Imagine if your insurance company knew about it immediately every time you drove faster than any speed limit, anywhere. That you failed to come to a complete dead stop at every stop sign before proceeding – regardless of the need to come to a complete dead stop.
Every instance of seatbelt scofflawism.
That you drove eight hours straight to visit friends in another state; that last Thursday, you “accelerated aggressively” while trying to merge with traffic. That you turned off the traction control the other day – and squealed the tires.
And here comes the bill, custom-tailored just for you.
This is what Elon Musk has in mind next. The King of Mandated Business is getting into the insurance business – a logical thing since car insurance is the original mandated business that set the precedent for the rest of them. It’s an even better business than the electric car business because everyone has to buy car insurance, if they own a car – even if it’s not an electric car.
But Elon’s got a a new take on the business. Or rather, a new way to take.
He wants to base premiums not on your record – of accidents and claims – but on data about your driving, mined in real-time as you drive. Which, just by happy coincidence, his cars are fully equipped to provide.
Already do provide.
“The data is there,” smacked the lips of Matthew Edmonds – who is Teslian Head of Insurance, Elon’s new Underboss. “It’s all there; cameras in and all around your car; all of the data points are there.”
Elon knows all. He just hasn’t been able to monetize it, yet.
Wait.
“It really comes down to case law and how much of the data we can utilize,” says Underboss Edmonds. Italicized to emphasize the fact that the data acquisition is an already established fact – regardless of “case law.”
So it’s a simple legal matter of getting the laws changed. How difficult will this be, do you suppose?
If it saves even one life . . .
Recently, Tesla owners have been discovering that their cars aren’t just plugged in to wall sockets; they are also plugged in to Elon. The cars are like two-way radios that are always on, with Elon sending “updates”- including “updates” that arbitrarily alter the range of the car, without the “owner’s” consent or even knowledge . . until he looks at the dashboard and discovers that his car now only goes 180 miles on a full charge – maybe – rather than 220 (also maybe) the day before.
Elon could – and has – reduced the range of the cars under his control to zero. So far, temporarily – while an “app” updated. But the point should be taken. Elon has the power to prevent any Tesla owner from driving at all.
For any reason.
Think about this a bit.
What if you offend Elon? Or the Big Tech Panopticon? Can there be any doubt in anyone’s mind that the same electronic oligarchs – and Elon’s one of them – who summarily “de-platform” and “de-monetize” people whose views transgress the orthodoxies of our era will refrain from using the same power to de-wheel people?
Depressingly, it’s not just Teslas.
They are currently the most “connected” cars on the road but not the only “connected” cars on the road. Every new car has some degree of connected tech baked into it.
What do you suppose all the 5G Connectedness being hurriedly erected and Internet of Things is all about?
And it’s not just Elon. All the insurance “families” are wanting the same thing Elon wants. Right now, you can still still opt out of being monitored – and dunned as you drive.
How long do you suppose this will last?
Resistance will be futile. Or at least, driving will be. Any driving you might want to do yourself, that is.
Elon claims that real-time data streaming about people’s driving will result in “safe drivers” getting a break on insurance costs. Which they may – at the cost of Universal Cloverism, complete obedience to every traffic law, no matter how absurd.
If it’s illegal, it’s chargeable. In the monetary rather than electric sense.
All cars will drive at the same “safe” – read, slow – pace. Creeping along in formation. The least common denominator will be the measure and applied equally, to all.
For a teeth-aching preview of what it will be like, the next time you go for a drive obey every traffic law to the letter. Accelerate – and brake – “gently.” Pass no one – unless you can manage it without exceeding whatever the posted speed limit is. Stop fully – and wait a three second count – at every stop sign before proceeding, regardless of the absence of other cars in the vicinity.
This will of course encourage people to simply give up driving – and let the Autopilot (programmed by Clovers) take over.
Which is exactly what the long-term goal is: To end driving altogether by making it either an insufferable bore or impossibly expensive, by dunning every instance of “unsafe” (non-Clover) driving.
The pieces are all coming together. Don’t underestimate the power of good deals on holidays, check out them.
It’s a shame people can’t see it. Or maybe it’s worse. They do see it – and just don’t care anymore.
. . .
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Seems a good enough place to put this, ‘youre-in-good-hands-with-elon’ and all.
https://www.tmahlmann.com/photos/Rockets/SpaceX/Starship/
This looks like it was assembled by Elon on a bender. Not impressed.
A modest proposal: to consider that Elon be elon-gated. This practice from bygone times involved two stout horses, pointed in opposite directions, with the (still attached) limbs of the elongatee tied to the beasts’ harnesses. A sharp command to the equine team quickly accomplished the rest. For those who prefer a more leisurely, but identical, result, there’s always the rack.
Such punishments were typically reserved for truly odious enemies. I hereby rest my case.
If you consider William Wallace as odious, I guess you’re correct. But he was the cohort of the man who gave my family its name and much more when Robert the Bruce was saved by my 10 times removed grandfather and was awarded the name(among other things) of Turnbull, when he saved Robert by killing a bull intent on killing Robert the Bruce. No doubt the Odious British considered him odious leading his people to freedom. Robert was a real man and well thought of by the Scots.
Probably it isn’t a stretch to understand I was considered “odious” in the same respect of Robert the Bruce(by the English) and William Wallace(by the English) although I’m certainly not comparing myself to those two great men, just my attitude. I guess that’s what makes me a good Texan, Don’t Tread on Me. Those who wish to bully me will self-righteously term me “odious” although they wouldn’t know the meaning of the word.
I just knew someone like you would go all virtuous/ancestral on me and totally miss the point.
Odious to the state, you…oh, wait: I can’t risk calling you a retard after what Twitter did to Daniel McAdams.
Really, Wally! Chill.
Drivers trying to operate vehicles within the law will cause more accidents and longer commute times. Transferring part of our awareness from safety and function to keeping sensors on our vehicles from detecting it exceeding parameters of “laws”, most of which do not result in more safety, and guidelines from insurers will result in drivers making decisions less about safety and getting from A to B and more about coasts incurred for not staying within those bureaucratic guidelines and laws.
The Z generation care much, much less about cars and driving. IMO this is mostly due to having been chauffeured around by parents, the advent of Uber and the expectation of automated vehicles.
Automated vehicles will through another monkey wrench into auto insurance. Highway automated driving is already happening. IMO we are a long way from 100% driverless cars in cities. We may find that the human perception to operate a vehicle in the chaos of city traffic is much more complex than IA will ever be able to do as safely as we are able to now.
So if the 5G networks are as deadly as advertised, the 5G controlled/monitored vehicles
will morph into ambulances immediately as their drivers/occupants expire!
If our driving is remotely controlled, there’d be no opportunity to dun us if and when we exceed a speed limit, fail to come to a full stop or accelerate too quickly. To allow us a bit of freedom behind the wheel would permit insurance rates to be based on data based on our driving habits. There’s still government revenue to be derived from driving. The other day I entered an intersection a split second before the lite turned from yellow to red. The camera no doubt caught it. I’ll see if a citation arrives in the mail or online. On the other hand, controlled driving could encourage state and local governments and insurance companies to work out formulas for revenue sharing. Less liberty but less paranoia. Like taking the bus in our very own vehicles.
Your way behind Eric – we are going to do away with cash and go to an all digital monetary system. Then we can link your non-clover driving habits to your social credit score and bank account, for your convenience of course. We have nearly perfected the ability to read your thoughts so when you cuss that clover who just pulled in front of you that will be included in your social credit score also and of course deducted from your digital bank account.That way your prompt payments will improve your social credit score. Remember, on average, it only takes 1 million dollars to buy 100 senators at $10,000.00 each and just a bit over 2.5 million to buy all the honorable congresspersons at $5,000.00 each. Oh yeah – it’s all tax deductible. Our first CIA president called it the new world order but that’s dated our new program is referred to as the engineered world.
Hi Insider,
Indeed. And it’s why I keep the Orange Barchetta gassed-up and ready to go at all times. It may be futile – like Scharnhorst’s doomed last sortie – but (like that elegant ship) I will fire until the barrels glow, until the last shell… got damn them all.
I like driving. I like shifting a manual transmission. I know of no young person (below age 30) who can drive a manual-transmission car. This minor, but increasingly rare, skill can work to my favor in resisting the creeping 1984ism overtaking the country. If it means regressing to 1920 and driving a Model T to undermine Musk et al. I’ll do it. Unlike so many, at least I have the option.
Amen, Joe!
My truck has a five-speed (and I am thinking seriously about putting a Super T-10 in the TA, as is right and proper). My worry is that they will employ certain tactics to force us “clingers” to give up our “noncompliant” cars, as by requiring us to pay exorbitant registration fees…
Hey Eric,
Every time I walk or ride by a nice old muscle car, I peer in the window to see whether it has a manual. I know it’s just a bias, but they don’t seem cool to me if they have an automatic.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Good to know I’m not the only one. See a machine I don’t recognize, I make sure to look in the window for the shifter.
Hey Chuck,
I knew we had something in common! When I bought my Dakota in 2002, a manual was an absolute requirement for me. I tried to work with the local dealer but they kept trying to move me toward an automatic, even though I made it clear I was not interested. I gave up on them and did an internet search to find exactly what I wanted. I found it in Steamboat Springs, CO and negotiated a great price before heading up. I planned a weekend trip with a buddy of mine to pick it up. A week after I bought it, the local dealer rep called me and said they’d found what I want. I told him it was too late. He was pissed off so I told him that they blew it. I gave them ample opportunity to get me my truck but they kept suggesting things that I didn’t want. I guess he didn’t understand that I was serious.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Jeremy,
My youngest brother has a 2001 Dakota.. with 5 speed. It was my dad’s before it was my bro’s and it has NEVER needed any major repairs.. great little machine. The cab smells like ass, and body is beat all to hell, but it runs like a top!!
Hi Anon,
My experience is the same. Over 180,000 miles so far and routine maintenance plus a clutch at 160,000, is all it has needed.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Jeremy,
I’m pretty sure my brother hasn’t even routinely maintained anything on it.. I helped him put on a water pump once.. it doesn’t even have 2 tires that match.. but somehow someway it keeps going.. trouble free.
I wouldn’t give up my 96 Ranger for anything. Nice simple manual and it can be zero out and she starts right up, every time. I love that truck!
Yeah, but what about when it gets cold?
LOL
Heh. To the extent that you care about preserving cars and car culture, we have something in common. Beyond that, well, I have literally zero interest in anything lacking an engine.
Basically, if you tried to graph my priorities when it comes to the road, the graph would be in the shape of a sunflower, and the big brown circle in the middle would be labeled “ENHANCE DRIVING EXPERIENCE”.
Chuck,
My first priority is advocating for and maintaining freedom. I consider the assault on cars, and what you call car culture, to be part of a broader attack on freedom. In that sense, I “care about preserving cars and car culture”. Many “bicycle advocates” are not interested in freedom and promote control and the imposition of their preferences on others, I loathe these people.
Jeremy
I get what you’re saying, but it doesn’t make me hate watching out for bicycles and pedestrians on narrow roads any less. To you, “pre-avoiding” blind zones is just how it should be. To me, it still feels like an onerous restriction held over from long ago and I’m still waiting for an eventual endpoint where it no longer needs to be done.
It’s like electric cars. A lot of people here say they don’t hate electric cars in the abstract, they just hate how the state uses tax money to shove them at us and most likely for nefarious reasons too. Well, I do hate electric cars in the abstract, and I hope they never become good enough to stand on their own merits – because then they might start taking over mainstream market segments and making it harder to find an ICE-powered subcompact or family sedan. In my opinion, you can’t be a car enthusiast and buy a new EV, because when you buy a new EV you’re funding the development & improvement of EVs while telling the manufacturers that there’s a potential market there. Like with road riding, there’s no moral way I can force EVs to stop existing, but I would not be at all upset if the whole idea just sort of got forgotten and never resurfaced again. It’s just that, for now, EVs are still pretty trash in a practical sense and someone else owning one does not prevent me from enjoying my non-EV, so of the two, bicycles and pedestrians are the more immediate threat to car culture until further notice.
It’s been months since I admitted non-drivers have a right to road space – very grudgingly. I’m not out jumping for joy and going “oh yippy skippy I can ride a bike all over the best driving roads, I think I’ll go pull mine out of the shed today.” I haven’t looked back since I got my license and I would not allow myself to do so unless motor vehicles were banned entirely from the road.
My PFP on another forum was a screenshot from Initial D, featuring a driver in a red NSX taking a corner so tightly that his front fender is scraping the inside guardrail – not just because it’s a cool scene but because, to me, that level of shoulder abuse is what freedom looks like. I certainly don’t want to be the reason someone else can’t, or by extension, the reason I can’t.
eric, going to that much trouble and not having at least one OD gear doesn’t make sense to me. It’s not like the engine is lacking torque and that .7 OD on the GM transmissions(and others) is a boon for fuel economy and reduced engine wear. It would be very close to the transmission you already have. I don’t know about the specific transmission you have but a 700 R 4 is something like .67. You don’t want to lose that aspect.
Here’s a bit of a secret, ok, no secret but very few realize you can install that same 28 gallon fuel tank the Tow Package El Camino has on the T/A. If I’d had an OD trans on the EC no telling how many miles I could have gone on a tank.
The guy who sold me Blackie had not only the 40 gallon tank but a 120 gallon nurse tank tied into the factory tank. I used to drive nearly 600 miles on that factory tank, well, more like 550.
Everyone tells me the 6.5 Turbo Diesel is junk. Is that the reason I know a guy who had 930,000 miles on one last time I knew? He’d done nothing but pull RV trailer it’s entire life and his only problem was 3 NVG 4500 transmissions. That could easily be fixed by using the NVG transmission Dodge used later on that was a 7 speed. The Dodge Cummins ate injectors every 240,000 miles while the Turbo Diesel, not nearly as powerful, didn’t. But I’m not racing and don’t really care if it takes me a bit longer to get somewhere with a load. The bare truck would run over 110 mph if you really wanted to get somewhere fast. I don’t in a one ton.
The company truck, a 2011 model Dodge would run 100 mph all day with an auto. It was comfy enough nobody ever noticed the speed. We piled off our equipment, mine a KW 880, and left for a 200 mile trip home one day. We’d gone 200 yds across some rough ground when I asked the boss to stop. I tossed my first beer and started on another. Seems like we drove a lot faster to the next town after that. Everyone else was dying for a beer. I only had 2 left or I’d shared.
We get back to the old saw “It’s better to have dope and no money than money and no dope”. It’s all the same when you’ve been working 2 weeks solid starting in the dark and ending in the dark every day.
I’ve still got my old “Dodge” Mitsubishi pickup, the model with the 2.3 Litre turbodiesel, and five speed manual geatbox. Runs like a swiss watch, returns 37 mpg on diesel, its paid for, and while I don’t drive it now (I NEED the big one ton van for work) I refuse to sell it, as to find a replaement as cheap to run, and as reliable as this is, seems not likely. So I will continue to shelter a rather largish piece of grey Japanese yard art for the forseeable future.
You lucky dog you! I learned an old trick nearly 50 years ago. You can make one of these quiet(but not smooth)with the simple trick of covering the inside with stick-on carpet pad. If you clean the metal first it will be there forever. It takes all the ringading out of it. I’d spend a huge amount of money, maybe $200 for some great tires(probably Toyo’s), leave that great patina and be happy. CJ would take a bit of getting used to it, hasn’t ever been in a single cab.
Our last dog flipped out one day when I took him looking for artifacts with a friend. He piled out, ran to the other side and got back in…..and there still wasn’t a back seat. He even jumped up on the back of the seat and then really flipped out. I had to lead him away from it. On the return trip he sat there and looked back and forth like the old devil himself was about to appear. Once home he hauled ass to my pickup. It was cool weather so I let him in. He stayed there for hours. The wife asked where he was later. I said in Blackie. WTF is he doing in there? Getting his mojo back. He later got out and looked all around like he expected to be on another planet. It would have been funny if he hadn’t been so flipped out. Next time he saw a regular cab pickup he kept eyeing it out of the corner of his eye like a dog does when he doesn’t trust a situation.
Yikes, this is getting beyond terrible. I certainly don’t want one of those connected cars. The idea that you are automatically hooked into Big Brother without your knowledge is the end game for the Bolsheviks. And that includes cars, phones, computers, TVs and probably even your toaster. We are already well past the half way point. I don’t want Alexa snooping on me or any in-house connectivity to prying eyes. I don’t believe in Musk other than being another mentally challenged liberal. I don’t believe for a second that my insurance rates would be lower if I drive more carefully. When you start adding up all this technology you are buying into, it costs a fortune. Medical and insurance costs keep going up no matter how healthy you are or how good your driving record is. 5G has never been tested for radiation and its affect on humans and other species. This is 10,000 times more powerful than 4G as far as radiation output. You will have a transmitter every few hundred yards, millions of them around the country. I am totally against it. Of course, the Big Tech companies will always tell us things are safe. They will buy out the politicians and they will become even more useless, if that’s even possible. It’s all about three things…more profits, more spying and complete control of the individual. Another great piece of writing, Eric. Thanks. And Elon, you can go to the devil as I will never own one of your crappy EVs.
Kindly provide a source for the incredibly impossible comment, “This is 10,000 times more powerful than 4G as far as radiation output.”
I spent the day the way I prefer, hauling with a big rig. I split shift like nobody even knows what I’m speaking of now. I would start in Low coming out of the pit, let it roll downhill and skip 1,2, 3 and let it fall into 4th. and attempted to turn on the jake but the boss worked on it last week and fucked up the cruise, which on big rigs, doubles as a means to raise the idle speed.
But using an automatic manual would really screw up my ability to choose a gear that I could cool the engine with and still run the speed I needed. I don’t expect anyone to know I don’t use a clutch after I’m rolling except for a complete stop.
I have an automatic pickup, not because I want one but because finding a manual is nearly impossible. Just like a long bed, they’re rarer than hen’s teeth.
8S,
Once I get used to a manual, I can slick shift it too-going up and going down! I only need the clutch to get rolling; once I’m rolling, I can shift without it… 🙂
MarkyMark
MM, not using the clutch is not the same thing as split-shifting. I personally, wouldn’t shift a car transmission without the clutch. It will eventually ruin the synchronizers. A big rig has synchronizers but not in the same way as a car transmission.
I learned to double clutch on old pickups and larger trucks. I don’t double clutch a big rig, don’t even know how and it’s a lot of damned work for nothing. On the 9 speed I drive, I often clutch to get out of Low and into 1st. It’s a matter of getting off the high revs fast enough I can drop rpm quickly enough to slide into 1st. 9 speeds are actually 8 speeds with a low, low gear for pulling off with a big load. I don’t especially care for them but they’re durable and serve a purpose, that of not being a 100% road truck. In that same vein I like the old 15 speeds that had 5 under speeds before you got to 1 thru 10. Always used with really heavy rear diff’s, they’d pull a damn mountain if they could keep traction. Split shifting is getting to know the rig and being able to adapt to the perceived load of the next gear. On a downhill I might change from 3rd to the upper side 5th or 6th.
If the pit road I am using now were the highway, I could go from Low to 5th or 6th just letting it roll. I once hauled from a pit on such a steep downhill run I didn’t even use a gear to leave, just let off the brake and by the time I turned onto pavement and let it roll till I could roll into the throttle in 6th on a ten speed and never get into 9nth before braking for a turn. The first day on that job I hauled 45 loads, the second day, 46….and the blade man and boss were ecstatic. I made it to 28 the next day before the front rear diff started making noise. It was no surprise since the day after it was bought, well used, there were a couple handfulls of steel and bronze removed from each rear-end before it was even put on the road.
Nobody bitched at me since it was a known thing and how long it would last was anyone’s guess. I had already put a few tens of thousand miles on it so it had already paid for itself.
I liked that old KW and it was the first rig I ever intentionally drifted in on caliche roads. It had big power and you could roll into the the throttle on one downhill left hand curve and stay into it and slide to the edge before you had to slow down for dangerous intersections.
I had the foreman with me one day and did that. He got a big grin(he drove a truck too)and said “Goddamn, you’re sliding all the way across this road”. Yep, it’s something to break the monotony.
I said this once before and there was this ex-trucker(sic)whom I won’t name that had a hissy fit. Well, you can’t please everyone. 7 miles between my house and the yard at that time, all dirt road. I pulled into the yard one day and the boss grinned and said “You’ve been having fun eh?” I just smiled. There was fresh dirt on the steps, tanks and battery boxes. It blew off when I hit the highway.
Having said that, I”m damned careful on the road and will pull off to the right when fast traffic, esp. big rigs are coming up behind me and I’m slowing for a left hand turn. Everybody gets by and it only inconveniences me very slightly.
I don’t have a manual now, but when I did, I normally used the clutch. Why? It made for quicker, easier shifts. If you slick shift, you have to lift, ease it out of gear, wait a bit, then shift into the next gear. The clutch is easier and quicker, so that’s what I use with a stick
Well, it’s not exactly the same thing as a real truck, but coming out of the woods I’ve gotten to where I can shift my pickup from 4lo/2nd to 2hi/1st on the roll without stopping. I do use the clutch, though.
It’s got the light duty five speed and the only reason I use 4lo most of the time is just for the gearing when maneuvering around in the woods. If I had an SM465 or an NV4500 I probably wouldn’t use 4wd much at all. Heck, I used my 2wd C-20 to get firewood for years, but there were times I couldn’t back up a hill empty to get close enough to load a tree. Once loaded it would go virtually anywhere.
Yeah, it’s not hard on a good manual 4WD. It’s hell on that Z71 with pushbutton everything. Hate that pickup.
Only one thing I like on that Z, the “Auto” feature on 4WD. It works better even in mud than regular 4WD. The 93 with the NVG 4500 in “low” and “low” in low range would make something happen even it it tore hell out of everything. If you were really stuck and wanted out “no matter what”, you’d best hook onto something that wasn’t going to break. That 11.5″ rear end is indestructible as far as I can tell. The pot is so big you need 18 or 20 inch tires but those tires are too expensive and the sidewalls are too narrow plus they kill fuel mileage.
Yeah, all my 4wds have manual levers and that’s the only kind I intend to ever have. I “locked” the front end of my pickup so it can’t disengage because some electrical thing fails or the key is off. It’s strictly lever controlled, and if I park it on a hill I want all four wheels holding it. If it was a nicer pickup, I would spend the money and time for one of those front axle cable controls so I could have 2wd low.
We leave the front hubs on the Suburban locked in 95% of the time, and the Jeep never had any front axle disconnect from the factory. Even in 2wd the front axle/driveshaft still turns.
Used to run my old KW Conventional, had a 4 and 4 twin stick. Used the clutch for starting out, and for spotting trailers, etc Once rolling, why wear out your left leg? Just float ’em. Lots less work.
I couldn’t make a day of short runs using the clutch. My previous job involved runs of less than half a mile at times and that was a day of hell, always starting and stopping and backing and then going forward. With a Binder and the clutch from hell I nearly ruined my knee.
As if we need another reason NOT to buy a Tesla… Sheesh. I got my eye on an early 90’s low mile Dodge Dakota. I can’t express how much more excited I am about the Dakota than I would ever be about a damn Tesla.
Didn’t someone around here comment a while back on the need to own a classic vehicle? Just make sure it’s old enough to not have computers.
I may need to start shopping. Anyone know of a 70s Toyota Corolla for sale?
They’ll eventually put a global Warming fee on “classic” autos registration,,, say a thousand or two a year for registration. Already have something like that, if memory serves, Sweden. Nothing will stop this. Even if people refuse to buy, that’ll suit them just fine as they don’t want you on the roads you paid for anyhow. Only one thing can stop this…..
Registration on all of mine are “non-expiring”
Really! I’ve never heard of that except airplanes. You live in the US? Anyways,,, they can always change the rules, right?
Montana: 11 years and older you can pay a bit extra and get permanent registration.
Yep.. #civilwarII. I’m thoroughly convinced that’s coming.
Hi Rich,
I think so, too – and it may be more an actual civil war this time. The last time, it was a war of secession, which is a different thing. One side wanted to go, the other demanded they stay. The Southern state didn’t want to control the Yankee government. They wanted to form their own.
It’s possible and maybe even likely we’ll see a dissolution as this country isn’t one anymore. It is a latter-day Austro-Hungarian empire, held together by inertia and force. That’s it. Tearing it apart won’t take much – and it may be the only solution.
I feel it’s gonna be right vs left, rich vs poor, and race. It will all come together at once and everything will explode at once and overnight. You gotta be brain dead to not feel the tension in the air. Just watch road rage videos!
I agree that the country is going to break up also. Let the liberals have their own police state!
eric, there will have to be “one” group that’s the bad guys, the ones all the rest of the sheeple will get on board to make sure they have a target for destroying the US.
It worked like that for 9/11, same for other wars. How the hell do you convince 80 percent of the people in this country we’re in Vietnam to combat communism for those poor people being abused by the Russians? As if anyone even knew where Vietnam was, who inhabited it, etc. etc.
Immediately after WW11 the Rand Corporation had all the plans it needed to make sure corporations got more than their due, to make sure every one of them had stock prices go ever higher.
As long as corporations control this country nothing will change.
It will be city slickers against the dumbass country gun toting bible thumping set. The big problem in managing it will be to get the dumbass gun totin bible thumpers to go along with the govt. when govt wants their guns. City slickers believe just about anything. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be there fighting for that last penny for their tanning time, hot wing time, kiddy sports time and any other trend you can name.
There’s a good thing about them though, they spend every dime they get for shit they don’t need.
I see it on YT all the time. The city boys who can’t get enough of their fancy Duramax, etc. pickups they take out and trash and burn up tires versus the country boys who are rebuilding square body GM pickups and taking them hunting and fishing.
While they’re spending their time eating lobster and steak in the “good neighborhoods”, the others are eating catfish and corn, raising gardens and ordering more ammo from Natchez Shooter’s supply.
I don’t know how Rand has it planned, many ways I’m certain. They do nothing but dream of scenarios they can make go one way or the other.
But one thing you can be sure of, if they fuck up in the least little way, it will be war IN this country that they can’t control.
I’ve said it for years. No matter if you stockpile and hoard food(and let’s not forget all the people who’ve been charged and put in jail for just that)or you do same with ammo or guns, they have a plan for you.
When the economy really collapses, they won’t be able to do a lot beyond trying this and that. Keep your powder dry, your guns oiled and a good plan for defense. Millions of people will die trying to protect their bug-out bags while the hordes spread from big cities like locusts in the dustbowl.
Right now the actually sellers of ammo aren’t saying Get your ammo while you can. There will be more along those lines though. No matter how much stuff you have, plenty of gold and silver you can’t eat or trade for food nor ammo, it won’t be enough if you have no safe place to go. For everybody wanting to have a fighting chance, buy ammo, long term food and med supplies. We’re all gonna need it down to our dying breath.
The really wealthy already have their underground homes and security that only makes them think they’ll survive. I wouldn’t count on it. Mad Max is in the making.
Stockpile toilet paper while you can. Not a lot of people think about it but it could be a valuable commodity when Mad Max becomes reality.
the wierd thing is, the two main “factioins” are so throughly intermixed it won’t be a think like the Austro Hungarian, or when the Czechoslovan=kina “pickle nation” broke up. In those cases, the ethnic groups, mainy occuied different territory, but were subject to the same overarching government. That was a deliberate plot in the aftermath of both the German Wars early last century, to assure none of the new “natioins” could ever come together and form a strong political entity.
Here we are so intermixed.. sure, there are a few well defined “enclaves” of the über-liberal leftie socilaists mainly i the big dem ruled cities. But thse cities are and will continue to be at war with each other, each one wanting to be King of the Hill over all of them. That’s part of the sickness of the Nannie State. Study the current swamp of
candidates” for next president. I know, its about like making an in deptth study of puke. Not pleasant at all, in fact, downright revolting. Each one wants to force THEIR OWN fersion of insane down the throats of all the others. AND the sparsely populated “flyover” ares as well. But none will ever come together on any sort of plan, they are too busy being the pile of puppies each one squirming his way to the top never mind what happens to the others on the way up.
So at most it will be the heavy eftie nannie state socialist nutjobs, each in it for their own gain at the expense of all the others, and no real effort to focus on defeating the libertarian just let me live my life crowd….. who really wold rather be about simply living their lives as they see best. This lot won’t take up arms until’unless their ability to put on their Big Boy Pants and manage their own lives is threatened with extinction.. just as did our forbears that fine April morning some 230 years ago at Lexington and then down the road at Concord…..
It’s the very reason Texans should support the TNM and secede. It would save us hundreds of billions and make life easier for everyone. The illegals problem would cease to exist.
Either that, or they could do what they do in China: slap on an extra $14K (yes, you read that right) fee for the vehicle plate. You can get an EV plate for free, while paying an extra $14K to plate your ICEV. Sooo, technically speaking, you’ll still be able to BUY an ICEV; it won’t be banned. They’ll just make you pay through the nose to do so…
I know of three of them.. but NONE are for sale. All three are clean, straight, good running cars, over 200K on their clocks. The owners expect them to deliver at least another 200K before even thinking about finding new homes for them.
It’s a pretty safe bet that when the regulatory ayatollahs issue fatwas that all cars must be equipped with technology to rat you out, the ZILs and Chaikas of our Dear Leaders, and the Volgas of our AGWs, will be exempt. (How’s that for a mixed metaphor involving the former Soviet Union and the Islamic Republic of Iran?)
” They do see it – and just don’t care anymore.” Pretty much. So long as they can send their cute kitty pics,,, text their vitally important messages, and scream into their phones to ensure others will notice they d o n ‘ t care the least iota.
Digital fits the bill as corpgovs electronic ball and chain reporting on all we do. Step out of line,,, the man come and take you away. I vaguely remember a commercial years ago about a guy calling for a pizza. The vendor explained that since he was overweight it wouldn’t be healthy for him therefore he was refused the purchase.
https://neosmart.net/forums/threads/pizza-order-joke.1296/
A joke then,,,, our future now.
Found that commercial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx9i9TDiYdA
Doesn’t look very futuristic to me. I can type the first letter of my first name and autofill will complete the rest of it for a site I may have never used before.r
Oh, and not just my name but all my pertinent data and wait for me to confirm the use of my Visa. Nothing happens beyond that point if I check Mastercard….cause I don’t have one.
Eric, the worst thing to fear is not the ones who see it coming and don’t care , but the ones who see it coming and openly embrace it and promote it. Look at the zombies at teslarati and electrek.co, Elon fan boys who will sell their soul to look cool. I don’t know much about Tsla cars but If i don’t have a smart phone can i still drive one?
I currently own the last vehicles I’ll ever own unless they wreck. In that case I’ll buy the oldest running jalopy possible until a gun is pointed at me or my kids to stay indoors.
double post, WP was acting up this morning
Even worse Eric is not the fact that people see it and don’t care but see it and openly embrace and promote their own servitude. Look at the zombies over at Electrek.co and teslarati. I literally bought my last vehicle ever in 2013. Unless it wrecks I will build one from the ground up or buy the oldest jalopy possible until the gun is pointed at me or my kids to get off the road.
I agree.. I”ll keep the Liberty and the Ranger until they drop. I’m old school-computers do not belong in motor vehicles. Too rough an environment for one-electronics do not like temperature extremes.
Virtually every vehicle has some sort of electronic processor since the late 1980s.
Heck, the HEI distributor that came out in 1975 is a computer of sorts.
It isn’t the engine management system, or the CD changer or even the sat nav system. It’s the fact that there are so many extra machine cycles, data storage and networking have become so cheap that it is now worth it to take the time to add these instructions to the computer. The cost of sending a bit around the world has dropped 99% since the beginning of the 1990s, and continues to fall annually. It’s shocking to see the retail prices on flash memory. And even the most basic of devices have microprocessors the equivalent of an Apple ][ computer for things like battery management, at a price of a few pennies per part. It only makes sense that someone will try this, given the incentive.
Old systems don’t have the luxury of extra space. Programmers from back then called it microcode and it really didn’t do much of anything. Today’s hardware is out in front of the software and so now we get attempts to fill the void with something new.