His reader writes about automated vehicles
This seems to be the anniversary of an interesting event. The officers charged with beating Rodney King were acquitted. So the black community in LA behaved like a collection of depraved babies and rioted. As the rioting continued Larry Tarvin was severely beaten and Reginald Denny was damn near killed. While it is material to history that the man who saved Denny was a black who had actually grown up and took responsibility to save his fellow human it’s not material to this discussion. What is material is that both drivers stopped their vehicles in the middle of a riot. This does not seem to be a particularly safe activity.
Methinks that I will argue with the law as a live woman in her 8th decade rather than become a lump of statistic. If I ever find myself in that situation stopping or even slowing down is about the last thing I will do, chiefly because stopping might well BE the last thing I ever do.
With that background we have the recent wave of vehicles with automated driver assists. They will stop the vehicle if a “collision” is likely even with a lump of animated protoplasm.
Contemplate this a few moments.
Suppose my attitude becomes more generalized. (NC’s House has just formally made it legal to drive through protestors trying to hijack a road taking motorists who run up to them and stop hostage. That’s kidnapping, you know.) So we have vehicles on the road with drivers motivated, i.e. not dumb enough to stop, to push on through. Some of them have automatic stop that overrides the driver.
Some of them don’t. Guess who is going to get hurt in each case. If you were a rioter would you go after a 1990s beater or a brand new Tesla? I think I will put off any automated assist sort of vehicle purchase for awhile. They are as vulnerable to deadly attacks as the Android OS.
{o.o} (Ack to Michael Yon for the concept.)
Jerry on why ObamaCare isn’t being repealed.
Another ramble: one reason for my general depression is that there’s no way to “repeal” Obamacare. Oh sure, Congress could in theory simply return the health care industry – at least 20%, one fifth of the US economy – to where it was before the Democrats rammed it through with Senate debate or much else – “You have to pass the bill to see what’s in it” – but they won’t.
Obamacare told about half the American people that they were no longer responsible for their health care bills. Millions who never had “health care insurance” were now covered, even though they wouldn’t have to be employed, or pay more than a nominal sum – a poll tax? — to get it. And indeed if they didn’t bother they’d still be able to have “insurance”; there were subsidies everywhere.
Repeal of Obamacare would take those free goodies away from millions, and the media already have the stories written, the children filmed, the sob stories already on file. They’re ready with the stories, how the Republicans ruined America.
Enough Republicans just don’t want any part of that, and refused to repeal Obamacare. They can’t bear to tell people that they’re responsible for their own medical bills. They’ve been told – and now it’s true – that someone else is responsible. To wit: you. But you don’t take to the streets or dramatically refuse to pay for someone else’s medical bills.
…
The whole subject is depressing. President Trump is learning why very little actually changes in Washington. Obscure judges you never heard of stop your border control orders, and appeals take – well essentially forever. Doing anything takes much hard work, and the permanent government establishment will see that little of what you order actually has any effect. Your friends turn on you because you can’t do what you promised even if it looked easy – after all, Obama did it? Why can’t I? I have a pen and a phone…
That way lies madness. Mr. Gingrich understands how difficult it is to do anything in Washington that the Establishment doesn’t want done. Mr. Trump is learning.
The difference between Barack Obama and Donald Trump is that President Trump is an intelligent, responsible man and if the analysis of a purposed action shows that it will be more harmful or irresponsible than status quo then he will not proceed. The Democrats only efforts are to ensure that any action President Trump attempts are beset with obstacles and pitfalls strewn across his path. Sometimes the Democrats are only attempting to delay, such as their friends in the judiciary writing ‘Orders’ that are patently illegal and certain to be overturned. But that takes time. The Midterm elections are coming and they still have the media, including next time ( I’m afraid it appears) Fox News Network.
