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If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

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I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

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The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

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We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Mag Habs blabs

Mag Habs blabs

by Betty Cracker|  June 3, 20227:57 pm| 129 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Politics

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Scoop-de-doo from the NYT access lady:

The day before a mob of President Donald J. Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff called Mr. Pence’s lead Secret Service agent to his West Wing office.

The chief of staff, Marc Short, had a message for the agent, Tim Giebels: The president was going to turn publicly against the vice president, and there could be a security risk to Mr. Pence because of it.

The stark warning — the only time Mr. Short flagged a security concern during his tenure as Mr. Pence’s top aide — was uncovered recently during research by this reporter for an upcoming book, “Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America,” to be published in October.

When the mob stormed the Capitol Building, Giebels hustled Pence to the loading dock, where he refused to get in the car. According to Haberman’s article, aides say Pence wouldn’t get in the car because “it would let the rioters and others score a victory against a core democratic process.”

Huh. I still think he was afraid they’d clap a chloroformed cloth over his face and dump him in the Potomac. The January 6 hearings are gonna be LIT.

Open thread.

ETA: Excellent retort from President Biden on Elon Musk’s announcement that he’s laying off 10% of Tesla employees because he’s got the white hot fantods about the U.S. economy. POTUS even gets in a pro-union shot! Well done!

“Lots of luck on his trip to the moon.”

— President Biden responds to Elon Musk saying he has a “super bad feeling” about the economy pic.twitter.com/RNjXcP1Szn

— The Recount (@therecount) June 3, 2022

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Reader Interactions

129Comments

  1. 1.

    ruidh

    June 3, 2022 at 4:01 pm

    It’s scary how close we came to a stolen election. Who knew Pence had that much backbone?

  2. 2.

    JPL

    June 3, 2022 at 4:01 pm

    Let’s not give kudos too quickly for sharing info before the book comes out. The info will probably be released next week anyway.

    My kudos go to Pence because he did not make an escape and get in the car.   Why did he bring his family?

  3. 3.

    Kropacetic

    June 3, 2022 at 4:05 pm

    @JPL: Let’s not give credit anyway.  This is being released after it’s seriously actionable in any way and Habs was sent to the White House for four years as Trump’s personal turd polisher, a gift from the New York Times.

    Courtesy among fascists.

  4. 4.

    Parfigliano

    June 3, 2022 at 4:05 pm

    Would have been nice to know at that time but book sales come first

  5. 5.

    jnfr

    June 3, 2022 at 4:08 pm

    I’m really looking forward to the public hearings next week.

  6. 6.

    WaterGirl

    June 3, 2022 at 4:09 pm

    I saw that title in the dashboard and I SO wanted to peek and see what it was.  Hoping it’s as juicy as I have been hoping.

  7. 7.

    Grumpy Old Railroader

    June 3, 2022 at 4:11 pm

    @Parfigliano: Would have been nice to know at that time but book sales come first

    Sure wish all these dang books reporters are writing would hurry up and get published. Time’s a’wasting, justice delayed, digging for truth and all the clap trap we are supposed to believe about reporters. Guess capitalism demands they get rich off a book before we get the details

  8. 8.

    lollipopguild

    June 3, 2022 at 4:11 pm

    This is funny, really funny, when you think of it. The president(trump) wanted his vice president killed. If the mob had found pence and killed him, trump and others would have openly and loudly CELEBRATED! No writer of fiction-novel or script would have been allowed to write this unless it was done as farce/comedy.

  9. 9.

    WaterGirl

    June 3, 2022 at 4:12 pm

    That Biden comment “good luck with your trip to the moon” is right up there with “good luck with your asparagus”.

    I believe the shorter spelling of both phrases is “fuck you”.

  10. 10.

    coin operated

    June 3, 2022 at 4:12 pm

    Pence wouldn’t get in the car because “it would let the rioters and others score a victory against a core democratic process.”

    I call bullshit.  If I recall correctly, Adam posted up something to the effect that LTG (R) Kellogg, Pence’s NatSec Advisor, advised him not to get in the car.

  11. 11.

    Calouste

    June 3, 2022 at 4:12 pm

    @JPL: 

    My kudos go to Pence because he did not make an escape and get in the car. Why did he bring his family?

    So they couldn’t be held hostage?

  12. 12.

    VOR

    June 3, 2022 at 4:12 pm

    IIRC a high-ranking Secret Service person was working in the TFG administration as an advisor. Pence may have thought if he got in the car, then the TFG-loyalists in the Secret Service would take him to a safe, undisclosed location somewhere in Outer Mongolia or the dark side of the moon. You know, for his own protection.

  13. 13.

    germy shoemangler

    June 3, 2022 at 4:13 pm

    Elon Musk’s announcement that he’s laying off 10% of Tesla employees because he’s got the white hot fantods about the U.S. economy.

    Musk:  “I’ve got a bad feeling about the economy tanking.  I think I’ll help out by raising the unemployment rate.”

  14. 14.

    WaterGirl

    June 3, 2022 at 4:14 pm

    Betty, John must have thought this was an Anne Laurie post. :-)

  15. 15.

    trollhattan

    June 3, 2022 at 4:14 pm

    Musk has also decided remote work Ist verboten and said that if you don’t return to the office he will accept it as your resignation. Mr. Buzzkill.

  16. 16.

    Wag

    June 3, 2022 at 4:15 pm

    @ruidh:   I hope Mother is proud of her little man.  As much as I hate to admit it, I’m kinda proud of him for this one patriotic act.

  17. 17.

    Kay

    June 3, 2022 at 4:16 pm

    So Musk is just vaguely threatening to fire “10%” of his employees?

    See, if he was a normal non-genuis he would lay people off the ordinary way, one by one, and then all his best employees wouldn’t hit the door knowing they can be instantly employed elsewhere.

    It’s how a moron would do it.

  18. 18.

    germy shoemangler

    June 3, 2022 at 4:17 pm

    MSM would have done well to do a deeper dive on Andrew Yang, the man was clearly a chaos agent and a charlatan and he was given prominent placement on two major political stages (Dem-POTUS & NYC mayoral race) without bona fides for either one. @AndrewYang

    — NoelCaslerComedy (@caslernoel) June 1, 2022

    You can apply this to Tulsi Gabbard too @TulsiGabbard we can’t let these agents of disruption infiltrate Democratic politics. Think of the damage done already, don’t let it happen in 2024 and beyond.

    — NoelCaslerComedy (@caslernoel) June 1, 2022

  19. 19.

    germy shoemangler

    June 3, 2022 at 4:18 pm

    @Kay: So Musk is just vaguely threatening to fire “10%” of his employees?

    that should certainly help employee morale.

  20. 20.

    Kay

    June 3, 2022 at 4:18 pm

    @germy shoemangler:

    I sort of agree. I was always “let them in” but a little Party discipline wouldn’t hurt.

  21. 21.

    Baud

    June 3, 2022 at 4:19 pm

    Biden’s quip dovetails nicely with the Ford commercial.

  22. 22.

    germy shoemangler

    June 3, 2022 at 4:20 pm

    @trollhattan:

    While simultaneously bragging online about how many video games he’s been playing.

  23. 23.

    bupalos

    June 3, 2022 at 4:20 pm

    That whole delivery from Biden was about the best tight 20 seconds I’ve seen out of him in forever and “Good luck on his trip to the moon” is an absolute classic.

  24. 24.

    Baud

    June 3, 2022 at 4:20 pm

    @Kay: Heh.  Good luck with that.

  25. 25.

    Barbara

    June 3, 2022 at 4:21 pm

    @germy shoemangler: It’s the employees you can least afford to lose who end up leaving as a result of hamhanded management tactics like this.

  26. 26.

    Kay

    June 3, 2022 at 4:21 pm

    @germy shoemangler:

    The ordinary non-genuis idea is you would pick the 10% ahead of time and not tell all the people you want to keep. 

    But far be it from to stand in the way of innovation. He should fire them alphabetically, perhaps. Maybe by Zodiac sign.

  27. 27.

    MisterForkbeard

    June 3, 2022 at 4:23 pm

    I clicked through the twitter link about Biden’s comeback, and holy shit are the Musk fanatics out in force. “Companies get rid of 10% of their workforce all the time!” “This is just Elon finding out who shares his vision by making things bad for people who don’t want to be there. Genius!” or “Why is the media LYING about this? It’s making Tesla shares go down when this actually indicates that he’s being financially responsible. Shares should go up!”

    Etc. Scary stuff. It’s exactly like it is with Trump every two weeks when we uncover some new horrible fact about his coup attempt.

  28. 28.

    germy shoemangler

    June 3, 2022 at 4:23 pm

    @Barbara: @Kay:

    My wife owned some Tesla stock a few years ago.

    She sold after seeing Musk interviewed on TV.  He gave off strong “this boy ain’t right” vibes to her.

  29. 29.

    Baud

    June 3, 2022 at 4:24 pm

    @MisterForkbeard: 

    Musk fanatics out in force.

    After the Depp/Heard trial, who’s to say that that’s not just Musk out in force.

    (Not that he doesn’t have his fanatics).

  30. 30.

    WaterGirl

    June 3, 2022 at 4:25 pm

    @coin operated: I believe the bit about the national security advisor was speculation, not fact.

  31. 31.

    MisterForkbeard

    June 3, 2022 at 4:27 pm

    @germy shoemangler: Specifically, he’s clarified that it totally doesn’t count because he’s just going to fire a lot of salaried employees, but the hourly folks who actually build his cars and get paid much won’t be touched.

    Incidentally, when you have huge problems meeting internal deadlines, supply chain issues, and your cars have significant design problems cutting your core salaried white collar employees is not how you solve those problems.

    Why don’t we all recognize his jeenyus? Yeesh.

  32. 32.

    Citizen Alan

    June 3, 2022 at 4:35 pm

    @Kay: 

    Maybe Muskrat is angling for a job hosting a rebooted The Apprentice. As I recall, the premise of the show was a “successful tycoon” firing 10% of his workforce every week for contrived reasons. As Mitchell & Webb noted years ago.

  33. 33.

    Steeplejack

    June 3, 2022 at 4:35 pm

    Peter Navarro live (on MSNBC, maybe other outlets) slinging some seditionist bullshit. At least he hasn’t mentioned “Green Bay sweep” yet.

  34. 34.

    Another Scott

    June 3, 2022 at 4:35 pm

    @germy shoemangler:  Elon’s probably just riffing off Jack Welch’s famous commandment about firing the bottom 10%. There’s a book out now/soon on “How Jack Welch Destroyed Capitalism” or something. The powerhouse that Jack built is now a pile of dead embers. I guess Elon wants the same thing for his little empire (Jack made out like a bandit, so it was all good for him.).

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  35. 35.

    Calouste

    June 3, 2022 at 4:36 pm

    @MisterForkbeard: I was just browsing wikipedia a little, and Tesla produces about 9 cars per employee per year. Ford and Toyota (and I assume most of the other large car manufacturers) are in the 20-25 range. 10% lay offs sounds like it’s just the start.

  36. 36.

    Steeplejack

    June 3, 2022 at 4:37 pm

    @Steeplejack:

    Ha! MSNBC cut away because John Heilemann said they had reached their limit on “bug-eyed gibberish.”

  37. 37.

    bupalos

    June 3, 2022 at 4:38 pm

    @MisterForkbeard:

    The preface to Biden’s barb is the actual dig here- Ford is hiring to do trucks that have a huge waiting list. The reality for Tesla is pretty much EVERY automaker foreign and domestic is jumping into electrics hard, and while Tesla is a top 3 competitor in the space, they’re going to have to work awfully hard just to keep the spot they have now with everything that’s coming. The Korean companies are already very close, VW’s ID lines look like a really smart way to deliver a bunch of models with manufacturing efficiency. And frankly Elon is pissing off a lot of lefties that otherwise want his cars, but are going to have a lot of options soon.

    Meanwhile, Tesla is priced more like it’s already guaranteed to be #1 through the next decade. First mover in cars isn’t going to be anything like first mover in online retailing or social media, they’re going to have to keep building something that people want more than the competition and they aren’t going to be able to run anyone out based on early volume.

  38. 38.

    Jinchi

    June 3, 2022 at 4:38 pm

    I’d think that the CEO of the most well-known electric car company would see record high gas prices as a golden opportunity, but I guess Elon is still looking for an excuse to bail on the Twitter deal.

  39. 39.

    Steeplejack

    June 3, 2022 at 4:41 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    Cole is the yeti of bigfooters.

  40. 40.

    Tony Jay

    June 3, 2022 at 4:43 pm

    Elon Musk’s announcement that he’s laying off 10% of Tesla employees because he’s got the white hot fantods about the U.S. economy

    FFS. Someone clearly mixed herb and vine while watching ‘The Fifth Element’. This time next week he’ll be shaving one side of his head and covering it in cling film.

  41. 41.

    Another Scott

    June 3, 2022 at 4:43 pm

    re the Biden clip in the tweet above.

    [ rofl, snort! ]

    The shoulder shrug and hands was perfect.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  42. 42.

    Calouste

    June 3, 2022 at 4:43 pm

    @bupalos: I also suspect that it is going to be a lot cheaper/easier/faster for say Toyota to convert the production lines they already have for 9 million vehicles per year from ICE vehicles to EVs, than it is for Tesla to build production capacity for an additional 8 million vehicles (they produce about 1 million at the moment).

  43. 43.

    Mike in NC

    June 3, 2022 at 4:45 pm

    @Steeplejack:  Navarro and Bannon always struck me as two of the Fat Orange Clown’s most deplorable henchmen, and are still plotting the next coup attempt.

  44. 44.

    JPL

    June 3, 2022 at 4:46 pm

    @Steeplejack: Good.

  45. 45.

    Mike in NC

    June 3, 2022 at 4:46 pm

    @Another Scott:  I worked as a contractor at a GE facility for four years. That company treated everybody like dirt.

  46. 46.

    Boris Rasputin (the evil twin)

    June 3, 2022 at 4:47 pm

    Huh. I still think he was afraid they’d clap a chloroformed cloth over his face and dump him in the Potomac.

    The problem with chloroform is the dosage; there’s always a chance they’ll wake up.

  47. 47.

    JPL

    June 3, 2022 at 4:47 pm

    @Tony Jay: Since Ford just released an ad mocking him, and with the president’s comments today, I’m sure you’re right.

  48. 48.

    Tony Jay

    June 3, 2022 at 4:47 pm

    @Jinchi:

    Who was it that said on, like, day one of Musk’s ‘Amazing Twitter Adventure’ that the whole thing was just a con to drive up the price of Tesla stock so he could sell a ton of it?

    His increasingly bizarre preconditions for actually going through with the deal are making that look positively prophetic.

  49. 49.

    Jinchi

    June 3, 2022 at 4:47 pm

    @Kay: The ordinary non-genuis idea is you would pick the 10% ahead of time and not tell all the people you want to keep

    If I were in the top 10% of a company where the leader made a comment like that I’d get a new job immediately, before the company reputation was trashed.

  50. 50.

    Kay

    June 3, 2022 at 4:47 pm

    @germy shoemangler:

    Me too. He’s a bullshitter. Tesla also hired people from here because we have a lot of skilled workers in automotive and some tried it. They came back. They think it’s poorly run and the quality isn’t there. I don’t really understand the specifics but the story was Musk presents what these people see as “work arounds” as “innovations”. So he doesn’t invest in what he would need to do higher volume but instead says “I found a better way to do it” which they think at any other automaker would be “we’re just patching this short term”. It wouldn’t “count” as an innovation.

  51. 51.

    HeleninEire

    June 3, 2022 at 4:50 pm

    How did Marc Short know this? Put another way, who on Trump’s staff told Pence’s staff?

  52. 52.

    Another Scott

    June 3, 2022 at 4:51 pm

    @Mike in NC:  The writing was on the wall when IBM and GE and AT&T and all the other industrial giants cut way, way back on internal research. Once chasing the almighty quarterly earnings reports were all that mattered, and everything essential for the future became a “cost center”, it was only a matter of time before the giant was slain. Jack and the other MotUs looting the companies for their personal benefit made it all worse.

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  53. 53.

    VOR

    June 3, 2022 at 4:53 pm

    @Calouste: I looked at buying a Tesla model Y last year. Eventually decided to stick with an ICE vehicle in the near term.

    Tesla is doing some innovative things with their manufacturing. The “Gigacasting” idea of making large assemblies using cast aluminum rather than welding potentially 100s of pieces of steel. Constantly improving designs and rolling out the changes into production ASAP rather than waiting for the next model year.

    OTOH, there are downsides to treating hardware products as software. You can buy two cars built a month apart and find they have different parts, different assemblies. Can those large castings be repaired or are vehicles going to have to be totaled out after every crash? And I dislike the idea of getting rid of all buttons in favor of touchscreen menus – I like tactile feedback and I live in a place where we wear gloves several months of the year.

    But Musk’s own behavior is probably the biggest negative right now. I want a CEO focused on his company, not his Twitter profile.

  54. 54.

    trollhattan

    June 3, 2022 at 4:53 pm

    @Kay: 
    He was smart WRT the Gigafactory where teamed with Panasonic, Tesla has ginormous battery production capacity. IDK where the bigs are sourcing batteries but it’s got to be a bigger hurdle than chip shortages over the long haul. They also guessed right with DC charging.

  55. 55.

    JMG

    June 3, 2022 at 4:55 pm

    First auto company with an electric pickup truck wins the race for the US market. Doubt that’ll be Tesla.

  56. 56.

    trollhattan

    June 3, 2022 at 4:58 pm

    @VOR: And I dislike the idea of getting rid of all buttons in favor of touchscreen menus – I like tactile feedback and I live in a place where we wear gloves several months of the year.

    Yup, hate taking my eye away from, you know, driving to ponder which hunk of a smooth, large surface I need to poke in order to do…whatever. Am also now seeing steering wheels festooned with literally two dozen buttons and dials. I get the concept (“keep you eyes on the road and your hands upon the wheel”) but you still have to LEARN them to use them, presuming you ever do.

    Even the seemingly innocuous changing a volume dial to up/down buttons is a step backwards.

  57. 57.

    trollhattan

    June 3, 2022 at 5:01 pm

    Florida Man

    CNN — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis blocked state funding for a new Tampa Bay Rays training facility partly because the baseball team spoke out against gun violence in the wake of back-to-back gun-related massacres in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York, a source familiar with the internal conversations told CNN.

    DeSantis on Thursday used his line-item veto powers to eliminate $35 million for a sports training and youth tournament complex in Pasco County, in the Tampa Bay area, which local officials hoped could serve as the new player development facility for the Rays. On Friday, he said he eliminated the funding because “I don’t support giving taxpayer dollars to professional sports stadiums.”

    But a source said the Republican leader had not made up his mind until the Rays took an organizational stance calling for action in the wake of the latest mass shootings.

    Two days after a gunman killed 19 children and two adults at a Texas elementary school, the Rays announced a $50,000 donation to Everytown for Gun Safety, an organization that advocates policies to prevent gun violence. The Major League Baseball team also tweeted a statement calling for action.

    “This cannot be normal,” the tweet read. “We cannot become numb. We cannot look the other way. We all know, if nothing changes, nothing changes.”

    It would not be the first time DeSantis has moved against a company that took a political position opposite to him. DeSantis signed a bill in April to strip Disney of its special governing status in Florida after the company publicly criticized a new state law that bans certain classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity.

    DeSantis on Friday hinted at his displeasure with the Rays’ remarks, telling reporters at a news conference that it was “inappropriate to subsidize political activism of a private corporation.” But he added, “Either way, it’s not appropriate, but we were not in a situation where use of tax dollars for a professional stadium would have been a prudent use.”

    A spokeswoman for the Rays did not respond to a request for comment.

    Everybody is the enemy. Everybody.

  58. 58.

    Matt McIrvin

    June 3, 2022 at 5:02 pm

    @bupalos: I really like the Hyundai hybrid I got, and if I were looking for an electric I might well go for a Hyundai there too–their latest EV model is getting rave reviews, but it sounds like it might be hard to buy at the moment

    At this point, no way would I buy a Tesla. Like VOR, I never liked their idea of replacing nearly all of the dash controls and displays with a touchscreen mounted right in the middle. The weird centrally mounted display in the Toyota Prius bothers me enough.

  59. 59.

    Geminid

    June 3, 2022 at 5:04 pm

    @Steeplejack: Trump was a trash magnet, but he was also a crazyness enhancer. Navarro’s career shows he never had much balance, and now he’s spinning into the void.

  60. 60.

    HinTN

    June 3, 2022 at 5:05 pm

    @bupalos: I looked seriously at an ID before settling on a Hybrid RAV4. VW wasn’t ready to deliver within 4 to 6 months and I wasn’t ready to commit to trusting the infrastructure across the southeast for long trips. I love my Toyotas, our 2015 Hybrid Camry and now this one!

  61. 61.

    burnspbesq

    June 3, 2022 at 5:07 pm

    Elon made a huge strategic mistake when he committed to opening the Supercharger network to non-Tesla vehicles—and compounded the mistake by saying it on an earnings call. The Supercharger network is Tesla’s last remaining advantage that can’t be competed away, because it got there first and snapped up the prime locations. But he can’t renege, because he would then be guilty of securities fraud.

  62. 62.

    debbie

    June 3, 2022 at 5:09 pm

    Glad to read this:

    It turns out the Armed Forces of Ukraine lured the Russian fascist invaders into a trap in Severodonetsk. After giving up most of the city, Ukrainian defenders counter-attacked, recaptured Met'olkine, and shifted the battle north. 30% of Severodonetsk is back under UA control.— Michael MacKay (@mhmck) June 3, 2022

  63. 63.

    Baud

    June 3, 2022 at 5:10 pm

    @burnspbesq:

    But he can’t renege, because he would then be guilty of securities fraud again.

     

    Fixed.

  64. 64.

    Matt McIrvin

    June 3, 2022 at 5:11 pm

    @JMG: Tesla’s “Cybertruck” was announced in 2019, was a gimmicky abomination that looked like something from a low-polygon Nintendo 64 game, and apparently still isn’t out. Ford is going to beat them to market with the electric F-150.

  65. 65.

    HinTN

    June 3, 2022 at 5:12 pm

    @Calouste: The folks at Toyota told me that if 10% of the entire ICE fleet in the USA converted to fully electric the grid couldn’t support it. I think they’re into perfecting hybrids for the near term. My RAV4 gets 40 mpg cruising at 70 (+).

  66. 66.

    burnspbesq

    June 3, 2022 at 5:12 pm

    @HinTN:

    I loved my ID.4. But I love my Taycan even more.

  67. 67.

    debbie

    June 3, 2022 at 5:12 pm

    Asshole actually said it out loud:

    “If you’re a Republican, you can’t even lie to Congress or lie to an FBI agent or they’re coming after you… Of course you’re gonna lie. Everybody lies!”

    —Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX)

    (h/t @JasonSCampbell) pic.twitter.com/Rf0G5C8E0s
    — No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) June 3, 2022

  68. 68.

    Steeplejack

    June 3, 2022 at 5:15 pm

    Re Musk and Tesla: I don’t know enough about early automotive history, but Tesla has the vibe of an early, perhaps innovative company that couldn’t scale and got crushed by the big players. Maybe like an REO or a Stutz?

  69. 69.

    Baud

    June 3, 2022 at 5:16 pm

    @debbie: 

    First non-lie he’s ever said.

  70. 70.

    burnspbesq

    June 3, 2022 at 5:16 pm

    @Baud:

    I think you meant “yet again.”

    Not sure what the SEC is waiting for. In civil enforcement actions, the burden of proof is only preponderance of the evidence, and it could bar him from serving as a director or officer of any public company. Much hilarity would ensue, and Tesla could hire a new CEO who actually understands the car business.

  71. 71.

    trollhattan

    June 3, 2022 at 5:17 pm

    @HinTN: They’re painting with an awfully broad brush. If EVs are to overwhelm the grid it will be in select regions. California, with a ninth of the country’s population, will be ready.

    Texas? Probably not.

  72. 72.

    Matt McIrvin

    June 3, 2022 at 5:18 pm

    @HinTN: Toyota also made a bet on hydrogen fuel cell cars, which I think is kind of hopeless–electric grids will be able to support an all-EV fleet before there’s enough fueling infrastructure to make hydrogen cars practical.

  73. 73.

    Steep’s Helper

    June 3, 2022 at 5:19 pm

    @Boris Rasputin (the evil twin):

    How’d you like an apostrophe in your nym?

  74. 74.

    Matt McIrvin

    June 3, 2022 at 5:19 pm

    @Steeplejack: Tucker? DeLorean?

  75. 75.

    prufrock

    June 3, 2022 at 5:20 pm

    @bupalos: 

    And frankly Elon is pissing off a lot of lefties that otherwise want his cars, but are going to have a lot of options soon.

    Oh, I feel seen.

  76. 76.

    Another Scott

    June 3, 2022 at 5:21 pm

    @debbie: More from KyivIndependent (via Google Translate):

    Source: head of the Luhansk regional military administration Serhiy Haidai on the air of the all-Ukrainian telethon

    Gaidai’s direct speech : “If before there was a difficult situation and the percentage (of the city – UE) was about 70 captured, now 20% of them (Russian occupiers – UE) have already moved back.

    They are, of course, trying to transfer some forces to capture Severodonetsk. But even the Deeners are already refusing to fight for what they call the Luhansk People’s Republic.

    Details: According to Gaidai, every day the Russian occupiers suffer heavy losses in the battles for Severodonetsk, both in manpower and in armored vehicles. He added that in recent days there have been reports of the death of “Kadyrovites.” In his opinion, this may indicate that the Russian military has convinced itself of its lie that the city is already completely under the control of the Russian army, and therefore “Kadyrovites” can safely enter there.

    He disagreed with some Western military experts that Russian invaders would be able to gain control of the city within two weeks. Gaidai said that the Armed Forces are receiving reinforcements that significantly strengthen our forces and prevent the Russians from capturing the city.

    […]

    More at the link.

    Godspeed to the Ukrainians!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  77. 77.

    mrmoshpotato

    June 3, 2022 at 5:23 pm

    Mag Habs blabs

    LMAO!

  78. 78.

    debbie

    June 3, 2022 at 5:25 pm

    @Another Scott:

    I’m seeing Twitter disagreements over percentages, but as long as they’re being pushed back…

  79. 79.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    June 3, 2022 at 5:26 pm

    Elon Musk’s announcement that he’s laying off 10% of Tesla employees because he’s got the white hot fantods about the U.S. economy.

    If his business is crashing with these gas prices then maybe he should shut his trap and stop trolling his liberal customers for the LUZ. There is a reason why every other CEO is careful what they say in public, Elon…

  80. 80.

    Feathers

    June 3, 2022 at 5:27 pm

    @Another Scott:  From my BSchool days, I remember a chat with a professor who said that you can tell you are dealing with a fool when they just want to reapply something that was successful once, over and over again. Firing 10% might well be the right thing to do when you’ve got a company that’s been in the doldrums for a long time. But you can’t expect anything other than chaos and poor morale when you get the brainiac idea to fire the “bottom” 10% every year. People become afraid to join strong teams and gaming stats becomes all consuming.

  81. 81.

    Feathers

    June 3, 2022 at 5:29 pm

    @trollhattan: It would be great if the coming of EVs is what allows the feds to do something about the atrocious state of the national electric grid.

  82. 82.

    germy shoemangler

    June 3, 2022 at 5:30 pm

    [Navarro’s] appearance in federal court on Friday afternoon before Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui was anything but normal, seeming more like a heated TV appearance than the typical muted hearing. Navarro, who already knew he was under investigation by the Justice Department, said he specifically asked an FBI agent who visited him at his apartment in D.C. on Wednesday to contact him if they planned to arrest him. Instead, he fumed, an FBI team caught up with him just as he was boarding a plane at the airport on his way to Nashville for a TV hit.

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/justice-department-charges-donald-trump-loyalist-peter-navarro-with-contempt-for-ghosting-capitol-riot-panel?ref=home
    “I actually live right next to the FBI. It’s like a 100-yard walk to my door. What did they do instead of that? They let me get all the way to the airport, try to board the plane, come at me, put me in handcuffs, not let me use my phone, take me down, and put me in a jail cell,” he told the judge. “Who are these people? This is not America. I was with distinguished public servants for four years. Nobody ever questioned my ethics.”

  83. 83.

    Another Scott

    June 3, 2022 at 5:30 pm

    @Steeplejack: There was a huge amount of churn in the early days of automobiles.  Ford Motor Company was Henry Ford’s 3rd car company – the first 2 failed.  Henry had a huge advantage with the Model T and finding ways to cut production costs to crush competitors, but GM found ways to compete anyway and Ford was never as dominant again.

    I don’t know if Tesla will be around as an independent company in 20 years.  It’s hard to know how they and the rest of the industry is going to change.  (Ford setting up a separate EV company.) Legacy costs almost killed GM, Ford, and Chrysler not that long ago. Legacy costs from internal combustion transportation are huge, also too.

    Big changes are coming. CEOs that get in twitter battles about cartoons and other stupid stuff aren’t doing their businesses any favors…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  84. 84.

    debbie

    June 3, 2022 at 5:33 pm

    @germy shoemangler:

    “Nobody ever questioned my ethics.”

    That was our first mistake…

  85. 85.

    Steep’s Helper

    June 3, 2022 at 5:34 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Well, they came along later—Tucker in the ’40s, DeLorean in the ’70s. I was thinking of “pioneering” companies that had a shot against Ford, Buick et al. in the beginning and lost out.

  86. 86.

    HinTN

    June 3, 2022 at 5:35 pm

    @burnspbesq: Handling in the curves, eh?

  87. 87.

    HinTN

    June 3, 2022 at 5:37 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: I agree with that. The logistics of hydrogen are crazy.

  88. 88.

    Another Scott

    June 3, 2022 at 5:38 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    The Supertruck strikes me more like the Vector W8. Neato specs! Coming Real Soon Now!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  89. 89.

    Ken

    June 3, 2022 at 5:40 pm

    @VOR:  And I dislike the idea of getting rid of all buttons in favor of touchscreen menus

    Especially in a context where the Blue Screen of Death could easily be literal.

  90. 90.

    Ken

    June 3, 2022 at 5:45 pm

    @debbie: In a just world, Gohmert would have begun chanting “but if everything a lie then it is a lie when I say everything is a lie but then everything is true so it is true that everything is a lie but…” and caught fire like a Star Trek android.

    (Though in a truly just world, Gohmert would be the guy on the back of the city truck who hops out to shovel up the roadkill, and even that might strain his capabilities.)

  91. 91.

    Ken

    June 3, 2022 at 5:47 pm

    @germy shoemangler: he specifically asked an FBI agent who visited him at his apartment in D.C. on Wednesday to contact him if they planned to arrest him

    Surely a courtesy that any citizen can expect.

    Actually what I’m expecting is they’re going to find an open first-class ticket to Bahrain in his house, and that will be sufficient evidence of flight risk to deny bail.

  92. 92.

    matt

    June 3, 2022 at 5:49 pm

    My theory is that the comments today from the Emerald Dandy were made to provide some rational sounding context for his Tiger Oil-like ‘go pretend to work somewhere else’ memo leaked earlier in the week.

  93. 93.

    MisterForkbeard

    June 3, 2022 at 5:52 pm

    @trollhattan: More precisely, ‘anyone who says ANYTHING about a position that Republicans oppose’ is the enemy. Doesn’t matter who you are, if you even make anodyne comments then the State is going to come after you.

  94. 94.

    MisterForkbeard

    June 3, 2022 at 5:54 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: We recently moved to Volvo’s hybrid and EV options, and I have to say that Tesla really doesn’t have that much of a leg up on anyone right now.

    They’ve got a valuable brand, but other companies are delivering experiences very close to the Tesla cars, but with better quality control, cheaper cars, and in some cases better interiors and support/repair.

    Tesla’s big problem has always been reliability and scale while they charge boutique prices, and I really don’t see that changing.

  95. 95.

    Baud

    June 3, 2022 at 5:58 pm

    US has over 750 complaints of Teslas braking for no reason
    https://apnews.com/article/technology-politics-health-cd1a51e26baa07678de50cab8ae90ee0

  96. 96.

    prostratedragon

    June 3, 2022 at 6:02 pm

    @germy shoemangler: ​ Well, per my favorite version of a favorite oldie, “Life can’t always be a song”.

  97. 97.

    Another Scott

    June 3, 2022 at 6:08 pm

    @MisterForkbeard:  I keep hoping and expecting at least a 2-speed transmission in reasonably-priced EVs soon. Tesla was promising one, and working on one, for the Roadster for years before Elon came along. They couldn’t get get one that didn’t eat itself. The Porsche Taycan / Audi e-Tron GT may be still be the only ones that have one now (I haven’t checked recently). It looks like ZF is claiming about a 5% increase in range at the moment (as of 2019), but they’re mostly used for quicker acceleration in sports cars at the moment.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  98. 98.

    HinTN

    June 3, 2022 at 6:09 pm

    @Baud: The 2015 Lexus IS 250C that I traded for the RAV4 had that nasty Toyota habit of trying to accelerate while foot was on the brake. I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt and say that my fat foot was to blame but it was disconcertingly frequent enough to tip me away from my sexy geezer car into my boxy geezer car.

  99. 99.

    MisterForkbeard

    June 3, 2022 at 6:14 pm

    @debbie: So to be clear, he thinks Durham was fucking around with Sussman and that Durhams (proven egregiously false) accusation was bullshit to begin with?

  100. 100.

    MisterForkbeard

    June 3, 2022 at 6:16 pm

    @debbie: I mean, I remember literally four years of questioning his ethics from various watchdog groups, but sure. They should have questioned them more forcefully. Maybe by firing him from a cannon into the sun.

  101. 101.

    MisterForkbeard

    June 3, 2022 at 6:18 pm

    @Another Scott: You want to know about something cool? There’s an EV Jeep that’s a manual transmission. Yeah: https://www.kbb.com/car-news/jeep-magneto-an-ev-with-a-manual-transmission/

    Won’t be on the market for a couple of years at least, but they have working ones now.

  102. 102.

    billcinsd

    June 3, 2022 at 6:21 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: Last year I was car shopping and wanted to get a plug-in Ioniq hybrid from Hyundai. I went to the local Hyundai dealer, and they said they could get 2 every 5 years. I ended up with a Sonata Hybrid, which gets like 50+ mpg

  103. 103.

    zhena gogolia

    June 3, 2022 at 6:22 pm

    @bupalos: My husband said, “He’s the wittiest president we’ve ever had!”

  104. 104.

    prostratedragon

    June 3, 2022 at 6:22 pm

    @Calouste:  Bingo!

  105. 105.

    prostratedragon

    June 3, 2022 at 6:27 pm

    @germy shoemangler:  [ cough-cough ] Donald Trump. Acres of gossip patter is not a deep dive.

    ETA Not Democrat I know, but the public sphere in general is at as much risk, and it should have been in anyone’s interest to take him down as hard as possible from the beginning. Unless of course they wanted to exploit the chaos themselves.

  106. 106.

    Another Scott

    June 3, 2022 at 6:34 pm

    @MisterForkbeard:  Neato. It will be good to see if they have solved the reliability issues.

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  107. 107.

    SamIAm

    June 3, 2022 at 6:45 pm

    @germy shoemangler: 

    Oh what a bunch of bull. Both of them polled south of three percent together.

    Don’t push a Liberal version of the Dolchstoßlegende.

  108. 108.

    Matt McIrvin

    June 3, 2022 at 6:48 pm

    @Ken: Logic is a little tweeting bird chirping in a meadow. Logic is a wreath of pretty flowers which smell BAD.

  109. 109.

    Matt McIrvin

    June 3, 2022 at 6:49 pm

    @MisterForkbeard: Is there a reason to put a manual transmission in an EV other than old-school vibes?

  110. 110.

    Matt McIrvin

    June 3, 2022 at 6:54 pm

    @WaterGirl: It’s a little awkward given that the reason Elon Musk even has his own viable space program is his contracts with NASA, under a program that I think started under Obama–and currently SpaceX is their astronauts’ only reliable ride, because Boeing repeatedly screwed the pooch. Of course I suspect Musk had very little to do with any of that success.

  111. 111.

    Geminid

    June 3, 2022 at 6:55 pm

    @Feathers: The Infrastructure bill passed last year included $65 billion to help upgrade the nation’s electrical grid. More investment is needed it, but this is a start.

    Almost all the nation’s electrical grid is privately owned. Utility regulators can mandate private investments to upgrade the grid that ratepayers will pay for.

    This is actually an interesting topic to research. There is a lot going on in this area, both technical and political.

  112. 112.

    UncleEbeneezer

    June 3, 2022 at 6:57 pm

    Here is a really great PDF Primer for all you need to know about the upcoming January 6th hearings. It shows the four teams of the Commission, what they focussed on, what we know (from publicly available info) and what to look for:

    1.) GOLD TEAM

    Efforts by Trump and close associates to pressure federal, state, and local officials to overturn the election

    2.) BLUE TEAM

    Law enforcement and intelligence agency failures

    3.) PURPLE TEAM

    Domestic extremist groups, QAnon, and online misinformation

    4.) RED TEAM

    Jan. 6 Rally planners and the Stop the Steal Movement

  113. 113.

    Citizen Alan

    June 3, 2022 at 6:58 pm

    @trollhattan:

    Texas probably can’t handle everyone in the state turning on their air conditioners all at the same time.

  114. 114.

    Geminid

    June 3, 2022 at 7:10 pm

    @Citizen Alan: Between hurricanes and heatwaves, this will be a challenging summer for Texas’s electrical grid. Greg Abbott’s reelection bid may end up hostage to the weather.

  115. 115.

    JDM

    June 3, 2022 at 7:11 pm

    I agree with the poster and not some commenters re Pence.  I don’t think he had any more backbone than he’s shown since (none, in case that wasn’t clear).  I think he didn’t want to get in the car for the same reason you don’t want to get in the car that Big Tony the bookmaker sent for you when you owe money.

  116. 116.

    MisterForkbeard

    June 3, 2022 at 7:18 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: Nope. It’s purely to replicate the feel for people who like offroading and manually shifting.

  117. 117.

    germy shoemangler

    June 3, 2022 at 7:20 pm

    @SamIAm: 

    “You’re exaggerating. Stop exaggerating,” he exaggerated.

  118. 118.

    Martin

    June 3, 2022 at 7:32 pm

    So, I’ve known Peter Navarro for 25 years. I have despised Peter Navarro for 25 years.

    Navarro is the kind of person who believes he is more special than anyone else around him. Rules do not, and have never applied to him, and he will protect that privilege by driving everyone around him fucking insane. He will call you and scream at you, show up at your desk, and so on. I spent a considerable amount of my time running interference for my staff and steering his ire at me, and then working through the disciplinary process against him.

    That it’s reported he’s shocked that this indictment happened, and that he’s now in jail. Not surprising at all to me that he feels that way. Consequences were always for other people. I’d be overjoyed today if not for the need to save some of that for when he’s convicted and sentenced.

  119. 119.

    germy shoemangler

    June 3, 2022 at 7:33 pm

    @Martin:

    He’s been released from jail, the latest I read

    Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui released Navarro on personal recognizance on standard conditions that he notify the court before travel, adding, “If the government has acted improperly,” the judge assigned to the criminal case “will hold their feet to the fire and make sure there are consequences.”

    (Washington Post)

  120. 120.

    Martin

    June 3, 2022 at 7:39 pm

    @trollhattan: I wouldn’t be so quick on that. Moving to 100% EVs will consume about as much power as all households. Essentially you’re saying ‘if the population of California doubled, would the grid be able to handle that’ and the answer is quite clearly ‘no’. What’s more, that shift doesn’t absolve the state of its own goals for renewable energy generation, so that now needs to move *much* faster as the load on the grid goes up, but the fraction of grid renewables remains the same for the state goals.

    I’m not saying CA can’t do it, but I don’t think the public is willing to pay for that, and you’re seeing that now in the rising cost of batteries, EVs, etc. I expect in the next few years, we’ll be looking at BEVs as a problem because they aren’t able to bring emissions down enough. We need to be taking the BEV subsidies and pouring that money instead into e-bike subsidies and mass transit.

  121. 121.

    TriassicSands

    June 3, 2022 at 7:39 pm

    Lots of luck on his trip to the moon Jupiter.

    One way, please.

  122. 122.

    Cheez Whiz

    June 3, 2022 at 7:40 pm

    @Jinchi: It was a thing at software companies back in the 90’s to tell employees that the bottom 10% in the biannual review process were at risk of being RIFd (reduction in force, a tapdance that avoided some retaliation actions by let go employees). Supposed to motivate people. Yeah, right.

  123. 123.

    Obvious Russian Troll

    June 3, 2022 at 7:40 pm

    @trollhattan: 

    One theory on his ban on remote work is that Musk is trying to thin out the herd before the layoffs. I don’t know if it’s true, but it is plausible.

  124. 124.

    ruidh

    June 3, 2022 at 7:55 pm

    @Wag: The cynical side of me says he was trying to preserve his political career and potential run for the presidency. Mother approves.

  125. 125.

    TriassicSands

    June 3, 2022 at 7:58 pm

    @trollhattan: “inappropriate to subsidize political activism of a private corporation.”

    Does he mean a private corporation that has all the rights and few of the responsibilities of actual human beings? The Supreme Court’s super humans. As a fascist, DeSantis may be choosing the wrong enemies.

    Clearly, this is a man POS who can’t tolerate disagreement or dissent.

  126. 126.

    Martin

    June 3, 2022 at 8:49 pm

    What Ari Melber is describing about Navarro’s behavior about seeking revenge against people in the current administration is exactly how he operates. He did that against me personally a number of times. It’s interesting how moving up from a university professor to a WH advisor has had no impact on his behavior in any way. He’s exactly the same guy he’s always been. And he’s dumb as nails. How does a business economist not understand how life expectancy tables work?

  127. 127.

    joel hanes

    June 3, 2022 at 9:31 pm

    @Martin: ​
     

    There’s a tendency in Silicon Valley neighborhoods, and I suspect elsewhere in CA, for homeowners to invest in significant rooftop solar at the same time they have their home EV charging station installed.

    Of course, on work days, the car isn’t likely to be charging in the home garage during the peak hours of insolation.

  128. 128.

    Timill

    June 3, 2022 at 9:33 pm

    @joel hanes: They’re probably charging the PowerWall for when the EV comes home…

  129. 129.

    Matt McIrvin

    June 4, 2022 at 8:14 am

    @joel hanes: Ideally there would be a charger wherever the car IS parked, so the home solar arrays can feed into the grid. (Also, I’d imagine that a lot of these Silicon Valley folks are now working from home, which should be a bigger reduction in transportation emissions than driving EVs.)

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