New York City Looks To Add 10,000 Electric Vehicle Charging Points By 2019

In just six years New York City could increase electric vehicle charging points from 220 to 10,000. That is the plan announced by Mayor Bloomberg. This is the kind of commitment we need to EV infrastructure buildout if electric cars are too win over Americans. Battery technology is improving every year, but it’s the infrastructure that holds back mainstream adoption of electric vehicles.

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Reason Blog Questions Bill Maher’s Support of Obama

So if we are to believe this bit of logic from the Reason Magazine blog (Hit & Run), it would require Bill Maher to be a one-issue voter. So Bill Maher must be a hypocrite because he says he wants the war on drugs to end while supporting a candidate who does not share that view? In fact, Maher should throw every other issue out the window and back either Gary Johnson or Ron Paul (write-in) for president? — 1. What a hell of a way to put someone in a box. 2. Very smooth slipping in a mention of the libertarian candidates (who have zero chance).

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GOP Congressman Todd Akin Says Overturn 1965 Voting Rights Act

What does a political party do when they become increasing ideologically pure and cater to a smaller portion of the electorate? They do whatever they can to suppress the vote. Polls and studies show that on average, the more people who vote in an election, the more likely it is to benefit the Democratic Party. So the Republican Party is going to do whatever it can to suppress the vote and limit voting rights. They will also do whatever is necessary to make Americans lose faith in the system altogether. If you think your vote won’t make a difference you might not vote at all, and Republicans have no problem with this.

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The Republican Electoral College Math Challenge

20120812-234518.jpgIt will be interesting to see the result of the popular vote vs. electoral college in the upcoming election. Any path to victory for Mitt Romney will involve a close popular vote and close electoral college vote. For President Obama, he could win slim in the popular vote but still win fairly large in the electoral college. The problem for Republicans in this election and future elections is demographics. Many of the most populated states are solidly Democratic and they are also states that have large minority populations that are growing larger each year. As long as the Republican Party continues to be the party of old white guys (ok, Paul Ryan is only one of those things) they will find the electoral college math increasingly challenging.

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Is Mitt Romney suffering from a likability problem?

In this brave new world of hyper-partisan politics, I’d say no. I certainly wouldn’t discount the “he’s not Obama” sentiment creeping into the perception of Romney and his overall likability. I mean, if you are THAT against President Obama then you are likely to overlook the negative aspects of the other candidate, maybe even to the point of liking him. Of course I don’t dismiss the opposite is true when considering Obama supporters’ and their likability rating of Romney vs. Obama. But I don’t think the pundits are wrong when they say Romney is less in touch with the struggles of the average person, and that is going to play into his overall likability.

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The future of TV might be in your pocket

Ever since getting a smartphone (Motorola Triumph later replaced by a work-provided iPhone 4) I’ve regularly used it while watching TV. Most of the time I use my smartphone for things completely independent of what I’m watching on TV, but more recently I’ve started to combine the two tasks, especially when it comes to material for this website. Now that I’ve started blogging from my iPhone, I use it, along with various news apps as well as news programs on MSNBC and Current TV, to bring you my take on the latest political stories. Much of the transcribed text from political pundits that you’ve read on The Left Call over the past few weeks was created on the iPhone.

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