Free Republic

The day has arrived. Stock in the electric-vehicle pioneer Tesla is splitting 5 for 1 after the market closes for trading. Tesla (ticker: TSLA) shares will open on Monday at roughly $450—one-fifth of where the stock currently trades. Stock-split math and figures associated with it generally don’t amount to much, but Tesla is the exception.

Following reports of a failed attempt to introduce malware into the company's Nevada Gigafactory, Tesla's CEO took to Twitter to confirm the incident. Tesla's Gigafactory plant in Nevada was the target of an attempted cyberattack, CEO Elon Musk confirmed on Thursday. The confirmation follows reports of the thwarted attempt, although the company had not spoken publicly about the situation. Musk tweeted that it "was a serious attack." The US Department of Justice earlier this week announced the arrest of a Russian national and described a plot to introduce malware "into a Nevada company's computer network." The DoJ did not mention...

This Tuesday, the Department of Justice announced the arrest of Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov, a Russian citizen accused of conspiring to breach the network of a US company and introduce malware to compromise the said company’s networks. Media reports about the incident have identified the US company to be electric car maker Tesla. ...the fact that Kriuchkov approached a Russian-speaking, non-US citizen working at Gigafactory Nevada suggests that the team behind the cyberattack attempt has done their research well. During their “business” meeting, Kriuchkov revealed his hand. The plan involved the Tesla employee inserting malware provided by Kriuchkov and his associates...

On this day in 1967, AMC issued a press release, pictured above, officially announcing the 1968 AMC Javelin. The vehicle would help AMC shed its commuter car appearance and as it jumped into the pony car market dominated by the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro. When the Dick Teague designed Javelin hit showrooms about a month later, on September 26, the base model retailed for $2,743, about $21,500 today. If you opted for the base hardtop Mustang you would pay $2,567 or you get a Camaro for $2,450. For 1968 and 1969 a Javelin buyer had five engine options, ranging from the standard...

Pennsylvania’s Health Secretary made a secret deal to allow a car show to open for a multi-day event although it would violate the state’s coronavirus gathering restrictions, WPXI reported. Dr. Rachel Levine made the confidential settlement agreement with the Carlisle Car Show, a huge, outdoor event near Harrisburg that let 20,000 people in per day despite the state-wide 250 person outdoor gathering limit, documents reviewed by WPXI showed. The secret agreement showed that Levine reportedly allowed the car show to take place for four days. Lawmakers around the state say they had no idea of such agreement, and that it...

President Donald Trump said that he would “swap out” Goodyear tires from his presidential limousine nicknamed “The Beast” after earlier calling for the company to be boycotted. “On the Goodyear issue, you ride on Goodyear tires in the presidential limousine. If there were an alternative, you want those tires swapped out?” asked Fox News White House correspondent John Roberts during a Wednesday press conference. Trump responded, “Yeah, I would do that. I would swap them out based on what I heard. We’ll see what happens. Look. you’re going to have lot of people not wanting to buy that product anymore....

If you’re a Trump supporter or someone who backs the police and believes that “All Lives Matter,” Goodyear doesn’t want you as a customer. The flailing tire company triggered a boycott after an internal “diversity training” presentation showed that Goodyear allows employees to wear Black Lives Matter and LGBT gear but bans MAGA attire or anything that’s pro-police or pro-every other race. An anonymous employee leaked a photo of the slide, which was presented at Goodyear’s Topeka, Kansas factory. The slide was mandated by Goodyear’s corporate headquarters in Akron, Ohio. Acceptable: Black Lives Matter and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender pride....

A Goodyear employee says the company has put out a new policy that has some calling it not equal for all. A photo seen circulating on social media shows a slide that was presented during a diversity training showing what’s acceptable and what isn’t acceptable as part of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company’s zero-tolerance policy. Under acceptable: Black Lives Matter (BLM), Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride. Listed as unacceptable: Blue Lives Matter, All Lives Matter, MAGA Attire, Political Affiliated Slogans or Material.

While this column isn't about the threat posed by Transformers, it is about a robot apocalypse that's going to ravage the Midwest. I know, I know, the last thing you want to hear about right now is another imminent doomsday -- aren't global warming and COVID-19 and murder hornets and measles and the ever-present specter of thermonuclear war and the possibility of hyper-intelligent toilet lampreys enough? Well, it's likely you haven't heard too much about this particular apocalypse because it's not a sexy blood-and-guts kind. Instead of armies of Terminators hunting down handfuls of survivors for their sweet sweet spinal...

We have watched our society slide into a disturbing trend of permissiveness when it comes to assaulting and removing aspects of our culture. Between evictions of historical monuments, the eradicating of entertainment properties and the condemning of commonplace practices, we have almost become conditioned to accepting these efforts. Now we may be seeing the effects of this movement metastasizing. The Wall Street Journal delivered a lengthy treatise that looks at a normal aspect of American life, one that almost nobody looks at as being a nefarious component in our existence, with contempt: driving pickup trucks. Using "almost" is the qualifier here,...

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) already has some of the most energy-dense electric vehicle batteries available, with the company's Model S able to travel over 400 miles on a single charge. Now it looks like Tesla's vehicles will be able to travel even farther, as a report from Reuters details Panasonic's (OTC: PCRFY) lans for future improvements. Over the next five years, Panasonic is planning to increase energy density by 20%, while also having cobalt-free batteries available in the next two to three years, according to Reuters. The 2170 cells that will be receiving these improvements are currently found in Tesla's...

Adient manufacturing plant in Missouri has banned American Flag face masks. According to this employee, the company makes car seats for Ford Motors.

The rental car industry, like many others, has taken a massive beating at the hands of the coronavirus pandemic, and we’re now starting to see effects of the industry’s downturn. Hertz has been struggling to stay afloat after a significant portion of its business evaporated nearly overnight, and it declared bankruptcy in May. But as the Wall Street Journal reports, the company will be able to offload a big chunk of its vehicle fleet to help repay creditors. Hertz Global Holdings Inc. said it has reached a temporary agreement with the group of creditors that had been fighting against the...

Two of the biggest names in auto racing — NASCAR hall of famers Ray Evernham and Tony Stewart — will launch an auto racing circuit that has the potential to be the biggest disrupter to the auto racing business in decades. With top agent Sandy Montag and former NASCAR COO George Pyne rounding out the four-person board, Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) will feature six short-track races starting next summer. SRX already has a TV deal in place with CBS, which has committed to carry the Saturday night races in prime time next year. The CBS deal runs for multiple years.

It's a longstanding legend stretching nearly 70 years. It’s a car culture legend, passed down from generation to generation, that an angry person with a bag of sugar can leave your car dead on its axles. Add sugar to gas tank, turn its fuel into a sugary petroleum mess, and wait for the owner to start the car and blow the engine. It’s also a myth. Sugar doesn’t dissolve in gasoline. If you add it to gasoline, it stays in granular form.

Jalopnik reports that a group of Ford Motor Company employees want the auto giant to stop making vehicles for police. Ford employees have asked the automaker to stop building police cars, according to a Jalopnik report published Wednesday. The request comes as countless Black Lives Matter protests continue throughout America and around the globe, sparked by the killing of George Floyd. Jalopnik fails to report that since the protests devolved into riots and “defund the police” swept across the nation, violent crime and murder have surged in several major cities, including New York, Chicago, Baltimore, and Seattle.The employee letter...

Ford Motor Company Employees have asked the company’s leadership to stop making and selling police vehicles. According to Verge, the internal discussion came as the demands for racial justice raged across the country. In response, Ford CEO Jim Hackett has told employees in a letter that he doesn’t think it’s “controversial that the Ford Police Interceptor helps officers do their job” and that Ford will continue the business. Ford has the market when it comes to making police cars, accounting for two-thirds of the cop cars on the street. Despite Ford’s success in the police car market, employees, including black...

The new North American free trade agreement that goes into effect Wednesday was touted by U.S. President Donald Trump as an engine of American job creation. But Japan's automakers are largely opting instead to keep operations in place and pay Mexican workers more or even just pay tariffs. The US-Mexico-Canada Agreement requires 40% or more of parts for each passenger vehicle be manufactured by workers who are paid at least $16 per hour as a condition to make them tariff free in the region. Trump hailed that feature as a way to boost production in the U.S., which has a...

A NASCAR driver will debut a Trump 2020 car in the Brickyard 400 race against Bubba Wallace this weekend, just weeks after the black driver found a 'noose' in his garage. Corey LaJoie, 28, will take to the tracks this Sunday in his newly painted Ford Mustang which will have 'Trump 2020' splashed across the hood and rear-quarter panels, his race team announced Wednesday. Go Fas Racing revealed the new design for the number 32 car ahead of the race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis, this weekend and pledged its support for Donald Trump's reelection campaign.

So, I'm headed to the office and take a detour to get my car washed and drive right in - - no line and no one in front of me. Unreal. At 9am there should be a several cars in line but, nope. It occurs to me that the little guys who use to wash my car or dry are probably out jobs for quite a while. Why? Well, with everyone being paid to work from home by their employers and other being paid to stay home by the American Taxpayer (who went to work today) It makes sense there...