The delivery company DHL is testing FUSO eCanter electric trucks. As batteries improve and prices drop, electric trucks are expected to save fleet operators money, both in fuel and maintenance. Credit: Daimler
From Vancouver to New York, from Paris to Tokyo, that delivery truck outside your home—the rumbling motor, the belching fumes—may soon become much quieter and cleaner.
Electric trucks are driving out of factories and into service, and multiple vehicle companies are gearing up to make them. The result could be a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions—especially if the deliveries turn out to be cheaper than old-fashioned diesel engines.
In the United States, more than 6 percent of greenhouse gas emissions emitted in 2015 were from medium- and heavy-duty trucking. Transportation, including trucking, was responsible for 14 percent of emissions globally in 2010.
Dancing With Fools 
COLD and sunny here! Not much snow, but apparently black ice around the county. Possibly going to snow tomorrow.
Travel plans for folks who’d planned to drive south on I-5 are fubar’d for the time being. Still closed because of Monday’s train wreck…secondary roads don’t have capacity for over 60,000 vehicles a day passing through that area.
I wonder how that engineer is feeling by now.
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It rained here last night, the fog in the American River Canyon covered it like a soft cottony blanket that swayed and swelled with the breeze, drat no camera! I was on my grocery run and did not expect to see such a stunning display.
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Is this TMI? 😉
Here’s one way the GOPers hope to dupe the masses on their tax bill leading up to the 2018 mid-terms and beyond to the next general election in 2020:
Orrin Hatch asked that it be entered into the Congressional record that the Join Committee on Taxation’s analysis “shows that middle-income taxpayers are winners.”
For the IMMEDIATE FUTURE, Hatch actually is telling the truth.
The Joint Committee report shows that households that earn between fifty and seventy-five thousand dollars a year, would see their effective tax rate fall, from 14.8 per cent, this year, to 13.5 per cent, in 2019.
According to the Tax Policy Center, households in the middle fifth of the income distribution would get an immediate tax cut of nine hundred and thirty dollars, on average.
But the devil (as always!) is in the details….almost all the elements of the bill that benefit the middle class—reductions in personal tax rates, enlarged personal exemptions, and expanded child tax credits—are temporary measures.
The bill envisages that all of those measures will expire! The rate will go back up sometime after the 2020 election.
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-1.3% BIG WHOOP!
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Trillion dollar wars, trillion dollar tax cut, heading for a quad trillion dollar debt.
And we the people had no sayso whatsoever, were’re not in Kansas anymore Toto.
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Spot Report
After a four day disappearance Spot re-appeared walking across the kitchen floor, luckily I saw him before I stepped. He seemed happy to see his Popsicle stick transporter device. He was chomping on the stick, obviously hungry. I set him down in his little area with his water soaked towel bit and his honey tab,put some fresh honey on it and he was chomping away, he loves honey, cereal bits nearby for fiber.
I find it quite odd that during those four days AWOL I never once saw him flying or crawling anywhere, this place isn’t that big, odd.
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A limerick for Spot and Den — the A, A , B, B, A rhyme scheme is correct, but the meter is a tad off… Spot won’t give that a thought!
There once was a ladybug named Spot,
Went missing for days…leaving Den fraught!
Did Spot cut a rug,
In Den’s beer mug?
Hanging with Den, Spot hit the jackpot!
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Ladybird. Its a beetle not a bug.
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I know that! Poetic license!
😉
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Spaced out on the honey.
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The Start of a Christmas Tradition
In early December, four of Santa’s elves got sick. When the trainee elves
could not produce toys as fast as the regular ones, Santa began to feel some
Pre-Christmas pressure. Then Mrs. Claus mentioned that her Mother was coming to visit, stressing
Santa even more. He went to harness the reindeer, and found that three of
them were about to give birth and two others had gotten loose and were out,
Heaven knows where. Then, when he began load-testing the sleigh, one of the floorboards
cracked; the bag of toys fell to the ground and all the toys were scattered.
Frustrated, Santa went back in the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot
of rum. Opening the cupboard, he discovered the elves had drunk all the cider and
hidden the liquor. In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider jug,
breaking it into hundreds of little glass pieces all over the kitchen floor. He
got the broom and found the mice had eaten all the straw off the end of the
broom. Just then the doorbell rang. An irritated Santa marched to the door, yanked
it open, only to find a little Angel with a great big Christmas tree. The Angel
said very cheerfully, ‘Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn’t this a lovely day? I have
a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to stick it?’
And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree.
Not a lot of people know this.
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Oy vey! Direct from Speaker Paul Ryan to the sheeple…
AT&T, Boeing Announce New Investments After Historic Tax Reform Vote
December 20, 2017|Speaker Ryan Press Office
It’s only been a few hours since the House voted to send the final version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to President Trump, and we are already starting to see results.
AT&T just announced that it will give 200,000 employees a $1,000 bonus once the bill is signed into law. In addition, the company plans to keep its promise to invest an additional $1 billion in the United States.
“This tax reform will drive economic growth and create good-paying jobs,” said AT&T chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson. “In fact, we will increase our U.S. investment and pay a special bonus to our U.S. employees.”
Boeing is taking action as well, declaring that it will make a $300 million employee-related and charitable investment thanks to tax reform.
“For Boeing, the reforms enable us to better compete on the world stage and give us a stronger foundation for the investment in innovation, facilities and skills that will support our long-term growth.”
It’s clear American companies are ready for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to become law. Our reforms will enable them to compete on a level-playing field and bring capital back home to reinvest in their businesses and raise wages for hardworking employees.
This isn’t fantasy world—This is what our country will look like with a new tax code in 2018. And it’s just the beginning.
To learn more, visit speaker.gov.
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Just 25 minutes to the Black Cypress for a steelhead dinner. Alley behind the house was icy but otherwise all the snow was plowed or rain melted. Congress busy delivering their anti-Christmas present to the American people. My representative sent an email crowing about it.
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Round trip was a predictable 52 minutes. It always takes 2 minutes longer going up College Hill Climb and Maple Street Extension than going down.
Day 4: 129+52=181 minutes.
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Trump may wait until January to sign the tax bill into law, according to Gary Cohn, director of Trump’s National Economic Council.
Waiting until January could help the White House avoid triggering a 2010 law known as “PAY-GO,” or “pay-as-you-go.” The budget law requires spending cuts to Medicare and other programs if legislation is approved that’s projected to add to the deficit.
If Trump signed the tax bill into law before Congress adjourns in December, lawmakers could be forced to vote on the PAY-GO waiver measure as soon as next month in order to avoid allowing the spending cuts to kick in. The reductions would cut spending on Medicare by $25 billion in 2018, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Signing the tax bill into law in January would likely defer those spending cuts until 2019, giving Congress almost a year to come up with a solution.
The PAYGO rules can be waived if 60 senators vote in favor, but Republicans will only control 51 Senate seats next year and all Democrats voted to oppose the tax bill.
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