Gavin Newsom’s Bungled High-Speed Rail Project Includes Zero Trains
'High-Speed Rail did not dispute that it missed the deadline. It did not provide an explanation.''High-Speed Rail did not dispute that it missed the deadline. It did not provide an explanation.'Think the EV mandate is over? One state has other plans.
You probably think the EV mandate is over. That's exactly what Washington wants you to believe.
Congress celebrated. The White House touted what it called one of the largest deregulatory efforts in modern history, highlighting the repeal of federal vehicle emissions rules as the centerpiece of more than $1 trillion in projected savings. Automakers began telling investors they were pivoting back toward the vehicles customers actually want. Dealers finally saw hope after years of trying to move electric vehicles that many buyers simply didn't want.
Gas-powered vehicles continued dominating large parts of the country because they remain practical, affordable, and easy to refuel.
'Not yet'
Then I started talking to people who follow automotive policy for a living.
I kept hearing the same answer: "Not yet."
The reason is California.
While Washington rolled back federal emissions rules, California's authority to set stricter vehicle emissions standards largely survived. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia now follow California's rules, representing roughly 40% of the nation's new-vehicle market. That means one state's policies can effectively shape what automakers build for the entire country.
The fight now centers on four California Clean Air Act waivers that allow the state to enforce stricter emissions standards, including requirements that automakers sell increasing numbers of electric vehicles and meet tougher tailpipe-emissions limits. The EPA sent those waivers to Congress for review under the Congressional Review Act. California immediately sued, arguing the waivers aren't subject to congressional repeal.
Congressional Republicans disagree.
California king
They're racing to overturn the waivers before the Congressional Review Act deadline expires. If they succeed, future administrations would face a much steeper legal hurdle before restoring California's authority. If they fail, the legal framework that has allowed California to shape the national auto market could remain in place for years.
To be fair, the Trump administration fundamentally changed federal auto policy. Repealing the EPA's greenhouse gas endangerment finding removed the legal foundation for nationwide greenhouse-gas regulations, marking one of the biggest deregulatory shifts in decades.
But Washington only dismantled part of the system.
Once enough states adopt California's standards, automakers face a simple business decision. They can engineer different vehicles for different parts of the country — or build to the toughest standard and sell it everywhere. Guess which option usually wins.
RELATED: California wants to decide what tires you can buy — what could possibly go wrong?
Sunk costs
Now follow the money.
Over the last decade, automakers invested hundreds of billions of dollars preparing for an electric future regulators insisted was inevitable. Battery manufacturers expanded production. Charging companies attracted billions in public and private investment. Utilities planned for rising electricity demand. Entire business models were built around the assumption that government would continue pushing rapid electrification.
When that much money depends on one regulatory direction, nobody quietly accepts a change in course.
Businesses fight to protect their investments. Lobbyists fight to preserve the policies that created them. Investors fight to protect their returns. That's not a conspiracy. It's economics.
Consumers, however, had other ideas.
Real life over regulations
Electric vehicle sales in America never matched many of the industry's most ambitious forecasts. Hybrids surged because they offered better fuel economy without requiring people to change how they live. Gas-powered vehicles continued dominating large parts of the country because they remain practical, affordable, and easy to refuel. Dealers struggled with inventory that reflected regulatory priorities more than consumer demand, and manufacturers wrote off billions after investing ahead of the market.
None of this means electric vehicles are a bad option. Buy one if it fits your lifestyle. Buy a hybrid if that's the better option. Buy a gasoline-powered pickup if that's what your family or business needs.
That's what consumer choice looks like.
Looking back over the last decade, I don't see consumers driving this transition. I see regulations shaping investment, investment shaping production, and production shaping what buyers were offered in the showroom.
That's a very different sequence.
Washington may have dismantled the federal EV mandate. But unless Congress also closes California's regulatory back door, the pressure that reshaped the auto industry could return under a future administration.
The question isn't whether electric vehicles have a future. They do.
The question is whether consumers or regulators get to decide how quickly that future arrives.
There Were Thousands Of Faucis
Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl voted to order the closure of all restaurants in the county, then left that very meeting and went to dinner at Il Forno in Santa Monica.
Liberals in MAGA clothing run covert campaign against Trump-backed candidate
A green energy political action committee has spent over $700,000 on faux-MAGA ads attacking Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) to boost primary challenger Charlie Hatcher.
“Charlie Hatcher is an America First conservative who gets things done,” Invest in Tomorrow’s advertisement states. “Pro-gun, pro-life, pro-Trump, Charlie Hatcher is the trusted conservative leader we need.”
'If you’re an extremist on American energy, you’re on our target list.’
Despite what the ad’s content may suggest, Invest in Tomorrow isn’t a conservative organization. The PAC is funded by Democratic donors and former Obama-Biden officials aiming to punish politicians who oppose green energy subsidies.
“As the Trump-endorsed candidate in this race, I am being targeted by left-wing liberals from California because I am one of President Trump’s closest allies,” Ogles told Blaze News when reached for comment. “More than $1 million is flowing to my opponent from Gavin Newsom’s top donors and former Biden officials.”
Trump endorsed Ogles in October.
Ripple Labs co-founder Chris Larsen donated $6 million to the PAC between February and June 2026, according to Federal Election Commission disclosures. Larsen previously donated $10 million in crypto to Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. The San Francisco tycoon is worth nearly $13 billion.
“I’m a big believer in Gavin,” Larsen told Politico in May. “His instincts are incredible. It’s super early, but we’re already supporting him in any way we can.”
RELATED: Trump’s approval rating SOARS in new poll
CleanChoice Energy CEO Tom Matzzie chairs the PAC and contributed $50,000 in February. “If you’re an extremist on American energy, you’re on our target list,” Matzzie told Punchbowl News.
Despite claiming not to know Hatcher’s views on green energy, Matzzie said the PAC wants to “communicate a message to the other members of Congress that if you take these extreme positions, the industry is watching.”
Although Matzzie told Punchbowl the PAC aims to avoid being “sucked into those partisan games,” he’s pedigreed in left-wing politics. Matzzie previously worked for the Democratic National Committee, AFL-CIO, MoveOn.org, and John Kerry’s presidential campaign.
Former Biden Department of Energy Loan Programs Office Executive Director Jigar Shah donated $50,000 to Invest in Tomorrow in March 2026. His Obama-era predecessors Mark McCall and Peter Davidson donated $200,000 and $26,525 respectively. McCall is currently managing director at green private equity firm Lime Rock New Energy, while Davidson is CEO of asset management company Aligned Climate Capital.
Ogles and Hatcher are running in Tennessee's newly redrawn 5th District. Though solidly Republican, nearly 83% of voters were previously in a different district and are new to Ogles, according to the Tennessean.
Formerly the Tennessee commissioner of agriculture, Hatcher received Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Haslam's endorsement on July 16.
Invest in Tomorrow also campaigned against Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) during his primary campaign for Texas attorney general. The PAC ran advertisements accusing Roy of being insufficiently MAGA. Roy ultimately lost to state Sen. Mayes Middleton.
"As leaders within the clean energy industry, ITC PAC is proud of our role in ending Chip Roy's political career, investing nearly $1.5 million to reach GOP voters where they are — including on conservative cable, streaming sites like Rumble, and on MAGA social media — to remind them that Chip Roy betrayed their leader," Invest in Tomorrow posted on X in May after Roy's loss.
The House Freedom Caucus Fund has spent over $560,000 to defend Ogles against Invest in Tomorrow's campaign, according to a spokesperson.
“This desperate attempt to SILENCE me is futile,” Ogles told Blaze News. “I will not be silent, and I will never stop fighting to put America First.”
Chris Larsen, Jigar Shah, Peter Davidson, Tom Mattzie, and Charlie Hatcher did not respond to requests for comment. Invest in Tomorrow Coalition PAC, Aligned Climate Capital, and CleanChoice Energy also did not respond for comment.
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JD Vance reveals opinion on Epstein files, explains 'demon' alien theory, slams 'full of s**t' Gavin Newsom with Joe Rogan
United States Vice President JD Vance sat down for a wide-ranging interview with podcaster Joe Rogan. The eyebrow-raising interview included skewering Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, discussing the Epstein files, and explaining aliens possibly being demons.
In the nearly three-hour podcast interview released Wednesday, Vance said many Republicans are "skeptical" because many Democrats want it to be illegal for voters to show identification when voting in elections.
'I admire the f**king sheer tenacity that he has in being full of s**t.'
Vance asked, "Why not just have voter ID?"
Rogan said opposition to voter identification requirements makes it seem "like you want people to cheat."
Vance declared, "If you don't want to cheat in the election, then just make everybody actually show an ID."
When Rogan asked about the United States' military action against Iran, Vance said he would support President Donald Trump's overseas intervention as long as the decisions are "legal and ethical."
Vance stated, “The goal is certainly good, which is to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.”
The prolific podcaster asked about the release of the files related to the investigation into convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The vice president conceded that the administration had “mishandled” the Epstein files.
"If people want to say we mishandled the Epstein release, guilty. We did mishandle it — especially the communications of it," Vance said.
"We absolutely screwed up the comms of the Epstein files. We just did," Vance admitted.
However, Vance stressed there was no truth to theories that the White House was attempting to hide anything about the Epstein files.
Vance declared himself to be one of the original "Epstein conspiracy theorists" and said that he has "probably gone down every single rabbit hole we could go down."
Vance added, "But do I think the reason we screwed up the comms is because we were trying to hide something? No."
Vance said former Attorney General Pam Bondi's claim about having binders of documents on her desk made "people mistrust the entire effort" and "overstated what we had and what we didn't have."
Vance said that he does "like" Bondi and that the binder incident was likely her "trying to respond to the political moment."
Vance noted, "We did release all these files. Did it take longer than it should have taken? Yes."
Vance said the Epstein files should have been "dropped at the very beginning" once all the reviews and redactions had been done.
"We should have just done it as quickly as possible," Vance stated.
Vance said he believes that Epstein "clearly" had connections to the highest level of American and Israeli intelligence.
"Yeah, Mossad or CIA or some other deep state, whether in America or Israel or another country — or both," Vance said. "Look, he clearly had connections to the highest levels of American intelligence. He clearly had connections to the highest levels of Israeli intelligence."
RELATED: JD Vance reveals the heartbreaking conversation that convinced him to have a fourth child
Rogan — who showed support for Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), a democratic socialist, in 2020 — said that he is "really concerned" about Americans rallying around socialism.
"I'm really concerned that people think that's a good idea and that they think that socialism just hasn't been done correctly," Rogan told Vance. "That drives me nuts."
Rogan said socialism "always leads to one thing: It leads to a very powerful military government that controls the population — period, end of discussion."
Vance agreed with Rogan's assessment.
"The whole argument of communism is that you seize the means of production," Vance said. "But because the most powerful means of production is the human mind, you ultimately have to get into totalitarianism."
Vance expressed concern that artificial intelligence could unintentionally usher in communism.
"The fundamental challenge of AI is, it's going to unleash a lot of wealth creation, but if that wealth creation all goes to some segment of people, you're going to have communism," Vance warned.
"But if you don't ensure that there's some broader prosperity from that wealth creation, we have run this experiment before, and it leads to communism," he added.
Vance and Rogan both agreed that California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is "full of s**t." The pair rehashed the time when Newsom told a group that he "cannot read a speech."
As Blaze News reported in February, Newsom apparently attempted to appeal to a reportedly majority-black audience at a book tour stop in Atlanta.
"I'm not trying to impress you," Newsom told the group. "I'm just trying to impress upon you, I'm like you. I'm no better than you. You know, I'm a 960 SAT guy. I'm not trying to offend anyone, you know, trying to act all there if you got a 940."
"You never see me read a speech because I cannot read a speech," Newsom added.
Vance said of Newsom, "He's full of s**t."
Rogan replied, "He's so full of s**t. Admirably full of s**t. I admire the f**king sheer tenacity that he has in being full of s**t."
Rogan asked Vance about remarks he made earlier this year, where he revealed that he believes aliens could be demons.
"I'm not one of these people who's, like, a hyper-rationalist," Vance responded. "I think that there are things happening in the world that we're not always seeing. I believe in God."
"If you look historically at things that are similar to the alien phenomenon, where some strange being, it kind of looks like a human being, but ... that's not human, and it shows a particular interest in human beings, and then it takes the human beings and does weird experiments on them."
Vance said either it is "bulls**t," you're "talking to a crazy person," or aliens could be demons.
"Just because I believe in the supernatural doesn't mean I believe in everything supernatural,” Vance continued. “But if we're talking about an extraterrestrial being that is human-like but not human that contains effectively infinite powers and is torturing human beings, you can call it an alien if you want, but I think there's a lot of historical precedent to call that a demon.”
Rogan described an alleged alien encounter where the extraterrestrial healed a man. Vance replied, “Extra-powerful beings, in this case communicating telepathically, helping people, sounds like an angel."
The entire "Joe Rogan Experience" interview with JD Vance can be seen here.
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He Admitted It in His Diary… Then Changed the Story