Wouldn’t it be the other way around? I think Musk would rather have TSLA bagholders shareholders prop up his private companies, of which he likely owns a higher percentage than Tesla. The pitch could be that xAI has what Tesla needs for some of the vaporware he keeps promising and that Tesla should therefore acquire xAI.

The true Canadian deterrent.

I don’t think so, at least when it comes to US citizens, because deportations would cost them and spark controversy for no benefit. I think they’d prefer to keep these deeply indebted people in the US as indentured servants willing to work for pennies and too poor to engage politically.

I didn’t mean to dispute that. I just checked what you stated and posted what I found for anyone else who, like me, wasn’t up to date on this meeting. I share your assessment.

The AP reported:

The 88-year-old pope offered the Catholic vice president three big chocolate Easter eggs for Vance’s three young children, who did not attend, as well as a Vatican tie and rosaries.

You’ve conjured images in my mind. I wish you hadn’t.

Whatcha gonna do next, separate boys and girls again? Make all females wear sacks?

Don’t give them ideas. I wouldn’t be surprised if they promoted gender segregation as some form of “protection against the gay trans threat”.

I can’t even believe the trump admin is going after tech giants.

I share the disbelief. I think it is mostly a power play against not just Google, but all tech giants, which must be watching this closely, given most of them operate in a similarly anticompetitive manner: kiss the ring or else. The Trump administration could give Google reprieve in exchange for axing DEI further and helping push their political agenda.

I can’t imagine anything the admin does will be good for society so maybe its safe to assume they will be broken up so elon can buy a chunk?

I think so too: if Google doesn’t satisfy Trump and his administration, parts of it will be forcibly sold as private equity, outside of shareholder scrutiny and beyond the reach of the SEC. Such a private company would be easier to control than a publicly traded one.

Yeah. Over on Moronix Phoronix, every article about Rust, systemd, Wayland or –to a lesser extent– GNOME is a troll fest.

I think what @Naich@lemmings.world means is that the recent UK Supreme Court ruling gives some cover to Starmer, allowing him to pin some of the dissatisfaction with his eventual acquiescence to US pressure on the judiciary (even though Labour, being in control of the legislature, could fix the laws instead of washing their hands…).

Extreme constipation would have our beloved Couchhumper spewing shit — literally, this time. It would be such an improvement…

Is that the average 4chaner?

I for one find “Genocide Don” quite catchy. The problem with this label is that the man himself and most of his supporters will likely just shrug it off as if it weren’t worth denying; it would be like calling a paid assassin a “murderer”.

Their marriage hasn’t been the same since Bert returned from Vietnam and Earnie gave in to the voices.

If Putin’s tables are anything to go by, those Russian couches must be nice and curvy in JD’s eyes.

TIL Epson made laptops. Having had to deal with some of their printers and scanners, I’m not inclined to learn more.

All that big talk about forcing countries to negotiate

Trump indeed touts tariffs as international leverage, but they’re just as much if not more of a domestic power play that forces US businesses to kiss the ring in order to get exemptions. Businesses that pledge allegiance keep their supply chains and survive, whereas those that don’t satisfy the Mango get to pay tariffs and compete with exempted businesses in a weakening consumer market with decreasing purchasing power.

In his first term, Trump increased both the budget deficit and total outstanding debt with his unsustainable fiscal policy. Now, his antagonistic and erratic trade policy is raising Treasury yields. He and his political project are brewing the very debt crisis they keep fearmongering about. The solutions they contemplate, like currency devaluation, messing with the Federal Reserve, perpetual or century bonds and a partial default on repayment obligations to China, further erode trust in the global financial system that underpins American power.

World’s reserve currency. When it inevitably switches to the yuan

That’s neither inevitable nor likely at this point. China’s capital controls, ongoing devaluation of its currency and demonstrated willingness to prioritize the state over investors –at least some of which are positive things I wish we had– make Chinese assets in general and the renminbi in particular not investible to the degree necessary to achieve reserve status. The euro has better chances for now, especially if European debt is unified and becomes more liquid.

I think this is unironically what they are going for everywhere: delegating regulation to industry, as is the case to some extent in aviation. If they get their way, they won’t need approval from the NHTSA or any other agency, because they will self-approve and likely even shape regulation themselves.