HISTORIC PRESERVATION: Bentley used original design drawings to meticulously recreate its 1930 Speed Six.

SCIENCE: No evidence for belief that nut allergens spread through aircraft ventilation systems, say experts.

NOTHING IS REAL ANYMORE: Spotify criticized for letting fake albums appear on real artist pages.

SCIENCE: Human sense of smell may be quicker than you think.

THE ENEMY WITHIN: ‘Alarming’: House report warns of China’s tie to U.S. universities.

LAWS ARE FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE: Did Yale, Princeton, and Duke Violate SFFA in Last Year’s Admissions Cycle?

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Buildings can be racist, concludes CU Boulder prof.

JOEL KOTKIN: Elon Musk and Woke Capital are Locked In a Battle for the Future of America: This election has exposed sharp divisions between the US’s new feudal elites.

In 16th century Japan, the Daimyo feudal lords, like their Medieval European counterparts, battled to secure control of the realm. Today, in the current US presidential race, a similar conflict has emerged, over an increasingly feudalised landscape.

The discord among the American elites is far more pronounced now than in 2016 or 2020. This time, Donald Trump has gained more support from more tech and financial lords, notably the backing of Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and America’s most accomplished entrepreneur. Some of this can be traced to Biden’s policies, which have led to the likes of Chase’s Jamie Dimon to praise Trump, something unexpected from President Obama’s “favourite banker”. Financial industries overwhelmingly favoured Biden in 2020, but now are slightly more oriented to the GOP – despite continued evidence that Trump remains ever more irrational and crude.

But Trump does best with those industries, like construction, manufacturing and agriculture, that actually make things. People who work with their hands – truck drivers, plumbers, electricians, oil-workers and farmers – generally favour the Republicans and so do the people who employ them. Trump’s business backers include those like Harold Hamm and Kelcy Warren, with ties to fossil fuel energy. The pro-Trump producer lobby also includes Musk, easily America’s most important industrialist, as well as others such as Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale.

One element is concern among producer companies that a Harris administration would follow the model she championed in California. The Golden State imposes environmental and labour laws that have accelerated the state’s significant de-industrialisation and the immiseration of swathes of its population.

But Harris is still winning the daimyo wars. As has occurred throughout her career, she continues to harvest big money from the tech oligarchy. The industry helped her raise four times as much as Trump in August, and gathered in over $1 billion, two to three times Trump.

These are the very people who Teamsters President Sean O’Brien claims have “bought and paid” for the Democratic Party.

Well, that’s just because they have. Plus:

Elon Musk, the new bete noir of progressives, may not be totally insane for predicting that he may be jailed under a Harris regime; his business has been hindered by parts of the Biden administration. And California’s coastal commission is looking into blocking launches from Vandenberg Airforce Base on the state’s central coast, apparently to punish Musk for his Trump support. Oil executives could also expect to be hounded and forced into court for their “climate crimes”.

If Harris wins, expect hard times for Musk, the oil barons, suburban developers and startup businesses unable to cope with the likely tsunami of regulations. If Trump is elected, things could get dicey for some tech oligarchs, who have managed to alienate the MAGA base. Campaign ads may target the middle and working class, but the real battle may be over which cabal of monied lords triumphs on the electoral battlefield.

It’s a pretty lawless environment.

FASTER? PLEASE! SpaceX Requests Starlink Gen2 Modification, Previews Gigabit-Speeds.

I MEAN, OBVIOUSLY: Bad sign: Most not better off than they were four years ago.

WOULDN’T SURPRISE ME, THEY’VE BEEN DOING THAT SINCE WALTER DURANTY: Did The New York Times Publish a Hoax? “These days, you can feel confident that the Times will stick to a Narrative no matter the evidence. They received a Pulitzer for the coverage of the Russia Russia Russia scandal, relying on the Steele Dossier for much of their reporting. They have never apologized for spreading lies.”

Hey, they still have Duranty’s Pulitzer.

LIFE IN 2024: Transgender ‘Yacht Killer’ Serving Life Sentence Gets Taxpayer-Funded Sex-Change Surgery Thanks to Kamala Harris: ‘He Killed My Daughter and Son-in-Law, Now He Gets What He Wants.’

WSJ NEWS COVERAGE IS ONLY MARGINALLY BETTER THAN NYT NEWS COVERAGE NOWADAYS: The WSJ Story About Future Trump Judicial Nominees.

The Wall Street Journal published an article titled, “Trump Loyalists Push for a Combative Slate of New Judges.” The first sentence repeats the theme of loyalty: “A rising faction within the conservative legal movement is laying the groundwork for Donald Trump to appoint judges who prioritize loyalty to him and aggressively advocate for dismantling the federal government should he win a second term.” The implied connection is clear: Trump loyalists in executive branch seek to install Trump loyalists in the judiciary branch. Nonsense.

There is not a single word in the story to suggest that Trump appointees would be “loyal” to Trump. These judges have a constitutional vision that far surpasses whatever ephemeral issues matter to Trump. Judicial appointments can last up to forty years. Trump will be in office for, at most, four years. And if Trump prevails, he will not have to stand for any more elections, thus no more Trump-election-related litigation. More likely than not, anti-Trump litigation will be brought in blue circuits, where Trump-appointees are a discrete and insular minority. Does anyone think that a handful of Trump appointees on the Ninth Circuit will make a difference? Judges Katsas, Rao, and Walker will be flying solo on the D.C. Circuit for some time. And the Fourth Circuit is lost for a generation. I truly do not understand the thrust of this “loyalist” meme. It is not accurate, and even if accurate, will have no practical effect.

Everything is all about battlespace prep for the election.

UPDATE: A reader emails: “That instapost re: The WSJ headline about Trump only appointing loyalists. That kind of thing is why, about two weeks ago, I finally canceled by WSJ subscription. I had subscribed to the print or online version for about 30 years, I think. The news side has totally collapsed, IMO.”

I’ve noticed a distinct decline just in recent months.

USEFUL IDIOTS: Joel Kotkin: Western nations cripple their economies with green initiatives while China and others laugh.

ANTI-WESTERN SENTIMENT DOESN’T CARE ABOUT FACTS:

Not many people these days know that the British Empire was the driving force behind ending the vast majority of global slavery.

Slavery or de facto slavery was standard practice throughout the world from the dawn of civilization until a few hundred years ago. It is even… https://t.co/HQjCz4Hago

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 15, 2024

OPEN THREAD: Tuesday’s groovy.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Xichang to build commercial spaceport to boost China’s launch capacity.

COLOR ME UNCONVINCED: Can a Supplement Really Help Control Your Pesky Eye Floaters?

WHAT THINGS HAVE COME TO: “Vice President Kamala Harris has gone 86 days as the presumptive, and now, official Democratic nominee for president without holding an official press conference.”

The more people see her, the less they like her. So they’re trying to keep her under wraps.

SO DON’T — WINK, WINK: Biden tells Iran that attempts on Trump’s life would be act of war: report.

NOT SURE THIS STUDY REALLY TELLS US MORE: Shocking Revelation: Half of Sepsis Patients Die Within Just 2 Years.

MARK JUDGE: Sheldon Whitehouse’s Sauronian Return.

HMM: Gene therapy that converts omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids in the body could combat effects of childhood obesity.

PEOPLE WHO FAST-ROLL THEM ARE REGRETTING: Honda Electric Vehicles: What’s Up With the Slow Roll?

YOU BETTER RUN, YOU BETTER HIDE: Florida Police Chief Still Hiding from Public After Hurricane Gun Ban Gaffe.