Sat: Dominion Had Major Wins This Week.

Can't a California Trucker Just Go to Arizona or Nevada to Buy a Truck?  They Won't Mind the Drive.  They Drive for a Living.

The Biden administration Friday granted California the legal authority to require that half of all garbage trucks, tractor-trailers, cement mixers, and other heavy vehicles sold in the state must be all-electric by 2035, an aggressive plan designed to clean up the worst polluters on the road.

The pioneering truck rule will go beyond federal requirements, which is why the state needed permission from the administration to enact it. It comes on the heels of an ambitious regulation passed last year by California that requires all new passenger vehicles sold in the state to be electric by the same target year, 2035.

Together, the two moves would propel California to the forefront of the race to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from transportation, the sector of the US economy that generates the most greenhouse gases.

As the world’s fifth-largest economy, the state of California has tremendous market muscle; its new rules can force changes throughout the automotive industry and spur other states to follow suit. In fact, six other states have already adopted truck rules modeled after California’s new requirement but had been waiting for federal action in order to enforce them.

The President Was Arrested (Sort of)

Civil War veteran and policeman William H. West, a Black man, was sent to investigate reports of speeding carriages. Officer West was interviewing witnesses at a site where a mother and her child had been hurt by a speeding carriage when a collection of speeding carriages approached him.

West stopped the carriages and it turned out that President Grant was one of the drivers. According to the Washington Post’s retelling of the story:

"Well, officer,” he said, “what do you want with me?"

West replied: “I want to inform you, Mr. President, that you are violating the law by speeding along this street. Your fast driving, sir, has set the example for a lot of other gentlemen."

President Grant was only warned that night, but Officer West was forced to stop the President again the following evening for speeding. According to the account, Grant began the exchange:

He said, “Do you think, officer, that I was violating the speed laws?”

“I do, Mr. President,” West said.

Grant had an excuse for his speeding, not unlike one no doubt being given somewhere right now: He had no idea he had been going so fast.

West was sympathetic but firm.

“I am very sorry, Mr. President, to have to do it,” he said, “for you are the chief of the nation, and I am nothing but a policeman, but duty is duty, sir, and I will have to place you under arrest.”

Cathy Lanier told WTOP that the D.C. police “ended up letting him pay a fine and walk back to the White House.” John Marszalek, executive director of the Ulysses S. Grant Association, told NPR in 2018, “Grant puts down $20. West is a little embarrassed because, after all, this is the president of the United States. But he did his duty. And nothing is heard of it again.” In today’s dollars, Grant paid just under a $500 fine. Of course, Grant was speeding, and Donald Trump is possibly facing a relentless barrage of fraud, tax evasion, and obstruction. Twenty bucks might not cover the fines this time.