Archive for 2024

BOTTOM STORY OF THE DAY: Robert Reich, writing in the Grauniad, is against free speech: Elon Musk is out of control. Here is how to rein him in.

3. Regulators around the world should threaten Musk with arrest if he doesn’t stop disseminating lies and hate on X.

Global regulators may be on the way to doing this, as evidenced by the 24 August arrest in France of Pavel Durov, who founded the online communications tool Telegram, which French authorities have found complicit in hate crimes and disinformation. Like Musk, Durov has styled himself as a free speech absolutist.

Also Robert Reich: “I claim no higher truth than my own perceptions. This is how I lived it.”

OLD AND BUSTED: “The 18 Minute Gap.”

The New Hotness? The gaps in the 18 minutes!

As Kate Hyde tweeted after Harris’ interview, “Forget whether Kamala is for or against banning fracking… I just want to hear [her] explain what fracking is.”

BY LYING. YOU START THE TWEET THIS WAY BY LYING.

ISRAELI-AMERICAN HOSTAGE MURDERED BY HAMAS AS IDF RESCUE TEAM CLOSED IN:

The body of Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin has been found in the tunnels under Rafah. Hamas had abducted the 23-year-old dual citizen on October 7 from the Nova music festival and an IDF rescue operation was closing in on his position when Hamas murdered him along with 5 other hostages.

There are no words to describe the inhumanity of the act. For the six hostages to have survived almost a year in the most unspeakably brutal conditions only to have their captors cruelly murder them when they were on the brink of being rescued demonstrates the heartlessness and cruelty of human beings without conscience, without a spark of human decency.

Goldberg-Polin’s parents had traveled the world, looking to put pressure on Netanyahu to come to an agreement with Hamas and bring the hostages home. The couple gave an emotionally wrenching speech at the Democratic National Convention last week.

“This is a political convention. But needing our only son — and all of the cherished hostages — home is not a political issue. It is a humanitarian issue,” said his father, Jon Polin. His mother, Rachel added very quietly, “Hersh, if you can hear us, we love you, stay strong, survive.”

Joe Biden took a moment away from working on his suntan to make a statement.

“I am devastated and outraged. Hersh was among the innocents brutally attacked while attending a music festival for peace in Israel,” Mr. Biden said. “He lost his arm helping friends and strangers during Hamas’s savage massacre. He had just turned 23.”

“Make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes,” said the president.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said, “He who murders abductees – does not want a deal. We are in a difficult day. The heart of the entire nation was torn.”

John Podhoretz writes, “And I cannot help but ask. I cannot. Had the Biden administration’s will not been bent and twisted in the months following the attack by the fiendish propaganda campaign causing them to worry about the war’s effect on Joe’s chances in Michigan—due to a population that effectively supported the terrorist monsters and cared not a whit for the eight Americans, let alone the 240 other innocents dragged into Hell—would Hersh and these others have survived? Imagine an Israel that had not found itself restrained and under assault, not told to pause, not scolded in pissy little phone calls with petulant American establishmentarians, without arms and aid held up, without being lectured about the geostrategic value of going slow or not going at all.”

UPDATE: This Is CNN.

YEP:

JUST KAMALA BEING KAMALA:

OH FOR GOODNESS SAKE:  San Diego street performer who was blowing bubbles in the park gets cited for littering.

OPEN THREAD: Enjoy yourselves.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE:

He chose . . . poorly. And yes, this is a real ASU ad, seen on Facebook. I question this use of taxpayer funds, especially in 2024, and predict that it will not be the career enhancer it’s advertised as being.

OUT: EVs. IN: EREVs. “What’s EREV mean? It stands for extended-range electric vehicle, and it’s distinct from the plug-in hybrids Hyundai and others more commonly offer. As the name implies, it’s an EV, with a decent-sized battery powering electric motors that in turn propel the car down the road. The whole range-extender part comes in the form of an internal-combustion engine whose sole purpose is to act as an onboard generator for the electric bits. Simply fill the tank with gas, and you can extend the vehicle’s effective range beyond a set radius surrounding an EV charger, with the engine kicking on to generate electricity when the battery’s initial charge is depleted. A plug-in hybrid operates differently, typically with far more limited EV-only range, and the gas engine not only can charge up the battery but also is a primary motivator that can directly power the drive wheels, helping propel the vehicle along.”