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Car
Hyundai Ioniq 5
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 is an electric car from Hyundai. It’s the specific model mentioned here because the host got a podcast ad while driving it.
Topic
decline of empire
The hosts are using a bigger theme—“decline of empire”—to organize the conversation. The car-company mentions are part of that larger commentary.
Brand
Stellantis
Stellantis is a big car company that owns a bunch of different car brands. It’s the company behind names like Dodge and Jeep in the U.S., and also brands like Alfa Romeo and Maserati.
Car
Fiat Topolino
The Fiat Topolino is a very small car Fiat is trying to sell in the U.S. It’s related to a Citroën design, and in Europe it’s treated like a special kind of small vehicle (a quadricycle), which changes the rules it has to follow.
Car
Truck Slate Ev
The podcast is talking about a truck, likely an electric one, in the context of a “cheap EV.” A truck is a vehicle built for carrying things or doing work, and electric versions have to deal with battery range and charging. The episode seems to be questioning what’s going on with that kind of vehicle.
Term
quadricycles
A quadricycle is a category used in Europe for very small, light vehicles. It usually means the vehicle has different rules than a regular car, which can make it easier to sell and drive in certain places.
Brand
Citroën
Citroën is a car brand from France. Here, the host says the Fiat Topolino is based on a Citroën design, which helps explain why it’s such a small city vehicle.
Term
street legal kit
A street legal kit is a set of changes that makes a vehicle allowed to drive on public roads. It usually adds the required lights and safety features so it meets local rules.
Car
Renault Twizy
The Renault Twizy is a tiny European car designed mainly for slow city driving. They’re comparing the Topolino to it to explain that these are small, neighborhood-style vehicles rather than normal cars.
Term
batteries
They’re talking about where the battery sits in the vehicle. Putting heavy batteries low can help stability, but if the tires are narrow and you turn hard, it can still feel like it might tip over.
Term
bicycle tires
They mean the tires are more like bicycle tires—narrow and not very grippy. That makes it easier to lose balance if you turn sharply.
Car
Dodge Ram
A Dodge Ram is a big pickup truck. The speaker is using it as a reference point for a scary driving situation.
Term
destination fee
Destination fees are extra charges the dealer/manufacturer adds to cover getting the car to the dealership. It’s part of the final price you pay beyond the base sticker price.
Term
miles of range
Range is how far the car can go on one full charge. “46 miles of range” means you’d expect to drive about 46 miles before it needs charging.
Term
kilowatt hour battery
That’s the size of the battery in the EV. A “five kilowatt hour” battery is on the small side, so the car can’t go as far before it needs charging.
Term
fast charging
Fast charging is the kind of charging that gets you back on the road quickly. The host is saying this car doesn’t support that, so you have to rely on slower charging at home or wherever you can plug in.
Term
charging an e-bike
They’re basically saying the charging is like an e-bike: you plug it in and wait. It’s not the quick “top up at a station” style charging you might expect from bigger EVs.
Place
Grand Army Parkway
This is a road in New York the host mentions to describe how stressful driving can be there. They’re using it as an example of tricky city driving conditions.
Place
Ocean Parkway
Ocean Parkway is a road in New York. The host is saying even on this one, driving can feel intense if you’re going faster than the speed limit.
Car
Chevrolet Suburban
The Chevrolet Suburban is a big, family-size SUV. The host is joking about how some versions (or the way people talk about them) can sound like they’re meant to be tough and protective.
Term
EV
EV means electric vehicle—an electric car that runs on battery power. The host is talking about how far EVs can go before needing a charge.
Place
Reno, Nevada
Reno, Nevada is being used as the real-world starting point for an EV range anecdote. The host is implying that the stated range was enough (or not enough) for a specific commute-like trip.
Term
mo-ped
A moped is a small motorbike that’s usually slower and easier to handle than a regular motorcycle. It’s often used for short trips and is generally simpler to park and store.
Topic
concierge-style mobility vehicles
They’re talking about how resorts could use small vehicles to shuttle guests around like a luxury service. The idea is convenience and comfort—less walking, easier parking, and a more “premium” arrival.
Term
golf carts
Golf carts are small vehicles used around golf courses and resorts. They’re slow, easy to drive, and convenient for getting people around a property.
Term
Pope Mobile
A popemobile is the special car the Pope rides in during public events. It’s designed so people can see him clearly and he can wave safely.
Car
BMW i3
The BMW i3 is an electric car, meaning it runs on electricity instead of gasoline. It’s a small car designed to be practical for everyday driving, especially in cities. The podcast calls it a distinctive-looking “little egg,” which is a common way people describe its shape.
Topic
SCCA auto cross events
Autocross is a racing event where you drive a car through a cone-filled course as fast as you can. SCCA is the organization that runs a lot of these events.
Term
250 miles per hour
They’re talking about a vehicle that’s limited to about 25 mph. That kind of low speed can make it hard to use safely in normal traffic, so people argue about whether it should be allowed.
Term
707 horsepower
Horsepower is a number that roughly tells you how strong the engine is. Higher horsepower usually means the car can accelerate harder.
Car
three series
They’re talking about the BMW 3 Series, a popular BMW model that’s meant to feel sporty to drive. They rented one and liked the way it handled.
Car
BMW M2
They’re praising the 2016 BMW M2 as a particularly good BMW. It’s a small, sporty coupe that tends to feel more “connected” and fun to drive than newer BMWs.
Car
I7
They mean the BMW i7, which is BMW’s big electric luxury car. They’re saying it feels calmer than other sporty BMWs, so they don’t hate it.
Car
Toyota Super
Car
Chevrolet Corvette
The Chevrolet Corvette is a famous American sports car. Here, the speaker talks about a Corvette convertible from around 1989 that they rode in as a kid—back then it felt like an exciting dream car, even if it wasn’t as fast as today’s cars.
Term
faster to 60
“Faster to 60” means how quickly a car can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour. The speaker is saying modern electric cars often reach that speed much quicker than older sports cars did.
Term
horsepower wars
“Horsepower wars” means people and car companies competing to make cars with bigger and bigger power numbers. It’s basically chasing the biggest “power” bragging rights.
Term
quarter mile
The “quarter mile” is a common drag-racing track length. “Sub-10 seconds” means the car can go that distance in under 10 seconds from a standing start.
Car
Toyota Gr86
The Toyota GR 86 is a small, fun sports car that’s meant to be enjoyable to drive, not just fast on paper. The host is basically saying it hits the right balance.
Car
Fiat 500
The Fiat 500 is a tiny city car that’s easy to drive around town and usually cheaper than bigger cars. The host is talking about it as a fun, small option.
Car
Honda Fit
The Honda Fit is a small hatchback that’s practical for everyday life. The host recommends it because it’s a sensible car you can still drive with a manual transmission.
Term
B spec
“B-spec” is a racing category that sets rules for how much you’re allowed to modify a car. It’s meant to keep competition fair by limiting the upgrades.
Term
throw coils
“Throw coils” means adding coilovers—upgraded suspension parts that can change how the car sits and how it absorbs bumps. The speaker is saying that with that kind of setup, the car can get the inside wheel to lift during hard cornering.
Term
inside wheel
The “inside wheel” is the wheel on the inside of a turn (the side closer to the apex). When it lifts, it usually indicates high lateral load transfer and a suspension/traction setup that allows the car to become light on that side during cornering.
Term
tune
A “tune” is when someone changes the car’s computer settings to change how it runs. The speaker says the newer Corvette is set up so that changes can cause warning codes and other safeguards to kick in.
Term
engine code
An “engine code” is like a computer message the car saves when it detects something wrong. The speaker is saying that messing with the car would likely trigger those messages.
Company
GM
GM (General Motors) is the automaker behind brands like Chevrolet and the Corvette. The host attributes the response to GM, implying the manufacturer would intervene if the car were tampered with.
Term
GM team six
“GM team six” is a joke about GM sending a special team quickly. The point is that the manufacturer would react fast to problems or tampering.
Place
Renaissance center
The Renaissance Center is a famous office complex in Detroit. The speaker is using it as a reference point for where GM is based.
Car
Chevrolet Blazer EV
The Chevrolet Blazer EV is an electric SUV, meaning it runs on electricity instead of gasoline. An SUV is a bigger family-style vehicle that’s often used for everyday driving. The podcast brings it up as one of the EVs being discussed in the news.
Car
Chrysler New Yorker
The Chrysler New Yorker is a large, comfortable car that was made to feel more luxurious than a regular sedan. It’s the kind of vehicle people associate with a more traditional, comfort-focused driving experience. The podcast mentions it as a way to talk about the kind of mindset or lifestyle it represents.
Car
Chrysler Fifth Avenue
The Chrysler Fifth Avenue is a large luxury sedan, meaning it’s built to be comfortable and feel upscale. The name is often linked to a more “high-end” image. In the podcast, it’s mentioned to describe that kind of wealth-and-shopping association.
Car
Challenger Hellcat
The Challenger is a muscle car, which means it’s built for strong acceleration and a sporty feel. The podcast mentions it because some owners—especially high-power versions—like to drive aggressively and share videos. That’s why it’s being brought up in the conversation.
Car
Mazda MX-5 / Miata
The Mazda Miata (MX-5) is a small two-seat car made for enjoyable driving. It’s known for being light and simple, so it can be easier to handle than many bigger cars. People often mention it when they want a fun car without needing a lot of experience.
Car
2023 subaru outback
The Subaru Outback is a practical car that’s sort of a mix between a wagon and an SUV. The 2023 model is known for being roomy and for having all-wheel drive for better traction in bad weather.
LIVE
Wait, do we do 321 and then we clap on the space after 1321
Hello and welcome to episode 22 of worst of all possible cars. I mean train girlies mom
Ah
Yes, I am your host Victoria Scott my pronouns are she and her and I'm here with my co-host
Hi, my name is Jordan Hopps and my pronouns are she and her and we have a guest
Yes, hello, my name is Josh. I use the impronounce. What's up? Hey, thank you for joining us
I know that you are doing the podcast world tour
We're like what 20 fifth or something on your list of 52 shows for the year
So yes, the podcast challenge is my ongoing attempt to go on 52 podcasts in 52 weeks and
I believe this is actually appearance number 30 of the podcast challenge. Oh, I think in terms of distinct podcasts
I've gone on this year. It's like number 24 or something. Okay, okay
Like going on at 52 different shows is sort of a stretch goal for the podcast challenge
The core of the podcast challenge is 52 episodes in 52
That's fair. Yeah, it's a really noble
Have you a good marathon to do in our in our sphere? Have you covered the entire November Kelly cinematic universe now?
um
Yeah, I need to go on kill James Bond still
Okay, that's that's I which I've been on it in the past, but I have not been on it as part of the podcast challenge
Okay. All right. Well here. So we're number 30. This is our set 20 second episode. So actually you're doing better
I'm out
Like you're very early into our run overall
I
Was just I forgot what got me listening to old
Episodes of other podcasts the other day other than I'm unemployed right now
So I've just got some fucking time on my hands
But I was just thinking I'm like, it's gonna be so quaint word
We're when we've been doing that's for like 130 episodes and like the format's gonna feel all weird at the start
And it's gonna sound weird and it's gonna be charming
But you get to do this like week by week by being on all these different shows
Like you are you are getting to you're getting to be the butterfly effect for so many different podcasts right now
I guess that's my hope that like every show that I go on I can contribute positively to the overall
Trajectory of the show, but or obvious the nature of the butterfly effect. I guess is that you never really know what's gonna happen
Yeah, I was gonna say also if you hate the hosts you could just completely fuck their shit up
I
Like the idea of going up on a podcast that I fucking hate with the deliberate intention of making their show bad
I do I do have one podcast that I used to listen to that
I would like to do this with and I would just like to go on my favorite murder and tell those two women that it's okay
To hate each other and to end the show
Be successful, but that is so real
I there are so many podcasts that end up in that state where it's like
Oh, you you just straight up fucking hate each other and the only reason you are doing this is because of your money flow
And you are miserable all the time with yourselves and each other and it's like honey
You do not have to live like you don't have to do this
Oh
My favorite thing about my favorite murder is that I got an ad in my Ioniq 5
For a podcast that they were doing that was sponsored by the Hyundai Ioniq 5
Wait some woman who died or no no no they're talking about oh god
What's the oh I feel so bad. It's the actress who's also the very prolific inventor from like the 50s
I'm gonna not I'm not gonna look it up
And I'll just eat my ignorance because I was so baffled for getting an ad for the car
I was driving in the car
Feeds you ads for podcasts. No, no, no, no, it was just it. It I mean I have to assume that my
podcast advertisements when I listen to something from like a
Real podcast network other than the
Someone was talking asking me like what network we were on Victoria the other day and I had to go like we're feral
And then she's like well like there's a there's a leftist podcast network, and I'm like no
I don't think so. I think it's just we all know each other
Maybe behind I think behind the bastards is on I heart or whatever. Yeah, well I heart has their subnetwork cool zone
Media which is Robert Evans thing. Yeah, and then and then there's the whatever it is it QAA is doing now
I can't remember what their thing is called. They have a few sub-podcasts, but there's no like
Network network
If somebody ever made me do a read for like sports betting, I would kill myself may take my
My favorite thing that I've ever had heard anyone have to do is speaking of cool zone media was Robert Evans reading out
ads for sniffies cruising confessions, which is a cruising
Which is a penthouse style podcast I have penthouse letters style podcast
brought to you by the
Discount grinder app cult right these. Oh, I know what sniffies is come on
To me
I'm not about that. I just know about it because I know
Everything and it doesn't make me happy. Oh
Speaking of being unhappy. I need to plug your shows here. Hmm. Josh. Josh does host one of my wife's favorite
Podcasts actually of all time the worst of all possible worlds at co-hosts ill conceived
So I think most people at this point probably get those two podcasts in their recommendations as part of listening to our show
Just based on the audience crossover. I've seen but if you haven't seen them you should check them out
Yeah, I believe if you I'm just like looking in Apple podcasts right now because I'm pretty sure
That it shows up as one of the things in the recommended carousel on there
But basically possible worlds definitely does. Yeah. Um, I think they might both. Let's see here
We've got the worst of all possible. We've got ill conceived. They're both here, baby
Let's go
We've got it. We've got the worst of all possible worlds. We've got ill conceived
Yeah, that that was a visual bit whereas holding my phone up to the camera, which is great in an audio only medium
But yeah, the worst of all possible worlds is a podcast about media and media narratives every week
We analyze a different piece of pop culture
We look at the explicit things that it's saying the implicit things that you might have missed our
Objective is to do weekly case studies in the pop culture of a dying empire and that's the lens that we use every week
It's like what is this thing doing?
To change the way that you think about the world and then hopefully trying to deprogram you from some of those assumptions as well
Joining the great narrative thread of podcasts where it is X topic through the lens
Fire exactly is that good for the empire?
Does that make the empire feel good chat is this good and then the other one ill conceived is a podcast about natalism where we look into
different people
Movements organizations all of which are involved in the core project of natalism
Which is this ideology that sees declining birth rates is the most important thing in the world
Which is not our perspective, but we're very interested
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, we're very interested in the people for whom that is a topic of interest and actually that's one where
There is somebody who does a podcast that it's not worth my time to go on and ruin
But one of the people who does one of those podcasts is very unhealthily obsessed with us
Specifically June and I might my co-host on that show to the extent that I feel like if we wanted to go on their show
We probably could but again, I wouldn't because I'm not interested in
Participating in a spectacle for the sake of advancing fascist AI slot. So, you know
That's fair. I you that's why you're on this show. Yeah
Somebody joked in the in my replies about like, how do I know that your voices you and Jordan's voices aren't haven't been replaced with AI?
And I was like well because I'd kill myself. Yeah, it's very straightforward
Do you think a podcast or do you think an AI could get this many
anecdotes just slightly wrong?
Well, so today's show we have we have a top we have mostly topics about the decline of empire in honor of Josh
But the first thing I wanted to talk about at Josh we were interested for your thoughts on this as well
But we have fun. We've got a couple of episodes without
humiliating Stellantis, which is the 14 car companies in a trench coat that
Runs among others Dodge Jeep, Rampujo, Abarth Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Maserati
There's more in there. Hey, I always I always for opal, opal, citrone
Okay, yeah, you get the idea moment of radical honesty. Hey
Remember how in the notes, I had a thing that we're bumping the next week that is all yeah
Stellantis thing. Yeah, I wrote a line saying it's been a while since we kicked Stellantis in the teeth
Fully forgetting that Fiat was also
It was it was FCA for a while. I remember that a
Maserati
Maserati sure sold Chrysler 300s for a while. Yeah
Um
So we after last week's episode about the slate EV we now have news about another confusing cheap EV that makes no sense in America
Being sold here Fiat is offering the topolino in the United States
And the topolino has been that it's based on the citrone. I mean
Which is
Qual like it's classed as a quadro cycle in Europe. They've been selling it since I think about 2020 or 2021
I saw a few of them in Paris in the US spec
The topolino is going to have a 19 mile an hour top speed with eight horsepower
And the intent appears to be until they start selling the street legal kit
That they're going to sell these to gated communities and country clubs as a substitute for an ATV or a golf cart
Sure. So this is this is for the fuckers down in the villages basically. Yes. Yes. Yeah
This is for this is for your your grandparents who want to be stylish and European in their gated community where everyone has sex with each other
Victoria when you were living in the Houston area, did you ever end up on the Hellscape Island that is bent water?
No, that water is a country club on an island surrounded by homes for rich maniacs
You have to take one of the world's longest bridges out to get to it and your nearest grocery store was
30 minutes away, but you're living in suburban luxury quotes
I can't help but think of these people when I think about the topolino coming to the US
Also, if you got mad at us about our slate picks, I think you're gonna get equally and oppositely mad about our takes on this one
Because Victoria, I don't know about you. I like this little guy. I
Like I like I like topolino. That's a friend's name. I think that's cute
He's you can get little rope doors. It reminds me of a it reminds me of like a retro a retro future styled
The Twizy the little the little Renault, yes, it's actually the same class as that in Europe
It's it's the quad recycles is basically a the the idea behind it
In Europe is that they're in a bunch of countries including France you can be you can either be like
Older so I think you have to be bored and like prior to the like sometime in the 80s
Or 14 years old with what passes for a French learners permit to drive one of these
And again, they're like they locked at 28 miles an hour. There's a video of I think it was like
Did they ever let a woman host top gear?
Not American top gear. Are you okay? There was some
Fifth yeah, I think that is what I'm thinking of of them taking it on their test course and almost flipping it
Because despite the fact that its batteries are really low in the frame
It's basically on bicycle tires and at 28 miles an hour if you crank the wheel it will just flip
I've actually seen a video when this thing hits 28 miles per hour
In the US they will offer apparently in a free jailbreak hit
It will raise the top speed to 25 miles an hour and then it becomes street legal on streets up to 35
Which having vehiculately bicycled before the idea of doing 25 miles an hour and one of these is fucking terrifying
You're going to be killed by another Stalantis product. Yeah, you are gonna be killed by a Ram driver, which is kind
Sorry, I just reminded myself of the scariest thing I've ever seen in a car dealership Victoria
I told the story about when I saw them the smart dealer crying
No
All right
My mom has worked in real estate most of my life as I like an agent or an assistant or like selling new homes
Cool and normal things subgroup of white women do
When she she got herself a used C class in the mid 2010s as did everyone who's every real estate agent
Um
We were I know I took it to the dealership to get the oil changed
For some reason instead of her and anyways, I was just waiting
And I it was one of the Mercedes smart dealerships. Yeah, and I
The
The sales guy comes out of his office after being on a phone call and then just starts loudly sobbing by the coffee machine
Okay, he just said I keep telling people to stop taking them on highways
And then ran out of the dealership into his into the parking lot
I think
I
Cannot believe I yeah, sorry you're thinking about
This can next to a Dodge Ram. Just immediately
sent me back to being a teenager in the middle of a Houston
Mercedes dealership very concerned for the sort of people who try to road trip things like this
This is just the kind of Chrysler on Chrysler violence that we hate to see at the end and that's all there is to it. Absolutely
I
I
This thing like at 28 25 miles per hour this thing like
Doesn't this thing make sense for most city?
Not really. I mean, I think the thing is is like the okay
So here's the thing right is like this and this is kind of I'm burying the lead here
This costs about
$15,000 after destination fees it has 46 miles of range off of a five kilowatt hour battery
There is no fast charging you just plug it into the wall and then it charges because it's a fight
It's like charging an e-bike at that point basically
and the thing is is like I
After I post about it saying I liked it on blue sky because I do a bunch of Europeans were like yeah
We have these here and they're dog shit
They're their car shares and even in like Paris. There are I having seen
the roundabout that encompasses that encircles the
Ark the triumph I
Would be anxious driving this into that fray. Yeah, I I feel the same way just thinking about this is I don't have a car
I live in New York City. I don't need a car, but I did grow up in Michigan
So like I yeah, that's that's why I know a thing or two about cars, you know
and I drive in the city occasionally too and you're exactly right that when you're talking about any sort of like
Complicated interchange like in New York, for instance, if you were to go to Grand Army Parkway, or really honestly any
Of the parkways where you have to go a little faster than the speed limit
You'd be gripping for dear life even on Ocean Parkway, which is not as insane as it used to be
But is still pretty serious
Yeah, I think the thing is is like it's it's this is a car
That's
Theoretically could maybe replace some K cars for people if it could do 40 because the thing about a K car, right?
Is that it will you can make a Honda beat do 70. I've done it
It's an experience
But like feels like the space shuttle breaking up
I think the thing is is yeah
like anytime you hit a strode like environment in this and you have to like look over traffic or
You're dealing with like unprotected lefts or your the speed limit is 35 you're it's and which is a lot of the city, right?
like there's
even in Seattle, which is a relatively slow relatively like
Bike and pedestrian friendly city by the standards of the US outside of New York. I don't I can't imagine myself actually getting anywhere
I would want to with a car. I don't see why I shouldn't just buy any bike. So makes no sense
They'll sell five of them. They're not trying to sell more than five of them
I think there may actually be and this is the unfortunate reality of this
I think that there is a slight let's please the fewer angle to this
Because do you remember when Trump went to Japan?
Like I don't know it was either six months ago or 30 years ago the Islamic Republic of Japan
Yeah
He he said he wanted K cars in the US. Do you remember this Josh? I don't know. Yeah, he went to Japan and he was like I
They have all these cool cheap cars there that we should bring. Oh
It was the classic Trump thing of like he saw something he walked on stage with the most recent thing
He saw in his brain. It was like I want that make it happen. Make it happen
Yes, a car happen
Yeah, but obviously like because that would be the reason that he would be talking about it by the time they roll this out in the
US, he's not gonna give a fucking shit. He no longer has object permanence
He's not gonna remember that he even saw something like this before no
I I I imagine that they will probably like try to give him one at some point right angling for their second or third
Well third bailout also their fucking battery operated. So it's like soy and gay or whatever, right?
Well, well, it depends on the angle for the soy and gay
That's this is the most interesting thing about gender and EVs in America now. Is it because Tesla is so big?
EVs are usually soy and gay, but sometimes
They are cool and hip and you know, they're we're gonna use them to colonize Mars or whatever
Yeah, but not this fucking thing. I'm looking at a picture of it. It's an adorable little guy. There's no fucking way
Yeah, it is it is the cutest little guy. It's I like it, which means it's soy and gay. Yes
It's really I actually I'm thinking back of like a lot of the very wealthy Texas suburbs where I'm like if we can wean
wealthy Texas moms
off of their bent leaves and their
Rises and their macaens and put them in these like we won't solve a lot of things
but like
Could could be big. I don't think they're I yeah, they're gonna sell toddler death rate plummets in wealthy gated
But again, that's not gonna happen because that's not that's not what the point of all this shit is
You know, I know if you are the wealthy suburban mom
You want one of those things that's built like a fucking armored personnel carrier to protect your children from the woke
Mobs that are going to swarm upon you at any given moment. Yeah. Yeah, no that you're completely
I'm sure you've seen the videos of like the the SUV customs, right?
Well, it's like the bulletproof windows and all that. Oh, yeah
There was there was one of those that got handed out to a bunch of influencers that was like
Can you order you can order McDonald's because the the three inch thick bulletproof glass windows roll down
But the thing that's funny is that like most bullet most like actual like dignitary cars that are bulletproof and like bomb proof
Or whatever don't look it like BMW right BMW will make you one
They won't publish exactly what they did to it so that you can never be certain
Yeah, that's the point
G is gonna be enough point of this shit is that you want to look inconspicuous, but again, it's not about that
It's about presenting something specific
It is about presenting the clear visual indications that you
Contain violence and are willing to inflict that violence upon other people at any given moment
That's what cars are for these Americans
I gotta give you credit because you came on this show and matched my energy and like no time flat
This is amazing. Also, this is I haven't I haven't seen a guest get as mad as me in a hot minute
And I appreciate that. Yeah, I love and hate cars
You have to understand this about me is like born and raised, Michigander who comes by cars
Very honestly and is an avid member of the war on carbs. Yeah, it's both at once
Yeah, I feel like we're double agents for the war on cars
Just thinking that this car is violence that has the capacity to violence was one of the weirder taglines for the Chevy suburban
You gotta come by honesty
But that's that's what it is about this topolino right looking at it
This is not a car that could commit any sort of violence upon anybody. No, it's just a little guy
It's just a little guy. It's just a little guy. I want to kill protesters. No, no, you'd bounce off a protester
Yeah, yeah, so that's I mean the only other thing that I had to say about this is that you know 46 miles of range
Is not the breaking point for me here. Just because I did I wouldn't pay 15 grand for it in a fucking ever
But they I did make an EV with 40 miles of range exactly left work in Reno, Nevada
I think I think for me it is like if I wanted to be paying
This kind of money for something like this
I would just get a high-quality moped or something like that because yeah, then I actually get to enjoy greater mobility
It's street legal. It gets a little bit better range, and it's going to do what I need it to do
Also, you can park it. Exactly. It's also got the benefit of being way more
Portable and easier to park and store
Yeah, yeah, I I look forward to these being like
Concierge cars and country clubs. I look at that replacing they are going to stunt on people who
How much your golf park costs? It's it's like the worst people in Florida are gonna love this thing
This is the car that they roll up to the pier to greet you at at the white Lotus. Yeah. Yes. Yeah
Yes, yes, actually Jordan. Did you ever in your automotive journalist career? Did you ever have one of those?
Okay, so I obviously
When I was working as a journalist the car companies fly you out to a hotel where they keep you out to drive the cars around
Before they give them to the general public
They sometimes spend a lot of money on this like a lot of money
I don't think they do it even quite as much anymore
but I was getting in right at the tail end of sort of like the peak luxury stuff and
There were times when I would go to a hotel that was not a building but like a resort
With rooms sort of in their own individual buildings or clusters of buildings set way out from reception like sometimes like a
Distance measurable in miles not full miles, but like enough and I would usually walk or whatever
But they always had golf carts or whatever
And I imagine this would be awesome for them to be like oh
We can like we've got the little cute luggage rack on the back
We can like take you in a car
So if you go to like Palm Springs in the middle of the summer
You've got AC for your little climate-controlled pod from the front desk where you check in to your luxurious suite
You know three quarters of a mile away from there and that's like kind of what I yeah
That's the only use case I could imagine for this that I've ever interacted with in my life
And I didn't I shouldn't have been there
They shouldn't they stopped letting me into those rooms for very good reason
I not to not to bring up a friend of the show
No, not even as a joke
These are like private island parts, you know like this. Oh, yeah, this is like I do a lot of you know, I
I keep thinking that someone needs to hunt for that list of cars that we put together with November
Many moons ago those cars are still out there somewhere. Yeah, are you saying that this car might be better named?
I don't know the Fiat Jeffrey for instance. Is that what we're aiming at here the Jeff
Jeff I
Know they do a little st. James edition
That's just got like the gold and and like blue and white stripes like the very strange and they put the dome on top of it
Putting domes on it. I heard the Pope bought 20 of them for Vatican City
That actually
To be fair, I go man, is that Chicago Pope's favorite purchase he's had
But look at how easy it would be to rig this thing up into a popemobile genuinely like it's perfect
Yeah, I think you could pick the Pope up and tip him
Let's go Pope tipping let's go
Talking about someone rolling one of these provides me the BFW I3 is a beautiful wonderful little egg shaped car
That actually will go like highway speeds unlike this
Do you know they're bad from SCCA auto cross events?
No, really want to tip real bad. They want to go. They want it. They want to be on their side very badly
Yeah, they're gonna have to ban these two. Yeah, which is a shame because 25 miles per hour
They were also I saw maybe this was just
Italian fevers and ramblings, but some they were talking about doing it a Barth version of this as well. I
Don't think that was real. I I want to see them cross over with with Ram and Dodge and make the hell cat. I
Want 707 horsepower in my in my rope door topolito. Wait, so it's just like a generate like an off-board
I
A few years ago when I was in LA I rented a three series and I gotta say it's a it's a nice car
It's a nice car. I mean, obviously, that's a fucking cliche thing to say
But like it there's there's something about the way that one of those bad boys handles that
What year was this BMW? This would have been a 2020
Yeah, no, I'm out. I'm out. I have driven one of those and I I hate it. You hate it
I can't stand modern BMW steering. They last good car. They made was the 2016 M2. Okay. Yeah
No, there's the I7 isn't bad because it's like sedate, but as far as other sports handling stuff
It feels crazy, but go out. I accept the point. I was also only driving in LA
So like I didn't I didn't take it out and like really put it through
Yeah, it was yeah, and I you know, I definitely felt like a fucking wanker driving it around to
Like having everybody look at me like who's this dipshit it really felt and it was a convertible
So it really felt like the full LA experience. Oh, yeah
I had the feeling of like wow, this is what it would be like if I was a car guy, which I secretly kind of am but also
I'm not
Yeah, I mean you could just do what what I do and just like be a car person who relies on the bus to get places
That's I don't own a car even though I am a like
Have been a car person since I was two. Okay basically
I what was your gateway into being a car person? What was the first car that you fell in love with? Oh?
My god, I bought I got a five pack of matchbox when I was two years old and I
Didn't I was so obsessed with them. I stopped playing with all my other gifts, okay?
And I just like concentrate on that by the time I was like two and a half or three
I could name basically every common car on the road. Okay, so the secret is autism. Ah, okay
My first car my first car ever owned was a 1988 Toyota Super Turbo, okay, which was
Like my gateway into enthusiasm and it kind of like for me
it was
Rebellion from my parents in the first real meaningful sense. I never had and so like
it
It car culture for me became like the the everybody talks about it
Is being freedom and escape or whatever and like it did do that for me
Not necessarily even through
Transportation initially although I did also get that later
But just through like feeling like I had some autonomy and could make some decisions sure so I'm I'm like I still love cars
I still would love to get a car, but I'm not buying a topolino, but it is a little guy
Yeah, I uh, I think my I'm looking because I'm trying to get the exact model year
But my grandpa had a Chevrolet Corvette and I believe it was an 89
And
Corvette convertible and so when I was a little kid riding around in that thing. I was like, yeah
Yeah
Well, that's that's also a really good car to be into cars with because it's like it's not like Corvettes used to be
cars that you could sort of like aim for you would be like, oh, yeah, I'm gonna get one of these someday, right and they would be
Expensive but not crazy expensive. They were like middle-class aspirational, right?
They weren't that fast like nowadays you can very easily kill yourself in a Corvette
Right, it's like the because horsepower wars but in 1989 probably had like what 212 horsepower or something
Yeah, had had basically as much as my my friendly little electric crossover. Yeah, yes
Yes, well because your electric crossover is probably faster to 60 by quite a bit too
I feel like and this is yeah, this might be a stupid thing to say
But like I feel like at that time
As you put it the horsepower wars and just in general
The the idea was to just have a zippy little thing that you could have fun in rather than just go shmonstrosity
That annoys your neighbors as much as possible, you know, the word performance used to be
Used to mean something different is what I think
I'm reading go like hell, which is the book that Ford versus Ferrari was based off of
And I have been trying to formulate this idea that I actually think that performance of how we thought about it in the like
Pony cars to muscle car war era versus now are two very different things where it's like, you know a
Quarter mile should not be measured in sub 10 seconds, you know, that's probably yeah
That's probably not good or socially acceptable, but like, you know
Numbers had to keep getting bigger over time. So
It's why I don't know G a GR 86 is about as
Compelling to me as anything else. Um, yeah, I got I wish there was a version of I
Wish they still made the fiat 500 of Barth
God, yeah, I was just hey there. They're about as cheap as they're ever gonna get now
I well none of them work is the problem. No that they're all if I wanted a car that I couldn't drive ever
Yeah, I mean a fiat 500 of Barth with a stick is probably like the happiest little thing
I could buy with money, but also
it would be
Much like myself a little broken all of the time
Just I don't know I I have chronic illnesses
I don't need a car that also has the chronic
Oh, I was about to say
If you what if you want like a normal sensible car with chronic illnesses that is also a stick
May I recommend a Honda fit because that bad boy is going to go up until it doesn't anymore
And even when it's not going you can still push it a little bit farther, and I speak from personal experience on this one
I this is a pro Honda fit pod. Okay. Thank God
I I was driving
I drove my my dad's Honda fit quite a bit as well
And I think that bad boy has finally given up the ghost after all this time
Rest in peace. I don't return a thousand miles on it though. So yeah, there used to be a
B-spec you used to be able to enter that into sec a club racing in
Yeah, it was that
Yeah, you throw coils on that it'll pick up the inside wheel. It's awesome. See I feel okay
I I've got this is completely maybe off-topic of what you were thinking about, but I just just given a thought
This this podcast has the kind of ADHD energy I can buy
Uh-huh, I would like to talk briefly about sort of the comparisons between custom PC building and
Cars and the way that for a very long time
You were able to kind of build a car or not build a car you were able to build a PC rather
Pretty cheaply to specification based on what it was that you wanted
But because of prices on everything have gone up and that has gone hand-in-hand with a
Decrease of specialized knowledge as everything goes more and more like the consumer is expected to know nothing and
Everything is expected to get serviced by the company that builds the thing
Consumers are no longer empowered to build computers in the way that they used to and I'm looking at my little computer right here right now
And thinking about how I built it
Three or four years ago when you could still get 16 gigs of RAM for like 40 bucks or whatever
And I feel like with cars
It's the exact same way because it's the same sort of reliance on specialized components that are becoming less and less
economical by virtue of the fact that the manufacturers allow us to keep nothing nice for ourselves
Ever because they demand that they control everything
bars bars bars
No, that's completely true
That's going back to your grandfather's Corvette. He used to be able to go to fucking auto-zone
Yes shit to make that thing really peel out that's right. He's parking that's right. That's right
They literally this you literally cannot tune the new Corvette or
No a tuning house this week after that. That's a six-year-old car now
They it that car has been untunable for six years because if you tried to crack it or anything
It would basically just throw every engine code and tell you
GM would dispatch a wetworks team
Murray Barra is gonna I keep I keep wanting to call her Mara Barra and that's
Which Mara Barra is your friend who's really into like burly dudes like right like that's Mara
That's a Barra Barra
General Lissimo Mara Mara Mary Barra
sends out
GM team six to your location. I
Their kill rate is just so low because they so rarely make it to the destination. Yeah, they're subject to that
That's what they did with all the leftover blazer EVs
They blue screen about three quarters of a mile on a Dearborn. I can't believe I'm gonna Detroit
I guess where is GM not they closed down the rents in it is in Detroit
I just don't think they're the primary tenants of the Renaissance Center
I believe they're out of the Renaissance Center now if if not, they're going to be soon
I think that they are moving into a building that is owned by Dan Gilbert
And I think it might be near the comp you we're building but I can check for you real quick if you would like the queue
Why do I sorry? That's it. That's a Cleveland joke for okay remember when it was still called
That's really interesting that you think I would care about the mistake on the lake, but go off. I guess
Hey, can you give me it? Why do I why do I know the name Dan Gilbert?
Cleveland maybe um
He owned the calves for a while. It still does. That's fine. Okay. Yeah, I believe so. Yeah, and he owned them
And I lived there. He also owns half of the real estate in downtown Detroit. And yeah
They are at Hudson's Detroit, which is the historic site of the jail Hudson store like the the fucking department store
So it's right there on Woodward
Woodward at grass it if that means anything to you
Okay, it's like the Detroit was still accurate. I still
Get woodward still like that. Yeah, there's your baby. They're six blocks away from the Rensen. They're right
I don't say they didn't move far like at all
Because the it's so funny the yeah because they were limited by the amount of st. They're not arranged the Blazer EV
There's the the combined IMSA and Indy car race that is at like Bell Isle
And yeah, it always looks on the reticent center and there was a lot of there is a lot of very funny
Announcers talking about the home of GM this past year and I go not like historically. Yeah
Actually anymore
Hey, do you remember the Bell Isle giant slide and when they made it really fast and there was the rap about it?
Or am I am I fully out on my own on this one? No, you're all right. Feel free to look it up later because
We'll throw to the show notes. Yeah, uh-huh play a clip of it. It's a great little rap
They made the Bell Isle giant slide way too fast and people were just zooming down it and getting actual injuries
It was amazing
Is this like when all the Scots came to Boston and they were all trying to find that slide that that cop
Yes, it's just like
It is exactly I still we gotta talk about how I don't know physics wise how that cop did like
I need to see where's that 10-part investigative series of how because a bunch of people went down that slide
Completely normal style Jordan. Have you ever read Dirk gently is holistic detective agency?
No, Dirk gently a great name though
Yeah, it's a Douglas Adams less famous than hitchhiker's guide, but it's my favorite of his
There's a bit with a couch that rotates itself impossibly in like five-dimensional space and I think it's like that
Yeah, but I think it's that cops body did that like I think
Somehow that's why he was so fucked up by it. He went through some metadimensional changes
Like he lived a thousand lifetimes in that slide like I want like
Salvia or it's either it's either that that he entered a portal or it's that his body occupies non Euclidean space
Yeah, like these are both possibilities
That's why they have to keep using the cop language every time they shoot somebody
Yeah, it's because the cops are non Euclidean right you can never be really certain what they've done
Be not afraid come on it's normal
I have to re-rail the pod
Okay, can I say one thing can I say one thing before you re-rail the podcast it is this
Oh
Quantum cops that's all
That was quantum leap right that was was that not a police procedural. Oh was it?
I'm just gonna listen to me guys
I'm just thinking about a cop that can occupy multiple dimensional planes simultaneously. Sorry. We have to talk about we have to talk about a
Different we have to talk about the greatest city on earth that is all pretending to reinvent what a trash can
Yes, yes, you're talking about my city the city of New York
Yeah, city that invented trash cans, right?
We yeah
We added this at the request of Josh who lives in New York, and I figured you know
He could offer us some unique insights into the New Yorker mind. Yes, because
this began under
Mayor Eric Adams, that's right has since become Albanian that's right or Turkish
Albanian you ask it's our it's our he's our Albanian mayor. He's literally an Albanian citizen now
You know as long as he stays there, that's fine as long as he's
Export we export all of our violence on the rest of the world. Let us send off our shitty mayors
What a fucking big an ass what a fucking trade by the way that we picked that that the UK picked up do a leap
We sent Albania Eric Adams, and then it's like what is the UK going to send us to complete this three-way trade?
I don't know, but I don't want to know the answer to that
I know Keir Starmer's looking for work, and I would like him to stay. Oh fuck. No
It had better not be James Corden again
Do the fans do not interact
So in in
Traditional like Eric Adams may roll the ship fashion the goal during his
Administration was to stop leaving enormous piles of garbage bags sitting raw on the side
The goal and Mamdani is actually like trying to execute on this because he actually is attempting to do things
And so the in order to do this they are containerizing their trash, which means basically
putting
converting about
29,842 parking spots at maximum
from street parking into
dumpster storage areas so that they can like put their garbage at big apartment buildings
Into a bin that then somebody comes and collects later right instead of leaving the bags
Raw on the sidewalk, and I want to point something up here
Which is that a lot of these will be like what the fuck is wrong with you animals leaving?
I did actually put that verbatim in the notes leaving
Fuck are y'all doing over there? It is insane
But it's maybe not quite as insane as it first appears other than it took this long to sort of come to a solution
Basically, the gist of it is that New York City does not really have space to put trash
Other than the street because there are no alleyways like despite all of the movies that you may have seen
Depicting New York City's many alleyways that people run down
There are like three of them and they are all used in the movies and they are all a block long and so
The way that New York City's infrastructure is built out the street level infrastructure
everything has to but be either on or under the street and
There isn't space directly under the street for trash because they put other stuff there earlier
That's where like our power lines are and in some cases the subway and stuff like that and so
It is taken a good bit of political willpower to get to the point where the mayor has been willing to say
We are going to eliminate all of these parking spots in order to install large containerized trash bins
Yeah, it was a to your note. I do have a quote here from my mom Donnie
He said this back in April when he announced he was gonna continue with again not letting the bags cook on the sidewalk
I want to get back to that in a second
But he said quote in the wealthiest city nation in the history of the world
No, New Yorker should have their sidewalks covered in garbage and quote which again, I love his political communication
But yeah, man. Yeah, that's true. What I love this is this is where I get to right
It's like I understand not having space to put garbage
Besides the street that makes sense to me. Yes York is a city that was built up over like hundreds of years
And so you you kind of end up with just sort of you know weird fixes and hodgepodge, you know workarounds
But I'm the fucking sidewalk in the bag. Yeah, it's uh, it's one of those things that when you go to
I guess this will maybe be a thing in the past by let me check our notes 20 2032
It'll be an old-timey story, but I remember the first time I was in the city
and
It was trash day and I assumed something kid god
horrifically wrong where I was just like I was talking to my sister like
Trash guys on strike and she goes right no why and then she got I go where are all the dumpsters or whatever?
She goes what dumpsters and I'm like
like you were paying
$1,800 for a room in an apartment and what do you mean that and I thought I'm like
Okay, maybe that's a brooklyn thing and then you go into bad happen on trash day, and it's even worse
It's Fifth Avenue. This is the wealthiest bit of shopping maybe in the entire western hemisphere
Yep, and it is there's a rat the size of beep beep my cat
that is just
Sitting like a king and like a dragon on a horde of garbage bags
Hissing and I just go okay. I guess you just look like this. All right
And the reason
That the reason that this has been the way that New Yorkers have lived for so long is that
The streets themselves the space where you would put
Garbage cans dumpsters whatever that is
That's all dominated by
Parking right it is it is a space that motorists
Considered to be rightfully theirs by divine right essentially because and this is the other really important thing. I
believe the number is
Three or four percent of street parking in New York is meter. The rest is free
uh-huh
Which is again of insane fucking insane. No, that's that's not just insane
That's that's it absolutely absurd
This is the thing where it's just like whenever I visit and then like God forbid I do drive in
Uh, but people are like, oh, where did you park and I went the street for days for free
Like I like what are you talking about? They're like, weren't you staying in soho? And I was like, yeah
That's all free street parking on the way. Yeah, I parked around the yeah
I like I just went and parked over around the corner on Lafayette. Yeah. No exactly. No, I was on a hotel
They're like, where did you park? I was like across the street from the hotel
They're like, oh like a ways away and I went no like I could see the car from the hotel window
Like I yeah, like that's the thing that people don't realize is like especially in lower Manhattan
As long as it is either the weekend or not during business hours. There is ample free street parking
everywhere
Yeah, and this is a massive public policy field massive because well
I I do want to get to that. I guess you can because the the other thing I just wanted to just before we move on to the
the the cost of this and the the sort of like
Motorists entitlement to leave your car somewhere. I did want to just point out
So 29,842 parking spots sounds like a lot. It's not the city of new york
Has roughly 2000000 parking spots for free. Yeah. Yeah
This is so 1.52 of the city's 2000000 parking spots will be turned into dumpsters to again
get the
Garbage laden bags off of the sidewalk and I think you can continue now. I just
Nothing absolutely nothing but but like in absolute terms and even relative terms city-wide. Yes, you're exactly correct
But the places that they are putting these bins because these are big big fuckers
And they are going to be permanently on that street space in front of the large residential buildings
Buildings that are going to have dozens and of units and those buildings
particularly the well-off ones are concentrated in specific parts of the city
Namely the east and west 70s 80s 90s
These are neighborhoods full of rich assholes who want to have it both ways
They want to have
Good amenities. They want to have clean sidewalks. They want to have
The ability to park their fucking cars on the street for free and it's like bud
You can have two of three pick two like it's it's it's up to you pick any two
It's the it's the car triangle. Yeah fast cheap reliable pick two. Exactly. Yeah, um, I
The trash is one of those things that made me realize to fully
Give in and acclimatize to new york
Is to just fucking say well. Yeah, that's of course. That's how it works. Where else would we do it?
Like it was this reminds me of going to london and being like why would you ever drink from the tap?
Yeah, because I don't know if you ever had london water. It's not great. That shit's gross
It is one of those things where it's just like everybody there is like, oh, yeah, london's incredible
Just don't ever drink anything that comes out of the faucet. I love and it's like great. You realize that that's like a
That's really bad. Not normally, right? You realize that you you you don't have to live like this, you know, like if you were to
Maybe socialize your water and
Overhaul your water treatment process. It would be cheaper and better, right? You understand this
Uh, they're too busy. It's a really great example of rich people suffering, uh, because they don't want to accidentally help a poor person
Yeah, um, I mean that's that's also yeah. Yeah, that's london in a nutshell, especially. I feel like yeah, uh, um, I do want to
Can I do you mind if I if I so I went I I I decided because I for me as somebody who does not live in new york
Um, I also like cars, but I would never expect to drive in fucking Manhattan because I don't want to kill myself
It's not enjoyable, but it's not that bad. I've driven and it's fine
I just don't think you don't have to and I I think if you don't you almost never like I'm sorry
I've never once like
I driving in Manhattan pre congestion prices is one of the worst driving experiences I've ever had and I'm confused. Yes
Yes, but also like I just
You just don't need it is one of those like, uh, you are
Uh, being a castle doctrine
suburban minded pervert if you were trying to drive in Manhattan instead of just
Take take walk take a train do do literally buses anything you could take the weird gondola
I guess if you need to get to Roosevelt island, but other than that
Yeah, like there's always there's always something. Um
Um, so but I wanted so I of course look at this is like an unalloyed good and of course again, I
I know that there are people, uh
That think that they're to the left of me who will disagree with me about this. I have been a pretty big mom donny fan
I continue to be a pretty big mom donny fan. I think that he is
Kind of the best we are ever going to get out of real politic
And I appreciate that about him for now. Yeah, I think I think that there is a
There is space to push later on but at our current moment in time
He is pretty well handled basically everything including trans people
Uh, which he's the only one who's tried even we don't even have a standard of what could be like theoretically accomplishable
Uh beyond what he's done because nobody's even given it a shot. So I mean, yeah
I mean as regards
Politics in new york city around trans issues
Particularly the city is in such a bind in terms of what it realistically can and cannot do
I would like to see him be a bit more
Rhetorically forceful about this stuff, but at the end of the day from a policy perspective
Yeah, it's tough. It's really tough given the mechanics of what's going on
Yeah, and and so I I again I maintain and I maintain my mind mom donny, you know
Appreciator status. I think he's he's pretty cool. I'd be thrilled if we had a mayor as half as effective as him here in seattle
um, because despite all of the washington posts hand-wringing about our, you know
Femme mom donny. She is not really delivered on that yet. Wait, they're feminizing. Is that Zoran mom donny? Is that?
Yeah, Rama's into it and she here
Wow
All right, let's go
No, but so I you know I was like this seems like a great trade-off 30,000 parking spots in exchange for not letting garbage sit raw on the
Fucking pavement brilliant
So I went to the new york post because I knew that they would have the wrong opinion
And I decided to read I just want to read you the two people the man on the street interviews they did
For their article, which I will begrudgingly put in the notes. Fuck. Yeah, they are a source even though I fucking hate them
um
Quote taking away parkings taking away from parking spaces in order to have more trash is not feasible
It's not realistic said claire a 29 year old veterinarian on the upper east side
We could find other places to put our trash things and quote. She's talking about
Where are you going to put them?
Well, well a fellow vet who gave her name is jab
agreed
Just did this during a vet appointment. Yeah
uh
Say quote we need the parking and we're already limited in spaces when it comes to stuff like that
So I feel like we can definitely find like something else to put our trash at and quote
Okay. Yeah, I guess there is mathematically a maximum amount of parking in new york. That's true
Lady you are limited
2000000 is a limit if you can park 2000000 times, but like oh my god
This is this is not to hand it to to them. They this is this is a stupid line of argument
But I think it's worth noting. There is a gothamist article that reports on this and you can they have actually
Visualized on a map who is going to see the most impact in terms of available street parking space
And both the upper west and upper east sides are going to be losing roughly 10 percent of their street park
So that is a significant number now, but to not let the garbage sit on the street. No, you're correct
obviously
But you have to understand like that this is coming from a place of
It's a stupid place, but it is a place where there is an actual measurable impact
um
Even though that impact is 1000000 percent worth it. Why do they look like this?
The trashcans
Why do they I don't know they're called empire bins because they
Because it's over baby
What's wrong with the what's design? I like them. I think I think they're cute
I like they look like when a jpeg loads incorrectly and it gets squashed down
It looks like it looks like they don't look like an outdoor like uh, this is a baseball state like a kid's little league
Dump dumpster that got flattened a little bit. Okay, you know what they look like those plastic mailboxes
You know what i'm talking about. Uh-huh. That's what they look like
So josh, I have a question for you
Um, I have an answer. Hopefully I've never been to the city of new york. I really want to go
I'm going to try to fix it as soon as I can. I don't have any money
You know, we'll we'll work on it. It will get there
It's just I never got flown out for free when I was working as an auto journalist because nobody's going to do a press drive in
New york
All right. Well, you should come out in the famous words of taylor swift. It's been waiting for you. Yeah
Oh my god, you'd love it. I want to act you'd love it. Stop making me not want to go by referencing her. Um
This is a anti-swifty zone
Do you remember when taylor swift tried to be the new york lady for like six months and then everyone was like
What the fuck are you doing? She still is. That's why she got mad married at mattis. That's where the place that all new yorkers claim
Is there?
So I have a question for you about uh
Uptown Manhattan. Sure
Yeah, are there subways there? Can you get there via public transit? Oh, yeah
Can you take the train there? Yeah
So if you work outside of the city and you were like, oh, I work at a veterinary office and I I
Can't park my car. Would it be feasible to say well, have you tried considering the subway system? Yeah, I would say
That's very interesting. Maybe take the one train or the a c four train
or the q train
Uh, or the two train depending on where uptown you are. Yeah, there's probably a branch of the new york city subway
To service your needs if you are an uptown
I was just checking to make sure I wasn't being like overly
Stop
Stop and this is I think the thing that like a lot of people this is the unfortunate part of being a
pro urbanist car enthusiast who talks to a lot of car enthusiasts
Is that at a certain point, you know the status quo is not
The is not natural. It is something we have created. It is in itself a political creation
This is what like every trans person is constantly screaming about
Um, by the way, sorry, I need to add the b train the d train the metro north. Yeah, no, there are other options
I just want to I want to be very clear about that in case it wasn't. Yeah, um
so like
The status quo in the u.s. Is that you get to drive your car into the city
You get to park it for free on a street and then the city will basically
Rent you at a cost of zero dollars a patch of pavement to hold your two ton personal object
But then you use by yourself to go home at the end of the day
And the thing is is like that is not tenable for a better world. You cannot like what we
if we are going to
spend resources on
socialized programs
That improve people who live in a city's lives
Dedicating vast swaths of real estate to free parking for people to put their personal vehicles in is not there's no
Fucking benefit there. Yeah for like anybody except those people who parked there. Well, particularly a small fraction
Particularly if you're talking about Manhattan, which is one of the most densely populated places on earth
Yeah, yeah, it's so it's so
Yeah, it's
So indulgent to a soup because i'm even just like
Why is it all free?
Surely like Chicago you can't you can't park for five minutes without paying
Like I think the saudi royal family or that's correct. Yes
Bought all the all those parking spaces 20 years ago or whatever for a hundred year lease like that's right
Pittsburgh I like I could park in my neighborhood for free, right? But like if I go anywhere
Else like
I just and i'm not saying that those parking spaces should exist
But like the fact that the city is just not like you want to talk about
Do rebalancing budgets you start charging for parking spaces in Manhattan
Yes, and charge what the market will bear, right? Because
Genuinely if you could honestly?
dynamic
uh
parking prices in Manhattan would raise an
Unbelievable amount of money you could have enough to forcefem the entire city. That's true the mayor
uh
All of the mayor's friends
We're forcefemming new york or it's called. This is how zoran bop dot. He gets a fucking gundum like you know
But so this is this is the thing that I think is interesting to talk about in the context of new york city politics specifically that
there is
motorists private motorists
are a
Fairly vocal and annoying demographic
But they don't exactly vote on block
Rhythm it's more of what's going on is that the new york post for instance and other organs of right-wing media
and and just right-wing
politicians and and media and influencing groups in general are able to use
Parking as a wedge
Because that's that's the thing right?
One of the things about new york city is that uh the culture war bullshit
Outside of certain neighborhoods doesn't really fly here
It because of the fact that the city is a cultural melting pot
And one of the key things about being a new yorker is that you mind your fucking business
but
If you're able to find an issue that gets people all heated up about like well, this is mine. This is mine
The kinds of people who are going to be driving cars in the city and parking cars in the city
tend to be the kinds of people who you can activate for reactionary means
And that's really what the parking situation comes down to is that it's it's the third rail of new york city politics
Not because parking reform would be impossible and not because it's a bad idea
But because people are just unwilling to poke that particular bear
Because it is a cultural issue that can then be used as a hot button wedge
Yeah, and this is the thing that I think
The the term sewer socialism gets thrown around a lot lately, which is you know making the city work better at a visible
tangible way to kind of
undo
Centuries at this point of propaganda the government, you know
The the the scariest words the new language are i'm from the government. I'm here to help ronald rake and you know
We've been we've been stewing this shit all of our lives
And so one of the places if you want to like make a pitch for socialism
It's compelling is you show people that government actually can work and can help them and is there to provide a service to all
New yorkers for example, um
And I I love that I think this is part of what makes this so compelling
I think it's part of why I find so around like compelling politically is that
he
if this
If this works in the way that we would expect it to which is there are no longer giant soggy piles of rotting garbage
Covered in rats on the sidewalks all year round
Um, and you know it helps with like rat problems. It makes the streets cleaner
People who use wheelchairs or whatever can get around easier. She's not dodging fucking piles of garbage on the sidewalk
I'll have you know that it is very ableist of you
To not prioritize cars which are the most important thing for any handicapped person anywhere
I'm summoning a spirit bomb to lighten and strike your location. It makes me so
Of all of the bad faith pro-car arguments
That's the one that actually grinds at me the most because yes
There are some people who have limited mobility who genuinely need cars to get around there are some not a lot
But some but you know what if somebody who genuinely needs a car to get around the city
Needs to have better mobility in that car. You know, it's going to help them a lot getting the other fucking cars off the street
Well, and the other thing too is like in in seattle we have
Free street parking a lot of places paid and others but if you if you have a uh, like handicap
mobility permit flackered
um
Yeah, they'll put a spot a handicap spot directly in front of where you live
And then that's your spot forever and you're only allowed to park there
Which seems like a great way to short circuit that argument immediately. I live on it
I live on a street with no traffic because we're just the residential little little side street
Yeah, my my neighbor's got their their handicap is out set up with the city
They'll come out and do it in like a day, but it's putting a post in the ground and painting the sidewalk a little blue
It's yeah, which is great
Like that's that and it ends this argument immediately
And I think this is kind of like where the the sewer socialism thing, you know
Is so compelling is because it's like I think the new york post can attempt to get
Car drivers fucking furious, but I think that the end result is you're gonna have like
50 people in four years or I don't know how long your mayoral terms are there. I forget it's four
Yeah
That still remember this and they're still mad about it
Everybody else is going to be like hey, you remember how the streets used to be full of bags of garbage
And you were stepping on rats all the time. Yeah, exactly and what's kind of interesting too is that
This program like the way that trash in new york is finally getting containerized like every other developed city in the world
This was an initiative that was started by eric adams
It was one of the few truly useful things he did during his term as mayor
Was because he was in alphadia going there's no garbage on the sidewalks. Come on
Exactly. What are we doing every time you went to istan bull?
Every time he went to istan bull he saw the cats and no mice and was like, what could we do? Um, but
the
uh, the thing that he sort of started to do like again
We we were sort of joking about and referencing at the very beginning that absolutely fucking hilarious press conference
Where he basically said that he invented the trash can like that was yes
wonderful
But the way that this containerization thing is working is it's it's it's twofold
You have the big ass bins which are permanently installed right up next to the sidewalk on the street in places that used to be street parking
and then
Free plastic bins are also being distributed to homes
So yeah on trash day, you know what you do?
You take the bin and you roll it out to the curb like any other city ever
Which is great. How and empire. I'm sorry. sorry empire bin state of mind. That's real
That's that's correct. Um, is this something it's this is one of those, uh
I love new york so much. I love all of my friends new york, but every now and then it's just like
They're just called cornersters everywhere else dogs. Like
Your unique experience. Yeah, it's it is like a little different
But like that's like if I like we all fetishized the bookies, which I guess a lot of people do actually
Let me let me ask you this
Can you go to a corner store and pick up a mysteriously dusty can of beans?
Turn it over and see that it's priced at six dollars. I can't yeah. Yes. Yes. Fuck. Yeah
I was about to say I was just like no, no, no, it's the it's pretzels is the same everywhere. Uh
Um, but I guess my point here is that
It took a decent amount of both coordination and spending political capital to sort of deputize dsn y in this way
What's great then for mamdani is that he can continue and expand that and
Speaking as somebody who lives here and has lived here my entire adult life
It's been genuinely shocking
to see the way that certain aspects of quality of life have improved as
Mamdani has executed plans and has as his people have executed plans for different parts of the city in different departments
in aspects of city governments because
The neighborhood that I lived in for instance
All of the streets have been fucked as long as I've lived here
all of a sudden over the course of the past six months
Every street in my neighborhood pretty much has been repaid or is going to be repaid
Yeah, that is a small thing that dramatically improves quality of life for everybody
and
Similarly the trash shit
I'm sure we're going to get those bins eventually because I live in a pretty big building as well
We're going to lose a couple of our parking spaces. Fuck
but it's going to pay off in the long run because we're not going to see fucking rats everywhere and
It's also interesting because there was this brief period of time like right directly after the acute period of the pandemic where all of these restaurants
had
Spaces out on the street that you could also sit and eat in you know these like sidewalk sheds and awnings and
There was this period of time where we're talking about okay
How might we
Take this temporary thing and make it a stable long-term thing
And because everybody loved it exactly
But what ended up happening too was that some of this stuff just ended up going unused and then they just became rat vectors
Basically because the rats would just move in
and
Dr. Zoidburn homeowner
exactly
So then what happened like the the the net way out of that was that uh all of these
Sidewalk sheds pretty much got destroyed and removed
Because people weren't willing to pay sort of a fee to keep it up and they weren't willing to spend the money on up for the thing itself
tragic
fucking sad
and
It's we had this
time of rethinking
What is this space for particularly in again one of the densest cities in the world?
Why are we not using our streets for people rather than fucking cars?
And it is my
Abiding hope that people are going to see what happens as a result of this and they'll be like oh, what else could we maybe put in the street?
Yeah, no that'd be awesome feels like new yorkers are reinventing the social contract from first principles
Yes, very much. We have to do in this country. We do. We do
I I was in new york a couple weeks ago, and it was the first time that I have felt that the city felt
overall positive
like no like
You were there when the mix yeah, that helped helped. Yeah. That was a good night. That was a great night
I got
There's somebody there's somebody running around my neighborhood with an open bottle of champagne
Just pouring shots into the mouth of anybody who wanted it
I was at a bar and they just basically yeah, they they just poured us all well whiskey shots and then
Told everyone to walk their tabs
In that they were like the bar owners taking care of everything tonight and I was like, all right. All right, man
Thanks for the four billers
I just uh, it's so
If this were a problem in any other city on earth, it would be
Maybe a little less of a novelty to talk about. I mean, I should say in america
There are definitely cities on earth where there are trash problems. Yeah, listen to while there's your problem
There's your problem where they were putting bronze ingots in the trash or something
I don't know what you all did. No, they were they were just dumping radioactive waste into vasuvius
cool
Oh
The actual crater of the volcano
Yeah, check out my other show that I sort of am on as a host occasionally
Most of the time I think that's how you would try to submit godzilla, right?
Like that's how you summon a godzilla at very least you're jumping rate. Um
I a kaiju kai godzilla is is one of many kaiju. I want to be very
And this isn't like when I call all vampires draculas as a
Right, right, right
Uh, wait, wait, wait. Have you seen I keep being like, have you seen but the video
Where it is the pilot of the tv show the slap except rather than children. They are draculas
No
Josh I'm gonna need to just start setting me up. Are you familiar?
Show notes are going to be six miles long. Are you familiar with the nbc miniseries the slap?
I am familiar with the trailer for the nbc miniseries the slap, which means I think I got the entire premise
Someone's left the show, right? That's right. That's right. Somebody slapped somebody else's child
And it sets off a wave of uh
Tension in this bucolic suburban neighborhood
Well in the version that I'm talking about
Everybody has a dracula and one of the parents slapped somebody else's dracula. It's wonderful
I uh, I love when people do things that david lynch would have like discarded as uh, like uh
Like it's the things that david lynch would like scribble down and then like
Crumple up and shoot into a waste paper basket. That was like an entire genre of other television shows. Yeah
Um speaking of vaguely lynchian things can we get to our last topic here?
Perfect segue no notes. Um
Uh, yeah, I was gonna say I was to go with speaking of socialism since apparently that's we're doing this kind of like we're doing it
We're doing what I would describe as socialism for the nation. We could call it a kind of national socialism
No, no, no, no
No, no, we're done talking about good. We're talking about talking about good
Can I read one I just wanted to read one quote about the trash cans
Okay
This is from a gothamist article about the thing
Drivers like julius ubari 30 from sheepshead bay was skeptical that the bins would make a dent in the rat population
It instead the plan would make life miserable for car owners
Taking away parking is just gonna be a crisis said ubari if they could find a way to put it on the sidewalk
That would be great
But you are like
The the container plan wouldn't have a major effect on street parking in less dense areas of the city like ubari's neighborhood
The documents that estimate sheepshead bay and marine park would lose 569 of their
40,880 on street parking spaces
I this all remind you this all smacks of uh when hochill almost uh
Almost derailed congestion pricing congestion pricing a bunch of new jersey residents who were not her constituents got very mad about it
Kathy hokel went to a diner in new jersey
And said these people are the people who matter most
Which to be fair, I well, yeah, the baileys were there
I often
Anytime i'm at a diner in jersey, which is about once a year actually
Actually might be me this time when this episode's up because i'm gonna be a jersey in new york next week
Uh, hell, yeah, but yeah, I just
What it this is so people are trying to get mad about objectively good things and that's how I know that like new york is
New york is winning when this is the like the level of like
You know, they're not they don't even have real arguments. It's just like but this could be bad and we yeah
I got the two vet techs who are trying to get me out of their office
It's like you said that you had a cat that you needed taken care of
And you just are asking us questions about parking like go away your cat also has a new york post press badge
crazy
But
Anyway, we're done with good socialism. We're done with it. We're there's nothing else
We're back to fucking bad vibes. This isn't this is actually a fucked episode for our kind of like bad vibe to good vibe ratio
We've been way too positive. That's right. It's time to get extremely upsetting. Yay
I don't think that this is upsetting at all because it's just odd. Um
I I have this section on our notes just titled dog. What the fuck is up with these freedom fuel gas stations?
Um earlier this week. Oh, is this trumps gas station? It's trumps gas stations that are
Not trumps gas stations very importantly
um earlier this week following his big wet and wild fourth of july
Donald trump is taking us about
Restirting the war in iran not cool. We'll talk about that at some point because
Forever war guess what I I found I found a chart this week of how many barrels of oil and how much fertilizer made it through
This straight in the three-week uh memorandum of understanding otherwise known as a ceasefire that didn't really cease
Is that number zero victoria?
It's for fertilizer. It's basically zero for barrels. It's like uh five to ten percent potentially on some days of what
Normal like it's so we are we are beginning to hit the bottoms of the fucking reservoirs
Like we're running out. It is so funny looking at headlines today where it's like on cnbc's side
It says trump says iran called to make a deal after us strikes adds it's unclear if war is back on
So that's what's going on in trumps brain. Um and meanwhile back in reality
iran has
Already retaliated and is threatening quote grave consequences
I think if I speak too much more on this I might end up in deep trouble. So i'm not going to say anything else
Devin devin
Let through a bunch of stuff on this most recent well
There's your problem where I was like, huh?
I hope that doesn't come back to haunt me later because I thought about hearing that played in a courtroom
And I was like, you know as I said well, there's your problem. I'm here for a bad time
I just think it would be wild if that shit happened. I I have no
Moral opinion on whether it would be a good thing or a bad thing. Um, I just think it would be fucking crazy
Because we live in some crazy fucking times. I do think I also like I so badly
want to see
The katari 747
Have to defend itself from like an airborne attack because they didn't put
Uh, any of the like anti missile defenses into it because they're baked into the like the actual air force one of which
This is not
Um, and so like they wouldn't let him take it to turn they wouldn't let him fly to turkey
They had to like he flew to the uk drop that his his personal katari jet off in the uk
And switched on to the real air force one to go to ankara
Sure because they don't have the defenses to actually fly that close to where somebody could lob something at it like actual
Potential in the airspace and I think that would be
We just bulldozed that I know we told the listeners that we we told the truffle pigs that the uh
That our next bonus episode would be like, I don't know being democratic and answering their questions, but
What if we just watched the fuck ton of dogfights buddy?
Look, I I would do that. Let me put it this way. I have never seen a bowing 747 do a barrel
Right. Yeah
Look the the fucking the the sky king could do it. Assuredly the guys they got flying uh air force
Air force negative one could do it
They gotta get they gotta take it away from air force guys and give it back to the carrier sickos
We gotta like I want to see I I trust the boys in renton
I think that they could build a I think they could build a jumbo jet a double decker luxurious
Presidential carrying jumbo jet that could do a barrel roll and I think it'd be cool to see it on video
I mean, I mean that's all I you know
I hope that
I hope that donald trump lives the course of his natural life
Yeah, there we go the course of his natural life. There's no actions in that fully aware
Fully aware that when it even he peacefully passes
um
There will be more champagne sold in america and there has been since probably the end of the civil. Yeah, uh
It's it's gonna make the nicks winning look like just like a little
Oh my god, the nicks winning look like a five-year-old's birthday party. Yeah, it's good. Yeah, it's gonna be incredible
It's gonna be
I'm a bit worried
Like I'm a bit worried about what things are gonna be like here. I'm grabbing every every alcoholic beverage in my home
I'm getting on the next eight bus to cal anderson, which is the home of
Transsexuals in the city of seattle. Okay, and I'm not coming home for like a couple days. I'm gonna wake up and I'm grabbing
I'm grabbing a six pack
I'm grabbing a six pack and I'm getting behind the wheel of the closest car that I can find
Are you allowed to drug drive the fiat topolino?
Is that like is that like the secret other hack? It's like you could be like 85 plus
You could be 14 with like a learner's permit. You could be hammered like
You can't be well you're like it's like your blood alcohol content to be like legally inebriated is higher
Than it is for like an actual car. You can hit the balmer peak and still be driving
Tiger woods have to be clear
To be clear
Actually drunk driving is not it's not don't do it if you want to riffing about drunk driving
Potentially very funny depending on the circumstances also to be clear. It is a car that I would steal
I would not be dry drunk driving my own car. I would be drunk driving somebody else's hijacked
Yeah, you'd be you'd be if you'd have stolen like an nyp car theft when you're in an nypd. Yeah, that's cool
um
What were you to fuck the fuels uh
Yeah
Watched himself watch himself on fox news
That was so good one of the greatest moments in american history just watching this old man dissociate into himself
Which is a very transactional moment from our president
Like just a moment where you feel the actual fabric of reality frame, right?
It's like you can see through the edges of space time
You the veil is briefly lifted as you look into the beyond
I feel like once a week lately. I see something that makes me say if gi devour saw this he'd kill himself again. Oh my god
I feel like we have been on the single ply industrial reality for a while now
It's real thin. It's not really pleasant for anyone, but it's
Going to do its job for a while and I'm
And eventually that role is gonna run out and there is nothing available to replace. Thank god the heat death, please
Um, I would like things to stop happening. Uh
Anyways, our victoria. Is that a is model of a concord that you're stimming with there?
What is that? It's a squishy. It's a squishy stress ball concord. Fuck. Yeah
That november kelly got me at the national museum of flight in scotland
It's got the droop snoot and everything. I love it. Uh-huh. Yeah, sorry. I'm just stimming you're you're allowed. Uh
This doesn't matter freedom fuels is the punchline and the topic and everything
hell, yeah
Earlier this week donald trump, uh
After restarting the war also went on truth social and posted about a new chain of gas stations called freedom fuel
What is freedom fuel you might ask?
Uh, no one sees I am asking this to be able to get a concrete answer from the people
People run freedom fuel. I love when he just says some shit. It's the
Real gas stations, but no one knows who's operating them
But they're also selling fuel for three dollars and 47 cents because they chuds are doing numerology like
Astrology girlies now. Does that number mean anything or 47?
And the three is because he destroyed the global economy
Featuring a logo with cringe ai art of an eagle the chain has appeared across the cradle of democracy and civilization south jersey and philly
Um
Yeah, uh god i'm i'm looking i'm looking at one of the stations now
And you are not fucking joking that marquis on top of the pumps is
Horrible in the story was specifically a valero station, which uh it being a valero station
If you know where valero sources their gas from will
Maybe be a clue of where I think this gasoline is coming from because at 347
three dollars and 47 cents a gallon that is
Below market price for gasoline by such a degree that they are
For sure losing money and that an industry expert called
Not sustainable
um
This isn't that cnn i'm i'm taking a lot from that cnn article
And then I looked at a bunch of other things because I as soon as I realized that this I will leave those links
um
I think I think this might be just for like by way of comparison or whatever like at this time looking at triple a's gas
price averages
Like right now
Uh in indiana it is of course the lowest price uh 3219 for a gallon of regular unleaded
But if you're talking about like new jersey for instance right now gas is going for 3893
Yeah, so that's yeah like 40 ish cents a gallon more or less. I suppose depending on how you look which uh
Quick background for folks who might not know
Gas stations don't make basically any money on selling gas
and it's just not a gasoline is not a thing with uh
Retail margins basically not not in the way that americans
You know, I I hope that most people understand how retail margins work
But like you know if you sell the thing for what you buy the thing at you don't make any money
You're just a middleman to hand money to other people
You the owner operator of the gas station british petroleum is making money on that gas
Yeah, like the gas station gas stations usually make their it's why 7 11 exists as it does is because convenience stores
Attached to gas stations are how the gas station actually makes money like they make money for when you buy yourself a little treat or boner pills
Uh, which are also like a little treat. I guess for some well, I actually I I am curious other than the boner pills
What are your go-to gas station treats? Uh, I'm an I'm an energy drink and a uh and like uh some sort of like
Popcorn lady if I'm road-tripping okay like a like a smart food for something else
Uh, which is such a pretentious name for what is cheddar popcorn, but uh, I do
Lifesaver gummies
Starbucks, uh mocha frappuccino fake, you know the glass bottle ones. Yeah, like they're not actually frappuccino, but it's just
It's just sugar and coffee
I think for me. Well, it's gotta be the biggest fountain sprite that I can get
Yeah, and and and that might be very large indeed depending on the gas station question the turnpike
Trucker sprite. I think would kill you instantly. Yeah
Yeah, no, it's definitely not good for you, but I do it anyway
And then the biggest thing of beef jerky that I can bear. Yeah, those are those are my two stand
But this is that's like bad like
High gas prices are actually really bad for these outer operators of gas stations because when you're getting like, you know
Most americans what you spend on gas is not fixed by your budget. It is fixed on how many miles you have to drive
Uh, so like say you have a 50 mile commute. You're a crazy person
Uh, but like, you know, you're you're bob average american when your gas prices go up
That's gonna like crunch the rest of your budget
So you probably then don't have the money to go buy your zins and your monster and your boner pills
And then you take the ball together and your body takes it a horrid
Horde cardiovascular screenshot
uh
Anyways, that's why high gas price is bad
That's why gas prices are usually the same everywhere in an area because that's just you know
You're going to sell it for the lowest amount you can with like taxes fees and everything
Yeah, and and that's why like if you live in an area that has like, um, like in some states
I know that like native reservations are exempt from certain state
Having to levy certain state taxes
Uh, and so their gas is a bit cheaper because they don't have to pay the same amount of gas tax
It's not because they figured out a way to like get fuel into your car more cheaply
It's just because like their base rate is lower
Uh, yeah, and that's why when that's why this is notable one because our
Big adult president is posting about it despite it being a chain of 23 gas stations
Uh, only in the Philly, uh in south jersey area
Um real quick i'm gonna just fire off some dunks if anyone else has anything to add
Please join now go for it. Please. Please this looks like a gas station in an like a ps2 gta game
Looks like a burnout. It looks like the gas station said burnout paradise
Uh, looks like it like something it looks like the place where they have the gas fight and uh
in a fucking uh
Yes, yes, uh, I hate I hate everything about this, but um
Yeah
Oh, I love the ai renderings the posted on truth. Yes speaking of truth social
I looked at truth social for I think maybe the third or fourth time ever in my life because I'm just going
To read this out. Yeah, um the chain looks to have been
According to reporting from cnn
It was only incorporated in june, which is you know
As we record this for only nine days into july and they already have gas stations up and running with their branding. That's not like
That's not like a good long lead time to open a chain of anything unless you have a ton of help
Which again, yeah, I would describe this as uh
Suspected best. Yeah, absolutely. Um
Uh, and why no, please please read it. Why why is this even more suspect than uh, you know, it might otherwise be because
Donald trump says
Just as I promised oil prices are plummeting fast and gas prices at the pump are
Too but not as fast as they should be as we approach America's 250th birthday
I am pleased to announce that a very smart retailer
Located throughout the northeast is stepping up and wishing the people of philadelphia a happy birthday
On july 3rd the freedom fuel network will be lowered gas prices at 25 freedom fuel
Stations across the greater philadelphia area. This retailer is taking the lead and others should follow
They are doing this because they love the usa
We are proud to celebrate america's 250th birthday in the great commonwealth of pennsylvania
The birthplace of our very special by the way one of a kind declaration of independence
And where I won big in the presidential election
America has never been stronger than it is now at gas prices will soon be back to the record low prices
First letter in all of those words capitalized
Uh always yeah, I that's one of my favorite things about trump post is the
Random capitalization of letters that he just
Turned certain nouns into proper nouns for no good reason really
It's how I would write things when I've tried to like emphasize a point to myself before I do an editing pass
um
We uh gas prices will soon be back to the record low prices americans enjoyed at the pump before our very successful quote
excursion in iran
happy birthday america president donald j trump
So this is on july 4th that he posted this. Yeah, um our little excursions
Calling it calling an excursion in air quotes is the funniest part of that and I actually missed that the first time
I read all of that
It's also
It's also one of those things where like these days obviously a lot of the posts are not actually written by him
But that's one where it is 100 percent written by oh, it's nobody else
Would have the thought to call
What is going on right now in iran an excursion?
That's incredible. It's not up there with his best work ever in the posting. No, like it's no
It's no diet coke tweet. It's no trying. No, it's no bad. This is how to get women
It's not any of those. It's no bad food restaurants. Yeah. No, uh, it's her. It's his house. He should be there
Why have you spent some ellipsa before it?
Gas prices in pennsylvania now by the way just looked at that that's a it's 3.99 2 at the moment
I have not bought gas in a couple of weeks here because of the ev but yeah
When I went was when I was at the 7 11 the other day watching a bunch of teens
spoke weed behind it I
In order to get my little energy drink. I yeah, I saw that it was 401 at my local station. Um
That's crazy. It's five dollars and 25 cents here. So
Whoo incorporated back in june
Promoted by the president on july 1st right before the 250
AI generated photo of not what those gas stations actually look like
Uh, the cnn article has one that is a former valero station where they they found it and
You know, they are they are selling gas or what is allegedly gasoline? I guess for three dollars
I'm putting in their cars and trusting which I think is pretty bold
A legend gasoline is a very fun. Uh, that's that's my favorite weed strain
Uh
CNN points out that with 23 locations
This is like a fraction of a percent of all of the gas stations in the u.s
So using this as an example of breaking down oil like oil and gas prices is just
Very funny. It's one of those, uh
Hyper local solutions that our our current federal government loves to try to do
um
Yeah, but yeah
Mike government by micromanagement. Um, however
In all of the articles I looked at and not one did the alleged people behind freedom fuels ever reply to
They have not issued one statement
Um, however the White House when pressed why Donald Trump was
Promoting a line of regional gas
Chains that are selling fuel way below market value
The White House said quote the administration is not involved in the company nor has the administration given the company any funding
There is no other entity or person subsidizing the lower gas lead costs a White House spokesperson told sienna
Quote they are simply reducing their margin to make prices at the pump more affordable for drivers in philadelphia and new jersey
Which
Do I don't I don't believe them like right like this is either some trump doter or whatever like uh
It's a kickback. It's got to be a kickback roger pensky. It could be
Uh
Hi
I I wrote, uh, you know, that's a very normal point to have to clarify of the
There is no other entity or person subsidizing the lower gas lead costs
But it's like no like someone is because this is it's a new company. It's not like this is valero
except
Victoria josh, do you know where valero sources their oil from?
Venezuela it's venezuela oil. That's right
We talked about back in back in february when we captured dr. Disrespect himself nicolas maduro
um
My wife, he's very he's that that man is very close to my house by the way, nicolas maduro
Oh
I
He's in my living room right now and uh nicolas maduro and uh
Fuck it. Uh luigi. You're still in the same prison together, right? Yeah
I believe so. Yeah teaching socialist theory in the in the most jail in all of new york. Um
My bet is this is oil we stole from venezuela. I'll just say it like I I that would make sense to me
that that so I
when I was um
When I was writing
You might remember that I've been working on this project on the side for a while called transgender smoky in the bandit
Uh, and it's a novella ish length story where I took the kind of basic conceit of smoky in the bandit
Which is having to smuggle something across state lines and apply it to a post apocalyptic
Or made apocalyptic depending on how you want to define it 20 30s late 20 30s america
Where balkanization has happened and a trans woman has to run
estrogen across the now national border between the nation state of cascadia and the remnants of america in idaho
Um, and I put a joke in
When I wrote this story where she stops to get gas and she stops at a gas station called venezuel
Uh because I was like this is a funny little tongue-in-cheek reference to the moment in which I am writing the story
Which was about two or three months ago when I think I put that specific reference in
I fucking hate it here. I I
How if you're if you were you know, I I'm mutuals with tim onion and I kind of want to call him up and be like
Hey, man, how do you not fucking kill yourself?
Because watching things you have parody to become reality in front of your eyes
In a way that is even stupider than you could have joked about
It's not making me want to live
It's the opposite of that. I think what it's making me want to die. I think what would I the thing that is so uniquely
I don't know mind numbing about this period of time
Is the way that yes, it feels beyond parody
But also that it's so fucking clear and transparent and obvious and out in the open, you know
They aren't even trying to hide any of it because why should they at this point?
everything is so captured from top to bottom and
When things are that captured there's no good reason for you to have any shame and so and I
Oh, yeah, sorry. No. So all these motherfuckers. They just operate out in the open without any
They are there they themselves are veritable doctors disrespect with the amount of disrespect that they have
Our norms and our constitution. Am I right? Am I right ladies?
Sorry, I read a quote here that uh speaking of ugly things
I am thinking of the we we explained the median voter's politics to this monkey and he hanged himself
I am uh
This man herbert meyers, uh, which yahoo news interviewed at the site of one of these gas stations
Said well, I don't know what the state taxes in pennsylvania are that are added onto it at all
But all I know is that it really as far as it goes. You can't beat the price
Meyers said treps the man. I mean you may not agree with the way he behaves sometimes. Yes
But he's a business man. He's a policy maker. He's the man
I wish we could have it for oh my god. Oh my god. This is about getting
I'm going to shove my thumbs through my eyes one time
It's so
I'm out of the shapes place. I'm into I'm into I I'm gonna
I'm out of the shapes place and I'm into that
I'm actually just gouging my own eyes out because I've seen it. Yeah. No my thumb
I'm massaging my thumbs inside my frontal lobe right now in the savings. I
It's not that the savings are
That's the other thing that gets me right. What are the savings if you're talking about three dollars and 47
cents a gallon compared to
Let's say
43 dollars and 99 cents a gallon. You're saving 50
50 cents per gallon. You're filling up your tank and you're saving what 10 dollars
I'm not saying that that isn't real money, but like it. Come on. You know what I mean? Like it's not
$10 anymore 10 dollars is like right. No, that's what I'm saying
$10 is the $5 of now that's I'm saying
I'm gonna balance this out
There is a median voter who I think at least he sounds like he is a blue maga person who would be insane to me on blue sky
But like let's hear about this one time
tib curns came to the site to protest outside the business
Living out. Yeah, uh
He said
Who oh my god
Of course. I that's actually that's a very good question more at the pump
And it's very hard to feed your families these days because of inflation
But we also have morality, right?
Editors don't no we don't we gave that up a couple years
And we have we have to vote with our dollars just like we vote with our our ballots curds at it
What is ya? Yes, not like paraphrase people when they double they call it yahu news because all they do is news
Where they're interviewing yahu's am I right? Uh, and it makes me want a delicious
You are sponsored for this week. No you fucking imagine
That is the kind of brand that I would sell out for like give me give me like regional sodas
Give me regional drinks. I would I'll all live out. I would sell out
Oh, yeah, I would I would sell out for the beef jerky that you can only get at love's gas stations
The the beef lovers. Yeah. Yeah. The love the order they call it again
It's this they've got a the love store brand has a crazy name, right?
Oh, I don't know. I'm sorry. I I don't know either. I had to go to Walgreens
Which I I used to work at today because my my wife thought she was ill
um
And it just reminded me that they're uh
I think their store brand is called like good and plenty or whatever like it
I love store brand names
And I'm always just like love love at least has the word love in there that you can play around a lot with
Sure. Love me for a second for a second. I thought you said goaded plenty, which would be fucking sick
That would be a great brand name. Well, Walgreens a brand
Goaded cigarettes. Yeah, absolutely. Um
Tim Kurtz finished I want americans to be asking where is that money coming from
Why are corporations and businesses willing to subsidize gas 50 cents a gallon for people to make president trump look good?
To which I'm like, wow
What's it like being the only guy thinking about anything when you see cheap gas, man? Like
In where else where else could this line of questioning maybe take you if you're able to think about a few things a little bit more
You know keep going there is something there is so josh said this before and I was gonna um
There was something I wanted to add which is that I think that part of the point with stuff like this at sort of being like
Yeah, but probably still venezuelan oil and we're selling it for cheap
What are you gonna do about it is I think part of the we've we've crossed from attempting to hide the layers of graft to
Show casing them. Yeah
Because it fulfills like in the same way that I think people
Missed the point of virtue signaling
Kind of when we talk about it like what is virtue signaling it is to signal your virtues if you have a
Like you know we yard sign or whatever that says in this house
We believe the the ideal point of that and granted this is we live in an irony poison society
And a lot of people do not abide by what they claim to
Like hold in esteem, but the ideal point of that is to say
These are things that I think you should also think
It is a signal to other people that these are these are the values you hold in esteem
And I think we have entered an era of open vice signaling right like you see this in automotive culture like really
Yeah, rolling coal things of that nature love
Yeah, like like the the rumblebee right like the the the whole the whole entire persona of the ram brand the the way that like
You know hellcat owners make videos of themselves when they rip through bell town in seattle at two in the morning
That's a whole episode someday
But like it is it is glorifying
Grafft and sin because you're doing two things you're you're
Demoralizing your opponents who hold good in high esteem because it feels like you are being fucking dog walked by the dumbest assholes of all time
It is it is but
You know it basically tells the people who support virtue that they are
No longer in the majority and that their viewpoint is no longer regarded in like high esteem
But it also
Signals to other people who do not have morals that hey now is a good time to get in on this shit
This is this is if you wanted to still down the entire second trump turn
To a single thing it is the financial times article where they interviewed a bunch of investment bankers
Who all said that they were stoked because woke was over and they could say the r-word and pussy in the office
And that's what it is right is it's like the we we you know
You see the quote left version of this is like platner who I
We still don't know if he's actually gonna drop out or not
Latest the latest is that he is intending to drop out on monday, but he's being really annoying weird the man who can't
Yeah, no for an answer isn't dropping out
I
I did a drive-by on the fucking pod save america subreddit the other day because I was just like
It's like platner, huh? How'd that work out for you dumb motherfuckers?
I commented on reddit. I was so mad
Um, but like it is it is to tell those people that like hey
Uh, you know you should you should embrace fikes you should you should embrace cruelty
It is open season on people who you deem weaker than you and if you want to like get in on this grift
You should like get in while the get-ins good and so like
That's why like, you know, there are so many businesses like this is kind of why I always say that like what we're seeing with
Trump is kind of like a very musolini-esque fascism
Um because you know that was like the era fascism that was the marriage of corporations in the state
At the expense of any kind of like real organization. This is musolini shit to it. Oh, yeah
Well, like he would love this shit
I also think that you can draw a connection between this and the street parking thing that we were talking about earlier
The trash containerization thing we were talking about earlier
because
For this kind of person what the idea of liberty comes down to which obviously is a very liberal idea
But but this this sense of you know personal liberties that are granted to you
What it means to them is that they should be able to do whatever they want whenever they want to do it
and so
If we're talking about I don't know driving or rolling coal in a neighborhood or
Being able to park in front of a building for free
all of these things are the expression of one's own individual liberty and
At the end of the day if that liberty as they perceive it comes up against the question of
Should there be trash on the sidewalks that allow rats to live freely and eat the fucking trash
Out of the boiling hot trash bags on the sidewalk
The answer is we're going to keep the rats
We're going to keep the trash because that's the way that things have always been
And it allows me to keep doing the thing that I am used to doing
Fucking who cares about you the trash on the sidewalk at the end of the day?
I don't really care about it because
It's out of sight out of mind as soon as I'm in my very expensive building
You have to walk by Josh. You're not you're not helping the podcaster allegations here
You have to walk you live in a fancy building. You don't care about trash. These are these are my opinions to be clear
Yes, exactly. But you know what I mean like these I I see these in part and parcel as of the same
Core ideology. Yeah, and it goes down all the way to like, yeah
Of course you want to save ten dollars filling up your giant suburban to drive you yourself around and of course you're gonna feel good in that like
Uh president deals has once again come through for me the median american who is a fascist making six figures. Um
Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah on the note of like the whole kind of uh, uh, you know
Radicalization, uh against the median american. I really thought that more of us hated nazis
That's the main thing I learned from platner
And I suppose my entire lifespan is I really really thought that you all watched indiana jones
And were just as hyped as I was when he started shooting those motherfuckers. There's a reason it's there's a reason
Nazis are the one person kermit the frog ever shot with a gun. You know what I mean
The kind the kind kermit the frog
Everything that everything everything perishes at the altar of aesthetics is the thing
And if your idea aesthetic of masculinity is specifically coded in this specific way
Yeah, exactly AI generated eagle on your cheap gas station, right?
No matter what it is that aesthetic is the thing that drives you forward and you have no real regard for the actual material
Substance of what the fuck is going on?
I've watched the travis pastrana black rifle coffee company videos, right?
I know what nitro circus is about
I've watched indy car. I yeah, no it's
I um, I hope
Obviously, you can't really institute any kind of like voting regulation in america without it immediately becoming a poll tax
And stopping black people from voting because that's the entire history of america
Um, so it's very you can't really in any good faith recommend that
But I hope that they specifically find a way to stop that one guy from ever voting again
I just him, you know, if you ever get interviewed by cnn
Sucking off an 80-year-old
geriatric
Hey
The fiends at yahoo news
Oh, yahoo news. I mean look your gas is 50 cents cheaper a gallon. There is
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. There is one way
To make sure he never votes
Yeah, we can't
Say that though. I'm not saying I can't say that on youtube. I'm not saying that's something that we
South african citizenship
That's right
You're saying you're saying we should make him fly the new 747 into iranian airspace make it do a barrel roll the air defense
Yeah, yeah, yeah, um that guy's gotta do it
I think I think because we've taken in so many white south africans it needs to be first in first out
So we need to send them send some of our people back in exchange
That they'll love that they'll they'll love everything about that south africa loves when you send people
When you send white people from other countries there
um
I think that's how we got right like I don't know if this ends up being just a bunch of trump
Affiliated business perverts who are willing to throw money away in order to own the libs for fourth of july weekend
Cool, I guess my bet's on this is oil that we stole or this is oil that like should maybe not be
sanctioned maybe is like
You know if this is russian oil that just got unsanctioned and this they're the first to get their hands on it that might be funny, but
It could also be uh an unsanctioned
A siphoning of stuff out of the strategic
Petroleum reserve that's another possibility. That's gonna be
If we use the last of it to supply 23 gas stations into the philly area
That's what this administration has been like
Everywhere in the u.s. Looks like mad max except philly, which just looks like they can't keep getting away with this
Still somewhat close to mad max
Uh
Donald trump said go birds. It's crazy. It's actually the one thing that I can promise is that it's gonna keep getting stupider
I can guarantee you that uh
Did you see
Fan dual made brace harper send someone who had gambled a 1.5 million dollars away
They made him said that guy like a cameo and tell him like hey, buddy. I promise I won't fuck it this week or whatever
Anyways vice signaling is real
Yeah
It's crazy. I'm like actually no no no snow as cigarettes. No nothing. We're throwing it all away
We can't have anything anymore
um
If you signal vice you should be treated like you're signaling vice. That's that's really what it actually comes down to
Um anyway, I I think I think that's definitely is at least
It is an episode of this show. It's
Oh god. Oh god. We went two hours episode. Why how do we keep two minutes?
Yeah, sorry about that josh
I don't because we have a good time
Oh, I just assumed that it was going two hours because I'd looked at your recent episodes and I saw that they were two hours
Is that not that's fair?
Yeah, we try to end it an hour and a half, but we've been at it lately. Well frequently. I mean also you get me on a show
It's probably gonna run long. That's just that's just part of that's that's just that's just the josh
A year's time are starting to touch three
That's when I am instituting the mandatory cutoff period for podcast episodes. Yeah, I cannot do well
There's your problem for our record
Every week no, uh, josh, where can people find you? Uh, well people can find me uh
First and foremost on my website josh borman.com
Or on blue sky at bosh dot worst possible dot world
You can listen to my podcast the worst of all possible worlds and it'll conceive
Which I talked about a bit at the top of the show, but I'm talking about again now
I I think if you enjoy this show, you'll enjoy my shows as well
Um, thank you both for having me on it's been it's been fun
Getting the opportunity to I like the one of the reasons I really like going on other shows
Is it gives me the uh opportunity to talk about stuff that I'm not really going to be talking about so much on my own show
It's like for instance the differences between a 1989 chevrolet corvette and a current day, uh
Corvette that that's just that's not the kind of thing that's in the wheelhouse of my shows about
Media culture and natalism respectively. So, you know, um, thank you. Thank you both so much for having me on. I had a great time
Yeah, absolutely. We we usually uh, do our name read at the end. So I don't know if you want to
Can we split it into two you think? Yeah, I I don't I don't see why we why we can't just uh, let alex have another final
Okay, cool. Yeah
All right. Well, that was a good episode. We just did so it's now it's time to read our our patron names
Oh, funny. We didn't see you there. Thanks for enjoying
We're your friends trans grillesbow. Thanks for joining us
Yeah, uh, as a thank you to all of our 15 dollar and up patrons uh for their support
We do read out their names at the end of the episode
So we're gonna do that now that josh has has pieced out for the night every day. It's a wonderful guest episode
so
Without further ado
Thank you to titania bird heal
blocky galadriel
parentheses the theme of v
candy fox
Haley pup. Hi
Trans flag trans
The suspiciously woman-shaped pharmacist
Where's my where's my damn astrodial lady?
Thank you, too. I drive revisions for amazon and all I got is this stupid piss bottle
Rail smith
Hear ye hear ye it shall be generally known that the listener known as buick actually drives a toyota
david bolin professional stilantis hater. We should unionize
Hazel butt blue screwy the sexy gut shot
Broke two arms riding a motorcycles time for a miata question mark
Ronan c
tie
Papa shitty cams
samantha
L leo dare
Smoke stack the man formerly known as kyler now with toyota. Sarah action
Pittsburgh t-girl baseball july 25th at 4 p.m. In bloomfield park. You should go. That's my own
There's not somebody named you should go you should just go
I'll go I'll I will actually go to that and then we can
Get get a sticker if you're normal
That's that's the rules with meeting me in public as you get a sticker if you're normal
Thank you to ashlin adam mancuso remember to always tip your boob black studio nixie drone photography not that time
See I don't actually know which now now i'm guessing yeah now i'm confused is it
I I just
Hmm interesting yeah our listeners are a vast tapestry and it's very difficult to guess which one you meet
You think we're thinking of
Thank you to totally not saudi oil bribe money
Alex k
Cameron shaft jd santos jeremy tanner
Waiting on the back of the future trilogy bonuses in the distant future
dog bed the bed that eats kibble
deluxe
Catrania cassey hit its head on a running board. Oh
Sloppy head enjoyer the rest of these are just one long name
That's a great I I really enjoyed the people who started doing pvp patreon name bits
It's pretty good the people's pillow princess perspective gt4 luso buyer
bean
brie henry sable james gillbreath charlie stangle slate actually stands for chevy bolt but for guys that work in manufacturing with
Random letters capitalized in all of those different words
Theodoric Constantine
john v
Buick
And second page floating
Thank you all. Thank you to adam shepherd. Stephen duckworth
falon mildly perturbed
Hannah w
Asherin
Chris hefner jerry at homo gamer agenda.com has a 2023 subaru outback sale will deliver
dexas
Hara hailstorm will even goosey on 1.0. You cannot create value
Fucking very good. Perfect. Very good. That's the shit right there
The knot is in parentheses. I just didn't want to fuck with the flow. That's fantastic
If the goose cannot if the goose does not feel value that the goose will leave
I'm thinking about that one. Yeah, my skyde to soft bank
Thank you to stef schrader princess Reese is now getting paid to be a puppy. No bullshit
Leet wolf girls. Emma alex codac. We need to talk about the misprint in your e6 developer instructions
I know where that one came from and we do we gotta send a wetworks team to rochester. That shit's unacceptable
Uh, those chemicals cost way too much money
um
Thank you to new hampshire trans social august 4th 7 p.m. At the hopknot in manchester
There you go. That one. Yeah, the last one we we missed the date on but this one is good
You can actually still make it to it. So you should
If there are any trans women who live in new hampshire, which I I can't it just survives that place
I don't know new england. I know people who have opinions on new england, but that's not me
Thank you to jet fuel can't melt these dreams
Nathaniel Hubble tends to 44
Saturday's claire
Wing smith will trade her eternal soul for a set of lightly used billet titanium soviet moon rover wheels
Penile sparing vaginoplasty available now nick drinking the lord's bleach bomboski
Djm seeking low poly car. I heard they get better mpg
sylvia fin springs
plopple shut your
Oh
Uh, that was that last one got me
It's really great that your internet's kind of slow right now too. So there was part of me
That's like, uh, is she fully robotting out and then I remember it. What's again pvp?
plopple shut
iri or
Yeah, your ilio saw you from across the bar and liked your vibe julie aguilar
team radar love
RC duke chas crystal storm fisker. I hardly know her
Which is really good extremely good jwr justin ryan sable posh
Josh j and selectrick. Thank you all so much. Uh, we appreciate you
And we'll be back next week with whatever stupid bullshit has happened in the world between now and then which will probably be a bunch of
Could be anything
All right, we're back to windmill dunking on salantis every week. Uh, I we liked the topolino
Bye
About this episode
Podcast banter turns into a wide-ranging drive through microcars, EV practicality, and city policy. The hosts discuss Fiat’s Topolino plan for the U.S., including its low-speed limits and how it can flip if you crank the wheel. They critique a small EV’s “no fast charging” setup and debate K-cars, armored “bulletproof windows,” and what “performance” should mean. Later, the conversation shifts to New York’s “empire bins” and parking tradeoffs, then ends with gas-price politics and a Valero/Freedom Fuel detour.
Original notes
Hello! On this episode of Tran Girlismo, the girls are joined by Josh Boerman of Worst of All Possible Worlds and Ill-Conceived as we support his quest to guest-star on 52 podcasts in a single year.
First, the girls and Josh discuss the new-to-America Fiat Topolino, and then we turn to the Special Interest Josh brought along: NEW YAWK, LOVE DA METS, BABEY
That's right it's time to talk about DA TRASH, as New York wants to convert street parking into dumpsters instead of letting raw bags of waste bake on the sidewalk, which has rational automobile drivers furious, somehow,
Finally, Jordan gives us a rundown on the Freedom Fuel Gas Stations that cropped up all across the United States. [actually it was just in Philly for whatever reason]
Our opening theme as always is off the album Horse Tranquilizer Simulator by Stella Spazzatura and special thank you to our wonderful new editor @harmfulpark.bsky.social!
Related Stories:
Fiat Topolino @Autoblog
New Yorkers Furious About Plan To Stop Letting Garbage Bags Rot On Sidewalk @Gothamist
New York Post Finds The World's Most Car-Brained Vet Office @New York Post
Mayor Mamdani Says New Yorkers Should Live Like Human Beings, Have Dumpsters @YouTube
Donald Trump's Freedom Fuel Stations Post @TruthSocial
Freedom Fuel @CNN
Tran Girlismo
Victoria Scott & Jordan Hoffstetter
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