I have an electric car and I have had folks in pick-up trucks with a flag flying in the truck bed inexplicably speed up, and try to cut me off out of the blue. There is just a lot of anger being stirred out there.

https://www.businessinsider.com/truck-owners-are-blocking-tesla-superchargers-in-ice-ing-protests-2018-12

Tesla drivers are reporting a spate of "ICE-ing" (an acronym from Internal Combustion Engine) by large trucks at Superchargers across the country.

In one instance, Reddit user Leicina said a group of trucks blocked all of the charging spots while changing "F Tesla" before being asked to leave by an employee of the store.

Like most superchargers, the location where the incident occurred — behind a Sheetz convenience store in Hickory, North Carolina, about 40 miles northwest of Charlotte — isn't on land owned by Tesla. Rather, it's leased from third-parties, giving the company no control over how the Supercharger spots are used from day to day.

"I was really uncomfortable," the Tesla owner said, adding that the Sheetz employees were "really understanding and sent someone out immediately."

I guess this is just a continuation of the rolling coal "protests."

The hits keep on coming.

http://fortune.com/2018/12/26/trump-tax-cuts-lower-charitable-giving/

‘Tis the season for giving—especially if you’re trying to squeeze in some charitable tax breaks for 2018.

Nonprofits may not see the influx of revenue they’re used to, however, as the Trump administration’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminated many incentives for giving.

To gain more tax breaks via itemized charitable donations, individuals and couples need to give more than the standard deduction. But under last year’s new tax law, the standard deduction for singles nearly doubled, rising from $6,350 to $12,000. For married couples, the standard deduction rose from $12,700 to $24,000.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act also capped the state and local tax deduction at $10,000 and eliminated other itemized deductions.

This is why I do not support Bernie. I think a lot of his populist platform is based on dog whistles meant to stoke white working class resentment such as his past opposition to immigration reform, railing against trade (with Mexico and China, but Canada is okay), complaining about globalism, his support of laws immunizing gun makers from lawsuits, and his attacks on the Democratic party for promoting "identity politics."

So, he holds a progressive conference in Vermont with prominent Democratic critics Cornel West and Susan Sarandon, but fails to invite the grass roots members of the civil rights community such as the local NAACP.

http://digital.vpr.net/post/after-calling-out-sanders-over-event-snub-vermont-leaders-color-offer-path-forward#stream/0

Sen. Bernie Sanders has in many ways become the figurehead of the national progressive movement, but leaders of color in Vermont say his spotty track record on racial justice issues could undermine his status as its leader.

Now, those same advocates are trying to lay the groundwork for what they hope will be a more collaborative relationship with Sanders in the future.

Sanders, as well as an institute that bears his name, have come under fire in recent days for failing to invite Vermont-based social justice advocates to a three-day gathering in Burlington.

In an open letter to Sanders and the Sanders Institute, more than a dozen racial and social justice advocates said that “Vermonters in marginalized positions” have found themselves “excluded from the movement” that Sanders is trying to foster.

This is part of the reason why it is so important for Democrats to stand firm. If Trump gets his blank check on the wall, then who knows what other type of extortionate demands he will attach to increasing the debt limit.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-20/wall-street-s-debt-ceiling-dread-resurrected-by-shutdown-strife

The looming U.S. government shutdown is beginning to worry Wall Street. Just not for the reasons you might think.

Traders aren’t really losing much sleep over the prospect of furloughed bureaucrats inside the Beltway. Instead, market veterans are on edge because of what the debacle signals about Washington’s inability to compromise ahead of the early March debt-ceiling reinstatement, after which the Treasury will need to resort to extraordinary measures to pay America’s obligations.

In what’s become something of a grim ritual, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are likely to lock horns once again as the clock to a U.S. debt default ticks down, using the threat of economic disaster to try and wrangle legislative concessions from the other party. While Congress has never failed to reach an accord, many longtime Wall Street prognosticators are growing increasingly concerned that 2019’s clash could match, or surpass, some of the more bitter showdowns of years past, leading to a major market disruption.

“This shutdown episode is important because it’s a window into the governing dynamics next year, which is concerning because the debt limit comes back into play,” said Isaac Boltansky, a senior policy analyst at investment advisory firm Compass Point. “Legislative brinkmanship takes on a whole new market dynamic when it encompasses the debt ceiling. We are going to have a concentration of political risks that investors need to be aware of.”