Tag: Eric Peters

When Uncle “Cheats,” it’s OK

Guest Post by Eric Peters

Apparently, it’s ok for Uncle to “cheat.”

Not on emissions tests, as VW is being stoned to death for doing, but on federal fuel efficiency requirements (CAFE, in Uncle-speak).

Would you believe he is not only going to triple the “gas guzzler” fines applied to any automaker that doesn’t make the CAFE cut – the mandatory minimum “fleet average” MPG, which is currently 35.5 MPG – but also that these fines will be applied retroactively – to the 2015 and 2016 model year – as well as to future model years?

That’s two full model years before the 35.5 MPG mandatory went into effect – and tens of millions of dollars in fines, just because.

Dirty pool, as Gomez used to say.

But apparently it’s ok when Uncle does it.

And it’s not a proposal. It’s a fatwa. Done deal.

A “notice” was published in the July 5 Federal Register simply announcing Uncle’s decision (see here).

Continue reading “When Uncle “Cheats,” it’s OK”

Is The Fix in?

Guest Post by Eric Peters

Trump is no dummy.

Because he did not pick Newtie.

Had he done so, he might as well have put Romney at the head of the ticket and retired to Mira Lago. The selection of Pence shows that while Trump is no Libertarian, he’s not another “bipartisan” – and so Born to Lose – Republican.

With Pence, Trump makes his victory in November more rather than less likely – as would not have been the case with someone like Newtie as his Better Half.

This is smart politics, regardless of our (as Libertarians) approval of his politics.

Trump needs the snake handlers and tongue-talkers – just as Hillary must have the Millennial Redistributionists and Social Justice Warriors.

Continue reading “Is The Fix in?”

Sexual Assault is a Crime … Except Sometimes

Guest Post by Eric Peters

Sexual assault is a crime… except when it’s done by an armed government worker (that is, a law enforcer).

How else to describe the horror visited on a South Dakota man named Dirk Sparks?

He was suspected of having ingested a “drug” arbitrarily decreed to be illegal by the same government that just as arbitrarily decrees other “drugs” to be legal – and when he declined to assist in his own incrimination by providing evidence that could and would be used against him in a court of law, was forcibly restrained, had his underwear pulled down, his penis exposed and handled – and catheterized – by armed government workers, who then extracted the urine sample they needed as evidence of his guilt.

He was later charged with two counts of “felony drug ingestion,” according to news reports.

What happened to Sparks is not an isolated atrocity performed by sadistic hillbilly cops. Under proliferating “no refusal” laws, if you decline to assist the government in establishing your guilt under DUI/DWI laws, the state has empowered itself to literally force the evidence (if any) out of your very body.

Continue reading “Sexual Assault is a Crime … Except Sometimes”

Crunch Time

Guest Post by Eric Peters

Uncle admits that his current fuel economy fatwas have added $1,800 (laughable; it’s much, much more) to the price tag of every new car – a sum that renders the savings achieved at the pump an irrelevance.

The current MPG mandatory minimum is 35.5 MPG (average) vs. 27.5 (what it was back in 2010, before Uncle kicked it up).

Most new cars don’t average 35.5 MPG; a very few hit that mark (like the Prius hybrid) but most fall far short. But let’s – for the sake of discussion – say that Uncle’s fatwa achieved its stated goal of forcing the car companies to build cars that average 35.5 MPG.

That’s an 8 MPG improvement for $1,800.

Is it worth it?

Continue reading “Crunch Time”

Minnesota and Texas… Worse is to Come

Guest Post by Eric Peters

I’ve “eluded” cops who came after me for the victimless crime of “speeding” because the potential consequences of pulling over have become severe enough to make it worth stomping on the gas (rather than the brakes) and leaving the porker receding (hopefully) in the rearview.

You can be jailed in my state (VA) for driving literally just a few MPH over the posted speed limit. Anything over 80, anywhere, is statutory “reckless” driving and you are subject to arrest on the spot. Even on a highway with a posted speed limit of 70 and traffic flowing – as it usually does – considerably faster than that.

The prospect of being put into a cage – and if you’re a car journalist, your professional life ruined – over something as innocuous as driving 82 or so MPH on a highway is more than enough incentive to make a run for it rather than trust that the cop (“hero,” in police state parlance) will be decent and merely leave you with a hefty fine to pay.

Now comes another reason to flee.

Continue reading “Minnesota and Texas… Worse is to Come”

But Why Aren’t People Buying Electric Cars?

Guest Post by Eric Peters

Trump is ascendant not because he’s a freedom jouster but because the people are exasperated with a clueless (and contemptuous of them) party apparat that for years has been trotting out one inbred Bush after the next, with Bush-like things in between such as Mittens and Ted.

This is not a cheer for Trump. It’s a jeer at the elites.

The auto industry is just as clueless – and contemptuous – of the people who are its customers.

Witness the hilarious article in Automotive News last week (see here) bemoaning the fact that electric vehicles are a hard sell.

The article was headlined: Automakers’ Anxiety: Why Can’t We Sell EVs? The story went on to quote various auto industry crack pipe smokers such as Britta Gross, a speaker at the recent Electric Vehicle Symposium and Exhibition in Montreal. Gross is director of Advanced Vehicle Commercialization Policy at General Motors.

“Consumers (an awful word, isn’t it?) adore these vehicles,” she says. “People love the quietness, the smoothness, the seamless drive.”

Continue reading “But Why Aren’t People Buying Electric Cars?”

The Mindset of Heroes

Guest Post by Eric Peters

This video was taken by a couple of guys filming outside a federal courthouse in Houston, TX:

It’s interesting chiefly because it reveals (again) the arrogance of these armed government workers (cops, “agents,” etc.) who see themselves as a kind of Praetorian Guard, above the law and entitled to bully and abuse people even when their victims have not broken any law.

Continue reading “The Mindset of Heroes”

The Bank Run

Guest Post by Eric Peters

If you own a VW diesel guilty of “cheating” Uncle, you’d better scuttle on down to your local VW store. Not to “fix” it (they’re not broken) but to get your money before there’s none left.

On Tuesday, Uncle announced the most draconian punishment ever meted out to a car company over the TDI “cheating” scandal: $15 billion in forced buyback/loan forgiveness offers and funding for “environmental programs” and the promotion of electric/hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

On top of this, VW has agreed – been forced – to pay out another $600 million in separate settlements with 44 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

Continue reading “The Bank Run”

What’s a Clover?

Guest Post by Eric Peters

* Clover (noun):

The root cause of every affront to liberty. The spoonful of shit that ruins a gallon of ice cream. Clovers are instinctive authoritarian control freaks. They can be found on the political left and the political right and in between. They do not believe in live and let live. They believe in telling others how to live – using violence and threats of violence to coerce obedience.

Clovers can’t abide the organic society, voluntary interaction or free exchange. The are driven to control and regulate and micromanage and absolutely will not leave you alone.

Ever.

Clovers think it’s ok to violate the rights of individuals when it’s done by a group or by an uber Clover claiming to “represent” a group. Clovers think individual dictators are bad but the dictatorship of the “majority” is acceptable.

Continue reading “What’s a Clover?”

The Government Made Me a Litterbug

Guest Post by Eric Peters

Uncle has turned me into a litterbug.

I’ve chucked empty beer bottles out the window. I do not like doing this. I feel guilty about doing this. I never used to do this.

So why do I do it now?

Because having an “open container” – or an empty one – in one’s car invites severe (and for me, a car journalist, life-altering) consequences. If one happens to be pulled over by a cop for any random reason (seatbelt “violation,” “speeding,” an out-of-date sticker) and he sees an “open” or “empty” in the car, you are in serious trouble.

Better call Saul.

Even if the “empty” has been empty for weeks.

Continue reading “The Government Made Me a Litterbug”

Measuring the Cost of the VW “Cheating” Scandal… So Far

Guest Post by Eric Peters

The VW emissions “cheating” scandal has been below the fold for a couple months now, but the repercussions are beginning to hit home.

Literally.

At home.

If you are among those who own a diesel-powered VW – whether “affected” of not – its resale value has dropped by about 20 percent, according to data compiled by Kelley Blue Book. The average auction price paid for a used VW diesel last month was down to $10,674 vs. $13,196 last August.

That’s a big hit – especially for cars that (pre-scandal) were known for holding their value better than average.

But expect resale values to take a real dump come June 28 – next week – when Uncle will finally allow VW to tell owners of some of the “affected” vehicles how much they’re going to get for turning in their cars to be destroyed. (The company has decided that “fixing” some of these cars is not economically doable; that it’s cheaper – and easier – to just offer to cut customers a check for the value of the car and be done with it.)

Continue reading “Measuring the Cost of the VW “Cheating” Scandal… So Far”

Annual Irony Day

Guest Post by Eric Peters

We’re just weeks away from the Annual Irony – the day devoted to celebrating a revolt against the authority of a red, white and blue bully (George III) while living under the thumb of … a red, white and blue bully (Uncle).

We’re supposed to celebrate the former – because it benefitted the latter.

The American colonists were not unsaddled. They simply got a new rider. Why celebrate this?

Does it make any sense to you?

The colonists, we were all told as schoolchildren, objected to being taxed by a far-away king and parliament that did not “represent” them. And which taxed them without their “consent.”

How many of you feel represented by the president and Congress in far-away Washington? Do you recall consenting to being taxed?

And what is it about being “represented” that’s so fabulous?

Are we, really?

How, exactly, can a single individual “represent” thousands – let alone tens (and hundreds of) thousands?

Continue reading “Annual Irony Day”

Charge It….

Guest Post by Eric Peters

In “Third World” countries – the ones Americans take comfort in making fun of – they just take your money.

The cops, I mean.

No pretext, just hand it over.

And now, here.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol is using a gadget called an Electronic Recovery and Access to Data Machine (ERAD – god, how the state’s thugs love their acronyms) to simply vacuum whatever money you happen to have in your bank account or on a prepaid gift card. The machine accesses your account – basically, like a card reader at the cashier of any store/restaurant where you just bought something – and takes it.

All of it.

Without your having “bought” anything.

Much less having been convicted of committing a crime.

These thugs – literally, in the historic sense (see here about the infamous Thuggee Cult of India) simply steal whatever they wish, using threats of lethal reprisal to assure the cooperation of their victims, who are legally forbidden to defend themselves.

This is an outrage for which there are no words.

Screams are the only appropriate response.

And, perhaps, something more.

It may be time for that – god help us.

Mind, there is no conviction – or even accusation. Merely the thug-in-costume’s assertion that you – his victim – seemed (to him!) to be behaving “peculiarly.” Because no reasonable person would ever feel the slightest bit nervous and defensive, having just been waylaid by an armed thug with the legal power to simply strip him of his possessions and possibly his life, if he objects in any way.

Continue reading “Charge It….”

The Choice

Guest Post by Eric Peters

Libertarians face a tough choice this fall – chiefly because Libertarians have no desire to choose a “leader” for themselves or anyone else. The ideal choice would be to not have to choose at all. For us each to make choices for ourselves only – and leave everyone else alone.

Unfortunately, we’ll be forced to make a different choice. Note the italics.

We’ll be forced to choose.

Voting in a coercive/collectivist society – which is the type of society we live in – is a defensive act. Like putting up your hands when someone throws a punch at you. Sometimes, you have to do it. When you haven’t got any other choice.

Voting for Trump may fall into this category.

Obviously, he is not a Libertarian. But I think a case can be made that it’s important to vote for him. It may be the most important vote any of us will ever cast. For one reason only.

Trump opposes The Wars.

It is why he is hated by the establishments of both parties (which are functionally the same party). And that is a compelling reason to support the guy.

Continue reading “The Choice”

Hillary Wants You to Drive 55… Again

Guest Post by Eric Peters

Donald Trump doesn’t want to Drive 55 – but Hillary does.

Well, she wants us to drive 55.

The Dear Leader’s armored limo, of course, is not subject to any speed limits. They are for the Little People (that’s us) only.

And if Hillary becomes Dear Leader, we may be driving 55 again.

Here she goes: “The 55 mile speed limit really does lower gas usage. And wherever it can be required, and the people will accept it, we ought to do it.” She uttered this ten years ago almost to the day – May 24th, 2006 – at the National Press Club in Washington, DC (see here.)

You have glimpsed the Heart of Darkness.

But – to paraphrase Tonto’s quip to the Lone Ranger – What do you mean we, white man? Er… woman. Sort of.

She really means her telling us how fast we’ll be allowed to drive.

Continue reading “Hillary Wants You to Drive 55… Again”

Full Service is Back . . . If Uncle Allows it

Guest Post by Eric Peters

Maybe you remember full-service gas stations.

Not like in New Jersey today. Where – by law – you ‘re forced to wait for a lout (whoops, “attendant”) to slouch on over and eventually gas up your car … and usually, your fender, too.

He takes his time, doesn’t care whether your time matters.

And you definitely do not get a set of drinking glasses for the kids.

Full service – back in the day – was different.

You chose to pay a little extra and for that you got royal treatment.

Continue reading “Full Service is Back . . . If Uncle Allows it”