David J. Shourabi Porcel

I would characterize Tesla stock not as a pump & dump scheme anymore, but as a bet on Musk’s position to extract concessions from his political connections. He has got his way already with Trump planning to end EV subsidies that mostly benefited Tesla’s competitors, although Trump intended to do so anyway, and he may yet push against regulation that would threaten Tesla’s market position in the US, like federal charging standards. He may also get Trump to impose harsher tariffs on Chinese electrical vehicles than he otherwise would, although such tariffs enjoy bipartisan support.

As far as I can tell, Biden didn’t control Congress. Senator Manchin, for example, effectively watered down the Build Back Better Act that Biden advocated for — and, to my knowledge, Biden never threatened him or any other Democratic members of Congress who resisted his legislative plans with “political consequences”, as Trump is doing to Republican House representatives in this instance.

In establishing himself as the Republican presidential candidate for the 2024 election, Trump seems to me to have set up a sort of cult of personality within the party such that Republicans either fall in line or out of favor.

To be fair :P, English is not my mother tongue, so I don’t necessarily realize how pedantic some expressions I use come across. Fair enough?

To be fair, fearing for one’s life is understandable in a society where gun ownership, social injustice and mental illness are not only relatively widespread, but correlated, and the chances of being hurt in even simple altercations correspondingly high. The solution, though, is not allowing police to resort to violence routinely, disproportionately and indiscriminately, but to address the root causes of the danger with socioeconomic justice and safeguards, proper universal healthcare and at least some restrictions in gun ownership. Those who either aren’t willing to solve these underlying issues or deny their existence outright often resort to the charge of terrorism as both a convenient deflection and an instrument of suppression and oppression. It is in our interest to push back against such misuse and keep the public discourse centered on the origins of conflict.

If I understand your quotation correctly, unlawful gathering warrants the charge of terrorism only when “intended to […] (a) influence the policies of a unit of government by intimidation or coercion and (b) affect the conduct of a unit of government by murder, assassination or kidnapping”. Then again, (a) and (b) seem redundant and the law and the judiciary might see intimidation or coercion where we do not.

Intelligent analysis I concur with and thank you for. I sometimes wonder what myths our flawed present may pass down to our uncertain future. Who knows? After two millennia, our descendants might think of Trump the way we conceive of Narcissus while they recall the new flood myths we are delivering them.

For anyone else who, like me, didn’t know: Trump once referred to Tim Cook as “Tim Apple”, as described in the Wikipedia article on Tim Cook:

In a meeting for the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board with President Donald Trump in March 2019, Trump referred to Cook as “Tim Apple”.

Presidents and administrations might not be able to dictate specific prices, but they can and do enact laws and regulations that influence or even define the economy. Trump’s proposed tariffs are expected –not just by economists, but by markets, as seen after the election– to raise prices and, if they are enacted and result in the predicted outcome, fingers should be pointed at his Orangeness.

I don’t know what substances were involved in writing that post. Mind sharing, @werefreeatlast? :P

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Easy there — you already filled up your quota with Rupert Murdoch.

Russia benefits from a stronger US dollar insofar as its oil and gas exports are settled in that currency. The more valuable the US dollar is (as measured against the ruble), the more rubles Russia’s exports end up yielding — or the better they compete with other producers in international markets.

To the contrary: the value of the US dollar, as measured against other currencies, has surged in the past weeks amidst Donald Trump’s announcements of tariffs, because markets expect them to bump prices and higher prices, in turn, would could prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates, just as we saw in 2022.

TL;DR: higher tariffs => higher prices => Federal Reaerve raises interest rates => US dollar appreciates

The incoming Trump administration could counter this dynamic by changing the mandate under which the Federal Reserve has been operating for about a century and bringing it under the executive, stripping it of its independence.

The article you linked to is from 2015 and refers to the original Darfur genocide, unless I’m missing something.

Indeed. I don’t understand why so many people and media organizations that pay attention to Gaza don’t cover Sudan too (they may care, but they barely show it). There’s suffering on a similar scale, foreign powers causing and broadening that suffering and global repercussions through migration, disease, weapons smuggling and radicalization.

He stands to gain more through his political influence than he has lost with Twitter, and the latter arguably helped him get the former. By itself, his acquisition of Twitter is and will remain a loss; in the grand scheme of things, though, it was a sort of investment that is likely to pay off handsomely. If he’s learnt anything, it’s that the United States have devolved into a plutocracy that capital can steer off the common interest of their citizens and the common good.

That 6% is the gross of sales, not revenues as well.

I think you mean “that’s 6% of revenue, not profit”. Revenue is gross income before expenses and other tax deductions. Sales is revenue generated by selling products and services, as opposed to interest and investment proceeds. Profit is revenue minus expenses and tax deductions and is where corporations often cheat.

Careful there — he did kinda simulate blowing a microphone at a rally, so don’t put it past him to abuse vehicles — even those that lack a tailpipe. Given his mental acuity, I bet he prefers a good dose of leaded exhaust, though.

The United Kingdom, along with France, ceded Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland to Hitler’s Germany, not Poland; in fact, it was the Nazi regime’s invasion of Poland the following year that prompted France and the United Kingdom to declare war.