July 1, 2023

Exclusive: EV charging firms oppose Texas' 'premature' plan to mandate Tesla standard -letter

Source: Reuters

A group of EV charger makers and operators is pushing back against Texas' plan to mandate the inclusion of Tesla technology in charging stations, saying it is "premature," according to a document seen by Reuters and a source aware of the matter.

Reuters reported last week that Texas would require charging companies to include both Tesla's North American Charging Standard (NACS) as well as the nationally recognized rival Combined Charging Standard (CCS) technology to be eligible for a state program to electrify highways using federal dollars.

Washington followed suit, and standards organization SAE International has said it aims to make an industry standard configuration of Tesla's charging connector in six months or less, adding momentum to Tesla CEO Elon Musk's hope of making NACS the national charging technology.

But five electric vehicle charging companies, including operator ChargePoint Holdings and manufacturer ABB, and a clean energy association have written to the Texas Transportation Commission, calling for more time to re-engineer and test Tesla's connectors.

Texas' plan "risks the successful deployment" of the first phase of federal funds being rolled out, they said in the letter sent to the chairman of the commission on Thursday, which was seen by Reuters.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/ev-charging-firms-oppose-texas-premature-plan-mandate-tesla-standard-letter-2023-06-30/

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It may seem premature, but the market is showing that Tesla's NACS plug configuration will probably dominate here in the USA, since it is being adopted by the major US car manufacturers (GM, Ford) to allow them to utilize the Supercharger network.

July 1, 2023

An unlikely provocateur, Miss Texas, takes on the state's GOP leaders

The day of the school shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Tex., last year, Averie Bishop posted a TikTok video, sobbing. “These things happen all the time and nothing changes,” she said.

After the Supreme Court overturned abortion rights, following her home state’s own restrictions, she posted again: “When you live in Texas and all you wanted was a hot girl summer, but now you have a ‘no reproductive rights’ summer.”

In March, she posted about the need for comprehensive sex education and mourned the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the abortion precedent abandoned by the court. In May, she posted videos touting the need for affordable health and reproductive care.

The fact that Bishop has professed her liberal views on race, abortion, immigration, voting, same-sex marriage, school shootings and comprehensive sex education — which Texas public schools don’t require — may not be surprising considering she’s 26.

What is startling is that Bishop has spoken out while competing for, and as, Miss Texas. The perch has normally been occupied by apolitical women, but in Bishop’s case, the pageant queen has used it to push back against the far-right policies supported by Texas’s White male leaders.

https://wapo.st/3CTz3H1

July 1, 2023

Newly Unearthed Emails Show Trump Attorneys Coordinating Fake Electors

Faced with loss in the 2020 election, Trump campaign attorneys built an elaborate mind palace in which the former president could steal victory from the jaws of defeat.

The problem was, building that universe required persuading real people to lie — not in the imaginary world where Trump reversed his loss, but in the actual world where lying has consequences.

Emails first released by the Jan. 6 Committee that have not previously been reported on in detail reveal how several key Trump attorneys coordinated the actions of two fake electors from the state of Nevada — both of whom have now reportedly received immunity in exchange for testimony in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation.

The emails show Trump attorney Kenneth Chesebro directing would-be fake electors Jim DeGraffenreid and Michael McDonald how to become fake electors — a topic now at the center of Smith’s review of Trump’s effort to reverse the 2020 election. Private messages, also released by the committee, show that McDonald, DeGraffenreid, and other Nevada fake electors were eager to participate in what Chesebro described to them as an effort to “keep alive the possibility that the votes could be flipped to Trump and Biden.”

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/fake-electors-emails

June 30, 2023

DeSantis's ugly descent into 'invasion' hysteria can't go unanswered

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis released a plan for the southern border this week that uses the word “invasion” at least five times. He later took this rhetoric to hallucinogenic extremes, declaring on Fox News that anyone with drugs who “is cutting through a border wall” should end up “stone-cold dead.”

The specter of a migrant “invasion,” which carries white nationalist overtones, has been a mainstay of Donald Trump’s political vocabulary ever since he ran for president in 2016. But the fact that DeSantis and Trump — the leaders in polls for the Republican nomination — are both all in on this ugly notion shows how profoundly it is capturing the GOP.

Democrats can’t let this moment go unanswered. In coming weeks, opportunities to mount major pushback will arise, and Democrats should make the most of them.

First, DeSantis’s draconian immigration law, which is designed to make life more difficult for undocumented immigrants in numerous ways, is set to take effect on July 1. Already, it has prompted migrants to consider leaving the state. That’s causing panic among Florida businesses that rely on migrant workers. Even Republicans are lamenting the law’s expected impact.

https://wapo.st/3rdmMKY

June 30, 2023

DeSantis signs controversial 'radioactive roads' bill lobbied by fertilizer giant Mosaic

Mosaic supported the bill — and hosted a $25,000 fundraiser for its sponsor.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday signed a bill that will allow the Florida Department of Transportation to study the use of phosphogypsum, a mildly radioactive byproduct of the phosphate manufacturing process, in road construction.

The measure — dubbed the “radioactive roads” bill by critics — was lobbied by Tampa-based Fortune 500 fertilizer company Mosaic, which would benefit from selling its byproduct and last month hosted and paid nearly $25,000 for a fundraising event for the state lawmaker who sponsored the controversial bill.

Records reviewed by the Tampa Bay Times show Mosaic is already seeking approval from federal environmental regulators to begin testing phosphogypsum in a roadway at its New Wales facility. Depending on the results of the state’s study and federal approval, the bill could pave the way — literally — for phosphogypsum use in American roads for the first time in years.

Phosphogypsum contains radium-226, which emits radiation during its decay to form radon, a potentially cancer-causing, radioactive gas, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/2023/06/29/desantis-signs-controversial-radioactive-roads-bill-lobbied-by-fertilizer-giant-mosaic/

On the bright side, it should help melt the winter snow off Florida roads...

June 29, 2023

Protesters ruin Rancho Penasquitos library's Pride exhibit by checking out nearly all the books

Two protesters offended by a Pride exhibit at the Rancho Peñasquitos Library have checked out nearly all the books in the display and vowed to keep them until the library eliminates what they call “inappropriate content” for children.

The anti-gay protest is the latest example of a growing national backlash against Pride exhibits, which experts say has been fueled by debates over how schools and healthcare systems should handle transgender minors.

The Rancho Peñasquitos protest ratchets up the usual backlash San Diego library branches experience when they create Pride exhibits or host events like drag queen story times, said head librarian Misty Jones.

“It’s gotten progressively worse in the last five years,” Jones said Wednesday. “This is definitely a new one for us.”

The protesters, Peñasquitos residents Ann Vance and Martha Martin, said libraries are open, public spaces for children that should be free of references to gender identity and how adults experience sexual attraction.

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/2023-06-28/protestors-ruin-rancho-penasquitos-librarys-pride-exhibit-by-checking-out-nearly-all-the-books

June 28, 2023

Florida homeowner shot at pool cleaner who showed up unannounced at night, sheriff says

A Florida homeowner shot a pool technician who showed up unannounced at night after the technician "made no effort to contact them," authorities said Monday.

Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to reports of a burglary in-progress on June 15 around 9 p.m. in Dunedin, Florida, after homeowner Jana Hocevar, 43, heard noises in the pool area, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.

Detectives said Hocevar saw an unknown male on the pool deck “who she did not recognize,” the sheriff’s office said. Hocevar, who became concerned because no one was supposed to be at their home at that time, notified her husband, Bradley, 57.

“Bradley yelled for the subject to get out and to go away several times,” the sheriff’s office said in the news release.

https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/2023/06/27/florida-pool-cleaner-shot-dunedin/70359677007/

Late-night pool cleaning can be dangerous to your health.

June 28, 2023

Ousted New College Trustee Eddie Speir files to run for Congress against Vern Buchanan

After a rollercoaster few months helping lead Gov. Ron DeSantis' conservative overhaul of New College of Florida before losing his seat on the college board, Bradenton resident Eddie Speir is jumping back into the political fray with a run for Congress.

Speir has filed to run against U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, in Florida's 16th Congressional District, which includes all of Manatee County and a portion of Hillsborough County.

The founder of a Christian school in Bradenton, Speir wrote on his Substack that he is running for Congress to fight "evil."

"There comes a time when the country needs good people to stand up and fight against evil," Speir wrote. "That time is now. Our American system of freedom, individual rights, and of limited government is under assault."

https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/politics/2023/06/28/desantis-pick-for-college-board-now-challenging-buchanan-for-congress/70363232007/

A religious nutjob wants to represent Sarasota. It's a shame what Speir and his ilk have done to the reputation of the community.

June 28, 2023

Ron DeSantis Used Texas Taxpayer Resources on Campaign Trip

DeSantis went to the Texas-Mexico border on Monday for a campaign event. But he also got a tour of the border with taxpayer funds—and his campaign took advantage of the photo op.

When Ron DeSantis took a trip to the Texas-Mexico border on Monday, his campaign had the good sense to take and promote a photo of the Florida governor in front of a helicopter for an image ready-made for a political ad.

But that photo—and the accompanying tweet—may end up costing DeSantis much more than he bargained for.
https://twitter.com/TeamDeSantis/status/1673391564062597121
That’s because the helicopter DeSantis posed in front of is property of the Texas Department of Public Safety, according to Federal Aviation Administration records. And experts say his use of Texas government resources for his own political purposes appears to constitute a campaign finance violation.

His trip to the border is now raising legal questions about who paid for the junket and why the campaign was granted access to Texas government property to promote a political event in the first place.

The questions notably apply on the Texas side as well, where state law bans the use of public resources in support of candidates for political office.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ron-desantis-used-texas-taxpayer-resources-on-campaign-trip

Looking like DeSantis went to Texas and stepped in it. Seems as if he's competing with the PAB in the number of self-owns.

June 27, 2023

In-laws of 7-time NASCAR champ Jimmie Johnson found dead in apparent murder-suicide

The father-in-law and mother-in-law of seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson were found dead Monday in a suspected murder-suicide.

According to Muskogee, Oklahoma, police, 69-year-old Jack Janway, 68-year-old Terry Janway and 11-year-old Dalton Janway were found shot after a disturbance call to the Janways’ residence Monday evening. Dalton Janway is the Janways’ grandson and the nephew of Jimmie Johnson and his wife Chandra.

Police believe that Chandra's mother Terry was the shooter.

https://sports.yahoo.com/in-laws-of-7-time-nascar-champ-jimmie-johnson-found-dead-in-apparent-murder-suicide-181442785.html