Ever since the U.S. Senate failed to convict Donald Trump for his role in the January 6 insurrection and disqualify him from running for president again, a lot of people, myself included, have been warning that a second Trump term could bring about the extinction of American democracy. Essential features of the system, including the rule of law, honest vote tallies, and orderly succession, would be at risk.
Hyundai was a joke. The maker of the cheapest cars with the oldest technology. The only thing that you could buy that was worse was a Yugo.
But Yugo tanked, and Hyundai and its sister company Kia improved and then thrived over the ensuing thirty years they have played in the American market. And not only has Hyundai expanded into luxury, with its Genesis line, most analysts consider the Ioniq 5 and its sister Kia, the EV6, to be the only reasonably priced challengers to Tesla in the American market.
And then comes BYD:
“BYD, Tesla’s Chinese Rival, Is Coming Into Its Own – China’s top electric-vehicle maker has emerged as a formidable force—one that could soon be felt globally”: https://on.wsj.com/3R5PIfO
But Bob, you say, GM and Ford are moving into electric vehicles!
On a balmy Saturday night in June, Traci Lovitt hosted a 50th birthday party for her husband, Ara, at their 9,800-square-foot Westchester mansion overlooking Long Island Sound. The couple met while clerking for Supreme Court justices: Traci for Sandra Day O’Connor, Ara for Antonin Scalia. These days, Ara worked in finance. Traci was a top partner at — and a contender to one day run — the international law firm of Jones Day, best known for representing Donald Trump’s presidential campaigns. To serve as M.C. for the event, the Lovitts flew in Richard Blade, the veteran disc jockey Ara listened to while growing up in Southern California. But Blade wasn’t the party’s biggest star. That distinction belonged to Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
unprecedented legal peril, so top Fox executives have decided on a “Hail Mary” programming decision to launch
its annual coverage of the “War on Christmas” starting September 1st
Amy Coney Barrett, who was successfully nominated to the supreme court by Donald Trump.Photograph: ReutersThe People of Praise, a secretive Christian faith group that counts the conservative supreme court justice Amy Coney Barrett as a member, considered women’s obedience and subservience to men as one of its central early teachings, according to leaked remarks and writings of the wife of one of the group’s founders.
EDINBURG, Texas — Rashes from heat are common. Metal furniture is hot to the touch. Hyperthermia and dehydration are a constant risk, mitigated with fans, tepid water and wet towels. Deaths, though rare, have occurred.
This is life during much of the summer inside Texas’ stifling prisons, a majority of which have no air-conditioning for inmates despite increasingly extreme temperatures in the state.
Taking on the fossil fuel industry in West Virginia was always going to be a David v Goliath type battle, but after years of protests, lobbying and lawsuits, 68-year-old Becky Crabtree thought the community-led resistance had beaten the Mountain Valley pipeline (MVP) in a fair fight.
Today I’m feeling optimistic, and I haven’t had that spirit here for a very long time.
Let’s start with France banning private jets:
“As France Swelters, Private Jets Come Under Attack – Politicians are proposing regulating or banning flights by such planes after a summer of
extreme heat and soaring energy prices prompted growing calls to tackle the causes of climate change.”: https://nyti.ms/3Ks9AaH
I like to fly private as much as the next person, but not at the cost of burning up the planet.
Now the interesting thing is this has been a bottom-up effort. It started with that kid tracking Elon Musk’s flights, and evidence came
out of the short trips taken by a Kardashian, Drake and Taylor Swift and… We have been told for decades that money rules and there’s
nothing we can do about it other than to try and get ours. But the truth is the game is rigged, and in most cases we can’t get ours, and certainly not enough money to influence policy.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at a news conference at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale on Aug. 18 announcing criminal charges
Most actors are attached to their jobs. Steve Carell was padlocked to his.
In FX’s new tête-à -tête thriller “The Patient,” Carell’s character, Dr. Alan Strauss, spends most of the show restrained by a serial killer — the titular patient — with a chain bolted to the floor. Every day, the prop master came in with a real manacle and shackled the actor with a real lock.
Carell had not quite pictured the full impact of his request for verisimilitude.
1. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not
know what time it is.
2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize
you're wrong.
3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was
younger.
4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.
5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
6. Was learning cursive really necessary?
7. Map Quest or Google Maps really need to start their directions on #5.
I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the
person died.
9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.
10. Bad decisions make good stories.
11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment when you
know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of
the day.
12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blu-Ray? I don't
want to have to restart my collection... again.
13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if
I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report that I swear I
did not make any changes to.
14. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to
answer when they call.
15. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.
16. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or
Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Light than Kay.
17. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.
18. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
19. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and
smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?
20. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to
prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and
sisters!
21. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty,
and you can wear them forever.
22. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys
in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey -
but I'd bet everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away,
in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time.
23. The first testicular guard, the "Cup," was used in Hockey in 1874 and
the first helmet was used in 1974. That means it only took 100 years for men
to realize that their brain is also important.
(Ladies .... Quit Laughing! )
It just gets better as you get older, doesn't it?
I was in a Starbucks Coffee recently when my stomach started rumbling and I
realized that I desperately needed to fart. The place was packed, but the
music was really loud so to get relief and reduce embarrassment I timed my
farts to the beat of the music. After a couple of songs I started to feel
much better. I finished my coffee and noticed that everyone was staring at
me. I suddenly remembered that I was listening to my Ipod (with ear piece)
- and how was your day?
The woman replied – “My husband’s check book!!”
A prospective husband in a book store “Do you have a book called, ‘Husband – the Master of the House’?
Sales Girl: “Sir, Fiction and Comics are on the 2nd floor.”
Someone asked an old man: “Even after 70 years, you still call your wife – Darling, Honey, Luv. What’s the secret?
Old man: I forgot her name and I’m scared to ask
Wife: I wish I were a newspaper so I’d be in your hands all day.
Husband to wife – “Today is a fine day.” Next day he says: “Today is a fine day.” Again next day, he says same thing – “today is a fine day.”
Husband: “Last week when we had an argument, you said, I will leave you one fine day. I was just trying to remind you."
