This week, the United Auto Workers (UAW) significantly expanded its strike of the three major U.S. automakers, targeting some of the companies' largest and most profitable facilities. On Monday, the union struck the Stellantis RAM pickup factory, which employs
Is there any advance, any progress, in civilization or in how life is lived or how people treat each other, that Republicans don't want to stop or roll back?
Thank you for exposing more of what the UAW is contending with. Of course the excessively rich corporate CEO's will find any argument that will obscure rational ways to make the economy of any service work well for all sides. Now, we know where a major contingent of Trump (and Republican) supporters comes from. [I'm enraged by Governor Youngkins act to prevent a factory to build batteries in VA.] Popular Information has revealed how the internecine greed of corporate America blindly puts greed before life.
My wife and I have had a Chevy Bolt since 2019, bought new. It’s price is competitive with the average gasoline-powered models, although the car is a bit small, yet comfortable and diverse with roof rack and its pick and zip, its ride quality and stability are great. It’s eMPG is somewhere around 100 m/g “around town” depending upon the price of crude from OPEC which is Hell-bent on raising its prices to make Biden’s reelection less likely because the uninformed electorate immediately blames a sitting president for the nation’s economy and of course the price of gasoline and diesel at the pump. This eMPG is based on 12 cent/kwh from our electric utility, $3.50/ gal of gasoline and our ability to charge at home from a standard 110v electric outlet. Even on the road at the price of fast charging being somewhere around 30-40 cents a KW our eMPG is around 35 mpg. Our maintenance costs have gone to zero so far but we have less than 40K miles on it. Still, no oil changes; maybe a 12V battery soon and a set of tires rather early but those are about tire quality and standard car batteries that never do last long. Neither is about the car itself. The result? WE ARE NOT GOING BACK TO MOTOR FUELS. Trump can have all those he wants.
I had a very short conversation with what I assume was a Trump supporter - they were bitching about gas prices under Biden. I asked if he was so simple that his decision on a president was based solely on the price of gas, or if there were more factors that he worked with. Blank. Stare. was all I got.
I've softened the views of several right wing and even far right people in my life by focusing on the people struggling under our current system. I don't debate on the merits of Medicare for All, UBI, or abortion rights. I share stories about how people working 50 hours a week can't afford housing, how a mutual friend died at 32 due to a lack of care access, how a child had to cross state lines to get an abortion, etc. The most political I get is pointing out how beneficial the expanded child tax credit was and that Republican legislatures who claim to be all about reducing taxes wouldn't even extend a tax credit.
My grandpa opened a gas station back in '39. Now there's more than 1. Nobody, and I mean nobody makes a profit on gas. Hasn't in decades. My dad, staunch republican that he is, will tell anyone that's bitching about Biden’s gas prices, that the President of the US has absolutely nothing to do with the price of gas.
True. People wonder why there's so much inside anymore. Have to make a profit somewhere. It's amazing and a little dumbfounding, how otherwise intelligent people can make such ignorant comments.
Where we live electricity is 32 ¢/kWh and gas is about $3.50. Our 2010 Prius gets 45 - 50 mpg. Using your figures (assuming my math is correct), our eMPG would be about 37. Nearby Springfield MA (per Google) has 38 ¢/kWh (the national average rate of 17 ¢/kWh), which would give an eMPG of about 32. At the national average of 17 ¢/kWh, your car would get about 71 eMPG. Again, per Google, our electricity is generated by 70% natural gas. Ignoring the immediate cost increase per driven mile, would it be better for the environment for us to continue driving the Prius or to go fully electric? The current plan is to keep the Prius until it dies...and then ???
Great list, John. First and foremost drive it until it dies, because the replacement consumes resources, and in the current environment that means lots of greenhouse gas emissions. We would all save money and help mother earth by replacing all our stuff only when it's worn out.
PS I just replaced my beloved 98 Audi A4 with a '21 BMW I3. That's the other thing: recycle!
What experiences does anyone have with an EV or Hybrid that would be a good mini-van replacement? I haven't begun looking yet, however my 2009 Toyota Sienna is around the 264,000 mile mark and as much as I love this vehicle I want to be more responsible when it needs to be replaced (when it dies). Second car is an inherited 2012 Toyota Corolla with around 100,000 miles, this is my work and around town car, the Sienna is used for camping trips and anywhere I go with my two Golden Retrievers. The dogs travel in crates for safety, any replacement would need to hold two dog crates and gear. Any tips are appreciated!
I don’t recommend the hybrid. You still have to get fuel, deal with oil, they are still filthy and loud. We are headed for all electric, although, I believe by the time 2030 rolls around we will be using more solar, etc. for powering the cars. Once you switch to an EV, you’ll never want a gas car again. I love mine!
The same can be said about political activism: I've been a state delegate, I make phone calls, I knock on doors, and I donate. Have I made a real difference? I'd like to think so...but at least I can look my kids (who are also active) in the eye and say "I tried."
Wait. You mean to say there’s a possibility that Trump may have misquoted or misrepresented a real statistic instead of just making up a number that he feels is right? That’s progress for him! Good job, Dolt 45!
Worker strikes and pushes for unionization where unions don't exist was already heartening to me. Amid the sad situation in Gaza, it feels like even more of a lifeline. Thanks for this early morning pick-me-up.
Thanks for explaining what the strike is about. Also for giving yet further evidence that the Republicans are reactionaries and worse. Interesting that the Democrats here in Virginia have not exploited Youngkin's opposition to a new jobs opportunity. Perhaps he's hoping to resurrect the tobacco industry instead. I'm sure that would be popular among his supporters.
C'mon guys. It's ANTI-AMERICAN to want EV's. We need MORE oil and gas and drillling and fracking and Detroit STEEL dammit. That's how we'll raise the American standard of living and achieve the American Dream! We will make HISTORY!
So what if our grandkids inherit a planet where they can't breathe? We will leave them PLENTY of that sweet, sweet MOOLAH! So much that they will be able to buy ANYTHING! They'll be too happy to worry about something so mundane, so conman as the act of breathing.
USA! USA! USA! USA!
Just in case /s! Just in case /s! Just in case /s!
I really, really wish I knew. I've read a lot of books about how to have conversations with those that disagree with you, tried different tactics, tried to understand their point of view and how to counter it, but to very little effect. There are those that hold very, very tightly to their beliefs and there are those that will change their mind upon getting better info and the gap between is immense.
I'm sorry to say that all the books you've read are based on the idea that the people with whom you disagree are fully-functional humans. They're not. Many of them have had the ability to disagree with the tribe in which they were raised beaten out of them, verbally or physically, by those who raised them. In the process, they have lost entire aspects of their personalities and their ability to realize that entire aspects and features of reality even exist.
The dysfunctions created in them by those who raised them and likely amplified and exacerbated by their information sources, prevent them from being able to allow anything which challenges their warped perspectives to even enter their awareness. They live in an alternate reality in which any attempt to expand their awareness or correct the misinformation they live by is met with the psychological equivalent of fingers in the ears, "lah-lah-lah-lah" "I can;t hear you." Under the stress of disagreement, such people only retreat more deeply into their alternate reality, rapidly growing uncomfortable, then angry, then flashing to rage or even violence.
(Extreme liberals sometimes share an opposite dysfunction programmed into them by those who raised them which makes being anything but "nice" anathema to them, doesn't allow them to stand up for what they believe in, or press too hard for what they know to be right if it might upset someone else or hurt their feelings let alone cause them actual pain.)
It is not these people's fault. They did not do this to themselves, but that does not make them any less dangerous to us. Our only current solution is to shunt them aside and never allow them to hold positions of power and influence, which can be a massive challenge when an entire region or state or faith expression shares the same dysfunctions programmed by each generation into the next.
If you suspect that you are one of these people who can't sense reality and is blind to your own blindness and deaf to your own deafness, you can be healed and your missing personality aspects restored to you so that you can "Get Yourself Together," through relatively simple imaginative healing exercises, but lacking that you will never really see or know or feel or understand the reality that's all around you.
As to people defensively locked into their alternate reality. Don't waste your breath. They cannot be reached through normal discussion and argument. Shunt them aside and do your best to put those who are emotionally/psychologically healthier in positions of power and responsibility.
It sounds harsh but this is a sound strategy that you espouse Gregg. I've folks in my own family that require the fabled "long-handled-spoon treatment."
There is no rational discourse with an irrational mind. All you can do is turn away or risk being infected.
Couldn't possibly agree more. I came from a very similar dysfunctional family and had to estrange relatives for exactly the reasons you laid out - they are in their own reality and it's not a pretty one. Cruelty, small mindedness, selfishness, 'my family is all that matters' all rule the day.
Another GOP lie: nobody anywhere is being forced to buy EVs, nor will they be.
I had no idea Youngkin blocked a Ford plant - that's really putting "America first." Also can't believe the Dems aren't exploiting that right now. Wait, that I can believe. /s
Is there any advance, any progress, in civilization or in how life is lived or how people treat each other, that Republicans don't want to stop or roll back?
No
Thank you for exposing more of what the UAW is contending with. Of course the excessively rich corporate CEO's will find any argument that will obscure rational ways to make the economy of any service work well for all sides. Now, we know where a major contingent of Trump (and Republican) supporters comes from. [I'm enraged by Governor Youngkins act to prevent a factory to build batteries in VA.] Popular Information has revealed how the internecine greed of corporate America blindly puts greed before life.
Kudos for getting Scholastic to back down on the "bigot button"! I always find your articles to be pertinent and invaluable.
Agreed. And Scholastic should apologize to the human beings and their families who it banned, including Ketanji Brown, Amanda Gorman and John Lewis.
They need to go further and rebuke the Fascist pressure!
My wife and I have had a Chevy Bolt since 2019, bought new. It’s price is competitive with the average gasoline-powered models, although the car is a bit small, yet comfortable and diverse with roof rack and its pick and zip, its ride quality and stability are great. It’s eMPG is somewhere around 100 m/g “around town” depending upon the price of crude from OPEC which is Hell-bent on raising its prices to make Biden’s reelection less likely because the uninformed electorate immediately blames a sitting president for the nation’s economy and of course the price of gasoline and diesel at the pump. This eMPG is based on 12 cent/kwh from our electric utility, $3.50/ gal of gasoline and our ability to charge at home from a standard 110v electric outlet. Even on the road at the price of fast charging being somewhere around 30-40 cents a KW our eMPG is around 35 mpg. Our maintenance costs have gone to zero so far but we have less than 40K miles on it. Still, no oil changes; maybe a 12V battery soon and a set of tires rather early but those are about tire quality and standard car batteries that never do last long. Neither is about the car itself. The result? WE ARE NOT GOING BACK TO MOTOR FUELS. Trump can have all those he wants.
I had a very short conversation with what I assume was a Trump supporter - they were bitching about gas prices under Biden. I asked if he was so simple that his decision on a president was based solely on the price of gas, or if there were more factors that he worked with. Blank. Stare. was all I got.
Having conversations with these people I have discovered is useless. So how do we engage in an exchange of ideas with them? They have no ideas.
I've softened the views of several right wing and even far right people in my life by focusing on the people struggling under our current system. I don't debate on the merits of Medicare for All, UBI, or abortion rights. I share stories about how people working 50 hours a week can't afford housing, how a mutual friend died at 32 due to a lack of care access, how a child had to cross state lines to get an abortion, etc. The most political I get is pointing out how beneficial the expanded child tax credit was and that Republican legislatures who claim to be all about reducing taxes wouldn't even extend a tax credit.
Any information that they can go look up can be just enough to open a mind or two. But not many. Still worth it.
My grandpa opened a gas station back in '39. Now there's more than 1. Nobody, and I mean nobody makes a profit on gas. Hasn't in decades. My dad, staunch republican that he is, will tell anyone that's bitching about Biden’s gas prices, that the President of the US has absolutely nothing to do with the price of gas.
My father-in-law owned a station for over 50 years. Said the same thing. He made his money delivering fuel to farmers in a small tanker.
True. People wonder why there's so much inside anymore. Have to make a profit somewhere. It's amazing and a little dumbfounding, how otherwise intelligent people can make such ignorant comments.
Good for you for challenging that. I am so sick of their comments when trump destroyed everything including democracy.
Where we live electricity is 32 ¢/kWh and gas is about $3.50. Our 2010 Prius gets 45 - 50 mpg. Using your figures (assuming my math is correct), our eMPG would be about 37. Nearby Springfield MA (per Google) has 38 ¢/kWh (the national average rate of 17 ¢/kWh), which would give an eMPG of about 32. At the national average of 17 ¢/kWh, your car would get about 71 eMPG. Again, per Google, our electricity is generated by 70% natural gas. Ignoring the immediate cost increase per driven mile, would it be better for the environment for us to continue driving the Prius or to go fully electric? The current plan is to keep the Prius until it dies...and then ???
Order of environmental friendliness:
1) drive your car until it dies and then switch to biking/public transit
2) drive your car until it dies and replace it with a used EV or hybrid
3) drive your car until it dies and replace it with a used, highly efficient ICE vehicle
4) drive your car until it dies and replace it with a new EV or hybrid
Great list, John. First and foremost drive it until it dies, because the replacement consumes resources, and in the current environment that means lots of greenhouse gas emissions. We would all save money and help mother earth by replacing all our stuff only when it's worn out.
PS I just replaced my beloved 98 Audi A4 with a '21 BMW I3. That's the other thing: recycle!
What experiences does anyone have with an EV or Hybrid that would be a good mini-van replacement? I haven't begun looking yet, however my 2009 Toyota Sienna is around the 264,000 mile mark and as much as I love this vehicle I want to be more responsible when it needs to be replaced (when it dies). Second car is an inherited 2012 Toyota Corolla with around 100,000 miles, this is my work and around town car, the Sienna is used for camping trips and anywhere I go with my two Golden Retrievers. The dogs travel in crates for safety, any replacement would need to hold two dog crates and gear. Any tips are appreciated!
I don’t recommend the hybrid. You still have to get fuel, deal with oil, they are still filthy and loud. We are headed for all electric, although, I believe by the time 2030 rolls around we will be using more solar, etc. for powering the cars. Once you switch to an EV, you’ll never want a gas car again. I love mine!
I wish I knew! We have a Town and Country that's on its way out. Family of 5 plus a doggo.
Individual efforts, while noble, will barely put a dent in the problem. We need system-wide changes, and quick.
The same can be said about political activism: I've been a state delegate, I make phone calls, I knock on doors, and I donate. Have I made a real difference? I'd like to think so...but at least I can look my kids (who are also active) in the eye and say "I tried."
Good for you. I like to think I’m well-informed, donate small dollars as much as I can, but I’m just too busy/exhausted to be politically active.
*so many requests to donate after doing it once--I get irritated by the constant daily emails and texts.
Wait. You mean to say there’s a possibility that Trump may have misquoted or misrepresented a real statistic instead of just making up a number that he feels is right? That’s progress for him! Good job, Dolt 45!
Worker strikes and pushes for unionization where unions don't exist was already heartening to me. Amid the sad situation in Gaza, it feels like even more of a lifeline. Thanks for this early morning pick-me-up.
Damn straight Joseph! Both of your mentions are well made indeed.
My paid subscription to Popular Information is WELL worth it. Keep up the great work!
I will second that praise. Thank you Judd,
“GM, for example, says it will completely phase out the internal combustion engine and only produce electric vehicles by 2035.”
“In January, Wyoming legislators proposed a bill to end electric vehicle sales…by 2035.”
So GM won’t be able to sell any cars in Wyoming in 2035?
The Republican Party is a paradoxical embarrassment to the world. All because they sold their soul to the Devil. And we all know who the Devil is.
Thanks for explaining what the strike is about. Also for giving yet further evidence that the Republicans are reactionaries and worse. Interesting that the Democrats here in Virginia have not exploited Youngkin's opposition to a new jobs opportunity. Perhaps he's hoping to resurrect the tobacco industry instead. I'm sure that would be popular among his supporters.
Every excuse made by [all of] the automakers is bullshit— so of course it's supported by the anti-union and anti-worker GOP morons.
It's nothing but propaganda.
Unions make every job better in the country, even if you’re not in a union.
This is proven by the facts in this article and by our own history.
C'mon guys. It's ANTI-AMERICAN to want EV's. We need MORE oil and gas and drillling and fracking and Detroit STEEL dammit. That's how we'll raise the American standard of living and achieve the American Dream! We will make HISTORY!
So what if our grandkids inherit a planet where they can't breathe? We will leave them PLENTY of that sweet, sweet MOOLAH! So much that they will be able to buy ANYTHING! They'll be too happy to worry about something so mundane, so conman as the act of breathing.
USA! USA! USA! USA!
Just in case /s! Just in case /s! Just in case /s!
Lol. Nice. I hope to see some more satire on this subject from Andy Borowitz.
I really, really wish I knew. I've read a lot of books about how to have conversations with those that disagree with you, tried different tactics, tried to understand their point of view and how to counter it, but to very little effect. There are those that hold very, very tightly to their beliefs and there are those that will change their mind upon getting better info and the gap between is immense.
I'm sorry to say that all the books you've read are based on the idea that the people with whom you disagree are fully-functional humans. They're not. Many of them have had the ability to disagree with the tribe in which they were raised beaten out of them, verbally or physically, by those who raised them. In the process, they have lost entire aspects of their personalities and their ability to realize that entire aspects and features of reality even exist.
The dysfunctions created in them by those who raised them and likely amplified and exacerbated by their information sources, prevent them from being able to allow anything which challenges their warped perspectives to even enter their awareness. They live in an alternate reality in which any attempt to expand their awareness or correct the misinformation they live by is met with the psychological equivalent of fingers in the ears, "lah-lah-lah-lah" "I can;t hear you." Under the stress of disagreement, such people only retreat more deeply into their alternate reality, rapidly growing uncomfortable, then angry, then flashing to rage or even violence.
(Extreme liberals sometimes share an opposite dysfunction programmed into them by those who raised them which makes being anything but "nice" anathema to them, doesn't allow them to stand up for what they believe in, or press too hard for what they know to be right if it might upset someone else or hurt their feelings let alone cause them actual pain.)
It is not these people's fault. They did not do this to themselves, but that does not make them any less dangerous to us. Our only current solution is to shunt them aside and never allow them to hold positions of power and influence, which can be a massive challenge when an entire region or state or faith expression shares the same dysfunctions programmed by each generation into the next.
If you suspect that you are one of these people who can't sense reality and is blind to your own blindness and deaf to your own deafness, you can be healed and your missing personality aspects restored to you so that you can "Get Yourself Together," through relatively simple imaginative healing exercises, but lacking that you will never really see or know or feel or understand the reality that's all around you.
As to people defensively locked into their alternate reality. Don't waste your breath. They cannot be reached through normal discussion and argument. Shunt them aside and do your best to put those who are emotionally/psychologically healthier in positions of power and responsibility.
It sounds harsh but this is a sound strategy that you espouse Gregg. I've folks in my own family that require the fabled "long-handled-spoon treatment."
There is no rational discourse with an irrational mind. All you can do is turn away or risk being infected.
Couldn't possibly agree more. I came from a very similar dysfunctional family and had to estrange relatives for exactly the reasons you laid out - they are in their own reality and it's not a pretty one. Cruelty, small mindedness, selfishness, 'my family is all that matters' all rule the day.
Hey, how do you know when Trump is lying?
His mouth is open.
Great job on keeping people accountable, calling them out when they do wrong and enabling some semblance of justice around here. Thank you.
See how the UAW strike has expanded to 41 locations in four phases with this interactive map from Democracy Labs. https://thedemlabs.org/2023/10/24/uaw-strike-expansion-map/
Great reporting- thank you.
Another GOP lie: nobody anywhere is being forced to buy EVs, nor will they be.
I had no idea Youngkin blocked a Ford plant - that's really putting "America first." Also can't believe the Dems aren't exploiting that right now. Wait, that I can believe. /s