Pre-Trump, I had a paid online subscription to Guardian for a time, because it was so well written and informative.
After 2016, however, they seemed to adopt a firm anti-MAGA stance which I found to be biased and off-putting. Their highly critical stance against Israel after the Hamas attacks of October 2023 was the last straw.
Then, they withdrew from the X platform and now they might as well not exist, as far as I'm concerned. I think that was a mistake, given their significant following on X, but I guess they felt they don't need it.
Electric cars do have an effect on urban air pollution, though. Chinese cities have really cleaned up the air and become more breathable recently, for example. You used to have black soot coming out your nose; it was awful.
Like many unicorns. During the Dot Com era, when Oracle chief Larry Ellison was briefly thought to be lost at sea on his sailing yacht, Oracle’s stock tanked, then recovered after he was found safe.
Many such bureaus have been established over the years that have extralegal powers existing basically outside the Constitution. I’m thinking of the NLRB, CFPB, FBI, IRS, and several others.
We as a society have a consensus that we need such agencies to manage the hugely complex country that we have become, but that doesn’t necessarily mean these bureaucratic organizations are themselves properly managed.
Years ago, I read about a man who the IRS was trying to levy extensive fines on. After five years of court battles, he committed suicide.
Perhaps this was an extreme case, but there is nonetheless an important question that arises out of this tragedy: does the government exist to serve the people, or do the people exist to serve the government?
I believe our colonial era checks and balances no longer protect us from a bureaucracy that is automatically funded by the Treasury, that the President has limited control over, and that only an act of Congress can change.
In an era when no one political party has enough control to enact legislation (i.e. a filibuster proof majority), the bureaucracy is effectively out of control and the only real way it can be reformed is by uncovering waste and corruption.
Tesla is not just cars. Their large scale solar power storage business is growing, they manufacture batteries, they have the largest charging infrastructure for end users, massive super computing to crunch fsd data, a lithium refinery in Texas starting up this year, and their humanoid robotics division.
Perhaps their stock was overpriced, perhaps not. Long term, there’s tremendous upside and right now it’s arguably a buying opportunity. Musk’s involvement with DoGE will end in a matter of months or maybe a year, and the people keying cars and engaging in political theatrics outside Tesla dealerships will soon move on to the next cause.
A smooth and picture perfect launch, docking, and return to Earth. Congratulations to SpaceX, NASA, the astronauts and all personnel involved.
I’m surprised there isn’t more interest in this topic. Is there another hn thread that is more active? I wonder if people have become jaded by the seemingly routine business of space travel. Yet, it remains a very difficult and dangerous endeavor.
The Chinese are ahead in the mass manufacturing and commoditization of electric vehicle batteries, but there are still some interesting innovations coming out of the U.S. and Europe, as well as Japan and South Korea.
As for Tesla’s recent hiccup, they have a strong product portfolio and are likely to recover before long. It’s happened before.
I’m also a data point for excellent Toyota service from the dealership where we bought our Prius. From the concierge who holds your hand throughout the visit, to the free lunch voucher in their pleasant little cafeteria (sadly, closed after covid), to the couple of years of free oil changes, I actually looked forward to bringing the car in. And they cleaned it as well, a quick interior vacuum at least.