HMM: This Government Move Against North Carolina Hurricane Relief Workers Was No Accident.

THE EV BUBBLE CONTINUES TO DEFLATE CATCH FIRE: Electric vehicle owners impacted by Hurricane Milton urged to use caution – here’s what to do now.

After Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida on Wednesday, Sunshine State residents who own electric vehicles have been urged to be cautious.

Ahead of Milton, one county that was in the hurricane’s path, Hillsborough County, said Monday EV owners in flood zones “should move their vehicles away from flood areas and storm surge” and noted storm surge and flooding can “pose a potential risk to lithium-ion batteries and could lead to fires.” It shared a county webpage about electric vehicle hurricane safety.

EVs left behind during hurricanes should not be plugged into charging stations or parked in garages because of the potential fire hazard that batteries flooded with saltwater could pose, according to Hillsborough County’s website.

It advised keeping electric vehicles 50 feet away from buildings and other cars.

That last part seems… impractical.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY (MOSCOW EDITION): Russia’s Most Advanced Stealth Fighter Is in Serious Trouble.

THAT’S GOING TO LEAVE A MARK:

Governor @RonDeSantis shot down a news reporter today who tried to get him to blame Hurricane Milton on climate change. He didn’t evade it either — he directly answered the question and cited stats to debunk the claim.

Oh, and those stats Governor DeSantis cited? They were… pic.twitter.com/eeribQJT9a

— Chris Martz (@ChrisMartzWX) October 10, 2024

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: It’s Impossible to Say Too Many Bad Things About Illegal Alien Invaders. “The most galling aspect of the discussion about this nightmare is that the people responsible for it spent years pretending that there was no problem at all. Kamala Harris assured the American public on more than one occasion that the border was secure. Once the situation got so out of control that they could no longer deny what was happening, Dems blamed Republicans for not passing a bill that they claim would have taken care of everything. Actually, the bill would have — you guessed it — compounded the problem.”

HMM: Google break-up could turn Big Tech into Medium Tech.

The DoJ’s proposal shows how far the US government is willing to go to shift the balance of power in tech. Google is the first big loser in an industry-wide antitrust fight that has been brewing for years. If these sorts of penalties are meted out, the US tech industry will start to look very different. Big Tech could become Medium Tech.

A caveat: regulatory legal action is notoriously slow. The DoJ published its complaint in 2020 and Judge Amit Mehta found the company guilty this August. He has given himself until summer 2025 to make a decision. Google can then appeal. The DoJ is considering more options than forcing the sale of parts of the business. This is why the company’s share price has not plummeted. It remains just 14 per cent shy of the all-time high. Investors find it hard to price the risk of potential changes that may not even happen.

Still, Google is being tied up in legal battles just as its rivals are raising record sums to develop artificial intelligence. Google’s AI plans may not be in the crosshairs of this particular fight but they could be one of its casualties. The drag effect of government intervention can be long-lasting. China’s severe crackdown on its own tech sector in 2020 hobbled the sector’s growth.

I’m all for breaking up Google but trusting Washington to get the job done without unacceptable collateral damage sometimes feels like a stretch.

ANALYSIS: TRUE. Harris Is Joined at the Hip With Biden, and There’s Nothing She Can Do to Separate Herself.

SUSTAINABILITY: Government Employees Exceed Population Of Florida.

The numbers are harrowing enough but this bit stands out: “The seven congressional districts with the highest percentage of federal civilian workers in its workforce are all in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. — and all are represented by Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives.”

SUPPLY, MEET DEMAND: Vance Says Illegal Aliens Crowd U.S. Millennials Out of Housing Market.

UNEXPECTEDLY: ‘Failed In Every Particular’: Obamacare Caused Millions To Lose Insurance Plans, Premiums To Skyrocket.

DOG BITES MAN: Harris Continues to Lie About Her Role in the Border Disaster.

UM…:

More decadent-empire behavior from Democrats, this time via Governor Nero of Michigan:pic.twitter.com/GHXwXEVBgy

— Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) October 10, 2024

It’s real and it’s far from spectacular.

WHAT A SHAME HE COULDN’T BE THIS GOOD AS PM: Boris Johnson Sets the Record Straight About Donald Trump’s Foreign Policy.

SPACE: Debate over Space Guard rekindles amid growing reliance on satellites for disaster relief.

The role of satellite communications in disaster response has expanded. Starlink, a satellite internet system operated by SpaceX, has become a critical resource for emergency connectivity, offering stable internet access when terrestrial networks are down.

During Hurricane Helene’s aftermath, the Federal Emergency Management Agency shipped 180 Starlink kits to North Carolina, reinforcing calls for better integration of satellite technology into disaster relief efforts.

Scott Pace, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, noted the shift in his own perspective. Formerly opposed to the idea of a Space National Guard, Pace said Klein’s comments brought back memories of past debates about state-level space programs.

“Back when Governor Jerry Brown proposed a space program for California, I didn’t think it was a great idea,” Pace said. “But now, seeing the role that Starlink has played in North Carolina’s disaster response, I’m beginning to think there might be room for a Space National Guard.”

Having any spare space resources — much less enough spares to activate in times of crisis — is a luxury that was almost unimaginable a few years ago.

DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR TOWEL IS? Oh, SNAP! Germany Has a New Way to Defend Yourself Against Machete-Wielding Migrants.

OUCH: Bankrupt Fisker says it can’t migrate its EVs to a new owner’s server.

Car publications were already warning consumers to steer clear of the Ocean as early as this March, despite massive price cuts that saw these electric SUVs being offered for less than $25,000. A New York-based company called American Lease was less deterred by this warning and in June agreed to purchase the remaining Fisker inventory—approximately 3,300 cars for a total of $46.3 million dollars. By October, American Lease had paid Fisker $42.5 million and had taken delivery of about 1,100 Oceans.

That was the plan until the end of last week, at least. Last Friday evening, Fisker informed American Lease that the Oceans “cannot, as a technical matter, be ‘ported’ from the Fisker server to which the vehicles are currently linked to a distinct server owned and/or controlled by” American Lease.

American Lease says it “cannot overstate the significance of this unwelcome news,” particularly since it had already paid Fisker the vast majority of the agreed price.

Caveat emptor.

COMPETENCE VS POLITICS: Ron DeSantis Nukes Kamala Again for Politicizing Hurricane Response.

THEY’RE JUST MORE OPEN ABOUT IT NOW: Democrats Want To Dismantle The Constitution.

OH: Hurricane Helene Victims Can’t Even Get the $750 Kamala Promised Them.

JONATHAN TURLEY: Deadspin Loses Major Motion in Defamation Case Over Blackface Column. “The opinion turned on whether this could be treated as opinion as opposed to a statement of fact. California law applied in the case and the court focused on two opinions that held that claims of racism can be statements of fact.”

ROBERT SPENCER: Hezbollah Wants a Ceasefire Now. Here’s Why Israel Shouldn’t Give Them One.

WELL, GOOD: Trump campaign, Arizona GOP brings in a big gun to run election integrity operation. “And that big gun is popular Trump supporter and attorney Harmeet Dhillon, who previously ran against Ronna McDaniel to be RNC Chair.”

CREEPING WORLD WAR III UPDATE: North Korea Now Sending Troops to Ukraine to Fight Alongside Russians.

FINALLY, THE TRUTH: Recession Since 2022: US Economic Income and Output Have Fallen Overall for Four Years.

The phenomenon of undercounting inflation is particularly concerning today given how high the official inflation measurements have been for the last several years. The inflation itself has increased the nominal values of several key economic metrics without resulting in any real change. This is why there has been such a disparity between the rapid rise in nominal, pre-inflation GDP and the relatively slow increase in real, after-inflation GDP.8

The following data are presented in such a way as to show the reader the change in nominal and real values through the second quarter of 2024, beginning in either the first quarter of 2019 or January 2019, when applicable.

Note that not only are the inflation adjustments large, but they are highly variable, ranging from under 20% for wholesale sales to 22% to 23% for manufacturing inventories and new orders.

While 3% may seem like a small difference, in the context of GDP growth it represents nearly a $1 trillion difference in real output – roughly the GDP of Saudi Arabia. And in the context of annual economic growth, 3% over a 4-year period is a very large number – the difference between robust and anemic growth. Or between anemic growth and recession.

Plus: “On a per capita basis, the results are worse because the population has increased approximately 2.1 percent from the first quarter of 2019 through the second quarter of 2024. During that period, nominal GDP per capita increased $22,182, or 34.7 percent. Real GDP increased $7,038 in chained 2017 dollars, or 11.4 percent. Adjusted real GDP fell $1,540, or 2.5 percent.”

We can’t afford four more years: “On differences with Biden, Harris says ‘not a thing that comes to mind.’”

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: This Biden Guy Doesn’t Seem to Be a Big Kamala Harris Fan. “We can’t be positive, but it would seem that President LOLEightyonemillion is not amused and may be harboring some animosity. It makes sense to direct it at the person who benefitted most from his forced ouster — Kamala Harris.”