sop
sop's Journal'Kid Rock Fans Furious After He Cut Small-Town Tour Prices By 50% Because Gas Is So Expensive Now
(Definitely Not Because Tickets Weren't Selling)'
"Robert James Ritchie, the 55-year-old performer perhaps better known by his stage name, Kid Rock, is the kind of red-blooded American you rarely see anymore. Today, he lives a life of wealth and privilege, but he actually grew up in rural Michigan, where he learned the value of hard work and the American Way from his father, a simple wildly wealthy owner of several car dealerships. Even today, as he saw so many struggling to afford gas, Kid Rock still made the selfless decision to lower ticket prices for his upcoming Rock the Country tour. The response to that announcement, however, has been anything but patriotic."
"Was it because he only knocked a couple dollars of the cost of those tickets, and they still can't afford to attend? Personally, I'm lucky enough that ticket prices have never been what prevented me from attending a Kid Rock show, but I also know what it's like to not be able to put gas in your car. So I'd understand if they were mad about a $5 discount. But no, Kid Rock knew it would take more than $5 to put his tour within reach of my fellow emissions-deleted Americans, so he cut prices by up to 50%. That's literally half off. For tickets that get you within spitting distance of the greatest living rock star soon to be touring Trump's America. And they're ungrateful?"
"Everyone has haters, especially on social media. You literally can't post anything anymore without someone saying, 'That's racist,' or, 'There's no evidence that politician is an alien robot sent to enslave humanity.' And now that Soros has the AI, it's so easy for leftists to amplify their fake outrage. They've always hated great music, and you know they're so mad their vaccinated arms are too weak to make rock 'n roll. But no, these appear to be real people who really are mad that tickets are cheaper now."
" 'I would have saved almost $450 if I had waited till now. This isn't cool,' wrote one. 'We basically get punished for buying tickets right away?' another questioned. 'The code doesn't even work,' a third commenter added. What's even more concerning, though, are the many accusations that no one wants to pay money for a Kid Rock concert, and terrible ticket sales forced him to lower prices, so in a transparent attempt to save face, he tried to spin the cheaper tickets as a good thing."
Continued at link:
https://www.jalopnik.com/2150976/kid-rock-cut-tour-prices-because-gas-is-expensive/
MAGA's Sudden "Morality" Act is Bullshit - And We All Know it - jojofromjerz
"I don’t care if you’re a Democrat. I don’t care if you’re a Republican. I don’t care if you’re a one-eyed flying purple people eater or a talking motherfucking horse named Ed—if you sexually assault another human being, if you use power like a skeleton key to slip past someone’s autonomy and treat their body like it’s yours to borrow, break, or bulldoze, you should be held the fuck accountable."
"No delay, no deflection, no dithering, no dodging, no deodorized damage control where a pack of spin-soaked, shit-shuffling sycophants try to perfume the stench of it into something faintly tolerable, some press-release bullshit lacquered to look like accountability."
"Eric Swalwell resigned from Congress in a matter of days. Days. No drawn-out denial tour, no endless spin cycle, no pack of bullshit artists dragging it out until everyone gets bored and moves on. The allegations hit and they stuck, pressure built, and he was gone—because that’s how this is supposed to work. Allegations this serious don’t get shrugged off, they get taken seriously, they get investigated, and you don’t just sit there like nothing’s happening while the world pretends not to see it. He hasn’t been found guilty of anything, but that’s not the point—the allegations and his own acknowledgment were enough to trigger consequences, enough to say you don’t get to carry on like business as usual while this gets sorted out. That’s the baseline. That’s the standard. And it should apply to everyone. Instead, we’ve been stuck in this warped reality Republicans built, where when it’s one of theirs—when it’s Donald Trump—none of that shit matters."
Continued at link:
https://open.substack.com/pub/jojofromjerz/p/magas-sudden-morality-act-is-bullshitand?r=r38w4&utm_medium=ios
'Tesla Cybertruck Sales Propped Up By SpaceX Purchases'
"Recent Tesla Cybertruck sales numbers would have you believe Elon Musk's stainless steel monolith to conservative politics and UFC fight nights is selling reasonably well, but a closer look at the data shows that deliveries are actually being propped up by another one of his companies: SpaceX. We first told you about this story back in December, but we've now got a more concrete look at just how many trucks the company bought."
"Musk's satellite and rocket company accounted for 1,279 of the 7,071 Cybertrucks registered in the U.S. during the fourth quarter of 2025, according to Bloomberg. That works out to be over 18% of all Cybertrucks registered in the last three months of the year, data from S&P Global Mobility show, with the first purchase coming in October 2025. It wasn't just SpaceX, either. Musk's other companies bought a further 60 vehicles in that time period."
"No matter how you slice it, though, SpaceX's purchases accounted for nearly 1-in-5 Cybertruck registrations between October and December of 2025. It isn't like that practice stopped in the new year, either, as a further 158 and 67 were sold to Musk-owned companies in January and February, respectively, Bloomberg reports. The purchases — which have a value that likely exceeds $10 million — have continued right on into 2026 and reinforce just how bad consumer demand has been for Musk's truck. Without sales to his other companies, Cybertruck registrations would have fallen 51% in 2025 Q4."
Continued at link:
https://www.jalopnik.com/2150101/fugazi-tesla-cybertruck-sales-spacex/
'Trump denies involvement in Orban's failed re-election bid, despite his involvement'
"U.S. President Donald Trump told ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl on Tuesday he was not concerned about Viktor Orbán’s loss in Hungary, and that he likes incoming Prime Minister Peter Magyar....Trump told the reporter he did not know if it would have made a difference if he had gone to Hungary instead of Vice President JD Vance to campaign for Orban. 'He was behind substantially,’ Trump said. ‘I wasn’t that involved in this one.’...There’s quite a bit of evidence to the contrary."
"Just two days before Election Day in Hungary, Trump publicly pledged to 'use the full Economic Might of the United States to strengthen Hungary’s Economy, as we have done for our Great Allies in the past, if Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the Hungarian People ever need it.' "
"Days earlier, Trump deployed his vice president to Hungary to campaign for Orbán — an unusual level of White House intervention in a foreign election — and during a rally in Budapest, Trump called in to voice his support for the authoritarian leader, as Vance held up his cellphone to the microphone."
"Trump also published a series of items to his social media platform in the run-up to the Hungarian elections, endorsing the incumbent and celebrating him as 'a truly strong and powerful Leader, with a proven track record of delivering phenomenal results.' "
Continued at link:
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-denies-involvement-in-orbans-failed-re-election-bid-despite-his-involvement
'Chevron executive Andy Walz suggests Americans should drive less amid high gas prices'
(CBS News) "As gas prices continue to soar in the U.S. and across the globe amid the war with Iran, Chevron executive Andy Walz suggested Americans could save money by driving less and trying to conserve energy."
" 'People should try to drive less. They should try to conserve energy,' Walz told CBS News when asked how Americans could try saving money at the pump. 'We should be doing that all the time. Energy's essential for people's lives, but we should conserve it.' "
"Walz, Chevron's president of downstream, midstream and chemicals, said there's probably no 'silver bullet' to help bring down prices for Americans over the long term while oil prices remain high for everyone else...'It's a global market for crude,' Walz said. 'We have crude here, that's closer to us, that we're all processing and using. That's helping Americans buffer their price. ... If this goes on for an extended period of time, it's probably gonna get tougher.' "
"Walz also warned of possible supply chain issues if the crisis continues...'America is more reliant on local production, but there's countries in Asia and other parts of the world that rely heavily on Middle East crude,' he said. 'They can't get it. They can't refine it. They can't make the products people need, and they're starting to run out. And that is a real problem. We're worried about price here. There's other countries that don't have the products. And to me, that is a big worry.' "
Continued at link:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chevron-andy-walz-gas-prices-iran-war/
Conserving energy is always a good idea, but Big Oil is hoping voters, angry about Trump's pointless war and rising prices, won't notice the huge profits oil companies are making.
'Exclusive: Pentagon ramps up planning for possible military ops in Cuba'
(USA TODAY) "WASHINGTON – Military planning for a possible Pentagon-led operation in Cuba is quietly ramping up, in case President Donald Trump gives an order to intervene there, USA TODAY has learned."
"Two sources familiar with the order spoke to USA TODAY on condition of anonymity because they're not authorized to speak to media."
"The directives appear to be an escalation of recent tensions between the United States and Cuba that began in January when the Trump administration curbed oil shipments to Cuba as part of a broader campaign to force sweeping political changes on the communist-run island."
"In a statement to USA TODAY the Pentagon said it plans for a range of contingencies and remains prepared to execute the president’s orders as directed."
Continued at link:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2026/04/15/pentagon-ramps-up-secret-cuba-planning-trump/89623722007/
In Third Boat Strike This Week, US Kills 3 People in 'Entirely Make-Believe' Armed Conflict Against Cartels
"The Trump administration was continuing what it claims is an effort to rid Latin American countries of drug traffickers—killing three people aboard a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean in the US military’s third boat bombing in three days."
"The US Southern Command posted a video on social media of the bombing, which it said targeted a boat that was 'transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations'...As with the 50 previous attacks on boats in the Pacific and the Caribbean Sea, the military did not publicize any evidence that the boat was carrying drugs or that its passengers were 'narco-terrorists.' "
"Adam Isacson of the Washington Office on Latin America has compared the boat bombings, assuming they have targeted people involved in the drug trade at all, to 'straight-up massacring 16-year-old drug dealers on US street corners.' "
"On Wednesday, Isacson noted that while Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have defended the boat bombings as attacks that will protect Americans from the flow of drugs like cocaine and fentanyl into the US—with the president informing Congress that the White House views the country as being in an 'armed conflict' with drug cartels—data from US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shows little evidence that the strikes are stopping drugs from reaching the US."
Continued at link:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/drug-boat-bombed
'Trump's McDonald's photo-op shows he has run out of answers on the economy'
(MS NOW) "You may have seen images of the moment when a delivery driver showed up at the door of the Oval Office with the president’s McDonald’s order and praised him for the no-tax-on-tips policy that passed as part of his budget bill last year."
"The White House clearly wanted to portray the scene as a chance encounter, as if Trump was just a regular guy waiting for his french fries — never mind the armed Secret Service agents or guarded gates this delivery driver somehow skipped through....But, as you probably suspected, the whole thing was an attempt at a PR stunt."
"The woman who showed up at the door of the Oval Office was not your average DoorDash driver — she was actually flown in from Arkansas. And prior to making that 900-mile delivery order, she appeared as a witness at Republican field hearings touting the president’s big, ugly bill. She also appeared in promotional videos put out by congressional Republicans supporting that bill."
"But even though this entire event was staged, Trump still somehow found a way to make it incredibly awkward...After the woman delivered Trump his food, he asked if she would like to 'do a little news conference' with him, during which he asked her what she thought about men playing women’s sports. The delivery driver told the president, 'I really don’t have an opinion on that'...In another bizarre moment, Trump also asked her if she voted for him, to which she replied, 'Uh, maybe.' "
Continued at link:
https://www.ms.now/the-briefing-with-jen-psaki/trumps-oval-office-mcdonalds-photo-op-economy-gas-prices-midterms
'On this Jackie Robinson Day, reject this lie Major League Baseball tells about itself'
(MS NOW) "One of the first things President Donald Trump did after his second inauguration was invalidate an executive order from former President Joe Biden that prohibited discrimination against transgender people, especially those playing sports."
"How did the major sports institutions react? They lined up behind Trump’s transphobia. In February 2025, the NCAA banned transgender athletes from women’s sports. Late last month, the Olympics followed suit."
"The disappointing responses from the NCAA and International Olympics Committee serve as yet more evidence that sports are not on the vanguard of social change, as we’re asked to believe every April 15 on Jackie Robinson Day."
"Historically, and much to our detriment, those who lead sports leagues and associations have been followers at best. The leaders of the NCAA and the IOC have showed us that."
Continued at link:
https://www.ms.now/opinion/jackie-robinson-day-mlb-sports-progress
'Rich People Killed America's Affordable Cars'
"Even if you're more than aware that new cars are super expensive, you may be shocked to learn that no automaker in the U.S. currently offers a new car for less than $20,000 anymore. Unless you get lucky and find some new old stock marked down below MSRP, the least-expensive new car you can buy is the Hyundai Venue, which, for the 2026 model year, costs $22,150 with destination. Yikes. It's one thing for cheap sedans to disappear, but we somehow lost cheap vehicles in general. But what happened? According to a recent deep dive from the New York Times, you can blame the rich."
"The author quite literally argues that the reason new cars are so expensive these days is because political decisions made since the 1970s brought us to a point where the highest earners have enough disposable income to keep buying those pricier cars, and automakers would rather cater to them instead of building cars with lower profit margins that someone making regular money could afford:"
"What happened? How did a basic necessity of American life become a luxury good? We have to start with a transformation of the economy itself beginning in the late 1970s. While hourly compensation for the typical worker remained nearly stagnant, massive stock market bull runs and rising home equity have enriched the most affluent households. Today, there are so many wealthy people who can afford luxury cars that it simply isn't that profitable for companies to produce cars for the bottom 40 percent of Americans by income."
Continued at link:
https://www.jalopnik.com/2147723/rich-people-killed-americas-affordable-cars/
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Member since: Tue Sep 9, 2008, 10:02 AMNumber of posts: 18,880