We do better over-here: New cars sold in the EU must have automatic speed-limiting tech from next week – will Britain soon make Intelligent Speed Assistance mandatory too?Great ! Now some faceless idiot not only can limit your car speed when connected to tracking system (so they can slam on road charges), but you wait, in no time they will be immobilising your vehicle on the spot.
Just to clarify, it’s mandatory on new models launched after July 6 not on existing cars. Why we are still following rules made in Brussels I don’t know, the only explanation I can think of is that this law will path the way for autonomous cars or automatic road pricing.
You probably could for now because the technology is very, very very flawed at the moment so the speed limiting is passive. Some manufacturers (Volvo for one) already have a “beep” warning if you wonder above the speed limit. The trouble is, is that the system relies in part on Speed limit sign recognition, I have it on my car and it gets speed limit wrong so many times that I’m wondering whether I should take the car to Specsavers. However when the boffins perfect the technology and in becomes “Active” then watch out, I think the company behind the roll out is called Cyberdyne Systems and uses Skynet satellites 🙂
GoogleMaps must have a field in their road system database that has the speedlimit for each segment of road. I’ve been seeing a notification of current speed and speed limit when we take a road trip lately.
I got a notification of a “speed check ahead” on the mapping software I was using for the first time, and sure enough about a mile up the road a highway patrol car sat.
I wonder how that was done? I got two of those notifications on that particular short trip, and there was a police speed check each time.
On a 2-wk road trip through SE US states, we found that on both iPhone and google. Both also accurately track speed zones, accidents, road hazards (and ask you to respond with whether they’ve been cleared), and tell you what lane to be in with enough advance notice to get there.
AFAIK, they don’t yet send your speed to the local police or to your insurance company. They don’t but could also send the “you’re tired, stop to rest” warning to the insurance company.
Also am curious about how they know about moving speed checks (they also warn about fixed red light cameras).
There is a user notification … when someone drives by the ‘speed trap’ they push the button and it registers the location to warn others.
On Google maps it registers as a ‘speed trap ahead’ and sometimes asks if it is still there.
(If I were a police officer that wanted people to slow down, I would be notifying the driving/mapping app that there were speed traps where there are not; a bonus for me (the cop) would be that some people would soon start ignoring the warnings).
Not if you cut the wires between the GPS antenna and the on-board computer.
There has to be a driving mode that allows continued driving without GPS input, such as when a car goes into a 0.5-2 mile long tunnel through a mountain. Cell phone GPS can substitute for on-board navigation computers that would use the antenna.
Similarly, one can always cut the wires between the speedometer and the on-board computer . . . there has to be a “limp home mode” where one can continue driving in event of failure of the speedometer sensor.
Also, do you really think it will take more than, say, 6 months for some hacker to “jail break” any vehicle EPROM-based software so as to enable reprogramming the computer to defeat any vehicle computer code? Just look at what has happened with cell phones!
There is an old adage that is appropriate here: “The innovator will always outperform the regulator.”
The faster cars go, the less their mileage. This is also true for electrics.
I suspect this will be used to set the maximum speed for any car at somewhere between 30 and 40 miles per hour. Except if you are one of the important people, they will be allowed to go as fast as they want.
‘Road pricing’ = road-use fining.
But then, when you’ve racked up ‘convictions’ for road-use infringements, I wonder how long it will take before you are prevented from travelling because of a ‘criminal record’.
Why would they immobilise my car? I hear you ask.
You will be given variable daily/weekly/monthly millage allowance. There will be given warning at 90% and your engine will be turned off when you hit 100%.
When you get back home your will find out that your gas & electricity smart meters will be controlling your home’s energy consumption in exactly the the same manner.
Assuming you, DrEd, are in the former Colonies, would you mind throwing out the fool you currently have in the WH? Oh, you can’t yet. Same here. But one day, before the whole world falls apart, we may have the chance to reset the balance and get the CP adherents out.
We have a number of fools who need to be thrown out of office over here in the U.S. Mostly the crazy Democrats, but there are a few crazy Republicans that need to go, too.
We will sort all that out here in a few more months.
how do you throw out the thousands of bureaucrats who actually run the damned governments?
the coward pols ceded their powers decades ago and control nothing
Might be better than the “automatic speed violation billing system” they could’ve opted for?
fretslider
July 1, 2022 2:07 am
What pays for all that?
“Heinz has stopped supplying Tesco with some of the UK’s family favourite products in a dispute over pricing.
Baked beans, ketchup and tomato soup are among the cupboard staples missing from shelves in some Tesco stores.
Kraft Heinz, which owns the brand, said its production costs were rising but it was working with Tesco to resolve the situation quickly.
But Tesco said: “We will not pass on unjustifiable price increases to our customers.”
The world is is heading for hyper inflation and the politicians al around the free world are like rabbits sitting in the head lights on the high way at night .
We have only seen the tip of the iceberg ,the world will hit the iceberg in the next three years.
They do not know how to stop inflation as increasing interest rates push up costs even further .
Food all over the world is about to soar in price because of the stupid policies that these politicians have put in place to fight an imaginary threat of climate change .
Here on the other side of the world our on farm fuel costs have doubled and our nitrogen fertilizer costs have more than tripled.
Shipping freight rates are up 600%.
Farmers cannot produce food without covering their production costs .
Covid and the war in Ukraine have not helped but the war against fossil fuels is now coming back to to bite every one who buys food around the world .
The law of unintended consequences .
Soaring food prices will only be one of our problems .
“The Prince of Wales took more than 20 private flights, including several helicopters, within the UK last year in order to avoid being stuck in traffic, it has emerged.”
Unlike the Aston Martin, the aircraft are not powered by wine and cheese.
marlene
July 1, 2022 2:38 am
OY! Who let the dog out?
H B
July 1, 2022 2:45 am
What a Dork saying he wants to get al the co2 out of the atmosphere takes the cake
Right-Handed Shark
July 1, 2022 2:56 am
Look, Lurch has to have a private jet in order to visit the edge of the atmosphere and check on the thickness of the CO2 layer up there. Who else is going to do this vital work?
It just occurred to me that some may not be familiar with that reference. For your entertainment, I give you Lurch’s stand up routine. Get it before it disappears..
Thanks very much for the link to Kerry’s speech in Jakarta.
Unfortunately, at the the 2m20s mark into the video (the fifth paragraph of the transcription) Kerry states: “It’s not an exaggeration to say to you that the entire way of life that you live and love is at risk.”
Such an absurd statement merits an appropriate response, so I stopped the video and ceased reading the accompanying transcript right then and there.
Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent who did the Presidential detail, has a podcast that
debunks “Jussie” Hutchinson’s testimony. It also says that diagram isn’t accurate (26:50):
Along with that, they usually keep the compartment divider behind the front seats open so the agent
“riding shotgun” can access the rear compartment JIC the president needs assistance, like with a
heart attack. Also, the agents NEVER refer to the limo as “The Beast”.
I’ve commented on this nonsense in the DM etc where the Dems claim it was not the ‘Beast’, but a Sub SUV – as if the POTUS would travel in the front passenger seat of a common-or-garden SUV! One commenter (UK) claimed that the video of the POTUS sitting on the right-rear seat showed he was behind the driver so could reach out to throttle him!!!! (I apologise for the level of intelligence of my fellow-Brits.)
Rod Evans
July 1, 2022 4:36 am
Let us look for the positive here.
With Kerry as the poster child of energy reduction, the whole world knows it must be some kind of political joke. We just haven’t seen the funny side of it yet.
I am betting, Kerry has not caught a bus to anywhere ever in his life.
He, along with Greta and perhaps AOC thrown in for comedic value, are the go to faces of climate alarmism. With a team like that championing their cause, we (realists) have no reason to feel anything other than confident. Common sense will prevail, just enjoy the jokers while we can, I suspect they won’t be around for much longer.
BallBounces
July 1, 2022 4:55 am
Stop mocking him!!! He’s my carbon benchmark and I’ve taken a pledge to keep my carbon contribution at or below his.
It’s basically The Fundamental Problem with settled civilisations and the resultant ‘Government Creep’.
Or the notion that ‘Some Government is good, therefore more Government is better‘
Hence why all the previous attempts at settled civilation are gone, all lost in their own self created Warm Periods.
(Warm periods have always marked the ends of civilisations, not their genesis)
Manifestation is that a very modest number of people gain control over huuuuge numbers of little people so that diversity & redundancy disappear – in the drive for ‘efficiency’
(May I refer you to the words of Stanley Jevons here)
When that happens, if the all powerful ‘leader’ ## says ‘Everybody turn left‘ when they should have turned right on headed straight onwards, the whole shebang goes down the pan.
## Made even worse and as illuminated by Kerry, The very last people who should be given power/control are those who want/crave power & control
Gordon A. Dressler
July 1, 2022 6:27 am
Without doubt, the best person to put alongside any urban dictionary’s definition of “poser”.
A fair portion of a dictionary would have Kerry’s picture scattered through it; beside ‘tosser’, ‘idiot’, ‘hypocrite’, ‘sociopath’, ‘gold digger’, ‘traitor’, ‘horse’, and at least a dozen other entries.
Kevin kilty
July 1, 2022 6:33 am
And how many BMW motorcycles being trailer behind security vehicles?
Wasn’t he also the one that was predicting that Manhattan would be under water by 2012?
Gunga Din
July 1, 2022 8:16 am
Give Kerry a break!
It’s so important to deliver the Green message that he has to ignore it to deliver it!
He learned that from Al Gore.
(Al bought a bag of charcoal briquets but never used it. That counts as a “Carbon Credit”.)
David Elstrom
July 1, 2022 8:19 am
“Lurch” Kerry is among the self-declared elite, having “earned” his money by marrying successively richer women. All those luxuries mentioned are his due for being our self-appointed moral superior. Sacrifices are for the Deplorables.
“The farm includes a large expanse of unspoiled morainal forest and farmland as well as north shore beachfront spanning West Tisbury and Chilmark.” +++++++++++++++++++++
Obama doesn’t seem too worried about his oceanfront property either:
Ha ha ha.
We do better over-here:
New cars sold in the EU must have automatic speed-limiting tech from next week – will Britain soon make Intelligent Speed Assistance mandatory too?Great ! Now some faceless idiot not only can limit your car speed when connected to tracking system (so they can slam on road charges), but you wait, in no time they will be immobilising your vehicle on the spot.
Just to clarify, it’s mandatory on new models launched after July 6 not on existing cars. Why we are still following rules made in Brussels I don’t know, the only explanation I can think of is that this law will path the way for autonomous cars or automatic road pricing.
From any EU purchaser’s point of view, also mandatory with a new vehicle is a pair of wire cutters, usually purchased separately.
You probably could for now because the technology is very, very very flawed at the moment so the speed limiting is passive. Some manufacturers (Volvo for one) already have a “beep” warning if you wonder above the speed limit. The trouble is, is that the system relies in part on Speed limit sign recognition, I have it on my car and it gets speed limit wrong so many times that I’m wondering whether I should take the car to Specsavers. However when the boffins perfect the technology and in becomes “Active” then watch out, I think the company behind the roll out is called Cyberdyne Systems and uses Skynet satellites 🙂
In a a sense it could be good news because then we can’t be fined for speeding – and that’s a huge cash cow.
But I suppose they’ll then find another way of fining us. Face recognition is coming along nicely so they could fine us for smiling.
GoogleMaps must have a field in their road system database that has the speedlimit for each segment of road. I’ve been seeing a notification of current speed and speed limit when we take a road trip lately.
I got a notification of a “speed check ahead” on the mapping software I was using for the first time, and sure enough about a mile up the road a highway patrol car sat.
I wonder how that was done? I got two of those notifications on that particular short trip, and there was a police speed check each time.
On a 2-wk road trip through SE US states, we found that on both iPhone and google. Both also accurately track speed zones, accidents, road hazards (and ask you to respond with whether they’ve been cleared), and tell you what lane to be in with enough advance notice to get there.
AFAIK, they don’t yet send your speed to the local police or to your insurance company. They don’t but could also send the “you’re tired, stop to rest” warning to the insurance company.
Also am curious about how they know about moving speed checks (they also warn about fixed red light cameras).
Tom,
There is a user notification … when someone drives by the ‘speed trap’ they push the button and it registers the location to warn others.
On Google maps it registers as a ‘speed trap ahead’ and sometimes asks if it is still there.
(If I were a police officer that wanted people to slow down, I would be notifying the driving/mapping app that there were speed traps where there are not; a bonus for me (the cop) would be that some people would soon start ignoring the warnings).
Cyberdyne? Isn’t that the company that is mentioned in The Terminator?
If it’s programmed into the computer, it will be impossible to remove without reprogramming the computer.
Not if you cut the wires between the GPS antenna and the on-board computer.
There has to be a driving mode that allows continued driving without GPS input, such as when a car goes into a 0.5-2 mile long tunnel through a mountain. Cell phone GPS can substitute for on-board navigation computers that would use the antenna.
Similarly, one can always cut the wires between the speedometer and the on-board computer . . . there has to be a “limp home mode” where one can continue driving in event of failure of the speedometer sensor.
Also, do you really think it will take more than, say, 6 months for some hacker to “jail break” any vehicle EPROM-based software so as to enable reprogramming the computer to defeat any vehicle computer code? Just look at what has happened with cell phones!
There is an old adage that is appropriate here:
“The innovator will always outperform the regulator.”
Also most cars now are fly by wire fiber optic technology so cutting anything will end in tears.
Got any facts to go with that?
I clicked on the wrong “reply” button.
The faster cars go, the less their mileage. This is also true for electrics.
I suspect this will be used to set the maximum speed for any car at somewhere between 30 and 40 miles per hour. Except if you are one of the important people, they will be allowed to go as fast as they want.
Or remove cars from certain roads at certain times of the day so that John Kerry can get to that important golf match without hindrance.
‘Road pricing’ = road-use fining.
But then, when you’ve racked up ‘convictions’ for road-use infringements, I wonder how long it will take before you are prevented from travelling because of a ‘criminal record’.
Why would they immobilise my car? I hear you ask.
You will be given variable daily/weekly/monthly millage allowance. There will be given warning at 90% and your engine will be turned off when you hit 100%.
When you get back home your will find out that your gas & electricity smart meters will be controlling your home’s energy consumption in exactly the the same manner.
Its tough to save the Earth, but it will be easier when your choices are removed.
You want to save the Earth, don’t you? Of course you do. Don’t be silly, government is here to help you.
I wish I could rant and rave about how paranoid you are. Unfortunately for all of us, you aren’t.
In the old days, mass surveillance of the great unwashed was illegal in the UK. More and more we are now under constant surveillance by our betters
Throw them out, you fools!
Assuming you, DrEd, are in the former Colonies, would you mind throwing out the fool you currently have in the WH? Oh, you can’t yet. Same here. But one day, before the whole world falls apart, we may have the chance to reset the balance and get the CP adherents out.
We have a number of fools who need to be thrown out of office over here in the U.S. Mostly the crazy Democrats, but there are a few crazy Republicans that need to go, too.
We will sort all that out here in a few more months.
how do you throw out the thousands of bureaucrats who actually run the damned governments?
the coward pols ceded their powers decades ago and control nothing
Might be better than the “automatic speed violation billing system” they could’ve opted for?
What pays for all that?
“Heinz has stopped supplying Tesco with some of the UK’s family favourite products in a dispute over pricing.
Baked beans, ketchup and tomato soup are among the cupboard staples missing from shelves in some Tesco stores.
Kraft Heinz, which owns the brand, said its production costs were rising but it was working with Tesco to resolve the situation quickly.
But Tesco said: “We will not pass on unjustifiable price increases to our customers.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61978595
Lack of ketchup will soon be the very least of anyone’s concerns, there’ll be nothing to put it on..
Farmers cut food production as costs soar
TV ad: Our 57 Heinz varieties make bugs a tasty treat. Try our chocolate with ants.
“I just want to say one word to you: insects”
How exactly does Tesco know which price increases are “justified” and which aren’t?
How much longer before they start petitioning government to outlaw “unjustified” price increases?
The world is is heading for hyper inflation and the politicians al around the free world are like rabbits sitting in the head lights on the high way at night .
We have only seen the tip of the iceberg ,the world will hit the iceberg in the next three years.
They do not know how to stop inflation as increasing interest rates push up costs even further .
Food all over the world is about to soar in price because of the stupid policies that these politicians have put in place to fight an imaginary threat of climate change .
Here on the other side of the world our on farm fuel costs have doubled and our nitrogen fertilizer costs have more than tripled.
Shipping freight rates are up 600%.
Farmers cannot produce food without covering their production costs .
Covid and the war in Ukraine have not helped but the war against fossil fuels is now coming back to to bite every one who buys food around the world .
The law of unintended consequences .
Soaring food prices will only be one of our problems .
I can think of a few things to say that begin with ‘F’, ‘B’, ‘W’ and ‘C’ as examples.
Kerry as Climate Czar? It fits in with the rest of Biden’s illogical decisions and choices.
Regards,
Bob
Yes, although hypocrisy is, sadly, not reserved just for the Dums, nor, indeed, just for the USA.
Indeed it isn’t.
“The Prince of Wales took more than 20 private flights, including several helicopters, within the UK last year in order to avoid being stuck in traffic, it has emerged.”
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2022/06/30/prince-charles-took-more-than-20-private-flights-within-the-uk-to-avoid-being-stuck-in-traffic/
Unlike the Aston Martin, the aircraft are not powered by wine and cheese.
OY! Who let the dog out?
What a Dork saying he wants to get al the co2 out of the atmosphere takes the cake
Look, Lurch has to have a private jet in order to visit the edge of the atmosphere and check on the thickness of the CO2 layer up there. Who else is going to do this vital work?
It just occurred to me that some may not be familiar with that reference. For your entertainment, I give you Lurch’s stand up routine. Get it before it disappears..
https://2009-2017.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2014/02/221704.htm
The thing is your true total psychopath will just blank that out like it never happened.
A normal response would be a little more than acute embarrassment at being so utterly ridiculous.
“a quarter-inch, half an inch, somewhere in that vicinity – that’s how thick it is.”
He is way more thick.
R-HS,
Thanks very much for the link to Kerry’s speech in Jakarta.
Unfortunately, at the the 2m20s mark into the video (the fifth paragraph of the transcription) Kerry states:
“It’s not an exaggeration to say to you that the entire way of life that you live and love is at risk.”
Such an absurd statement merits an appropriate response, so I stopped the video and ceased reading the accompanying transcript right then and there.
I will never go back to it.
You should persevere. There are many more laughs to be had, and the punch line is a classic.
But “the way of life that you live and love” IS at risk, is being restricted, is being denied is more and more each day by Kerry and his ilk.
The fact that he idolized Maurice Strong says it all, and not just about Climate Change.
Can we make that a permanent posting?
Perhaps they are all fuelled on DHBS….of which Kerry and those fellow clique members of his persuasion have an inexhaustible supply.
Daily Mail follows WUWT
The other day I posted schematic of ‘the Beast’, now DM is doing the same
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10971433/Former-secret-service-agents-says-Trump-big-reached-seat-steering-wheel.html
That story is so funny. Even Simon is dumb enough to believe it is true.
Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent who did the Presidential detail, has a podcast that
debunks “Jussie” Hutchinson’s testimony. It also says that diagram isn’t accurate (26:50):
Ep. 2100 June 29, 2022
https://bongino.com/ep-1800-the-trump-secret-service-scandal-that-wasn-t
Along with that, they usually keep the compartment divider behind the front seats open so the agent
“riding shotgun” can access the rear compartment JIC the president needs assistance, like with a
heart attack. Also, the agents NEVER refer to the limo as “The Beast”.
A shorter synopsis (with video) of other details is here:
https://bongino.com/committee-of-lies-cassidy-hutchinson-s-testimony-collapses-in-record-time
A continuation of his destroying it is at the beginning of Ep. 2101 June 30, 2022.
I’ve commented on this nonsense in the DM etc where the Dems claim it was not the ‘Beast’, but a Sub SUV – as if the POTUS would travel in the front passenger seat of a common-or-garden SUV! One commenter (UK) claimed that the video of the POTUS sitting on the right-rear seat showed he was behind the driver so could reach out to throttle him!!!! (I apologise for the level of intelligence of my fellow-Brits.)
Let us look for the positive here.
With Kerry as the poster child of energy reduction, the whole world knows it must be some kind of political joke. We just haven’t seen the funny side of it yet.
I am betting, Kerry has not caught a bus to anywhere ever in his life.
He, along with Greta and perhaps AOC thrown in for comedic value, are the go to faces of climate alarmism. With a team like that championing their cause, we (realists) have no reason to feel anything other than confident. Common sense will prevail, just enjoy the jokers while we can, I suspect they won’t be around for much longer.
Stop mocking him!!! He’s my carbon benchmark and I’ve taken a pledge to keep my carbon contribution at or below his.
Lol…carbon benchmark
Carbon skidmark is more like it.
It’s basically The Fundamental Problem with settled civilisations and the resultant ‘Government Creep’.
Or the notion that ‘Some Government is good, therefore more Government is better‘
Hence why all the previous attempts at settled civilation are gone, all lost in their own self created Warm Periods.
(Warm periods have always marked the ends of civilisations, not their genesis)
Manifestation is that a very modest number of people gain control over huuuuge numbers of little people so that diversity & redundancy disappear – in the drive for ‘efficiency’
(May I refer you to the words of Stanley Jevons here)
When that happens, if the all powerful ‘leader’ ## says ‘Everybody turn left‘ when they should have turned right on headed straight onwards, the whole shebang goes down the pan.
## Made even worse and as illuminated by Kerry,
The very last people who should be given power/control are those who want/crave power & control
Without doubt, the best person to put alongside any urban dictionary’s definition of “poser”.
A fair portion of a dictionary would have Kerry’s picture scattered through it; beside ‘tosser’, ‘idiot’, ‘hypocrite’, ‘sociopath’, ‘gold digger’, ‘traitor’, ‘horse’, and at least a dozen other entries.
And how many BMW motorcycles being trailer behind security vehicles?
https://www.wmtw.com/article/maine-public-schools-to-implement-climate-education-starting-with-teacher-training/40477859#
Democratic self implosion must surely be deliberate. Can they really be this stupid?
They’ve only just begun. Wait till they reach ramming speed!
Yes they can. Unfortunately Democrat voters can easily be that dumb and dumber.
Kerry the political consolation prize czar.
I understand why Kerry carries on as he does. What I’ll never understand is why anyone takes him the least bit seriously.
Kerry has close family/friends in the Middle-East power strata. Who better to negotiate crippling-high energy prices and strangulated US supplies?
I guess Biden was struggling to find someone even more stupid than him!
And more devious.
That was Kamala, hands down. Best protection from 25th Amendment he could have found.
Yes, I’ve noticed that seems to be the primary criteria for EVERYONE the president nominates for any position.
Kerry was Mr 2007 for No North Pole Ice Cap as I recall. Dear me…..
And every year since then! 😮
Wasn’t he also the one that was predicting that Manhattan would be under water by 2012?
Give Kerry a break!
It’s so important to deliver the Green message that he has to ignore it to deliver it!
He learned that from Al Gore.
(Al bought a bag of charcoal briquets but never used it. That counts as a “Carbon Credit”.)
“Lurch” Kerry is among the self-declared elite, having “earned” his money by marrying successively richer women. All those luxuries mentioned are his due for being our self-appointed moral superior. Sacrifices are for the Deplorables.
Rush archive- John Kerry (“who, you may not have heard, served in Vietnam”)
Kerry called his fellow American troops “baby killers”, among other things.
Kerry is one of the most dispicable people on the planet.
Kerry did not need to work or marry. Search up “the Forbes Family”, as in John Forbes Kerry.
No, Kerry the kookooo katerwauling klimate klown!
Their brand is hypocrisy. Kerry is exactly the right guy for the job. He is the master of malevolence.
One of Kerry’s recent properties:
https://vineyardgazette.com/news/2017/03/09/john-kerry-buys-historic-marthas-vineyard-property
“The farm includes a large expanse of unspoiled morainal forest and farmland as well as north shore beachfront spanning West Tisbury and Chilmark.”
+++++++++++++++++++++
Obama doesn’t seem too worried about his oceanfront property either:
Obama house: tour Barack and Michelle’s new Martha’s Vineyard home
https://www.homesandgardens.com/news/president-obama-new-house-marthas-vineyard
++++++++++++++++++++++
Meanwhile, this is the type of messaging being sent out to us peons, this one by their comrade Bernie:
Bernie Sanders: ‘Major Cities Going Under Water’ in ‘8 or 9 Years’ Due to Climate Change
https://www.cnsnews.com/blog/craig-bannister/bernie-sanders-major-cities-going-under-water-8-or-9-years-due-climate-change
only democraps? oh stop. the govt is purple .