DAD and HUSBAND. cabinet shop owner. Former Construction PM. Dog lover. Member of the paycheck to paycheck club of America
Texas, USA
Joined May 2018
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Just messing with the fella that changed the oil in my truck
“Hey what do you charge for an oil change in a Tesla model 3?”
Without missing a beat he says
“I’ll do it for 50 bucks and I’ve got blinker fluid for 10 bucks if you need it too.”
Dude was impressively fast with the comeback.
He is 100 percent correct.
One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was "composition"—whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win. And despite polls that showed a Democrat blowout, the data kept on telling us the same story: in some states turnout was merely OK, in other states it was downright amazing, and in no state was it catastrophic. There was a genuine sense of optimism on our team: our people were showing up.
So, I asked the smartest data guy I know, does that mean we're going to shock the world? "No," he told me. "We might do better than the polls suggest. But the data is telling us that a lot of Trump/Vance 2024 voters are pissed and planning to vote for the other guys. Our voters are turning out, but they may not vote for us."
Well, that looks prophetic now. Our voters did show up. In Florida, for example, the electorate was 9 points more Republican than Democrat, just a couple points worse than 2024. Undoubtedly there were places we could have done better on turnout. But the main problem is not turnout. The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026.
There will be a lot of infighting and arguing over what happened and why that is. One of the pollsters I really respect told me that our economic messaging wasn’t sharp enough down the stretch. I’m sure that’s true.
But the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone.
Another pollster—one of the smartest people I know in politics, told me yesterday we’d lose the generic ballot by 13 points. I felt negative going into Tuesday, but even I was shocked by this. In his polling, he saw that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats. He asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team. The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses were:
1) End the war
2) Focus on cost of living/inflation
3) Put America First
4) Change our relationship to Israel
Our voters showed up. And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats. This is according to a pollster who nailed the results. While many spent Monday attacking Rachel Campos Duffy for calling for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, it turns out her political advice was sound. (She’s also a great person.)
In the next few months, there's going to be a lot of gaslighting. Expect to hear any number of establishment politicians say the solution to our woes is amnesty. I'm open to the idea that we should change enforcement—by focusing more on businesses that hire illegal labor, for instance. But anyone pushing amnesty is lying to you.
The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night.
If you'd like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that's at least honest.
But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.
I remain hopeful about our country. To the people who are pissed off and want to say, “I told you so”: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview. To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.
Here’s the best response I have found to the Tesla doubters among friends and family.
“Get your ass in the front seat.”
That’s it.
“Get in the front seat let’s go.”
Don’t argue with them don’t worry about facts. Just tell em to get in the front seat and you get in the passenger seat and go.
Their curiosity will get the best of them. Maybe not right that second but at some point it will and they will start to research.
They’ll find out the battery’s won’t kill you.
They’ll find out the doors can open manually.
They see the crash safety reports.
They’ll see the FSD statistics.
All you gotta do is get em in the front seat.
simpleSAM retweeted
Never, ever let them tell you it can't be done.
Palmer Luckey says analysts claiming it's too expensive to manufacture in the US are lying to protect megacorps
"I think I have a more realistic view than almost anybody. One of the problems with all these analysts that are telling you that it's going to cost $37,000 to build an American iPhone or $100,000 to buy an American computer."
"They're trying to prop up a status quo that the megacorporations want to keep going. They want to outsource everything. They want to hire cheaper non-American labor."
"They are willing to say and do anything to convince you that it can't be fixed, that it can't come back, that America is this helpless, neutered, post-relevant empire, and it is just not the case."
"How do I know that? Because I have to make stuff in America every day because I work in the defense industry. The stuff that Anduril makes every day is not actually that different from a computer. My drones are basically computers. They have memory, a GPU, a CPU, sensors, batteries, a rugged integration."
"The only difference between an Anduril attack drone and a laptop is a keyboard and a screen. That is not that hard to figure out, especially for a guy like me who started Oculus and comes from the consumer electronics space."
"We're not going to let people lie about what America can and can't do anymore. We're just going to do it."
For some reason people pulling out of this gas station close to home always cross into our lane. It’s something my wife and I always watch for since it happens that often. Sunday I just let FSD deal with it. My wife and I had a good chuckle after. Tesla for the win 🥇
Maybe the Tesla wasn’t a good idea. My wife is a beautiful woman. But technology is not her forte to put it mildly.
I showed her all the basic features. I knew the screen and scrolling was going to be an issue so I showed her how to open grok with voice commands to make life easier. Things like “hey grok could you map me to a gas station?” So she wouldn’t have to mess with much in the screen.
Last night she took the Tesla to the store. I kept my phone close and kept the Tesla app open.
I notice the defrost is on.
Then the back seat heaters.
Yep here we go.
Two seconds later my phone rings it’s her “this bitch won’t listen GROK!! What the hell am I doing wrong?”
“Grok!” “Grok!!” “GROK!!!!!!”
She’s getting louder.
“There’s no damn buttons.”
She lets me get a word in “ you got to say “hey” first “
“Hey hey hey”
No you have to say “hey grok”
“Hey grok……oh come on really!!”
simpleSAM retweeted
#CustomCabinets:
If you buy factory cabinets from a store you may not know this happens:
The custom cabinet designer (shop owner typically) has been onsite several times measuring openings, ceiling heights, plumbing stub locations, clearances etc.
Custom cabinets are delivered to jobsite within a few inches of install spot by people who care because they made them. "please take care of my babies"
Precut to size Baltic birch "rough tops" are stacked nearby with identifying location marks
Prefabricated island top w overhang has steel reinforcement installed already.
The "packing" blankets leave with the delivery crew (no dumpster's worth of cardboard to remove and dispose of)
The cabinets are overall taller to account for finished floor thickness installed after.
No color matched laminate sides or trim pieces show up waiting to fade later.
There's a name on the hardware & it doesn't look the same.
(photo from 2020 project)
My wife and I have a 2018 tundra with 218,000 miles and counting.
These are the past Toyota’s we have had and the miles we have put on them.
1998 Tacoma 315,000 miles
2005 Tacoma 85,000 miles
2008 tundra 410,000 miles
I’ve never owned another vehicle outside of Toyota.
We pick up our first Tesla Friday.
Give us a couple years and I’ll let ya know how many miles you can put on one of these bad boys. 😂
I’m amazed by how many GC’s have no idea about the concept of a construction schedule.
It’s literally the basics people.
Today I felt blessed to work knowing I’m going to be out for a few months.
Ran some crown. Installed some pullouts.
Enjoyed every minute of my saw and nail gun.
Didn’t care about the shoulder.
Just used it the best I could.
Kinda worried about the crew being down one but they got my back.
One of the small perks working with family.
Things happen and we have each other’s back.
Did have a first today. Went to measure a potential clients house and the husband answered the door in his towel straight outta the shower. 😂
The uber wealthy are a strange crowd to me.
Fella acted like it was just another day for him.
Last year I tore my labrum and had to have surgery in Oct to get it fixed.
Last month I tore the labrum in the other shoulder and have surgery to get it fixed Wednesday.
I love the trades but don’t let people gaslight you into believing it’s all peachy.
It’s hard as hell on the body and when something happens you are never the same.
That’s why this trades guy pushed hard for his kids to go to college and avoid the trades.
Thank God both kids listened.
If the accounting and finance degrees don’t work out for my son he can always go back to slinging plywood like his old man.
You can work in those fields with a torn labrum.
Way harder to work as a cabinetmaker with a torn labrum.
