| Home | Photos | Calendar | Newsletter | Members | Info | Join | About | Links | Contact |
"The Relay" Online Newsletter
|
If you do like I and many other car people then you check the ads for the old vehicles. The asking prices have really increased the last few years. This is bad because it can keep younger people with less spendable cash from getting into the old car hobby. Facebook Marketplace lists how long a vehicle has been for sale on its platform. It is not uncommon to see vehicles that have been for sale for weeks or months. On Ebay Motors and Craigslist I see vehicles that have been on both platforms for weeks or months. It appears that antiques are not selling quickly. But there are sales and there are buyers still out there but the high asking prices mean slow sales. Everything I buy now that I bought in the past has a higher price tag.
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
The Average $10,000-$15,000 Used Car Now Has Almost 100,000 Miles
From The Drive
It's not just new cars. Used cars are becoming less affordable, too.
Like seemingly everything else in this age of tariffs and other geopolitical crises, new cars are getting expensive. Transaction prices reached an average of $50,000 late last year and have hovered there since. And according to a recent study, those looking for relief on the used car market are increasingly out of luck.
Published by Edmunds, the study found that truly affordable used cars are becoming rarer, forcing budget-conscious shoppers into older cars with higher mileage. Researchers found that used cars priced between $10,000 and $15,000 today are almost nine years old on average, with approximately 98,000 miles. It’s true that the average age of cars on U.S. roads has crept up, but that’s still four years older than the average $10,000-$15,000 used car in 2019, with 40,000 more miles.
This is the result of what Edmunds aptly calls a “striking” shift in the used-car market. In the second quarter of 2019, used cars sold for under $20,000 accounted for 55.2% of that market, but that shrank to 31.8% in Q2 2026. The share of cars sold for under $15,000 went from 31.6% in 2019 to 17.8% in 2026. Meanwhile, the share of used cars sold for $50,000 or more nearly quadrupled from 2.3% in 2019 to 8.3% in 2026.
This shift is being enabled by strong demand for used cars—even at higher prices. According to Edmunds, the average transaction price of a three-year-old used car in the second quarter of 2026 was $32,461. That was a record high for Q2, up 4% from the same time last year and 15.5% from Q2 2021, when pandemic-related supply constraints began to artificially raise used-car prices. Yet three-year-old used cars sold just as quickly in Q2 2026 as they did in Q2 2025, averaging 38 days on dealer lots in both quarters. Dwell time on lots is a key industry metric of sales pace.
As Edmunds notes, prices for used cars have been increasing steadily since the pandemic thanks to a drought of used inventory. That’s likely to continue to be a problem for used-car shoppers, as even the relatively short production stoppages necessitated by the pandemic meant lots of cars were never built, leaving a smaller pool of used ones.
The unchanged sales pace of three-year-old used cars shows that shoppers aren’t balking at higher prices. Given the current situation, it would admittedly seem naive to expect used-car prices to drop soon. Shoppers haven’t reached a breaking point… yet.
See all the photos at 41st Annual Mustang and Ford Show September 19
This Ontario man sold his SUV 15 years ago. Then he received a towing and storage bill for it this summer.
From CP24
A Toronto (Canada) man said he was shocked when he received a more than $1,000 towing and storage bill for an SUV he sold 15 years ago after the vehicle was never registered to the new owner.
“I don’t think that’s quite fair. I don’t think it was my responsibility to follow the buyer to make sure he transferred the ownership,” said Mario Iamundo, who sold his 2002 Honda CRV in 2011.
Earlier this summer, Iamundo said he received a bill from Classic Towing and Storage in Etobicoke, asking him to pay a total of $1,130 in towing and storage fees.
“They informed me that even though the car was marked as sold, my name was still the last registered owner on that vehicle’s history,” said Iamundo.
“I was responsible to pay the storage fees for a car I haven’t seen in 15 years, which doesn’t seem fair to me,” said Iamundo.
In a statement to CTV News, General Manager of the towing company Kevin Araya said that it is more common than people realize for new owners not to transfer vehicle registration.
“We go by the registered vehicle owner. We don’t go by who it was sold to,” said Araya.
It’s not clear if someone had been driving the car for the past 15 years before it was recently impounded.
“My biggest advice is to hand over the ownership and get them to change it into their name, and only then give them the keys, because until then they (the seller) are still the rightful owner,” said Araya.
In a statement, a spokesperson on behalf of the Ontario Ministry of Transportation told CTV News that “Buyers must register themselves as the new owner of a used vehicle within six days of the sale. After that period, sellers can visit a Service Ontario centre to update the vehicle’s status to “sold.”
The ministry said that while vehicle ownership will still appear registered until ownership is officially transferred, the vehicle’s sold status will still be recorded.
“Once ownership has properly been transferred, the former owner is no longer responsible for the vehicle. If the transfer is not completed properly, the vehicle may continue to appear in the previous owner’s name until the ownership is updated.”
A spokesperson for the Toronto Police Service told CTV News that when vehicles are sold privately through online marketplaces or sold to vehicle recycling facilities, a properly completed bill of sale must be completed by the seller.
Police said that “when a purchaser fails to transfer ownership with the Ministry of Transportation, the vehicle remains registered in the seller’s name, despite no longer being in their possession.”
“The Ministry of Transportation cannot change the ownership into the purchaser’s name without the proper application being submitted by the purchaser.”
Under the Repair and Storage Liens Act, tow operators can seek payment from the registered owner, regardless of who actually owns the vehicle.
Iamundo said he reluctantly paid the storage fee but thinks there should be more safeguards in place to protect consumers from being on the hook for charges long after they’ve sold their vehicle.
Be sure to contact DMV and let them know you have sold a vehicle
Jewels Found On Ebay
Here are a couple of hot finds from Ebay Motors.
eBay item number: 128031843692
$13,489.00 or Best Offer
eBay description: 1963 Falcon Convertible - Rare
Changed engine from a 170ci to a 200ci.
4 speed Ford Dagenham transmission. Auto trans available.
New items:
New plugs, harness, distributor, oil pump, rebuilt engine from a 65 mustang. Low milage, maybe 30 miles? Car has been covered & in storage.
New Carburetor, starter.
Replaced hood with a newer, cleaner one. Old one damaged.
New paint.
New Window regulators.
New glass, windshield.
New special foam cover on the dash .
New rebuilt brakes, master cylinders, drums, shoes.
New front end - shocks, wheel bearings, tie rods, etc.
New tires, rims.
Rebuilt convertible frame. Bead blasted, painted, new hardware.
Top Automatic, electrically driven. Motor rebuilt.
New grill. Very hard to find in a non- damaged condition.
New rebuilt instrument cluster display.
Changed to an alternator, generator gone.
Bumpers re-chromed.
Many items purchased rubber, hardware, etc. In the trunk.
Many old parts available. Engine, rear-end, transmission, etc.
Items to address:
Needs a complete interior, top.
Electrical harness needs addressing. Only firewall to the interior.
Just a tune-up with the new carb.
A lot of money for an early Falcon. A car so cheap that it only had one light on the dash for both turn signals. This car needs an interior and a top plus the wiring needs work and the engine needs a tune-up (whatever that means today). This seller has lowered the price - he needs to keep lowering it until someone buys it. And he might have to do a lot of lowering.
Next up is another "project".
eBay item number: 287579625770
$5,000.00 or Best Offer
eBay description: 100% +++ complete. Father – son project. Dad (retired mechanic) passed and I am not able to complete. Stock, NOS resto project. Front end, rear end rebuilt. New drums/brake hardware. 20K on detailed 223 6 cyl, 3 spd on column, no power, radio/clock delete. NEW NOS seats, NEW wiring (bumper to bumper) kit. NEW stock door panels, NOS/Repro seat/rear deck fabric/vinyl, Original headliner in great shape.Visi-flow carbs ++, vintage mirrors, Ford mechanical, sales, other wagon literature, YOM registered CA plates. Cert of ownership in hand. Powder coated air vents/intakes, radiator support, NEW stock radiator. Door, window, tailgate/liftgate interior hardware/bolts labeled and notebook of descriptions inc. Dozen stock dog dish, set of 58/59 full hubs, set of 59 Lincoln, set of 60 chrome bottle cap dog dishes. Patch panels rear qtrs, rockers, dog legs. Glass excellent. Body was being cut but unable to complete. Very complete and plus plus plus. Incs. shop equip Forney 140 welder, plasma cutter, tools, etc.
In case you can't guess what it is it is a 1959 Ford Ranch Wagon. I love these vehicles that are taken completely apart and then the person realizes they can't fix it and put it all back together. This wagon needs serious body work and will take much time and money to complete. With that 223-6 and its 4 doors it is not all that valuable. The seller has over 40 pics including a lot of photos of all the pieces and parts. Shouldn't have taken it all apart - on photo of what it looked like before disassembly shows a pretty nice vehicle. But the owner decided it needed a total resto - good luck with selling it.
eBay item number: 278373034926
$6,500.00 or Best Offer
eBay description: 1953 chevy truck short bed 3 window cab. All body panels are off truck and recently restored from a body shop in 2k primer. All body panels except for the cab are ready for paint. All body panels are gm original that were stripped to bare metal. I have 2 front fenders, 2 rear fenders, 1 tailgate, 1 bed head board, 2 bedsides, 2 doors, 1 hood, 1 core support, 1 chrome grille, both chrome bumpers, weatherstrip kit, all the deluxe cab stainless, both running boards, both bed fillers all redone and ready to go. Plus extras. Only the cab is left to do and it’s very solid. I have a very nice original seat, several new parts, over 10k spent at body shop and new parts! Updated to 10 bolt rear from a camaro. Front hubs converted to Chevy car bolt circle as well. Very good start for a cool truck. No engine or transmission. Set up for Chevy v8 and automatic. It’s sold with a va dmv bill of sale. Title can be had with a 60-90 day wait. Please see all pictures for details. Thanks
Hot double dog - a Virginia DMV bill of sale - there is no VA DMV offical bill of sale. The DMV website says what is in a bill of sale - you know date of sale, odometer reading, sale price, etc. And that get a title in 60 to 90 days - I'm guessing the seller means you go through the abandoned vehicle process to get a title. But this is not an abandoned vehicle, it is a vehicle for sale and the seller wants to get paid. But DMV also wants to get paid and will set a price for this from some guide. So expect to pay a lot of sales and use tax on this project. This is another vehicle taken apart with photos of all the bits and pieces. Why would someone spend time and money on a vehicle with no title?
Chesterfield’s $565 million Powhite Parkway extension to begin this winter
From WRIC ABC 8 News
After a few decades of planning, construction on Chesterfield County’s $565 million Powhite Parkway extension project is set to begin this winter.
During the county board of supervisors meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 26, Transportation Director Chessa Walker said the county plans to advertise a construction contract this month for the project’s first phase.
The full extension would add about nine miles to the parkway, running south and west from its current terminus near Route 288 to Hull Street Road, near the Richmond Metro Zoo and Grange Hall Elementary School.
“This is monumental in terms of getting our transportation network in this area built out,” Walker said in her presentation to the board. “We’re making good progress from the north and from the south.”
The plan has been part of Chesterfield’s throughfare plan since the late 1980s and has included a dotted line representing a future extension of Powhite Parkway connecting to Hull Street Road.
According to Walker, Chesterfield has secured nearly $300 million of the full $565 million needed for the entire extension.
“We’ll continue to search for local, regional, state and federal dollars to cover the balance. If we can secure the funding, we can have the two lanes built all the way to Route 360 by 2034,” Walker said.
Construction will begin by the end of this year or early 2027 on a fully funded $150 million project to extend the four-lane roadway from its current terminus to Woolridge Road, officials said.
The Virginia Department of Transportation will also remove the 75-cent Powhite Parkway toll at Courthouse Road in January 2027.
For more information about the extension, visit the Chesterfield On Point page.
See all the photos at September Brides (and grooms) Cruise-in at Applebees September 19
Spanberger’s Carbon Tax Sets New Record, Could Add $1 Billion to Electricity Costs in One Year
From Jefferson Forum
The impact of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative carbon tax on your electric bill – and everything you buy which depends on electricity – will be double what the General Assembly’s Democrats claimed it would be just a few months ago. The hit on your wallet is just getting started.
Virginia’s first sale of Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon allowances since 2023 will collect $259 million from electricity producers and allowance market speculators, almost one third as much money as the prior twelve such auction combined.
It is also double the official fiscal impact statement from the 2026 Assembly session. Virginia’s electricity producers may pay up to $1 billion in carbon tax this fiscal year and then set about finding ways to pass the cost to customers.
The new clearing price of $37.65 per ton of carbon emissions was announced by the RGGI organization on Friday morning. That is 8 percent higher than the price set in June ($35 per ton) and 69 percent higher than the September 2025 clearing price of $22.25 per allowance. This was the first RGGI quarterly auction to exceed $1 billion in revenue across all the participating states.
The quarterly auction was last Wednesday, the first with Virginia as a participant since December 2023. As of July, large electric power generators in the state must buy and then retire an allowance from RGGI for every ton of emissions from their generators.
Dominion Energy Virginia is the largest consumer of RGGI allowances. When the state was last part of the 11-state compact, the utility added the cost of allowances directly onto its customers’ monthly bills with a rate adjustment clause. It already has a petition at the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) to start doing that again early next year, at $13 per 1,000 kilowatt hours.
That proposed monthly cost was not based on these higher prices. In its application, Dominion didn’t expect an allowance price of $38 until about 2028. The December auction in three months will probably exceed that level.
In the wake of the June auction’s result of $35 per ton and Dominion’s application to the SCC, the Virginia General Assembly voted to create a refund mechanism on RGGI allowance costs passed along to utility consumers. It will only be available to residential customers and the smallest business customers. Only about 45% of the state’s RGGI proceeds (opponents consider it a carbon tax) will go to rebates.
More than half of the $259 million Virginia will collect on this auction will be used to fund energy conservation projects for low-income homeowners or pay for flood mitigation projects. If the September price holds in the December 2026 auction, Virginia will collect another $216 million from the generators.
Not every generation company having to buy RGGI allowances has a mechanism like Dominion’s to collect it back from customers. And Dominion’s larger customers, including industrial, large retail and data center users, will see no rebates. A subcommittee of the Energy Commission of Virginia will be meeting September 21 with RGGI as the main agenda item.
In its application at the State Corporation Commission, Dominion has proposed that the state-ordered RGGI rebates begin at the time its proposed rate adjustment clause is also set to start in early 2027. It also has proposed granting the bill credits quarterly. Since the state treasury will be taking in the RGGI revenue long before that, legislators will be tempted to put the cart before the horse and order rebates in advance.
Virginia first joined RGGI under former Governor Ralph Northam (D) and required the generation firms to buy allowances for three years, 2021 through 2023. Those twelve auctions cost the utilities and their customers $828 million. Former Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) ordered the regulation suspended; an action later voided by the courts, but Virginia skipped the next ten auctions.
Governor Abigail Spanberger (D) led the push to return Virginia to the compact, which sets a cap on electricity-related carbon emissions. That cap is set to decline substantially faster in 2027 than was originally planned, as was explained recently by the Department of Environmental Quality in this presentation.
As some of the slides make clear, there is a major gap between the amount of carbon emissions coming from Virginia’s power producers, 33.4 million tons in 2025, and the carbon allowances Virginia has available to sell, 20.4 million allowances in 2027 and 12.8 million by 2030. The tension between supply and demand plays a major role in the cost of allowances.
Expect that growing gap between supply and demand to produce three outcomes: 1) higher RGGI allowance prices over time, 2) higher Virginia energy imports from non-RGGI states within PJM and 3) a general but steady rise of all prices in PJM’s day ahead and spot energy markets because RGGI-covered generation costs will set the price for everybody.
The DEQ presentation also explains that the amended state regulation to implement the more stringent RGGI regime, adopted by the other states before Virginia rejoined, will be done by the Spanberger administration with no public comment period or even a vote by the Air Pollution Control Board. The 2026 General Assembly suspended the normal rules for its adoption.
See all the photos at 25th Annual Southern Knights Cruisers Veterans Car and Bike Show September 26
The Briefs
Federal auto safety regulators have opened an investigation into whether Tesla properly certified its new Cybercab for use on public roads.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced the probe on Friday, one day after Tesla held a closed-door Cybercab launch event in Austin, Texas.
The two-seat, gold-colored electric vehicle is designed to operate without a human driver. It has no steering wheel, brake pedals, or traditional side mirrors.
Existing Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards require manual controls like brake pedals. The Transportation Department is working to update some of those rules to accommodate fully autonomous vehicles, but those changes have not yet been finalized.
Tesla did not seek a federal exemption that would allow it to operate the Cybercab in a commercial fleet, according to NHTSA. Instead, the company certified that the vehicle already meets all the applicable standards.
NHTSA said it will examine the technical data and process Tesla used to reach that conclusion.
An auto industry alliance is urging Congress to permanently ban Chinese connected vehicles and related technology from the U.S. market, citing national security and economic concerns.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents manufacturers producing most vehicles sold in the United States, called on congressional leaders Thursday to act before this Congress ends on Jan. 3, 2027.
In a letter to House and Senate leaders, Alliance president and CEO John Bozzella said China’s auto industry has benefited from unfair trade practices, government subsidies, intellectual property theft, and surveillance.
Volkswagen won board approval for a restructuring plan that includes cutting about 50,000 additional jobs worldwide and simplifying its vehicle lineup, as Europe’s biggest automaker seeks to improve profitability.
A flock of localities fly away from Flock Cameras. According to Cardinal News, at least 20 Virginia localities have paused or canceled Flock Safety automated license-plate readers and gunshot sensors since July, with Lynchburg voting 6-0 to begin ending its contract (54 detectors, 15 cameras) and several sheriffs in Southwest/Central Virginia following suit. Officials cite privacy, civil-liberties, and trust concerns despite police claims the tools help recover stolen vehicles, find missing people, and solve violent crimes; no misuse has been alleged, and state law requires 21-day deletion of collected videos. Roanoke is partially removing devices; others have let contracts lapse. Republican Sen. Glen Sturtevant plans a bill to ban Flock statewide. As our culture continues its decline into lawlessness, violence, and other threats, localities need to balance safety and civil liberties more than ever -- no longer an easy decision for me. Governor Spanberger says a ban on Flock cameras is "overly simplistic." Regardless, Virginia should end its requirement for front license plates, as Jefferson Forum has proposed!
No Spare Tire? That’s Why AAA Got 405,000 Calls
AAA responded to more than 400,000 roadside assistance calls during the 2025 Labor Day holiday period alone, with the usual suspects — dead batteries, flat tires, lockouts, and vehicles needing tows — topping the list (wlaq1410.com). But a key factor quietly driving the towing numbers higher is the ongoing disappearance of the spare tire: AAA's own research shows that roughly 30 percent of new cars no longer come with a spare as standard equipment, up from just 5 percent in 2006, leaving an estimated 30-million-plus vehicles on U.S. roads without one (aaa.com).
Without a spare, what would be a routine roadside tire change becomes a mandatory tow to a repair facility, significantly inflating both call volume and costs for stranded drivers (newsroom.aaa.com). The alternatives automakers provide — tire sealant kits and run-flat tires — only work in limited circumstances and are ineffective for sidewall damage or blowouts (aaa.com). AAA recommends that buyers invest in an optional spare tire when purchasing a new vehicle to avoid being left on the shoulder.
A coalition of 25 state attorneys general called on federal agencies and Congress to defund the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, charging that the organization had used taxpayer dollars to produce reports that supported plaintiffs in climate lawsuits against energy companies.
A Fayetteville, Georgia, owner rolled his 1966 Corvette out of basement storage after six months, only to discover the brake pedal went straight to the floor on his steep driveway. The mechanical e-brake produced nothing either. Faced with parked cars, a fence over a lake, or his own house, he chose the house—and home surveillance cameras caught the whole thing. It's a vivid reminder that brake lines, seals, and fluid can quietly fail while a classic sits, and testing them before driving isn't optional.
A Drive investigation documents how AI-generated listings — complete with fake photos, synthetic voices, and fabricated dealership identities — are proliferating across Facebook Marketplace. One highlighted case: a $36,000 Toyota 4Runner that never existed, built entirely by AI tools that have dramatically lowered the barrier to running convincing scams at scale.
The FTC has flagged AI-generated content as an emerging fraud vector amid a sharp increase in online marketplace losses, and the investigation raises pointed questions about whether Meta's moderation systems can catch fabricated listings before buyers send real money.
For the first time in 112 years, the Atlantic Ocean has made it past the midway point of hurricane season without seeing a single hurricane. Only two years have passed since 1851 without a single hurricane being recorded in the Atlantic. Did we successfully reversed climate change?
On September 2, the City of Kerrville, Texas responded to an unusual call: A local healthcare worker had arrived for work, only to hear a cat crying from inside their engine bay. On Facebook, the City of Kerrville said the newborn kitten had made the trip “all the way from Rocksprings, Texas,” which meant it had been riding inside the engine for at least 76 miles. “[Peterson Health] hospital staff removed the vehicle’s front grille to safely reach the kitten, with City of Kerrville Animal Control Officer James Lee on scene to assist with the rescue and hand her off to Kerrville Pets Alive!” The City of Kerrville stated. “The kitten is now in Kerrville Pets Alive!'s care, where she’ll be paired with a nursing mother.”
Gas Station in a Classroom - A teacher in Georgia recently went viral for a special space she made in her classroom -- a "fart corner." Today.com reported on Aug. 25 that second grade teacher Candy Sydney-Browning created a "gas station" in her classroom for students who just need to let one rip. "I have a very weak stomach, so I cannot take it," Sydney-Browning said. The gas station is marked with a yellow sign that reads "GUSTY WINDS AREA," and students are not required to raise their hands to ask permission to visit the gas station. The students have taken the corner in stride. Sydney-Browning said some initially turned around or smiled when someone needed to visit the gas station, but soon no one was paying attention. "It just became a norm," she said.
Kiante Matlock of Houston had a rude awakening when he checked his Ring camera on Aug. 24, Fox 26 reported. Matlock was playing a video game when he got a notification that his DoorDash order had arrived. When he checked his Ring camera, he saw his delivery driver was in his birthday suit. In the buff. Naked as a jaybird. Matlock threw his food away and asked DoorDash for a refund, which they promptly issued. In a statement, a DoorDash spokesperson called the driver's behavior "vulgar and completely unacceptable." "What this consumer experienced was abhorrent, and we've reached out directly to offer our support," they said. "Our team permanently removed [the driver's] access to our platform. We do not tolerate sexual harassment or misconduct of any kind, and we stand ready to assist law enforcement with any investigation."
An alleged dumpster diver had to be rescued from a garbage truck on Sept. 2, the LA Times reported. A driver for Recology, a commercial waste collection company, picked up and emptied a dumpster, and then ran the trash compactor before hearing yelling from inside the truck and calling 911. When firefighters arrived, they couldn't just reach in and pull the man out -- he might have had crush injuries -- or have the driver dump all the trash out, which could have released hazardous material, such as glass, batteries and even vermin. What followed was a two-hour rescue effort. Paramedics were able to get an IV in the man's arm while firefighters carefully removed the trash with pike poles. The man was conscious when firefighters reached him, and he was taken to a local hospital. The extent of his injuries was undisclosed; one firefighter suffered a laceration injury during the rescue but is in stable condition.
In India, a family used a crane for an unusual reason. Gulf News reported on Sept. 9 that Manoj Yadav, who works in Israel, did not have anyone available to drive his car, a Mahindra Scorpio Classic, while he was away. His family wanted to park it somewhere safe, and they decided on ... the roof. Videos shared on social media show the SUV being hoisted by a crane before being placed on the roof of the family's two-story house. "Now that's what you call taking parking to the next level," Anand Mahindra, CEO of the company that manufactures the Scorpio, said in a social media post, before urging people to not try the same thing at home and expressing concerns about whether the home could sustain the extra weight.
When Bruce Roach of Vancouver Island approached his parked 1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme on Monday morning, Sept. 14, he discovered the windshield had been broken, CTV reported. Security footage from the seniors complex where he lives showed a surprising culprit: an elk. In the video, a male elk is seen chasing a female elk before crashing through the windshield and running away. "He was in hot pursuit," complex manager Sam Hildebrandt said, noting that elk are not an uncommon sight in the area. The car's age makes replacement parts hard to track down, but Roach plans to repair his beloved ride.
It had to happen: Late-model BMW owners are starting up their cars to find a commercial for Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Responding to a request for information about the ad from The Autopian, BMW confirmed the animation is part of a broader partnership with the film:
"A few of our vehicles – including the BMW iX3 – were in the film, and a special edition iX3 was featured on the red carpet during last night's premiere in Los Angeles."
In a press release linked in BMW's response, the ad is called a "special banner" and "festive animation." According to users on the BMW subreddit, previous "festive animations" such as one that purported to celebrate July 4th have all essentially been BMW ads. It was inevitable that they would morph into ads for third-party products.
To BMW's credit, the ad doesn't autoplay, but the driver must interact with the banner in some way to clear it, so they earn only an infinitesimal bit of credit for not going full Black Mirror.
S.1669 - AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act of 2023
From: Congress.Gov
This bill requires the Department of Transportation (DOT) to issue a rule that requires all new passenger motor vehicles to have devices that can access AM broadcast stations installed as standard equipment. (AM broadcast stations are often used to deliver emergency alerts and news and entertainment programming; some newer vehicles do not include AM equipment.)
Specifically, this bill applies to passenger motor vehicles (1) manufactured in the United States, imported into the United States, or shipped in interstate commerce; and (2) manufactured after the rule's effective date.
The DOT rule must require all such vehicles to have devices that can receive signals and play content transmitted by AM broadcast stations or digital audio AM broadcast stations installed as standard equipment.
Prior to the rule's effective date, manufacturers that do not include devices that can access AM broadcast stations as standard equipment (1) must inform purchasers of this fact through clear and conspicuous labeling; and (2) may not charge an additional or separate monetary fee, payment, or surcharge for AM broadcast station access.
DOT may assess civil penalties against any manufacturer that fails to comply with the mandate. The Department of Justice may also bring a civil action to enjoin a violation.
Further, the Government Accountability Office must study and report on the dissemination of emergency alerts and warnings to the public, including (1) an assessment of AM broadcast stations relative to other Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) communication technologies, and (2) the integration of new and emerging technologies and communication platforms into the IPAWS framework.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill mandating AM radio in all new vehicles, a direct response to BMW, Tesla, Volkswagen, and others dropping AM receivers from recent models—particularly EVs, where electric drivetrain interference gave manufacturers a convenient excuse to cut the tuner.
Bipartisan sponsors argue AM remains critical emergency-alert infrastructure: free, accessible, and functional when cellular and internet networks go down. The bill still needs Senate passage and a presidential signature, but the House vote signals strong political will to keep AM tuners standard.
Repair Mistakes & Blunders
From Rock Auto
My first new car was a 1985 turbo-diesel VW Jetta. I loved that car and eventually put 300,000 miles on it. After the first 150,000 miles, the timing belt broke. Because it was an “interference” engine, the broken belt wrecked the Cylinder Head. My brother-in-law was a pretty good shade-tree mechanic in addition to his day job as an engineer, and he reluctantly agreed to help me remove the head and send it to a local machine shop for repair. After three or four days, the head came back, and we put everything back together on a Saturday morning before heading to an event later that day.
Everything went well during the installation until we got to the Head Gasket. We couldn't figure out which side was supposed to face up. There was some very faint printing on the gasket that looked like “oben,” but that meant nothing to us, and we couldn't see any difference between the two sides. So, we put it all back together, started the car, let it idle, and everything seemed perfect. Later that day, we left for our event in separate cars. After about five miles, traveling at 50 mph, I heard a huge racket, and the engine suddenly cut out. Fortunately, my brother-in-law was driving right behind me. We eventually towed the car back to his house and removed the head again the next day. We could clearly see the damage, so the head went back to the machine shop for another repair.
When we took it back, we asked if they had any idea what had caused the problem. They asked if we had installed the Head Gasket correctly. We told them we thought we had, but couldn't find any indication of which side was supposed to be on top. They then asked if the gasket said “oben” on it. We said it did, but admitted that we had no idea what that meant. Of course, they laughed and explained that oben is German for “above” or “over” — in other words, top. Would have been nice to have the internet back then! Lesson learned.
Will in Florida
Gov. Newsom visits Jay Leno's famed garage to sign legislation honoring California's classic-car heritage
From Spectrum News
Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed Senate Bill 1392, also known as Jay Leno's Law, creating a phased in smog check exemption for qualifying collector cars built between 1976 and 1985.
According to his press office Wednesday, the governor also signed AB 2541, establishing a lowrider specialized license plate program to honor a uniquely Californian tradition rooted in Latino artistry, cultural identity and civic pride, while helping support youth engagement and related arts and cultural programs.
“These bills protect a treasured part of California culture, giving car owners a way to preserve these pieces of history for generations to come," Newsom said in a statement, per Wednesday's news release. "The Golden State is made for classic-car lovers, and our lowriders are timeless masterpieces that connect art, activism, and cultural identity throughout our state."
“The governor stuck with this legislation through the last couple of years to preserve California's classic car heritage, and that's rare,” Leno said in a statement. “The car community has been waiting on this for a long time, and they notice when someone follows through."
Newsom also signed SB 1069 to expedite the review process for manufacturers seeking state approval for the sale of aftermarket parts.
State Senator wants to make Flock, other similar cameras illegal in Virginia
From WRIC ABC 8News
Republican State Senator Glen Sturtevant (R-Colonial Heights) said he’ll introduce legislation during next year’s General Assembly session to make Flock and similar automatic license plate reader cameras illegal in Virginia.
“Virginia should not become a surveillance state,” Sturtevant told 8News.
The cameras capture images of vehicles and license plates and put them into a searchable database.
Currently, Virginia law says law enforcement can only use the data collected for legitimate law enforcement purposes. Additionally, data collected needs to be deleted after 21 days unless it’s part of an ongoing case, and there are limits on who law enforcement agencies can share their data with.
“Government should not be building a statewide surveillance database of average everyday Virginians who haven’t done anything wrong, just going about their daily lives,” Sturtevant said.
Meanwhile, criminologist and former police officer Tod Burke said Flock and other cameras do benefit law enforcement and can improve public safety, especially if a vehicle is leaving the scene of a crime that just occurred.
“Officers can then be notified as to where this vehicle is going,” Burke told 8News. “It prevents crime because if you have this apprehension, they’re not able to create further crimes.”
However, he added concerns over privacy, data retention and more shouldn’t be taken lightly.
“I think before there’s any implementation by any agency, there has to be careful consideration of the advantages and disadvantages, ” Burke said. “Have the community help make the decision on whether this is something that they want.”
8News reached out to Flock for this story, but never heard back.
The 2027 General Assembly Session begins in January.
As Flock Cameras Pop Up Everywhere, Opposition Is Rising
From The Epoch Times
The AI-driven network of more than 120,000 cameras is expanding throughout the United States, raising concerns about legality and mass surveillance..
Its cameras are installed on poles at street corners, in parks and residential communities, and near countless businesses, tracking vehicles and private citizens across a growing surveillance network accessible by thousands of U.S. law enforcement agencies.
Now Flock Safety’s cameras—designed to monitor and catalog motor vehicles by license plate and physical characteristics—are facing scrutiny from lawmakers and private citizens alike, and acts of vandalism from activist vigilantes.
In several incidents, activists cut cameras down with reciprocating saws, hit them with trucks and baseball bats, and defaced lenses with spray paint.
In a more peaceful statement of protest, one Florida resident braves the heat for hours each day, holding a sign that reads “Down with the Flock” in front of a Flock camera near his home in St. Petersburg.
What has led to such a visceral reaction to the Atlanta-based company’s camera rollout?
Beyond concerns of mass surveillance and loss of privacy, there are dozens of reports of mistaken traffic stops, in which innocent motorists were pulled over, jailed, or held at gunpoint after a Flock automated license plate reader gave law enforcement a false vehicle match.
There are also cases in which officers allegedly used Flock’s camera database to stalk romantic interests, ex-partners, or relatives. A former Sarasota, Florida, police officer is facing felony charges for allegedly using Flock Safety technology to search for a single license plate hundreds of times.
Some legal scholars have argued that the technology violates the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, specifically by storing personal data in the company’s databases so the data can be accessed by a growing network of law enforcement agencies contracting with Flock.
“When you start getting into a surveillance economy, when you start expanding it beyond the purview of safety into true greed, it crosses a lot of lines,” Harry Maugans, cybersecurity expert and CEO of Privacy Bee, told The Epoch Times.
“I believe privacy is a human right. ... Flock crosses that ethical boundary.”
Others have said that Flock cameras present humanity with a worthy tradeoff: A camera on every street corner could solve cold cases and prevent future crime at a level that surpasses what police officers could achieve without them.
Flock has touted anywhere from 90 percent to 99 percent accuracy rates on its license plate reading cameras, but an analysis from a California police department of its own use of the technology—based on 2023 and 2024 data—gave it a 71 percent failure rate on vehicle matches for stolen or felony-linked vehicles.
“My biggest worry is that we are not prepared systematically for any of the amount of data that’s being collected, either to process its consequences and actually use it in the right way, if there is a way to do that: to hold, retain, and secure it,” Suraj Mirpuri, a tech engineer and founder of artificial intelligence firm Lowdown Labs, told The Epoch Times.
Types of Flock Cameras
Flock offers a variety of products in its surveillance tech suite, including license plate readers, both fixed and mobile security cameras on trailers, and audio detectors designed to listen for gunfire and other “critical sounds.”
The license plate readers don’t just track vehicles by their plate numbers; they catalog their makes and models, trim colors, and other definable characteristics before storing those data points in Flock’s digital network.
More than 5,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide contracted with the company have access to Flock’s database, according to the company.
The cameras can run on solar power, and they are also used by more than 1,000 U.S. businesses, according to Flock Safety’s website.
Flock Safety does not offer a map showing the location of its cameras, but DeFlock, a citizen-led organization that raises awareness of Flock cameras, has a live and interactive open-source map of Flock cameras nationwide, with the disclaimer that it does not “guarantee the accuracy, reliability, or completeness” of the crowd-sourced map data.
Flock Safety cameras, which usually feature a matte black, hooded camera with a solar panel, are easy to spot. But what makes a Flock camera different from a traditional security camera or older license plate reader?
It’s all about data retention and artificial intelligence.
Rather than storing camera and audio data locally, or in a segregated cloud account for each customer, Flock boasts a massive interconnected digital database that can be shared among its thousands of law enforcement clients.
And because of the sheer volume of that data, the company uses AI models to parse and interpret it. When an officer is looking for a suspect and knows the target vehicle, it’s a combination of AI and Flock’s stored data that creates a match, allowing authorities to make a traffic stop.
Previously, Flock retained files for its large network of cameras and audio sensors for 30 days, but on Aug. 13, it announced it would shorten the retention window to seven days.
Police can still access some data longer for “exceptional” or cold cases, which allows officers to access the data longer using what Flock now calls “evidence mode.”
Do They Actually Work?
After growing reports of false positives from Flock’s license plate readers, private citizens have called on local governments to cancel contracts with the company.
Activists and lawmakers alike have questioned how accurate the technology is at solving investigations and preventing crime.
But when that question has been posed directly to Flock, company representatives have given varying answers, and the company has indicated lower levels of accuracy during nighttime hours.
Flock has stated on its website that its cameras accurately match vehicles 95.6 to 96 percent of the time, but this rate can drop to 90 percent at night.
In a lawsuit filed in 2024 against the city of Norfolk, Virginia, and its police chief over its use of Flock cameras, plaintiffs’ lawyers cited a litigation exhibit stating that the company’s cameras read license plates accurately 93 percent of the time.
But as recently as July, Flock Chief Communications Officer Joshua Thomas told automotive news outlet The Drive that the company’s cameras have a 99 percent accuracy rating.
Even if Flock’s cameras reached 99 percent accuracy, that would still mean hundreds of millions of misreads every single month, based on the more than 20 billion monthly scans the company says its cameras conduct.
Some data scientists are arguing the technology is incapable of the performance levels Flock is selling to countless law enforcement agencies nationwide.
“It is very naive to just say this is going to get better, because we as scientists know that there is a deep trade-off there,” Mirpuri said.
He said he remembers working in the early AI industry in the 2010s, when companies would tout new algorithms as capable of detecting cancer in tumor images with 99 percent accuracy.
“I say, ‘Great. What happens with the 1 percent when you tell someone they have cancer and they didn’t and they sell everything in their life?’” Mirpuri said.
“[Flock] could create a national security and also public safety risk greater than its speculative benefit, and you can quantify it by looking at the number of missed calls.”
In addition to the reported misidentifications, less than 1 percent of cars scanned by automated license plate readers end up being connected to crimes, according to an analysis from the Electronic Frontiers Foundation. Independent research group IPVM found that one in 10 plates scanned by Flock had misreads of the state of origin.
Legal Implications
An August analysis by the American Civil Liberties Union noted that Flock has installed more than 120,000 cameras throughout urban and rural communities, including on highways, in front of businesses, and in public spaces such as parks and waterways, allowing them to potentially track people’s daily routines, churches, or political affiliations.
Flock has faced criticism that its camera network, particularly its retention of personal data, violates citizens’ Fourth Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution.
Amy Peikoff, an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation and an expert in property rights, told The Epoch Times that the way Flock catalogs, stores, and serves data to clients encroaches on constitutional rights.
In a law article published Aug. 17 titled “The Record, Not the Lens: ALPR Retention, Property, and the Fourth Amendment,” Peikoff argued that Flock violates the Constitution through its data ledger.
“The wrong lies in the record, not the lens,” she wrote.
If the cameras were simply observing public thoroughfares in real time like a police officer, as well as using a digital network to check vehicle plates against lists of stolen cars, missing persons, and other law enforcement alerts, there would be no Fourth Amendment violation, according to Peikoff.
But as soon as Flock begins making a “timestamped, plate-indexed, queryable record” of U.S. citizens’ movements without probable cause, it violates the Constitution, she wrote.
The making of that record constitutes “a standing general warrant, executed in advance, the fruits of which are held against future need,” she wrote.
Since a vehicle is personal property, and a license plate is a limited personal property easement by the government, Flock may be violating the Fourth Amendment by taking that identifier and turning it into a “24/7, 365 tracking device,” Peikoff told The Epoch Times, calling that a “trespass” on a citizen’s car.
“Unless the information that the government is getting is something that is supported by the proper level of cause or suspicion, preferably a warrant ... then you have violated the Fourth Amendment because you’ve conducted an unreasonable search,” she said.
Regulations and Canceled Contracts
Efforts to regulate Flock, or scale back its implementation in U.S. cities, are underway.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) said in late July that he would soon announce a bill withholding federal money from any law enforcement agencies or municipalities that deploy Flock and Flock-style cameras “to surveil law abiding citizens.”
Florida gubernatorial candidate Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) has called for a pause on Flock-style cameras, raising concerns of potential Fourth Amendment violations.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said recently that he believes the use of license plate reading cameras has gotten “out of control.”
“No one’s been stronger on law enforcement than me—but I don’t want to have this become a surveillance state,” he said.
Some municipalities are already canceling their contracts with the mass surveillance company.
Earlier this year, one of Flock’s largest government clients, the Los Angeles Police Department, ended their relationship, citing “serious concerns” about civil liberties and civil rights issues around how data are collected and stored.
Between August 2021 and May 2026, Flock lost 82 contracts across 28 U.S. states; 39 such losses occurred this year alone.
Officials in Tempe, Arizona, said on Aug. 26 that they have shut down their Flock system and will end their contract with the company.
“While the cameras have helped Tempe Police solve crimes, recent misuse of automated license plate reader systems in Arizona and nationwide has raised concerns about the risks that come with the technology,” the city said.
Although the cameras help officers stop crime, “the risk of misuse is too great,” Tempe Mayor Corey Woods said.
“We have to be able to provide public safety in a way that maintains the trust of our community,” he said. “For Tempe, that means taking these cameras down.”
Despite these actions, Maugans said he doesn’t believe Flock will fundamentally change without federal regulations that include enforceable penalties.
“[Otherwise] it’s just their promise. They’re a private company. You can’t audit their books. You can’t prove the cloud systems are being deleted properly, and you can’t prove there are no loopholes,” Maugans said.
Is Flock Worth the Risk?
Maugans said that although Flock’s core technology could be a benefit if it’s able to catch a single murderer, his main contention is with the company’s data retention.
What if a Flock-style camera network were to avoid violating the Fourth Amendment by nearly instantaneously deleting all video or audio data “except in the case where it has identified a crime,” as University of Houston law professor Peter Salib suggests?
That could not only reduce crime, Salib told The Epoch Times, but also limit the need for increased intrusive policing by officers in many U.S. cities, including “stop and frisk” efforts.
“As with many technologies, it has the potential to do a lot of good, and of course, there are risks, and we should be really interested in how big the risks are and how we should mitigate them,” Salib said.
“I think this technology has the chance to make us both safer and freer at the same time.”
Peikoff said Flock’s technology does potentially “provide real value” for solving crimes if it’s properly used and doesn’t encroach on constitutional rights.
This would require safeguards and “checks and balances” from the government, as well as changing the way Flock catalogs and categorizes citizens’ personal data, she said.
However, the way in which Flock has been deployed has gone far beyond that, Peikoff said.
“I mean, you could just implement the entire surveillance apparatus of [George] Orwell’s ‘1984,’ and probably you would reduce crime, but you would not be having anything like what our founders envisioned. You know, an alternative dystopian 24-hour ... surveillance—you’re never alone,” she said.
Mirpuri said that as a privacy professional, he doesn’t believe there is a way to retain the potential “benefits” of Flock’s technology while imposing guardrails.
He said he disagrees with the idea that more cameras and more data will solve more murders, arguing that they will merely “increase the surface by which cops have to analyze,” straining budgets as police departments hire and add resources to deal with the extra data.
“This is a company making a profit by selling safety to people, but actually creating more risk, in my opinion, because there is no way to secure a surface that large to an adequate degree,” he said.
“Imagine a insert-bad-state-actor-here hacking Flock ... and being able to see the movements of every American, [including] high-profile Americans.”
He pointed to the situation earlier this year when the Iranian military was able to see U.S. Navy movements on ships heading to the Strait of Hormuz after exploiting data in a popular fitness app.
“Imagine Flock on that scale, doing that for U.S. senators, potentially tracking their vehicles, because if it’s available for some unit of police to look at or other people to look at, it’s available for bad actors, too. That’s dangerous,” he said.
Flock Safety did not respond to a request for comment.
How Florida license plate laws are changing in October 2026
From MSN
The same problems Virginia created with 200+ different kind of plates
Florida has been in the headlines regarding its license plate laws over the past year, and now the state is making news in that area again. Starting October 1, 2026, Florida will require organizations that receive money from specialty license plates to provide more financial information to the state. This is being done to give the state more insight into how specialty plate revenue is expected to be used.
This law, SB 246, states that when a new specialty license plate is approved, the organization behind it will have 60 days to deliver a five-year projection to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. The projection must show how much money the organization expects to bring in, how it will be spent, what administrative expenses the organization expects to have, and which third parties may receive some of the fees.
This change means that Florida will get several new specialty license plates, including plates for St. Petersburg College, the UFC, and the United States Naval Academy, among others. The state will also create an Endless Summer plate for motorcycles, and motorcycle, as well as motor-vehicle, registrations for the plate will be counted together when determining whether the plate must be discontinued under Florida's existing law. Each new plate has specific rules for how its annual fees can be used, from scholarships to workforce development and more.
Florida's current program for specialty license plates
Once an organization in Florida is approved for a new specialty license plate, the 60-day deadline to report its projections begins. If that report is not delivered, the organization's specialty plate payments can be held until the next regular legislative session. If lawmakers do not give the state direction on what should happen to the money, the plate can be deauthorized. Any undistributed funds will then be transferred to the Highway Safety Operating Trust Fund.
Florida currently has rules governing how money from specialty license plates can be used. Groups and organizations that receive these fees must meet accountability requirements, including providing an annual audit confirming the funds were used as outlined by state law. The funds can typically not be used for commercial or for-profit activities. They also cannot be used for general administrative expenses unless specifically authorized by the state.
Florida already has a substantial specialty license plate program in place, with the state having authorized 132 specialty plates as of October 2025. Before a new plate can be manufactured, its sponsoring organization has to sell at least 3,000 presale vouchers within 24 months. Florida also has a 3,000-registration threshold for existing plates, which means the state can discontinue a plate if its registration numbers remain below that mark for a full year. Additionally, Florida has a limit of 135 specialty plates.
From the ’50s to the Modern Era, Enthusiasts Drive Their Cars Similar Miles
From Hagerty
Once cars transition from merely used vehicles to collector pieces, driver behavior tends to change. Cars that were once put to regular use have become weekend cruisers or toys for special trips. As such, the annual mileage put on these vehicles tends to be considerably less than what was put on them years ago (with some very notable exceptions—looking at you, Toyota Land Cruiser).
That said, with cars from the ’90s through the modern era becoming collector-worthy, enthusiast vehicles are more reliable than ever. Fox-body Ford Mustangs, C6 Chevrolet Corvettes, and even Lexus LFAs can cover more ground in greater comfort and capability than the Mustangs, Corvettes, and Toyota 2000GTs of yesteryear. That got us wondering—does any one era of collector car get driven more than others?
Looking at the same vehicles offered through an online auction more than once is one way to determine how many miles people drive. If a car appeared in an online auction in 2022 with 63,000 miles and again in 2024 with 65,000 miles, it only covered 1,000 miles per year. Repeat public sales data does not capture examples like a single-owner-from-new 1974 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia still in daily use, but for the purposes of comparing usage between eras of cars, this information provides abundant data—our sample included over 9,000 vehicles.
What did we find? Vehicles from the 1950s through the 1970s were driven several hundred miles per year, while those from the RADwood era (1980s and 1990s) were driven 1316 and 1404 miles per year, respectively. The most modern vehicles from the 2020s were driven 1848 miles per year. Most interestingly, even with all the modern features and reliability found in the vehicles from the ’90s to today, people are still driving them only about two-and-a-half to three times as far as those 1960s cars and trucks—when it comes down to it, that’s only a few more fill-ups per year.
How many miles are being driven among the popular makes? Among the Big Three, Ford, Chevrolet, and Dodge are first through third. Also, Toyotas are driven way more than Hondas, and Porsches are driven further than Ferraris.
Looking a bit deeper into the data, the median miles driven per year worked out to be about half the average (mean) miles per year driven for each model year decade. That the median is less tells us that a significant chunk of vehicles are not being driven much, and that a smaller number of people are laying down a lot of miles. Importantly, the consistency between median and mean data across every decade shows that era doesn’t appear to be much of a factor in how these vehicles are used.
How many miles per year are you driving your enthusiast vehicle?
Let Americans Build, Work, and Trade Free of Bureaucrats
From The Epoch Times
Wouldn’t it be neat to live in a place where on your own property, with your own money, you could build whatever kind of house you wanted to live in without asking a bureaucrat’s permission? If you wanted to build it yourself out of tinker toys and straw, fine. If you wanted to make it like a hobbit house, round and mushroom-shaped, you could do it without submitting blueprints to a government agent.
And then having built your own house on your own property, being able to live there without paying exorbitant taxes in order to escape governmental confiscation and plunder. Recently a lady visited our farm and told me her 0.67-acre property in New York could only remain in her hands if she paid $22,000 per year in property taxes. At such a rate, does anyone actually own their property?
Wouldn’t it be neat to live in a place where you could launch a micro-business from your home without the cost and hassle of a special use permit? In about 1915, Americans could choose from roughly 1,500 automobile brands. Most of these were backyard mechanic-tinkerers who focused all their creativity and cleverness on building a better car, not on complying with zoning and business licensing.
Whether a micro-brewery or a sculpting studio, home-centered businesses offer entry-level idea testing for entrepreneurs and innovators. In today’s environment, launching any business requires more bureaucrat-navigation savvy than the actual service or product development.
Wouldn’t it be neat to live in a place where you could hire anyone willing to work and negotiate a mutually agreeable compensation plan without being told arbitrarily by a bureaucrat what the compensation and hours needed to be? If someone wanted to work 60 hours a week and receive payment in butter and eggs, fine.
On our farm, plenty of 16-year-olds would like to work. But a teenager that can legally get behind the wheel of 3,000 pounds of steel and hurtle it 70 miles an hour down the interstate can’t touch a cordless drill because it’s a power tool. That’s off limits until you’re 18. Who makes up this stuff?
Wouldn’t it be neat to live in a place where you could sell some homemade summer sausage from a backyard pig to a neighbor without sending the animal to a federally inspected facility 100 miles away and paying far-off people to manipulate the pork? Artisanal and craft food products, lovingly fabricated in home kitchens already gadgetized with the latest techno-glitzy appliances, could be offered to friends and neighbors as a micro-culinary enterprise.
Food tinkerers, mechanic tinkerers, energy tinkerers—these are the folks who have always found breakthroughs for today’s problems. Often discoveries are serendipitous, germinating out of the freedom to experiment and explore. When one pound of homemade charcuterie must pass through half a dozen licenses and bureaucratic mandates before it can legally be sold, precious little innovation happens in the pepperoni market.
Wouldn’t it be neat to live in a place where you could keep your hard-earned money instead of paying half of it in income taxes, Social Security confiscation, and capital gains taxes? You could invest more in your own business or a friend’s. You could give more to your church or other philanthropic organization.
If the government spent its income judiciously, perhaps the tax bite wouldn’t be as grievous. But it’s squandered on fraud and empire building while the nation’s domestic infrastructure collapses. A nation that hoes its own garden instead of meddling in neighbors’ garners more friendships.
Wouldn’t it be neat to live in a place where people suffered the consequences of bad decisions? If a person mashed their brain into pudding by taking methamphetamine, no government agency would step in with a safety net to pay for medical care. Perhaps in such a place people would think more seriously about snorting, needling, and popping.
With no government welfare, folks would choose employment. Maybe fewer men would abandon their wives and children in order for their lovers, as single moms, to qualify for payments. Even soybean farmers, without subsidy and bailout luxury, would think twice about planting something egregiously oversupplied in the marketplace. Maybe folks would think more about the food they ate instead of waiting for Medicare or Medicaid to pick up the tab for their lifestyle malady.
Wouldn’t it be neat to live in a place where education was as diversified and accountable as local systems? Where good teachers received rewards and bad teachers were fired instead of appealing to the union. In such a system, graduates might be asked to evaluate their teachers. Good ones could get bonuses; bad ones could be fired. Wouldn’t that be remarkable?
Aptitude test scores would go up as education became a meritocracy. With performance-based compensation, good teachers would thrive in an environment of excellence rather than being stigmatized by underachievers.
Wouldn’t it be neat to live in a place where government-owned cameras didn’t catch your every move? Imagine being able to walk down a street without being recorded in a massive AI data center network. You could visit someone without the FBI or CIA knowing.
You could drive somewhere without powerful government security agencies knowing your whereabouts. Perhaps your life could have private spots instead of everything being recorded and disseminated among government agencies.
Americans, we used to live in such a place.
The way to arrive at a Halloween party
| Home Page | Show Photos | Calendar | Newsletter | Member Clubs |
| Info | Join Us | About This Site | Links | Contact |
© 1999 - 2026 Car Club Council of Central Virginia, Inc - All Rights Reserved