Well, what a surprise.  I live in a pretty affluent area, and actually see a lot of Teslas on the road around here.  It always confuses me why someone would pay over $100K for a battery powered car.  I just don't get it.  Does it make them FEEL better about themselves?

The car batteries used in a Tesla generate as much CO2 as driving a gasoline-powered car for eight years. And that’s before they even come off the production line.
This news, from a study by the Swedish Environmental Research Institute, will no doubt delight all those U.S. taxpayers who have been forking out billions of dollars to prop up Tesla’s share price having been assured by their government that subsidizing overpriced electric cars represents a vital step towards “combatting climate change.”

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/06/21/delingpole-tesla-car-batteries-co2-not-remotely-green-study-finds/

Well, maybe the tide is turning after all. 

A unanimous court ruled that the government violated the First Amendment rights of the members of an Asian band calling itself “The Slants” by denying the group trademark protection.






“The disparagement clause violates the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause,” Justice Alito explained in his Matal v. Tam opinion. “Contrary to the Government’s contention, trademarks are private, not government speech.”

The Washington Redskins offered an amicus curiae brief supporting The Slants. The brief contended that nothing “permits Congress to condition trademark registration on a mark owner’s refusal to change a name that the government finds odious.”
 
A division of the United States Patent and Trademark Office voted to cancel a half dozen “Redskins” trademarks in 2014 based on the premise that the team’s nickname—an offshoot of “Red Sox” from when the Boston Braves football team moved from Braves Field a mile or so away to Fenway Park in 1933 and became the Boston Redskins in homage to its landlord—violated a disparagement clause forbidding the registration of words and images that offend. Without trademark protections, the Redskins faced the prospect of legal pirating of their name and logos.

http://www.breitbart.com/sports/2017/06/19/washington-redskins-spike-football-asian-slants-bands-victory-supreme-court/

Trump Empowers States with Massive Permitting Reform in ‘First Step’ to ‘Renewing America’s Roads, Rails, Runways and Rivers’

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump wrapped up infrastructure week at the Department of Transportation on Friday, highlighting his moves to reform what the White House called a “burdensome regulatory system that has left American infrastructure crumbling.”
Trump began his visit with a roundtable where state DOT heads described the hindrances that the current permitting process impose on their infrastructure projects. The heads of state Departments of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation leaders, and White House senior officials participated in the discussion along with hosts Transportation Sec. Elaine Chao and Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke.

From the DOT atrium, Trump spoke to members of Congress, representatives of the transportation community, heads of state Departments of Transportation, and U.S. Department of Transportation staff.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/06/09/trump-empowers-states-with-massive-permitting-reform-in-first-step-to-renewing-americas-roads-rails-runways-and-rivers/

Trump also said the Keystone Pipeline was approved.  My, my think of it.  More power back to the states, and less burdensome regulation on infrastructure projects.

Hey, whatever happened to those "shovel ready jobs" Obama promised for infrastructure projects from the $1 Trillion "stimulus" (union payoff)?  I remember him laughing at a press conference when asked about it saying with a smirk, "maybe they weren't so shovel ready after all".  The media never mentioned it again.  Another lie like you can keep your doctor, and your health plan. 

I guess when you work for government you can just take off from work, and go sit in a bar all day.  Poor little weenies got hosed again. 

  Although around 500 people excitedly gathered at Union Pub Tuesday morning in Washington, D.C. in anticipation of the live airing of a Senate hearing featuring former FBI Director James Comey, many left disappointed.
At least 50 people were in line before the bar opened at 9:30 a.m. for the 10:00 a.m. Senate intelligence hearing, including unemployed former government officials. A woman standing in line at Union Pub said she looked forward to hearing “Comey tell the truth.”

But after roughly two-and-a-half hours, people shuffled out, calling it “underwhelming.”

“It’s what I expected, it’s underwhelming, nothing explosive has been revealed so far. James Comey is pragmatic, he’s a Washingtonian who still has a lot of his future career ahead of him. He does not want to create unnecessary conflict,” said one man, who wished not to be named.
 
“The investigation is not a public matter. It is a legal, technical, and professional matter. But people here in DC are turning it into the Super Bowl,” said another man, who also did not want to be named.

An office manager at a university named Derek said he was happy that Comey called the President a “liar” but said he wanted some evidence.

“I want there to be tapes,” he said.

Another man who wished to remain anonymous said he was “hoping to hear more damning testimony, more smoking guns,” but that Comey “phrased things carefully to be accurate.”

One man with a computer wallpaper that said “Impeach Trump” refused to talk to Breitbart.

These people need to get a life.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/06/08/washington-dc-bar-goers-express-disappointment-over-james-comey-hearing/

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Looking out over a sea of people in Harvard Yard last week, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive and one of Harvard’s most famous dropouts, told this year’s graduating class that it was living in an unstable time, when the defining struggle was “against the forces of authoritarianism, isolationism and nationalism.”

Two days earlier, another end-of-year ceremony had taken place, just a short walk away on a field outside the law school library. It was Harvard’s first commencement for black graduate students, and many of the speakers talked about a different, more personal kind of struggle, the struggle to be black at Harvard.

“We have endured the constant questioning of our legitimacy and our capacity, and yet here we are,” Duwain Pinder, a master’s degree candidate in business and public policy, told the cheering crowd of several hundred people in a keynote speech.

From events once cobbled together on shoestring budgets and hidden in back rooms, alternative commencements like the one held at Harvard have become more mainstream, more openly embraced by universities and more common than ever before.

Earlier this spring, tiny Emory and Henry College in Virginia held its first “Inclusion and Diversity Year-End Ceremonies.” The University of Delaware joined a growing list of colleges with “Lavender” graduations for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students. At Columbia, students who were the first in their families to graduate from college attended the inaugural “First-Generation Graduation,” with inspirational speeches, a procession and the awarding of torch pins.

Some of the ceremonies have also taken on a sharper edge, with speakers adding an activist overlay to the more traditional sentiments about proud families and bright futures.

So I thought "segregation" was bad?  It seems to be the trend now.   I guess voluntary segregation is OK???

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/02/us/black-commencement-harvard.html?_r=0

First we had Universal Health Care, then calls for Universal College Tuition.  Now we have a call for Universal Income.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has become the latest major tech figure to call for universal basic income as a solution for inequality, joining a growing chorus from Silicon Valley.

"Every generation expands its definition of equality. Now it's time for our generation to define a new social contract," Zuckerberg said during his commencement speech Thursday at Harvard University. "We should have a society that measures progress not by economic metrics like GDP but by how many of us have a role we find meaningful."

"We should explore ideas like universal basic income to give everyone a cushion to try new things," he said.

Zuckerberg told the class of 2017 that he was able to pursue his passion in Facebook because he knew he had a safety net to fall back on.

http://fortune.com/2017/05/26/mark-zuckerberg-universal-basic-income/

Michael Steele's response:

On Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg’s idea of a universal income, Steele said, “Why doesn’t he start with his own organization and put in a standard minimum income for all of his employees and see how that works for his shareholders.”

“It’s what you say when you want to sound like you’re with it and cool, you know, I’ve got this real progressive view on taxes and everybody owes everybody else,”  Steele continued. “You do your thing, let me do mine and we’ll work it out. The government doesn’t need to be going around setting anybody’s minimum on anything,” he concluded.

Yes, little Marky, why don't you start providing Universal Income for all your employees whether they show up for work or not?  Wouldn't that be the "fair" thing to do.  I am sure your company will then be a veritable UTOPIA, huh? 

 http://www.breitbart.com/radio/2017/05/26/michael-steele-on-mark-zuckerbergs-universal-income-idea-why-doesnt-he-start-with-his-own-organization/

Interesting dynamic here.  I've been thinking why the Spin Zone, on POA was so active with "opposing" viewpoints, and have come to this theory.  Liberal/progressives don't want to discuss topics because often their arguments are rooted in emotion, and not fact.  Eventually, that comes out, and often they resort to accusations, name calling, or just throwing a hissy fit.  I'm not saying the fine people here do that, but in general, I do think that happens.

So, on POA a liberal/progressive may come into the SZ, and do a quick hit and run on occasion, just well because they are there.  Here we are much less likely to have these hit, and run visits, ala what AP used to do, I guess to make herself FEEL better.  We saw what happened to some of the folks here after Trump won the election.  They vanished.  Do liberal/progressive just not take losing an election, or an argument well?  Guess not. 

Another thing, while I am on my little rant.  Does anyone see the hypocrisy of participating in an avocation that requires independent thought, responsibility, and the burning of large amounts of fossil fuel all mostly for pure pleasure while promoting the liberal/progressive agenda, and voting Democrat?  My head just has never been able to wrap itself around that one.  I am on a few firearm related web forums, and there are a few of those on there also.  They like the shooting sports, and even the element of being able to defend oneself, then vote for people who believe just the opposite, and reduce their rights or even take them away altogether. 

I don't get it.     

Roger Ailes, who built Fox News into a cable powerhouse before leaving the company last year, died Thursday morning at the age of 77.

The Ohio-born television pioneer was a confidante of presidents and an acknowledged master of communications. He founded Fox News in 1996 and built it into the nation's long-running No. 1 cable news network.  Ailes resigned from Fox in July amid charges of sexual harassment.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/05/18/roger-ailes-former-president-fox-news-dead-at-77.html

Say what you will about his character flaws surrounding sexual harassment, but he did build a unique, very successful cable empire in an era predominantly comprised of Liberal/Progressive, Democrat controlled media.  I didn't know much about him, but I do believe he was an advisor to Nixon in his 1968 Presidential campaign.