Still Breathing Somewhat Heavily

Are all Congressmen and women investing in windfarms, solar, balloon-rubbing, and other electric schemes to supply energy while shutting down fossil-fuel plants, or just most of them?

Israel Promises Hamas the ‘Mother of All Thumpings’ After Cease-Fire Ends and Shelling Re-Starts
Breitbart | 12/01/2023 | Alyssa Guzman

Minutes before the cease-fire was set to expire at 7 a.m. Friday morning, Israeli forces said they shot down a Hamas rocket fired from Gaza, breaking the fragile agreement and leading to the shelling of the area.

Government spokesperson Eylon Levy said Friday that “Hamas will now take the mother of all thumpings” after it failed to release all the female hostages promised as part of their cease-fire agreement.

Mega-Jolt: The Costs and Logistics of Plugging in EVs Are About to Become Supercharged
Gateway Pundit | Nov. 27, 2023 | John Murawski, Real Clear Wire

… Not all chargers are equal, so the new EV infrastructure will require significant changes in driving habits. While so-called fast chargers can bring a battery to 80% of capacity in under an hour, most of the new public chargers will be cheaper, Level 2 technology, which provides between 5 miles and 60 miles of range for each hour of charging and isn’t practical for charging up quickly on a road trip.

Chargers are expected to lose money until there are enough EVs on the road to justify the investment. The cost of building a fast-charging station with four or more charging ports can range from several hundred thousand dollars to more than $1 million. Reliability remains a persistent problem, one that will shadow the industry as chargers are built out in remote areas, low-income areas, and other out-of-the-way places.

In the meantime, Analytics firm J.D. Power says that 20% of all EV drivers reported visiting a charger that did not or could not charge because it wasn’t working or there were long lines. The dissatisfaction rates ranged from 12% in the Cleveland-Akron-Canton area to 35% in South Florida. The firm said the trend is moving in the wrong direction: as more people buy EVs, “overall satisfaction continues to decline.”

This year, a Los Angeles Times columnist declared she’s ready to trade in her EV because charging is such a hassle. She wrote that chargers are sometimes blocked by cars that aren’t charging, exposed to blistering sunlight, charging at lower levels than advertised, or “it may shut off mid-charge with no warning or reason.”

The frustration seems to have no expiration date. And it includes a problem not caused to technology or economics but by human nature: vandalism. As Jonathan Levy, EVgo chief commercial officer, told the New York Times last year: “Where there’s a screen, there’s a baseball bat.”

It’s, like, Japanese or Something

“For what”? What kind of a dumb question is that?