Luis Bárcena

At this point in time, to fail to understand that Musk is not in fact a genius is a mark of one's own stupidity.

From the very beginning all he's had going for him is inherited wealth and the ability to invest it, then tell lies to inflate company valuations.

That's not genius. That's a con.

it's remarkably bleak that Trump has been accused of sexual misconduct by dozens of women, including an allegation that was adjudicated and in which he was found liable for sexual assault, and yet the American public needs still MORE evidence of his depraved character and unfitness.

Jeffrey Epstein Is about Command of Attention - emptywheel It doesn't matter why Trump's super power of commanding and redirecting attention is failing with the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. If that power fails with his base, it will make it far harder for him to ...

Jeffrey Epstein Is about Trump's Failing Ability to Command Attention

www.emptywheel.net/2025/07/13/j...

This is impeachable and in a healthy democracy would result in removal by Monday.

The important thing to understand about the current state of affairs is that Andreessen hired a partner at the most influential VC firm in the tech industry solely on the basis that the man strangled a Black man to death in my neighborhood.

oh, we have some straightforward gutter racism. “the blacks and the browns are the reason white people can’t get ahead” www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

Elon Musk Consulted Curtis Yarvin, Right-Wing Thinker, on Third Party The two men spoke about Mr. Musk’s push to create the America Party before the midterm elections. Mr. Yarvin has expressed support for a monarchy, along with _provocative ideas about race_.

Mr. Yarvin is better known for _arguing provocatively that American democracy has been exhausted_ and that the country would be better off being run by a “C.E.O.” — essentially, a dictator.

Things that are merely "provocative" per NYT:

CNBC headline from today: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says he's 'politically homeless' in July 4 post bashing Democrats

It's so weird how everyone who says they're "politically homeless" is a far right winger who lives in NY or CA and still wants to get invited to parties

It’s this picture but it’s the New York Times who’s insisting we have to take them seriously

The muslim born of Indian parents in Africa really ought to apologize for how he answered the race portion of a college application because he clearly did not appreciate how white people, who created these categories over centuries of slavery and imperial domination, would use it later to slime him.

“Where is the party of ‘everyone should be billionaires?’” is one of the stupidest complaints I’ve ever heard.

The real surprise came after the experiment. Fred Lambert, who writes for the blog Electrek, pointed out the same autopilot disengagement that the NHTSA had documented. “Autopilot appears to automatically disengage a fraction of a second before the impact as the crash becomes inevitable,” Lambert noted.

In a horrifying article about the dangers of Teslas, one point stands out: Teslas automatically disengage self-driving mode <1 second before an imminent crash--not enough time for the driver to react, but enough for Tesla to deny responsibility for fatal crashes, since self-driving "wasn't engaged."

The Inflationary Universe This is the compelling, first-hand account of Alan Guth's paradigm-breaking discovery of the origins of the universe—and of his dramatic rise from young...

As my mom once told me: the universe is bigger than the bad things that are happening to us!

If you're starting to forget that, here are some books to help you remember. ⚛️🔭🧪🧵

Starting with that time space-time was like a bat out of hell
www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/alan-...

I forget who said it first, but one of the most profound things I’ve ever read on here was that the culture of the manosphere isn’t about men, it’s about boys - as in, appealing to the parts of their brain that miss being 14 with no responsibilities, playing video games while Mom makes them snacks

Uno de los más grandes fracasos del internet 2.0 fue dejar que el formato “hombre profundamente pendejo hace preguntas profundamente pendejas” se volviera referente cultural

Here's the thing: We don't live in a shared reality anymore. Trump can tell his followers that the bill does not cut Medicaid. They will believe him.

Even the ones whose Medicaid is cut likely won't speak up because they'll be afraid to refute the cult leader and they're generally powerless anyway.

This has been subtext since 1964. It’s text now.

The “Southern Strategy” is not subtle and it is not obscure. The GOP chose white supremacy as its #1 vote-getter and it has doubled and tripled down ever since.

I remember encountering someone online who was mad that the supermarket has an entire aisle with salsas and stuff. The cold, dead heart of the Republican Party is ignorant, narrow-minded blood-and-soil cultural nativism as well as political nativism. Shitty people, shitty culture, shitty values.

Chief Justice Roberts warns against heated political words about judges Chief Justice John Roberts is warning that elected officials’ heated words about judges can lead to threats or acts of violence by others.

Someone tell this dumbfuck you either embrace naked power in the service of fascism and shrug off the criticism, OR you get to whine about "harsh words" targeting judges. You don't get to do both, dipshit, and you made your choice.

apnews.com/article/supr...

Just to be clear; when you put this way, it suggests the Roberts Court *amended the American Constitution* yesterday to eliminate a tool courts have used to rein in executive overreach, and chose to do so *right now* in order assist the consolidation of a reactionary dictatorship.

Every AI company should be required to replace all its workers, managers, executives, and board of directors members with its own AI by 2027.

I mean this is what it would sound like if you asked a fourth grader to imagine what a ceasefire would be like. and yet our entire political class is committed to never mentioning that the man is an imbecile

it is the slavish sycophancy and utter debasement that is most striking and hopefully the real lasting legacy of every fuckin one of these shitty people

the fact that people were told “today you are going to an elementary school to lie to teachers and kidnap kids” and didn’t immediately tell their bosses to go fuck themselves is all you need to know about why ICE should be dismantled