Electric Lemon would be a great name for a band particularly if they were as awful as the name implies.
An electric lemon is exactly what a St. Peterburg, FL teenager named Avery Siwinski got according to news reports out of that Pinellas County community. The teenager’s used electric car conked out on her after just six months, and she was told a replacement battery would cost more than the car did.
Avery’s parents paid $11,000 for a used 2014 Ford Focus EV with 60,000 miles on the odometer. According to the Tampa Bay area’s KVUE 10 News, Ms. Siwinski’s car began flashing warning symbols on the dashboard after just six months.
Ever since it broke down the car has been sitting at the Ford Auto Nation in Pinellas County, completely inoperable and useless. When the family managed to finally get a quote for a battery replacement, it came in at $14,000, three grand more than the car cost and that didn’t cover installation and labor costs.
Ford Auto Nation offered to take the car off her hands with a trade-in value of just $500. After some research, the family learned that there aren’t any better options.
“We found out the batteries aren’t even available,” said a family member. “So, it didn’t matter. They could cost twice as much, and we still couldn’t get it. If you’re buying a new one, you have to realize there is no second-hand market right now because the manufacturers are not supporting the cars.”
What about all your pals at the local pub who ask: “When are you going to buy a Tesla?” and then explain: “You realize they have some that cost less than $100,000 don’t you?”
Actually, I’ve never been asked that question, certainly not by the folks at the watering hole I frequent. I understand that if you can afford to buy a new one you get a $7,500 tax credit. Geez, a tax credit for the wealthy guy for buying a new Tesla. I thought the tax breaks were for the environment. What about the poor schmuck driving to his day laborer job in his used Chevy truck who is paying more than five bucks a gallon for gas?
A person will use four times more energy charging their electric car than the average household uses running its air conditioner. Maybe they should only drive them in the winter.
I don’t want to sound judgmental but…nah, just kidding, yes I do. I’m an opinion guy, I enjoy being judgmental, it’s what I do.
What’s up with all these celebrities and current and former government officials demanding we convert from electricity-generating fossil fuels to wind and solar energy who are touting these pricey electric cars? Are they earning commissions from Elon Musk?
Until John Kerry, Barak Obama, Al Gore, unemployed Prince Harry, and his vacuous actress wife, etc., with their multiple mansions, yachts, and private jets join us boarding an electric bus to get from Point A to Point B, they can all go pound sand.
Daniel Turner, the executive director of Power The Future, summed it up nicely when he said, “The problem with folks like John Kerry and the climate hypocrites who run the green movement is that they want to use the coercive power of government. They want to use it internationally with groups like the UN, etc. They want to use the power of government to deny the rest of us the ability to use those fossil fuels that they take for granted.”
“They refuse to voluntarily live how they want the rest of us to be forced to live,” Turner added. “It doesn’t just make them hypocrites, it makes them, quite frankly, a threat to the rights and freedoms of people around the world.”
When will Kerry, Obama, Gore, etc. voluntarily live the way they demand the rest of us to be compelled to live? Don’t hold your breath. California, a state run by environmental extremists, plans to move its energy grid toward 100 percent zero carbon electricity by 2045 and has passed a ban on fuel-powered vehicles that will go into effect in 2035. No wonder U-Hauls clog the roads leaving that state.
The Wall Street Journal says that two-thirds of the U.S. could suffer blackouts this summer due to shrinking power generation which has been replaced by unreliable renewable energy. Confused government employees and bewildered regulators can’t command the sun to shine or the wind to blow. The last time the world depended on solar and wind was the Middle Ages.
The U.S. is not close to chugging along on wind and solar power and won’t be for maybe 100 more years if that. How then are those folks going to charge their $60,000 plus EV’s and keep their ice cream from melting, particularly with anticipated rotating blackouts and when there’s no gas for their generators?
Here’s some advice for those thinking about buying an electric car? Don’t!
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If The Biden Administration Says It’s A Good Idea You Know It Isn’t: Joe Biden’s Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is taking time away from ensuring that our highways are free from racial biases to lecture the American public on the need to buy those pricey electric clunkers.
Buttigieg, the winner of MAD Magazine’s Alfred E. Newman look-a-like contest, said: “The more pain we suffer from the high price of gas, the more benefit for those who can access electric vehicles.” This moron is just one example of the damage the crowd of misfits that Biden calls his staff is doing to the country.
Someone did research on the resumes of the top people in the Biden administration. It found that 65 of them have zero time working in private industry. They are academics, activists, or government bureaucrats. Like Biden they have no understanding of what is involved in meeting a payroll, keeping costs low, nor hiring based solely on skill and merit. In a nutshell they have no comprehension of private markets or basic economics, including supply and demand. They reside in an impenetrable ideological bubble, have no common sense, nor any ability to see the ramifications of their actions.
Biden exemplifies this group ineptitude. He has spent nearly half a century in Washington and has nothing to show for it. Aside from helping Obama send $1.7 billion to Iran; and making certain that his son would collect fifty or a hundred times more money from Ukraine and China for doing nothing than most people have probably earned in a lifetime; the man has accomplished zero in fifty years.
He takes credit for things he never did, lies about things he didn’t do, and blames others when things go wrong. A meme I saw recently reads: “After seeing what Biden has done in the last few months, I want to thank him for not doing anything in the previous 47 years.”
When people like Buttigieg are rated a contender for the Democrat nomination over a mentally fading Biden in 2024, it’s apparent how thin and inept the Democrat Party’s bench is.
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Not Aging Well: Even many recent Democrat poll respondents are saying Joe Biden is too old (he’ll be 80 in November) to be renominated for President again. Where were these folks 18 months ago when he was shuffling, bumbling, and mumbling along the campaign trail when Bob Dylan was only 80?
It’s obvious from watching him shuffle on and off speaking venues, falling off a bike and up the stairs, and listening to him stammer while reading a teleprompter, that this frail doddering old timer’s time has come to exit the public stage.
He needs handlers to point him in the right direction when making public appearances, he shakes hands with invisible people, and can’t remember anybody’s name. He walks like the Tin Woodsman who needs several squirts of WD 40.
A headline in the July 19 Wall Street Journal nicely sums it up saying: “Has Biden Lost It? He Never Had It.”
The White house isn’t a nursing home. The problem is who replaces him? Vice President Kamala Harris isn’t old, she’s flat out inept and stupid, even more incompetent than an addled Biden.
Houston we have a problem.
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Student Loan Forgiveness: Forgiving student loans isn’t eliminating them. It’s transferring payments for them to folks who didn’t ask for them, apply for them or benefit from them.
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HUH? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently issued guidelines on how to avoid monkeypox while having sex. I promise I didn’t make this up, but one of the guidelines was: “Consider having sex with your clothes on.” That one alone is a reason to avoid any future advice from the CDC.
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Is It Just Me? Or has Hollywood completely run out of ideas other than infinite variations of Spider-Man?
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Things I Wish I’d Said: “Racist – a person who wins an argument with a liberal.” – Rush Limbaugh.
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Journalism Done Well: Editor and Publisher George Miller and the new online publication, Citizens Journal Florida, did an excellent job of summarizing the Nassau County Commissioner Candidate Forum conducted by the “We The People” organization Monday, July 11, and the District 4 Republican Congressional primary forum July 20. Here they are:
https://www.citizensjournal.net/nassau-county-board-of-commissioners-candidate-forum-report/
The next We The People forum will be State House candidate forum on Monday, July 25th at Walker’s Landing. Contact Ms. Boelkes at Deb.Boelkes@bwrising.com or 904/310-9602.
The paper also did a top-notch investigative piece on a fund-raising issue involving the District 4 candidates. It can be viewed here: https://www.citizensjournal.net/furor-over-district-4-congressional-candidate-fundraising-scam-accusations/
This new publication is off to a roaring start, covering local issues and events ignored by the lazy bi-weekly print News Leader and the blind Fernandina Observer.
Re electric cars, not only are replacement batteries unavailable at this time but had they been how and where are the “old” batteries disposed. Oh and have any of these Moran’s like Buttigieg checked what batteries are comprised of? Chemicals from petroleum products and lithium from foreign countries like Russia. Telling common folk who can’t afford to pay $5.00/gal for gas to go buy an electric car is like telling a homeless person to go buy a house!!
Support the creation of a Citizens Budget Advisory Committe in the Nassau County School District.
Letter to the Editor of the News Leader, published July 21, 2022.
The problem is that it’s not true
The News Leader accurately quotes the NCSB attorney, Brett Seger regarding the proposed Citizens Budget Advisory Committee (CBAC), speaking at the July 19th School Board Meeting, “There’s no more ability to contribute to the process through an advisory committee than there is available currently, which is the workshops, the materials, those kind of things”.
The problem is that it’s simply not true. I have been pushing for the CBAC in NCSD for months. I have four qualified citizens willing to serve, two with extensive school finance experience. I took exception to his statement in an email to the School Board the following morning.
Here’s an excerpt from my email that defines the CBAC,
“Budget Advisory Committees are created for the purposes of making recommendations to the School Board regarding the School District’s annual budget and any policies and practices that may be relevant to the budgeting process.
Budget Advisory Committees have the following responsibilities:
Advise the School Board on the degree to which the Superintendent’s Proposed Budget supports best fiscal practices and the School Board’s priorities.
Make recommendations to the School Board on policies and practices related to the presentation and preparation and execution of the annual budget.”
They typically commence their work in January for a Budget cycle that concludes in August or early September. The CBAC is there as the process begins.
Contrast this process with what’s currently happening in NCSD. They held their first Budget workshop on Tuesday, July 19th. Despite several requests from me for the “Budget Book” to review prior to the meeting, which was provided to the School Board days earlier, it was not available for me to review until 9:00 am, the morning of the meeting. It took a request the day of the meeting to get it posted online. It’s 366 pages long. Additionally, a new document, to be discussed at the workshop, was handed to me at the beginning of the workshop. I was also given a copy of the “completed Budget” which the School Board approved for advertising. 10.6% increase in spending, 42 additional positions added.
Mr. Steger, there’s nothing “Advisory” about being told what the District is going to spend. We deserve a seat at the table at the beginning of the budget process, not when it’s virtually completed.
The creation of a CBAC is on the agenda for the next School Board meeting, next Thursday, July 28th. Nassau County Citizens, let the Board Chair, Donna Martin, know you support the creation of the CBAC. Her email is martindo@nassau.k12.fl.us.
Richard Lamken
Fernandina Beach
Bravo, Richard. You are so right.
I totally agree with you on electric cars, doesn’t anyone realize how electricity is made and in many places fossil fuels are what is used? Hybrid cars are better, they recharge themselves but I think anyone who buys an electric car should have to show proof they have their own electricity supply, like solar panels or a windmill.
I also don’t like the idea of forgiving student loans, though I think the interest on those loans should be low or nothing at all. You shouldn’t have to pay 18% interest on your education. We should be encouraging loans being paid back, not penalizing those who want to.
Are you ever going to mention the role Trump and other Republicans played in trying to overthrow our government? If that was the reverse and it was Biden and the Republicans you would be all over it weekly. Where do you stand on all that has come out?
About 90 percent of student loan debt is comprised of federal loans. These loans are currently 1.057% for undergraduate students and, since 1993, the rates have varied from 2.75% to 8.25%. The 1.057% rate is a special rate set on 10/1/2020 from the former 4.99% as a result of COVID legislation. That rate ends 10/1/2023.
Your 18% is just a made-up number like your Trump and Republicans trying to overthrow our government assertion.
You were doing well right up until that last sentence.
Trump’s inner circle, aka White House staff, legal counsel, military advisors, and even his own family members, have testified to Trump’s direct involvement in the Jan 6 insurrection. So it follows that it isn’t Ms. Dickinson’s assertion as you’ve stated, but her acknowledgment of the facts.
Just because someone says something doesn’t make it a fact. Peg’s assertion is just based on other’s assertions. Nothing has been proven as a “fact”. Here’s a fact: Trump authorized the deployment of thousands of National Guard troops to protect the capital. The authorization is the limit of Presidential power over the National Guard. The deployment must be requested by the Mayor of Washington DC on behalf of the Metropolitan Police and by Pelosi on behalf of the Capitol Police. Both decline to request the deployment. Does that sound like the actions of a President intent on committing an insurrection by a mob? Does that beg questions why, in spite of warnings by the FBI, that the people responsible for the protection of the Capitol declined the use of the National Guard? If you were planning an insurrection, and had thousands of “troops” would you send them on their mission unarmed? That mob, even unarmed could have totally overwhelmed the police and actually completed an insurrection if that was their mission. Bottom line: the was no attempted “insurrection” that day.
Cool story. Let me guess from whom it originated…..ahem, Carlson and Hannity. The trouble is, no one can come up with any record of it. Try going to nationalguard-dot-mil for the “facts”. And turn off FOX News.
The Department of Energy reports recharging an electric vehicle consumes about twice the electricity as powering a home air conditioner.
As for the Transportation Secretary, a brief drive around South Bend, where he pretended to be mayor, reveals a city in real distress with block after block of vacant lots next to abandoned buildings, factories and retail stores.
It is a major downside issue with electric vehicles that few are willing to discuss. The used car value of an 8 to 10-year-old electric car should be little more than scrap value. The life cycle of the currently available car batteries is on the order of 8 to10 years and replacement, if they are available, will exceed the value of the vehicle. The risk of replacement with junkyard batteries will be pretty much the same as hoping for the serviceability of electric vehicles much beyond 10 years.
Virtually all gas and diesel powered cars have a serviceable life well beyond 20 years with even a modest level of vehicle care. Once the used car market catches up with the reality of battery replacement costs, many of the owners of those $50,000 electric vehicles will be pained to discover their trade-in value rapidly diminishing to near zero.
Although battery technology has and is still improving greatly, the length of serviceable life remains an issue yet to be recognized. As electric vehicles age, it will be interesting to see just how long the batteries actually will last and how the used car market will end up valuing used EVs. If the experiences are too expensive and painful, consumers will vote with their feet.
Nothing like blasting EVs to draw the attention away from Auto Nation who knowingly sold a car that was at the end of it’s 8 year/100k mile battery life. I suppose we can also hold the Siwinski’s blameless for failing to do their due diligence in significantly over-paying for said EV. I won’t buy an EV anytime soon simply because lithium batteries will soon be old technology and I’m uncomfortable with what I view to be limited range on a single charge.
The 8yr 100k is the warranty period not the lifespan.At 100k The Battery should have an 80% capacity.
The battery is defective.The dealer should step up and help these people out.
For myself 50yrs of automotive experience I would not drive a car that has a liquid cooled electric power
with components sourced from the lowest bidder and the potential to explode into a ball of fire.
Geez. Everyone is sounding like a herd of grumpy senior citizens.
Spot on Richard. Just because a Budget Advisory Committee isn’t required, doesn’t mean its not a good idea. The NCSB has lacked oversight for decades and their level of transparency is pretty opaque until someone calls them on it. They generally have the largest share of a resident’s property tax bill but few citizen’s seem to care. Their supposed costs of producing public information requests shows their lack of efficiency and lack of skills to deliver outstanding education.
Dave – You missed the really BIG story this week: the Eric Aguilar fund-raising scam. The Citizens Journal did a good job summarizing the hit piece run by Politico Florida – which Aguilar has not responded to, despite direct questions. I fault Aaron Bean for not showing up at the WTP Congressional candidate forum. If he’s not capable of interrogating a primary opponent over such a grotesque fund-raising scam, what will he do faced with a Kevin McCarthy or Nancy Pelosi9?
This said, if the allegations that Aguilar sent out fund-raising emails through Winred pretending to raise money for Trump or DeSantis, that is prima facie evidence of criminal fraud. Okay, cynics may say, that’s what you expect in Congress… Not me. And not you.
Hi Dave: Electric Cars: you missed the mark on this one, big time. Understandable, as they are new to most of us.
Your evaluation is based on one story you heard. A sad story for sure but it is NOT the norm. Electric cars are far less expensive to maintain than Internal Combustion Engines.
Perhaps you should consider confining your commentary to matters that you actually know something about, or have done enough research on, to be accurate in your comments. As an owner of an electric car, for over 6 years, I have learned a lot about them: like anything else mechanical, they have their potential downside but they are overall, way less expensive to maintain than Internal combustion engine cars.
But please, keep on with it all, as I enjoy reading your blog, every Friday.
Jim Hogan
Fernandina Beach
Yes, cheaper, at least until you need a battery. Watch electric rates soar, as electric cars draw more from the power grid and wacko ultragreen policies destroy availability of power for electric plants and fossil fuel vehicles.
No “Reply” button so this is the quote to which my comment applies:
Richard Norman Kurpiers – 23. Jul, 2022 –
Cool story. Let me guess from whom it originated…..ahem, Carlson and Hannity. The trouble is, no one can come up with any record of it. Try going to nationalguard-dot-mil for the “facts”. And turn off FOX News.
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The web site only comments on deployments, which unfortunately, did not happen. My comment that sparked yours above was not from any talk show on any channel. It was directly from Kash Patel, who at the time, was Chief of Staff to the Secretary of Defense and was in the oval office with others when the subject was discussed and the authorization was given. It really hasn’t been a disputed fact, in any case. Now why the people responsible, and the only ones who could request the National Guard, did not do so is a closely guarded secret by those who failed to do so. We would certainly like to know those facts.
Yes, the topic was discussed “in passing” but no official authorization was given by Trump. Hence, no record exists of the authorization. Let me ask you, do you think it’s a coincidence that everyone claiming Trump officially authorized 10,000 or 20,000 (pick one) National Guardsmen to protect the Capitol on Jan 6th has refused to testify under oath before the congressional committee?
What a joke, has there been any witness or question raised in rebuttal to all the BS accusations thrown at Trump by this stupid J6 committee.
I’m trying to determine if the J6 committee or the second impeachment trail is the bigger joke and waste of time. The second impeachment for, of all things, incitement of insurrection, lasted all of 4 days.
Donald Trump: Back 2 Back, undefeated impeachment champion.
Absolutely correct Harrison!
Excerpt from
Department of Defense | Office of Inspector General
Document 1
Notes: DOD | IG Report
The DOD timeline (signed by SECDEF, Chairman, SECARMY, and many others) and IG report show that DOD National Guard troops could be present at the Capitol before Jan 6 and that President Trump authorized this request, as required by law, 24-48 hours before Jan 6. Pursuant to POTUS authorization, DOD was shocked to receive a written refusal from Mayor Bowser and Capitol Police (who report to Pelosi) regarding this National Guard troop deployment before Jan 6. During the afternoon of Jan. 6, Mayor Bowser and USCP finally requested the National Guard (as required by the law), and the DOD under Trump acted with historical speed and pace. It was the fastest cold start of National Guard troops since WW2 and largest deployment into the Nation’s Capital since the Civil War. Furthermore, DOD secured and installed no climb perimeter fencing around the entire Capitol complex overnight. A matter which the FBI could and should have done before Jan 6, but failed to do so.
Full document: https://www.scribd.com/document/581427714/DOD-Inspector-General-J6#download&from_embed
Your “evidence” was quoted directly from the website: fightwithkash-dot-com, and is hardly reliable. In fact, it does not appear anywhere else on the internet – including the DOD, the IG, or any other publication. Like I said earlier, “Cool story”.
First, I’ve never been on the fightwithkash-dot-com website. Second you have no factual basis for your statement that the website or Kash himself, are “hardly reliable”. Third, I don’t know what specific “evidence” you were referring to, so I can’t comment further on that. The words came out of Kash’s mouth, not from some website somewhere. If you are impugning the character of Kash Patel by implying he is lying, you should supply some pretty concrete proof. He and Chris Miller were not only in the room when Trump made the authorization, the authorization was directed to them. That is the “formal” authorization. The President doesn’t have to fill out a form. That’s an order from the Commander in Chief.
Ummm…no. The question was raised as to the accuracy of Mark Meadows’s statement on FOX News in which he said, “Even in January, that was a given that as many as 10,000 National Guard Troops were told to be on the ready by the secretary of defense.” To which Chris Miller, under oath, responded, “I was never given any direction or order or knew of any plans of that nature.”
I can’t/won’t vouch for the accuracy of the supposed statement by Mark Meadows. The 10,000 number is often misquoted. That was an off-the-wall estimate of what might be an appropriate number of NG troops given the estimated size of the crowd that was expected to be in DC…and not necessarily all Trump rally attendees. Trump never authorized 10,000 to 20,000 troops. That’s even a dumb statement and would have precluded the small number were were actually deployed for traffic control. The authorization of “up to 20,000” troops was acknowledged to the DOD IG during his investigation of the events surrounding J6. The statement by Chris Miller you quoted is a correct assessment. That “direction or order” has to come from Pelosi or Bowser, not Trump. As I said already, Trump has no legal authority to order NG troops. He can only authorize others to do so and must provide the authorization before they can do so.
You might want to check out the new video just released of Trump’s then acting defense secretary, Chris Miller, testifying under oath that former President Donald Trump never gave him a formal order to have 10,000 troops ready to be deployed to the Capitol on January 6, 2021. I believe that’s checkmate.
You need to carefully parse the words in the question and those in the answer. Q: “Did President Trump order 10,000 NG to be ready for deployment?” A: “No” First, he doesn’t have legal authority to order the state National Guard to do anything. All he can legally do, and did do, was to authorize as many NG troops as Pelosi and/or Bowser needed, up to 20,000. As noted in my previous comment above, that was acknowledged by the DOD and recorded in their IG’s report. Also noted there is that both Pelosi (Capitol Police) and Bowser (Metropolitan Police) formally, in writing, rejected the offer of any NG Troops except for a very limited number of unarmed troops to assist with traffic control in the DC area. It is not checkmate. It is a typical example of attempts at political and legal verbal slight of hand. In this case a carefully worded question designed to elicit a specific, known answer which is extracted from hours of testimony. It is also, apparently, a good example of people seeing what they want to see, and not critically looking for the truth. And many people are depending on that.
Christine Blasey Ford testified under oath that Brett Kavanaugh attempted to rape her. So what is your point about testifying under oath. It means nothing when it is before Congress.
Good job exposing the electric car scam, Dave. They are not ready for prime time. Technology is immature- especially batteries. Materials supply chain is a huge issue, as is recycling/toxic waste disposal. Don’t even get me started about their power source- increasingly expensive and unreliable electric power. How long does it take to charge one of those puppies?
Thanks for the kind words about Citizens Journal Florida. We are trying to provide the leading platform for REAL News in the region. We seek writers, editors, ad salesperson, webmaster (I suck at it), social media and circulation people.
After reading Matt Gaetz’s comments regarding women who are protesting anti-abortion laws, I thought, how sad. Now I have to concede that my friend Dave and Gaetz are in the same fraternity. Have you got a date for the prom?
I’m with Matt Gaetz on this one. Go to Dave’s archives from MAY 6, 2022
“WITH THE SCOTUS LEAK THE LEFT REDISCOVERS WOMEN” and checking out the protesters.
Who do people recommend voting for in the Port/highway election?? I don’t know any of the people