The Trump Presidency...

[bob_the_bomb]

...Antifa started everything on the 6th...

YUM

 

[terminal]

A coming UK problem will be the lack of infrastructure to provide sufficient 'charging stations' to enable mass charging of these vehicles simultaneously and the cables etc. to activate them.
Has that become a problem in Canada?

Not enough charging stations has and continues to be a problem in Canada, and I suspect will be a problem for some time to come.

This is a complex issue however, as when and where charging should be taking place may be something that will evolve as technology changes. As batteries increase in capacity, the location of charging stations will matter less. As charging times become quicker, people can spend less time charging their cars and it will be more and more like filling up with hydrocarbon liquid fuel (e.g. gasoline or diesel).

A lot of current charging station locations and designs are predicated on someone parking their car and leaving it there to slowly charge up over a period of hours. That concept becomes obsolete however if charging can happen much more rapidly. In that case charging stations can be more like gas (petrol) stations, located in high traffic areas, with the additional proviso of needed to be close to a large enough electric distribution line.

So, the characteristics and locations of charging stations required for battery powered cars of 5 years ago will likely be quite different from the charging stations of 5 or 10 years from now. Quite likely the evolution in charging technology will mean that an electric car which was bought 5 years ago may not be compatible with the standard charging technology of 10 years from now, and so even if there are loads more people driving electric cars the older ones won't be able to use the "standard" charging stations which are around then. It will be like floppy disks versus USB flash drives, only with a much bigger price tag associated with technological obsolescence.

 

[tommikka]

I do wonder why the media refers to them as zip ties.

As was pointed out, they are flexible handcuffs. They are for immobilising quickly large amounts of prisoners or hostages.

Suddenly becomes a lot less funny when you look at it like that.

To the vast majority of people they are zip ties
And also because every military vehicle is a tank and everything that goes bang is an AK47

 

[DaManBugs]

Why do you think a photo op with Trump and 30(ish) black men/women proves anything about whether he is racist or not?

There's a photo of me with my tongue down the throat of a fat bird; doesn't mean that I like Fat People in general.

I bet a pound to a pinch that it was expressly set up so that Dipshit Donny could "prove" that he's not racist. Although he showed his true colours when John Lewis died and Dipshit Donny refused to go to his funeral, even tweeting that he (John Lewis) wasn't all that remarkable.

I'm actually surprised they weren't all swiftly shunted out the door after the photo-op, to be replaced by a similar number of "Mexicans" all wearing sombreros and carrying blow-up cacti.

Dipshit Donny's strides are so baggy to conceal the gun that he has permanently pointed at his foot.

MsG

 

[Civvy Scum]

Those golf rounds and private jets won't pay for themselves.

'The last days of Donald Trump’s presidency have been nothing short of chaotic – so far filled with inciting an insurrection, impeachments and a refusal to attend his successor Joe Biden’s January 20 inauguration.

'As if that weren’t enough for the history books, however, the 74-year-old’s allies have collected huge amounts of money for access to the outgoing President from those seeking pardons before he leaves office, a bombshell new report by The New York Times has detailed.

'The “ad hoc” system – said to be run by the President’s son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner – supposedly bypasses the usual “intensive justice department review process intended to identify and vet the most deserving recipients from among thousands of clemency applications,” the paper reports.

'White House sources told CNN that Mr Trump will issue 100 pardon and commutations on his final full day in office on Tuesday, local time.

'Presidential pardons, while not implying innocence, are intended to show mercy to deserving recipients, setting aside any punishment and restoring civil rights lost to a convicted criminal.

'Yet, like almost everything in the last four years, they’re a power that’s been taken to the extreme by Mr Trump, who has instead rewarded them to his personal and political allies, and even, pre-emptively, to his own children.

Donald Trump allies collecting thousands of dollars for presidential pardons (news.com.au)

In normal times one would dismiss this as fantasy, something no honest, law-abiding, decent president would ever even consider doing, because it would be immoral. With Trump, however, whenever someone says he will do the crazy, you can be pretty sure he'll do it. The corrupt, small-handed wannabe dictator that he is.

 

[bob_the_bomb]

To the vast majority of people they are zip ties
And also because every military vehicle is a tank and everything that goes bang is an AK47

To me they’re ‘cable ties’.

Until they are formed into ‘plasticuffs’.

Which is what these now are.

 

[BarryVanGalen]

I bet a pound to a pinch that it was expressly set up so that Dipshit Donny could "prove" that he's not racist. Although he showed his true colours when John Lewis died and Dipshit Donny refused to go to his funeral, even tweeting that he (John Lewis) wasn't all that remarkable.

I agree this was poor. As a businessman he should have acknowledged that "never knowingly undersold" was an excellent marketing strategy.

 

[Tappet]

This is a complex issue however, as when and where charging should be taking place may be something that will evolve as technology changes. As batteries increase in capacity, the location of charging stations will matter less. As charging times become quicker, people can spend less time charging their cars and it will be more and more like filling up with hydrocarbon liquid fuel (e.g. gasoline or diesel).

The Chinese government is pushing for industry standards on battery pack design / location / accessibility so it can implement 'battery swap stations' - rather than wait 90 minutes for a partial charge, 10 minutes and your battery is swapped with a fresh one.

China wants to make swappable electric vehicle batteries mainstream

China is making a push to support swappable battery technology that could cut electric vehicle refuelling times down to minutes rather than hours.

thenextweb.com

 

[lokiuk]

A coming UK problem will be the lack of infrastructure to provide sufficient 'charging stations' to enable mass charging of these vehicles simultaneously and the cables etc. to activate them.
Has that become a problem in Canada?

And what about peak load on the grid, if enough people start charging their cars when they get home from work, will the system cope?

Aren't we close to capacity now, with coal fired station closing down, and replacement nuclear power stations taking longer to be built than hoped for

And how will charging work in rural locations?

 

[Boumer]

To the vast majority of people they are zip ties
And also because every military vehicle is a tank and everything that goes bang is an AK47

Absoutely, however to educate and explain enables other to understand significance and draw inference.

Manui Dat Cognitio Vires and all that

 

[Boumer]

To me they’re ‘cable ties’.

Until they are formed into ‘plasticuffs’.

Which is what these now are.

To me they looked like purpose made flexicuffs.

Equipped with key unlock and double-locking mechanism to prevent them collapsing in on themselves and causing unintended injury.

I'd also add, it is a lot more difficult to handcuff people than perhaps you might think. Particularly under stress and in the face of resistence. So I find it a suspicious and aggravating factor.

If people have acquired these and prepared by way of training to try and use them; that should be viewed with grave suspicion. We shall see what comes out of any enquiry.

 

[lastwalt]

Technology plays it part, by insulating the powerful and the Intelligensia, from the harshness of the world and you see that with its promotion of minority interest causes. The societal process around technology has also massively empowered a large minority of individuals at a level below, but that process has also slowly atomised wider society as a whole.

So I think Hoffer is wrong. Because the underlying point remains, that the world outside of our shiny borders is still very harsh and is nothing as rosy as some have, inside the borders without cash. So one could argue, its actually the Empowered people who have gone back to a primitive and infantile state, by assuming that the globalist elites inside governments can retain full control.

Perhaps the rise of populism is a sub-conscious defence mechanism for many people, to metaphorically reform the line, before the next attack...

In Summary:-
Atomisation has increased fear and if the State won't promote the group and increasingly acts like a Board of Directors(tories) or HR Department(labour). People will look to reform the group themselves, with varying degrees of failure, but I don't see the process stopping alltogether.

Oh mate! Google translate has badly let you down this time.

 

[deanol]

Has nobody here heard about John Sullivan? Antifa started everything on the 6th. And as for Trump being racist..

Okey dokey. If we are showing images "proving" Mister Trump is not a racist, how about this one "proving" Hitler wasn't a racist either...

Of course 6 million Jews may have disagreed on the last one. Just like every black person in the US disagrees with Mister Trump not being a racist (even if they do smile for him - he is dangerously deranged after all).

 

[Emcon Ecomcon]

Some good news, the fightback against big tech is starting:

Parler is suing Google for breach of contract in closing them down in 24 hours when the contract states 30 days
and
Rumble is suing Google for 2 Bn for deliberately putting Rumble videos below YouTube videos in their search engine - this is more twisted than it sounds because by doing this google./youtube is financially benefitting to the detriment of Rumble. If you search Funny Dog video Rumble it will automatically come up with youtube videos

Moral Hazard was until I read that, entirely absent from this debate..... Same with US Politics, you introduce a new progressive value system and then start to bolt on hate speech laws and even introduce censorship and the unintended consequences lead to bad outcomes like Trump or Riots and the people who created those conditions are the ones who abrogate responsibility to the deplorables.

 

[headgear]

Can you please explain why this is ‘good’ news and not merely ‘news’?

because if we do not hold the Tech Billionaires to the law then they will run rampant as has been demonstrated in the last couple of weeks. Clearly, they have been coordinating and taking away their clear political bias for one candidate they are now so powerful they are able to strangle their competitors to maintain their market lead. Most of the American States AGs were already suing Google for antitrust violations More than 30 US states sue Google in third antitrust action of the autumn

 

[terminal]

The Chinese government is pushing for industry standards on battery pack design / location / accessibility so it can implement 'battery swap stations' - rather than wait 90 minutes for a partial charge, 10 minutes and your battery is swapped with a fresh one.

China wants to make swappable electric vehicle batteries mainstream

China is making a push to support swappable battery technology that could cut electric vehicle refuelling times down to minutes rather than hours.

thenextweb.com

Car companies are talking about being able to charge your car in well under 20 minutes within a few years. Some are saying 5 minutes. These are with 800 volt chargers and liquid cooled cables.

If you can go from say a 20% charge to an 80% charge in 10 minutes, that's not radically different from filling up your car with liquid fuel today. You can twiddle your thumbs for 10 minutes at a charging station that's little different from today's gas (petrol) station once or twice a week without a huge degree of inconvenience.

Given the above, there will be no practical reason to want to be swapping batteries on normal cars in future. It might make sense for certain types of fleet vehicles, but for normal cars there's no point to it if batteries can be charged rapidly.

 

[lastwalt]

Car companies are talking about being able to charge your car in well under 20 minutes within a few years. Some are saying 5 minutes. These are with 800 volt chargers and liquid cooled cables.

If you can go from say a 20% charge to an 80% charge in 10 minutes, that's not radically different from filling up your car with liquid fuel today. You can twiddle your thumbs for 10 minutes at a charging station that's little different from today's gas (petrol) station once or twice a week without a huge degree of inconvenience.

Given the above, there will be no practical reason to want to be swapping batteries on normal cars in future. It might make sense for certain types of fleet vehicles, but for normal cars there's no point to it if batteries can be charged rapidly.

I think supplying 60Kwhr of charge in 10 minutes is going to be a very specialised operation that will happen in very few charging centres.

 

[Goldbricker]

Did you miss the whole "let's appoint a Supreme Court Judge in the last month before the inauguration"? Or McConnell's "let's refuse to hear any evidence that might not sound good" during the first impeachment? What about "let's refuse to acknowledge the result of a democratic election, just because we lost"?

Did you miss Ginsburg's comment that the president doesn't stop being the president his last year in office?

she made it clear in 2016 when Republicans and Democrats fought over filling the vacancy left by Antonin Scalia's sudden death nine months before the election.

When asked if the Senate should consider then-President Barack Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland, Ginsburg said, "That's their job," the New York Times reported.

"There's nothing in the Constitution that says the president stops being president in his last year," Ginsburg added.


Did you miss Biden saying a president has a duty with regard to nominations?

In an op-ed in the New York Times written by Joe Biden in 2016, after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.

In my 36-year tenure in the United States Senate — nearly half of it as chairman or ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee — I presided or helped preside over nine nominees to the Supreme Court, from both Republican and Democratic presidents. That's more than anyone else alive today.

In every instance we adhered to the process explicitly laid out in the Constitution: The president has the constitutional duty to nominate; the Senate has the constitutional obligation to provide advice and consent. It is written plainly in the Constitution that both presidents and senators swear an oath to uphold and defend.

 

[Tappet]

Just like every black person in the US disagrees with Mister Trump not being a racist (even if they do smile for him - he is dangerously deranged after all).

As much as I think Trump is a racist (see: Trump Snr & Trump Jnr refusing to rent to black people for one example), I think that there will be black people who think he is not racist.

They will likely be in a minority, but there will be some.

 

[SkippedOnce]

Well done, President Chump.

'As the US military surges into Washington to guard America’s newly elected President, Beijing is delighted by the chaos in the capital of its strategic rival. Chinese propagandists have compared the Capitol Hill rioters to Hong Kong democracy activists, and claimed an equivalence between arresting the rioters and rounding up Hong Kong’s elected officials.

'They have used Twitter’s decision to ban President Trump to justify their own intolerance of free speech. They nickname Trump “Chuan Jianguo”, which translated means “Trump Builds China”, and mockingly call the violent disorder in America the “Washington Spring”. One regime mouthpiece has cited the military presence ahead of President Biden’s inauguration and asked, “Is the US in deep fear of its people?”

'It is tempting to write off such language as the typical propaganda of a nasty autocracy. But it reflects the grim reality that the events of 2020 have emboldened China as never before.

'It is worth recounting Chinese actions over the last year. Whatever the origins of the virus, we know Beijing at first denied there was a problem, silenced the medics who tried to alert the world, refused to engage with the World Health Organisation, and allowed millions of people to leave Wuhan, where Covid first emerged. Even now, China is blocking the WHO investigation into the origins of the virus. A document released last week by the US State Department suggested that, while the US government does not know where, when or how Covid was first transmitted to humans, there is circumstantial evidence that it could have been “the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan”.

'None the less, while the world has been distracted by the pandemic, President Xi has consolidated power – using it brutally – at home and overseas. The persecution of the Uighurs in Xinjiang, which experts say amounts to genocide, continues unchecked. The last vestiges of democracy and freedom have been crushed in Hong Kong. In the past 12 months, China has expanded its military bases in the South China Sea, sent fighter jets into Taiwanese airspace, caused a bloody border dispute with India, sunk a Vietnamese vessel in disputed waters, and launched a trade war against Australia after Canberra called for an international Covid inquiry. It continues to steal secrets from Western companies and military and security agencies, and set debt traps to manipulate other countries.

'President Trump sought confrontation with China, but his foreign policies undermined US influence, while his domestic policies left America too weak and divided to provide an example to others.'

(The Telegraph, by Nick Timothy, 17 Jan 21)

The West is divided but Britain can build a coalition to counter China