My next car is coming into focus

benfell

Electric vehicles

Don’t get me wrong. I remain very happy with my present vehicle, a Toyota RAV4 XLE Premium Hybrid, even as wear starts to crop up, some weatherstripping there, some paint chips and the barest beginning of corrosion here. But a move to electric is likely inevitable. And it looks like Toyota might have the technology in 2027 that meets my specifications,[1] just as I finish paying my car loan.

Solid-state EV batteries can be charged in under 10 minutes and power a vehicle over a range of 1,200km — 2.4 times the distance achievable with conventional lithium-ion batteries.[2]

1,200 km is over 700 miles (my old “compromise” point with slow-charging lithium-ion batteries) which means I would now only be worried about where to find a charging station at the beginning of the day; even if the range proves to be exaggerated, the car can be recharged in under 10 minutes. That it’d be all electric means I would no longer face internal combustion engine (ICE) maintenance costs. For me, this is a no-brainer; assuming charging stations for this battery technology are available, I would almost certainly have to go this way.

Akito Tanaka et al., “Toyota bets on solid-state as CATL eyes Thailand,” Financial Times, June 15, 2023, https://www.ft.com/content/09e23ac9-f73a-4104-aa2e-33ea48eba67a

Gilead

Abortion


Fig. 1. Sign at demonstration in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, May 3, 2022. Janni Rye, via Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

Wellspring’s ability to operate is rooted in the hands-off brand of conservatism that characterized Wyoming politics before hard-liners began gaining influence. In 2011, lawmakers worried about the Affordable Care Act potentially mandating enrollment in an “Obamacare” plan approved a resolution that put a constitutional amendment to a public vote. It passed, giving adults the right to make their own health-care decisions.[3]

It’s in the courts, with the state alleging the abortion is not healthcare.[4]

Tori Otten, “N.C. Lawmaker Pretends She Never Got an Abortion After Switching Parties to Pass Abortion Ban,” New Republic, June 15, 2023, https://newrepublic.com/post/173680/north-carolinas-party-switching-lawmaker-helped-ban-abortion-now-pretends-never-got-one

Karin Brulliard, “America’s unlikeliest abortion clinic has opened in its reddest state,” Washington Post, June 16, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/06/16/wyoming-abortion-bans-clinic-opens/

Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh

Housing


Fig. 2. Most of the homeless encampments I’ve seen around Pittsburgh have been on the North Side. This one is downtown, right by a Parkway (Interstate 376) onramp. Photograph by author, May 22, 2023.

Lizabeth Gray, “The Carina Apartments in Garfield bring new life to B’nai Israel,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 16, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/life/Buying-Here/2023/06/16/the-carina-apartments-garfield-bnai-israel-congregation/stories/202306130111

Neoliberalism

Banking

Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and Credit Suisse, 2023


Fig. 3. “The monument sign in front of the parking lot of the Silicon Valley Bank headquarters at 3003 West Tasman Drive, Santa Clara, California.” Photograph by Minh Nguyen, March 13, 2023, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

If enacted, the bill would ensure the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has the power to seize bonuses, other performance-based compensation and any profits from the sale of securities that senior executives received in the 24 months before their bank failed.[5]

The bill follows up on criticism from both parties following the Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and First Republic Bank collapses this year.[6]

Andrew Ackerman, “Pay Could Be Seized From Failed Banks’ Executives Under Senate Bill,” Wall Street Journal, June 15, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/senate-clawback-bill-would-take-pay-from-failed-bank-executives-2961137c

Work


Fig. 4. The spectre of Death, in the form of a large skeleton, rises with the smoke and flames of the burning Asch Building during the Triangle fire, as people jump and fall to their death. Artist unknown, from International Ladies Garment Workers Union Photographs (1885-1985) at The Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

A jury has ruled that reverse discrimination is a thing. I think there is a reasonable argument that Starbucks should not have fired Shannon Phillips and woefully mishandled the situation—I’m fine with her getting her money.[7] Whether or not Starbucks’ conduct was racist remains a question for me.

Steve Bohnel, “Fitzgerald vetoes minimum wage hike bill, saying it violates county charter,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 14, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-local/2023/06/13/fitzgerald-vetoes-minimum-wage-hike-bill-stating-it-violates-county-charter/stories/202306130122

Oona Goodin-Smith, “Starbucks ordered to pay $25.6M to manager who says she was fired for being white after viral Philly arrests,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 14, 2023, https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia/starbucks-philadelphia-manager-white-verdict-philadelphia-black-men-arrests-20230614.html

Eric Levitz, “Larry Summers Was Wrong About Inflation,” New York, June 14, 2023, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/06/larry-summers-was-wrong-about-inflation.html

Gilead

Right-wing militias

Police White supremacist gangs


Fig. 5. Photograph by Lorie Shaull, April 1, 2021, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

David Nakamura, Mark Berman, and Holly Bailey, “Minneapolis police engaged in pattern of misconduct, Justice Dept. says,” Washington Post, June 16, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/06/16/minneapolis-police-report-doj/

  1. [1]Akito Tanaka et al., “Toyota bets on solid-state as CATL eyes Thailand,” Financial Times, June 15, 2023, https://www.ft.com/content/09e23ac9-f73a-4104-aa2e-33ea48eba67a↩
  2. [2]Akito Tanaka et al., “Toyota bets on solid-state as CATL eyes Thailand,” Financial Times, June 15, 2023, https://www.ft.com/content/09e23ac9-f73a-4104-aa2e-33ea48eba67a↩
  3. [3]Karin Brulliard, “America’s unlikeliest abortion clinic has opened in its reddest state,” Washington Post, June 16, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/06/16/wyoming-abortion-bans-clinic-opens/↩
  4. [4]Karin Brulliard, “America’s unlikeliest abortion clinic has opened in its reddest state,” Washington Post, June 16, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/06/16/wyoming-abortion-bans-clinic-opens/↩
  5. [5]Andrew Ackerman, “Pay Could Be Seized From Failed Banks’ Executives Under Senate Bill,” Wall Street Journal, June 15, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/senate-clawback-bill-would-take-pay-from-failed-bank-executives-2961137c↩
  6. [6]Andrew Ackerman, “Pay Could Be Seized From Failed Banks’ Executives Under Senate Bill,” Wall Street Journal, June 15, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/senate-clawback-bill-would-take-pay-from-failed-bank-executives-2961137c↩
  7. [7]Oona Goodin-Smith, “Starbucks ordered to pay $25.6M to manager who says she was fired for being white after viral Philly arrests,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 14, 2023, https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia/starbucks-philadelphia-manager-white-verdict-philadelphia-black-men-arrests-20230614.html↩

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