• 441 Posts
  • 89 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
Cake day: October 22nd, 2023
  • raoulraoul@midwest.socialtoMusic@midwest.social•Orientalism: Desert Level Music vs Actual Middle-Eastern Music
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    5 months ago

    Thanks, oh blustery one, for that avalanche of authentic Azerbaijani audio. I'm listening to it as I write this reply. I say this sincerely: Music, like food, is one of the few things in life that can bring all peoples together, regardless of politics or dogma.

    Just in case anyone has still missed the point, my only objection to this post is that it's not music. It's about music, the item in question ironically containing very little actual music. As our sidebar sez—etched centuries ago by the community elders 🤣 —post music and save the documentaries for the appropriate communities.

    -- r2

  • raoulraoul@midwest.socialtoDetroit@midwest.social•Mitch Albom: Public discourse by lawmakers is now a notch above food fight
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    6 months ago

    If you can’t take an insult you have no business being in politics, which is just a formalized method for handling conflict.

    …I think we can all agree on this.

    MTG made it personal because she’s an asshole

    …and here's where you throw your whole argument out the window. Pushback (and language) of this nature has no place in civil discourse, much less justification of such. We, and they, are not friends at the bar. We, and they, are in a public arena where, like it or not, we are held to certain social customs and rules. Rep Greene was clearly out of line with such a playground ad hominem attack on Rep Crockett. But instead of "taking the high road" or having Greene officially reprimanded for her childish behaviour most unbecoming of a public official—at least Rep Ocasio-Cortez correctly addressed the attack initially—both Reps Cortez and Crockett returned the volley with Ms Crockett improvising that scene from Do The Right Thing. Would you applaud that kind of escalation from your children?

    "Pearl clutching," my ass.

  • raoulraoul@midwest.socialtoDetroit@midwest.social•Chinese EVs “could end up being an extinction-level event for the U.S. auto sector.”
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    6 months ago

    No way they’ll reliably meet US safety standards.

    The linked article mentions that the Seagull presently doesn't meet US Safety Requirements. But that's probably the least of our worries.

    BYD and its line of EVs is an economic scatter bomb Made in China. BYD's products are heavily subsidized by the PRC and built by unionless "slave labor." It doesn't matter at all if the Seagull makes one yuan of profit, like the Chinese solar panel market they're created to flood the market and later, when the competition folds during the inevitable "race to the bottom", attain market dominance. Even if BYD does meet US safety standards, even with heavy US import taxes and tariffs applied, their EVs would still sell for less than a Volt or a Tesla. At that point, how could the average US car buyer not be tempted?

    This is not to say that American automotive industry is without blame or was somehow blindsided, having dropped the ball as they did back in the 1970s with the first wave of Japanese imports. The US government must share the blame for being at least 10 years too late on having in place a national EV charging strategy much like the Highway Act of the 1956. I guess, like the pre-2008 banks, everyone was just making too much money to do anything about it.

    Here's an article over at Electrek regarding the present US EV situation. While I won't say I entirely agree with their analysis they do make many legitimate points regarding EV strategy.