I subscribe to the LA Times and probably submit a letter to the editor every month. The rarely print my letters. Finally today they printed my submission about billionaire Rick Caruso running for mayor. Here is the letter that they printed.

I don’t care that Los Angeles mayoral candidate Rick Caruso is a billionaire. I do care about the path Los Angeles has taken.

Council members and the mayor are supposed to manage city affairs. They have failed miserably. More than 40,000 people in this city are homeless, and only a small portion are given housing. Affordable housing for working-class and middle-class citizens isn’t available widely enough.

Traffic enforcement is nowhere to be found. Maintenance of streets, sidewalks and street lighting is totally inadequate. High Department of Water and Power bills can be expected.

Want approval of a new development? Just send your council member for a few jaunts to Las Vegas.

I want a mayor and City Council members who are not politicians. Caruso can lead the city without concern about campaign funding, and that is a good place to start.

When Joe Biden was campaigning for the nomination of the Democratic Party he presented himself as the moderate who could not only unify the Party but also could win over moderate Republicans and return the country to what many called “normalcy.”

That is not what happened.  After winning the popular vote for more that 7 million votes he has not been able to convince that the election was legitimate.  His legislative proposals are taken from the Green New Deal. Furthermore, has gone from one bungled situation after another.  The Afghanistan withdrawal was a too fast sloppily conducted event that resulted in a takeover of the entire country by the Taliban and as aircraft departed from an airport in Kabul it was the only area controlled by American forces.

While vaccinations have become available, thanks to a Trump Warp Speed development of the vaccines, millions of Americans refuse to get the injections. The COVID-19 virus in all its variants has been spreading in an ever faster rate.

President Joe Biden expressed frustration at Senator McConnell’s efforts to stall Democrats’ agenda in the Senate. “What’s he for? What’s he proposing?” Biden repeatedly asked at a press conference on Wednesday. His remarks came hours after McConnell declined to outline Republicans’ agenda for when they retake the majority.

Biden, near the end of his riveting speech in support of voting rights in Atlanta last week, challenged Republicans by laying down a particularly resonant historical gauntlet. Did the GOP want to be on the side of “Dr. King or George Wallace?” Wallace, the former governor of Alabama, infamously vowed to defend “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever,” in 1963 as he became the most visible symbol of White supremacy as expressed by elected officials during the civil rights era.  This was not a good way to win Republican support for voting rights legislation.

In his news conference today Biden said, “I’m not so sure [Russian President Vladimir Putin] is certain what he is going to do. My guess is he will move in [to Ukraine]. He has to do something.”  Biden also suggested that a “minor incursion” by Russian forces, as opposed to a full-scale invasion, may not prompt the severe response by Washington and its allies have threatened, creating confusion about how the United States would react to a Russian attack short of a devastating offensive and large-scale occupation.  This appears to be a Neville Chamberlin’s “peace in our time” stance in 1939.

Both Senators Sinema and Manchin want laws passed that have support of both political parties and that means surrendering some goals of each party.  That has been a historical reality and is the reason the filibuster will continue to be part of the Senate rules.

The best thing that came out of the almost two hour news conference was that Joe Biden had the stamina and focus to respond to tough questions through out the event despite questions from reporters representing news outlets that are known to oppose his objectives.

The Democratic Party will survive.  The presidency of Joe Biden is in doubt.  

Late last summer, Chevy Bolt owners received a notice from GM: They were not to park their cars within 50 feet of other vehicles. They shouldn’t charge their cars overnight. Fully charged vehicles, GM said, should not be kept in garages.

In a residential garage the fire of a Tesla blew the metal garage doors off and spread from one Tesla to another, causing more than $1 million in damage.  The explosion of an electric car battery can release a massive amount of energy — and the resulting fire can burn for hours, stretching longer and registering hotter than a fire in a car with an internal-combustion engine.

The 2022 Chevrolet Bolt has an EPA-estimated range of 259 miles on a single charge. It takes about 1 hour to charge a Chevy Bolt from empty to 80 percent using a DC fast charger.

 Consumer Reports says driving range goes down in cold weather are the impact on battery chemistry when parked and the drain in order to maintain battery temperature and supply cabin heat. Cold temperatures can reduce an unplugged EV’s range by about 20 percent, according to testing by the Norwegian Automobile Federation, and recharging takes longer than in warm weather. 

Toyota has doubled down on hybrid technology as the affordable alternative for low emissions vehicles for the motoring masses – and says while electric cars will be a part of our motoring future, they won’t suit everyone. 

I know I am not ready to make the swtich. Not prime time ready.