THE MORNING RANT: Buck Shots – 5/15/2025

Electric Airline Fails Before Its First Flight

A start-up venture promising to take existing airplanes, retrofit them with hydrogen-electric engines, and start a new passenger airline, has predictably gone into liquidation. This is bad news for the suckers who already invested, but as I’ve said before, the people losing their money in green investments are almost begging that someone swindle them out of their money. I might be a wealthier man if my moral compass didn’t prevent me from being that someone, because I know exactly who the marks are.

“UK’s first ‘electric airline’ collapses: What the EcoJet liquidation means for passengers and staff” [The International News – 5/06/2026]

The promoter and founder, Dale Vince, is a financial supporter of Britain’s Labor party, as well as being a supporter of the eco-terrorist group “Just Stop Oil.

Despite the setback, Mr. Vince voiced confidence about the eventual success of electric flight, adding: “This is a vital frontier in the move to net zero, green living, whatever you choose to call it- and it’s absolutely doable.”

I have zero confidence in “the eventual success of electric flight,” but I have every confidence that promoters of electric flight will continue to bring new ideas to market to fleece the same “socially responsible” investors again and again.

Capital One’s SEC Filing Acknowledges the Litigation Peril from its Debanking of Conservatives

In Capitol One Bank’s latest quarterly 10-Q filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, it has acknowledged that there is material litigation risk from its actions in debanking associates of Donald Trump during the Biden administration.

Fair Access to Banking: Capital One is responding to demands and requests from various federal agencies regarding “fair access to banking,” including those resulting from Executive Order 14331 “Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans,” which directed government agencies to review financial institutions’ policies and practices for providing, maintaining, or discontinuing financial products or services to certain clients or potential clients, and a civil lawsuit filed by the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust and several affiliated corporate entities against Capital One, which is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

As documented in a widely distributed piece titled Capital One Flags Debanking Fight in Quarterly Filing, ”the Trump Organization sued Capital One, alleging the bank closed some 300 Trump-linked accounts because it believed ‘the political tide at the moment favored doing so.’”

I’ve no doubt that the money center banks received inappropriate pressure from the Biden administration to help crush Trump and other political adversaries of the Obama’s puppet regime. But I also doubt that the executives pushed back at all. In fact, I believe they were glad to be an enforcement arm of the government’s vendetta against Trump and his supporters. When Donald Trump publicly shamed Bank of America CEO for his complicity in debanking conservatives, Brian Moynihan could only sputter about “over-regulation,” because he could not deny the well-documented fact that BofA debanked conservatives without ever providing a reason. There really need to be consequences for what was quite literally fascist behavior between big banks and the federal government.

Gas-Powered Cars Don’t Lose 40% of their Range in 20° Weather

With the “EV transition” circling the drain, there is so much to cover that I haven’t done an EV Roundup for some time, mainly because I don’t know where to start. I have dozens of possible stories. As usual, there are exploding cars, failing EV companies, and puzzled CEOs acknowledging that they misjudged EV demand, etc.

At this point, with there being a grudging acknowledgement from even the most passionate EV-pushers that consumers have rejected electric vehicles, it’s important to remind everyone the story isn’t just about consumer taste in engine types. Consumers have rejected EVs because they are ill-suited to the job of being a multi-purpose daily-driver for the majority of Americans who cannot buy a Tesla as a boutique 2nd family car.

“AAA data shows that EVs and hybrids lose up to 40 percent of their range in 20-degree weather” [AutoBlog – 5/05/2026]

The electric vehicle revolution was supposed to conquer the elements; instead, the elements conquered it. The industry has spent billions optimizing aerodynamics and fast-charging curves, but the latest data from the AAA exposes a significant problem: electric and hybrid vehicles are still fundamentally failing the temperature test.

When the mercury drops to 20°F, electric vehicles lose an agonizing 39 percent of their driving range and suffer a 35.6 percent collapse in overall efficiency. For the everyday commuter, this is not merely a logistical headache; it is a direct financial penalty.

20° temperatures are common well into the South. Temperatures far below 20° are a normal part of winter in much of the country. An EV that loses about half of its range in a mid-winter cold snap is just simply not an option for tens of millions of drivers.

But as AAA points out, the catastrophic loss of range in freezing weather is also very expensive, because so much more charging is necessary. The additional electricity usage costs on average $32 per 1,000 miles above normal for those who can charge at home. If forced to use public chargers, the cost is an additional $77 per 1,000 miles.

Despite all this, General Motor’s CEO Mary Barra stated in an interview two weeks ago with Fox News’ Brian Baier that she is still committed to an all-EV future and that “EVs are the end game.” GM’s board has got to take action soon to relieve the company of Barra’s deluded eco-agenda and put a competent auto person back in charge.

DExit update

A majority of Fortune 500 companies are headquartered in Delaware due to its business-friendly legal system and chancery courts.

But in 2024, a left-wing chancery judge decided to arrogate unto herself the authority to determine Elon Musk’s Tesla compensation, supplanting the decision-making role of Tesla’s board. The media and Democrats cheered, because Elon was becoming Trump-friendly and they wanted Musk punished. The business community, however, realized a scary precedent had been set, and their companies might be next. The “DExit” began.

Nevada and Texas have been the primary destinations for companies moving their headquarters, especially for companies whose leaders/founders have Trump-friendly political beliefs that might be subject to chancery court persecution in Delaware. These companies include Pershing Square (Bill Ackman) and Andreesen Horowitz (Marc Andreesen.)

Michael Dell just made a similar move to get out of Delaware before it’s too late.

“Dell Technologies Board Unanimously Recommends Redomestication to Texas” [Press Release – Dell Technologies – 5/04/2026]

Round Rock, Texas - Dell Technologies (NYSE: DELL) today announced that its Board of Directors has unanimously approved changing the jurisdiction of Dell Technologies’ state of incorporation from Delaware to its home state of Texas.

Delaware was sitting on a gold mine but (pardon the mixed metaphor) it decided to kill the golden goose by letting activists in judicial robes go on political vendettas against corporations not sufficiently obedient to the left.

No Way-mo!

I’ve been a skeptic of self-driving cars. After a few weeks of Waymos gone wild in Texas, I’m even more of a skeptic now.

In Austin last week, a Waymo decided to use the oncoming traffic lane as a turn lane, even though it was completely across a double yellow line.

Meanwhile, in Dallas a Waymo at a red light decided that rather than wait for the light to turn green, it would just slowly creep into the intersection until traffic cleared enough for it to fully enter the intersection, despite the red light.

Also in Austin, Waymos were seen driving into flooded roads, and then stopping in the flooded roadways. Video is at this link.

Even more terrifying, during heavy rains in San Antonio in late April, a Waymo drove into floodwaters and was swept away! Fortunately the Waymo was unoccupied at the time.

“Waymo temporarily suspends San Antonio operations after vehicle swept away by floodwaters” [Fox 7 Austin – 4/21/2026]

Waymo suspended service in San Antonio, and it has finally issued a broader recall due to its self-driving cars’ inability to identify standing water on roadways.

“Waymo recalls 3,800 robotaxis after glitch allowed some vehicles to ‘drive into standing water’” [CNBC – 5/12/2026]

I will not be getting in a self-driving taxi any time in the near future.

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

posted by Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM

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