EXCLUSIVE: America PAC door knockers were flown to Michigan, driven in the back of a U-Haul, and told they’d have to pay hotel bills unless they met unrealistic quotas.
One was surprised they were working to elect Donald Trump.https://t.co/GryzljwXWZ
— WIRED (@WIRED) October 30, 2024
This is America, Mr. Musk. You may still find ways to scam, abuse, and cheat your [mostly Black] workers, but you can’t keep them from complaining to the media about it. Wired reports “Workers Say They Were Tricked and Threatened as Part of Elon Musk’s Get-Out-the-Vote Effort”:
“I was in shock and disbelief,” says a paid door knocker flown to Michigan to help turn out the vote for former president Donald Trump on behalf of Elon Musk’s America PAC.
In Michigan, canvassers and paid door knockers for the former president, contracted by a firm associated with America PAC, have been subjected to poor working conditions: A number of them have been driven around in the back of a seatless U-Haul van, according to video obtained by WIRED, and threatened that their lodging at a local motel wouldn’t be paid for if they didn’t meet canvassing quotas. One door knocker alleges that they didn’t even know they were signing up for anything having to do with Musk or Trump.
A representative for Musk and America PAC did not return a request for comment.
The contract these door knockers signed with Blitz Canvassing, which is a subcontractor of Musk’s America PAC, says they are “expected to maintain a 17-22% engagement rate during the campaign,” which is a high target relative to the number of people who typically open their door for a stranger. A group of out-of-state America PAC canvassers were told during a recent team meeting that if they didn’t hit their targets, which the door knocker says were more than 1,000 a week on total doors knocked, the organization would stop paying for their motel rooms…
Blitz Canvassing, which had received more than $9 million from America PAC for presidential campaign canvassing as of October 29, did not immediately reply to a request for comment…
“I knew nothing of the job, or much of the job description, other than going door to door and asking the voters who are they voting for,” says a door knocker who was one of the people in the back of the van and who is requesting anonymity because they signed a nondisclosure agreement. “Then, after I signed over an NDA, is when I found out we are for Republicans and with Trump.”
The door knocker adds that they had “overheard my supervisor and a few others mention Elon Musk” by name, marking the first time they had heard of the billionaire X owner’s involvement.
The Trump campaign has largely outsourced its field operation in Michigan to Musk, a move that has come under heavy criticism as previously reported by WIRED. Blitz Canvassing has also reportedly had issues with fake door knocks being flagged by Campaign Sidekick, the glitchy app used by America PAC. In Nevada and Arizona, up to a quarter of the door interactions were flagged as potential fakes within the app, according to The Guardian. (“Sidekick was never expected to handle the auditing of America PAC’s door operation. The reason the PAC is confident in its numbers is because of the auditing procedures each canvassing firm puts in place and the auditing procedures of the PAC writ large,” a person familiar with the America PAC operation told The Guardian at the time.)
Field organizing normally does not work this way. The gold standard for door knocking apps is MiniVAN, and transportation usually involves carpooling with other volunteers or campaign staff offering a ride—preferably, with seat belts…
The video from inside the van shows a bumpy ride, with a cage separating the mostly Black door knockers from their driver. The driver also told the group of door knockers that he was in pain and had difficulty driving: “I just had surgery, bro,” the U-Haul driver says in another recording obtained by WIRED. “Like half of my foot is cut off.”…
The canvassers were then dropped off roughly 40 minutes apart from each other, relying on the mobile app to log their interactions at front doors.
In a contract agreement reviewed by WIRED, door knockers were given specific “performance guidelines” along with a mandate to “keep the GPS function of their personal device turned on during all working hours.” Each knock at the door must be done in 15 seconds or less, and the contractors “must remain on a property for at least 30 seconds.”
The Campaign Sidekick app used by America PAC has severe limitations in its functionality, including the lack of a geo-tracking feature—hence the requirement that canvassers leave GPS services on for their personal devices at all times, according to a contract reviewed by WIRED—forcing them to use “offline walkbooks,” a function of the America PAC app, that don’t offer the support of GPS or real-time upload capabilities…
Not only don’t you have to be an asshole to win, oftentimes being an asshole makes it harder to win.
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) October 30, 2024
Here’s hoping the door-knockers at least got their contractual pittances, because Musk seems to be continuing his established pattern of failing to pay what he’s promised. Per Jalopnik, “Elon Musk Found A Way To Make His Illegal Voter Drive Legal: Don’t Actually Pay Anyone”:
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, set up a questionably legal lottery to drum up swing state support for Donald Trump — a lottery that’s already fallen under regulatory scrutiny for its wanton use of cash. According to folks who have signed up, however, Musk may have found a way around those pesky laws: Simply not actually paying anyone.
In addition to daily $1,000,000 payouts, Musk’s swing state efforts include a referral program — registered voters who get other registered voters to sign the Tesla CEO’s weirdly vague petition get $47 each. Yet, when
Rolling Stone talked to voters who’d done just that, they said that none of them had yet seen a dime…This likely isn’t an intentional move to skirt the law from Musk — he’s already shown a willingness to brazenly flout regulations — but could instead fall under the general huckster, snake oil salesman approach that he brings to all aspects of his life outside of white supremacy…
Scout211
I’m beginning to think that Elon is not the smart man he thinks he is.
moonbat
Mr. Musk, Mars is calling. You and only you can colonize the red planet.
fElon Musk has all the political instincts of a temperance preacher in a Speyside distillery. Tell us again, fElon how you are going to gut all government spending and everyone is going to suffer. That’ll get the voters fired up for next Tuesday!
When, oh when will these super geniuses leave us alone?
Scout211
And to tie two posts from tonight together, I’ll just drop this:
New affair allegations: Elon Musk, Nicole Shanahan took ketamine and ‘disappeared’ at Miami party, New York Times reports
They both deny an affair! It was just two colleagues doing what colleagues do . . . you know, with ketamine.
NotMax
FYI..
Doug Emhoff scheduled to be on O’Donnell’s program tomorrow.
Spanky
@Scout211:
Oh good! I look forward to reading the warrant for Musk’s arrest.
Shalimar
@Scout211: It is a new affair because they already had an affair a few years ago that broke up her marriage. I don’t get why anyone on earth would be attracted to either sociopath.
Betty
Financial analyst on MSNBC said Musk turned to the dark side after Biden dissed him by not inviting him to the White House. As if!!
Shalimar
@Spanky: How is it unclear whether he will attend? Hasn’t he already bragged about moving to the jurisdiction until the election to help Trump?
Chet Murthy
@Shalimar: He moved to Pennsyltucky, not Pennsylvania.
Scout211
And an affair with Brin broke up her marriage to her first husband, Jeremy Krantz.
Billions?
Betsy
I’ve been knocking doors in my swing state and it’s been going well.
MiniVAN works great and most respondents at the door engage readily and friendly. I’m sure myself and the handful of other canvassers I’ve met (all volunteers) have been able to provide good info to our supportive voters!
Like most all normal doorknock efforts, we’re only contacting Dems and Kamala leaners, so it’s not difficult. We are putting good information in their hands like the hours of early voting and where to go vote. Some have needed the info or had questions.
I encourage those reading these comments to try it even if you’ve been afraid of door knocking in the past. It’s really quite rewarding!
Text 30330 to easily find opportunities to help, or get in touch with your county Dem HQ or field office.
mrmoshpotato
The apartheid-loving shitstain can go fuck himself on Mars.
Yutsano
I refuse to waste my precious electrons on Muskrat.
Instead, I post a link from his hellsite. But please take a look.
It has early voting numbers from Pennsylvania. And it’s looking like a Big Biden Deal.
sdhays
@mrmoshpotato: As Atrios has mentioned, it’s interesting that he hasn’t taken a ride on any of SpaceX’s rockets.
The way he talks, you would have expected him to have spent some time in orbit by now, since he’s so obsessed with space colonization.
Chet Murthy
@sdhays: Even Bezos did that much.
Mai Naem mobile
Elon has to know he’s doing a shitload of damage to the Tesla brand. I have to wonder about the value of Tesla with all the other electric vehicles which are out now. I waa driving behind a Toyota Prologue the other day. It’s a nice looking small to midsize SUV. I didn’t even know Toyota had an all electric vehicle. Teslas aren’t particularly cheap and they don’t look like anything special. I’ve seen all electric Jaguars, Kias,VWs, Cadillacs, Nissans, BMWs, Rivians and Hyundais. It’s becoming a pretty competitive space.
RevRick
@moonbat: Trump’s entire economic schemes are bonkers. Bloomberg economists calculated that between his deportations and his tariff plans, they would trigger an 8.9% contraction of the economy. Throw in Musk’s slashing of the federal budget by $2 trillion and you get a full blown Depression.
And Musk, the “business genius”, believes that after two years of suffering, the economy would bounce back. These knuckleheads actually think that the economy would naturally recover. But as John Maynard Keynes pointed out that the Great Depression proved that there is no natural level of economic activity. We can get permanently stuck at high levels of unemployment and misery. But these shits don’t care. In fact, they may desire a neo-feudal state.
Fake Irishman
@Betsy:
Thanks for doing the work! I remember working a walk list in Kingwood near Houston in 2018. Think I canvassed the only black gentleman in the neighborhood. It was a surprising and gratifying conversation for both of us. The congressional campaign I was volunteering for (Todd Linton, gave Dan Crenshaw a run but lost by 8) had really nailed its walk lists.
SFAW
@RevRick:
There’s no “may” about it.
Marc
@Mai Naem mobile: That was probably a Honda Prologue, which is built on the GM platform used by the Chevy Blazer EV. Just to show how messy things are these days, the current Toyota bz4x (what a silly name) EV is basically the same as the Subaru Solterra SUV. Designing/building EVs is very capital intensive.
mrmoshpotato
@Betty:
LOL! Sure Jan. It has nothing to do with him being apartheid-humping, racist pile of shit.
SiubhanDuinne
@Yutsano:
Am I correct that this is your birthday? If so, I hope your day was great! If not, I hope your day was great!
Jackie
Anyone watching the Game? Dodgers have taken the lead 7-6 – thanks in part to three Yankees errors. Bottom of the 8th coming up.
unrelatedwaffle
Who possibly could have predicted letting the free market run a field operation wouldn’t go well?????
Timill
@Jackie: On to the 9th…
Sister Golden Bear
Elon Musk
CannotDoes Not Want to Get Beyond His Apartheid UpbringingKatKapCC
@Scout211: I mean, take this for what it’s worth since I’m a lesbian, but I think I would sooner canoodle with a frigging alligator over Musk. Like, I can understand the draw with plenty of dudes, but him? Yecch.
Parfigliano
I door knocked for Daschle in the ’80s when in college.
Chet Murthy
@Jackie: I don’t follow the game, but of course I’m rooting for the Dodgers.
Harrison Wesley
@Sister Golden Bear: That would certainly explain his disinterest in using his own space vehicles. Martians may not be white, after all.
Jess
I’m fantasizing about those poor, pissed-off door knockers going door to door and telling the MAGA folks to be sure to vote on Nov. 6…
Parfigliano
@Jackie: Watching, waiting for a NYY loss.
mrmoshpotato
@Jackie: Go Dodgers! Fuck the fucking Yankees in their own house!
Jackie
@Jess: Will the polls still be open in Alaska @ midnight ET? 😉
Jackie
@Parfigliano: 🤞🏻🤞🏻
Sure Lurkalot
@Jackie: Yep, I hate both teams but go Dodgers!
Jackie
@mrmoshpotato: ABSOLUTELY!!!💙
Redshift
Still pissed off that the wingnuts on the Supreme Court decided to jump aboard the “illegal immigrants voting” conspiracy theory today, and let Virginia’s wingnut-with-a-smile governor purge “suspected” noncitizen voters a week before the election. Youngkin, of course, describes them as “illegal alien voters,” despite the fact that a number of them have already been identified as valid voters who accidentally filled out a form incorrectly.
dmsilev
@Mai Naem mobile:
I dispute that. The Cybertruck definitely looks ‘special’. Not good special, mind you.
dmsilev
Nobody tell Elon Musk that installing GPS spoofing software on your personal phone is a thing, courtesy of games like Pokémon Go.
Yutsano
@SiubhanDuinne: Work was good. I got to impress the boss, got in 45 minutes of overtime (which is less I have to do on Saturday now), and made a nice lady’s day. I’m now munching on lobster and crab ravioli and keeping track of the World Series. So yeah, today has been in the good column.
Gonna plan a dinner some time over Veteran’s Day weekend (I’m the only one so far that has Monday off, boo!) to get some old college friends together. I might turn that into a late birthday dinner too.
Melancholy Jaques
@Scout211:
Succession, apparently, was a documentary.
Jackie
@Sure Lurkalot: Me, too! I am a Mariners fan, so hate the Yankees naturally. I don’t care for the Dodgers, either, but ONLY BECAUSE they won their last WS win during the height of Covid with no fans allowed in the stadium – only cutout photos of fans scattered about the seats – I feel they’re owed a full stadium celebration!
I gotta get out of this place
I’m having trouble getting with the logic of Musk sending African-American males to knock on the doors of racist MAGA voters and expecting those racists to open their doors?
“Honey, there’s a strange black guy wanting me to open the door.” Somehow I doubt that the response would be “open the door, let him in”. More likely it’ll be “where’s my gun?” Or “call the police”
I don’t see this working out well for anyone. I fear for the canvassers.
Redshift
@Betty:
Muskrat claims that’s the reason, supposedly. There was an event (about the IRA, I think) with EV manufacturers, and Muskrat wasn’t invited because he’s anti-union.
Trivia Man
@Timill: I’m shocked at myself – a SF boy rooting for the Dodgers.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Redshift:
Isn’t that explicitly against the 90 day limit before an election in the Motor Voter Act?
Trivia Man
Yay Dodgers (!)
KatKapCC
@Trivia Man: Same. Well, Bay Area, now Central Coast, but yeah…I gotta go with the West Coast when it comes down to it.
Trivia Man
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Why yes, yes it is
I wonder if there is any recourse for the LEGAL voters ILLEGALLY stricken
Jackie
THE DODGERS WIN! THE DODGERS WIN!!!! YAY!!!
Chet Murthy
@I gotta get out of this place: I agree with you about that (lack of) logic. But it follows from the structure of the grift. Musk hires a buncha guys, who hire a buncha guys, etc, etc, and at every level, everybody is both a short-timer, and has no actual allegiance to the guy at the top. So (for instance) if some middleman has trouble hiring a buncha fresh-faced white college kids, is he gonna tell his boss that? No! He’s gonna hire whomever he can find, and that can mean a bunch of Black people. He doesn’t actually care about the campaign, the candidate, and hell, he doesn’t care about Lone Kums. All he cares about is that, if he can get these warm bodies into the field, he’ll get his check …. for the next two weeks. That’s it.
It’s completely transactional. And yeah, I agree with your last sentence. Grim. Grim.
Sasha
It’s literally human trafficking.
Chet Murthy
@Jackie:Aaaaaaahahahahah! So this is series, right? I haven’t been counting. So today was Yankee Elimination Day, right?
Yutsano
@Chet Murthy: Yep. The Fuck The Fucking Yankees lost.
More importantly, it also wasn’t the fucking Houston Astros.
Sister Golden Bear
@Yutsano: Numbers look great, but I’d like some more context before drawing too many conclusions. E.g. how does the Dem/Repub turnout compare to prior years, are there differences between when Dems/Repubs turning.
That said, I read someone who’s researched early voting, and one thing he mentioned was that in NV Republicans usually dominate initial early vote—lots of retirees, who don’t trust the mail, and have the free time to vote ASAP. In contrast to PA, where most Dems have voted later during the early voting period. More working age folks, and some specifics that I don’t recall about how PA’s early voting works.
Which is to say, if Dem voting peaks late in the early voting period, we could see an even greater margin.
RevRick
@Jackie: Yes!!!
I became a Dodgers fan in 55 when I was six, because my obnoxious older brother, but I repeat myself, was a Yankees fan. Since my grandfather bought the Daily News every day, I was able to keep up with the exploits of my beloved Boys of Summer. I went to High School with Jackie Robinson’s daughter.
mrmoshpotato
Woo hoo! Fuck the fucking Yankees in their own fucking house!
Jackie
@Chet Murthy: Yup!😄 Thwarted their divine rights AGAIN😂
Almost Retired
@Jackie: and just like that my neighborhood sounds like the battle of Berlin with the fireworks and other noisy shit. The dog is not enjoying the Dodgers victory.
Chet Murthy
@Jackie: Y’know, I don’t actually care too much. But I know that when I’m invited along to my friend’s Catholic church on Sunday, I should, y’know, dress nicely, bow my head when everybody else does, and pretty much go along, as long as I’m not, y’know, violating my fundamental beliefs.
And so, since it is a duty to hate the Yankees, I do so.
Trivia Man
@RevRick: Ha! My older brother was Oakland A’s and Raiders… so I was die hard Giants and 49’ers. Rough for me in the 70’s, but I am happy in the long run.
Anoniminous
Laughing …
Defensive skills won’t win a game, the lack of defensive skills will definitely lose a game.
Jackie
@Almost Retired: Sorry, puppy. Wrap him up in a snuggly blanket and hug him tight while you’re dancing in celebration?
FelonyGovt
@Almost Retired: Same here. And I don’t even like the Dodgers.
mrmoshpotato
Hand the trophy to Freeman first!
JaySinWA
Musk has dusted off the old bring in black kids from out of town to sell bogus magazine subscriptions scam, right down to holding them hostage in a hotel/motel. We got the treatment a couple of times a few years apart, with the newspaper expose’ after they left or were rousted out.
I spent some time trying to explain to one of our door knockers that they were being used to front a scam. He wasn’t buying what I was selling. His story was pretty sad, whether true or not, but he wanted to believe. Or at least he wanted me to believe.
ArchTeryx
@Anoniminous: Three errors. in one inning, in a World Series game, by the Yankees?
Pathetic. I raise a glass to their ignominy.
Jackie
@mrmoshpotato: Surely Freddie Freeman is the MVP!
The owner handed the trophy straight to Freddie 🥰
ArchTeryx
@Jackie: What a contrast. The Yankees commit an act of ignominy that’ll go down in the history books to lose the series, contrasted with Freeman, who managed one of the greatest at-bats in Series history. The better team here won. Period.
Trivia Man
@ArchTeryx: And several base running errors along the way. I guess HOME RUNS can only do so much.
Sister Golden Bear
@Mai Naem mobile: The drop in Tesla purchases YTD have been sharp enough to cause the entire EV industry numbers to look worse than they are—all other EV companies are seeing increased sales. And all of this before Elon went full Nazi.
In large part because there’s now better options. (When I bought my Tesla 3 the only other choices were the Leaf, which had battery issues, and Bolt EV, which Chevy was planning to discontinue). And our options are far behind the EV choices available in China. They’re in the middle of a punctuated evolution-level of innovation and competition among hundreds of companies. Right now Chinese companies are laser focused on being on of the companies left standing, and the EV market is sees huge continued growth, that they aren’t exporting. But one they will.
Yutsano
@Sister Golden Bear: They’re not trying to export to Europe? I thought that was the reason the EU raised tariffs on PRC EVs.
gwangung
@Jackie: Freddie (Freddy) Freeman…otherwise known as Captain Marvel Jr. to comic fans. 😃
Almost Retired
@Jackie: I just assumed the dog was bothered by the noise, but it could be she’s upset because she’s a closet Yankee fan?
Chet Murthy
@Yutsano: https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/international-issues/chinese-car-companies-set-a-record-for-ev-sales-in-europe/#:~:text=In%20Thailand%2C%20the%20regional%20manufacturing,to%20supplant%20dominant%20Japanese%20brands.&text=Chinese%20brands%20registered%20more%20than,during%20June%E2%80%93the%20most%20ever.
Apparently they’re selling well in the EU. This graph shows just over 10% of all EU EV sales
ETA: FTFNYT had an article that said 20% of al EU EV sales, but I only saw the snippet in Google search, and didn’t click-thru.
Yutsano
@Jackie: Annnd up on The Artist Formerly Known as Twitter it has the Mariners trending. It’s one simple message: spend money. Something their tight-pursed owner ain’t gonna do.
Sister Golden Bear
@Chet Murthy: I’m not surprised that at least some Chinese companies are exporting to the EU. I’m not an EV head, but if there’s a major into the States, I suspect I would’ve heard of it.
Jay
@dmsilev:
Are you referring to the DepLorean?
Jackie
@Yutsano: Sigh… their high dollar spending ended 20 yrs ago – when that didn’t pan out. DAMN YANKEES!
Almost Retired
@FelonyGovt: For shits and giggles turn on KCAL 9. They have their helicopter brigade flying all over town looking for riots that haven’t broken out yet.
like a metaphor
@KatKapCC:
as a gay man I would rather be a volcel than to have that Beaver Cleaver looking fuck
@KatKapCC:
Chet Murthy
@Almost Retired: “looking for riots that haven’t broken out yet.”
You guys are too funny.
Kent
In 2020 the Dodgers won the World Series the week before the election in which Trump lost
In 2024 the Dodgers again won the World Series the week before the election….
Just saying…..
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Been wondering, how come the DOJ hasn’t done anything about Musk’s million dollar giveaways to voters?
frosty
@RevRick: I hear the echo of Andrew Mellon here:
Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers, liquidate real estate. It will purge the rottenness out of the system. High costs of living and high living will come down. People will work harder, live a more moral life. Values will be adjusted, and enterprising people will pick up from less competent people.
Almost Retired
@Kent: The Dodgers won the World Series in 1988. Just ask President Dukakis.
mrmoshpotato
@Jackie: Excellent.
West of the Rockies
@Kent:
Stupendous!
HumboldtBlue
Jackie
@Kent: ✊🏼on 🪵!
Joey Maloney
@Betty:
If this is true, I hope nobody tells Elno that he has the same origin story as Cornel West.
Jackie
@Almost Retired: Oh BOO!😝
Almost Retired
@Jackie: Ha! I suck!
Anoniminous
Simon Rosenberg:
We’re Winning But Have Not Won It Yet – My Deep Dive On The 2024 Election With Tom Bonier 6 Days Out
tl,dr: the Hopium is strong with this one
Melancholy Jaques
@Betty:
Because everything is the Democrats’ fault.
Kent
But Trump wasn’t on the ballot in 1988
Melancholy Jaques
@Yutsano:
Two things I saw trending: Mike Trout & Arte Moreno.
Sad Angels player and owner who no doubt watched Ohtani get a ring.
Anotherlurker
@Trivia Man: Be shocked again, I’m a Mets fan rooting for the Dodgers.
frosty
@Sister Golden Bear: PA’s early voting: The Commonwealth doesn’t even open the envelopes until the morning of Election Day. If you want your vote to go up on the election night tally, you vote in person. Otherwise it’s a 1 to 3 day wait.
Craig
@Betty: I worked in my office with Musk for half a day back in 2010 and decided he was one event away from becoming a Bond villain. I was only half kidding, and now here we are. Moldfinger.
Craig
@RevRick: That’s the joke. Feudalism has been the goal since at least Reagan.
Jess
@Craig:
🤣🤣🤣
Splitting Image
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
He probably has to give away some money before the DOJ can do anything. And I think his “giveaway” hasn’t progressed that far yet.
Jay
@Splitting Image:
Actually, he did. He paid out $2million through his “lottery” and an unknown amount through his $47 grift.
Then the Philly DA hit his ass quickly with a cease and desist.
So, he stopped,………………………………………………………..
Paying, but he’s still running his grifts.
The FEC has been gutted, and the DOJ, well,……………… how many Jan6 Conspirators in Office are under indictment , prosecution or Jail, after over 3 years?
Craig
@Trivia Man: Dodgers won with NL style small ball and a Bumgarner level smoking 9th inning relief from starter Walker Buehler. Great game, and hell I’m a Giants fan. Fuck the Yankees.
Trivia Man
@Anotherlurker: 😮
when i lived in NJ I expected to hate all the Yankees fans. Oddly, I didn’t. They just came across as rabid homers who love the local team. Turns out the Utah yankee fans and Wisconsin yankee fans are what grates. Especially during the (too frequent!) dynasty years.
Trivia Man
@Craig: Amen
Craig
@Sister Golden Bear: my cousin is trying to sell their Tesla. They like it enough, but there are better options now, and they don’t like being associated with musk. Having a hard time selling right now.
Pete Downunder
I have a Tesla 3 I bought in 2019 when it was only EV around. I would not get another and not just because of Elon. The Chinese are flooding the market here and while I’d like to avoid them too it’s hard to know what’s underneath the hood these days. I think the Volvo EV is mostly Chinese. I don’t like the Tesla because of the touch screen which requires taking your eyes off the road to adjust air con or radio station. Also the cruise control does weird things from time to time.
hitchhiker
I didn’t even know catcher interference was a thing.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@Trivia Man: My defense for being a Yankees fan is that I was born on Coogan’s Bluff and started following them when they were, frankly, not a good team (back in the mid-1980s). So my life experience as a baseball fan was less “my team should always win no matter what” and more “I’ve seen the bad times and the good times, and I’d like to see more of the good times”. If you’ve followed a team through the bad times, you have a right to root for them to have good times, right?
opiejeanne
@Melancholy Jaques: Arte Moreno is a Trumper and an idiot of an owner, maybe not in that order.
Mike Trout is owed a ring, dammit, and the Angels are owed a new owner. I mean, FFS, they hired Ron Fucking Washington to run the team???
Ksmiami
@like a metaphor: it is amazing how awful Elon looks and how little he takes care of his health etc for being a billionaire. Even Bezos and Zuck work out
Ruckus
@Marc:
It is almost an entirely different process to build and that is a lot of electricity in those batteries to move a vehicle so the process likely requires a fair amount of training and different workplace safety efforts.
LadySuzy
@Betty: Another narcissist, probably malignant. As if we needed another one.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Yutsano:
Hence the other guy already starting with the lawsuits and the claim of election fraud.
Did we all see last night’s Open Thread story about the Benedictine nuns in Erie, PA, who were accused of voter fraud because it’s “obvious” you don’t have 53 voters living at the same address?
The Other Bob
@Betsy: Fortunately VAN only sells to Democrats.
El Cruzado
Gotta strongly disagree with the last quoted article. Musk has brought his huckster, snake oil salesman approach to white supremacy as well.
Uncle Cosmo
My policy is that anyone & everyone who lives within 50 miles of Team X’s stadium** is entitled to claim them as their home town team and root accordingly. Otherwise they were f’ing bandwagoners. Thus my fambly in Nort Joysie. Thus my Yankees fan uncle in WV for whom I saved my disdain during the 50s and 60s. In fall 1966 my brother & I sent Uncle Felix a sympathy card which when opened unfolded a clipping from the Baltimore Sun: O’S CLINCH AL PENNANT
** 100 miles west of the Mississippi – things are more spread out
Actually I have a soft spot in my heart for the Dodgers: Not only were they the victims of the Orioles’ first WS title in 1966*** but in tthe process set a standard of postseason futility at the plate**** that comforts me after the O’s won 192 games in the last two seasons but went 0-5 in the playoffs.
*** In the final game of his storied career, Sandy Koufax lost 6-0 to Jim Palmer largely due to 3 unearned runs scored when Bum’s OF Willie Davis committed 3 errors in a single inning.
**** The Bums scored only 2 runs in the 4 games when the O’s demonstrated that they couldn’t hit a good fastball. IIUC their 33 consecutive scoreless innings (from the 3rd inning of Game 1) still stands as a WS record.