Elon Musk revels in being politically incorrect. Yesterday he crossed into outright racism. His xAI investors shrugged; 2 declined comment, the rest didn't respond. "There is a loud statement to founders in the silence: If you consistently return capital, as Musk does, then nothing else matters."

A new bipartisan House bill aims to preempt state-level restrictions on autonomous vehicles + dismantle regulatory hurdles that keep autonomous freight in a "testing" phase. It would allow limited commercial operations on public highways while autonomous trucks are evaluated in the pilot stage.

Boom. [Alt text for entire letter in first comment]

"The moment Europe moved from symbolism to Atlantic political defense—once Greenland was placed firmly inside the Arctic security framework—the Republican Party was bound to fracture." And it did. The "We may invade Greenland" nonsense has been effectively neutered by broader collective interest.

Seen in Vegas.

The Congressional race for #NY21, which Elise Stefanik will vacate after multiple Trump betrayals, is gonna be one for the ages. North Country farmer Blake Gendebien is 1 of 2 competing in the Dem primary. Now poster boy Marc Molinaro, beaten by Josh Riley in #NY19, is mulling a NY21 run. (1 of 2)

WHOA. The Chrysler + Jeep PHEVs, all of them, have been killed off by Stellantis. Probably a good thing the mask is off + the disinterest is apparent. The many, MANY problems of their 2 #EV models, however, do pose the Q: What will Jeep Ram Chrysler Dodge do when the political winds shift again?

We've removed the paywall from this guide so everyone can access it. 👇 Stay safe.

Your faithful automotive reporter at work. Here, photographing the rooftop"tiara" or "halo" containing lidar + other sensors on the roof of the Lucid Gravity #EV that will go into service as a luxury self-driving Uber robotaxi, in San Francisco, by the end of this year. [photo: Steve Fecht]

Golly. "What trucking fleets need to know about the Insurrection Act" We live in unusual times.

Missed that Homeland Security Secty Noem falsely claimed ICE agents were "under attack" by protestors—whom she called "domestic terrorists"—as their vehicles were stuck in snow. There was no snow event. Hadn’t been a snowfall for days in Minneapolis. As 100s of videos show, the streets were clear.

Vegas is confusing.

For three years, I've been privileged to cover the Consumer Electronics Show through Scott Fosgard Communications' "House of Journalists." What IS House of Journalists? Now, we have an explainer, courtesy of colleague Phoebe Wall Howard.

Bill Siemering, founding program director of NPR, author of its mission statement, has asked me to inquire if any profs might be interested in a Zoom class visit? No honorarium necessary. Bill founded All Things Considered, Fresh Air, won a MacArthur, etc.

Post-Gazette to publish final edition and cease operations on May 3

Virtually no one mentions the XLR these days; I gather Corvette guys shun it or worse. While the hed is a leeetle hyperbolic, the general drift seems right: the XLR is an interesting, sporty, distinctive 2-seater that's almost always overlooked. I love the retro T-Bird, but give me one of these...

MORE: "The Trump administration tried to stir the pot; in 48 hours, [it saw] a coordinated, global, non-escalatory response." "The joint statement by European leaders—and support that followed immediately from Canada + Scandinavian countries—mattered." Sen Murkowski, even Speaker Mike Johnson: NO.

My new path to RICHES !!

Some good data here for everyone in media.

"a year of transformation" Well, that's ... uhhhh ... one way to put what's happened to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Oh.

The theme of this year's CES in a nutshell. "AI everything. AI everywhere." Discuss.

Well, damn. Ford sold > 150,000 Maverick compact pickups last year, underlining the truck's appeal + generally clever design. The base price has risen $6.5K since its 2022 debut ($21.5K to $28.1K) ... but it's still a bargain. #EV sales? Ford sold 84K, fewer than GM (and #Tesla). One short blurb.

Stop. Talking. About. Greenland. It's a troll by the administration to distract from ... - the Epstein files - the Venezuelan "action" - Ukraine - soaring U.S. prices - rising unpopularity - foreign adventurism - White House demolition - rampant graft - street abductions by masked men with no ID

It seems Congressional leaders exited an administration briefing on the action in Venezuela totally confused about what was going on. Oh.

I'd suggest a more immediate concern for China is to cut its own imports of oil. It only produces 25% of its consumption; it's the world's largest oil importer. China clearly wants to rebalance power globally, to its own advantage, but I'm not convinced crippling the petrostates is top of the list.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting was dissolved Monday by its directors, ending 58 years as primary funder for PBS, NPR + local TV and radio stations. The board of CPB had little choice. Trump + Republicans in Congress last year stripped the organization of its $1.1 billion in federal funds.

Want to see the first public appearance of (a development model of) the Atlas humanoid robot from Boston Dynamics, at the #Hyundai Motor Group press event at CES? I put a short video clip up on Insta. Have a look, tell me what you think. www.instagram.com/reel/DTJNMTF...

Virtually any kind of greater military intervention in Venezuela is even *more* unpopular than Trump’s tariffs + health-care cuts ... which are pretty darned unpopular to start with.

Two open letters to the @nytimes.com in Feb 2023, signed by hundreds including more than 200 Times contributors, condemned its anti #trans coverage. Days later, the paper responded: It ran a piece aggressively defending notorious transphobe J.K. Rowling. This piece says it came from the top.

In Q4, more than 1 in 5 new-car shoppers signed up for monthly payments for new vehicles of ... $1,000 or more, per Edmunds. That's a new high. Geez.

THEORY: The next area of intellectual-property conflict in permanent-magnet technology, for #EV motors + other uses, will likely be magnets that don't use heavy rare earths. Search for this topic on @linkedin.com: 𝗨.𝗦. 𝗡𝗱𝗙𝗲𝗕 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀: 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝗺𝗯 𝗼𝗿 𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲𝘀? Then, DISCUSS.

"What happened...was not a single catastrophic crash but a cascade of small failures that played out in full view of cameras, investors + regulators. [It] seemed to implode in the time it takes to finish a coffee, raising hard Qs about whether #Tesla #robotaxi ambitions are outpacing technology..."

'What's the last car you stopped to take a photo of?'

And there ya have it… Officials from top Wall Street firms will be traveling to Venezuela to investigate “investment prospects” of the country. “The trip will feature about 20 officials from the finance, energy and defense sectors.”

Oh. My. Goodness. Do you see in this photo what I see? (It's the dashboard of the new Volkswagen ID.Polo, their smaller #EV, which won't be sold in North America.) See 'em? DO YOU SEE THEM ??

What’s the last car you stopped to take a picture of?

Oh.

Whoever writes the @reuters.com Daily News email has a very, very acute sense of irony. This has links to 3 stories: "The U.S. could deny migrants asylum on the grounds that they present a public-health risk. Flu cases are rising across the country. A measles outbreak in South Carolina is growing."

More reaction to Maduro’s “arrest”

"You wouldn’t want 'academics + elites' who have actually studied a subject to outweigh the off-the-cuff opinions of village idiots. "This is how we’re seeing the resurgence of measles + the widespread belief in almost non-existent vote fraud." — Larry Sabato, director of UVA Center for Politics

Responding to a request for comment on the potential for Grok to create these images, Elon Musk’s xAI—which last year merged with Twitter (now known as X)—sent an autoreply: "Legacy Media Lies."

FFS.

"Stellantis is bringing back the Hellcat-powered Ram TRX for late 2026 at about $100K, because nothing says, 'We’re tackling affordability' like a 777-hp halo truck with a six-figure sticker." ROTFL.

Q4 is in: #Tesla delivered 418,227 #EV models, down 15.6% over 2024. The quarterly total was below Wall St analysts' consensus estimate of 422K. That puts total sales for the year at 1.6 million, down 8.5%. The Silicon Valley carmaker is now # 2 below Chinese maker BYD. Which won't stop. (1 of 2)

"In the overall numbers, Trump is unpopular, and Republicans are cruising toward a brutal midterm election. "But among people who say they mostly watch Fox, he is an indomitable president with a decent record on the economy, and Republicans are sailing smoothly to another House majority next year."

Good lord, and we thought the #EV incentive was complicated. The tax break is most likely to benefit middle-income households; it phases out over $100K (single) or $200K (married). BUT: Tax savings for most individual taxpayers: a “couple hundred off a $50K vehicle purchase" though capped at $10K.

A remarkable trend that will come as a shock to you if your only info about NYC is from this Fox News. Homicides in NYC... 1990: 2,262 1993: 1,927 1998: 629 2001: 649 2013: 335 2019: 320 2021: 488 2024: 382 2025 (as of 12/28): 302

Hi, we're the 3 drunken yobs in London who beat you senseless, broke your nose + kicked you in the face + head until a taxi came down the street + scattered us. The rozzers did a number on us when we gave them stick, but it didn't teach us anything. We spent a night in gaol, you was in hospital.