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The Contrarian

The Contrarian's Journal
The Contrarian's Journal
January 23, 2024

I wouldn't buy a Toyota

Electric cars will never account for more than a third of the market and consumers should not be forced to buy them, the boss of Toyota has said.

Akio Toyoda, chairman of the world’s biggest carmaker by sales, said that electric vehicles (EVs) should not be developed to the exclusion of other technologies such as the hybrid and hydrogen-powered cars that his company has focused on.

He said he believed battery EVs will only secure a maximum of 30pc of the market – less than double their current share in the UK – with the remaining 70pc taken by fuel cell EVs, hybrids and hydrogen cars.

Mr Toyoda said: “Customers — not regulations or politics — should make that decision.”

Mr Toyoda argued that electric cars’ appeal is limited because one billion people in the world still live without electricity, while they are also expensive and need charging infrastructure to operate.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/electric-cars-never-dominate-market-143001471.html

I wish good luck to Mr. Toyoda and his company when no one can purchase a Toyota in California in 11 years.

January 19, 2024

Fast food is about to get more expensive in California

A Southern California fast food franchise owner is the latest to signal that menu prices will go up when the minimum wage for all fast food employees climbs to $20 an hour in April under a new California law.

Marcus Walberg, whose family operates four Fatburger restaurants in Los Angeles, recently told Business Insider that he sees no option but to raise prices and make other changes to adapt.

“It’s a scary thing because customers are already complaining that prices are too high,” Walberg told the business news outlet.

https://ktla.com/news/california/fast-food-in-california-is-about-to-get-more-expensive/

Lots to untangle here. Greedy business owner who basically feeds people poison (fast food) is complaining he has to pay his workers a living wage. This is good news. Maybe people eat less of the crap he serves, and it improves overall health.

January 8, 2024

Philadelphia: William Penn statue may be permanently removed from Welcome Park, angering some

New plans by the National Park Service to renovate Old City’s Welcome Park include removing the centerpiece statue of William Penn permanently, and redesigning the park to highlight Native American history — a move that has angered Pennsylvania’s Republican leadership.

The plan is a major shift considering that the park was built on the site of Penn’s home, the Slate Roof House, and is named for the ship, Welcome, that transported him from England. Penn actually landed first in 1682 near the intersection of the Delaware River and Chester Creek in Chester.

Welcome Park is part of Independence National Historical Park, and was completed in 1982 on designs by Venturi & Scott Brown Associates. The National Park Service wants to rehabilitate the park in time of the 250th birthday celebration of America in 2026. But the park located on Second Street between Chestnut and Walnut Streets has fallen into disrepair with rows of broken granite floor.

Plans announced Friday call for “an expanded interpretation of the Native American history of Philadelphia” in consultation with indigenous nations of the Haudenosaunee, Delaware Nation, Delaware Tribe of Indians, Shawnee Tribe, and the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma.

https://www.inquirer.com/news/william-penn-statue-philadelphia-welcome-park-removal-20240108.html


Republicans angered? Again? Sounds like the right thing to do then!

January 5, 2024

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine bans gender transition surgery on minors after House Bill 68 veto

Source: Columbus Dispatch

Gov. Mike DeWine signed an executive order on Friday that bans Ohio hospitals and surgical facilities from performing gender transition surgery on transgender minors.

The move came one week after DeWine vetoed legislation that would have prevented doctors from prescribing hormones, puberty blockers or surgery before patients turn 18. House Bill 68 also would have prohibited transgender girls and women from playing on female sports teams in high school and college.

DeWine spoke with families ahead of his veto, and he said none of them advocated for transition surgery for their children. Health care leaders have also said they don't recommend the procedure for minors.

Read more: https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/politics/2024/01/05/mike-dewine-talks-transgender-health-care-after-house-bill-68-veto/72118289007/



It didn't take Governor DeWine long to reveal his true colors.
January 3, 2024

103 Reported Killed in Iran in Blasts Near General's Tomb

Source: NY Times

A pair of explosions on Wednesday at a commemoration for Iran’s former top military general Qassim Suleimani killed at least 103 people and wounded another 171, according to Iranian officials. The blasts sowed fear and grief in Iran and heightened tensions in the broader region even further a day after an explosion killed several Hamas officials in a suburb of Beirut, Lebanon.

Iranian officials told state media that a pair of bombs placed in bags along the road toward the cemetery in Kerman, Iran, had exploded as a procession of people was on its way there to commemorate the four-year anniversary of General Suleimani’s assassination by the United States. The officials said the bags appeared to have been detonated via remote control, leaving bodies in pieces on the ground.

Given the sheer scale of the blasts, which state media described as a terrorist attack, the death toll was likely to rise.

Videos and photos of the explosions’ aftermath on state media showed widespread carnage and chaos, with sirens blaring and the injured — among them children — collapsing to the ground. Bloodied, several of the wounded screamed, “God help us. Everyone is killed.”

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/03/world/middleeast/iran-explosion-qassim-suleimani-ceremony.html



Who is responsible? Iranian rebels? The Saudis? Israel? Regardless, this does not bode well. This is also the direct result of Trump's illegal assassination of General Suleimani. He opened Pandora's Box.

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