Armed Polite Society

And almost forgot, all with government mandated DEI requiurments

*expletive deleted*it. 
Looks like I gotta hold my nose a third time.

If Trump is arrested for that, I give up.
You heard it here first.
If that's all they got, and they arrest him for it, by jimminie, I'm voting for Donnie if I have to write it in!

I'm asking because I don't know - is the gov designing chargers rather than using proven designs already out there?

If Biden didn't hate Elon, the gov could have just been giving our taxpayer money to Tesla, either requesting 1000 chargers per year to be placed wherever the gov wants them, or they could have given Elon all that dough, and he probably would have ramped up a new production facility in a couple of months and increased his output.

They aren't designing them from scratch, as far as I can tell.  The 7.5 Billion is codified in the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program to provide minimum stnadards for the chargers.  Full rule is here: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/02/28/2023-03500/national-electric-vehicle-infrastructure-standards-and-requirements

but the TL:DR NEVI standards are:

EV charging stations must be non-proprietary, allow for open-access payment methods, be publicly available or available to authorized commercial motor vehicle operators from more than one company, and be located along designated FHWA Alternative Fuel Corridors (AFCs).

Theres a lot more requirements about number of ports, Power Capacity, Networking, uptime, etc.  Google "NEVI Charger Requirements" for multip[le sites going into the details.

. . . The big dig was over 20 billion just to widen a highway in one city that already had a highway. . . .

The Big Dig was originally budgeted for about 3 billion, but ultimately cost over 24 billion. That's one heck of a cost over run.

On a more personal level, I remember as a student back in Chicago a modest upgrade to my high school proposed by students was bid by multiple licensed & insured contractors at about $2000. The Board of Education claimed it would cost over $43,000. After much publicity - which infuriated the BofE - the students got approval, raised the money, and got it done. For about 1/20 of what the BofE claimed it would cost.

So . . . my problem isn't with government DOING useful things - my problem is the way they do it and spend taxpayer dollars, which fairly reeks of corruption.

. . . If Biden didn't hate Elon, the gov could have just been giving our taxpayer money to Tesla, either requesting 1000 chargers per year to be placed wherever the gov wants them, or they could have given Elon all that dough, and he probably would have ramped up a new production facility in a couple of months and increased his output.

If Elon were partnered with Robert De Niro, something like that may very well have happened . . . but I suspect the cost would have STILL been much, MUCH higher than the Tesla-owned chargers.

Everybody distracted by the conviction news?  Good.  We'll just slide this little bit in while no one's paying attention.

https://www.reuters.com/world/biden-allows-ukraine-use-us-supplied-arms-strike-inside-russia-near-kharkiv-area-2024-05-30/

WASHINGTON/PRAGUE, May 30 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden has quietly authorized Kyiv to launch U.S.-supplied weapons at military targets inside Russia that are supporting an offensive against the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, four U.S. officials said on Thursday.

The decision marks a policy shift by Biden, who had steadfastly refused to allow Ukraine to use American weaponry for strikes inside Russia.

What could go wrong?