My car is now through the break-in period. All I can really say about that is that I tried. One reason I took special trips was to try to avoid or at least minimize situations where I would violate the break-in guidelines and I hope I mostly succeeded. The trouble is that these guidelines are stated vaguely: How hard is braking too hard? How fast is too fast? How much acceleration is too much?
These break-in drives have been hard drives, not at all because of the car—on the contrary—but because with all the excitement, I’m tired. I am seeing how very much safer this car is and how drives that I might have bad to back off from, maybe staying a night in a motel, became possible, because this car does so much automatically that it really is that much an easier car to drive.
I’m still not back to work. Before I can return to work, I have to have all the paperwork in order for the car for Uber (really, Lyft too). I have a temporary registration from the dealer, so I thought the problem would be with getting the insurance card, but I was actually able to straighten out the insurance situation within an hour or so. Lyft doesn’t recognize the temporary registration and Uber is still thinking about it (not a good sign). I don’t know when I’m going to get back to work.
This has been a long stretch financially, nearly all on credit, and some of the rest on smaller payments than usual or bills I haven’t paid immediately on receipt. I’m still hoping to move in October and to visit my mother next February; but now there is damage to be repaired.
Higher education
Deb Erdley, “Plan approved to continue with consolidation of California, Clarion and Edinboro universities,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, July 14, 2021, https://triblive.com/local/regional/plan-approved-to-continue-with-consolidatation-of-california-clarion-and-edinboro-universities/
Eric Kelderman, “The Plan Is ‘Not Perfect,’ but Pa.’s Public-College System Will Turn 6 Campuses Into 2,” Chronicle of Higher Education, July 14, 2021, https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-plan-is-not-perfect-but-pa-s-public-college-system-will-turn-6-campuses-into-2
Pandemic
The notion that the vaccine drive is pointless or harmful — or perhaps even a government plot — is increasingly an article of faith among supporters of former president Donald Trump, on a par with assertions that the last election was stolen and the assault on the U.S. Capitol was overblown.[1]
Dan Diamond, Hannah Knowles, and Tyler Pager, “Vaccine hesitancy morphs into hostility, as opposition to shots hardens,” Washington Post, July 15, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/covid-vaccines-biden-trump/2021/07/15/adaf6c7e-e4bd-11eb-a41e-c8442c213fa8_story.html
Donald Trump
Ed Kilgore, “Trump’s Kind of Coup Is Indeed a Contested Election,” New York, July 15, 2021, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/07/trumps-kind-of-coup-is-indeed-a-contested-election.html
Voting rights
David Weigel, “Clear eyes, fully entrenched base: Why Texas Democrats think they can’t lose by fleeing the state,” Washington Post, July 15, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/15/trailer-clear-eyes-fully-entrenched-base-why-texas-democrats-think-they-cant-lose-by-fleeing-state/
Anti-Semitism
Look, I despise Mark Zuckerberg as much as anybody. He’s a filthier-than-filthy rich, arrogant, entitled asshole, but here is yet another example[2] of anti-Semitism claims gone wild.[3] When everything is anti-Semitism, then nothing is, and these idiots really need to be thinking about that.
Anti-Defamation League Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Greenblatt told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the term Zuckerbucks perpetuates an age-old antisemitic stereotype claiming that rich Jews use their money to exercise inordinate control over governments. Zuckerberg is the fifth-richest person in the world, according to Forbes, with a net worth of approximately $97 billion.[4]
Who knew that Jews were the only ones to do this? That we should blame Jews exclusively for the constitutional oligarchy?[5] I sure didn’t.
Again, while lots of corporations spend lots of money on lobbying—in this case, it was to aid local election offices, which is pretty fucking innocent unless you’re trying to stop a nonexistent “steal”[6]—the slur becomes anti-Semitic because we’re talking about one particular corporate leader who happens to be Jewish.[7]
Ron Kampeas, “Republicans are trying to brand Mark Zuckerberg as ‘Zuckerbucks.’ Antisemitism watchdogs aren’t happy,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, July 14, 2021, https://www.jta.org/2021/07/14/politics/republicans-are-trying-to-brand-mark-zuckerberg-as-zuckerbucks-antisemitism-watchdogs-arent-happy
Washington Post
The Washington Post has a new executive editor, Sally Buzbee.[8]
- [1]Dan Diamond, Hannah Knowles, and Tyler Pager, “Vaccine hesitancy morphs into hostility, as opposition to shots hardens,” Washington Post, July 15, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/covid-vaccines-biden-trump/2021/07/15/adaf6c7e-e4bd-11eb-a41e-c8442c213fa8_story.html↩
- [2]Ron Kampeas, “Republicans are trying to brand Mark Zuckerberg as ‘Zuckerbucks.’ Antisemitism watchdogs aren’t happy,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, July 14, 2021, https://www.jta.org/2021/07/14/politics/republicans-are-trying-to-brand-mark-zuckerberg-as-zuckerbucks-antisemitism-watchdogs-arent-happy↩
- [3]David Benfell, “On ‘anti-Semitism,’” Not Housebroken, June 27, 2021, https://disunitedstates.org/2021/06/27/on-anti-semitism/↩
- [4]Ron Kampeas, “Republicans are trying to brand Mark Zuckerberg as ‘Zuckerbucks.’ Antisemitism watchdogs aren’t happy,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, July 14, 2021, https://www.jta.org/2021/07/14/politics/republicans-are-trying-to-brand-mark-zuckerberg-as-zuckerbucks-antisemitism-watchdogs-arent-happy↩
- [5]David Benfell, “A constitutional oligarchy: Deconstructing Federalist No. 10,” Not Housebroken, July 3, 2021, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/04/22/a-constitutional-oligarchy-deconstructing-federalist-no-10/↩
- [6]Ron Kampeas, “Republicans are trying to brand Mark Zuckerberg as ‘Zuckerbucks.’ Antisemitism watchdogs aren’t happy,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, July 14, 2021, https://www.jta.org/2021/07/14/politics/republicans-are-trying-to-brand-mark-zuckerberg-as-zuckerbucks-antisemitism-watchdogs-arent-happy↩
- [7]Ben Sales, “How Mark Zuckerberg embraced his Judaism,” Times of Israel, October 3, 2017, https://www.timesofisrael.com/how-mark-zuckerberg-embraced-his-judaism/↩
- [8]Sally Buzbee to subscribers, July 16, 2021, https://washingtonpost.com/↩