Noooooooo they're slowing production of the CyberStuck, a/k/a the Deplorean, the WankPanzer, the Incel Camino, and the Rhodesian Ridgeline.
— Max Kennerly (@maxkennerly.bsky.social) January 10, 2025 at 8:29 PM
But once he has the Griftfather on his side…
Wow I didn't know that negative accountability was possible
www.npr.org/2025/01/15/n…— Eric Roesch, Rude Law Dog (@esghound.com) January 15, 2025 at 9:35 AM
NPR, “Safety advocates fear Tesla will face less accountability for car crashes under Trump”:
… Car companies including Tesla are required to report the details of crashes involving advanced driver-assistance systems, like the one Hunter was using. Regulators and safety advocates insist the reporting requirement is crucial to understanding how well the technology is working — and is necessary to hold carmakers accountable for deaths and injuries when the technology fails.
But safety advocates fear that this requirement will be scrapped by the incoming Trump administration, along with other federal investigations into Tesla and its advanced driving systems.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help President-elect Donald Trump return to the White House. Now Musk may be poised to influence federal policy at the agencies that regulate his businesses, including Tesla.
The carmaker is at odds with regulators over the crash reporting requirement, which Tesla executives argue is unfair because it makes the company’s safety record look worse than it is.
That reporting requirement helped federal regulators build the case for a recall of Tesla’s Autopilot system, the predecessor to its Full Self-Driving mode…
He’s no longer a failed car salesguy; he’s a self-sacrificing political genius who was temporarily distracted from the corporation’s Prime Directive!
Core tenet of conservatism is making up a problem, waiting a few months, and then declaring victory over it pic.twitter.com/ww7BqWMZXK
— evan loves worf (@esjesjesj) January 11, 2025
??
— e.w. niedermeyer (@niedermeyer.io) January 12, 2025 at 4:17 PM
If Musk's compensation and politics aren't reason enough, you can always dump the stock because the core business is out of growth and not receiving serious investment, and the self-driving scam is gonna fall apart sooner or later. Also the dude is weird and gross, just on a human level.
— e.w. niedermeyer (@niedermeyer.io) January 12, 2025 at 4:20 PM
On the fence? This winter could be the final season of jaw-dropping offers on electric vehicles. Right now is the best time to snatch an existing deal and drive home an EV if you've been on the fence.
— Jigar Shah (@jigarshahdc.bsky.social) January 12, 2025 at 2:03 PM
War for Ukraine Day 1,057: President Zelenskyy Visits Poland
JoyceH
How do these guys not embarrass themselves when they use moronic phrases like “woke mind virus”?
Pete Downunder
Another reason to dump Tesla is that tech that was cutting edge back in 2019 has been overtaken and done better by real car companies. That and that Muskrat is a horrible person.
mrmoshpotato
@JoyceH:
Is the South African shitstain in a race to the bottom against the orange shitstain?
Seriously, they’re both miserable bastards.
Betty Cracker
I did not watch Biden’s speech last night, but according to quotes I saw on Bluesky, he put a name on the Musk problem:
Weirdly, this made me feel a tiny bit hopeful.
Will the U.S. be able to maintain democracy after the right-wing kleptocracy takes over? The oligarchs will keep the trappings in place while hollowing democracy out. It will be a race against the clock — I don’t know if we can beat them back or if they’ll fully entrench and make future elections meaningless.
But Biden called it by its name, and I think that’s important. Bravo.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Oh, the “both sides” trolls will be out in force today.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
There will either be a backlash or submission. We’ll see.
Keith P.
I’m in Houston, and Cybertrucks have been stacked at the local Tesla center for over a year. There were so many cars in the lot that the CTs sat in a field for most of last year. They finally moved them to the lot, but there’s always at least 50 of them lined up there. I’ve read that the situation is the same in Dallas. I seriously think Musk has been cooking the books at Tesla.
p.a.
Brief comment on shamelessness as the new superpower.
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2025/01/15/from-hastert-to-hegseth/
p.a.
@Keith P.: Not all pickup drivers are suburban cosplaying tradespeople. Anybody who really needs a truck won’t go anywhere near those things. If their mind works.
Baud
@p.a.:
Shame requires a connection to society. They are only connected to right wing society, which is large and finds this stuff amusing. They are not connected to our society.
p.a.
@Betty Cracker: Ike’s Military-Industrial Complex speech for a new reality.
Keith P.
@p.a.: I’ve only seen a few of them in the wild. The bare steel makes the blocky shape look even worse (dirty). Plus, I wouldn’t trust those gigacastings for truck duty. And then there’s the part about it being a “minimalist” vehicle that costs $80k-$120k(!!!)
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: in this context, I believe submission is called a sucking of buttholes.
mrmoshpotato
@Keith P.: Stack them on top of each other like that asshole turtle “king.”
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Yep. I have no idea how it will play out, but the oligarchs aren’t being subtle. If Dems continue to call it what it is, at least we won’t sleepwalk into serfdom.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
I’ll give Elon credit for being out front with Trump during the campaign, instead of waiting to see how it all shook out like the other oligarchs did.
One would think if there were a real anti-oligarch majority in this country, Elon’s efforts alone would have sealed the deal for Harris. It didn’t, so we have a lot of work to do to get there.
Baud
@Keith P.:
Inflation, man. Which officially ends next Monday at noon.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Yeah, Musk did everything but dress in a top hat, spats and a monocle while carrying bags of money to purchase the government. But the swing voters who decide elections are dumber than a bag of hammers. They believe the bullshit mythology about Trump being a self-made businessman and Musk being a visionary space explorer who wants to save humanity. They have to touch every red-hot burner on the stove. Maybe the burns are fatal this time. Maybe not. We’ll see!
Ramalama
Adult niece lives in downtown Toronto. My wife stayed with her for 1 week whereupon they came across a Tesla truck and speculated for days about what it might be. A spaceship, an alien crib on wheels, a live robot? They’d definitely seen the cars which are everywhere in our small Quebec village when the millionaires come to party in their 2nd or 5th vacation homes.
I said, Don’t you know these things have ridiculous memes dedicated to excoriating musk with scorn and derision?
What are you talking about, they said.
Meanwhile a very old prime minister wrote in an English newspaper about how trump is a piece of shit, and then the current premiere of Quebec did something similar, and it’s all those two can talk about.
I gotta get my priorities rejiggered.
Jeffro
@Betty Cracker: that part of the speech felt like the most radical thing I’d heard an American president say, ever.
(well, except for declaring the Soviet Union illegal and noting that the bombing would begin in five minutes…THAT was pretty radical)
but seriously, between ‘dangerous concentration of power’ and calling out China by name…whew
Jeffro
@Baud:
@Betty Cracker:
I don’t think normies make the kinds of connections, or feel the same sense of alarm, that we do.
You have to tell people, over and over again. Connect ALL the dots for them, then go back to the start and re-trace the diagram. Sad but necessary.
Betty Cracker
@Jeffro: I’ll have to find the transcript and read the whole speech. TBH, I’m kind of surprised Biden went there. It’s not the first time I’ve been pleasantly surprised by Biden. Maybe the last time, though. Le sigh…
oldster
We purchased a Hyundai Ioniq 5 last summer. It has been a great car so far, and we have gotten extra enjoyment from not having given any money to Skum.
Also — I am not on Bluesky, but I am happy to see you quoting from it like from twitter back when it was good. I’d be happy if Bluesky could reach the size at which it is an effective replacement for another failed Skum product.
Betty
@Betty Cracker: I have the impression everyone was surprised by Biden’s speech. He did not make it about himself or his achievements other than mentioning the ceasefire. Very thoughtful and focused on the future. Short and to the point.
Shalimar
@p.a.: i would guess 80% of pickup truck drivers are suburban cosplayers. The percentage of truck sales in the US is far higher than the percentage who ever move stuff with them. That said, the vast majority of the cosplayers already have a strong favorite between Chevy or Ford and they aren’t looking for a 3rd party.
TBone
I just saw an L.A. authority (maybe D.A., I dunno) on GMA do a presser threatening rent and price gougers with “You will be publicly shamed!” What’s he gonna do, put them in stocks in the village square?
NotMax
Biden interview on O’Donnell’s show Thursday (today).
Enhanced Voting Techniques
By pulling a Trump; continuously shit talking so much that no one came keep up with it.
Shalimar
I just saw the details of the DOGE job announcement on XTwitter. Only the top 1% will even be considered (no word on how they weed out the other 99% before considering the best of the best), and you need a blue checkmark to even apply for one of the non-paying “jobs”. 80 hour work weeks mean you basically have to be an incel to even have the time.
I know Musk fans who would do it if it just paid enough to cover their living expenses. I do not know anyone with so much money saved or inherited that they can afford to do it for free.
eclare
@Betty Cracker:
I know! Gah……
Shalimar
@TBone: Force them to star in an embarrassing reality show? Are those even things anymore with the decline of broadcast tv? I haven’t watched a network show in over a decade.
eclare
@Shalimar:
Yes reality shows are still a thing. Ask me how I know.
Baud
@eclare:
Real Housewives of Memphis, Tennessee?
TBone
@Shalimar: there was no “force” mentioned, it sounded like Susan Collins was the author of his little speech. It was like the opposite of force. Cajoling. But I didn’t watch the whole thing because I was too disgusted so maybe he redeemed himself (but I doubt it, how do you follow up after that statement?). He publicly shamed himself.
eclare
@Baud:
Hahaha…no. Traitors just started. Alan Cumming is delicious.
Betty Cracker
@Shalimar: Feature rather than bug. It’s designed to weed out everyone but the obscenely rich rent seekers who will ultimately benefit from the scheme.
TBone
Some stories for solace
https://fixthenews.com/282-brain-washing-machine/
Fix The News (that’s not about brainwashing, it’s about why we sleep).
Another Scott
Bezos’s New Glenn rocket made it to orbit. They weren’t able to land the first stage.
Excellent results for the first flight.
Best wishes,
Scott.
TBone
@Another Scott: somehow, I just DGAF about outer space rockets right now unless their owners are going for a ride.
ETA I apologize for my grumpiness!
Baud
@Another Scott:
It’s a shame so much of the space tech is controlled by awful people.
Betty Cracker
@Betty: Yeah, I heard a clip of the foreign policy speech on the radio the other day while driving somewhere and wanted to punch the fucking dashboard. So I did not expect this!
eclare
@TBone:
Agree. I could go on a long tirade, but I won’t. Nuff said.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@TBone:
Exactly. There’s already plenty of specific accounts on this documented and yet, ain’t nothing happening. Plus, people that do this have no shame.
MomSense
@Jeffro:
With the usual caveats about anecdata, I’m seeing a ton of millennials, for whom Gaza has been the big issue, posting that they can’t stand Trump but they appreciate that he exposed how inept the Biden Administration has been. They aren’t exactly normies because they do pay attention to issues. They definitely did not watch Biden’s farewell because they do not like or trust him.
These are not college kids. Most of them graduated a long time ago. Gaza has been a major issue for this cohort. It was never just college campuses.
Baud
@MomSense:
Water under the bridge now.
TBone
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: 🎯
Shalimar
@TBone: If we eventually divest SpaceX of all of their government contracts, there has to be an alternative. Bezos sucks, but his company is the current best alternative (adequately funding NASA would be the first choice, but that is not going to happen).
MomSense
@Baud:
It is for you since you have given up. I’m still in this godawful game and believe we have to win them back. Democrats lost credibility with them. We need them.
Baud
@MomSense:
Good luck.
Professor Bigfoot
@Shalimar: I watch sportsball and there are always lots of car and truck ads.
The truck ads amuse me, because they’re always blasting through the back country, or loading up two tons of bricks, or hauling a house through the mountains; when we ALL know almost all of those trucks will be going to the grocery store and back and THAT’S ALL.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Right? Another thing oligarchs have ruined for me — national pride in space exploration.
TBone
A little mood music by Chrissie Hynde to get blood flowing back to the heart
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WjcYVcoRYdg
Shalimar
@MomSense: We’re only a couple years away from the first mega-resort going up in Gaza on top of the mass graves. Give them a little time to hate Trump more than they hate Biden.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Maybe Blue sky can launch a space program!*
* Probably asking too much.
Ksmiami
@MomSense: eh fuck them. When they get screwed out of employment, can’t find birth control or even afford healthcare and their neighbors get deported, my sympathy for their cries will be just about 0.
Baud
@Shalimar:
Biden wasn’t even on the ballot.
TBone
@Shalimar: Witkoff is a realtor.
JMG
@Professor Bigfoot: Here on Cape Cod there are a lot of trucks because there are a lot of boats that need hauling every fall and spring. So I cut the owners some slack. That’s a real if affluent reason.
TBone
@Shalimar: not holding my breath, am of the opinion that climate change mitigation is of more importance than any space exploration.
ETA you’d think, with the hero complexes these fucks display, one of these dragons would figure that out and step up. But Chevron always wins.
JML
I wonder what’s going to happen when EM overdoses on ketamine (or whatever his latest drug is) and ends up comatose/dead? Do his businesses (some of which seem based on cult of personality) collapse or thrive once he’s no longer able to exert any control of them?
Baud
@JMG:
There are lots of good reasons to have trucks. i suspect the good reasons are the minority, but it’s hard to attack the vain reasons with the good reason people being offended.
AM in NC
@Betty Cracker: I agree that people in power MUST name the enemies we are up against. Because it’s true and because it’s good politics.
We need to attack the oligarch class AND link them to why WE are being kept from good things. It isn’t the Mexican taking your job, it’s Musk shipping car manufacturing to China and then rigging our laws to allow him to operate there more cheaply.
It’s not just “eat the rich”; it’s “here’s WHY you should want to eat the oligarchy (that they will NEVER let you be a part of)”.
Every month, Dems and informational ecosystem on our side need to do a full month, daily push on a particularly egregious set of policies that benefit the super-wealthy at our expense, and just have a full court press about the laws, what they do, who they specifically benefit, who they harm, and what the change Dems are proposing and Republicans are blocking.
Nothing else is as a big a focus for a month but those horrible economic policies benefitting the oligarchs at our expense.
And the next month, beat the drum about another way the oligarchs are killing us and what Democrats are doing to help Americans, not the international oligarch class.
I just have to feel like a coordinated, oft-repeated, TRUE and COMPELLING message about reality should be enough to win. How do we coordinate on this and get it everywhere?
How do we defeat the oligarchs from an outsider position?
Betty Cracker
@MomSense: I think their cynicism about Biden’s foreign policy is warranted. But the outgoing president calling out the oligarchy was an unalloyed GOOD THING, in my opinion.
If the yoots don’t care about that issue yet, maybe they will when Musk, et al., shred the social safety net further so they can stuff even more public funds into their already overflowing pockets…
@AM in NC: Amen. I don’t know how, but I agree that should be the goal.
MomSense
@Ksmiami:
That is the cycle we have been in for decades. I’d like to break it but I get that isn’t the goal of the majority of commenters here.
MomSense
@Betty Cracker:
They definitely care about the issue. The messenger lost credibility.
dc
@MomSense: They believe they’re smart but they are not if they give Trump credit for anything. “Let’s send our democracy (such as it is) over the cliff, that will help the Palestinians.”
Baud
@MomSense:
Absolutely, we’re awful people here. Unlike the people who sat out the election. Those people love their country.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
You watch City Nerd on You Tube too? :) The whole “I mow my lawn, own a truck so I am a farmer” mentality.
The comments on his threads about pickup trucks is interesting. Basically these monster F-150 are useless for real work and SUVs are the vehicle of choice for someone who needs a working vehicle now.
TBone
– Dorothy Parker
Josie
@MomSense:
ProPublica just published an article on the failures of the Biden foreign policy people concerning Gaza. It was mind boggling and upsetting. Dems need to take a look at this and take some corrective action. I have always been a big Biden fan, but his people did him no favors on this one.
tobie
@MomSense: Glad they found their calling. And the magic wand theory of politics lives on.
TBone
@Josie: I saw reply guys on MSNBC yesterday explaining how each of the phases of the plan will be defeated because Netanyahoo needs to stay out of prison.
TBone
We need a new FDR, using noblesse oblige to conquer. I’m not holding my breath on that either because our coalition is bizzy fighting amongst themselves instead and will never trust anyone with enough money to vanquish the current overlords. I can’t blame us on that point.
Betty Cracker
@Josie: I think Biden was courageous to get us out of Afghanistan. Constrained by the “deal” Trump cut and with the baggage of decades of fecklessness that preceded it, there was no clean way to get out, but it was the right thing to do regardless, IMO.
Rallying the world around Ukraine after Russia’s full-scale attack was a real accomplishment and something Biden was uniquely positioned to do. That said, reading Adam’s accounts of how U.S. aid was doled out and how that hurt Ukraine is depressing as hell.
On Gaza, Biden flat-out got played by Netanyahu and undermined by bad actors at home. Biden’s FP was a mixed bag at best, IMO. But on balance, it was better than I expected considering his history on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. I had low expectations that he sometimes exceeded.
Professor Bigfoot
@MomSense: You’re never gonna get them.
Even YOUNG white people hate Democrats.
eclare
@TBone:
Not sure what that means.
Manyakitty
@NotMax: ooh, thanks for the tip. I’ll turn it on for that.
Professor Bigfoot
@JMG: I figure it obeys the 80/20 rule– 20% of them are really needed for work trucks, and for things like hauling their big ass boats… but 80 percent of ’em just wanna be assholes in their giant wagons.
TBone
@eclare: well, one of them paints himself burnt orange and has a cotton candy ferret on his head. HTH.
ETA the others are busy bootlicking.
Professor Bigfoot
@MomSense: When they told Black voters that we needed to vote against our own KNOWN best interests for the sake of “the Palestinians,” they FUCKED US ALL.
Fuck them, every little last one of them the stupid little pale fuckers.
Professor Bigfoot
@Baud: We are absolutely the worst.
We study history.
TBone
@Professor Bigfoot: come sit by me, coffee is hot and books await.
Manyakitty
@MomSense: well fuck them and their purity. I encourage them to book lots of rooms at the trump Gaza hotel. JFC.
Manyakitty
@Ksmiami: hard same.
vigilhorn
Wow, the folks at Jalopnik are brutal to Musk and Trump.
“There are just a few short weeks until Donald Trump makes his return to the White House, which means there are just a few short weeks for the “Home Alone 2” actor to decide just where he stands on electric vehicles. “
Professor Bigfoot
@TBone: I’ll pack along a bottle of chocolate coffee creamer and a dozen from our local donut shop (which is AWESOME, by the way).
Baud
@Professor Bigfoot:
We’re not going to get to a majority with only decent people in our coalition. But I’m not going to tolerate being insulted by anyone.
Llelldorin
@Baud: To be fair, I can imagine that it’d be hard to develop a sense of shame when you’re a rich conservative. Musk could say that the biggest threat to the nation was “Hubba bubba dubba dubba” and a good fraction of the media would just timidly call him to get the spelling right.
TBone
@Professor Bigfoot: do we dunk? Yes is the correct answer! Literally and figuratively.
Professor Bigfoot
@Baud: My belief is always that *the good guys don’t do heinous shit.*
They can make mistakes, they can be misled, they can be wrong– but they don’t do heinous because they see the humanity in everyone.
Conservatives do not. Thus their desire for literal Nazi policies (mass deportation now, motherfuckers?)
TBone
@Professor Bigfoot: Mike Flynn said Night of the Long Knives out loud day before yesterday.
Ksmiami
@Professor Bigfoot: over and over. No sympathy from me.
Matt McIrvin
@Betty Cracker: The *old* space program was a byproduct of the weapons industry funded as a Cold War psywar initiative about the “missile gap” and founded on the innovations of Nazi war criminals. It achieved astounding things but was not covered in moral glory. I find the fact that any actual good science happened to be a small miracle.
TBone
@Matt McIrvin: Pepperidge Farm remembers and so do we…good eye.
Ksmiami
@MomSense: Let the system fail then come in and fix it and don’t treat the Republicans as loyal opponents, but the traitorous, scummy Confederate degenerates that they are.
lowtechcyclist
@Betty Cracker:
And how many of them are going to say, “sure, that would be a worthwhile way to spend a few months”?
Sounds to me like he’s weeding out literally everybody. Which is fine with me.
Maybe they’ll hire lobbyists to do it for them.
TBone
@Ksmiami: a do over is a heavy lift, I know a person who didn’t know what civil war is, and didn’t know we’d had one. As Betty C. says, she needs to pin her address onto her coat every time she leaves the house.
Matt McIrvin
@TBone: That was Elon Musk’s original shtick, that he was going to save the climate with electric cars and rooftop solar panels and home battery packs. I saw people with Bernie slogans in their nyms arguing that we had to give him slack on his awful labor practices to save the Earth.
Of course he also did things like trying to kill rail projects with his Hyperloop and Boring Company bullshit. All designed to make sure the businesses that got public and consumer money were his. And he’s still at it. The thing about these billionaire guys is that they’ve now decided public corruption is going to be more lucrative for them than making products or services people want. And they’re probably right in the short term but it’s not going to be a thousand year Reich, one way or another.
Manyakitty
@Professor Bigfoot: excellent distinction.
Kay
I drove the 2025 Honda Accord hybrid this week. 35,000. I think it’s a great car.
The Thin Black Duke
@Professor Bigfoot: The mayo purity ponies LOVE the Palestinians because they’re an abstraction that exists far away as opposed to the scary black people who live next door.
Manyakitty
@TBone: dear god.
Manyakitty
@Kay: I have a 2024 Accord hybrid. LOVE IT.
TBone
@Matt McIrvin: 🎯 he’s still being allowed to tunnel under Las Vegas right now with no regulatory oversight on the project.
Manyakitty
@The Thin Black Duke: and it allows them to indulge their not-so-latent antisemitism.
zhena gogolia
@MomSense: FOR FUCK’S SAKE
Manyakitty
@zhena gogolia: (heart emoji)
Professor Bigfoot
@TBone: There is no “do-over.”
There is only “do new.”
But there is NO guarantee that the “new” won’t be more horrible than the old.
Kay
@Manyakitty:
I was really impressed. This had lane assist and low speed following, which I had fun playing with. I’d buy that car and I don’t buy new cars (I buy used).
TBone
@Manyakitty: yep and most of her neighbors in Slower Lower Delaware are all the same, living in their ticky tacky houses.
Professor Bigfoot
@The Thin Black Duke: Rather like “the unborn” for conservatives, innit?
TBone
@Professor Bigfoot: exactly!
Betty Cracker
@Matt McIrvin: I think I stopped believing national projects were covered in “moral glory” at about the same time I stopped believing in Santa Claus. (An underrated advantage of having a hippie mom!) But NASA’s achievements were something Americans could legit take some pride in, IMO, warts and all.
Professor Bigfoot
@Manyakitty: “Those who hate Jews rarely hate only Jews.”
Likewise those who hate Black people rarely hate ONLY Black people. Those who hate LGBTQIA+ people rarely only hate LGBTQIA+ people.
But it’s almost guaranteed that the ones doing the hating straight white Christians.
Manyakitty
@Kay: I planned on buying used and the test drive changed my mind. Mine is an EX-L and I was tempted by the touring trim level because it has its own WiFi and GPS instead of using your phone. That said, the wireless Android Auto is SO GOOD.
Mine has the slow follow and land assist, too. I love this car.
Matt McIrvin
@TBone: I remember thinking in the 1990s or so that a private space program funded as an adventure tourism folly of billionaires would at least not be open to the accusation of wasting public funds, but of course these companies still get most of their revenue from public funds, often in grifty ways, and their bosses are particularly obnoxious people.
Manyakitty
@TBone: ah, the kind of people who are lucky breathing is a reflex.
Geminid
It’s another busy day in Damascus. Spain’s Foreign Minister led a delegation that met with de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa. Later on, the Foreign Minister raised the Spanish flag at at their embassy.
Also, Reuters World reports that Qatari Prime Minister al Thani has arrived to meet with Syria’s new leader. He’s fresh from helping mediate the Gaza ceasefire deal.
The deal was not completely finished when al Thani left Qatar, with “minor” clauses still being hashed out, mainly regarding the prisoner release side. Al Thani still issued a statement this morning that the deal is on and will commence Sunday.
Israel’s Cabinet has yet to ratify the agreement. A meeting was scheduled for this morning, but it’s been pushed back to this evening, which means it will probably run past midnight.
Manyakitty
@Professor Bigfoot: no lie found
TBone
@Matt McIrvin:
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/15/media/washington-post-jeff-bezos-letter/index.html
Take me to your leader, I have a letter of concern!
Ya can’t make this shit up even if ya try
TBone
@Manyakitty: there are so many, it boggles my mind how they feed themselves without shoving the food up their noses because they missed the mark.
Starfish (she/her)
@Geminid: They are making a real government! Unlike us. We are making a fake government.
Manyakitty
@TBone: thank you for my first real laugh in days. That’s an image!
TBone
@Manyakitty: Yours in service!
Manyakitty
@TBone: lol. Now tell me more about that chocolate creamer, or was that Professor Bigfoot?
Kay
@Manyakitty:
https://www.motorbiscuit.com/hybrid-honda-accord-is-officially-most-popular-version-of-car/
They’re selling a lot of them. I feel Tesla is wildly overhyped partly because the automobile industry is very male and very vulnerable to the worship of billionaire misogynists and so is the tech industry. Musk is like a perfect storm of irrational, swooning mancrushers.
Remember when they were nerdy engineers who you could trust to build things? Now they’re swaggering, bragging assholes who produce nothing anyone needs.
TBone
@Manyakitty: The Professor suggests the mocha gambit and I concur.
TBone
@Kay: peecocks preening
MomSense
@Baud:
Nice strawman. The answer here is usually either they’re stupid, they’re wrong, it could be worse or some combination of those responses. That is not how you deal with a problem you want to solve.
Its ok. You have said you don’t want to participate and that is fine.
Manyakitty
@Kay: I used to covet a Tesla. NOPE.
At this point, I’m happy with Honda–this is my second Accord, fourth Honda. Plus, they’re not (obviously, at least) pro-fascist like Toyota. Not sure about their upcoming merger with Nissan, but that’s a worry for another day.
Manyakitty
@TBone: fair. I think he lives near me, so I need to see if I can get the name of his local doughnut shop.
Kay
@TBone:
They ruined both industries. Tesla and the insanely oversold AI are a good match. Remember when they made useful things that worked? Their intelligence decreased when they all started lifting weights and became Nazis.
Baud
@MomSense:
No strawman. You accused “the goal of the majority of commenters here” of not wanting to break the cycle. That’s an ugly thing to say about us – you’re saying we want Republicans to remain dominant. Terrible accusation, and you show no signs of regret for saying it.
Maybe most liberals will just let insults slide, but I’m not one of them.
Glidwrith
I have said to hubby several times, these people are so incompetent, they have to make mountains out of underground ant colonies as problems to solve because they can’t deal with any real issues.
YY_Sima Qian
Update from RedNote, kumbaya still mostly reins.
I have seen a very noticeable diversification of international users beyond Americans (a lot of Canucks/Aussies, many Europeans & SE Asians, a smattering of Africans, Latin Americans, Middle Easterners, & Japanese), born out by RedNote topping the App download charts in many parts of the world. It seems that many content consumers around the world are following the American content creators they follow to the App. One can clearly see the foot print of American cultural influence around the world: RedNote is the top 1 or 2 downloaded App in Canada, the UK, Australia, the Netherlands, among many others, but only 29th in France. BTW, Lemon8, another of ByteDance’s properties (a RedNote imitation), is often in the top 2 on the charts, too.
I think Glenn Luk has a couple of Twitter threads that make realistic assessments of the general dynamic & how things might develop from here. Longer term, it’s hard to see how RedNote could monetize off the new international traffic, & equally hard to see how the international content creators could monetize off their new found Chinese audience. Therefore, RedNote may no be willing to invest in the significant resources required to accommodate, moderate & censor the international traffic w/ little prospect of financial return, just as most international content creators may not want to devote so much time to a platform w/ little chance of becoming a viable income stream. After a while, the novelty & the rush will wear off, & only a minority international users wanting to continue to engage w/ the Chinese community on the social media platform will stay, at reduced engagement levels.
If RedNote wants to seize the opportunity to retain & even expand its international clientele, the “practical” course of action would be to wall off the Chinese & international communities onto separate platforms (as ByteDance has done with/ Douyin & TikTok), or do so virtually via the recommendation algorithm to limit the interactions on the same platform. There are already Chinese users commenting that the suddenly international & cosmopolitan community should make the most of this serendipitous moment, before walls are erected again.
Then again, none of this was on anyone’s bingo card, so who knows what will happen.
PRC state media has reported positively the influx of international users onto RedNote, & RedNote is rushing to hire English language mods (good luck w/ that, w/ Spring Festival coming up), so both RedNote & the CPC regime are probably taking a “wait & see” posture.
TBone
@Manyakitty: donuts are one of the ONLY things our central PA bakeries do correctly – go figure, it’s deep fried dough! I hope you find that one because donuts can truly make your day if you indulge in moderation.
Manyakitty
@Glidwrith: like the lunatic “heroes” who light fires so they can put them out.
The Thin Black Duke
@MomSense: I don’t know what you expect Baud to do.
Like it or not, arguing with stupid people who will never admit that they’re wrong is a waste of time, and anyone who believed that Trump was a better choice than Kamala Harris is stupid.
But unfortunately, we’re not allowed to say that because it might hurt their feelings.
Glidwrith
@p.a.: Shamelessness = sociopath
MomSense
@Professor Bigfoot:
There are a lot of young, black people in that movement. It’s not just white people.
TBone
@Kay: erections cause blood to rush away from the brain.
Another Scott
@Betty Cracker: Biden did the right thing and did it well in Afghanistan. It was an amazing accomplishment, even with the deaths at the gates, etc.
Biden’s main focus with Ukraine was to keep NATO united and strong, while also doing everything possible within all the various constraints. People seem to forget Nordstream 2 and VVP’s decades-long effort to divide and weaken NATO and split the EU from the USA. And Orban’s Hungary. That was also an amazing accomplishment. Of course, I too wanted Ukraine to win sooner.
On the Ukraine aid PDAs and all the rest, I dunno. I think Biden did everything he said he was going to do to send what Congress authorized to Ukraine. If the DoD couldn’t deliver in time, for whatever reasons (lack of stocks, backfill production too slow, other issues), that’s not Biden’s fault (but, yes, The Buck Stops Here and all that). The House GQPers were determined to tie his hands for months, and that had real effects.
On Gaza, I dunno. I still think about the counter-factuals. Suppose Biden did say, “I’ve determined that Israel is breaking the rules and the law, so I’m cutting them off.” What then? History tells us that Bibi and the Israeli lobby would immediately run to the Press and Congress screaming bloody murder. If Guantanamo is any guide (remember when Obama said he was going to close it and send prisoners there to SuperMax prisons in the USA and how Congress voted about 98%:2% to say NO WAY?), then laws would have been passed immediately ordering him to send the stuff they wanted, and much more. And the SCOTUS would have said – Democrat is President? Do what the Congress wants. Does anyone really believe that all that would not have happened??
What could have Biden done differently given all the constraints? Dunno. I too would have liked to see Israel end its horrible war much sooner, but I don’t see any way we could have forced the issue given all the constraints. Maybe I’m wrong about that.
Biden did amazingly well given all the constraints. He’s not a king. Tmurp will not be a king. They have constraints that can be used for good or ill. We need to stay strong.
My $0.02.
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Raoul Paste
@TBone: Dead thread no doubt, but I still wanted to agree with the idea that mitigating climate change is more important than space exploration.
And by more important, I mean an existential issue versus a vanity issue.
ETA. Maybe this isn’t a dead thread
TBone
@Raoul Paste: 🎯
Kay
@MomSense:
I agree with you. I think this refusal to consider insufficiently loyal voters really makes “politics” moot for discussion. What’s to talk about? They’re horrible, none of them are sincerely anti war and none of them have legitimate complaints about US policy in Gaza.
I’m kind of amused at the flat out denial that there is an anti war issue group in the Democratic Party. Yes, there is and always has been and they’ve always been younger – “younger” is relative. Twenty years ago they were opposing the war in Iraq.
Manyakitty
@TBone: we have an original Krispy Kreme shop that lights up a sign when they have hot doughnuts. Also a few independents around, but I mostly grab a cream stick and a sour cream when I’m at Giant Eagle first thing on Saturday or Sunday morning. Then I shove them in my face before I even leave the parking lot. TMI?
Manyakitty
@The Thin Black Duke: hey Duke, I have been searching high and low for that story you shared on Bluesky about Geoffrey the cat. Is it possible for you to share it again? It was WONDERFUL.
Starfish (she/her)
@MomSense: We could have properly regulated social media, but instead we can’t figure out where we are with the TIkTok ban that we mostly started for racist reasons. But shhh, no criticizing the Biden administration for just carrying out Trump’s stupid ideas.
MomSense
@The Thin Black Duke:
I don’t expect Baud to do anything. He has said repeatedly that he is done.
These people did not vote for Trump.
We have people who are part of this community who have said they voted for Nader. They are now solidly in the Democratic fold. That’s a good thing. Is the argument you are making that if they chose poorly in the last election by not voting or voting third party, we should forget about them forevermore? I’m glad we didn’t do that after 2000 and 2004.
My feeling is that we share enough values that we should try to bring them back in.
The Thin Black Duke
@MomSense: From my experience, what that means is throwing black people under the bus. Oh, they might use coded language, but as long as Democrats are seen as the party as traitors who align with non-white people, they will remain loyal Republicans. This election certainly proved that. Again.
TBone
@Manyakitty: nope, it’s just a statement of solidarity!
Geminid
@Starfish (she/her): I’m guessing you are talking about Syria here, and not Israel which has a surreal government.
Al-Sharaa is moving towards a real government, but his is a four year plan with rebuilding and resettlement of refugees first, a national census in the third year and elections in the fourth.
A “Consultative Assembly” later this month is intended to begin the process of writing a new constitution.
Syria has about the same area and population as Florida and it’s awash in weapons of war, so security is a big challenge for Al Sharaa and his interim government. They are contending with scattered attacks by Assad dead-enders in the northwest.
Also, there is a tense situation in the areas around the city of Kobani on the Turkish border, where Turkish-backed SNA forces have been fighting the US-supported SDF for weeks now. Turkiye and the US must be talking a lot about this behind the scenes, but neither country is saying much in public.
I think Marco Rubio spoke to this conflict at his confirmation hearing yesterday. He was responding to a question from Senator Chris Van Hollen, who is an advocate for the SDF.
Nukular Biskits
@MomSense:
Posting from the treadmill lol.
Sorry, but not voting for Harris was effectively a vote for Trump, regardless of the attempts to claim otherwise
Eta: “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice”
Baud
@The Thin Black Duke:
When people know you won’t run away from the country, they feel free to insult you. See also the GOP.
zhena gogolia
@Nukular Biskits: That’s what it comes down to.
YY_Sima Qian
@Another Scott: One can write tomes trying to explain the actions of the Biden Administration (& many Congressional Dems) wrt the Israeli war of vengeance against Gaza, but they will remain explanatory & not exculpatory. I don’t think the Biden FP teams performance here is defensible.
What they could they have done? Follow international law & enforce US domestic law. I mean, what have been the Dems’ narratives on foreign (“rules based” international order) & domestic (defending institutions & rule of law) policies, again?
In a way, we can draw a parallel w/ the 1st Obama term. He chose not to prosecute member of the GWB team for violating international & domestic laws during the GWOT, & he chose not to go after the bankers in the wake of the GFC. The choices were easily explainable in terms of both political expedience & policy convenience, given that preventing Great Depression 2.0 & enacting a moderately liberal-progressive agenda were the higher priorities. I defended those decisions at the time. In hindsight, those decisions undermined rule of law in the US & institutional legitimacy in the minds of many of the plebs, contributing to the current state of affairs.
At least Obama faced real trade offs due to limited bandwidth. Not sure what Biden & the Dems, or the US in general, gained by giving Israel unconditional support in its war of vengeance.
Manyakitty
@TBone: do-NUT! do-NUT!!
Kay
@Another Scott:
It was never just Gaza. Its about the international order and the laws of conflict that were put in place after WWII. Biden’s entire foreign policy pitch was that he would uphold that order and Trump would smash it then he did NOTHING when Israel violated all of it.
You understand why we as a country can’t say Putin killing 40,000 Ukrainian civilians in a country of 38 million triggers the most severe sanctions while Israel killing 55,000 civilians in Gaza and wiping out their entire medical and educational system in a population of 2 million gets rewarded? You see how that turns us into a joke, right?
We dropped 70,000 tons off bombs on a civilian population of 2 million. That’s more than what was dropped on Dresden, Hamburg and London COMBINED. I’m not sure people who don’t follow this closely understand the scale of it.
Betty Cracker
@Another Scott: A Panglossian spin, as is your wont. That sounds terrible, but I don’t mean it as an insult. On the contrary, I marvel at it and don’t wish to respond with further grouchy cynicism, though I remain unconvinced that this is the best of all possible worlds.
So instead, I’ll wish you good day, sir. ;-)
frosty
@TBone: Maple Donuts in York County was my all time favorite – solid donuts, not like Krispy Kreme’s airy fluff. Then the asshole owner had to put Trump on his billboards. I haven’t had one since 2016.
Kay
@YY_Sima Qian:
The Leahy Laws gave them the perfect safe harbor. They had a VERY clear US law, one they had used against Ukraine, and they had seven powerful Democratic Senators who are considered moderate and pro Israel who would not only back.them up but begged them to enforce it. Its inexcusable.
Patrick Leahy gifted the US with our very own federal law of war that can be narrowly tailored and that we have used against plenty of other countries, and Biden refused to pull the trigger.
Kay
Here’s the Leahy law senators. This was in January and February of 24.
https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2024/01/18/pressure-mounts-on-biden-to-leverage-human-rights-laws-on-israel-aid/
Jeffro
ok, but we sure didn’t see major Gaza protests in too many other spaces
part of that is a RW media function – focusing on college protests highlights the issue (to Biden’s detriment) but also makes it about ‘out of control woke leftist college kids’. A twofer of sorts for the RWNJs
Gretchen
@Another Scott: Yes! These “Biden should have solved this with one phone call to Bibi” ignore the complexity of the situation. Bibi didn’t want it to be over and the evangelicals in Congress supported him. There were 15 countries involved in the negotiations, all with different fears and priorities. I think the people who refuse to understand the complexity and insist that they can’t vote for Democrats because they didn’t make the one magic phone call are unreachable.
Jeffro
exactly
Kay
@YY_Sima Qian:
There was this kind of niche discussion at the time that the senators urging Biden to.use the Leahy law were all “Jesuit educated” so I thought, well good! If that’s the hook let’s go! His people! But then…nothing.
Kay
@Jeffro:
I don’t think that’s true. There were and are big protests in NYC and despite what Balloon Juice tells me over and over they weren’t all white people.
Starfish (she/her)
@Gretchen: Trump put pressure on the Israeli side. – Pod Bro
Kay
@Jeffro:
But you see how one could watch Biden refuse to enforce any limits on Israel and then NOT believe when Democrats tell them he will after Gaza is leveled ? He wouldn’t do anything when we were supplying them with 70000 tons of bombs to drop on 2 million trapped civilians but he’s suddenly going to stop them building settlements on the now ethnically cleansed Gaza?
It doesn’t make any sense.
YY_Sima Qian
@Kay: & now I am seeing MSM reporting that the ceasefire deal was only possible w/ the Biden & Trump teams working “hand in glove”, which makes me nauseous just typing that.
I don’t see how a deal on similar terms could not have been reached 9 months ago. You know what impression the most people who are not Dem or Biden partisans, especially those not of the US, will come away w/? Biden needed Trump’s help to end the war, which serve to normalize Trump & his coterie further.
Considering the motley crew of carnival barkers & circus freaks that make up all of Trump’s nominated FP team, color me extremely skeptical that the Trump people made any constructive contribution, except possibly surprising Bibi that Trump would not give him carte blanche, after all.
Nukular Biskits
@Gretchen:
This
Geminid
@Gretchen: I’m not disputing your comment as a whole, but– there have been only 5 parties to the negotiations that began in Paris last February and finally produced the ceasefire announced yesterday.
That would be Qatar, Egypt, and the US as mediators as well as Israel and Hamas, the belligerents. Qatar has acted in a dual role, as mediator and as Hamas’s attorney )so to speak).
Quinerly
@MomSense:
Dead thread. And not I’m not sticking around.
Of interest.
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/kamala-harris-gaza-israel-biden-election-poll
https://www.propublica.org/article/biden-blinken-state-department-israel-gaza-human-rights-horrors
Jeffro
@Kay: Kay, I have to be honest: I usually agree with you about Biden and Gaza, but I can’t really make sense of what you’re saying here.
What I’m saying is, a) there was a lot of well-earned criticism of Biden’s policies, and b) despite that…trumpov & Kushner & Co are going to be far worse.
Kay
Here’s the Pro publica article.
https://www.propublica.org/article/biden-blinken-state-department-israel-gaza-human-rights-horrors
There will be more. Foreign humanitarian orgs and press haven’t even gotten into Gaza. The civilian death toll is expected to double when they do. When. Not if. The United States can stamp our feet and have a tantrum and insist no one look at what happened there but we don’t (yet) run the entire world and there is a whole phalanx of international war crimes experts and scholars and they WILL speak. Quite a few of the most prestigious of them are Israeli and have been screaming into a void for the last year.
Nukular Biskits
@Kay:
I too think Biden’s Admin could have done more WRT Gaza/Israel, although I’m not privy to all the complicating natsec or other foreign policy concerns.
The bottom line here (and, if I may be so bold, the point of many others here) is that the decision on the part of a LOT of Americans, particularly those on the far left and younger ones, to NOT vote for Harris because of this issue (i.e.; “Why didn’t Biden just use his magic wand or his Green Lantern ring??????) was an intentional choice to support Trump, no matter how painful that reality may be.
Sorry, but not sorry, those who stood out the election when the choice was clear are not the purity ponies they claim to be and they are at least partly responsible for giving us Trump Two.
Single-issue (non)voters are, IMHO, stupid voters.
AM in NC
@Kay: I have a 2018 Accord Hybrid, and I have loved it. It was $30k, IIRC.
Professor Bigfoot
@Manyakitty: That was me, and it’s among my addictions: chocolate and coffee.
So I do dark roast coffee leavened with “Snickers” chocolate creamer and they make me happy. ;)
Kay
@Jeffro:
Telling voters Joe Biden did nothing while US supplied weapons leveled Gaza BUT he will leap into action to defend Palestinians against the building of Israeli resorts doesn’t make any sense.
No, he wouldnt. He didn’t do anything when they killed 55,000 civilians, one third children. He’d do the same thing he did when we leveled the place – issue ineffective warnings with no consequences. We all watched him issue a “red line” on bombing heavily populated areas in Gaza. I think Israel violated it the day after it was issued. In fact, they upper the ante. That’s when they started refusing to.let aid in.
tam1MI
They will be pointed at and laughed at, and they will deserve it.
MomSense
@Baud:
Really? That counts as an insult here now? I’m just responding to the attitudes expressed every time we talk about how we might expand our voters or bring voters back in. Hell it is all over this thread in the responses.
You have said and many others here have said that you are pretty much done with electoral politics, that it’s over, nothing can be done, etc. That is fine. I don’t begrudge that at all. Maybe there could be space not to be negative when people are trying to figure out what to do about this problem.
Professor Bigfoot
@MomSense: Or they’re in defense of white male Christian supremacy as a central organizing principle, as it appears they are.
Professor Bigfoot
@Manyakitty: “The Dough Company,” on Hills & Dales in Canton. I understand their first shop was in New Philly or someplace down in dedicated Trump country, but these are the best donuts I’ve had in a LONG time. Light, fluffy, with the most subtle crunch on the outside… and dammit, it’s too late to go get some now.
CURSE this weather!! lmao
Manyakitty
@Professor Bigfoot: I will be in that area on Saturday. Might need to swing by and check it out.
Kay
@AM in NC:
A hybrid makes more sense for me – cold weather and I drive long distances. I’m tempted. My youngest graduates college this year and I could give him my car as an excuse to buy a hybrid :)
We got him a used truck that I got on a great deal on Gov.buy but we could take that back. He’s moving to Milwaukee after graduation. He doesn’t need a truck.
Professor Bigfoot
@MomSense: “a lot” is doing a lot of work here.
The vast majority of young Black people understood that Trump was dangerous to THEM.
No, not “a lot,” and don’t lie to yourself that Black people supported that motherfucking bulllshit.
Professor Bigfoot
@Manyakitty: I grew up, literally, a short walk from a Krispy Kreme (Thomson Lane, near Nolensville Road in Nashville) and I learned that when you get them straight from the fryer, they are AWESOME. AMAZING. INCREDIBLE.
But once they cool off they’re just donuts.
Manyakitty
@Professor Bigfoot: and not the best ones, either. Not that I turn one down, but still.
Professor Bigfoot
@Kay: NO, that’s not the reason I can’t stand them– it’s because they had the unmitigated audacity to tell Black people to vote against our own best interests for some people on the other side of the fucking world.
THAT is the attitude of most Black folks about the “pro-Palestinians.”
Fuck ’em. Let Trump do what he fucking wants with ’em.
Bill Arnold
@Baud:
The three richest persons (all white males) on the planet[1] will be on the platform at the Mr. Trump’s 2nd-term inauguration.
THE WORLD’S REAL-TIME BILLIONAIRES (Forbes)
[1] Off the books, V. Putin may be richer. He’ll have a presence.
tam1MI
::Stands up, wildly applauds::
Quinerly
@Kay:
Also, see my first link at #173.
Professor Bigfoot
@Nukular Biskits: I am not so kind as you.
I see it as white people using Gaza as an excuse to attack Democrats for the same reason white people ALWAYS hate and attack Democrats.
Gaza just gave them an excuse, that’s all. They weren’t gonna support Harris in any case.
Starfish (she/her)
@Professor Bigfoot: Many of the pro-Gaza folks I saw were Americans, and they were not white.
Nukular Biskits
@Professor Bigfoot:
Quickly as I’m about to head out the door for another 12-14 hr day:
My focus with that post was solely about those refusing to support Harris because of Biden Admin’s perceived (and, there is some merit to the claim, IMHO) lack of support for Palestinians in Gaza and the unquestioning “resolve” for Israel.
I submit that, for those purity ponies, racism wasn’t the motivating factor to not support Harris but their non-vote was “principled” non-support (note the quotes there). IOW, cutting one’s nose off to spite faces, etc.
That’s not to take away from your position most non-support for Harris (particularly those who voted for Trump) was motivated by bigotry in various forms, including misogyny and racism. On that, we agree.
Oh, and fucking egg prices too. //
Baud
@MomSense:
Yes. 100% an insult to accuse someone of not wanting to defeat Republicans. But maybe I think Republicans are a worse people than you do.
Kay
This is just an example of the inexplicable behavior of Biden and his team. Israel bombed a hospital. They’ve bombed lots and lots of hospitals but this was one of the first that was extensively documented. Biden came out and denied it, after his own State Department had prepared a report documenting it. It absolutely enraged pro Palestinian activists both in the US and worldwide because it was an insane LIE. Biden then met with US Muslim leaders to apologize, for the lying or the bombing of the hospital(s)- a war crime- they knew not which. That’s when he lost them for good – in early 2024. They didn’t believe a word he said after that. And I don’t blame them.
tam1MI
What I hear when such calls are made is, “throw Black voters and Jewish voters (the only two demographics who stood strong for Dems in the last election) under the bus to now and truckle to the spoiled, coddled, privileged little shits who deliberately threw the election to Fascism”.
Not.
Gonna.
Happen.
Kay
I think if Biden had come out publicly and said “I misspoke, people in my State Department gave me bad information, in fact that bombed hospital with the dead people with IVs still in their arms existed and mattered” they might have come around. But he met them privately and disavowed his own public position, like he was ashamed of them, couldn’t be seen with them.
Kay
Here’s what really scares me. I don’t think Americans have the stuff to actually fight this. This is a country that whined incessantly over wearing masks in the midst of a million of their fellow citizens dying of a contagious disease. This is a country that eager!y elected a lying conman because the made them outlandish promises – the promises one would make to a 6 year old. I watch tough, resilient people fighting authoritarians in other countries and I just don’t see that we possess the kind of se!f sacrifice and deprivation that entails.
Miss Bianca
I’ve been reading up about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict lately, having become interested in it when the first intifadas of the 1980s started going strong, and the short, bleak answer I’ve come up with is that NOBODY, really, for the past *100 years* has *ever* given enough of a shit about the Palestinians to do anything substantive about their plight. So, did the Biden Administration do enough for Gaza this time round? Sadly, no. Will the Trump Administration do *anything* for Gaza? No. Will the rest of the world? Magic 8-ball says, based on history, “unlikely.”
So, pro-Palestinian protestors who didn’t vote for Harris because of Biden Administration policy on Gaza? Congratulations, and thanks for nothing.
Bostondreams
@vigilhorn: yeah, they have been consistently anti Musk for years.
Geminid
@Miss Bianca: Getting away from the politics of the war in the U.S. for a moment, Gregg Carlstrom of The Economist had this to say after the ceasefire announcement:
There’s reporting now that last minute wrangles over which prisoners Israel will release have been resolved by negotiators in Doha. The next hurdle is in Jerusalem, where Israel’s Cabinet will vote to ratify the agreement, probably tonight. It’s expected to approve the deal but this is not a certainty.
It’s not clear when exactly the ceasefire will take effect, but Qatar’s Prime Minister said the first hostage/prisoner exchange will be this Sunday.
Geminid
@Geminid: Reports now are that Israel’s Cabinet will meet to ratify the ceasefire agreement on Friday.
Another Scott
@Kay: Made me look.
Congress.gov for Amendment #1389. 18 co-sponsors (all Democrats + Bernie).
There was no action taken on the amendment, apparently.
Which, I guess, isn’t surprising when they were trying to get the supplemental done as quickly as possible. But maybe it says that Schumer and others in the Senate, beyond the 18, were making the cold calculation that forcing Biden’s hand would not achieve the desired results.
FWIW.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Barry
@lowtechcyclist: (about DOGE people working for free)
‘And how many of them are going to say, “sure, that would be a worthwhile way to spend a few months”?’
It could give you a nice voice in what projects need to have their funding stolen.
Citizen Alan
@Another Scott: I am absolutely convinced that if Biden had done what all his leftist detractors had insisted re: Gaza and enacted harsh sanctions on Israel, Hamas (at Putin’s urging) would have staged some kind of devastating attack and Netanyahu (who wants the war to continue for the rest of his life, I think) would have allowed it to happen. And the MSM and Congress would have gone nuclear against Biden for “betraying Israel in favor of terrorists.”
Has everyone forgotten how Sarah Palin continually accused Obama of being a terrorist sympathizer (and got echoed in the media) because he once served on some charitable board with a guy who was in the Weather Underground nearly 40 years earlier?