While Musk posts sometimes dozens of times a day on X about right-wing politics or his companies, among other things on his mind, he often interacts with lesser-known users. He replies to them and sometimes interacts through direct messages, some of whom he eventually solicits to have his babies, according to people who have viewed the messages.I'm sure he's reading all of their DMs, too, and I don't mean the ones he sends to them.
Wednesday, April 16, 2025
Ladies, Is Elon Sliding Into Your DMs?
Amazing guy.
Crimeing
This is a federal crime and a crime in (I believe) every state for obvious reasons.
A good example of how laws and regulations exist, in part, to provide trust in what would otherwise be an untrustworthy market. You'll destroy the used car market - and dealer tradeins - if everyone can pay their mechanic a hundred bucks to roll off 20K from their odometer.
However, Tesla allegedly ”knowingly overstates the distances traveled in Tesla vehicles” by manipulating odometers, allowing the company to dodge repair responsibilities tied to warranties. ... “Tesla Inc. employs an odometer system that utilizes predictive algorithms, energy consumption metrics, and driver behavior multipliers that manipulate and misrepresent the actual mileage travelled by Tesla vehicles,” reads the lawsuit. “In so doing, Defendants can, and do, accelerate the rate of depreciation of the value of Tesla vehicles and also the expiration of Tesla vehicle warranties to reduce or avoid responsibility for contractually required repairs as well as increase the purchase of its extended warranty policy.”This is adding, not subtracting, for an entirely different fraudulent reason, but the laws are about modifying, not just subtraction. California law:
28050. It is unlawful for any person to advertise for sale, to sell, to use, or to install on any part of a motor vehicle or on an odometer in a motor vehicle any device which causes the odometer to register any mileage other than the true mileage driven. For the purposes of this section the true mileage driven is that mileage driven by the car as registered by the odometer within the manufacturer's designed tolerance.
28050.5. It is unlawful for any person with the intent to defraud to operate a motor vehicle on any street or highway knowing that the odometer of such vehicle is disconnected or nonfunctional.
28051. It is unlawful for any person to disconnect, turn back, advance, or reset the odometer of any motor vehicle with the intent to alter the number of miles indicated on the odometer gauge.
Tuesday, April 15, 2025
CALL ME PLEASE
Humiliating stuff.
President Donald Trump called on China to reach out to him in order to kick off negotiations aimed at resolving the escalating trade fight between the world’s two largest economies.(paywalled, everything is)
“The ball is in China’s court. China needs to make a deal with us. We don’t have to make a deal with them,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday, reading what she said was a statement Trump dictated.
Brit Hume - Welcome To The Resistance
No golden age, no good conservatives, but the old guard like Brit here could occasionally be inspired to deviate from the bullshit.
(the title is a joke, of course)
This Is The Way
"I think it's only a matter of time before [a state attorney general] figures out how to file state kidnapping charges against those that are abducting people who are in the country legally..." says former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley.
— MaddowBlog (@maddowblog.msnbc.com) April 15, 2025 at 3:47 AM
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Sounds Bad
If only there were a "DOJ" and an "FBI."
But according to an official whistleblower disclosure shared with Congress and other federal overseers that was obtained by NPR, subsequent interviews with the whistleblower and records of internal communications, technical staff members were alarmed about what DOGE engineers did when they were granted access, particularly when those staffers noticed a spike in data leaving the agency. It's possible that the data included sensitive information on unions, ongoing legal cases and corporate secrets — data that four labor law experts tell NPR should almost never leave the NLRB and that has nothing to do with making the government more efficient or cutting spending.Extra bad, even:
The new revelations about DOGE's activities at the labor agency come from a whistleblower in the IT department of the NLRB, who disclosed his concerns to Congress and the U.S. Office of Special Counsel in a detailed report that was then provided to NPR. Meanwhile, his attempts to raise concerns internally within the NLRB preceded someone "physically taping a threatening note" to his door that included sensitive personal information and overhead photos of him walking his dog that appeared to be taken with a drone, according to a cover letter attached to his disclosure filed by his attorney, Andrew Bakaj of the nonprofit Whistleblower Aid.
Even More
Whoopsie.
China has ordered its airlines not to take any further deliveries of Boeing Co. jets as part of the tit-for-tat trade war that’s seen US President Donald Trump levy tariffs of as high as 145% on Chinese goods, according to people familiar with the matter.It's one thing to start a trade war with one country, even a big one like China, quite another to do it with the whole fucking world simultaneously.
Beijing has also asked that Chinese carriers halt any purchases of aircraft-related equipment and parts from US companies, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing matters that are private.
Here We Go
I can't (I'm not sure anyone can) predict how this impacts everything once the intermediate goods in the supply chain start disappearing, especially, but...
Five Below, the 1,500-store chain based in Center City that grew rapidly by selling cheap sunglasses, LED watches, and many other brightly colored Chinese-made items, has paused its Chinese imports, citing the rapid rise in U.S. tariffs that have more than doubled costs on new inventory.People can live without cheap sunglasses, but it isn't just going to be cheap sunglasses.
“In order to ensure maximum flexibility, we proactively paused orders from China, given the escalation in the tariffs, as we evaluate all options” to find “trend-right products” at attractive prices, Five Below said in a statement.
Boycott Columbia
One exists in society and can't boycott every bad actor, but I am pleading with every academic and adjacent to cut any and all ties, present and future, with that rotten institution.
President Claire Shipman of Columbia University just sent out an email advertising an "International Student Relief Hardship Fund". When you click on the link for "Special Student Relief", you're taken to the ICE website to report people. Sent this after a student was detained.
— Layla 🪬 (@itslaylas) April 15, 2025
Screen recording for proof. This is Columbia's "resources for international students", linking to the ICE website to report people. Columbia University is not safe for international students. pic.twitter.com/2RUGCH66Q2
— Layla 🪬 (@itslaylas) April 15, 2025
Monday, April 14, 2025
The Rich Tech Bro Dilemma
Their dream is of a post-scarcity society in which AI and robots do everything, which they will achieve by inventing God, but also they want human slaves.
Star Trek, but it's on one of those sex planets.
Well I'm Sure The Other News Outlets Will Continue Their Existing Show Of Solidarity
Good job, Schumer:
Though he hasn't said anything about today's events, either.
No I don't think Schumer has the power to fix everything, but constantly moving the lines doesn't help!
Despite a court order, a reporter and photographer from The Associated Press were barred from an Oval Office news conference on Monday with President Donald Trump and his counterpart from El Salvador, Nayib Bukele.Schumer's "red line" for a constitutional crisis was ignoring the SUPREME COURT, you see.
Though he hasn't said anything about today's events, either.
No I don't think Schumer has the power to fix everything, but constantly moving the lines doesn't help!
Seems Bad
I wonder if it will get any coverage.
Holy shit. Video posted by President Bukele’s team on X shows the moments before his press conference with Trump in which Trump tells him: “We want to do homegrown criminals next. You gotta build about five more places.” (h/t @titonka.bsky.social @michelekelemen.bsky.social)
— Marisa Kabas (@marisakabas.bsky.social) April 14, 2025 at 5:50 PM
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The Abundance/Techbro Merger
Andrew Cuomo Used ChatGPT For His Housing Plan
The Democratic mayoral frontrunner's "Addressing New York's Housing Crisis" features garbled text and a citation from ChatGPT.
Unclear
Charitable explanation: really busy with Candy Crush.
It’s unclear how State Police, who have a 24/7 detail assigned to Shapiro and additional security at the governor’s residence, allowed Balmer to enter the property, start a fire, then break into the building and start two more fires before fleeing on foot without apprehension.
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