Good morning good morning. Sorry I’m late. Had to take the ‘ole lightning into the Ford Dealership to get the final work done on this infernal recall that’s been bedeviling me for yonks. Now I gotta work on the refund for the half-step repair I had to tie me over in the interregnum.

On the topic of electric trucks, the Slate truck is available for pre-order today. You gotta pay $250 to reserve one for a 2027 delivery. It is $25k. It does 200 miles. It is very small and does not have a second row of seats and it has minimal screens and lots of knobs. Honestly, it could have fewer screens. The interior is what matters here to me, and while the Slate site does have a few interior photos, they are very small. BUT it looks like one screen to replace the gauges, everything else knobs and dials. About the best you could hope for in 2027.

I suspect that just like the Steam Machine this week, people will be slightly disappointed with the pricing and specs. It has a 200 mile range. I think people wanted a 250ish mile range and a $22k ish price.

There does remain a chance, however, as time elapses that the Slate perfectly captures the zeitgeist as America gets completely fed up with giant screens in their car.

And this is the reason I am reserving my spot. I am aware that Ford is working on some transformational small EV pickup truck and it might be better than the Slate, a better deal. But I am not optimistic it will be a hugely better deal than the Slate. The Maverick non EV version starts $5k higher than the Slate, and an EV version of the Maverick will certainly cost more, probably $5k more for a base model. The Maverick does have a second row, which is obviously necessary in my life so long as my daughter cannot ride in the front seat. But it also has a giant screen. And I am not optimistic that Ford will read the writing on the wall and revert to dials in the new model. Because everyone in the auto industry (my dear friend Ryan excepted) is in denial about the brewing anti-screen backlash.

So, I don’t know. We will see, we will see. Hopefully Ford does me a solid and announces either the EV Maverick or their unicorn before I have to shit or get off the pot with the Slate.

Also look how much smaller this thing is compared to a Maverick. Cayoooot.

Horrible news and good news in politics today. I find myself unable to go beyond the headlines in either direction, so its weird to talk about it in public/semi-public. Because it seems to me that sending someone to jail for 50 years for moving a box of zines is cruel and unusual punishment and fascism? Was this a jury trial? What the fuckin fuck. Yes, there was. God. That makes it worse. Did the jury know what could happen? God. God. This is just the worst. We are so far down the rabbit hole.

Also I read about this new trick the government is doing. Well, I only read the headlines because, again, so horrifying that I couldn’t deal. WHICH IS NOT GOOD. I am slipping. We are slipping, Slowly letting all this shit happen around us. Apparently the government has this one clever new hack™ where they sue themselves in a friendly (Texan, of course) court, then immediately settle the case with themselves with a consent decree to their liking, then the freindly fascist court immediately codifies the consent decree, thus bypassing the public, the legislature, the courts, the government as a whole. Fuckin fuckin fuck fuck.

BUT good news today, too. Not just of the feels-good-but-means-little ilk that is the algae pool. New York City elections went just great. None of the candidates that won are perfect (never been a Brad fan) but they were the correct choices on the ballots as they existed, they send a strong message to milquetoast Democrats that people are fed up and expect our leaders to do something.

This is an interesting problem, combining this with the Zine case, of course. We’re basically saying, now, that if you want to be a Democratic lawmaker you have to be ready to go to jail for the cause. And I am sad to say I think that is correct. If you’re not willing and able to throw your body on the line, don’t run. No hard feelings. I am doing what I can but I cannot say I’m willing to go to jail. But, then, I am not a senator or running for anything.

Also the SAVE act is basically dead. That is good. That thing was obviously a key part of Trump’s master plan to stay in power till death.

Also both the house and senate voted correctly on recent war powers resolutions. Don’t mean much on the ground, but it is a sign. Four Republican senators cracked.

Hopefully more to come.

And of course Fetterman voted against it. Turd.

Join the GMHHAY slack! Reply to this email and ask for an invite if you’re a human who likes chatting with other humans about topics such as these within!

We are listening this morning — wait a minute I gotta flip the side. There we go. We are listening this morning to C Cat Trance, the Dreams of Leaving 12”. Still obsessed with C Cat Trance. Still slowly collecting all their releases on vinyl. Oo let’s add this one to the collection see what we got left. Ooo exciting only one more 12” to go then I have everything. Except the original self-released cassette from 1983. Probably not gonna get that one. But one never knows, one never knows.

I just realized I did not describe C Cat Trance at all. Ummm… 80’s post-punk arab-influenced dance music from the UK that maybe has a bit of a cultural appropriation problem but is still awesome. There.

Oh shit. New PJ Harvey this morning. SO EXCITING.

No one answered my question about whether the Rivian and/or Tesla allow for local storage of song files in Spotify. I am not super surprised. Most of the GMHHAY readership are either avowed non-car urbanists or rural (AK and NC) Subaru lovers, a small contingent of rural ICE-lovers. There is, however, also a small contingent of Bay Area peeps and I had hoped one of those nerds would know the answer. You guys have never let me down before on a search query. Using GMHHAY is so much more pleasant than using a search engine, even my nifty Kagi.

Maybe I’ll just keep asking the question forever until one of my readers does the search for me. A lotta GMHHAY readers do love a good research project. Hint hint. When I ask you guys to Google something, I’m not being lazy! I’m giving the research lovers a gift. Yeah, that’s the ticket.

Olivia Daisy Chain 4 Satan Fields tickets (deep Thrill Kill Kult joke there) go on sale via lottery in three and a half hours. Will I make the lottery? Will I get a ticket? Will we go? I don’t know, I don’t know. It’s all up in the air. Emma’s been going back and forth.

We are united in our belief that they should add Allison Moyet to the bill, though. Olivia should get into Yaz next. You wanna make something real, you wanna make a Yaz record.

Oo while we’re at it, special GMHHAY treat to anyone who can tell me what t-shirt Olivia is wearing in the world premiere of “Stupid Song” on Kimmel a while back:

Maybe I will send you a gift box of GMHHAY vols 1 and 2. Just what everyone needs.

Jane came with us this morning to the Ford Dealership, then we stopped by McDonald’s. The old vet was there but I guess he was scared to say hi since my wife was there. An amazingly beat-up car went through the drive-through: no hood, no bumper, nothing. Jane missed it, and she was pissed. I said “well it’s going through the drive through and it’ll come back out and you can see it then.” And she was momentarily mollified but then it came out and I said “Jane look there’s the car” and she completely ignored me. Thought maybe she forgot about it but nope. Five minutes later she realized she missed it and threw a fit and insisted we go find the car. She sort of calmed down but she’s been in a state now all morning. And I have meetings starting in 15 mins, and Emma is exhausted because she’s not used to getting up at 8 AM. So now she’s gotta parent cranky Jane. Poor Emma. I am sorry.

Other than that, though. Jane’s awesome. I like my kid. Emotional regulation issues, feels things deeply, but what kid doesn’t.

She is awesome. Being a parent to this kid is awesome.

OK I gotta go I am a bit overwhelemed with tasks that need doing. Here enjoy the new PJ Harvey. Very promising. I eagerly await additional information about any forthcoming album.

Until tomorrow, friends.