The left are pro-choice on exactly one thing

Journalist James Ochoa of The Street has said that Ford is sending “mixed signals” about its “commitment” to plug in electric vehicles, but he’s got that wrong. Reality is that car buyers have sent signals that the left do not like concerning the silly things!


Ford execs send mixed signals about EV commitment

The Dearborn-based automaker’s moves are a grim reflection of the EV market

James Ochoa | Sunday, July 21, 2024 | 5:09 PM EDT

Despite CEO Jim Farley’s enthusiasm about electric vehicles, navigating the avenues of the EV marketplace has been a rocky road at best for Ford (F).

In its earnings report released in April, the Blue Oval reported that its electric car division, Model e, lost $1.3 billion in the first quarter of 2024. Meanwhile, the automaker’s commercial and fleet vehicle division, Ford Pro, made $7,300 per vehicle on the nearly 400,000 vehicles it sold.

Meanwhile, the electric Model e division lost $130,000 on each of the nearly 10,000 EVs it moved in the same period.

Think about that: Ford was losing twice the cost of its most expensive electric vehicle, the F-150 lightning, on each unit sold.

During the company’s earnings call, Farley expressed that much work had to be done to make its EVs positively impact the company’s bottom line.

“We’re being very consistent about our discipline on profitability,” Farley said. “We expect every one of our EVs to make money in the first 12 months, and that is a very disciplined process.”

But here comes the kicker:

Part of Ford’s “disciplined process” is outsizing the need to build more profitable vehicles. Unfortunately for the environment, those vehicles aren’t electric vehicles but rather massive, fuel-burning, heavy-duty pickup trucks.

In a recent announcement, Blue Oval said it’s investing $3 billion to boost the output of the Super Duty, the bigger, bulkier sibling of the popular F-150 pickup trucks. These trucks, equipped with up to a 7.3-liter V8 engine, are popular with tradespeople and laymen who want extra power for towing larger objects like boats.

The article continues to tell readers about the investments the company is making to produce more of the Super Duty, which is a version of the F-250 or F-350, not the F-150 — because Ford is having trouble keeping up with the demand for the trucks. And here’s the money line:

While Ford’s Model e division loses $130,000 on each EV, Ford makes an estimated $20,000 in profit on every Super Duty.

Translation: in a market in which the federal government is providing tax credits and incentives to buy plug-in electric vehicles, Ford still cannot sell enough of them to come close to breaking even, while the company not only makes money on its larger trucks, but is just barely, if that, keeping up with the demand. While there are obviously some people who want EVs, the majority of the new vehicle buying market simply don’t want them.

But, of course, the federal government, and some state governments, want to force-feed the American people on things they do not really want. President Biden put in place a mandate that all new vehicles sold in the United States must be zero-emission by 2035, but his term ends in January. The expected Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Emhoff[1]Just because she does not respect her husband enough to have taken his name, I will not show him similar disrespect. launched her own presidential campaign in 2019, and her stated positions were even more stringent than Mr Biden’s:

  • A bold target to exceed the Paris Agreement climate goals and achieve a clean economy by 2045;
  • Investing $10 trillion in public and private funding to meet the initial 10-year mobilization necessary to stave off the worst climate impacts;
  • Modernize our transportation, energy, and water infrastructure;
  • Accelerate the spread of electric vehicles, solar panels, and wind turbines;
  • Make big investments in battery storage, climate-smart agriculture, advanced manufacturing, and the innovative technologies that will build our carbon-free future;
  • By 2030, we will run on 100 percent carbon-neutral electricity, all new buses, heavy-duty vehicles, and vehicle fleets will be zero-emission;

As we have previously reported, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Agency (SEPTA) bought 25 battery-electric buses from California manufacturer Proterra in 2016, but all have been parked since 2020 because they were pieces of feces had problems. In November of 2022, one of the mothballed Proterra buses spontaneously caught fire, which a SEPTA spokeswoman confirmed was traced to lithium ion battery units inside the bus.

  • All new buildings will be carbon-neutral; and
  • Transition our public lands from producing the fossil fuels that represent 24 percent of national emissions to carbon sinks.

In 2023, the United States was the world’s largest crude oil producer, as it had been for the previous five years, and has the world’s greatest proven recoverable oil reserves. In 2023, the US was by far the world’s largest natural gas producer, at 1,035,000,000,000 cubic feet, 76.4% more than #2 Russia’s 586.4 billion ft³, and over four times as much as third place Iran.

The propane fireplace that is our secondary heat source.

Mrs Emhoff would curtail our oil and natural gas production where she could, raising prices for consumers, and sending more of Americans’ hard-earned dollars to foreign countries to buy oil and natural gas, and, of course, cut the number of jobs in oil and natural gas production in the US.

That is all pie-in-the-sky, and four years of economic reality ought to temper her proposals, but it tells us that Mrs Emhoff doesn’t care about what the American people actually want, as measured by our own economic choices. We vote every couple of years for political candidates, but we vote every single day of our lives with our economic choices. Those people buying gasoline-powered vehicles are voting against the Democrats’ plans to require zero-emission cars and trucks, at least for themselves. Those people buying or remodeling with natural gas furnaces and ranges are voting against the liberals’ stated policies.

The United States has been blessed with tremendous natural resources, including huge oil and natural gas resources. The US also has the world’s largest coal reserves, 250.3 billion tons, 56.1% more than second place Russia’s 160.3 billion tons. Mrs Emhoff and the Democrats would squander that great natural wealth by leaving it untapped, costing the American people wealth and jobs, and sending more of our remaining wealth overseas to buy things we currently produce ourselves.

References

References
1 Just because she does not respect her husband enough to have taken his name, I will not show him similar disrespect.

You in a heap o’ trouble, girl! But, but, but, recreational drug offenses are victimless crimes!

Dominique Billups, photo by Philadelphia Police Department, via KYW News. No, of course The Philadelphia Inquirer would not publish her mugshot.

There has been something of an internet sensation, though perhaps not as much as I’d have expected, over a woman shooting a seven-month-old infant in a stroller.

None of the characters in this sad tale are a benefit to civilized society.

From The Philadelphia Inquirer:

Police cite $100 drug debt as the reason behind the shooting of a 7-month-old; alleged shooter ID’d

Police said the parents fled the scene without their wounded child because both had open warrants.

by Max Marin | Saturday, July 20, 2024 | 3:09 PM EDT

A 28-year-old woman has been charged in the shooting of a 7-month-old infant in the city’s Holmesburg section on Thursday night that police say stemmed from a $100 drug debt with the child’s parents.

Police arrested Dominique Billups, of Northeast Philadelphia, Friday night and authorities charged her with three counts of aggravated assault, possession of an instrument of crime, reckless engagement, and related offenses, Lt. Dennis Rosenbaum said at a news conference Saturday. Continue reading

Once again, the major media ignore a story they don’t want you to read

It was at 4:32 PM EDT on Friday that Chaya Raichik of Libs of TikTok posted a tweet publicizing that Robyn Rogers, a child development teacher at Telesis Preparatory Academy at 2589 Starlite Lane, Lake Havasu City, Arizona, was arrested on charges that she sexually abused a 17-year-old boy who had disappeared from his home on St Valentine’s Day. Miss Raichik’s source was People magazine:

Ariz. Teacher Accused of Sexually Abusing Boy Who’d Run Away from Home

Robyn Rogers, 44, was arrested on Thursday, July 11 and charged with three counts of sexual conduct with a minor, among other charges

By Marina Watts | Tuesday, July 16, 2024 | 2:46 PM EDT

A Lake Havasu City, Ariz., teacher has been arrested on accusations she sexually abused a 17-year-old who had been missing for months. Continue reading

MSNBC worried that their talking heads’ #TrumpDerangementSyndrome will be exposed even more

MSNBC was widely mocked after they sidestepped their AM show, Morning Joe, on Monday, due to fears that one or more of hosts Joe Scarborough’s and Mika Brzezinski Scarborough’s guests, or perhaps the couple themselves, might say something just boneheadedly crazy following the assassination attempt aimed at former President Donald Trump. That fear was hardly unreasonable, given that Chaya Raichik of Libs of TikTok has shown us dozens of statements the haters have posted on social media lamenting that the would-be assassin failed. Miss Raichik succeeded in many regards, as some of these #TrumpDerangementSyndrome-addled people have now found themselves unemployed. The bosses at MSNBC knew that Mr and Mrs Scarborough were deeply affected and infected with that disease, as many of their guests are as well. Continue reading

Killadelphia: The Inquirer isn’t fooling anyone by censoring the news

We have previously reported about how the rest of the credentialed media in Philadelphia despise Fox 29 News reporter Steve Keeley. They just don’t like the fact that Fox 29 reports on crime in the City of Brotherly Love, and they publish mugshots, which are public records.

My reaction upon seeing Mr Keeley’s tweet about the story? What a great mugshot! He has an expression on his face that very clearly says, “Oh, what did I do?” Or perhaps, “I am so f(ornicated).” If he’s guilty, Title 18 §2505(b), second-degree murder, Title 18 §1102(b), life in prison.

Too bad Graterford was closed!

Arrest made after Philadelphia store clerk shot, killed during robbery

By FOX 29 Staff | Wednesday, July 17, 2024 | 9:20 AM EDT

PHILADELPHIA – A man is charged with murder after a robbery at Philadelphia convenience store took a deadly turn last week.

Kharee Simmons, 37, is accused of shooting Kenneth Kennedy-McLeod to death inside Frankford Convenience Store on Pratt Street.

The 37-year-old victim was found gunned down behind the counter with several shell casings surrounding his body.

He was pronounced dead minutes later with multiple gunshot wounds to his shoulders.

An open register and several loose bills led police to believe the shooting stemmed from a robbery.

Simmons was arrested Tuesday and charged with Murder, Criminal Conspiracy, Robbery, Theft-Unlawful Taking, and Theft-Receiving Stolen Property.

That’s all there was, six short paragraphs on the robbery and murder.

Though there was a story in The Philadelphia Inquirer on the robbery and murder, published last Friday, the newspaper doesn’t have anything on the arrest of Mr Simmons. If there is a story published later, you can bet euros against eclairs — my version of dollars against doughnuts 🙂 — that Mr Simmons’ mugshot will not be included. [Update: Story published at 2:34 PM EDT. And, no, there was no mugshot published.]

My far too expensive Philadelphia Inquirer subscription. I could use a senior citizen’s discount right about now.

Inquirer publisher Elizabeth ‘Lisa’ Hughes decided, a couple of years ago, that the the newspaper would be an “anti-racist news organization,” and the paper ceased noting the race of suspects and victims, or publishing the mugshots of accused criminals, because mugshots somehow leave the impression that some minority groups are more closely identified with crime, but let’s tell the truth here: simply publishing Kharee Simmons’ name tells the reader that he is black. And the location of the murder, Pratt Street near Frankford Avenue and SEPTA’s Frankford elevated train depot, tells anyone familiar with the city that the suspects would probably be black.

Why, then, should people be paying $285.48 a year for a newspaper that doesn’t report all of the news? It’s not as though the Inky is actually fooling people. I would argue that, by trying — and failing; it’s not as though the Inquirer is the only news source in town — to conceal the news, the newspaper is actually pushing an impression that all criminals are black.

“The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left.” — Ecclesiastes 10:2

In the modern world, abortion has become something of a secular sacrament, down to which all politicians must make obeisance. If they do not, then they are clearly haters of women and an obvious supporter of the evil, reich-wing Donald Trump. The Roman Catholic Church is one of the few bulwarks against pre-natal infanticide in the West, though the Church’s actual action against it seems sparse.

Irish politician refused communion over abortion vote

BBC | Monday, July 15, 2024

The refusal of the Eucharist to a public representative in the Republic of Ireland has been “unambiguously condemned” by the Association of Catholic Priests.

It follows reports that Fine Gael TD and Minister of State Colm Burke was refused Holy Communion at a funeral Mass on Friday.

That politicians would have condemned the priest’s actions is unsurprising; that the Association of Catholic Priests would do so ought to be shocking. Continue reading

NIMBY! Don’t build your damned solar farm next to my neighborhood!

Lexington/Fayette County, Kentucky, was one of the only two, out of 120, counties in the Bluegrass State to cast a majority of their ballots in 2020 for Joe Biden. The good people of Lexington — the city comprises the entire county — gave 90,600 votes, 59.25% of the total, to Sundowner Joe, compared to 58,860, or 38.49%, to President Donald Trump. That was a slightly higher percentage for Mr Biden than the Commonwealth’s largest city/county, Louisville/Jefferson County’s 58.87%.

So, with so many, many people on the liberal side of the political spectrum, you’d think that Lexingtonians would support Mr Biden’s policies, right? Continue reading

Sometimes you just have to be an [insert slang term for the rectum here] to do things right.

My good friends at The Philadelphia Inquirer have, as we have previously noted, been giving OpEd and other space to those criticizing Mayor Cherelle Parker Mullins’ harder line on the open-air drug markets and junkies sleeping on the streets in Kensington.

Well, here they go again!

Drug deaths and overdoses plague Philly jails, raising concerns about plans to step up Kensington arrests

Since 2018, 25 people have died drug-related deaths in Philly jails, where drugs are widely accessible. As the city plans to arrest more drug users in Kensington, that has compounded safety concerns.

Continue reading

A good news update: three #Antisemitic Columbia University deans permanently removed from their jobs

We reported, five days ago, on three Columbia University deans who were suspended for anti-Semitic texts during a panel discussion titled “Jewish Life on Campus: Past, Present, and Future,”. Now comes better news. From The Washington Post:

Columbia puts deans on leave after texts evoking ‘antisemitic tropes’

University leaders took action after learning of messages sent during a panel discussion on Jewish life on campus.

by Susan Svrluga | Monday, July 8, 2024 | 12:53 PM EDT | Updated: 4:07 PM EDT

Columbia University has permanently removed three administrators from their roles and placed them on indefinite leave for texts sent during an alumni weekend event about Jewish life on campus. Continue reading