2024-10-27
Musk is an illegal human, teens want less TV sex, Linux sanctions, Russian propaganda, lady doesn't sing for Kamala, "neutral" == Trumpist, Trumpist == fascist, we're more vulnerable to heat now
Horseshit
celebrity gossip
-
Watchmen Author Alan Moore on Superheroes, Comicsgate and Trump
Elections that decide the fate of millions are conducted in an atmosphere more suited to evictions on I’m a Celebrity …, in which contestants who are insufficiently amusing are removed from office. Saleability, not substance, is the issue. Those who vote for Donald Trump or Boris Johnson seem less moved by policy or prior accomplishment than by how much they’ve enjoyed the performances on The Apprentice or Have I Got News for You.
-
Alex Jones fighting attempt to sell his personal social media accounts
Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering
Musk
-
Tesla headquarters spills gallons of lime-green liquid into Bay Area street
-
Elon Musk's talks with Putin ramped up during his Twitter takeover
-
NASA chief calls for probe into report that Musk and Putin have spoken regularly
-
Elon Musk, enemy of ‘open borders,’ launched his career working illegally - The Washington Post
Long before he became one of Donald Trump’s biggest donors and campaign surrogates, South African-born Elon Musk worked illegally in the United States as he launched his entrepreneurial career after ditching a graduate studies program in California, according to former business associates, court records and company documents obtained by The Washington Post.
Musk has not publicly disclosed is that he did not have the legal right to work while building the company that became Zip2, which sold for about $300 million in 1999. It was Musk’s steppingstone to Tesla and the other ventures that have made him the world’s wealthiest person — and arguably America’s most successful immigrant. Musk and his brother, Kimbal, have often described their immigrant journey in romantic terms, as a time of personal austerity, undeterred ambition and a willingness to flout conventions. Musk arrived in Palo Alto in 1995 for a graduate degree program at Stanford University but never enrolled in courses, working instead on his start-up. Leaving school left Musk without a legal basis to remain in the United States, according to legal experts.
-
Musk's X to undershoot revenue goals from political advertising
Electric / Self Driving cars
Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising
-
Jury awards Apple $250 in design patent lawsuit against Masimo
-
(Oct 13) jwz: Mosaic Netscape 0.9 was released 30 years ago today
-
The Fediverse is getting its own TikTok competitor called Loops
-
Feds: You Don't Have a Right to Check Out Retro Video Games Like Library Books
-
'Oregon Trail' Action-Comedy Movie in Development at Apple's Studios
-
Teens Want Less Sex in Movies and TV Shows, Study Finds
the report surveyed roughly 1,500 respondents, aged 10 to 24. Researchers found that 63.5% of adolescents said they preferred that big and small screen stories focus on friendships, while 62.4% said sexual content isn’t needed as a plot device. Those are big jumps from the previous year when 51.5% of those surveyed said they wanted more content about people in platonic relationships, and 47.5% said that they didn’t seek out shows or movies where sex was a major plot point.
TechSuck / Geek Bait
AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World
Economicon / Business / Finance
Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making
-
Joint ODNI, FBI, and CISA Statement | CISA
“The IC assesses that Russian actors manufactured and amplified a recent video that falsely depicted an individual ripping up ballots in Pennsylvania, judging from information available to the IC and prior activities of other Russian influence actors, including videos and other disinformation activities. Local election officials have already debunked the video’s content.
-
the Naval Academy canceled the lecture claiming it wanted to avoid even appearing to violate federal law. This came after the urging of Congressman Keith Self (R-TX), who wrote to the Academy’s superintendent, Admiral Yvette M. Davids, saying the invitation was “a serious lapse in judgment” and that allowing her to speak, especially within weeks of the presidential election, would violate a Department of Defense directive that prohibits the military from engaging in partisan political activity. A group of sixteen Republican members subsequently wrote to Superintendent Davids, similarly labeling Ben-Ghiat a “partisan historian” and lauding the event’s cancellation. They also posed a series of questions to Academy leadership about internal academic processes, including how Ben-Ghiat came to be selected for the lecture, and how the institution defines “academic freedom.” Ben-Ghiat has stated that she did not intend to discuss Trump or contemporary America during the lecture, noting that the event was to be strictly nonpartisan.
-
Warren Buffett Chooses Whom to Endorse in the 2024 Election
His company put a statement on Berkshire Hathaway's website, saying, “In light of the increased usage of social media, there have been numerous fraudulent claims regarding Mr. Buffett's endorsement of investment products as well as his endorsement and support of political candidates.” It continues, “Mr. Buffett does not currently and will not prospectively endorse investment products or endorse and support political candidates.”
-
Swing-state county reports thousands of suspected fraudulent voter registration forms.
-
Chinese Hackers Targeted Phones of Trump, Vance, and Harris Campaign
-
(Oct 21) Dr. Paul Requests Information on DHS & CISA’s Participation at Election Day Cybersecurity Conference
-
Opinion | The F.T.C.’s Lina Khan Took On Big Tech. Now Her Job Is on the Line. - The New York Times
I believe the attacks on Ms. Khan and the F.T.C. are an effort to protect the few very large technology companies that dominate markets. Venture capitalists must find ways to cash out on their investments, and in a world where four out of five of those cashouts involve selling startups to bigger firms, Big Tech is now venture capital’s biggest customer. The game might be rigged, but it’s the only game in town. American capitalism is at its best when firms compete and incumbents feel pressure from below. As markets concentrate, newly entrenched monopolies start exercising their power to foreclose challenges. They lock up talent, hoard patents and engage in predatory pricing. Entrepreneurs face more and more hurdles. Consumers and the economy suffer.
-
2 million people with felonies have the right to vote but might not know
Harris / Democrats
-
Owner of the Los Angeles Times Blocked the Paper from Endorsing Kamala Harris
-
Kamala Harris is the worst candidate for president in American history
-
Beyoncé endorses Kamala Harris in joyful speech at Houston rally | AP News
At the end, Beyoncé, who was joined onstage by her Destiny’s Child bandmate Kelly Rowland, introduced Harris. “Ladies and gentlemen, please give a big, loud, Texas welcome to the next president of the United States, Vice President Kamala Harris,” she said. She did not perform — unlike in 2016, when she performed at a presidential campaign rally for Hilary Clinton in Cleveland.
-
Beyoncé Didn’t Perform At The Kamala Harris Rally, But Her Speech Gave Me Chills
-
Beyoncé endorses Harris for president at Houston rally: "It's time to sing a new song" - CBS News
"I'm not here as a celebrity, I'm not here as a politician. I'm here as a mother," Beyoncé said. "A mother who cares deeply about the world my children and all of our children live in, a world where we have the freedom to control our bodies, a world where we're not divided."
-
Trump / Right / Jan6
-
LA Times, MSNBC, WaPo staff fear execs made editorial decisions to appease Trump
-
How a Pro-Trump Army Built a Movement to Reject Elections - The New York Times
The Washoe County case, with an official voting essentially to block her own election, is the most vivid example of an effort that has been unfolding across the country in the years since the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Now, as voters and campaign professionals prepare for what promises to be a hard-fought election match, a smaller group of lawyers and longtime MAGA supporters is preparing the ground for an even harder-fought post-election rematch. And as they did in 2020, they are preparing to battle on the grounds of certification.
For them, going so far as to block certification wasn’t a partisan gambit; it was a patriotic duty. Though it might technically be illegal, it obeyed a higher law. Over months of reporting, this is what I heard again and again. For all the cynicism involved in the effort to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss, and the groundwork being laid to challenge a possible defeat this year, many officials I spoke to were clearly motivated by a deeply held belief that a grand conspiracy was underway. In the face of that, how could they agree to certify?
-
1933 and the Definition of Fascism
I am not asking if the Republican Party is fascist (I think, broadly speaking, it isn’t) and certainly not if you are fascist (I certainly hope not). But I want to employ the concept of fascism as an ideology with more precision than its normal use (‘thing I don’t like’) and in that context ask if Donald Trump fits the definition of a fascist based on his own statements and if so, what does that mean. And I want to do it in a long-form context where we can get beyond slogans or tweet-length arguments and into some detail.
What I want to note here are two key commonalities: First, fascists were only able to take power because of the gullibility of those who thought they could ‘use’ the fascists against some other enemy (usually communists). Traditional conservative politicians (your Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham types) and conservative business leaders (your Elon Musks) fooled themselves into believing that, because the would-be tyrant seemed foolish, buffoonish, and uneducated that such an individual could be controlled to their ends, shaped in more productive, more ‘moderate,’ more ‘business friendly’ directions.
Is Donald Trump a fascist? By his own words, yes. Donald Trump is telling you that Donald Trump is a fascist and on this point – and almost no other – I think you should believe Donald Trump. I feel I should note, if you had asked in me in 2016, if Donald Trump was a fascist, I’d have said no. I’d have said no in October of 2020 too; authoritarian tendencies, perhaps, but not a fascist. Donald Trump’s rhetoric has changed, however, in a way that puts him firmly in this category, satisfying not just parts of the definition but every part of it. He has become a fascist and when he tells us that about himself – we should believe him.
Is Trumpism a form of Fascism? (Discussion of Eco's definition) Fourteen out of fourteen; some are clearer and stronger fits than others, but every element is present to a significant degree. Keep in mind, this is the sort of taxonomy where a regime which, say, satisfied 10 or 12 out of the 14 would still be generally regarded as fascist and the ideology we might call ‘Trumpism’ fits all fourteen.
As President, Trump could do – as he has promised – and pardon the January 6 insurrectionists, putting his violent street-soldiers back on the streets. He could turn the Department of Justice, staffed with his pre-vetted brownshirts, against ‘opposition’ media – as he has threatened – while favoring platform whose owners support him politically. He could turn a blind eye while his loyalists (who he has promised to pardon) use violence to intimidate his political rivals, while his government sets up massive detention camps for illegal immigrants – and maybe ‘accidentally-on-purpose’ groups that favor his political opponents.
There is an irony that in “Ur-Fascism,” Umberto Eco cautions, “It would be so much easier, for us, if there appeared on the world scene somebody saying, ‘I want to reopen Auschwitz, I want the Black Shirts to parade again in the Italian squares.’ Life is not that simple.” But in practice, Trumpism is that simple, if we have eyes to see and ears to hear. But I know it’s hard to hear; one doesn’t want to believe it.
Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security
Israel
Russia Bad / Ukraine War
Health / Medicine
Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda
-
'Vegetarian' salmon might lead the way to better health for humans and fish
-
Original bramley Apple tree being neglected, say campaigners
-
Collapse of key Atlantic current could have catastrophic impacts
-
UN report says planet to warm by 3.1 C without greater action
-
Five nature wins that have worked to reverse biodiversity loss
-
Is climate change lighting a fuse under Iceland's volcanoes?
-
Open Letter by Climate Scientists to the Nordic Council of Ministers
-
Climate Goal "Will Be Dead Within a Few Years" Unless World Acts
-
Why Heat Waves of the Future May Be Even Deadlier Than Believed - The New York Times
Last month was the second-hottest September ever recorded; it came after the world’s warmest summer ever, in a year that is on track to be the most searing in recorded history. There’s only so much the human body can take. Heat killed 60,000 people in Europe alone in 2022, and at least 55,000 people in Russia in 2010. Now, growing research suggests that humans may be more vulnerable to rising temperatures than scientists had previously believed.
- as if centuries of human existence before air conditioning, in worse climates, did not count.
-
In the US, regenerative farming practices require unlearning past advice
-
Walmart, the largest US retailer, accused of endangering Californians for years