Tesla for Mass Market, $15 Minimum

New Ride: Tesla Motors says that by 10 last night in California the company had 133,000 orders for its new Model 3, which had been announced to the public only hours earlier.

“Starting at $35,000,” the Model 3 is Tesla’s “affordable” car, the car that is likely to determine whether Tesla ever makes a profit and puts the masses in an electric car. The Model 3 is a trimmed down version of Tesla’s $70,000 Model S sedan that will go 200 miles on a charge.

Missile Command: China and the US have reached an agreement to prevent North Korea from continuing missile tests, President Obama said. The President and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of a nuclear summit yesterday in Washington.

North Korea recently tested an atomic bomb and has fired missiles into the Sea of Japan. Obama said he and President Xi were trying to agree on “how we can discourage action like nuclear missile tests that escalate tensions and violate international obligations”.

North Korea is more irritated than usual after it was slapped with sanctions following its nuclear tests. The Obama administration thinks China should be doing more to pull the Hermit Kingdom into line.

Working: California’s legislature passed a bill to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 from its current $10 an hour. It’s the first state to take such a big leap in the minimum wage. Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon said, “If you work full time, your family shouldn’t live in poverty.”

Once signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, the law will raise the minimum wage to $15 by the year 2022 for larger companies, and by 2023 for smaller businesses.

Penalty Kick: Five of the best players on the US women’s soccer team have filed a federal complaint against US soccer claiming they are paid less than the male players whose team isn’t as good. The complainants include marquee names: goaltender Hope Solo, co-captains Carli Lloyd and Becky Sauerbrunn, forward Alex Morgan and midfielder Megan Rapinoe.

Their complaint before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says they are paid as little as 40 percent of what the men are paid even though they won their third world championship last year, have four Olympic gold medals, and earn more money for US Soccer than the men. The organization announced it was “disappointed” by the complaint.

Trump Stoppers: With a 10 point lead in the Wisconsin polls, Ted Cruz is looking to hand Donald Trump a major defeat Tuesday in his march to the Republican presidential nomination. Right wing radio is ripping into Trump while the state’s governor, a flag bearer for conservatism, has backed Cruz.

Trump, who seems to do no wrong even while doing wrong every day, is heading toward a pivotal moment. A loss in Wisconsin could signal major weakness as the primaries move into the Northeast.

The Obit Page: Saha Hadid, an architect who changed skylines around the world and was the first woman to win her profession’s prestigious Pritzker Prize, has died of a heart attack at age 65 in Miami. She was born in Iraq and became a British citizen who created buildings that broke ground both in the dirt and in the art of architecture. She once said, “I am non-European, I don’t do conventional work and I am a woman.”

Hadid made buildings that looked like flowing water and breaking surf. The interior of a theater with free-flowing balconies and a ceiling studded with lights looked like the Milky Way.

Love, Actually: The ex wife of the Islamic State’s leader told a Swedish interviewer that she had no idea what was really going on in her husband’s mind, but she thought she had married a regular guy. Saja al-Dulaimi said she didn’t love Abu Bakral-Baghdadi and eventually left him. “I married a normal person, a university lecturer,” she said. “He was a family man.” First clue — he had another wife and they all lived together.

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Sunday, December 22, 2024

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It's Been Said

"Christians, get out and vote, just this time. You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what, it will be fixed, it will be fine, you won't have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians. I love you Christians. I'm a Christian. I love you, get out, you gotta get out and vote. In four years, you don't have to vote again, we'll have it fixed so good you're not going to have to vote."

  • Donald Trump courting the vote of the Christian right

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