How have your Repug state legislators ruined your life today?

We were warned.  The late, great, lamented Molly Ivins warned us. When it comes to daily life, it's our state legislators who have the most control over what we can do and whether we can do it safely.

Take Kentucky's General Assembly.  Please.

Since repugs took over the state house in 2016 for full control of the legislative and executive branches, they have been systematically dismantling the structures of civilization Kentucky progressives have managed to erect.

• slashing already minimal benefits for the poor, sick and disabled.

• denying the humanity of vagina-havers and condemning them to a slow, painful death of sepsis after an illegal abortion or a lifetime of forced birth. 

• canceling all state incentives for renewable energy and slapping a giant annual tax on the owners of electric cars.

• eliminating all background checks, training and permit fees for concealed carry.  Now you can get shot and killed for failing to genuflect to the Pumpkin Traitor anytime, anywhere in the Commonwealth. 

• exempting the governor and legislators from being subject to the courts, in case any dogooding libs try to sue their motherfucking asses for all of that unconstitutional bullshit.

and, of course, the coup de grace:

• hiding from the public all records of how and why legislators are fucking us over.

Kentucky repugs did this.  But Kentucky Democrats are letting them do it.  All of this and much, much worse.

Cool in Every Way

From Nancy LeTourneau at Political Animal:

Here’s a cool story: Nigerian Student Converts a VW Beetle Into a $6,000 Wind- and Solar-Powered Car. But of course you’ll need a picture for that one.

Profiting From Old Henry's Lessons

Henry Ford was a viciously racist old bastard who cared about nothing but profits, but he wasn't stupid. He knew that the only way to grow his profits was to make sure his workers were paid enough - and contented enough in their jobs - to afford to buy the cars they were building.

Virtually every corporation in America has since forgotten that lesson. But somebody at one company remembered, and in the teeth of a corporate rush to take advantage of high unemployment by turning workers into barely-compensated serfs, that company is adding thousands of good-paying, full-time jobs with benefits.

Care to guess which company?

"As we expand our product lineup of fuel-efficient vehicles, we need more people in critical areas -- such as in a range of engineering activities, vehicle production, computer software and other IT functions," said Joe Hinrichs, Ford president of the Americas.

Now that's a company that knows the true source of profits and success.  That's a company that embodies true American values.  That's a company that knows how to do capitalism without being a motherfucker.

That's not to say Ford is not capable of general corporate evil, as I'm sure it will demonstrate again sooner or later.

But in the meantime, I'm going to have to take a second look at Ford's latest EVs.

Concern-Trolling Electric Cars

This is how repugs win issues that should be dead-bang losers for them: they hide their real agenda behind a reasonable-sounding proposal that liberals feel obligated to support because it's so reasonable.

Jack Brammer at the Herald:

Since 1920, Kentucky has taxed gasoline at the pumps to pay for road construction and repair. But with the advent of motor vehicles that do not use gasoline as their chief source of fuel, an advocacy group is pushing for legislation to require "next generation" vehicles to pay for road usage.

Kentuckians for Better Transportation, whose 240 members include local governments, road contractors and other businesses, wants the General Assembly to consider adding a fee to annual auto registrations for electric cars and other vehicles that run on fuels other than gasoline.

Translation: Electric cars are putting the fossil-fuel industry at risk, so let's blame them for crumbling roads and make everybody hate the dirty fucking hippies who drive them.

This nation desperately needs trillions of dollars to repair and rebuild our transportation system. The place to get those dollars is by cancelling the billions in subsidies to Big Oil, Big Gas and Big Coal, then levying massive taxes on their trillions in profits.

Not by punishing the electric car industry that is saving all our oil-soaked asses.