I read a book once about Elvis having faked his death. The author claimed to have audio of the King – in mufti – describing how he was rekonized by a fan, who only said: I don’t know how you did it, I don’t care how you did it. I just want you to know how happy you’ve made me tonight.
Well, I felt the same way upon hearing that Ford is apparently going to offer a turbodiesel V6 in the new Ranger.
And then I felt something else – when I found out it’s probably not for us.
The redesigned 2022 Ranger – it’s bigger than the current model we can buy here in the U.S. – has just been launched “globally.” Actually, hemispherically – since our hemisphere (the North American chunk of it) will not get the new Ranger until 2023.
And we will probably not get the new turbodiesel V6 that will be optional in the new Ranger in other hemispheres. Including even Australia – where people are tackled by armed government workers for not “masking” outdoors . . . but diesels are still largely free to roam.
Not so much here.
It is harder to get a diesel engine past through the needle’s eye of government ukase pertaining to allowable emissions than it would be to stuff an actual camel through such an attenuated aperture. Even with the grafting on of chemical exhaust scrubbers, DEF tanks and the re-engineering of the once-simpler, once less-complex diesel engine to a state of greater complexity than a current gas-burning engine, they still have difficulty making the cut.
The few – and it is very few, indeed – that do are very expensive as a result.
As a for-instance, the only Ranger-sized truck that’s available with a diesel engine in America as of the 2022 model year is the Chevy Colorado and its GMC-badged twin, the Canyon. The diesel is, however, only available in crew cab Canyons and Colorados near the apex of the trim pyramid and then only if you buy it as part of a $5,185 package, which means spending at least $35,000 to get the diesel in this truck.
That makes it too rich for most Americans.
Or rather, makes it too expensive to make much sense – especially in view of the slight – about 6 MPG – fuel economy benefit vs. the gasoline V6 that’s available as a much less costly option in lower-trim/lower cost versions of this pick-up.
It’s likely that these same factors will keep the diesel engine outside this market – precisely because it no longer is one.
The balance has tipped decidedly in the direction of a fascist economy.
Many people hear that word and reflexively envision black and white images of goose-stepping soldiers saluting the Leader – but that’s not the defining element, which can be established easily enough by pointing out that every authoritarian regime has soldiers and Leaders -the form of salute being as relevant as whether a serial killer uses his left or right hand to knife his victim.
The relevant – the defining – element of fascism is: private property allowed – but controlled and directed by the state.
You’re allowed to build cars – and trucks – but only within the parameters laid down by the state. You can buy a car or truck, but only those cars and trucks the state says you may buy (and then, you may retain possession only so long as you pay the required – and ongoing – mandatory tithes and use it in accordance with the state’s allowable usages).
That is fascism – which doesn’t fundamentally alter whether said in German, Italian or American. 
And it’s why Americans are not likely going to be allowed to buy the ’23 Ranger with a diesel engine.
The regime – its bureaucratic apparat, actually – has already decided on our behalf that the diesel engine “emits” too much of such-and-such.
It is not obliged to demonstrate a causal relationship between what is “emitted” and actual harm caused. It simply asserts that the “emissions” of such-and-such may not exceed so-and-so and that’s all there is to it.
Which amounts to a great deal.
Unlimited power to decree what they (the car companies) can sell and what we may buy. It is why we cannot get the diesel engines – plural – that are already available in the current Ranger, on sale in places like Australia.
Which, by the way, is also available with a manual transmission. But not for us. The Ranger we get – now and pending – is and will be automatic-only, for the same reason we won’t get the diesels.
It’s not just cars and trucks, either – as hardly needs to be stated. It is everything. Or rather, there is nothing – in principle if not in actual fact – that the government hasn’t asserted its power to allow or not and if the former, under what conditions.
It’s a shame there aren’t goose-stepping soldiers saluting the Leader – in high definition color.
People might notice it then.
Possibly, some might even object.
. . .
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To answer your question Eric:
The new-generation 2022 Ford Ranger ute has been revealed with a bolder design, more interior technology, full-time four-wheel drive, a V6 diesel option, and a plug-in hybrid-ready architecture.
We don’t know final specs and market details at this stage, save that the new and again Thai-sourced Ford Ranger will hit Australian dealerships from the middle of 2022.
Three engines will be offered at launch: single- and bi-turbo four-cylinder options, and a 3.0-litre V6. They’re all diesels
Five trim levels will be available at launch, ranging from XL to Wildtrak. A Ranger Raptor will follow.
Top-spec cars will have a 12-inch vertical touchscreen inside, cheaper cars get a 10-inch unit
Sales will start in the middle of 2022 for Australia
That means final power outputs, GCM and tow ratings are yet to be confirmed, though Ford did hint its axle loads and GVM would get an increase.
https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-news/2022-ford-ranger-everything-you-need-to-know
All it takes is a trip overseas somewhere to burst a blood vessel in yer head.
I was walking around in Winchester, England and a Jeep Liberty (or patriot?) puttered by me with what was probably a Merc diesel. WTF.
This is how you know they are full of it. Diesel cars use way less fuel. Less fuel= less emissions.
I’d buy one in a second.
Back in ’85 I had an ’83 chevy 1/2 ton diesel truck. Sure, it was a pathetic engine, but it sipped fuel. And it wasn’t great accelerating, but it could climb a tree offroad. It had 2 20 gal tanks. I could fart around all day in the woods for 1/8 tank of fuel.
We are run by idiots. Stupid, Greedy, Incompetent idiots.
Jeep Liberty CRD:
https://www.carfolio.com/jeep-liberty-2.8-crd-353045
A coworker had one, at the time a few years old. I asked him for first right of refusal if he ever sold it. He moved on, AFAIK he still owns it.
The VM Motori diesel in the CRD was Italian, I believe. The country where engineers are taught that the periodic table consists of earth, air, fire, and water….
Seriously, the Liberty CRD gets great mileage like any diesel, but their reputation is for poor reliability and longevity. The 3.0 Diamler put in Grand Cherokees was much better.
Diesel is better:
better fuel economy, engines last longer because of diesel lubrication and they are built stronger to take 22 to 1 compression, no spark ignition = no tune ups, fuel is usually cheaper, diesel runs out after gas runs out in shortages, can be made to run on multiple fuels, more low end torque, lower rpm so last longer, better for towing heavy loads, almost unlimited potential for increased power output because no detonation problem found in gas engines,
high fuel economy small diesels in very light cars (VW made one 261 mpg) is better solution then EV’s.
VW hybrid is better then EV’s or gas hybrid but was banned
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/no-sale/
The fuel is cheaper, but the Psychopaths In Charge solved that problem by taxing it at a greater rate, making it more expensive at the pump. Any time the Psychopaths are opposed to something, it’s almost a given fact that it works better.
Have the Wallendas been jabbed and then walked the high wire yet?
Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
Up in Canada everybody is at work today, another work day for them. I suspect they are celebrating Thanksgiving American style again today. Two for one, buy one, get one free. lol
One flaw, LED bulbs are not compatible with ovens. Although, LED bulbs last for months while incandescent last only for 30 days when burned continuously. Incandescent are preferred during winter months, provide heat to warm the rooms.
There they were, gone.
No such thing as a diesel engine in a Pathfinder as far back as 2012. Couldn’t be found. Tried, no success. Only in America.
Another Groundhog Day in America, Covid über alles!
The Covid Stupid is on fire!
Actually an incandescent bulb will last a LONG time if left on continuously. It’s the regular heating up and cooling down that leads to their demise.
> Actually an incandescent bulb will last a LONG time if left on continuously.
This one’s been burning nearly continuously for 120 years:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial_Light
Keep in mind that incandescent bulbs were being made more and more cheaply which often translated into less and less life. A well made one will last a very long time especially if it doesn’t see too many on/off cycles.
The ANTIFA movement is hoping to emulate the Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War. The problem is they don’t understand that the issue isn’t as cut and dry as history records the war. They believe the war is either socialism or fascism, and no other options exist. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss (only this time without productive labor).
Of course the real culprit is a bunch of 20 year old men with too much time on their hands. The drug wars of the 1990s, Middle eastern Jihad in the 2000s, Occupy Wall St and the Woke culture (which brought women into the fold too, that’s some real equality there), all of it starts with 20 year old men who are not properly brought into the system. Should have been fixed with the War On Terror™ but the Pentagon is too much of a pussy to institute a draft after the fall of Saigon. Take a bunch of aggressive kids and send ’em off to Afghanistan will fix ’em right up. Too late now, and we have to live with this permanent group angry young men.
I hope you aren’t serious, but in case you are, no state has the right to exist by conscription. If the citizens will not readily come forth to defend it, it does not deserve to continue. I will agree that too many 20 somethings have too much time on their hands, but that is a result of the culture, not the cause of the culture. If one is engaged in productive endeavor, they are looked down upon, while parasites that produce nothing except liability, are held in high esteem.
I’m actually in favor of Swiss or Israeli style mandatory military service, but not under our ridiculous mercenary military system in the US. I think it is very important for a nation’s defense for its citizens to be active participants in the militia. Unfortunately what we have now more closely resembles the British navy during the age when they ruled the seas. Like everything else, a centralized authority directing troops to whatever folly gets the attention of the ruler is not the correct structure for a defensive entity.
Please explain how “mandatory service” differs from “involuntary servitude”.
John, its for the Good of the Nation! I believe the idea in the US is “compelling state interest”. Mandatory service is ones “duty” to the Father Land. All must sacrifice for the Greater Good! Of course that means the the Ruling Class and their kids are the very last to die for the country…
In truth there is no difference. The idea is that the State owns everything (including the people) in its territory. But we can’t just come right out and say that (in a well armed country, that’s a good way to get shot).
So one uses propaganda (useful that the government controls the “educational” system, yes?…) and create a sequence of illusions/delusions that are useful to control the population and use it for cannon fodder when National Interests are declared.
Never forget; Government is a gang of thieves and murderers writ large.
ReadyK… How do you square our most basic foundational idea; “You own yourself and your works” with compelling people to serve?? In a legitimate defense situation, I have no doubt that you’d run out of support logistics before you ran out of volunteers. Are you familiar with something called the myth of national defense? Defense is no different than any other market sector, if you examine the implications properly.
https://mises.org/library/introduction-myth-national-defense
BLM and Antifa are financed and controlled by soros, more lefist/communist bastards
Soros thinks he’s fighting nazis and fascists. He claims his father, Tivadar Soros, would write up false documents to help Jews escape Germany, and that he’s just carrying on the family tradition.
The reality is when you see the world as either communist or fascist, with no third option, one might be quick to support communism as the lessor of two evils. The truth is, he sees the trolls looking for the LULZ and FBI plants in the liberty movement as being serious. Another reason why it used to be fairly common for corporations to require the C-suite executives to retire at 65, before they lost their marbles and starting believing everything they read.
Or, he’s just short the dollar and wants to bring it down like he did the British pound.
Burn Loot and Murder, and their black bloc fellow travelers, are simply the Useful Idiots of those who seek nothing less than the destruction of western civilization itself. If you’ve read Rules for Radicals, you can predict their antics.
Ready, there is a reason that they ended the draft. The anti war movement was growing out of their control. In not too many years it would have become a serious threat to the Military/Industrial Complex. That’s grown to hundreds of billions a year. With a group of mercenaries, far fewer people care what is being done with all of that money, and to whom its being done.
Hi BJ,
This is pravda – truth – as regards the draft/all-volunteer (mercenary) military. As a libertarian, I abhor slavery – and the draft is exactly that. But it had the virtue of making the general public loathe war. Now, war is endless – because those who “serve” (in truth, to get paid to be government’s shock troops) signed up, freely. Salt in some Hero Worship and – presto! – the public now loves war. Or at least, doesn’t hate it anymore.
Shortly before the end of selective service, the dollar went full fiat. Which is how wars are financed. On the backs of your great great grandchildren. The US “defense” budget, which is NEVER spent on defense, is more than twice that of Russia and China combined. Because they can simply borrow, as in have the Fed print up, whatever funds the desire for whatever expenditure they desire.
Fascism =corporatism the combination of government and big business, leftists/communists controlling businesses.
>It’s not just cars and trucks,
Even light bulbs are controlled, here in Commiefornia.
Halogen bulbs are now forbidden to be sold, or shipped to California, by retailers such as Amazon or Home Depot, although they are perfectly legal in other states, at least for now.
I would be happy to use the 8w LEDs in my porch lights, IF THEY WORKED, which they do not, because of the timer, which causes a resonance and makes the LEDs flicker several times per second. Also, the LEDs I bought @ Home Depot have a color temperature of 5000K, which is bright white, not the 3000K warm glow I prefer.
So, I will be using an out of state associate to smuggle light bulbs into California.
I plan to buy sufficient quantity (they are cheap) to last the rest of my expected natural life, in case the Feds outlaw them nationwide.
Thanks for the picture of Il Duce, Eric.
We can hope that some of our Amerifascists meet a similar fate as his.
And it all begins with fiat currency. If the state had to collect enough taxes to finance their tyranny, either the tax slaves would revolt, or the economy would immediately collapse, or both. But, the bank cartel and fiat currency save the day. They can tax you with inflation and blame it on something else. Which suppresses the tax slave revolt, but unfortunately just props up the economy for a while longer.
Eric,
First of all, happy Thanksgiving! Second of all, if you say that America is a fascist police state, people scoff at the notion; they call you a “conspiracy theorist”. Even pointing out the evidence won’t change their minds…
Thanks, Mark – you also!
Most people – people who’ve been mis-educated in government schools – associate “fascism” exclusively with sieg heiling Nazis when in fact that was merely a superficial aspect of that variant of fascism.
Hi, Eric,
As you, and most folks here, know, the ruling (thug) party in the Third German Reich called themselves National Socialists, and were the bitter enemies of International Communism, who liked to call the NSDAP “fascists.”
If it’s fasces you want, you can find them in D.C.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Abraham_Lincoln_(Lincoln_Memorial)
Zeus, excuse me, Abraham, on his throne, arms of the throne adorned with fasces, so there is no mistaking what this is about. Caesar is God. All hail!
But Eric, superficiality is all that matters. You are what you post on Facebook. Which is why the constant attachment to it. Without it, one does not exist. Or so we’ve been convinced.
I keep trying to explain to people that fascism and communism and a few other things are simply different forms of authoritarian collectivism. The reason they fight each other is the same reason religions that are 99.99% the same fight each other. They just can’t seem to see it.