Free Republic

Nothing about California's high speed rail is moving fast, except the price. Just a few weeks ago, the estimated price of the long-delayed project was said to be $126 billion. This figure wasn't hidden in a spreadsheet somewhere, it was stated on a national news program. This week, we're hearing a new number and it's more than a $100 billion higher.California’s long-delayed high-speed rail project is now facing renewed scrutiny after state leaders revealed a dramatically higher price tag, now estimated at roughly $231 billion, nearly seven times the original $33 billion projection approved by voters in 2008.The revised figures...

The gunman who opened fire outside the White House Correspondents' Dinner called himself the 'Friendly Federal Assassin' in a chilling manifesto he wrote before the attack. Cole Allen, 31, sent the eerie anti-Trump writing to his family members just 10 minutes before he fired shots at the hotel in Washington, where the ritzy press gala was taking place on Saturday night. The harrowing writing was given to police by a relative, a US official said. According to the New York Post, Allen's manifesto read: 'Turning the other cheek is for when you yourself are oppressed. I'm not the person raped...

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill bashed the “inherited” World Cup host agreement in which FIFA is absolved of paying for transportation to the matches at MetLife Stadium — and insisted she won’t stand for its planned price gouging. NJ Transit plans to raise prices to a staggering $100 for fans traveling from New York Penn Station to MetLife Stadium for the eight FIFA World Cup games hosted at the Garden State arena. The average ticket goes for $12.90, marking an egregious 775% premium for all. While the rumored hike has “not been finalized,” according to a NJT spokesperson, locals are...

A new state bill aims to shield certain information about California’s High-Speed Rail project from the public. Supporters say it’s about protecting sensitive records, but critics think it puts the brakes on transparency. ... [O]pponents...say the project is too costly. They note the state has already spent about $15 billion on it over the last decade and a half, while the total cost projections for the full project have ballooned from the original $45 billion estimate presented to voters in 2008 to anywhere between $88 billion-$128 billion today. Inside California Politics Correspondent Eytan Wallace reports a new state bill would...

In the dystopian novel 1984, George Orwell wrote, “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” The true meaning of that line was never more clear than watching the truly bizarre photo op of California governor Gavin Newsom heralding the success of the greatest boondoggle in history: his high-speed train to nowhere. Without laying a single yard of track after burning $12 billion, Newsom showed a diesel freight train on a conventional track to create the appearance of a working railroad.I have been writing about this boondoggle for...

Do you remember that high-speed rail project in California that was supposed to connect Los Angeles to San Francisco and be completed in 2020? Well, it's finally ready to begin laying track on a much shorter section on a ludicrously bigger budget. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) proudly announced that the high-speed rail has entered the track-laying phase. In his words, “We are now in the process of starting to lay track.” (Emphasis added). This is not for the full Los Angeles-San Francisco line that was supposed to be done six years ago, but for a 119-mile stretch from Madera County...

Under Trump, the media elites treat the executive branch as an evil empire, but under Biden, journalists were so eager to help promote the Democrats that they sometimes offered their sources the ability to edit their articles to their liking. New documents shared exclusively with MRC Business just exposed the latest example of elitist media hacks violating every modicum of journalistic integrity to genuflect to the Biden administration’s whims and wishes. Forbes contributor Rhett Buttle and his associate Abdullah Kahn offered to delay a story schmoozing President Joe Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan on his “environmental justice” focus...

A woman was slashed with a razor during the Tuesday evening rush hour on a Bronx subway train, the latest in a series of violent incidents across New York City’s transit system, according to police, as reported by The New York Post. The attack occurred around 5:30 p.m. aboard a northbound 2 train as it passed through the Pelham Parkway station. Authorities said the victim was speaking with someone when an unknown woman inserted herself into the conversation, sparking an argument. Would-be chain thief slashes woman with razor on NYC train in latest transit chaos: cops https://t.co/7NvBNzo3NO pic.twitter.com/nukz0Tr5rv— New York...

A man with a lengthy criminal history is facing a federal terrorism charge after authorities said he set a woman on fire in an unprovoked attack on a CTA Blue Line train Monday night. A 13-page federal criminal complaint was filed Wednesday, charging Lawrence Reed, 50, with a terrorist attack or other violence against a mass transportation system, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of life in federal prison, if convicted.

Inside Tehran’s newest metro station, Iranians who can be imprisoned for owning bibles will soon walk past a plaque that declares, “the message of Jesus Christ was the salvation of humans from darkness, ignorance, corruption, depravity and discrimination.”Elsewhere in the Maryam-e Moqaddas station, or Holy Mary station, a relief of Christ walking on water decorates a vestibule, and his mother Mary is depicted, larger than life, praying among flowers. Estimates of Iran’s Christian population varies widely but a 2020 survey from the Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in Iran (GAMAAN) reported 1.5 percent of respondents identified as Christian. That...

A person was in custody Tuesday after a woman was set on fire while riding a CTA Blue Line in Chicago's Loop the night before. The woman remained in the hospital late Tuesday afternoon. According to Chicago police, the 26-year-old woman got into a quarrel with a 45-year-old man while on a train at the Clark/Lake subway station around 9:25 p.m. Police said the fight escalated when the man poured a liquid on the woman and set her on fire. Sources said the liquid the man poured was gasoline. Police said the woman ran off the train and collapsed on...

Peterborough barber shop with a knife - minutes after allegedly stabbing a 14-year-old boy. Anthony Williams, 32, of Peterborough, appeared at Peterborough Magistrates' Court today charged with 11 counts of attempted murder in connection with a knife attack on board an LNER train and another in east London on November 1. Police have today launched a probe to establish whether three other incidents in Peterborough on the night before and morning of the alleged rampage are linked - but are facing accusations of failing to thwart it. CCTV footage exclusively obtained by the Daily Mail allegedly shows a man believed...

LNER worker praised for making emergency stop at Huntingdon station moments after knife rampage began The train driver whose quick actions helped save the lives of passengers in Saturday night’s knife attack is a Royal Navy and Iraq War veteran, The Telegraph can reveal. Andrew Johnson, from Peterborough, diverted the London-bound train to Huntingdon station shortly after being alerted to the mass stabbing, allowing armed police to respond. Police also praised the actions of another member of the train crew who helped protect passengers and was left in critical condition after being stabbed. They said his behaviour was “nothing short...

A man, 32, is being treated as the only suspect in a stabbing attack that occurred on board a Doncaster-London train on Saturday, police say A 35-year-old man, also arrested last night, has since been released after they confirmed he was not involved Authorities say a LNER staff member who tried to stop the attack remains in life-threatening condition - five others injured have now been discharged The injured employee's actions "were nothing short of heroic and undoubtedly saved many people's lives", British Transport Police say On Saturday, armed officers boarded the train after the 18:25 service was diverted to...

Police update due soon You can follow on Sky News or your live stream of choice

Excerpt: "A 26-year-old white man who attempted to commit a terror attack on an Amtrak train in rural Nebraska also attended the doomed “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, last August on the white supremacist side, according to a court document. St. Charles, Missouri resident Taylor Michael Wilson has been charged with an attempt to commit terror by targeting an Amtrak train in southwest Nebraska in October 2017. FBI Special Agent Monte Czaplewski, writing in an affidavit attached to the criminal complaint, suggested that Wilson wanted to murder black people. The document suggests that he had weapons, as well...

Leaflets found at the site of the Marine Corps headquarters in Quantico, Virginia, Wednesday may have ties to the international terrorist organization ISIS, a source told the Tatler today. The leaflets, which portray the flag of the Islamic State, include a message in Arabic that says “We came from Mexico on a train.” The leaflets raise the questions of whether the Islamic State has operatives in the heart of the United State’s Marine Corps headquarters, or alternatively, whether someone is testing security responses and military command communications. The Tatler obtained a digital copy of the leaflet today, which is being...

A Charlotte, North Carolina, city councilman said Tuesday that he doesn't believe that the Trump administration should send in National Guard troops in the aftermath of the fatal stabbing of 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority on Thursday announced a plan to accelerate the process of laying the first tracks on the state’s beleaguered infrastructure project. The materials will be used to install the first miles of electrified track along the California High-Speed Rail route, the first high-speed rail track to be laid in the U.S. The Authority states that the process is being accelerated and will result in track being laid in 2026. Aerial view of the Cedar Viaduct crossing in Fresno which was completed in April 2023. (California High-Speed Rail Authority) U.S. manufacturers will be able to bid in...

On August 19, 2025, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform escalated its scrutiny of Gavin Newsom’s vanity project: a high-speed railway that was originally supposed to connect California’s major cities by 2020. Congressional Oversight may mark the final phase in the latest review process that began in October 2024. This is not the first time the project came under federal fire — an earlier FRA review in 2019 led to termination of a key grant, which was later reinstated on smaller scale in 2021 and tied to the Central Valley segment.Specifically, the other important FRA review in 2019...