL THEIR STORIES “Deception is the common theme in every abortion ballot measure,” SBA Pro-Life America’s state public affairs director Kelsey Pritchard said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Abortion activists have repeatedly used unclear language to mislead voters into embedding unlimited abortion in their state constitutions. Because Americans do not support second- and third-trimester abortions, Big Abortion must funnel millions into ads that lie about what these amendments actually do in order to be successful.” “We thank Tim Griffin, Ashley Moody and Marty Jackley for exposing abortion activists’ deceptive tactics. These attorneys general are faithfully carrying out their duties as they push for clarity so that voters are aware they are voting on establishing a right to late-term abortion.”  Many consider the Ohio ballot measure to be a blueprint for how the abortion industry plans to pass state level abortion laws in the wake of Roe v. Wade and SBA Vice President of State Affairs Stephen Billy told Fox News Digital that “it’s clear that pro-life leaders, including the attorney generals in the pro-life states, recognize the threat when these deceptive ballot measures, these deceptive amendments land on the ballot. “They’re taking action early now to fight back against it and to make sure there’s clarity for the voters in their states about how radical these amendments are allowing abortion basically without restriction and deteriorating parental rights.”

Government-funded app targeting Black teens teaches young gay men to ‘enhance’ sex in HIV prevention study

Government-funded app targeting Black teens teaches young gay men to ‘enhance’ sex in HIV prevention study

A government-funded effort to study prevention of HIV in Black youth aimed to “enhance” homosexual experiences for teens as young as 14 while potentially keeping parents and guardians in the dark. App developer Dfusion Inc. and health researchers at ETR were awarded more than $1.6 million over three years from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study innovative methods of reducing sexually transmitted diseases in gay, bisexual and queer teens in the Black community between 14 and 17 years old. The culturally charged topics of sexuality and gender identity in education, combined with the possibility of concealing the study’s training from parents, make the project controversial to many on the political right. Promotional materials for the project declare that the government-funded 3T app (which stands for “Tune In! Turn On! Turn Up!”) is “not your typical sex ed.” “The 3T intervention approaches HIV prevention through healthy relationships and inclusion of sex-positive content designed to enhance the participants’ sexual experiences,” said the project description on ETR’s website. BIDEN ADMIN ‘WEAPONIZING’ FEDERAL AGENCY TO BLOCK PARENTS’ EFFORTS AT REMOVING ‘PORNOGRAPHY’ FROM SCHOOLS The training through the app “emphasizes partner reduction, avoidance of concurrent partners, condom use and HIV/STI test” and also “helps participants to become clearer about what they do/don’t want to do sexually, to communicate their choices, and to learn ways to enhance sexual experience without increasing HIV/STI risk,” according to the contract description.  Marketing videos for the project show elements of the 3T app, including a “pick your pleasure” survey describing sex acts like “group sex” and “mutual masturbation.” Other elements show demonstrations of erogenous zones, sex-ed anatomy, a guide to using condoms and a survey showing gender identity on a spectrum. The app was created by Dfusion Inc., which received an initial contract for $224,000 in 2015 for the first phase and an additional $1.4 million in 2018 for the second phase of the project. Dfusion has won several contracts for using education technology, including nearly $1.9 million in two grants to create the Transwomen Connected mobile app in 2017, which similarly aimed to help prevent HIV. The app and participation in the study are guaranteed to be kept secret from parents, according to the creators — unless participants choose to share it. “The icon for the app is discrete so that it is not easily identifiable as a sexual health app,” a FAQ for the project says. NC PASTOR SPARS WITH EDUCATION BOARD OVER ‘GRAPHIC’ SEXUAL EDUCATION MATERIALS IN SCHOOLS Researchers have not released the final study data, but they were aiming for around 300 participants. A number of participants were given a control app that advocated healthy behaviors like drinking water. ETR did not share information on whether the youth in the study shared the app or their participation in the study with their parents because the research is still being reviewed by the NIH. ETR told Fox News Digital that the study was important because it could provide data on an under-researched demographic that would help the government, educators and parents provide evidence-based sex education to students. “We think that this is important because we recognize that in 2023 there isn’t a lot of evidence-based data that supports sexual education and understand what needs to be communicated to the youth in younger age groups,” ETR spokesperson Gabrielle Chew said in an interview. “We are trying to get that information so we can provide it to the government and also to provide it to parents and communities, so they can have comfort that the information provided to their students and their children is based in fact and has been reviewed and is being done by credited institutions.” “The end goal here is to make sure that we have data rooted in facts, evidence-based, being able to provide quality education and quality experience for our youth, Chew said. NIH policies allow researchers to waive parental notification requirements for minors if the research involves minimal risk. Minimal risk means that the “probability and magnitude of harm or discomfort anticipated in the research are not greater, in and of themselves, than those ordinarily encountered in daily life or during the performance of routine physical or psychological examinations or tests,” according to the NIH. The abstract for the study on the NIH website states that “Men who have sex with men, and particularly Black men who have sex with men (BMSM) have been disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS since the beginning of the epidemic, but in recent years the impact of HIV among young Black men who have sex with men (YBMSM) has escalated rapidly.” Homosexually active young Black men are more likely to contract HIV than other ethnic groups, “Yet there is a lack of school-based sexual education for this group of young people and few HIV interventions designed specifically to meet the needs of young BMSM,” according to the abstract. PARENTAL DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS FOR SEX ED, GENDER IDENTITY CLEAR OHIO HOUSE Parental rights in education have exploded as a flash point at the local and national level — particularly regarding what is taught about sexuality and gender. Conservative groups have decried schools that teach young children sexual topics and castigated educators who conceal curricula or a student’s gender identity from parents.  “Is it really any surprise that the same federal government that labels angry parents at school board meetings ‘domestic terrorists’ also is spending money to undermine parental rights?” said Terry Schilling, president of the conservative American Principles Project. Schiling said “it is wholly inappropriate” for the government to use “our own tax dollars to feed our kids sexual content without our knowledge or consent.” “We wouldn’t tolerate this kind of behavior from a complete stranger, so why should the state get a pass for doing it? It’s an egregious violation of trust, to the extent there is even any trust left,” Schilling added. Responding to criticisms, Chew said that the study was important, given that governments are elected by voters who place some trust in their representatives. “All