$8 blue check mistermix

I’ve written a number of positive posts about New York Governor Kathy Hochul in the past. She was a breath of fresh air after Andrew Cuomo resigned, and during the first year she served as governor, she signed a lot of good legislation and generally came off as a mainstream Democrat. I thought she’d continue to bring her “Irish Grandmother from Buffalo” energy to the job and probably be a pretty decent governor.

Unfortunately, she ran a pretty terrible election campaign, winning by a little under 6 points, which is, for New York, a very tight race. (New York Democrats ran terrible campaigns in general, and I’ll have a some comments on that in a future post.) After winning her race, Hochul stalled on signing a right-to-repair bill, and added a signing statement to the bill that undermined it. She also vetoed two pieces of labor legislation, one legislating requirements for payment for freelancers, and the other around disclosure of pay by gender and race for state contracts.

She also decided to go to the mattresses for Hector LaSalle, her choice to lead the state court system, even though he had a record of being “pro life” (i.e., anti-abortion) and not being a big supporter of labor. Stephen Robinson has a good rundown of the problems with the appointment at Wonkette, so I’ll spare the details. Keep in mind that the LaSalle appointment is especially galling to Democrats who just lost Congressional seats in part because Cuomo’s conservative judges struck down Democrats’ redistricting plan, which resulted in a dream redistricting for Republicans. As Robinson points out in his piece, this isn’t a “progressive vs mainstream fight” — abortion rights are a core Democratic position, one Hochul has been previously loud and proud about, and it’s simply disqualifying for someone who’s going to lead our courts to have anything but a clear pro-abortion stance.

Hochul lost the LaSalle fight yesterday when his appointment wasn’t voted out of committee in the New York State Senate, where Democrats have a supermajority. Hochul seems to want to keep digging by filing a lawsuit to force a floor vote on the appointment, but at some point I hope she’ll realize that his appointment is dead.

By the way, Hakeem Jeffries also supported LaSalle, even though a large majority of Democrats in the New York State Senate did not. LaSalle would be the first Latino in his position, which probably explains some of the support he’s getting, but I’m sure there’s some other qualified Latino who is more to the left of this guy.

I don’t have a clear reason why Hochul decided that her lackluster election performance somehow justified signing statements, vetoes and a bad appointment, but there’s no evidence that New Yorkers want that. I have some guesses, one being that she said the right things to the leadership of the Democratic Party, including that she’ll nominate LaSalle, and in return that leadership might have dissuaded some possible challengers. Or maybe this is just who she is, and she decided that she’d show her true colors after the election. Either way, I hope to be voting for her primary challenger next time around, assuming that someone decent challenges her. This LaSalle fight almost guarantees that she will be challenged, if she decides to run again, because there’s nothing inspiring or good about her campaign or her behavior after it.

Kathy Hochul Shits the BedPost + Comments (184)

I far prefer cooking over gas than electric, but:

About one in eight cases of asthma in children in the US is due to the pollution given off by cooking on gas stoves, new research has found, amid moves by Joe Biden’s administration to consider the regulation, or even banning, of gas cookers sales to Americans. […]

However, research has repeatedly found the emission of toxic chemicals and carcinogens from gas stoves, even when they are turned off, is creating a miasma of indoor pollution that can be several times worse than the pollution experienced outdoors from car traffic and heavy industry.

A new study has now sketched out the risk being posed to children exposed to pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide that spew from the stoves, finding that 12.7% of all current cases of childhood asthma in the US are due to the use of gas stoves.

I assume the gases given off even when turned off is because those stoves use a pilot light, which is something that ever cheaper stoves don’t use anymore.

We’re planning on moving soon, and I hope I can find place with a good kitchen vent/fume hood that I can run while cooking that vents outdoors. That will probably be my compromise so I can keep using gas.

(Not) Cooking with GasPost + Comments (149)

I want to talk about Tesla the product rather than Elon. It’s a luxury status item, similar to other expensive cars (think BMW, Mercedes and Acura.) Like those brands, there’s an “entry-level” vehicle (the Model 3), but the base sticker price for that car is $40K.

Yet, even though Teslas cost $40K and up, the range of even the best one is similar to the range of any vehicle on the road on one tank of gas. Once the “tank” is empty, then filling up your Tesla (or any other electric vehicle) is a far, far bigger hassle than filling up a tank of gas. A gas fill is usually a five minute task, easily accomplished at gas stations everywhere. Charging an electric vehicle is a logistical exercise, requiring locating a working charger and then, depending on the charger and the amount of charge required, waiting 30-60 minutes. This is true even with the rapid charging capabilities of the Tesla or other electric vehicle manufacturers. There are also other issues, such as poor lithium battery performance in cold weather, manufacturers recommending keeping the vehicle at 80% charge, and the double whammy of poor mileage from snow tires combined with bad battery life in cold weather.

Realistically, when you buy a Tesla, you’re buying a vehicle best suited for commuting and driving around town. Every night you can plug it in at your home, and in the morning you have a fully “fueled” vehicle.

Around here, the commuter car role for a lot of suburban couples with kids is definitely not a Tesla — it’s usually a relatively inexpensive, relatively small car like a Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla. The adult with the longest commute gets that, and the other adult gets the family truckster, usually a minivan or a larger SUV.

This family is generally not interested in a $40K+ commuter vehicle. But, they might be interested in a $17K electric commuter vehicle, if one existed. Well, starting this year, it’s possible to get a decent electric commuter for $17K, after tax credits — the Chevy Bolt. The Bolt starts at $26K. If you have an adjusted gross income of $225K or less as head of household, and the car has a MSRP of less that $55K, you’re eligible for a $7,500 tax credit. In a number of states (including Colorado and New York), you’re also eligible for an $2,000 state tax credit. After that $9,500 tax break, your net cost is around $17K. Here’s a video showing the car and explaining the tax credit.

The Bolt is a decent EV. It has a range around 250 miles, a big electronics screen to show Android Auto or Apple CarPlay, and a bare-bones but acceptable interior. It is fine as a commuter and weekend errand-runner. Of course you can get a nicer car, but I think this is the kind of vehicle that, combined with the tax credit, will push people over the edge into an EV as a second car. This is the niche that makes sense for EVs as the technology stands today — a practical, affordable vehicle, not a status item.

Tesla is ScrewedPost + Comments (246)

If you want something other than the shitshow in the House, here’s a couple of things I’ve been meaning to write about but have been too blazy (busy/lazy – must credit mistermix if you use it) to write about.

First, Damar Hamlin, the 24 year-old Bills player who suffered a cardiac arrest on the field and a second one in hospital is now off the vent and is “neurologically intact,” which puts him miles ahead of the average Republican House member. He’s alive and intact because of the CPR he received on field.

Related to that, have you ever heard the story of how CPR was invented, and the black paramedics in Pittsburgh who were some of the first in the nation to perform the kind of pre-hospital care that saved Hamlin’s life? It is one hell of a story, involving a one-of-a-kind character, Dr. Peter Safar, a charity group that started by delivering vegetables in poor neighborhoods, and a bunch of cops who fought to keep their (terrible) lock on transporting patients in Pittsburgh. The book telling this story is American Sirens by Kevin Hazzard, and his interview on Fresh Air is worth a listen. Hazzard’s first book, A Thousand Naked Strangers, about his years as a paramedic in Atlanta, is also worth a read.

Second, the other day a friend was out of town, the power was out, and it was very cold. He was worried that his pipes would freeze. I told him I’d go over to his house and break a window to get in — his thought was getting a locksmith. I wondered why breaking a window was my first instinct, but then I remembered that I had spent a lot of time in the last year in rural Dakota, where you can’t get any kind of service by tradespeople. Really, it’s crazy how hard you have to work to get someone to your house to do anything (plumbing, heating, fixing locks, etc.) So, of course, my first thought was a “Dakota Doorkey”, i.e., a hammer, because rural poverty can’t support decent services.

Anyway, related to that is a good piece by Kevin Drum about rural poverty. Here’s the nut of it, but the whole thing is worth a read:

Here’s my point: Rural America has problems. These problems aren’t nearly as big as they’re often made out to be, but they do have lower incomes, a declining population, and a less educated community.

But these are almost all caused by their own free choices. They refuse to tax themselves to pay for good schools and the infrastructure needed by business. They hold on tight to their social conservatism, which drives out both the young and the educated. Then they sit around and complain that the urban liberals who support them aren’t supporting them enough.

Being rural is not like being Black or gay or female or Jewish. It’s a choice. And the rural lifestyle is also a choice. They could do the things they need to do to become more prosperous, but they don’t want to. They’re comfortable the way they are.

Open thread to talk about anything but the fools on the House floor.

Adult DiversionsPost + Comments (194)

If you missed Acyn’s clips of Hannity going after Boebert last night, you probably didn’t miss much except the clear impression that the win in all this for her and her fellow drooling morons is McCarthy’s scalp. At one point she says something to the effect that the goal of the nutty 20 is that KevMac will never be Speaker.

If that is really their goal, then McCarthy can’t do anything to placate them. Still, the latest concession from Kev is an offer to let one member of his caucus call a vote on his speakership at any time for any reason. At this point, anything that will get him to “Speaker” is enough for him. This puts the Republicans in a tough spot, and, reflexively, this means that there are some Democrats who think that means we need to save them.

I posted one example yesterday, from Marcy Kaptur. Today’s example is Robert Reich, writing in the Guardian:

Does this mean the rest of us have to sit back and allow a tiny minority of extreme rightwing Maga House Republicans controlled by Donald Trump to hijack congressional Republicans, who in turn will hijack the entire House, and thereby hijack much of Congress? [ed note: Don’t threaten me with a good time.]

No. There’s an alternative, and House Democrats and the few remaining “moderate” Republicans should take it: come together to make someone like Michigan’s moderate Republican Fred Upton or Ohio’s David Joyce the speaker of the House.

Reich at least thinks that Democrats should get something for the compromise — equal seating on committees. If dreams came true, oh, wouldn’t that be nice. Still, it’s interesting to examine Reich’s case for Joyce being a “moderate”:

Joyce is hardly a progressive. During Trump’s presidency, he voted in line with Trump’s stated position 91.8% of the time. And he voted against impeaching Trump for his role in the January 6 insurrection.

But Joyce is not a Maga Republican. He refused to sign the Texas amicus brief that tried to overturn the results of the presidential election. He was also one of the few Republican House members who did not object to the counting of electoral college votes on January 6, 2021.

Could the bar be any lower? This is like saying that someone is a good human because they have a resting pulse of 70 and 20 respirations per minute.

Thank the gods old and new that, unlike Reich, Republicans understand that any negotiation and deal cut with Democrats is poison for Republicans. The bare fact that most Republicans have a deep and abiding hatred for Democrats is something that still can’t be spoken in the polite pages of even supposedly liberal outlets like the Guardian. So, we get pieces like Reich’s rather than ones that examine why Republicans are willing participants in a system where barely literate grifters like Boebert, and sleazy sugar daddies like Gaetz, can hold the rest of them as hostages.

Republican Failure is not the Democrats’ ProblemPost + Comments (93)

Kevin’s speakership is blown again, the fifth time is not the charm, and the Post isn’t even issuing news alerts anymore. Never say never, but this will never happen:

Ohio Democrat Marcy Kaptur said no one on the GOP side has reached out to her since she expressed openness to potentially supporting Kevin McCarthy or another candidate as part of a moderate “unity caucus.” She wants moderate Democrats and Republicans to work together to break the speaker logjam, but she said that as far as she can tell, there is little interest in her suggestion on either side of the House.

In case I need to repeat the obvious, any R who works with Ds will be subject to an immediate and ugly primary challenge from a red-hatted asshole, who will almost certainly win. This includes Santos and the other reps who were elected in Biden districts in New York. They will not “moderate” their views to appease Democrats in 2024 because they’ll be thrown off the ballot if they do so.

By the way, the replacement for Gym Jordan in the last two ballots is Byron Donalds, a rep from Florida’s 19th district who will be sworn in for his second term if they House can elect a speaker and pass rules. The House runs on seniority, so this is just another effort for the Freedumb Cacas to fuck with Kevin, while trying to prove that Democrats are the Real Racists^tm because we have the temerity to point out that a black man is unqualified for a job. (On this topic, if you haven’t read Oliver Willis’ piece on Herschel Walker, please do, it’s one for the ages.)

Also, a hearty ha ha fucking ha to this:

Ahead of the fifth vote, Republican Lauren Boebert (Colo.) said Trump called the defectors to tell them “they need to knock this off.” Boebert, among 20 Republicans who voted for Republican Byron Donalds (Fla.), said Trump should do the opposite — call McCarthy and tell him he lacks the votes and should withdraw.

Boebert and the other 19 drooling goobers are more in touch with the MAGA base than Trump. They’re doing exactly what their base wants — nothing, loudly and persistently — and they aren’t scared of an old guy who mostly golfs, posts in all caps and pockets campaign donations.

When the contact high from the real life adventures wear offPost + Comments (225)

Two little episodes from today’s rolling shitshow. First, ha ha fucking ha:

What was up with Gosar and Gaetz talking to AOC? They wanted to know if D's might skip a vote to give McCarthy a path to victory. She said no.

Also: Gosar did not apologize during their exchange for posting a video of himself murdering her. https://t.co/FUIglKPztl

— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) January 3, 2023

I guess those two jeniuses thought that AOC somehow had the caucus in the palm of her hand, or they were too scared to actually talk to leadership, or they are just bumbling, seditious oafs.

Second, James Fallows calling out stenographer Robert Costa:

Let's see how this stands up.

My guess: Not well.

(Were the "sources" purely GOP? Or any Dems.) https://t.co/VqWaGmdIoP

— James Fallows (@JamesFallows) January 3, 2023

The reality is that Democrats stuck together and voted three times as a caucus, and the Republicans showed their asses.

And all that I need now is someone with the brains and the know-how to tell me what I want…anyhowPost + Comments (26)