PEAK EV? Tesla Gets Tagged With Once-Unthinkable Call: Sales Will Fall. “There’ll be zero growth in sales volumes for the electric-vehicle maker this year, Wells Fargo’s Colin Langan said. And in 2025, it’ll be worse yet: volumes will drop.”
Author Archive: Stephen Green
March 14, 2024
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Hunter Biden Knows He’s Untouchable While Daddy Has Garland on a Leash. “Here’s the thing, Hunter Biden can keep giving the finger to the Republicans — or anyone, for that matter — who comes after him because his father has transformed the Department of Justice into his political expediency enforcement agency. Sure, Merrick Garland and his goon squad have made a show of going after Hunter, but he’s still doing OK.”
WIRED TURNS THE POST-PRIMARIES SCAREMONGERING UP TO 11: The ‘Emergency Powers’ Risk of a Second Trump Presidency.
DONALD TRUMP APPEARS to dream of being an American authoritarian should he return to office. The former US president, who on Tuesday secured enough delegates to win the 2024 Republican nomination, plans to deport millions of undocumented immigrants and house scores of them in large camps. He wants to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy the military in cities across the nation to quell civil unrest. He wants to prosecute his political opponents. There’s an organized and well-funded effort to replace career civil servants in the federal government with Trump loyalists who will do his bidding and help him consolidate power.
What’s also concerning to legal experts, though, are the special powers that would be available to him that have been available to all recent presidents but have not typically been used. Should Trump decide to go full authoritarian, he could utilize what are called “emergency powers” to shut down the internet in certain areas, censor the internet, freeze people’s bank accounts, restrict transportation, and more.
These powers that all presidents have are extra scary when Trump holds them… even though he did nothing with them the first time around.
But the FUD won’t ramp itself up between now and November, so we’re going to see all all-news/all-education/all-entertainment all-hands-on-deck effort that will make 2016 and 2020 seem tame.
THE NEW SPACE RACE: Starship’s Third Test Flight.
Weather is 70% favorable for today’s third integrated flight test of Starship.
The live webcast will begin ~30 minutes before liftoff, which is currently targeted for 7:30 a.m. CT → https://t.co/G1H8uoTxWD pic.twitter.com/uN3I9WBtKe
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 14, 2024
Godspeed…
SUSTAINABILITY!
This is an amazing number to watch in the next few years. Individual income taxes are about 1/2 of the govt revenue.
For February, the US govt collected $120 billion from individual income taxes. They had to spend $76 billion in February to pay interest on the nation debt.
— Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) March 12, 2024
Previously: You Won’t Believe What We’re Spending ONE TRILLION DOLLARS to Buy.
Of course, I wrote that piece back in August and we’ve added another $2 trillion to the debt in the seven months since — with another trillion due to be added in less than the next hundred days.
PAULA BOLYARD: Is America Past the Point of No Return? “It’s all designed to ensure a permanent Democrat (read: leftist) government and ruling class. They want the rubes in flyover country to have no say in our government and to be marginalized (or jailed) out of existence — especially the ones who wear MAGA hats.”
March 13, 2024
MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT [VIP]: Nic Cage Is the Most Based Actor in Hollywood and This Story Proves It.
TO BE FAIR, IT WAS A BADLY WRITTEN SPEECH, TERRIBLY DELIVERED: LOL! No Bump for Biden From State of the Union Speech.
Mostly though, I think people have just tuned him out.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH: Colorado lawmakers pump brakes on keeping I-70 truckers from the passing lane from Morrison to Glenwood Springs.
Commercial vehicles such as semitrailers wouldn’t be able to use the left lane in certain sections of Interstate 70 through the mountains under an amended version of a bill being considered by the Colorado legislature.
The original version of Senate Bill 100 would have made it illegal for big-rig truckers to use the left lane in the entire mountainous portion of the interstate from Morrison to Glenwood Springs. But on Wednesday, lawmakers scaled it back to include only four segments.
You really don’t want to get stuck behind a semi on any of those stretches, even in good weather.
WELL, MAYBE NOT WORSE THAN I THINK: Bidenflation Is Even Worse Than You Think.
CHRISTIAN TOTO: Neil Young Waves White Flag, Returns to Spotify. “The 78-year-old musician announced his music is returning to Spotify two years after he yanked it off the platform to protest Rogan’s content.”
MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: Suppose They Threw an Arms Race and We Didn’t Come? “Donald Trump’s promise to bring the Navy up to 355 ships — we had nearly 600 under Ronald Reagan, and the oceans haven’t gotten any smaller — is dead in the water under Joe Biden.”
WELL, GOOD: Federal Judge Squashes NLRB’s Attempt To Destroy Gig Economy. “There are extensive reams of labor relations laws and rulings, but that’s not good enough for Democrats. They had to issue transparently illegal ruling because workers and businesses continue to flee unions and closed shop states for right to work states, which is why union membership continues to decline and there’s nothing they can do about it.”
HOT OFF THE TRANSCRIPT: Here Are the Most Embarrassing Moments for Democrats During Hur’s Testimony.
CRIME PAYS (FOR A WHILE): Glamorous millionaire ‘queenpin’, 53, is accused of running crime ring of 12 women called ‘California Girls’ who stole $8M in cosmetics and designer clothes, storing them in 4,500 sq ft mansion and selling them on Amazon.
Michelle Mack, 53, allegedly paid air fares, hotel bills and car rental costs for up to a dozen operatives, who would post their loot to her home in Bonsall before she sold it on for knock-down prices through a front company on Amazon Marketplace.
Her gang, dubbed the ‘California Girls’ by investigators, operated in more than a dozen states coast to coast, targeting outlets including LensCrafters, Sephora and at least 231 Ulta stores.
Police found a ‘mini-store’ of goods worth $350,000 in a 5am raid on her $3 million home and fear the total hit to retailers may have topped $8 million.
I had been assured by no less and authority than AOC that the country’s shoplifting wave was just desperate Jean Valjeans desperate for loaves of bread to feed their hungry families.
BIDENOMICS IS WORKING: A Dollar Ain’t What It Used to Be: Family Dollar to Shutter Nearly 1,000 Stores.
AND ANOTHER ONE GONE: Buck to retire next week, narrowing House GOP majority. “Buck’s exit will not change the margin: Republicans will still only be able to afford to lose two of their members on any party-line votes, assuming all lawmakers are present. But his resignation will, nonetheless, decrease the cushion GOP lawmakers will have on those partisan measures, making it more difficult to pass messaging legislation in the coming months.”
EVEN THOUGH THEY’RE ON AN ISLAND: Pentagon Anticipates a Surge of Refugees From Haiti.
STILL NOT READY FOR PRIMETIME: Tesla Autopilot, similar automated driving systems rated ‘poor’ by safety group.
Of the 14 systems rated, 11 were found to be “poor,” including Tesla’s Autopilot and its Full Self-Driving version, which is in beta testing, along with Nissan’s ProPILOT Assist 2.0, Mercedes-Benz’s Active Distance Assist DISTRONIC with Active Steering Assist, Ford’s BlueCruise and BMW’s Active Driving Assistant.
The top system was Lexus’ Teammate with Advanced Drive, which was deemed an overall rating of “acceptable.” The No. 2 spot went to General Motors’ Super Cruise, and Nissan’s ProPILOT Assist with Navi-link came in third – both systems received ratings of “marginal” from the IIHS.
I’d rather not share the road with AI-driven cars for the same reason I don’t trust AI for research — you never know what weird thing it might decide to do.
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Dems Bring a Schiff to a Truth Fight and Robert Hur Breaks Them. “They wanted to be crafty about creating a false narrative, but they had Adam Schiff running point for the effort. Any time that Schiff isn’t talking to a friendly, he embarrasses himself. He’s too stupid to know that he’s embarrassing himself, of course, so he never stops doing it.”
WOEING: Airlines Are Cutting Flight Schedules as Boeing Delivers Fewer Jets.
Southwest Airlines said Tuesday that it would cut flight capacity and re-evaluate its financial guidance, citing lower-than-expected deliveries of Boeing jets. The carrier’s shares tumbled around 15% in afternoon trading, as the carrier also reported weaker leisure-travel demand early this year.
United Airlines is pausing pilot hiring for two months and hunting for new planes from Boeing rival Airbus to fill the gap. And Alaska Air said its plans for the year are also in flux as a result of uncertainty on Boeing deliveries.
Boeing has slowed down production of its bestselling 737 MAX jets as it faces increased scrutiny from the Federal Aviation Administration and the Justice Department. On Tuesday the airplane maker said it shipped 17 narrow-body MAX jets in February, eight fewer than it did in January and half as many as it delivered in November and December.
Plus: “‘As much as I would like those deliveries, you know, this is not a 12-month issue. This is a two-decade issue,’ [United Chief Executive Scott Kirby] said at an investor conference. ‘I’d rather Boeing do what they need to do, and I think they are now.'”
Here’s to hoping. In the meantime, Boeing is the best salesman Airbus ever had.
TO HELL WITH BIDEN, IT’S A PROBLEM FOR ME: The Inflation Issue Isn’t Going Away, and That’s a Problem for Biden.
RESTORING DECENCY AND NORMS TO OUR DEMOCRACY: Biden Ghostwriter Attempted To Destroy Evidence Following Special Counsel Appointment.
“What did that ghostwriter do with the information Joe Biden shared with him on his laptop? What did he do after you were named special counsel?” Jordan asked.
Hur clarified that Jordan was referring to audio recordings Zwonitzer recreated.
“If I remember correctly,” Hur said, “he slid those files into his recycle bin on his computer.”
“He tried to destroy the evidence, didn’t he,” Jordan asked.
“Correct,” Hur said.
“It’s not the crime, it’s the cover-up,” we’re told but in this case, there is plenty of both to go around.