Time is Being Stingy

Friends, your favorite Peasant is caught short this week

so I have no post for you. Fear not, though, as I should 

soon have my schedule back to normal and will once again 

be with you, my dear and wonderful readers! Thank you for

your kind understanding and forgiveness! 

MEM

A Deal Made in ... ?

When an industry makes a deal with the entity which it had 

been at odds with over many things, is it a positive occurrence

for the public? It can be, but when it is a matter of collusion

rather than a legally proper agreement made for the mutual 

benefit of the involved parties and that of the consumer, 

especially when the two parties happen to be the automobile 

industry and the federal government. 

Late last year a political advertisement featuring President Biden 

and the top executives of the auto making corporations 

endorsing the administration's stricter fuel-economy rules 

and climate agenda (yes, these two beasts have reared their 

ugly heads at this gathering) was presented. The upshot of

it all is Big Business colluding with Big Government to 

receive subsidies (read: handouts) and hike auto prices (beware

of sticker shock, folks!). Ford, GM, and Stellantis (formerly

Fiat Chrysler) announced their "shared aspiration" for 

electric cars to be 40-50% of their sales in 2030.  

BMW, Honda, VW and Volvo fell in line and endorsed 

the need for "bold action from our partners in the federal 

government". Uncle Sam as a partner? Really? The Biden

regime is revising the CAFE (corporate average fuel-economy)

standards set forth by President Obama. The mileage mandate

will rise by 10% in 2023 from the existing standards in 2022

and then be raised by 5% each year through 2026 to 52 miles

per gallon. The automakers will also receive extra regulatory 

credits for producing more electric vehicles (EVs). 

Gee, how quickly the auto big shots have forgotten how they 

pleaded with President Trump to please roll back the Obama 

numbers! The car companies are now lobbying for more 

subsidies: if government mandates that they build more EVs,

it then has to pay more people to buy them. So the taxpayer 

gets roped into the deal, like it or not.  

A major difficulty for the auto makers is that EVs are impractical

for many drivers who live in the more distant suburbs of cities.

While EVs are less costly to maintain than gas-powered cars,

batteries need to be recharged every 200-300 miles, with the

effort taking 30 minutes or more even with the fastest available 

chargers. At present, most companies are losing thousands of 

dollars on each and every EV they sell, necessitating them 

raising the prices on their gas-powered trucks and SUVs

that an overwhelming majority of Americans prefer. 

The auto makers hope to lower EV costs over time via economies

of scale in manufacturing. They realize, however, that they could

be, at least for a long while, the only travelers to be seen on the 

electric highway and be losing money while rival firms enjoy

profits. So, what to do? Back President Biden's climate agenda

and get rewarded with subsidies and higher automobile prices.

Collusion to regulate the competition, effectively tying their

hands behind their backs, all while picking the consumers' pockets.

What a way to do business! 

MEM

Twitter vs. The Peasant, Round 2

New developments concerning my tussle with Twitter:

I can now access my Twitter page but can't do much with

it. The Twitter twits now won't let me follow anyone nor

have followers; they have erased my lists of both. When 

I try to follow someone I get a message stating "Your

account is suspended and is not permitted to follow users."

When I try to tweet someone I get this message: 

"Something went wrong, but don't fret --- let's give it another

shot." And when I give it another shot I receive the very same

message.  

When I tweet a general statement, i.e. to let you, my great and

wonderful readers who happen to be on Twitter know when I 

have posted another piece, more of the same as before. 

I also cannot "like" another entry from another Twitter user,

nor respond to same with a tweet of my own. At least I can 

still check the analytics of my past tweets, and I can still click

on my blog's link and summon up my blog to view, so those

of you on Twitter can access The Peasant in this way as well. 

And all the while Twitter STILL won't tell me why they've 

suspended my account, page and all! But I know why:

Twitter has taken issue with something I shared on my page.

You see, I have posted some political articles (of a conservative

nature, of course!) along with announcements of my latest topics

discussed on PWAP. I guess I must have triggered the bigwigs 

at Twitter with my righty content one too many times. Oh dear!

Well, I am demanding some answers to my questions regarding 

this attack on my First Amendment rights, starting with "Why 

was my Twitter account suspended?" I am appealing my 

punishment for a crime which is really not, launching it from

Twitter jail. This sort of thing has happened to too many people

to dismiss it as the whiny "I'll take my ball and go home!" 

attitude and behavior from the big baby known as Big Tech.

It's time to make a stand. All of us who have been abused in this 

manner by Big Tech must make a stand. All of us who have any

social media pages must make a stand; they cannot wait around 

for having their accounts suspended or being banned outright

as President Trump was so banned by Twitter. And the time to 

act is now. 

MEM

You Can't Make This Up!

Your constantly page-turning Peasant found this story 

in the latest edition of National Review; the organizers

of the Women's March (remember that?) tweeted a 

most remarkable tweet recently. Here's some excerpts 

from it:

"We apologize deeply for the email that was sent today.

$14.92 was our average donation amount this week.

... It was an oversight on our part not to make the connection

to a year of colonization, conquest, and genocide for 

Indigenous people, especially before Thanksgiving,"

and simply went on from there in a flurry of wokeness

and politically correct piety. A true exercise in left-wing

self-flagellation. Never mind that the Women's March(ers)

are not at all responsible for what Christopher Columbus

and his followers did or may have done, such self-inflicted

punishment must be carried out in order to purge and cleanse 

these marching ladies and their supporters of unwoke 

residue which may have resulted from this financial

revelation! 

And we, and the rest of the normal people in our land, 

fall down and dissolve in gales of laughter, clutching 

our midsections. 

MEM