Carmakers may need several years to revamp their supply chains to meet new rules, but the legislation is still seen as a win for electric vehicles.
The climate and energy package awaiting final approval by Congress aims to achieve two goals that are not always compatible: Make electric vehicles more affordable while freezing China out of the supply chain.
Auto industry representatives have been griping that the proposed $7,500 tax credits for electric vehicle buyers come with so many strings attached that few cars will qualify. Buyers can’t have very high incomes, the vehicles can’t cost too much, and the cars and their batteries have to meet made-in-America requirements that many carmakers cannot easily achieve. …
NY Times: … The legislation effectively penalizes newer electric car companies … whose vehicles may be too expensive to qualify for the credits. The incentives apply to sedans costing no more than $55,000 and pickups, vans or sport utility vehicles costing up to $80,000. …
How did he come to dominate one of the two major parties and get himself elected president? Is it his hair? His waistline? No, it’s his narratives. Trump tells powerful stories that ring true to tens of millions of Americans.
The main one is that America is being ruined by corrupt coastal elites. According to this narrative, there is an interlocking network of highly educated Americans who make up what the Trumpians have come to call the Regime: Washington power players, liberal media, big foundations, elite universities, woke corporations. These people are corrupt, condescending and immoral and are looking out only for themselves. They are out to get Trump because Trump is the person who stands up to them. They are not only out to get Trump; they are out to get you. …
(The FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago) was seen purely as a heinous Regime plot. At least for now, the search has shaken the Republican political landscape. Several weeks ago, about half of Republican voters were ready to move on from Trump, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll. This week the entire party seemed to rally behind him. Republican strategists advising Trump’s potential primary opponents had reason to be despondent. “Completely handed him a lifeline,” one such strategist told Politico. “Unbelievable … It put everybody in the wagon for Trump again. It’s just taken the wind out of everybody’s sails.” …
He is brash, unabashed, quixotic, mendacious, sly, charismatic, unconscionable, amoral, wealthy, ‘privileged’ and generally unstoppable. What’s not to like?
My Jr High english teacher asked our class about ‘classic novels’.
I mentioned ‘Don Quixote’. He chastised me for calling it ‘Don Quicks-Oat’ and was of course corrected and berated for ignorance. Justifiably so. I then asked about the associated adjective ‘quixotic’, pronouncing it ‘Kee-Hoatic’. He was not amused.
We are the party that voted against military health care. We are the party that loves Big Pharma and dislikes diabetics. We are the party that condones violence against the Capitol Police Force and the FBI. We are the party that loves billionaires and wants to drown the IRS in the bathtub. We are the party that believes that climate change is a hoax. Vote for Republicans in 2022.
<a href=”https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/08/13/nation/bit-superhero-biden-turns-around-presidency-with-recent-successes-that-buoy-democrats-ahead-midterms/?event=event25″>‘A bit of a superhero.’ Biden turns around presidency with recent successes that buoy Democrats ahead of midterms</a>
On social media, his eyes glow Terminator-like in images depicting him as an all-powerful figure imposing his will on the nation.Known as “Dark Brandon,” the memes began as an ironic portrayal employing a nickname from the offensive, anti-Biden chant of “Let’s Go Brandon” embraced by former president Trump’s supporters.
But after a slew of recent legislative wins, Democrats have appropriated the imagery to celebrate a president suddenly rejuvenated heading toward the fall midterm elections …
“Dark Brandon is crushing it,” Andrew Bates, White House deputy press secretary, tweeted over a picture of a smiling Biden with robotic red eyes after the Senate approved one of his major initiatives, a majorclimate change and health care bill that received final congressional approvalFriday. …
On social media, his eyes glow Terminator-like in images depicting him as an all-powerful figure imposing his will on the nation.Known as “Dark Brandon,” the memes began as an ironic portrayal employing a nickname from the offensive, anti-Biden chant of “Let’s Go Brandon” embraced by former president Trump’s supporters.
But after a slew of recent legislative wins, Democrats have appropriated the imagery to celebrate a president suddenly rejuvenated heading toward the fall midterm elections …
“Dark Brandon is crushing it,” Andrew Bates, White House deputy press secretary, tweeted over a picture of a smiling Biden with robotic red eyes after the Senate approved one of his major initiatives, a majorclimate change and health care bill that received final congressional approvalFriday. Other aides and Biden supporters are posting similar depictions and references, such as one from Connecticut DemocratSenator Chris Murphyon Twitter that depicts Biden as a comic-book character with gleaming yellow eyes.
Biden emerged from isolation this past week after his bout with COVID to sign bipartisan bills boosting US computer chip production and expanding health care benefits for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits. In the coming days, he’s expected to sign the Inflation Reduction Act, legislation long sought by Democrats that tackles climate change and lowers prescription drug costs. …
It has been a good week on the inflation front. First we had a flat month for the Consumer Price Index — zero inflation in July. Then we saw an actual decline in the Producer Price Index.
Naturally, there is a lot of pushback against the good news. I’ve been seeing many warnings against believing those who claim that the problem of inflation has been solved. The thing is, I don’t know who is supposed to be making that claim. Every economist I know believes that America still has high underlying inflation. The real question is how hard it will be to get that underlying inflation down — whether we’re going to need an extended slump like the one we went through in the 1980s. And the answer to that question depends a lot on whether you think our current situation resembles that in 1980. …
… You might ask why, if expected inflation remains low, actual inflation is so high. The answer probably is that the U.S. economy is currently overheated in a way it wasn’t in 1980. And if that’s right, getting inflation down requires cooling the economy off, but not putting it through an extended slump.
So that’s the case for saying that 2022 isn’t 1980. Should we believe it?
Well, this relatively optimistic story isn’t concocted on the spot to downplay our problems; it’s squarely based on standard economic models. And my own experience is that when I make big prediction errors, it’s usually because I’ve decided that standard models won’t apply, then been unfavorably surprised to find them working after all. So I believe in a (relatively) optimistic inflation scenario … I think.
But even this optimistic scenario still involves cooling off the U.S. economy through interest rate hikes. So if there really are economists who believe that the inflation problem has already been solved, I’m not one of them.
The governor’s race this fall, along with a pivotal State Supreme Court contest next spring, will decide whether Republicans can solidify their grip on the swing state and remake its voting laws.
Nowhere in the country have Republican lawmakers been more aggressive in their attempts to seize a partisan edge than in Wisconsin. Having gerrymandered the Legislature past the point that it can be flipped, they are now pushing intensely to take greater control over the state’s voting infrastructure ahead of the 2024 presidential contest.
Two pivotal elections in the coming months are likely to decide if that happens.
The soaring stakes of the first, the November race for governor, became clear last week when Tim Michels, a construction magnate endorsed by former President Donald J. Trump, won the Republican primary.
His victory raised the prospect that Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat who has vetoed a range of Republican voting bills, could soon be replaced by a Trump ally who has embraced calls to dismantle the state’s bipartisan election commission, invoked conspiratorial films about the 2020 election and even expressed openness to the false idea that Mr. Trump’s loss can still be decertified.
The second election, an April contest to determine control of the narrowly divided Wisconsin Supreme Court, could be even more important.
Electing a liberal justice to replace the retiring conservative, Justice Patience D. Roggensack, would give Wisconsin Democrats an opportunity to enact a host of measures that currently have no shot at passing in the Republican-led Legislature. Bringing new lawsuits through the courts, they could potentially undo the gerrymandered legislative districts; reverse the drop box decision; and overturn the state’s 1849 law criminalizing abortion, which went back into effect in June when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade. …
The governor’s race this fall, along with a pivotal State Supreme Court contest next spring, will decide whether Republicans can solidify their grip on the swing state and remake its voting laws.
(First few paragraphs awaiting moderator’s approval.)
… Arizona has become a bellwether for the rest of the nation, and not just because of its new status as a swing state and the first of these to be called for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. It was and has continued to be the nexus of efforts by former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies to overturn the 2020 election results. …
First, it turned against the establishment. Now it has set its sights on democracy — the principles, the process and even the word itself.
First, it turned against the establishment. Now it has set its sights on democracy — the principles, the process and even the word itself.
This NYT article starts out citing particularly rabid GOP citizens in Arizona who deeply miss Senator Joe McCarthy of Wisconsin with all his paranoia back in the early Fifties and desperately want to get back to those days. Seems like the Wisconsin GOP is doing their best to make that happen. Scary stuff!
As Republicans continued on Sunday to defend former President Donald J. Trump after an unprecedented F.B.I. search of his residence in Florida, deep fissures were visible in the party’s support for law enforcement amid a federal investigation into Mr. Trump’s handling of top secret documents.
Immediately after the search, congressional Republicans, including members of leadership, reacted with fury, attacking the nation’s top law enforcement agencies. Some called to “defund” or “destroy” the F.B.I., and others invoked the Nazi secret police, using words like “gestapo” and “tyrants.”
On Sunday, more moderate voices in the party chastised their colleagues for the broadsides against law enforcement, making a more restrained case for defending Mr. Trump while also carrying out oversight of the Justice Department. …
Many Republicans called for the release of the affidavit supporting the search warrant that was executed last Monday, which would detail the evidence that had persuaded a judge there was probable cause to believe a search would find evidence of crimes. Such documents are typically not made public before charges are filed.
“It was an unprecedented action that needs to be supported by unprecedented justification,” Representative Brian Fitzpatrick, Republican of Pennsylvania and a former F.B.I. agent, said on CBS’s “Face the Nation. But he added, “I have urged all my colleagues to make sure they understand the weight of their words.”
The calls for a more cautious tone came as threats emerged against law enforcement. A gunman on Thursday attacked an F.B.I. office in Cincinnati, and on Friday, the Department of Homeland Security distributed an intelligence bulletin to law enforcement around the country that warned of “an increase in threats and acts of violence, including armed encounters, against law enforcement, judiciary and government personnel” after the search. …
Richard Pryor’s Daughter Rain Says He’d Be Shocked by Racism Today: ‘How the Hell Have We Gone Backwards?'”We were making strides. He would have definitely felt that we have gone in the opposite direction,” says Rain Pryor of her father, legendary comedian Richard Pryor, who died in 2005ByJeremy HelligarPublished on February 9, 2022 10:07 AM
Richard Pryor is widely regarded as a stand-up icon, someone who helped put Black comedians on the Hollywood map. But his daughter Rain Pryor says if her late father were alive today, he wouldn’t find much humor in America’s current racial division.
The 52-year-old actress discussed the legacy of her dad, who died in 2005 of a heart attack at age 65, with PEOPLE for the 2022 Black History Month issue.
“I think he felt he was part of a movement forward, and he would be scratching his head on how the hell have we gone backwards,” she says. “I think that’s how he would look at it, like, ‘We were making strides. Things were changing. We could say what we needed to say and move on.’ He would have definitely felt that we have gone in the opposite direction.”…
Ron (RC) Weakley (A.K.A., Darryl For A While At EV) says:
Just ran across the Pryor article while waxing nostalgic on a rainy day remembering Martin (MLK) and Bobby (RFK) tragically assassinated in 1968 and Pryor and Carlin who died of heart failure about four decades later. I am no fan of the Founding Fathers (except for Thomas Paine who was not around here later to take bows) nor do I have any heroes in politics nor sports or anything else, save but these four guys who spoke truth, not just to power, but for all to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Ron (RC) Weakley (A.K.A., Darryl For A While At EV) says:
BTW, is that pop-up ad about The Marxist Roots of CRT for or against CRT or Marxism for that matter? Just asking because there is no freaking way that I would open a link on a pop-up to find out what it was about.
For Electric Vehicle Makers, Winners and Losers in Climate Bill
NY Times – Aug 12
NY Times: … The legislation effectively penalizes newer electric car companies … whose vehicles may be too expensive to qualify for the credits. The incentives apply to sedans costing no more than $55,000 and pickups, vans or sport utility vehicles costing up to $80,000. …
Why is Donald Trump so powerful?
NY Times – August 11
He is brash, unabashed, quixotic, mendacious, sly, charismatic, unconscionable, amoral, wealthy, ‘privileged’ and generally unstoppable. What’s not to like?
My Jr High english teacher asked our class about ‘classic novels’.
I mentioned ‘Don Quixote’. He chastised me for calling it ‘Don Quicks-Oat’ and was of course corrected and berated for ignorance. Justifiably so. I then asked about the associated adjective ‘quixotic’, pronouncing it ‘Kee-Hoatic’. He was not amused.
We are the party that voted against military health care. We are the party that loves Big Pharma and dislikes diabetics. We are the party that condones violence against the Capitol Police Force and the FBI. We are the party that loves billionaires and wants to drown the IRS in the bathtub. We are the party that believes that climate change is a hoax. Vote for Republicans in 2022.
<a href=”https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/08/13/nation/bit-superhero-biden-turns-around-presidency-with-recent-successes-that-buoy-democrats-ahead-midterms/?event=event25″>‘A bit of a superhero.’ Biden turns around presidency with recent successes that buoy Democrats ahead of midterms</a>
Boston Globe – August 13
‘A bit of a superhero.’ Biden turns around presidency with recent successes that buoy Democrats ahead of midterms
Boston Globe – August 13
Wonking Out: Is 2022 Like 1980?
NY Times – Paul Krugman – August 12
In Wisconsin, 2 Huge Races Stand Between GOP and Near-Total Power
NY Times – August 15
In Wisconsin, 2 Huge Races Stand Between GOP and Near-Total Power
NY Times – August 15
The governor’s race this fall, along with a pivotal State Supreme Court contest next spring, will decide whether Republicans can solidify their grip on the swing state and remake its voting laws.
(First few paragraphs awaiting moderator’s approval.)
The Arizona Republican Party’s Anti-Democracy Experiment
NY Times – August 15
First, it turned against the establishment. Now it has set its sights on democracy — the principles, the process and even the word itself.
This NYT article starts out citing particularly rabid GOP citizens in Arizona who deeply miss Senator Joe McCarthy of Wisconsin with all his paranoia back in the early Fifties and desperately want to get back to those days. Seems like the Wisconsin GOP is doing their best to make that happen. Scary stuff!
As Republicans Move to Defend Trump, Deep Fissures Emerge in the Party
NY Times – August 14
I sincerely doubt this is true, but presumably some did.
Maybe the less rabid ones, more anxious about the future of the God Old USA than about their so-called GOP.
Best thing for them to do is quit their party, and at least become ‘unenrolled’.
https://people.com/movies/richard-pryor-daughter-says-he-would-be-shocked-by-racism-today-exclusive/
Richard Pryor’s Daughter Rain Says He’d Be Shocked by Racism Today: ‘How the Hell Have We Gone Backwards?'”We were making strides. He would have definitely felt that we have gone in the opposite direction,” says Rain Pryor of her father, legendary comedian Richard Pryor, who died in 2005ByJeremy HelligarPublished on February 9, 2022 10:07 AM
Richard Pryor is widely regarded as a stand-up icon, someone who helped put Black comedians on the Hollywood map. But his daughter Rain Pryor says if her late father were alive today, he wouldn’t find much humor in America’s current racial division.
The 52-year-old actress discussed the legacy of her dad, who died in 2005 of a heart attack at age 65, with PEOPLE for the 2022 Black History Month issue.
“I think he felt he was part of a movement forward, and he would be scratching his head on how the hell have we gone backwards,” she says. “I think that’s how he would look at it, like, ‘We were making strides. Things were changing. We could say what we needed to say and move on.’ He would have definitely felt that we have gone in the opposite direction.”…
Just ran across the Pryor article while waxing nostalgic on a rainy day remembering Martin (MLK) and Bobby (RFK) tragically assassinated in 1968 and Pryor and Carlin who died of heart failure about four decades later. I am no fan of the Founding Fathers (except for Thomas Paine who was not around here later to take bows) nor do I have any heroes in politics nor sports or anything else, save but these four guys who spoke truth, not just to power, but for all to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly.
BTW, is that pop-up ad about The Marxist Roots of CRT for or against CRT or Marxism for that matter? Just asking because there is no freaking way that I would open a link on a pop-up to find out what it was about.