John Voelcker

Uhhhhh ... this is actually a SURPRISE ?!?!?

Community Boards Push Mamdani’s DOT to Use 'Sammy's Law' To Lower Speed Limits - Streetsblog New York City As City Hall and the Council bicker over lower speed limits, community boards are demanding action.

In recent weeks, several #NYC community boards have passed resolutions that ask the city's Department of Transportation to designate their districts as “slow zones” that officially limit vehicular speeds to 20 mph (vs citywide speed limit of 25 mph unless posted).

@nyc.streetsblog.org has it.

(3 of 3) ... with ZERO apparent paper trail on what it's being spent for.

Read the understated but horrifying piece by @vermontgmg.bsky.social to understand just how flagrant the opportunities for corruption, mismanagement, waste, fraud + general incompetence appear to be.

(2 of 3) "... meaningful national security experience, law enforcement experience, intelligence experience, nor homeland security experience.

"He has no meaningful work experience at all, in fact, in companies that don’t include his own name."

Meanwhile, DHS budget: $3 billion --> $53 billion ...

Adios Kristi Noem And yet Trump has now nominated to DHS someone even less qualified!

"Markwayne Mullin isn’t in any way qualified to be the leader of the nation’s 3rd-largest Cabinet dept, with a scope that stretches from FEMA + the Coast Guard to the entire border + immigration apparatus.

"In fact, he has no meaningful govt service experience at all. He has no ..." (1 of 3)

The Chevy Bolt's Chief Engineer Explains How Rebooting the EV Was More Complex Than You'd Think While the sub-$30K electric hatchback looks pretty much the same, what's underneath its skin is almost entirely new.

We're likely unable to parse costs allocated to the Bolt, but same sheet metal, reused tooling + most electrical + electronic components scavenged from other models already in product (most notably Equinox #EV) should make it just about as low-cost as a GM could conceivably make it.

Details here.

Given how little most people know about costs per kWh + per-mile costs, that's a worry.

But as their friends, relations, neighbors + coworkers continue to buy + drive #EV models, the message that "I don't see any real difference in my utility bill" vs cost of, say, full-home A/C starts to sink in.

You mean oil soaring past $100 a barrel? Couldn't hurt.

(3/3) The only remaining Q: How many GM will build over the next 14 months?

That may depend on how much it loses on each Bolt, since the WSJ reported the Bolt cells are coming from CATL in China.

Next Q: How many new, more affordable EVs it will have announced by, say, 2030? DISCUSS.

(2/3) GM knows the reboot of a car first sold in 2017 won't have legs.

But, the fact they did it at all suggests a Bolt successor in the wings, on a new, lower-cost platform (a la the Ford UEV), just as the Ultium joint-venture plant comes online to provide LFP cells made here in the U.S.

2027 Chevrolet Bolt First Drive: $29K price, 262 miles, all the old Bolt virtues Components borrowed from other GM EVs, a LFP battery, and up-to-date new software gives the classic Bolt a brief new life. The Bolt is back! The new 2027 Chevrolet Bolt has been available at some Chev...

The U.S. #EV market will grow as less-pricey models hit the market. Now, the eagerly awaited 2027 Chevrolet Bolt carries a starting price of $28,995 (*incl* destination) with a 262-mile range rating. It's at Chevy dealers today.

Still, lots of worries about its "limited run". My hot take:
(1/3)

Most Cops Get Crisis Intervention Training. Some Calls Still End in Tragedy. Eight times since 2019, NYPD officers shot or tased someone while responding to a 911 mental health call — despite completing the department's crisis intervention program, a review by THE CITY found.

Despite completing a #NYPD crisis intervention program on how to defuse 911 mental-health calls, officers have shot or tased someone 8 times—6 times *fatally*—since 2019 during their responses to such calls.

@thecity.nyc has it.

Also, apparently, Fox 'News' ran clips of a previous Dignified Transfer ceremony in which he was NOT wearing a baseball hat.

The network later said it was an "accident" and a "mistake" and an "error". OK then.

What’s Behind Arm and Tensor Bonding over AI Agentic Cars? I don't know what "the world’s first personal robocar and the first AI-agentic vehicle, fully autonomous, automotive-grade, and built for private ownership at scale" is about. I tried to dig into it.

A recent release touted “the world’s first personal robocar + the first AI-agentic vehicle—fully autonomous, automotive-grade + built for private ownership at scale."

"We’ve endured a seemingly endless hype cycle with robotaxis. We don’t need a re-run with 'AI Agentic vehicles.'

Amen.

Post by Jason (user name LongWall26): "Confident in my ability to properly tennis, I take the court. I smile at my opponent. Serena does not return the gesture. She'd be prettier if she did, I think. She serves. The ball passes cleanly through my skull, killing me instantly." In response to survey results posted on YouGov account: "One in eight men (12%) say they could win a point in a game of tennis against 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams." Link to survey at yougov.co.uk/opi/surveys/...

For International Women's Day, I need do no more than repost this banger by @longwall26.bsky.social.

For the record, that was the (now-departed) mayor, who's an ex-cop. Wasn't the #NYPD its actual self.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz wore 'Justice for Cricket' pin as he questioned Kristi Noem Moskowitz wore the pin, referencing a dog Noem said she once shot, during a House oversight hearing.

Yes, @repmoskowitz.bsky.social DID in fact wear a "Justice for Cricket" pin while questioning then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem three days ago. (She's since been fired.)

Cricket was the puppy Noem claimed she shot + killed because it wouldn't behave.

- Dogs: 1
- Noem: 0

ROTFL.

Unpacking claims Polymarket bets on Iran strikes point to insider knowledge Bettors on the site wagered more than half a billion dollars on when the U.S. would attack Iran. Some newer accounts made big money.

EXPLAINER: Puzzled by the reference to prediction markets? @snopes.com unpacks it.

"Six newly created Polymarket wallets made wagers on the correct timing of U.S. strikes on Iran + won a combined $1.2 million. We could not confirm people behind the accounts received insider knowledge ..."

‘They Are Making It Up As They Go Along’ Senator Chris Murphy says what he has heard behind closed doors proves a “senile” President Trump has no plan for Iran.

Senator @chrismurphyct.bsky.social says a 'senile' Trump has no plan for the Iran war.

He warns that "the White House risks pulling the U.S. into a drawn-out, expensive conflict reminiscent of the Iraq War."

Concerning.

(Note he also wants to ban prediction markets from betting on the war.)

This AI agent freed itself and started secretly mining crypto Crypto offers agents a pathway into the economy.

An AI agent went rogue + started mining cryptocurrency, which offered it a pathway into the real economy to set up its own businesses, draft contracts + exchange funds.

The agent attempted unauthorized crypto mining during training — a surprise behavior that triggered internal security alarms.

Oh.

Exclusive | NYPD pair turn Council office into frat-style party pad — but one is caught drunk on the job: sources Officers Dionis Bravo and Candice Guerra had been assigned to Council Speaker Julie Menin’s security detail but were pulled off active duty after Bravo allegedly went on a bender during an ov…

"The sudsy saga didn’t end there.

"Staffers found out [ #NYPD officers] Bravo + Guerra had been using an office in 250 Broadway — the building where the City Council keeps a base — as an after-hours ginmill, sources said."

Ah, the @nypost.com ...

My lord, and here I thought *I* was the cranky old man being contrarian for its own sake !!

I'm not an Upper West Sider. Never had one. Not relevant to life 4 miles southeast.

But will the next grifter have the unique combo of 40 yrs of obsessive focus on fawning media portrayals + 15 seasons of a top reality TV show + billions of $$$ extracted from banks, employees, marks, and many others + the pathological narcissism to view the entire world as transactional?

Doubtful.

All the polls on the U.S. war in Iran so far According to a simple average of new high-quality surveys, 38% of Americans approve and 49% disapprove of U.S. military action in Iran. When ignoring "don't know" respondents, 56% disapprove

About 38% of Americans support military strikes in Iran; 50% oppose them. It's the most unpopular war at launch in the history of modern polling. 92% of Americans backed the war in Afghanistan, 72% the Iraq invasion.

If history is any guide, war polling only moves in one direction from here: down.

Slice of cheese pizza, with arc of crust at left + point to the right.

The #NYC Holy Trinity is irretrievably broken.

When I came in 1981, the prices of 3 items (then 75 cents) moved in lockstep:
- subway token
- shirt laundered on hanger
- slice of cheese pizza

But NOW ...
- subway fare: $3
- shirt laundered on hanger: $3.35
- slice of cheese pizza: $4.50

Tragic.

Brewdog founder James Watt admits mistakes as hundreds lose jobs in sale James Watt apologises to staff and investors after hundreds of jobs were lost with the sale of the brewer and pub chain.

So much for 'Equity for Punks,' eh?

US private-equity firm TSG Consumer Partners was given "preference shares". It gets money back before the punks.

"AlixPartners previously said that equity holders—incl. those who invested in the firm's Equity for Punks scheme—would see no return from the deal."

US asks. Ukraine says - Yes. We Have a Proposal for Washington — If It’s Willing to Listen

"The way the Trump administration entered this conflict made its own course correction far more difficult than it needed to be.

"They bypassed Congress. They treated Europe as if it 'didn’t have the cards.' They assumed the Kremlin would quietly sit this one out.

"None of those assumptions held."

The Worst Acquisition in History, Again Warner Bros.

My exit interview from Time Inc. was the day the AOL takeover broke.

Lots of suited execs looking like they'd been hit with baseball bats: "What do MEAN the 'You've got mail' guy bought US ?!?!?"

So this pithy recount of Warner history by @profgalloway.com is painfully, sadly familiar. Read it.

It's a weird mix of metered + free streets, the latter at 99.98% capacity at any hour of the day or night except for street-cleaning day. Then, all parked cars on one side move to double-park across the street, stay idling until the sweeper (or traffic warden) comes thru, then move right back again.