Reviewing a Debate I Didn't Watch
I’m not sure where in the recesses of my addled mind this memory comes from, but I used to listen to guys on the radio (or pod?) who reviewed movies that they had yet to see. It was often pretty funny.
I did not see the debate between Trump and Harris by choice. I wanted neither to be exposed to asininity nor flat out dishonesty and evasion. I know what we have in this election, and I choose not to devote much additional thought to its conduct.
There seems to be near universal agreement that Harris won, and nothing I read causes me to doubt that consensus. Most of the news sources I trust point at the strategic wisdom of her approach (don’t answer questions directly, bait Trump into swivel-eyed loon behavior) and the rather overt bias of the moderators with respect to their fact checking, which itself sounds like it needed fact checking.
But instead of using the TEN MORE MINUTES OF SPEAKING that he enjoyed to point out these errors, or Harris’ flip flops, or the amazing fact that she’s running as a candidate of change from an administration she’s been in for nearly four years, or pointing out the vast body of evidence that her policy preferences are far-more left-leaning than the American citizenry…Mr. Trump instead blathered on about his rallies and dining on domestic felines.
Oh…also, I have VIVID memories of an entire press corps lining up against Reagan in 1984 and he won 49 states. Candidates matter.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have EXACTLY the election we deserve.
On Elon Musk
When discussing the need for transportation (see next section) with my darling oldest daughter, she was energized by my willingness to buy an Electric Vehicle (EV). Patting myself on the back for having achieved a rare moment of esteem in her eyes, I was then greeted by the following:
“You’re not thinking of a Tesla, are you?”
This is not because she believes the Tesla to be a poor choice of an automobile, that its “lux” model (S) looks like a sports car and not a “lux” model, that there are continuing build quality issues. No. She wished for me not to buy a Tesla because of her perception of Elon Musk as a human being and his political leanings.
I used this opportunity to exercise the rare option of walking away from what would likely become an argument. No prize was awarded for this discretion, something which, in a just world, would be rectified.
But I’ve thought about it since, and I have some thoughts.
While Musk’s rep was on the downslide before buying Twitter, his purchase of Twitter seems to have accelerated things. The bottom line is that the self-styled illuminati in American society had grown comfortable with the previous Twitter management’s increasingly unbalanced approach to content moderation, while many of us (yep, me) were increasingly bothered by it. The bias was real, and unnerving. I honestly think Musk bought Twitter (I will never call it X) because of his perception of its contribution to “free speech” and his desire to offer some protection thereto. I think he has succeeded in this effort, the bleating and rending of garments of the left notwithstanding. I honestly don’t care how he spends his money, but if he’s gonna burn $44B on anything, free speech seems a good place for me.
Elon Musk is Trumpy, of that there is little doubt. But folks in this country need to realize, a large portion of half the voting public is pretty Trumpy, folks that fix your washer, manage your finances, cook your fabulous restaurant meals, and yes, folks you eat lunch with! The suggestion that I would withhold my business from his car company because of his politics was not appealing. I withheld my business from his car company because I don’t like the exterior of the model aimed at me. And by the way, his “cyber-truck” is a horror.
You know what else Elon Musk is? He’s a GENIUS. A ridiculously hard-working GENIUS who has built TWO PRIVATE AMERICAN INDUSTRIES—Electric Vehicles and Commercial Space. He recognized the playing field as it existed and he exploited it as only a visionary capitalist can. I flat out admire much of what Elon Musk has accomplished, and I applaud the outsized impact he’s had on this country.
He’s odd, that’s for sure (not “weird” in a Tim Walz speaking of J.D. Vance sort of way). He’s odd in the sense of the cartoonish view we’ve had in this country of “inventors”. He gives his (many, often illegitimate) children silly names, and his views on population swim upstream against the prevailing notion of fecundity among American (and international) elites. But he’s not wrong. We—in this country—need more people. More people come from two places—immigration, and the womb. There are no others, and our society would be much better off with more of both.
I think the most difficult thing to take about Musk is his NBA-like inability to criticize China, and his MAGA-pleasing coolness to the Ukrainian struggle against Russian aggression (yep, that’s what it is).
I sometimes wonder if his celebrity hasn’t gone to his head, and those portions of his beautiful brain that dictate how to handle that fame appear stunted. I wouldn’t mind if he took a bit of a lower profile and went back to running Tesla, Space-X, and “The Boring Company” a bit more “hands-on”. That said, he’s an American success story and the world is far better with him in it. I just don’t like the Model S.
And We Have a Winner!
Some of you may remember a post recently wherein I recounted a bone-headed driving mistake that led to my beloved car’s being totaled. My original plan was to do a one-for-one replacement of the victimized form of transportation, but a discussion with my inamorata led me to “think bigger”, and by that, I originally considered a brand new version of what I’d lost, or an up-engine version of what I lost. Then thoughts of an EV began to creep in…
I’d thought deeply about an EV when I bought the late car, after having rented them on business in San Diego for a few months (Tesla and Polestar). I liked the tech, I liked the performance. But when it came time to pull the trigger, I lost my nerve (unfamiliarity, infrastructure including charging, etc.)
This time though, I went boldly into the night. Mercedes had a couple of EV options, and I drove one that was an utter dream (the EQE), which is the electric version of their E-Class in a decided unattractive pill-shaped form. The next day, I drove the Lucid Air Pure Touring with 500 miles of range and over 600hp. But these figures came at a cost, both financially and aurally (I could hear the second of two motors—the forward one—to a bothering degree). So I then drove the base model with 405 miles of range and something like 420 hp coming out of a rear-mounted electric motor, and I was in love. Serious tech, serious range, serious horsepower, all in an attractive and lux package.
As I pondered earlier, I leased it, both because of my anxiety about the viability of Lucid and because of how fast the tech changes. I then went and screwed up whatever financial sense I’d put into the deal by buying some Lucid stock (NASDAQ: LCID). In for a penny…
This car—like many other EV’s in this country—was built for the “non-Tesla” EV grid (different interfaces). But Tesla has begun fitting some of its superstations with the “Magic Dock” feature which allows (considerably slower than Tesla charging and more expensive for non-Tesla consumers) me to use the Superstation a few miles away, which I’ve done already with acceptable results (the Royal Farms cappuccino was passable).
My home charger is headed my way and a local electrician will install it. Four years ago, I paid to have the service increased to our house (and buried), as I saw EV’s in the future (and we hadn’t had a service bump when we built the pool). All systems seem “go” at this point, and the car is a dream.
One interesting fact, at least to me. You can track and display both miles remaining and battery charge. Battery charge drives me nuts. I have 281 miles available to me right now, but when I check what the charge is, it shows 68%. 68% is a “D” in school, and it always has been. I cannot get that out of my head. Every additional percentage used drives me closer and closer to “F”. 281 miles? Hell, I could get to Charlottesville, I think. Or nearby. I like miles better.
Harris during the debate - "As of today, there is not one member of the United States military who is in active duty in a combat zone, in any war zone around the world, for the first time this century." Any one of us with an understanding of current events could have fact checked immediately as wrong (i said not true as soon as she said it), citing both recent US military deaths, injuries, and attacks against US bases and ships in the Middle East. How a person so closely connected to the Commander-in Chief over the last 3+ years does not know this is treacherous and a dereliction of duty. How harmful to the morale of the men and women serving in harm's way today.
Dang! I went back and re-read you post and now have to comment on Musk
His is not a genius. He did not invent the EV, he did not invent space x, he did not invent connecting brains to computers.
That said, I give him massive credit for dumping tons of money into these projects. Money that other investors were placing in stock buybacks and creation of monopolies. He made the incumbent car mfgs get off their dead asses and put some effort into EVs. He funded engineers and techs to go back to the drawing board on rockets and communication satellites. He funded research into connecting brains to computer. Researchers had to go begging for funding from the government that had other priorities. Private investors could see not profit in it. I worked with a number of engineers in wheel chairs and I can see a chair in my near future.
He is a wild man who's personal life should not be emulated, but even assholes can fund useful innovation.