"Firefighters used ropes to rescue her and the couple’s two children, a 7-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy, from the mangled Tesla."

"The children were uninjured, the authorities said at the time. The California Highway Patrol quickly determined the crash had been 'an intentional act.'"

From "Charges Against Man Who Drove Family Off Cliff Are Dropped After Treatment/Three counts of attempted murder against Dharmesh A. Patel were dismissed after he completed a court-ordered mental health program, prosecutors said" (NYT).

It was a 250-foot drop.

"'He can drive home tonight,' said [Steve Wagstaffe, the San Mateo County district attorney], whose office opposed the diversion program and had asked the court to bring Mr. Patel to trial. 'It’s like the case never happened.'"

"'Fun Times Square' said no New Yorker ever...."

‘Fun Times Square’ said no New Yorker ever...

— Seán Ono Lennon (@seanonolennon) January 17, 2026

"He was eight inches shorter in length than he was before he burned. That’s thermal fracture.... Not only are you riding on top of 3,000 pounds of batteries, this 'spaceship' design is a double-edged sword."

Said the plaintiff's lawyer, quoted in "Family sues Tesla after Cybertruck owner dies in 5,000-degree inferno, causing bones to disintegrate" (NY Post).

Do you want your car out there working for you — picking up strangers and driving them around — when you're not in it supervising the goings-on?

Elon Musk says Tesla’s fleet will be part Uber, part Airbnb

Tesla owners can easily add their vehicles to the autonomous fleet through the app when not using them.

They’ll earn money—often more than their monthly payment, while Tesla takes a small cut pic.twitter.com/j0tD7V3Onl

— Dima Zeniuk (@DimaZeniuk) June 22, 2025

It took me a moment to understand "They’ll earn money—often more than their monthly payment." I confess my first thought was "monthly payment" for what? Then I realized that people were being prompted to go into debt to buy cars that could work for them — robot slaves. Why stop at one if they're all expected to earn more than "their" car-loan payment? But you can see Musk smirking about the money he will make if people buy multiple Teslas in pursuit of the dream of a fleets of Teslas that crowd the streets of their town in the desperate, unending search for dollars to fend off the repo man.

Things I asked Grok: 1. What's the plot of the movie "Repo Man"? 2. Propose a remake of "Repo Man" where the cars are self-driving Teslas that people have gone into debt to buy because they believed in the AirBnB business model, recently proposed, where the car earns money for you while you're not even in it and people are hoping the cars will earn enough to pay off the loan they took to buy it, which was successful until supply way exceeded demand and thousands of car owners were caught short. 3. Would Elon Musk like this movie?

Grok answers: here.

What Joan Baez said about crashing her newly bought Tesla.

"Yes, I did. God was speaking to me, because I got this car—literally, I was trying it out. I drove for 45 minutes, I drove home—boom: I backed into a big tree and it was destroyed."

I read that in this Vanity Fair article: "Joan Baez Thinks Timothée Chalamet Was 'Too Clean' to Play Bob Dylan/The iconic musician opens up about her detachment from Dylan, her political engagement, and her real thoughts on A Complete Unknown."

I read that out loud and said: "That's a kind of corny old humor — something happens and you say 'God is punishing me' or something.'"

Meade said: "Well, she does have that song, 'I Believe in God.'"

The song is "God Is God" ("Yeah, I believe in God and God ain't me.... And I believe in God but God ain't us.... But I believe in God and God is God")(written by Steve Earle, who is, I think, the background singer).

"Turns out they were watching 'The Death of a Unicorn'...."

Who knew Tesla vandals were into unicorns?

Man gets caught kicking a Cybertruck. It doesn't end well for him. pic.twitter.com/LD7hNtPDQM

— Thomas Sowell Quotes (@ThomasSowell) April 3, 2025

ADDED: Strangely enough, this is not my first post that has both my "Tesla" and my "unicorns" tags. The other one, back in 2018, was about settling a lawsuit about a drawing of a farting unicorn that Tesla used as an icon on its video screen and Musk put in a Christmas message to customers. 

How to dress to work in the garden... if you are a goddess.

I got that image from the front page as it looks right now. It's sandwiched between "Tesla Sales Are Slumping, Even in the Most E.V.-Friendly Place" and "After a Slow Start, High-Speed Rail Might Finally Arrive in America."

Those 3 things in a row... oh, New York Times... must you?

IN THE COMMENTS: Aggie said, "Well, at least they got a good picture in that place away from the cameras."

"Tesla is the only company with all the ingredients for making intelligent humanoid robots at scale."

"My prediction is that Optimus will be the biggest product of all time by far. It will be 10 times bigger than the next biggest product ever made."

ELON MUSK: "Tesla is the only company with all the ingredients for making intelligent humanoid robots at scale.

My prediction is that Optimus will be the biggest product of all time by far. It will be 10 times bigger than the next biggest product ever made." pic.twitter.com/Aqa6SsnsQW

— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) April 2, 2025

Musk moves quickly into successes and failures. Yes, we could pause to cry a tear over Brad Schimel — upon whom once rested "the entire destiny of humanity" — but look here: Musk has got the biggest product ever made.

And:

pic.twitter.com/ZoideOC1RU

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 2, 2025

All right now. Who would mope about Wisconsin?!

There’s no success like failure....

AND: Embracing the notion that there's no success like failure, Musk now tweets: "I expected to lose, but there is value to losing a piece for a positional gain."

"You're pretending that these people are all coming out to see you. But they're coming out to see you 'cause you're giving them money and free food, right?"

"And you know, you're handing out water bottles, and everybody gets a sign, and everybody seems like they're kind of a part of a team. And for a lot of losers, a lot of people that don't have things going well in their life.... I was a loser at many points in my life. If somebody called me up and said, Hey man, you wanna make 400 bucks and just go to this Kamala Harris rally? I'm like, yeah, let's go. I would 100% go.... and I'd be like, yeah, I'm fucking voting for her, dude. He's Hitler, that guy. We gotta stop Hitler. And I'd be holding up that stupid sign — if you found me when I was 21. 100%. I would've taken that 400 bucks."

 

"President Trump will carry out his threat of 25 per cent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10 per cent on Chinese goods..."

"..., and said he 'absolutely' intends to impose tariffs on the European Union. Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday evening there was 'nothing' the three countries could do to avoid the tariffs, which in the US neighbours’ case are aimed at forcing them to curb the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs into America. The president made no mention of plans to target the UK, but added: 'We’ll be doing something very substantial with the European Union,' and said that the bloc had 'treated us so terribly.'..."

From "Trump to impose high tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China/The levies are intended to force countries to cut the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs into America. The president said he has plans to include the EU" (London Times).

"Trump is a long-standing admirer of the era, more than a century ago, when high tariffs were the cornerstone of US trade policy and Treasury revenue. 'We were at our richest from 1870 to 1913. That’s when we were a tariff country,' he said.... Chrystia Freeland, the former finance minister who is running to replace Trudeau as leader of the Liberal Party, said... that she was calling for a 100 per cent tariff on American wine, beer and spirits, as well as Tesla vehicles.... 'We need to be very targeted, very surgical, very precise,' Freeland said. 'We need to look through and say who is supporting Trump and how can we make them pay a price for a tariff attack on Canada.'"

What's "surgical" about going after "wine, beer and spirits"? Is it just that it always seems relatively palatable to make drinking more expensive — the idea of "sin taxes"?

By the way, when and where did the term "sin tax" arrive? Grok couldn't pin it down for me for me, so I checked the NYT archive. The second appearance of the term, on December 24, 1928, was as the name of a play:

"People who have insight."

 I'm trying to read "Inside Elon Musk’s Plan for DOGE to Slash Government Costs/Mr. Musk has turned to Silicon Valley to help recruit executives who will take up unofficial positions across the federal government" — in the NYT — but I was put off by the sources: "This story is based on interviews with roughly a dozen people who have insight into DOGE’s operations." 

What kind of distinction is that? We've all got insight.

Let's see:

Many of the executives involved are expecting to do six-month voluntary stints inside the federal government before returning to their high-paying jobs. Mr. Musk has said they will not be paid — a nonstarter for some originally interested tech executives — and have been asked by him to work 80-hour weeks....

So I guess some of the "originally interested" offered the "insight" that it's a special sort of person who wants to work that hard and for no pay.

"But Livelsberger, who was an active member of the Army’s elite Special Forces, was known to be a 'Rambo-type patriot' and staunch Trump supporter..."

"... and law enforcement officers are investigating if he had purposefully picked a Cybertruck to limit civilian casualties, rather than for political reasons, the sources said. If he had used a normal vehicle, the explosion would have likely taken out the glass doors of the building and possibly the lobby — potentially killing innocent bystanders. The Cybertruck’s impenetrable steel design contained the explosion, while still giving off large flames...."

From "Cybertruck bomber Matthew Livelsberger’s wife broke up with him days before explosion outside Trump hotel in Las Vegas: sources" (NY Post).

UPDATE: Notes left by Livelsberger on his phone: "This was not a terrorist attack, it was a wake up call. Americans only pay attention to spectacles and violence. What better way to get my point across than a stunt with fireworks and explosives."

Quoted by the NY Post, here. There's also this, from an FBI Special Agent: “Although this incident is more public and more sensational than usual, it ultimately appears to be a tragic case of suicide involving a heavily decorated combat veteran who was struggling with PTSD and other issues."

"The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards. Not even the glass doors of the lobby were broken."

Tweeted Elon Musk, showing this video of the aftermath of the explosion:

🚨 #BREAKING: Las Vegas Police release new video of the exploded Cybertruck outside of the Trump Hotel, showing explosive ordinances in the back

Police credited the lack of damage to the Trump Hotel to the strength of the Cybertruck, as it remained mostly intact.

“The explosion… pic.twitter.com/lajQZX2pOI

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) January 2, 2025

The bombs bursting in the Cybertruck gave proof through the night that our Trump Hotel glass doors were still there. 

"Much like the 'videotape format wars' Betamax and VHS fought in the 1970s and '80s, in the new millennium..."

"... automakers have vied for dominance over ways to charge EVs. Tesla created a proprietary, compact plug design; most other automakers used a shared design for a larger plug.... Tesla won. Within the last 18 months, every other EV maker in the U.S. has agreed to switch to Tesla's technology...."

From "Tesla won the plug war. Enter the age of the EV charging adapter" (NPR).

BUT: It seems to me that Tesla's technology was in the Betamax position — limited to one brand. Betamax was Sony. So looking at that analogy, the companies other than Tesla might well have thought their technology would win, even if it wasn't as good. That's what happened with VHS. 

"'[Musk] believes that if Trump wins Pennsylvania, he wins the election. He’s told us that repeatedly. He’s treating this almost like it’s a business deal'..."

"... said one Trump adviser. 'He knows if he loses this election, he’s screwed. The regulations, the attitude of a new Democratic administration, the animosity they’ll have for all the money he’s spent to help Trump — it’s a big business bet for him.' Musk has argued that a victory by Harris 'would destroy the Mars program and doom humanity.' Trump, in turn, has publicly endorsed Musk’s goal of accelerating a human mission to Mars.... 'Get ready, Elon, get ready,' Trump said at an Oct. 19 campaign rally. 'We gotta land it. We gotta do it quickly.' But Musk also casts his new involvement in politics as a moral crusade — to fight back against liberal social policies, protect the U.S. Constitution and oppose the 'big government machine.' 'If the Kamala machine wins, then we’ll see, I think, severe censorship,' he said at one recent rally. 'That’s why I think this is the last election.'"

From "Elon Musk is the October surprise of the 2024 election/The billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO, and owner of X, has interjected himself into a presidential race like no other titan before him" (WaPo)(free-access link, my last of the month, so use it well).

I wouldn't just follow Elon Musk, but Elon Musk, Tulsi Gabbard, and RFK Jr. are all on the same side. They are such different individuals, and they are all strongly for Trump. 

"I think this will be the biggest product — ever — of any kind."

pic.twitter.com/VK9vlGF0Ms

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 11, 2024

Meade's comment at 0:45: "Walks like Joe Biden."

My comment at 0:59: "It's like Rosie the Robot from 'The Jetsons.'"

"[Elon] Musk is so wedded to the idea of creating a civilization on Mars — he once said he plans to die there — that it has propelled nearly every business endeavor..."

"... he has undertaken on Earth. His vision for Mars underlies most of the six companies that he leads or owns.... The Boring Company, a private tunneling venture founded by Mr. Musk, was started in part to ready equipment to burrow under Mars’s surface, two of the people said. Mr. Musk has told people that he bought X, the social media platform, partly to help test how a citizen-led government that rules by consensus might work on Mars. He has also said that he envisions residents on the planet will drive a version of the steel-paneled Cybertrucks made by Tesla, his electric vehicle company...."

From "Thermonuclear Blasts and New Species: Inside Elon Musk’s Plan to Colonize Mars/SpaceX employees are working on plans for a Martian city, including dome habitats, spacesuits and researching whether humans can procreate off Earth. Mr. Musk has volunteered his sperm" (NYT)(free-access link).

"Mr. Musk’s decision to lay off the 500-member team responsible for installing charging stations, and to sharply slow investment in new stations, baffled the industry..."

"... and raised doubts about whether the number of public chargers would grow fast enough to keep pace with sales of battery-powered cars....  As the owner of the largest charging network in the United States, Tesla has a powerful effect on people’s views of electric cars.... Tesla does not disclose the financial performance of its charging business, but analysts say it requires capital that Mr. Musk would rather invest in artificial intelligence and robotics.... 'My guess is that the electricity and infrastructure costs of running the network far exceed the fees provided by Tesla and other drivers thus far,' Ben Rose, president of Battle Road Research, said..."

From "Tesla Pullback Puts Onus on Others to Build Electric Vehicle Chargers/The automaker led by Elon Musk is no longer planning to take the lead in expanding the number of places to fuel electric vehicles. It’s not clear how quickly other companies will fill the gap" (NYT).

It's a disaster, isn't it?

"Angela Chao, Sen. Mitch McConnell’s billionaire sister-in-law, spent her last minutes alive frantically calling her friends for help as her Tesla slowly sank in a pond..."

"... on a remote Texas ranch, according to a report.... Chao invited several of her girlfriends from Harvard Business School to spend the weekend on a gorgeous, sprawling 900-acre private property in Texas’ Hill Country.... While making a K-turn, she put the car in reverse instead of drive, she told them. While going backwards, the car went over an embankment and into a pond — and was sinking fast.... Blanco County emergency units finally arrived at 12:28 a.m. — a full 24 minutes after they received the call.... One responder described the Tesla as completely submerged. Sheriff’s deputies even stood on top of it during the rescue efforts, trying to bust open a window.... A tow truck arrived to pull the car out of the pond but it didn’t have a cable long enough to reach the vehicle.... A longer cable was finally retrieved. At least one tow truck driver, however, said he was afraid of being electrocuted by the electric vehicle...."

The NY Post reports.

Do electric cars threaten electrocution when submerged? If Chao had been able to get out of the car, would she have been electrocuted? And why was the window so hard to break? Was there a special problem with Tesla, where there's no way to open the door if the electronics fail? Did Chao believe help was on the way and decide to remain in the car? 

ADDED: Here's a Heatmap article from last October: "Help! Will My Electric Boat or Car Electrocute Me If It Sinks? Fact-checking a Trump-inspired fear."

"The car project’s demise was a testament to the way Apple has struggled to develop new products in the years since Steve Jobs’s death in 2011."

"The effort had four different leaders and conducted multiple rounds of layoffs. But it festered and ultimately fizzled in large part because developing the software and algorithms for a car with autonomous driving features proved too difficult.... If it ever came to market, an Apple car was likely to cost at least $100,000 and still generate razor-thin profit compared with smartphones and earbuds. It would also arrive years after Tesla had dominated the market. The company held some discussions with Elon Musk about acquiring Tesla.... But ultimately, it decided that building its own car made more sense...."

From "Behind Apple’s Doomed Car Project: False Starts and Wrong Turns/Internal disagreements over the direction of the Apple car led the effort to sputter for years before it was canceled this week" (NYT).