The Recycling Myth Debunked

By: Chief

This blog and commentary is the result of current events over the last year exposing CalRecycle as a farce and nothing more than a government mandated “feel good” program. This mostly came to a head with the shut down and bankruptcy of RePlanet, a large recycling conglomerate, on Tuesday of this week.

Citing the increased costs of processing recycled items, RePlanet, California’s largest operator of recycling redemption centers has closed, leaving 750 employees out of jobs.


The Ontario, California-based company has closed all 284 of its centers, according to the San Jose Mercury News.


Company President David Lawrence told the newspaper the decision to close was due to increased business costs and falling prices of recycled aluminum and polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, plastic.

California’s largest recycling redemption center operator RePlanet closes

Recycling was essentially mandated in California in 1989 and on its surface it actually was a good idea. The premise was that we should try to divert as much waste as possible from our landfills. The program introduced recycling and green waste composting programs to help toward a goal of diverting 50% of all waste over a period of 30 years. In Sacramento County, we had just a garbage cart, then we got a green waste cart for all yard waste, and got 3 small bins for recycling. We had to separate the recycling into a separate bin for paper, glass, and plastics and aluminum. As a result, instead of 1 truck picking up said waste now a 2nd truck was required since the yard waste and recycling is collected on alternate weeks. In some parts of California such as the Bay Area, recycling is picked-up on a weekly basis.

As with any government program, an entire new department was created “The California Integrated Waste Management Board” to oversee this program as well as the California Redemption Value Program (CRV). This CRV is what you pay to the State of California on most plastic, glass, and aluminum products when they are bought at the grocery or liquor store. Prior to this, glass recycling was done at a local level by the private sector. Buy a Coke or Pepsi product at the grocery store and return the bottle and you got a nickel from the store. Government was not involved or mandating this program, it was purely a function of the private sector. Now, what the store collects is remitted to the State. I will now discuss the demise and issues with this system.

First the city and county administered programs: I cannot blame them entirely since when the state mandates it, you either do it or face a daily fine until you comply. After a few years, the 3 separate bin system with replaced with an additional cart, for mixed recycling. This was due largely to more material being eligible to be recycled, but I have a feeling worker comp payouts mounted due to a person having to physically lift and dump these bins into a contraption that loaded into the truck.

I am in favor of collecting more recycling and diverting it from the landfill, but this was a case that backfired. There was never a system or check in place in regard to contamination….this is how the program was destroyed. You see the bin is collected, and the contents of the truck are compacted and smashed repeatedly until the truck unloads at a sorting facility. There workers manually separate, combine and package the recyclables to be sold to China or another broker who does the physical recycling. Up until a couple of years ago, China took everything and asked no questions. Recently, they have tightened up their contamination standards and as a result quite a bit of “recyclable product” has been diverted to the landfill. Please note that China’s change of heart on taking our trash to be recycled predates any controversy related to President Trump’s trade policies.

Yep, we aint recycling the contents of your recycle bin, just burying it in the ground like everything else…but hey…you still get to feel good about saving the environment and the planet (at least until you read this blog).

Let’s take look at how lucrative this program has been to Sac City residents….according to their website “recycling sales” or product sold to China/broker etc. totals .79% of the revenue….OUCH!

City of Sacramento recycling revenue proposal

The reserves have been depleted to a point the City will be increasing residents monthly trash bills by $12 a month over the next 5 years. Think about that one! Also the City has to start collecting “food waste” by 2021, so an additional cart, added fees, and a new rodent problem anyone? The program is literally bankrupting a local municipality.

Now let’s take a look at the downfall of RePlanet. RePlanet is or was a recycling outfit known for their small container sized booths usually located in shopping center parking lots that collected cans and sometimes plastics for recycling and paid you for the product.

On Tuesday, RePlanet closed all of its 284 locations and laid off all 750 employees citing an uncompetitive environment to do business. Digging deeper, the dirty little secret of how this business failed should not surprise anyone, as 40% of all recycling locations have closed in the past 5 years. It was a scam. Did you ever notice that at the register you were charged $.05 or $.10 “deposit” on the product, that is per item, but if you then took the container to a recycler, you were paid a rate “per pound” meaning you collected far less than your deposit. So if you didn’t actually recycle the material yourself, say you put it in your bin, the state kept the money and subsidized these operations taking place all over the state. The state payments did not keep up with inflation/regulation and as a result, these recycling centers have disappeared.

As someone who recycled religiously, I can say firsthand that it started making very little sense to do so a few years ago. The payments became less and less to the point where you questioned even making the trip. Honestly, if you think about it, look at it this way; RePlanet–like any other non-government entity–is in business to make money. They have to rent the space for their booth (this isn’t cheap, and can run about $1000 a month by the way), pay the employee minimum wage (this company had Bay Area locations paying higher than Sac County wages), benefits, workers comp, and had to pay customers for the product. The numbers did not add up at all. Couple that with smugglers bringing product in from over state lines (NV and AZ don’t have a recycling program) so they use ours to their advantage and you have a basically bankrupt CalRecycle program. RePlanet’s demise is a very big hit to a portion of the population that recycles for the cash as a means to make ends meet, and believe me there are quite a few. In years past, you might remember homeless folks scavenging your recycle bin the night before pickup but they haven’t been doing that lately, now you know why.

So here we are, stuck in a nasty catch 22; on one hand, we have a state department of recycling mandating that we divert 50% of our waste (that number is going higher by the way) and on the other hand, we have China is no longer accepting our recyclables. State officials are presiding over a bankrupted system as far as redemptions go, but they are still happily collecting the CRV taxes.

I spoke to a member of my church who was heavily involved in creating the program for the state and he was very contrite with me saying the program had good intentions but has badly missed the mark…he even spoke of regret setting this system up. He said the idea of household recycling was great, except people intentionally contaminated their bin, leading to the load being trashed as opposed to re-used. You encourage people to bag their own recyclables and take to a recycler, but when you are paid only a pittance, what is the point? He also shared that before he retired, for 10 years in a row, more pounds of aluminum cans were recycled through one of these “redemption centers” than were actually sold in California! Try that one on! Especially when he said participation among residents could not have been higher than 20%. In addition, the cost to recycle items in this state far outweighs keeping them out of the landfill…his words not mine.

Final Thoughts: It should surprise no one this is ending badly; whenever the government gets involved, the outcome is less than ideal. A new department was created, hundreds or thousands were hired, and here we are trying to pick up the pieces and do an autopsy on the recycling program while the CRV program is charging full speed ahead on autopilot. It started as a great idea and it remains a good idea, which may upset some readers of this blog, but keeping things out of our landfill where they can leach into our water supply is paramount to our existence. The problem is when the program is taken advantage of by scammers or intentionally contaminated by people not caring. As a result everyone is losing, we pay more for garbage service, can no longer reap a benefit of recycling, and now have reusable bags and containers foisted upon us constantly.

I think the answer is something of a hybrid, I think the recycling system for residents should be optional… but you pay a higher price if you opt out. This stops people who don’t care or intentionally are contaminating. Opting in, gives the local hauler or municipality the right to inspect your container to make sure it isn’t contaminated…you’re getting a substantial discount so you give up privacy, sorry. The centers that collect products should be more readily available and maybe this is a collaboration of business and government where a detailed business plan and rate of return can be achieved. Ok maybe not the greatest answer to a problem, but once again a crisis has come out of something we thought was an easily solvable “green” answer.

The Chief

Editor’s Comments:

I think the State of California needing to ship our waste to another country to run a sustainable recycling program is proof that this recycling scheme was poorly thought out. By the way, California is not the only State shipping waste to other countries. To lift a phrase, what happens in California should stay in California. We should recycle our own waste. While I prefer a private sector solution, this might be something the Prison Industry Authority (PIA) might want to get involved in. How about some welfare to work program opportunities? Folks, as rare as it is for me to say it, this kind of problem is one where Elon Musk might actually be the go to guy. Elon likes to dream stuff up and use taxpayer money to make it happen; plus, he likes a challenge.

Tesla Admits Financial Bleeding

The bad news from Tesla keeps piling up. Yesterday I saw this about their response to declining sales on their Model S & X cars. Free charging for life.

In a turn of events, Tesla has now announced that all new customers of the Model S and Model X can access free unlimited charging at any Tesla supercharging station.

Tesla tries to win back Model S and X customers with free, unlimited charging

My son-in-law (he earned the title yesterday), bought a Tesla a few months back and got free charging for the first six months of ownership. As previously documented, the difference between the Supercharge station and the other two forms of charging is huge—in terms of time.

However, the big news to me in this article was the cost of charging.

A few years ago, Tesla offered free supercharging to customers; until the offer was revoked by Musk for being unsustainable for the company in the long run. With the cost of supercharging in the US being pretty much equal to the cost of gas ($0.28 per kWh), this may have been one of the reasons Tesla customers have been abandoning this part of the product line.

OK, so if the cost of charging your car is the same as gasoline, what exactly is the savings of owning the car?

Please note that the logic of electric vehicle ownership goes off the rails at this juncture. If the cost of charging is the same as gasoline, where is the cost savings when your state—or the federal government or both—introduce the dreaded mileage tax? Filling up my gasoline powered car takes less than five minutes while the Tesla supercharge station gives you only a mostly charged vehicle after 45 minutes. Don’t forget, should you resort to 110 VAC charging, you may be waiting a whole day for a charged battery.

Also, as others have documented, Tesla has made no changes to the Model S & X cars since they were introduced except some software updates. Oh, don’t forget that the designer of said cars also quit working for Tesla so there is that. Elon is selling old tech for premium prices. If Tesla goes under, he might have a future with Apple since they do the same thing.

What the F**K PG&E?

By Chief

As I made my way back to my dwelling after a day of work, I found a letter from Pacific Gas & Electric, which allegedly supplies gas to my house. I figured it was a bill and I could use some comic relief as my bill usually runs about $4.25 a month…and due to a climate credit…I have had a credit balance going for about 8 months now! However, this was no such bill. It was essentially a dear homeowner letter informing me of their intent to do construction on my property! Wait…What…the…. actual…F**K!

PG&E crew waiting for work order

The backstory here is I live in a cul-de-sac house and a neighbor and I have essentially a shared driveway spanning both our front yards. So, as a result, the gas meter is exposed to a driveway and they are concerned about damage to it from my or his vehicles. So, they will be installing a protective barrier…maybe they ran my DMV driving record…or my neighbors? The meter is attached to the house, and for both of us, if we were to hit the meter, we would likely do severe damage to our home before we got anywhere close to hitting said meter. I tried to question the necessity of the work and was rebuffed… When you buy a house, buried in all that paperwork is a form saying utilities can do whatever the hell they damn well please and you can’t object…so there is that.

My question is, why wouldn’t you have your authorized contractor send this out?

Authorized Contractor

Lest I remind you of your sterling safety record in San Bruno…or the Paradise fire sparked by your faulty equipment in Concow? Or the various other fires in the state? Yet this is your priority…protecting my gas meter from a vehicle? Maybe I should install a barrier around my house to protect me from you! Seriously, your safety record basically makes you about as qualified as Geoffrey the Giraffe of Toys R Us fame to work on my house!

Oh, by the way, haven’t seen any of your bogus commercials claiming you are committed to safety and have removed 150,000 trees over the past few years…is it because you’re bankrupt? Does that tree figure include all the trees your equipment killed when it “malfunctioned?” I also heard a confirmed conversation between your executive and CAL-FIRE and an effort to mislead their investigators as to the fire’s origin…too bad it didn’t work. CALFIRE is about as morally bankrupt as you guys and yet you couldn’t come to an agreement…SAD!

Cal Fire visited by Governors Newsom & Schwarzenegger 08/02/2019

Then you tried to buy off the legislature here and you kind of did by creating a pool for all utilities to pay into as a fund for future fire risk…I’m not sure how you can sleep at night knowing you’re trying to weasel your way out of paying for damage you caused! Your stonewalling has already caused Merced Mutual to go out of business and has inspired discussions of other small insurers to leave the state! It’s so bad, all the major insurers have joined forces creating an Ad-hoc committee to sue you and get our money back from your fire damage…see we all know that turnip doesn’t have much blood left in it…so let’s all pounce at once!

Having dispensed with Elizabeth Warren’s Indian blood, the blood suckers have set their sights on PG&E’s carcass

Yet you choose to focus your safety efforts on putting a barrier around my meter, so I don’t hit it with my car…. that’s rich. Yes, I should be priority number one, all while you file for bankruptcy to avoid paying a bill that was solely caused by your negligence. Guess I’m moving back to a Teepee.

SEIU Wish List is Impressive

Yes, its time for the Service Employee’s International Union (SEIU) to negotiate contracts with the State of California again. If you want to follow all the action, see it for yourself here. Bargaining Unit Updates

Current Contract with SEIU: Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with SEIU, July 2, 2016 to January 1, 2020

Four years ago, Jerry Brown showed restraint when negotiating with this union, but this time around, the union is asking for the moon and very likely to get most of it from Gavin Newsom. Look at this laundry list of goodies.

Economic Justice

21 percent salary increase over three years.
This is partially because many SEIU members are making starting wages less than the magical $15 an hour that is somehow the holy grail of wages.

GoePay
If union members live in high cost areas like Los Angeles or San Francisco, they want members to get extra pay due to the higher cost of living.

Housing differential
If employee is paying more than 30 percent of income in housing costs then you get more loot.

Comments

A 7 percent a year wage increase on its face is ridiculous in the current environment; however, due to the stupid political endorsements of this union, 21 percent over 3 years would almost restore the relative earning power members had before the last contract was enacted. You see SEIU endorsed candidates that raised taxes and fees so much in California that their members were worse off and had less take-home pay (in real dollars) at the end of the day than before the last contract was signed. To site a few specific examples, gas taxes increased, DMV fees increased, minimum wage increased which cause things in the state to become more expensive while simultaneously reducing earning power of people represented by the union, etc.

GeoPay and regional adjustments sound good on its face but…
What does this do for retirement? Is retirement now based on base wages plus regional earnings so in equal job classifications, two people from different parts of the state get different amounts when they both retire to Arizona? How is this fair? Remember when spiking retirement was an issue?

Housing differential…
Regional housing allowance? How do you pull this off? Actual numbers reported to state and union? Median pricing in a given area? What are housing costs? Rent? Mortgage? Water, gas, electricity, sewer, garbage? Does this make cable TV or Internet a right? Wouldn’t raising the renter’s credit on California income tax returns make more sense? Currently its $60 per year for single filers.

Healthcare Justice

SEIU wants all healthcare and vision paid by the state, pay for insurance for employees living in other states, and cap contributions to retiree healthcare at current levels.

Comments

California’s state employees currently have most of their personal health insurance paid by the State—80 Percent. In addition state employees are covered by basic dental and vision plans. For an additional cost, premium versions of this insurance are offered to employees as well.

As for California paying for health insurance in other states, wow! So I can live in Oregon and work at Pelican Bay Prison and Gavin will pay my insurance in the Oregon healthcare system? Or you work for Cal Trans and live on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe and you can get Nevada’s insurance. Arizona would have to be in this mix too but where else? Would such a move allow California politicians to deploy lobbyists to other states to influence their healthcare laws to be in compliance with our laws?

The retiree healthcare contribution was implemented in the current contract as a way to set aside money now for healthcare premiums in the future. This fund is earmarked for use when current employees retire. This currently is 3.5 percent of wages. The final 1.2 percent of this withholding is scheduled to begin with the paychecks July 1, 2020. Total tax 5.38 percent.

partial clip of current contract showing phase-in deduction

Worker and Family Justice

More flexible hours, telecommuting, 20/20 program, and long commutes.

Comments

Many SEIU employees work in offices with set business hours. SEIU wants flexibility of hours and schedules but for many people this is just not practical. Other than not offering a work schedule of four ten, hour days, the state offers many options where I work including lots of time off without using their generous vacation and sick policies. Apparently the union wants even more.

Telecommuting is not practical for many people represented by SEIU. Imaging allowing someone in the accounting department to work from home. The state will insist on supplying a secure laptop to such employees that have access to names, addresses, and social security numbers, plus info on wages and benefits; all from the comfort of home or Starbucks or Panera Bread, or … What could possibly go wrong with this? Note: if this idea doesn’t bother you, ask a high school kid how secure he thinks your personal info–and everyone else’s that you have access to–will be in this scenario and whatever dire things he says, triple the severity and you’ll be close.

The 20/20 plan is getting paid up to 20 hours a week while you attend college and then work the other 20 hours. This does not appear to be limited to improving your knowledge to better perform your job for the State but for the sake of self-improvement.

Below is standard language for an existing program:

Employees interested in pursuing this opportunity shall develop an education plan and/or Individual Development Plan with supervisor input. The 20/20 program endeavors to provide the opportunity for employees to participate in state sponsored, college or university courses for up to twenty (20) hours per week without loss of compensation when employees would otherwise be scheduled for work. At the request of the Union, individual department(s) shall meet to explore the development of a 20/20 program(s).

MOU Page 311

Oh, applications for this program are sent up the department’s chain of command as well as carbon copied to the union.

Conclusion

Dear taxpayers, thanks for generously volunteering to pay for all these wonderful benefits for government workers. It’s too bad your employer doesn’t have any money left to give you the same deal.

I’ll keep you updated as our political class negotiates goodies for the unions that keep them in power. After all, it’s the least I can do for you.

Apple Loosing Smartphone Market Share

The company built by Steve Jobs continues to unravel slowly under caretaker Tim Cook. Apple is poised to fall to the #4 smartphone maker in the world. Here’s the details:

Going by the IDC’s numbers, Apple may have single-handedly been responsible for the smartphone market tanking, with the quarterly numbers down 8 million units, suspiciously similar to Apple’s drop in sales between Q2 2018 and Q2 2019.


Apple shipped 33.8 million new iPhones during 2Q19, which was down significantly from the same quarter one year ago.


The numbers show that now 3rd placed Apple may soon drop into 4th, with Xiaomi only 1.5 million handsets behind Apple.

Xiaomi about to overtake Apple as 3rd largest smartphone company
Graphic from article cites above

In other Apple news, they finally announced some 5G phones late in 2020.

Apple may not be joining the Android world with 5G this year – expect the first iPhone 5G to show up in September 2020 – but yesterday’s purchase of Intel’s modem business by Cupertino offers Tim Cook a way out of Qualcomm’s dominance in the smartphone modem space.

Apple’s 5G Plans Should Include These Three Gloriously Insane ‘One More Thing’ Ideas

Concerning Apple’s purchase of Intel’s 5G business…

Apple made the move in order to develop its own in-house 5G modems rather than rely on Qualcomm, a company with which the iPhone maker has had a fraught history.


But the move is also a positive for Intel, according to CEO Bob Swan, who said the company can now focus on 5G in other areas.


Speaking with CNBC, Swan explained the rationale behind selling off the modem business: 5G modems, he said, were not an area that would differentiate growth for the industry. And with only one customer — Apple — retaining the business would not provide attractive returns, he added.

Intel sold its smartphone modem business to Apple, but it says it will still be a big player in 5G

Apple’s smartphone business is shrinking but after doing a head fake earlier this year to dump Intel and go with QUALCOMM, they were able to come to terms with Intel. The problem is that the Intel modems are slower and more power intensive than QUALCOMM. This means less data transfer and lower battery life with Intel modems. Coupled with Apple’s habit of overstating battery life per charge, this may be interesting to see. I think Apple will have a steep learning curve to be competitive with 5G technology. Their first generation of 5G devices might do for them what Vista did for Microsoft. Mr. Cook may be creating a perfect storm for some class action litigation if this goes sideways on him.

California Conservatives Stuck in Field of Dreams and Windmills

In the 1989 Kevin Costner movie, the lesson is that “if you build it, they will come.” Waxing nostalgic about the golden age of baseball might be magic for my grandparents—all of whom are deceased—but for the living, it’s a bygone era.

Time and time again we have seen Conservatives invoke the same belief in magic as the Costner character in this movie. A more realistic and therefore cynical view is that, for Conservatives, there is nothing left to believe in except tilting at windmills.

Background

Windmill tilting is nothing new, it has been going on for most of my adult life; especially when it comes to social issues like abortion. I remember when Reagan was President, we thought Roe was one court appointment away from being overturned. Ditto when both Presidents named Bush were in office but it never materialized. Later, we fought the battle for marriage naively believing that our votes actually mattered only to be undone by activist judges as the other two branches of government did nothing. Talk about conversations with the naïve.

All the while we were hoping for the magic silver bullet that would end the controversy and let us go home and live our lives in peace. To this end, people claiming to represent us raked in millions of dollars from the faithful with little or nothing to show. As we learned later—especially in California—many of these causes were pretexts for fundraising campaigns not serious efforts at reform or change. The poster child for this during several campaign cycles was the Capitol Resource Institute (CRI).

CRI was guilty many times of running shadow campaigns parallel with real efforts. Prop 8 to define marriage as between a man and woman was one. CRI raised money they said was to support Prop 8 but they kept the funds, they were never given to the real Prop 8 organization. Instead, CRI put their own people on the payroll of their fake Prop 8 PAC and used up all the money.

In the years following, CRI did this time and again. They created signature gathering efforts for things that never got to the ballot. CRI had no ability to finish what they started in any of these campaigns. They adopted their version of the Costner motto, “if we do it they will come.” The reality was that they hurt the causes for which they postured. Their tilting at windmills backfired and hurt us all in the long run.

I’m picking on CRI because they never had the money to get anything on the ballot let alone fund a statewide campaign to get anything passed.

Historically, it takes about 3 million dollars to qualify a ballot measure and then an additional amount of $15-20 million to run a credible campaign. Back when Republicans ran for governor, the winning campaign was spending more than $50 million.

As a Christian group, CRI seemed really averse to follow Jesus’ advice to count the cost before doing something. Jesus says don’t start something unless you have the resources to finish it. It’s not magic, its common sense.

For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?


Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,


Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.

Luke 14:28-30

Jesus’ story says that to begin something that you know you can’t finish only results in others mocking you for being foolish with your resources; such a person is a dreamer not someone to take seriously.

California Conservatives’ Newest Windmill

So why bring up the past now? Because it’s happening again. Another Conservative effort with no prayer of success is underway which not only can’t succeed, it will embolden the other side to do even more crazy stuff without fear of consequences. Sadly, this is the legacy of CRI and others that tilt at windmills. They have no resources other than convincing the gullible to follow them over the political cliff. Their failure encourages the other side to double down on whatever social evil was the target of their ire.

The newest effort is recalling Governor Gavin Newsom. Yep, they want to take out the Gov. I’m not really sure why. Gavin is doing exactly what he promised and we knew he would do. Nobody is mad enough to dump him except maybe a few of his old girlfriends, yet somehow this brain trust of nuts down in San Diego thinks, if only we can get this on the ballot, people will rise up and rally to the cause.

California Governor and recall target Gavin Newsom

Here’s the details from a July 22, 2019 article:

A physician who twice lost bids for Congress is taking steps to launch a recall drive against Gov. Gavin Newsom, even signing up the treasurer of the successful effort to oust Gov. Gray Davis in 2003.


Dr. James Veltmeyer of La Jolla is using social media and email to collect “proponents” for a notice of intention to circulate a recall petition, said political consultant Andrew Russo on Monday.


“We’re in a process of setting up our committee,” said Russo, who also managed Republican Veltmeyer’s 2018 campaign against Rep. Scott Peters in the 52nd Congressional District. “We should have that by tomorrow.”

James Veltmeyer

But Veltmeyer felt it was time to launch a serious effort, Russo, 54, said in a phone interview. Online petitions are of “no value in something like this.”


On Thursday, Veltmeyer announced a recall website whose FAQ says: “We’ve set a goal of 2 million signatures to ensure we have the required number of valid signatures. We expect our deadline to be approximately February 1, 2020.”

La Jolla Doctor Plots Formal Recall Drive Against Gov. Gavin Newsom

The four gripes against Newsom are these:

  1. Healthcare for illegals
  2. Tax increases
  3. Homelessness
  4. Sanctuary Sate and Cities

A copy of the petition is located here

Ok, now this guy needs 2 million signatures but he doesn’t have enough fundraising ability to successfully run for Congress. I promise you he has no funding for this effort and there is no way, even with paid signature gatherers, that he gets anywhere close to 2 million signatures.

Look at the series of things needing to happen for this recall to be successful and you tell me what the chances are.

You need to collect enough valid signatures to get this recall on the ballot, run a campaign to convince a majority of Democrats and left leaning folks that Gavin–and by extension his Party–are wrong about these policies (which are common values shared by many Californians), then you need voters to pick someone that believes like a Republican, then without any shift in the Democrat supermajorities in both houses of our legislature, get them to voluntarily overturn the policies that they enacted so the new governor can sign them into law.

Veltmeyer has no money for this effort, no candidate that is electable and willing to enact said changes, and no hope the Legislature will be so intimidated by the Governor’s recall that they will unilaterally undo all the policies enacted in these areas and give him what he wants, even if he says, “Pretty please.”

Folks, this is the mother of all windmills but that is what Conservative people have been reduced to in California. Anyone give me odds that Veltmeyer is or was a CRA member?

Conclusion

Tilting at windmills is folly. It makes a mockery of whatever issue or perceived wrong that you are trying to correct as well as making a mockery and an object of scorn out its adherents. It emboldens those you oppose to do more of whatever you campaign against because it shows them that they have no fear of reprisal. Tilting at windmills makes things markedly worse than if you had never acted.

Tesla Class Action Suit: Hey Elon, Welcome to the Big Leagues

Previously, Elon Musk claimed that the value of his cars would appreciate over time—something heretofore impossible in the history of automobile manufacturing. Tesla does retain its value better than many other cars with 69 percent resale value after three years but there appears to be a catch, Tesla won’t honor their warrant on the car’s battery if you buy one secondhand.

Here’s the details:

Tesla will appreciate in value

Tesla Inc.’s Elon Musk is standing by a claim that the company’s electric cars will be appreciating assets once they’re capable of driving themselves.


Musk, Tesla’s chief executive officer, first made the claim in a podcast interview in April that the company’s vehicles will gain in value because they’ll eventually be capable of fully autonomous driving. He stood by this in a reply to a follower who wrote Tuesday that he was unsure if the CEO was joking or making a “really dumb” statement.

With the exception of collectors’ cars and other rare cases, depreciation has been a fact of life for automakers, dealers and rental-car companies for decades. While Kelley Blue Book has handed Tesla a best resale value award for its Model 3, for example, the car-shopping researcher estimates the sedan retains about 69% of its value after three years.

Musk Stands by His Tesla Appreciation Claim That Was Called ‘Really Dumb’

Tesla battery promises made

Tesla promises to warrant their battery for 8 years

Tesla car battery has an eight-year warranty. With this warranty, repairs and replacements are free. Such repairs may include defects in the workmanship or materials of any of the battery’s parts.


If there are any parts that are malfunctioning or if the battery is defective, Tesla will repair or replace the unit. The warranty will also be covering any damage that may happen to your vehicle in the event of a battery fire, even if this may be because of driver error.

How Much Does Tesla Battery Replacement Cost?

Tesla promises broken

Thanks to the diligent work of our staff, it has been brought to my attention that Tesla won’t uphold their promise to honor the warranty on the car’s battery. Folks this has gotten so bad that Tesla has been hit with a class action lawsuit.

Tesla is facing a class action lawsuit filed by consumers who claim that the car company does not honor battery warranties on pre-owned vehicles.

The plaintiff alleges that after his research, he decided to purchase a 2014 “certified pre-owned” (CPO) Tesla Model S 60.


“All of the marketing materials that Plaintiff saw in the news, be it Tesla.com and/or Teslamotorsclub.com and/or other car-buying and automotive websites indicated that the used CPO vehicles sold by Tesla were given a 270-point inspection and that it was customary for Tesla to take care of repairs and issues with their vehicles,” the Tesla class action lawsuit states.


The plaintiff alleges that he depended on Tesla’s “marketing, advertisements, and representations” that his vehicle would be fully inspected and certified.


After he took the vehicle home and started to charge the battery, he reportedly found out that the battery only lasted 166 miles on a full charge.


The plaintiff claims that he brought the car to a service center and they made a correction to the Battery Management System (BMS), but that didn’t fix the problems with the battery.


The Tesla class action lawsuit alleges, “Plaintiff was told to report back to the service center after driving around with the car and after ‘cycling’ the battery, which refers to the practice of charging to 100% and discharging the battery to low levels for purposes of recalibrating the battery.”


The plaintiff claims that Tesla informed him that his vehicle suffers from “normal battery degradation.”


“Despite the fact that Tesla warrantied Plaintiff’s vehicle with a 2-year, 100,000 mile limited warranty, and the fact that it provided a 8-year, unlimited mile battery warranty, Tesla has failed its duty to Plaintiff by unlawfully, improperly, and fraudulently denying proper service and repair of Plaintiff’s vehicle,” the Tesla class action lawsuit alleges.


“Tesla focuses its efforts on allaying the fears of what some drivers of electric vehicles call ‘range anxiety’ by representing to consumers nationwide that they can rely on Tesla’s promises to take care of them no matter what happens to the batteries of Tesla’s vehicles. As it turns out for many consumers who were led on to believe Tesla’s promises, the fact is that Tesla never actually meant to keep their promises and follow through on their guarantees,” the plaintiff states.


The Tesla class action lawsuit is alleging violations of the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, Federal Trade Commission Act, Used Motor Vehicle Trade Regulation Rule, and numerous California laws including the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, Consumer’s Legal Remedies Act, Unfair Competition Law, and Violation of California’s False Advertising Law.

Tesla Class Action Says Pre-Owned Warranties Aren’t Honored

Elon may regret the decision to manufacture cars in California once he gets to experience firsthand the litigious, antibusiness climate in the once Golden State.

Tesla reputation will fade

Folks this is a big deal because Tesla batteries are in more places than just their cars. Elon’s solar empire—weak as it may be—is also dependent on using Tesla batteries. In some circles, Tesla homes are a thing. The fact is Tesla batteries are just like everybody else’s, it’s just that Elon—like Apple—can charge a premium just by putting their name on something. Oh, and unlike most manufacturers, Tesla’s battery factories are built with taxpayer subsidies.

I know that replacing a battery on a hybrid car is about $3K but a Tesla is much more.

Do you need to replace your car battery? … how much will it cost to replace a Tesla battery.


Answer is between $5,000 to $7,500 and it depends on what model Tesla you drive.

How Much Does Tesla Battery Replacement Cost?

Folks, I expect this to be the beginning of a trend as more Tesla cars hit the road. It’s no secret that quality control issues have plagued these vehicles from the beginning. Elon keeps claiming the future will be better but it’s the past that he should hope never catches up with him.

A Night Out with The Boys

I did something this weekend that I rarely do, I binge watched Amazon’s new show The Boys. It was not quite what I expected. It is billed as regular people who fight superheroes run amok. Some of the plot points in it rely heavily on Evangelical Christianity and I want to comment on that part of the program. This post includes many spoilers for the show, as such you have been warned.

The main group of superheroes in “The Boys” are a twisted form of the Justice League. Instead of Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Aquaman, and a few others, you get twisted versions of these characters with different names.

Classic Justice League members

In the Amazon series you have the big seven heroes working as employees of a large corporation called Vought, whose interest is profit not justice. Everything they do is to keep up their presence on social media and merchandize the heck out of their heroes.

The first five minutes of the show introduces you to four main characters, Queen Mauve (Wonder Woman), Homelander (Superman), A-Train (Flash), and Hughie Campbell. Hughie is on the sidewalk with his girlfriend. Both are regular—non super—people. In order,

  • Queen Mauve stops and armored car robbery by standing in front of the armored car and letting it hit her. This is one of the best CGI effects in the whole show.
Queen Mauve stops armored car with her body
  • Then Homelander shows up, confronts one of the criminals that gets out of the armored car and then casually tosses him up in the air. Seconds later, over his shoulder, you see the guy crash back to earth about a block away.
Homelander casually tosses a bad guy (circled above) that falls to earth a block away
  • Then the show moves to Hughie and his girlfriend, they each pledge their love to each other and then the camera switches to super slow motion and pans slowly to the girlfriend. All you see is an explosion of blood and fragments as A-Train literally runs thru the girl.
Hughie’s girlfriend shredded by A-Train
A-Train is in blue & white uniform at left side of the photo

Hughie is horrified and shocked. Following a memorial service for the girlfriend, a corporate lawyer show-up at his house to offer a cash settlement in exchange for him signing a nondisclosure agreement. He is offered money in exchange for his silence about what happened. Hughie decided to exact revenge on the corporation that shields A-Train from any wrongdoing.

As the story unfolds, Hughie meets Annie January on a park bench and starts a friendship. They like each other in the present but neither talks much of their past. Annie was raised as an Evangelical Christian in the Midwest and finds that she has superpowers. Annie is new to town because she has been recruited to join “The Seven” upon the retirement of Lamplighter (Green Lantern). Hughie likes her without knowing that Annie is really the superhero Starlight. He discloses to her that he is getting over the death of his old girlfriend but avoids the cause of her death.

Annie and Hughie’s first meeting in the park

Annie is the most important of several gateways into this alt-universe version of Christianity that is found thru the first five episodes of this eight-episode series. The show lampoons much that is wrong with our faith and, sadly, it has at least some basis in reality. No denomination is singled out as the focus of criticism. The portrayal of faith in the show will be disturbing to many and rightly so.

The overarching religious entity in the show is a charitable organization called Samaritan’s Pulse (Samaritan’s Purse). The charity itself is not depicted in a bad way but some folks that have associated themselves with the charity are clearly more than hypocrites. They fake their faith as a way to purposefully manipulate the faithful. Chief among the charlatans in the group are a televangelist named Ezekiel and Homelander. Both are wolves that don the sheep’s clothing as necessary.

Ezekiel is first introduced in the program as a guy “hooking up” with two men in a club for people with superpowers. It is later that you see him on the stage preaching. Hughie tries to blackmail Ezekiel in a later episode with a video of the encounter in the club.

Ezekiel is emblematic of megachurch clergy and televangelists that are not accountable to anyone and do and say crazy stuff in God’s name. Sadly, we can all name examples of such abuses done in God’s name like needing a fifth private jet or building a hospital or a crystal Cathedral or whatever.

Televangelist Ezekiel

We also can name examples of sexual impurity among those clergy who say one thing and do something different in their own lives. The Catholic Church may be the poster child for this, but they are not the only folks with such problems. Such abuses can be found in every religious group whether they claim to follow Christ or someone else. Men are fallen and sinful and even those redeemed by Christ can fall into sin.

One obvious issue related to this subject is that many people will apologize for something when they are caught red-handed, but “apology” and “repentance” are two very different things. We are often willing to forgive people who apologize but doing so without them first repenting is a great disservice to them and God. Letting them off the hook without acknowledging that they need a changed heart results in no change in their behavior. This leaves them still in sin and out of fellowship with both God and their neighbor. How can someone in this situation be restored to fellowship with the church? They can’t; instead, people usually just pickup and go to the church down the street and join it with “no harm” and “no foul” or just stay home and quit the church altogether.

There are several recent instances of clergy admitting that they aren’t really believers and voluntarily leaving their positions, but sadly, many such clergy are “bitter clingers” to their position, salary, and expense accounts; they like the Pharisees of old, aren’t going to make it but also work to prevent others from getting into the Kingdom of Heaven as well.

What Ezekiel preaches is not the Gospel although the Gospel is talked about by others on the show. Steve Taylor’s lyrics “in it for the money as an idol show” come to mind. Ezekiel is a bona fide celebrity that reminds me of some in the Christian Music scene that had issues with moral failings. Sadly, that is a very long list.

Christianity is portrayed in this program as an archaic set of rules that are followed to give us salvation i.e. salvations is by our works. Christ and several Christian buzzwords are mentioned but the shepherds of Christ’s flock like Ezekiel live only to fleece the faithful. They know its not true but appeal to itching ears to empower themselves. Their message is not grace alone in Christ alone.

Homelander is shown as a callous, mass murderer that kills people simply because he enjoys it. He is a psychopath. Oh and a few episodes into the series they introduce him as an ordained clergyman. By that point in the show, it’s clear that he says it for ratings and makes no real claim to believe in anything but himself.

I think in episode 5 is when the faithful that paid $10K each for a meet and greet with Ezekiel are rebaptized by Homelander. Poor Hughie is held under long enough that he really could have repented before being let up.

Homelander baptizes Hughie accompanied by Ezekiel

Also, by episode 5, Annie has experienced a series of compromises in her values and is having a real crisis of faith. Annie is at an event sponsored by Ezekiel and is meeting with a group of fans. She is asked a question about premarital sex and Annie’s handlers persuade her to lie to preserve her image instead of answer truthfully. She falsely declares that she is a virgin and that girls should wait until marriage even though that is not true of her own life.

Annie then is expected to get on stage and read a speech prepared for her by the corporation to maximize her ratings with the Christian community. Remember, superheroes are owned by the corporation and their purpose is to maximize profit by maximizing their social media presence and merchandizing.

Starlight (Annie) starting a speech that she never finishes

Annie begins the speech as written but departs from the script and says she is tired of the compromises and mentions that she suffered the indignity of being forced to have a certain male organ in her face. No blue dress but you get the idea. She then renounces her faith–as defined by this group–although she still believes in God. She then walks off the stage.

Nevertheless, little nuggets of Annie’s faith continue to appear in later episodes.

At one point, we find Annie in a church listening to the choir practice with a small orchestra.

In another scene, Annie encounters the Queen Mauve character in the bathroom. Queen Mauve says that I used to be like you, but I gave up my soul one piece at a time. Don’t let that happen to you. Someone here must be the goodie two shoes, and it might as well be you. Without knowing, it Mauve just rescued Annie from compromising yet again.

In the final episode, Annie finally has the backbone to do what she knows is right. Annie forgives Hughie for luring her to a meeting in a previous episode where she is shot by another character. Whether Annie does this as an expression of her faith or because she followed her heart in a Disney Princess sort of way is not fully answered. I think of forgiveness as a Christian trait not one associated with Disney Princesses.

It seems at the end that Annie retains some measure of a personal faith but without relying on the organized church that she grew-up with.

This program is way different than the comic book upon which it is based—which is probably a good thing. Take a look at these Wikipedia pages:

The Boys Comic book

The Boys Characters

Amazon’s version is tamer than the comic books, but this program is not for most people. Frankly, I found myself hitting either the mute or fast forward button several times. Violence and profanity were expected with the M rating, but this show makes Deadpool look tame.

The sexual stuff is often disgusting and gratuitous. Drug use is central to the storyline. Many innocent people are wantonly killed in horrific ways by superheroes just to protect or enhance the corporate image. This show is not your typical Hollywood trope of all corporations are evil, but Vought certainly is.

If there was a rating north of M, this program would get it. It’s not for most folks although the way Amazon is promoting it, you probably wouldn’t understand it that way.

I don’t know if this program is a full-throated rejection of Christianity or just a rejection of the excesses that Americans tolerate from the pulpit. I got the feeling that at least one of the show’s writers grew up with an evangelical background.

Again, unless you were OK watching Deadpool, avoid The Boys. It is ruder, cruder, and really in your face but at least there’s no time travel sequence at the end.

The Troll from behind the arc!

Very seldom does the Troll put in work on a weekend, but we are short some bloggers. I came across this story and couldn’t let it go without mention because you can’t miss with this one. I say behind the arc, because every so often you have to step beyond the 3-point line and fire off a jumper!

The title of today’s special edition: 9-year-old girl tossed into the air by bison at Yellowstone National Park.

Girl airborne after bison charge–full video below

What a time to be alive! So, a group from Florida–they are the worst type by the way…just search “Florida man” on Twitter–anyway, while visiting Old Faithful they decided to get up close and personal to a wild animal. According to firsthand accounts about 50-60 people approached this bull bison while it was eating, thinking it was smart to pet it. At some point the bison…hard to believe it was agitated by this, charged at a 9-year-old girl and flung her in the air like a rag doll! I am stunned no one could have seen this coming…it’s not a zoo, these are wild animals! Signs literally say stay 25 yards from elk, bison, and deer, yet I guess the laws of probability cease to exist among this group! Look at the video…what a bananas situation!

Click arrow to play video

Reaction by troll: The article states a bunch of kids were crying…. yeah, I can’t find much reason to laugh at this story. The young girl thankfully had no serious injuries…. jury is still out on if either parent has medulla oblongata. I’ve gotta say, it’s how the adults took off leaving this girl to fend for herself…a sacrificial lamb perhaps? How was the girl thrown into the air if bison do not have arms or hands? I’m glad the parents got away unscathed would have been a real shame if any of them would have been struck by this beast. This is a great time to reach out to a sponsor, perhaps Trojan Condoms…. these are very important, as these adults should have never been conceived let alone allowed to reproduce themselves! What else could possibly explain the youngest being the sacrificial lamb in this situation? Sometimes a chlorine blast to the gene pool could do some good!

Yellowstone sign

No word from AOC on whether this bison should be euthanized yet regarding its emissions and maybe global warming had something to do with this? No word yet from Chuck Schumer on whether this bison escaped while being hunted by Donald Trump Jr. There has to be some way to tie this to President Trump, right? Perhaps its here illegally from Canada? Black Lives Matter is still silent on this one…opting to test to see if said bison is “really black.” No word from the DOJ on whether Elizabeth “chief squaw” Warren should be charged for her people not killing this bison. Bernie Sanders wants to know why this bison was allowed into the park without paying the entrance fee! Also does it have healthcare…. if so, how is it paying?

Barack Obama is still trying to figure out why the bison wasn’t killed on the spot since all people in fly-over country cling to their guns and religion? Maybe this attack was just the bison’s coping mechanism for dealing with President Trump…I need answers!!!!! Jarrold Nadler better not bring Hope Hicks into this or I may need to call in a favor from friend of the blog, OJ Simpson!!!!!! Between him and Ray Lewis I think I’ve got the murder and coverup handled…imagine the legal team we could afford! When Obama said “Hope and Change”, I should have paid more attention…change my girlfriend and date a girl named Hope…got it….!

My parting shots: keep your head on a swivel kid! The angel of death is always hovering about, looking for his next victim…I’m assuming gender here but bear with me…or should I say bison with me LOL. Keep your head on a swivel!!!!!!!!!!

Tesla Should Fire Elon Musk

Corporate America—especially now that we’re in the 90-day life cycle—has a habit of being ruthless in the pursuit of profit and struggle for survival. When they miss their numbers, there’s hell to pay—usually for those at the lowest pay levels and occasionally in middle management or higher.

This week, Tesla missed their numbers badly even with the market expecting them to report a second quarter loss. Elon not only missed the reported target but the entire side of the barn; hence, all Musk’s recent media stories about dreams of a better future leading up to release of said report. Can you blame him? Who’d want his track record at Tesla?

Tesla plunged 10% in extended trading after posting a larger-than-expected loss on Wednesday in a second quarter earnings update.


Here’s what Tesla reported, versus what analysts expected based on average estimates compiled by Refinitiv:
* Loss per share on an adjusted basis: $1.12 vs. 40 cents expected
* Revenue: $6.35 billion versus $6.41 billion expected

Tesla falls after posting wider-than-expected loss

In the wake of this report, some on Wall Street are saying that Musk needs to step down.

When asked if Tesla was worth buying after an ugly quarter, Paul Schatz, president and chief investment officer at Heritage Capital, told Yahoo Finance, “It has very idiosyncratic behavior, but no, [Musk] is not a future leader.”


“You’re going to have Mercedes and BMW and all the real car companies competing with them in the next five years, and I think they are much more well-positioned financially,” compared to Tesla.


Schatz pointed out that while Tesla may have had a head start out of the gate, the company is not taking full advantage of that position. Management is a major concern – the latest example in a series of departures is the company announcing on its earnings call that Chief Technology Officer JB Straubel was stepping down from his position and transitioning to an advisory role.


Schatz compared Musk to Microsoft founder Bill Gates – or at least suggested the Tesla leader should aspire to be like Gates in one particular way. “All great entrepreneurs eventually, like Bill Gates, all step back and say, ‘I’ve taken my company as far as I can go and need to bring in somebody that has a corporate backbone to it,’” he said. “The wrong guy is running the company.”


As for whether investors should bet on the car maker, “unless you’re a nimble trader, I think it’s lunacy to go near Tesla,” Schatz said, adding that he doesn’t see it “as a sustainable long-term business model.”


“I still think it’s going sub-$100,” Schatz said.

Elon Musk should be like Bill Gates – but not in a good way

Lest you think calls for Musk’s head are unusual, think again. Here are a few examples.

George Zimmer was kicked off the board of the company that he founded, The Men’s Warehouse.

Source: Fired From the Company That Made Him Famous, an Entrepreneur Seeks Payback

Carl Karcher—who founded Carl’s Jr hamburger restaurants was fired from his own company.

Source: Karcher’s Fateful Hiring Began His Own Demise: Corporations: Carl’s Jr. founder’s own star started dimming the day he ordered out for a new president

Roy Disney—brother and partner to his more famous brother, Walt, was fired by Disney’s Board of Directors.

Source: Roy Disney forced out, wants Eisner to do the same

While firing Elon, might make sense in a saner world, given his volatility and the turnover of his executive staff, I don’t see that ever happening. Musk is his own worst enemy much of the time. I think it likely that he gets to ride Tesla to the bottom—which many define as a stock value south of $100 per share.

Tesla’s only hope for salvation is periodic infusions of government directed money. With the phasing-out of American tax credits and today’s economic reports about Germany’s manufacturing decline—something that will ripple thru Europe, the future cash expected from the EU and other places may be less than promised which will make Tesla’s finances even more dire. If the economy catches a cold, Tesla will suffer a severe case of pneumonia.