Your Tax Dollars At Work: In Two Years, $7.5 B Has Produced Just 7 EV Charging Stations

 When people gripe about paying taxes and the government being a poor the absolute worst possible capital allocation, this is what they are talking about: $7.5 billion in investments for electric vehicles has - in two years - produced just 7 charging stations across four states. 

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, signed by Biden in November 2021, allocated $7.5 billion for EV charging, the Washington Post writes. Of this amount, $5 billion went to states as "formula funding" for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program to establish a network of fast chargers along major highways.

Today, there's seven chargers with a total of just 38 parking spots. And, come on: when the Post is calling it out, you know the results have been horrible. 

The Post added that with the Biden administration's new emissions rules requiring more electric and hybrid vehicles, the slow pace of charging infrastructure development could hinder the transition to electric cars. Twelve additional states have awarded contracts for charging station construction, while 17 states have yet to issue proposals.

Alexander Laska, deputy director for transportation and innovation at the center-left think tank Third Way, told The Post: “I think a lot of people who are watching this are getting concerned about the timeline.”

The slow rollout of new EV chargers is partly due to higher standards compared to previous fast chargers. The U.S. has nearly 10,000 fast charging stations, including over 2,000 reliable Tesla Superchargers, but non-Tesla chargers often suffer from poor performance.

New Biden administration rules require chargers to be 97% operational, offer 150kW power, and be within one mile of highways. These standards are crucial but slow down progress due to complex rules, permitting challenges, and power demands. The NEVI program aims to boost fast charging capacity by 50% to reduce "range anxiety," but states must first build the chargers.

Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) and Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) wrote to the Biden Administration last month: “We have significant concerns that under your efforts American taxpayer dollars are being woefully mismanaged.”

“State transportation agencies are the recipients of the money. Nearly all of them had no experience deploying electric vehicle charging stations before this law was enacted,” Nick Nigro, founder of Atlas Public Policy added.

The Federal Highway Administration responded: “We are building a national EV charging network from scratch, and we want to get it right. After developing program guidance and partnering with states to guide implementation plans, we are hitting our stride as states move quickly to bring NEVI stations online.”

“More Americans are buying EVs every day — with EV sales rising faster than traditional gas-powered cars — as the President’s Investing in America agenda makes EVs more affordable, helps Americans save money when driving, and makes EV charging accessible and convenient," a White House spokesperson added.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/your-tax-dollars-work-75-billion-has-produced-just-7-charging-stations-across-four-states

AstraZeneca’s Vaxzevria Covid vaccine withdrawn globally, a year after discontinued in Australia

 AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine has been withdrawn globally after admitting it causes adverse side effects.

As reported by the UK’s Telegraph, the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical producer withdrew the vaccine globally on Tuesday, UK time.

It comes after Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Authority discontinued use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in April 2023.

On April 30, AstraZeneca conceded that the vaccine, sold under the name Vaxzevria, can cause fatal blood clots and low platelet counts. The admission came through court documents in a UK class action lawsuit that sought £100 million for almost 50 victims of AstraZeneca vaccine side effects.

The application to withdraw the vaccine was made on March 5 and came into effect on May 7.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) provisionally approved the AstraZeneca vaccine for use in Australia for people aged 18 years and over as a primary course from February 15, 2021 and as a booster from February 8, 2022.

In the same period Pfizer and Moderna provided Covid vaccines to Australia that were recommended over the AstraZeneca vaccine.

In June 2021 the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation recommended that Australians over the age of 60 avoid taking Vaxzevria.

While Australians have not been administered Vaxzevria since its discontinuation, it remained provisionally approved by the Department of Health.

The last batch in Australia reportedly expired on March 21, 2023.

Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison urged those over 60 to take the AstraZeneca vaccine, rather than holding out for Moderna or Pfizer doses to become available. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Daniel Pockett

The ATAGI advised of fatal blood clotting was around 3.1 per 100,000 for people over 50 years and 1.8 per 100,000 for people under 50 years.

In September 2021 then-PM Scott Morrison urged Australians over 60 to get the AstraZeneca vaccine instead of waiting for Pfizer doses.

“I encourage everyone, particularly Australians over 60, to go out and get vaccinated,” Mr Morrison said to the Herald Sun.

“Getting vaccinated can save your life, protect your family and it means a return to more normal life with family and friends and seeing the grandchildren.”

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/astrazeneca-vaccine-withdrawn-after-fatal-blood-clot-revelation/news-story/b94023cfa237c74b26fc329855c6b51a

If UN grants Palestine ‘statehood status’ future prez could cut off its funding

 The United Nations may be about to bestow a diplomatic gift on the Palestinian Authority — which supported Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre — by conferring on it the “rights and privileges” of member states in UN forums.

In other words, to make “Palestine” a UN member in all but name.

This would be a moral travesty of the kind that’s come to characterize Turtle Bay, and it could only happen with the Biden administration’s assent.

But there’s a silver lining: The action provides the legal basis for a president — a future President Donald Trump, say, — to finally end all US funding to the world body.

The PLO, the terror organization whose leader, Mahmoud Abbas, runs the Palestinian Authority, has long sought to establish international recognition of a “State of Palestine” to avoid having to negotiate with, and make any concessions to, Israel.

The goal is the create a diplomatic fait accompli — “facts in the air” to the complement the facts it attempts to create on the ground through terror and illegal construction.

The United Nations has always been the most fertile ground for the PA’s “internationalization” campaign, given longstanding, pathological UN bias against Israel.

That is why Congress passed two laws in the early 1990s that ban any funding to the United Nations or its affiliated agencies if they give the PA member-state status.

The United States is by far the UN’s biggest contributor, paying a third of the budget — a whopping $18 billion, not counting the massive value of its free Midtown real estate.

The least American taxpayers should get in return is preventing the UN’s thugs and dictators from handing the privileges of UN membership to a terrorist entity that doesn’t even meet the criteria for statehood.

What is next, a UN seat for ISIS?

UNESCO, a UN agency, made the mistake of giving the Palestinians “member state” status in 2011; since then, the Palestinians have hijacked UNESCO’s agenda to pass resolutions denying the Jewish connection to biblical sites like Jerusalem, Jericho and Hebron.

President Barack Obama was forced to stop US funding to UNESCO because of the laws on the books.

Now the PA is aiming for a bigger prize: the privileges of membership in the UN’s principal body, the General Assembly, and in all its associated bodies and committees.

Yet under the UN charter, the Security Council must authorize any new UN member-states, and it vetoed the PA’s membership bid again just a few weeks ago.

Knowing it has automatic support from the undemocratic majority at the General Assembly, the PA has come up with an end-run: a resolution that gives it privileges on “an equal footing with Member States.”

Even this bureaucratic sleight-of-hand could trigger the US defunding statute. So this week the PA came up with a new draft: Instead of saying “the State of Palestine” will have the privileges of member states, it simply enumerates the privileges that go along with membership, and grants them all to the PA.

It’s a transparent attempt to paper over the practical effect of the resolution to avoid the loss of US funding.

Congress anticipated such tricks: The statutory defunding criteria specifically uses the words “same standing” as a member state, rather than actual membership, so giving the PA the general benefits of membership without calling it membership should be enough to end funding.

But if the resolution passes, it means the Biden administration has signaled that it will go along with the ruse and not move to defund, even though the law would allow it to.

It would mean Biden would rather help the PA win diplomatic battles, even as the Jewish state fights for its existence, than enforce US law.

The president set the stage for the move last year by persuading Congress to temporarily waive the UNESCO defunding, on condition that the PA stop trying to gain statehood status at the world body.

The PA took that as an invitation to push harder. At the very least, an affirmative vote this week will give Congress every reason to not renew the UNESCO waiver when it expires next year.

And if the PA’s new gambit succeeds, it gives any future president an extraordinary opportunity.

The United Nations is a corrupt, failed organization fundamentally tainted by its coddling dictatorships and chronic antisemitism, but broad efforts at defunding it have failed in Congress; now a future White House would have firm grounds to stop sending the checks. 

Perhaps the UN apparatchiks are confident Biden will be reelected. But are they really willing to bet the farm for this vile terror regime? 

Eugene Kontorovich is a professor at GMU Scalia Law School, and a scholar at the Kohelet Policy Forum.

https://nypost.com/2024/05/08/opinion/if-united-nations-grant-palestine-statehood-status-us-could-stop-funding-to-un/

'Green transition is stitched into the tax code: Brainard'

 White House Council of Economic Advisers Chair Lael Brainard dismissed the notion that Republicans would be able to easily reverse the sustainable energy provisions passed in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) even if they win majorities in the general election this fall.

By building the energy transition into the tax code and incentivizing businesses and households to change their behaviors rather than compelling them to do so with more top-down spending initiatives, the Inflation Reduction Act is insulated from any quick-and-dirty policy corrections that may be desired by a new Congress or presidential administration, Brainard argued Friday.

“This is now the tax code,” Brainard said, speaking at an event in Washington. “These rules are complex, they take a very long time to write, and they take a very long time to amend.”

“These transformative projects [are] in communities all around the country,” she added.

The IRA contained a bevy of clean energy tax credits and deductions that are being implemented by the IRS.

For households, these include credits extending through 2032 for 30 percent of the cost of solar electricity products, fuel cells, wind turbines, and battery storage units. Similar credits for energy efficiency upgrades are available for windows, exterior doors, insulation materials and home electric vehicle chargers.

For businesses, credits are available for clean manufacturing investment and production, electric vehicles, biodiesel and alternative fuels, nuclear power production and carbon sequestration, among many other technologies.

Manufacturing investments were already on the rise prior to the IRA’s passage but skyrocketed directly thereafter, rising to more than $220 billion on a seasonally adjusted basis in March after hovering around an $80-billion level between 2015 and 2021.

“There’s a lot of momentum and a lot of excitement  behind the factories and the transformation of the grid that is going on all over the country,” Brainard said.

Despite steadfast Republican opposition to the Inflation Reduction Act, numerous Republicans have been cheering the investments the law has spurred in local and regional economies.

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) celebrated the construction of a battery plant in Queen Creek, Arizona, incentivized by the IRA.

“Some fantastic news for the state of Arizona,” Biggs wrote on social media last year. “Queen Creek is set to become the new home for a high-tech battery manufacturing facility. The company, LG Energy Solution, expects to employ thousands of people and will help us unleash American energy.”

Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) also took to social media last September to praise the construction of an electric vehicle battery plant expansion in Cumberland City, Tennessee, another project cited by the Treasury as being boosted by the IRA.

“Honored to join [the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development] in welcoming Daejin Advanced Materials to Cumberland City! Daejin specializes in the manufacturing of polymers for the electric vehicle battery industry. This $10 million expansion will create 83 new jobs in [Tennessee’s 7th district]. Welcome, Daejin!”

https://thehill.com/business/4656519-green-transition-is-stitched-into-the-tax-code-white-house-economist/

Chevy Forced To Ditch Its Long-Running Malibu Model As Forced Transition To EVs Continues

 One of Chevy's longest running vehicle models has now fallen at the hands of the company's transition to EVs. The Chevy Malibu will be no longer, according to a new report from Car and Driver. 

The Chevy Malibu, one of the longest-running and most successful vehicles in history, is being discontinued again. Chevrolet informed Car and Driver that production will end in November 2024 as the automaker invests $390 million in its Fairfax Assembly Plant in Kansas.

Car and Driver reports that GM will also pause production of the Cadillac XT4 in January to retool for the Ultium-based Bolt EV. Production will resume in late 2025, with the XT4 and Bolt EV sharing an assembly line.

Despite Chevy's shift towards crossovers and SUVs, the Malibu remained a steady presence, with over 10 million units sold across nine generations. However, its discontinuation comes as a surprise given GM's recent EV challenges, including missing the goal of selling 400,000 EVs by mid-2024 and reintroducing plug-in hybrids to North America.

"We've been somewhat lukewarm toward the Malibu in recent years, but we'll certainly lament the passing of such a longstanding nameplate. Who knows? Maybe GM will revive it as an EV in another 15 years," Car and Driver wrote. 

Meanwhile just days ago we published an article highlighting how Ford's $120,000 loss per vehicle makes it fairly clear that California (and the nation's) EVs goals are unreachable. 

On April 24, Ford reported it lost $132,000 for each of its 10,000 electric vehicles sold in the first quarter of 2024, according to CNN. The sales were down 20 percent from the first quarter of 2023 and would “drag down earnings for the company overall.”

The Epoch Times notes that the losses include “hundreds of millions being spent on research and development of the next generation of EVs for Ford. Those investments are years away from paying off.” Ford is the only major carmaker breaking out EV numbers by themselves. But other marques likely suffer similar losses.

Californians bought 1.78 million new vehicles in 2023, reported the California New Car Dealers Association. Multiply that number by $132,000 and you get $235 billion. That would bankrupt every car manufacturer, meaning they just would pull out of selling anything in the state.

The California government would have to set up socialist, government-owned companies to make the cars, like the infamous Yugo. Dubbed “the worst car in history,” it was sold in America in the 1980s and was made by the communist Yugoslav government just before the country itself broke up in 1991.

And compared to that...the not-especially-wonderful-looking Malibu wouldn't look that bad...

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/chevy-forced-ditch-its-long-running-malibu-model-forced-transition-evs-continues

Watch: Northern Israel Is Literally On Fire After Hezbollah Attacks

 Starting Friday night into Saturday a series of surreal images and videos have circulated widely showing that whole swathes of northern Israel are literally on fire.

The fires were largely in open field areas, but were very extensive given they were the result of about 35 rockets being fired from Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon, targeting the northern city of Kiryat Shmona, which suffered damage.

⚡️Hezb-Allah missiles burning the occupied town of Kiryat Shmona pic.twitter.com/fgDMrDPL0A

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) May 10, 2024

Brushfires erupted, but there were some direct hits on homes and buildings as well. "The city reported significant damage to property and infrastructure, with dozens of homes and vehicles affected," Ynet news reports.

At least ten fire crews from the area of Galilee and Golan responded, and worked to extinguish at least two expansive fires which were in open fields.

Since conflict erupted along the Israel-Lebanese border in the wake of the Hamas Oct.7 terror attack, rocket salvos from Hezbollah have been almost daily, but these appear to be the most extensive wildfires which have resulted to date.

Israeli authorities have confirmed and filmed the fires which were at their height in the Friday overnight and Saturday early morning hours.

⚡️Hezbollah has brought hell to Kiryat Shmona... Massive fires erupted from Katyusha rockets…. are still ongoing. pic.twitter.com/ijnyFWFaOS

— Warfare Analysis (@warfareanalysis) May 10, 2024

Hezbollah, which is a close ally of Iran, issued a statement confirming its fighters launched "a salvo of Katyusha rockets" at Israel's north "in response to the Israeli enemy's attacks on... civilians, most recently in Tayr Harfa."

Footage shows large fire burning in Kiryat Shmona, following Hezbollah’s rocket barrage. pic.twitter.com/dXVykITlaX

— Arya - آریا 🇮🇷 (@AryJeay) May 10, 2024

Tens of thousands of Israeli residents have fled their homes after months of constant rocket barrages.

Israel has also on a weekly and daily basis responded with large strikes on areas of southern Lebanon, including on villages and towns.

"Kiryat Shmona" settlement once again on fire from Hezb-Allah 35+ rocket barrage pic.twitter.com/C1axkCmrom

— julia m.k. (@bintmachgara) May 10, 2024

Israel's Fire and Rescue Services North District issued a statement saying, "The firefighters are working tirelessly to contain the flames along the residential line, while fire alarms continuously sound in the area."

"The combination of weather conditions and heavy barrages has led to multiple fire sites—a scenario we were prepared for and responded to with reinforced efforts,” Commander Assistant Deputy Fire Commissioner Yair Elkayam," it continued.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/watch-northern-israel-literally-fire-after-hezbollah-attacks

"It Simply Does Not Make Any Sense": Judge Trashes Election Lawsuit By Elias Law Firm

 by Jonathan Turley via jonathanturley.org,

The firm of former Clinton campaign general counsel Marc Elias has lost another election case in a spectacular fashion. The Chief Judge of the Western District of Wisconsin, James Peterson (an Obama appointee), did not just reject but ridiculed the Elias Law Group challenge to a witness requirement for absentee voting. Elias have been previously sanctioned in court and accused of lying in the Steele dossier scandal by journalists and others.

U.S. District Judge James Peterson ruled against the lawsuit brought by the Elias Law Group, arguing that the witness requirement violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The state statute under § 6.87(2) describes what the witness must certify. The statute first sets forth in two sentences what the voter must certify on the ballot envelope. The first requirement concerns the voter certifying that he or she meets the requirements for voting generally and for voting absentee in Wisconsin.

The second requirement is certification that the voter followed the process for preparing the absentee ballot. These are the called the “first voter certification” and the “witness certification.”

The witness certification refers to a witness certifying “all of the above,” which is obviously referring to the language on preparing the absentee ballot.

Elias argued that it requires certification of everything that preceded it on the details of the voter’s record etc.

In the court’s opinion, Judge Peterson expresses disbelief at the lunacy of the Elias argument, writing:

“Normally, the court would begin by searching for other textual clues in the statute. But in this case, the most obvious problem with plaintiffs’ interpretation is that it simply does not make any sense.”

The court then notes that:

“Under plaintiffs’ interpretation, every witness would have to determine the voter’s age, residence, citizenship, criminal history, whether the voter is unable or unwilling to vote in person, whether the voter has voted at another location or is planning to do so, whether the voter is capable of understanding the objective of the voting process, whether the voter is under a guardianship, and, if so, whether a court has determined that the voter is competent. See Wis. Stat. §§ 6.02 and 6.03. Many witnesses would be unable to independently verify much of the required information. The statute allows any adult U.S. citizen to serve as a witness, suggesting that a wide variety of people should be able to do the job…It makes no sense to interpret § 6.87 in a way that would make compliance virtually impossible.

If plaintiffs’ interpretation were correct, it would mean that countless absentee ballots over decades were invalid because the witness certified that the voter was qualified to vote and met the other requirements in the first voter certification, even though the witness had no basis for such a certification.”

However, it gets even wackier. They argued that a simple witness requirement constituted a type of illegal vouching under the Voting Rights Act. This is a reference to the Jim Crow era when a registered voter had to vouch for a new voter, a system meant to prevent African Americans from voting.

The case adds to a long litany of losses and controversies for Elias. That record includes allegations of lying to reporters and subverting voters.

Elias featured prominently in the filings of Special Counsel John Durham. It was Elias who made the key funding available to Fusion GPS, which in turn enlisted Steele to produce his now discredited dossier on Trump and his campaign.

During the campaign, reporters did ask about the possible connection to the campaign, but Clinton campaign officials denied any involvement. Weeks after the election, journalists discovered that the Clinton campaign hid payments for the Steele dossier as “legal fees” among the $5.6 million paid to Perkins Coie.

New York Times reporter Ken Vogel said at the time that Elias denied involvement in the anti-Trump dossier. When Vogel tried to report the story, he said, Elias “pushed back vigorously, saying ‘You (or your sources) are wrong.’” Times reporter Maggie Haberman declared, “Folks involved in funding this lied about it, and with sanctimony, for a year.”

It was not just reporters who asked the Clinton campaign about its role in the Steele dossier. John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman, was questioned by Congress and denied categorically any contractual agreement with Fusion GPS. Sitting beside him was Elias, who reportedly said nothing to correct the misleading information given to Congress.

The Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee were ultimately sanctioned by the FEC over the handling of the funding of the dossier through his prior firm.

The Democratic National Committee reportedly later cut ties with Elias.

Elias has been sanctioned in past litigation. Yet, other democrats have continued to hire Elias despite his checkered past. Elias unsuccessfully led efforts to challenge Democratic losses.  Elias also was the subject of intense criticism after a tweet that some have called inherently racist.

Elias was back in the news in another major defeat in Maryland. He filed in support of an abusive gerrymandering of the election districts that a court found violated not only violated Maryland law but the state constitution’s equal protection, free speech and free elections clauses. The court found that the map pushed by Elias “subverts the will of those governed.”

Elias has been accused of making millions from gerrymandering and challenging election victories by Republicans (while condemning such actions by Republicans as “anti-Democratic”). His work for New York redistricting that was ridiculed as not only ignoring the express will of the voters to end such gerrymandering while effectively negating the votes of Republican voters.

Recently, Elias’ name popped up again in the scandal involving David Hogg and accounting irregularities. Hogg is accused of raising millions to support liberal candidates but allegedly spending only $263,000 on such candidates while paying $83,000 to the Elias law firm.

Previously, when allegations of self-dealing and accounting improprieties were raised with regard to Black Lives Matter, the group’s attorney, Elias, immediately stood out for many. Elias resigned from his “key role” with BLM as the scandal exploded.

It is not known if the Elias Law Group will appeal this stinging rebuke or cut its losses.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/it-simply-does-not-make-any-sense-judge-trashes-election-lawsuit-elias-law-firm