Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Some Stories Do Have Happy Endings
Good for them.
TALLAHASSEE — Some of the 49 migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration are now able to work legally in the United States and have temporary protections from deportation because they are considered victims of a potential crime, their attorney says.
The migrants are eligible for protection because they applied for a special kind of visa meant for crime victims who are helping law enforcement investigate suspected criminal activity. They applied for what are known as U visas last year after they said they had been tricked into taking charter flights from San Antonio, Texas to the Massachusetts island with false promises of jobs and other aid, said Rachel Self, an attorney for the migrants.
The migrant flight program was designed to remove “unauthorized aliens” from Florida. But critics, including immigration advocacy groups, have pointed out that the migrants had legal status in the United States as asylum seekers and that they were found in Texas, not Florida.
The Pig People Can't Possibly Be Correct
I probably return to the Iraq war as a reference point a bit too much, but in my defense the same fucking people who promoted that now/still control most of the microphones.
The brief genre of "Iraq war mea culpa" was telling because, for the most part, they were thumbsucking exercises expressing, "How could I, a Harvard grad with a big brain, have been wrong, and those pig people, the protesters, have been right? Here are 27,000 words about why they are, AKSHUALLY, the stupid ones, and I will learn nothing from this."
For years I regularly asked why "we" were still in Iraq. There were several reasons, of course, but a big one was that no one influential was capable of admitting that the pig people were correct. The next 6 months are critical, and those hippies will be proved fucking wrong at least!
There really is no limit to the number of deaths some of these people will endorse in order to prove the fucking hippies wrong. I know that sounds ridiculous, and it is, but you have read their columns. I'm not far off here!
So many articles were written after the war started about how those stupid fucking hippies - the antiwar movement - were wrong and shameful and stupid and ridiculous and borderline treasonous and juvenile and naive and blah blah blah.
The brief genre of "Iraq war mea culpa" was telling because, for the most part, they were thumbsucking exercises expressing, "How could I, a Harvard grad with a big brain, have been wrong, and those pig people, the protesters, have been right? Here are 27,000 words about why they are, AKSHUALLY, the stupid ones, and I will learn nothing from this."
For years I regularly asked why "we" were still in Iraq. There were several reasons, of course, but a big one was that no one influential was capable of admitting that the pig people were correct. The next 6 months are critical, and those hippies will be proved fucking wrong at least!
There really is no limit to the number of deaths some of these people will endorse in order to prove the fucking hippies wrong. I know that sounds ridiculous, and it is, but you have read their columns. I'm not far off here!
So many articles were written after the war started about how those stupid fucking hippies - the antiwar movement - were wrong and shameful and stupid and ridiculous and borderline treasonous and juvenile and naive and blah blah blah.
George Packer, editor of "The Fight is for Democracy," a collection of essays about America and its role in the world after Sept. 11, would like to see progressives put pressure on the administration to do more for the people of Iraq, rather than less. But Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, says, "I see little evidence of any such liberal alternative that is serious and constructive for the people of Iraq, unfortunately." Liberals who care about the welfare of Iraqis, he says, must "start to distinguish between their dislike of Bush and their recognition that the mission must succeed. That would be a big start, and the crucial one.""Hatred of Bush and the opportunism of Democratic politicians has created a tactical alliance between mainstream Democrats and the fringe," says Packer, who writes about his own six-week trip to Iraq in a forthcoming New Yorker article. "It's disappointing to see both presidential candidates and leading members of Congress really fail to see the importance of what's going on in Iraq right now. You can object to no bid contracts, you can object to cronyism and waste as I do, without undermining the basic understanding that we are committed to this and we have an enormous obligation to the Iraqis. I don't see why you have to choose between disliking Halliburton and supporting the Iraqis in their efforts to create a decent society."
My guy - these "progressives" had no power! Your guys won! What the fuck are they supposed to do - you wont even let them write articles in the New Yorker! You own the microphones! They just write stupid blog posts and put some slogans on signs!
I'm Voting For Mr. Target
Think before putting "a little less evil than the other guys" in easy to process chart form.Something not clear in this already incredible self-own of a chart is that "Target" isn't even "the goal we need to hit to prevent climate catastrophe." Target is just "What Biden pledged to hit back in 2021." It's less aggressive than what the EU or the UK say they're targeting. https://t.co/xULAsZGDBc
— austin walker (@austin_walker) April 22, 2024
Such Competence
I know I've asserted many times that the obsessive focus on elite universities is ridiculous, and it is, but this stuff fits in with my favorite more general theme - elite mendacity and incompetence.
Columbia University, the epicenter of pro-Palestinian protests at US college campuses in recent days, says all classes at its main campus will be hybrid — technology permitting — until the spring semester ends.It's the behavior of the people in charge that matters, not that of the students. It's the latter that other powerful people (New York Times editors and pundits) obsess about, because they are mad at their own children for hating them.
“Safety is our highest priority as we strive to support our students’ learning and all the required academic operations,” the university said in an announcement Monday night.
Somebody's Rich Daddy Threatened To Sue
Can't swing the bat too hard at these universities or you might take out somebody who matters.
University administrators, just the top talent.“My email regarding the protest at Grove and Prospect was mistaken and I apologize for the suggestion that the protesters might turn violent,” Lewis wrote to the News in the late afternoon. “I was repeating speculation I had overheard and I should not have done so.”
— Yale Daily News (@yaledailynews) April 22, 2024
Monday, April 22, 2024
Everyone Is Either Churchill or Chamberlain
You don't have to think much of Churchill (you probably shouldn't) to get that agreeing to put a budget up to vote does not merit any comparison with being the WWII wartime PM of the UK.
Shunning
It is Good, Akshually to shun people who are bigots, who believe in a hierarchy of people that rejects the humanity of most people. And good to shun those who don't see the need for this.
Yes you probably have to be civil to your asshole brother-in-law. That isn't what I'm talking about.
Covers a lot of our prominent journalists and Thinkfluencers, who are bigots themselves or find no problem tolerating it (in fact, consider the intolerance of bigots more troubling than the bigots).
Oh No Elmo
He's desperately trying to loot Tesla before it implodes, and it's pretty likely he'll succeed.
Also, this is genius business brain.
But even by Tesla standards, this year has been unruly. Its stock has slid more than 40% amid slumping sales, confusing product decisions and more price cuts. Its once-dominant position in China’s EV market is under assault. A visit with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an anticipated investment announcement was called off at the last minute. All the while, the board has tried to revive a $56 billion payout to Musk that a judge voided in January, on the grounds that directors had acted as “supine servants” to the CEO.Even a pretty negative article about Tesla has this:
On Tuesday, Tesla is expected to report a 40% plunge in operating profit and its first revenue decline in four years. Musk has ordered up the company’s biggest layoffs ever and staked its future on a next-generation, self-driving vehicle concept called the robotaxi. People familiar with his directives, who asked not to be identified discussing internal deliberations, are unsettled by the changes the CEO wants to push through.
The idea of creating an autonomous taxi service has been kicking around Tesla for at least eight years, but the company has yet to stand up much of the infrastructure it would need, nor has it secured regulatory approval to test such cars on public roads. For the moment, Musk has put off plans for a $25,000, mass-market vehicle that many Tesla investors — and some insiders — are pushing for and believe is crucial to the carmaker’s future.Ah, yes, that idea has just been "kicking around."
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the company should have robotaxis on the roads in 2020.And (2019):
Elon Musk has made quite an important claim about Tesla vehicles today; the CEO said that Tesla’s vehicles are now ‘appreciating assets’ due to their self-driving capability.One more grand stock pump before it falls apart, though I've thought that before!
Also, this is genius business brain.
The actual number of people ushered out may exceed 20,000, according to people familiar with the company’s planning. Musk’s reasoning, according to one person with direct knowledge of his edicts, was that Tesla should reduce headcount by 20% because its vehicle deliveries dropped by that amount from the fourth quarter to the first quarter.I think this is claiming it's "learning" now instead of just reacting, which is what Tesla fanboys believed for years.
Cameras placed around the company’s cars are taking in video and using this footage to dictate how the vehicle drives, instead of relying on software code. Ashok Elluswamy, a director of Tesla’s Autopilot program, wrote on X last month that this should lead to “unprecedented progress.”
Sunday, April 21, 2024
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