A preemptive soda:
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So, Grok will be Xitterâs Press Secretary and Disseminator of Propaganda, just like whatâs her name.
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(excerpt) The family of a Texas man who died last year in a burning Tesla Cybertruck after a crash is suing the automaker, alleging that safety issues contributed to the fatality. The wrongful death suit appears to be the first against Tesla involving a Cybertruck, Axios reports. The lawsuit alleges that the design of the Cybertruckâs battery pack and the energy-absorbing features that should minimize crash damage contributed to the severity of the damage, that Sheehan was unable to open the doors from the inside once power was lost, and that external door handles didnât work properly. Attorneys also allege that âalternate interior door handles are unreasonably difficult to locate in an emergency.â
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Re Muskâs âthird partyâ
(source: The Beast) Disgruntled Republicans sick of being bullied by Donald Trump and Democrat centrists imperiled by the Left are secretly having conversations about forming a third party in American politics, The Swamp can exclusively reveal.
The hush-hush talks took a bizarre turn on Monday night when Elon Musk once more threatened to launch his own America Party as Donald Trumpâs âbig, beautiful billâ squeaked through the Senate with a smug deciding vote by JD Vance on its likely path to the presidentâs desk.
Having enraged most of Washington, Musk has been excluded from the third party negotiations that are still at an early, but promising, stage.
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The only benefit I can see of this devilâs brew is possibly splitting the Republican vote between fascist assholes and non-fascist assholes. Maybe the âleftâ will be able to eek out a win then.
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Possibly, although that may depend on what how many Reps get siphoned from Congress and what the 3rd party had to sell; maybe something along the lines of âThe Sensible Partyâ.
Then thereâs the split: In all, a 95% ex-GOP/5% ex-Dem 3rd party could almost guarantee the benefit as you stated.
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I know itâs probably just all bluster and whining, but it seems irritatingly appropriate that the USA would get a third party focused on billionairesâ rights before a third party even remotely concentrated on representing actual progressive policies.
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Billionaires have the funds to influence all of the other parties, so they donât really need their own.
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Ah, but apparently theyâre not beholden enough for Musk.
âJust give your money directly to me! Cut out the whole tax-cuts-for-the-rich middleman!â
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Paul Krugman on how the Trump/Musk conflict isnât likely to go well for Musk, with Putinâs Russia as a lesson:
Three years ago NPRâs Planet Money newsletter published a article titled âHow Putin conquered Russiaâs oligarchyâ that people like Musk really should have read before throwing their support behind Trump. As the article explained, Russian oligarchs played a large role in Vladmiri Putinâs rise to power. But a few years after his ascent, Putin summoned the wealthiest among them to the Kremlin to explain who was in charge:
Putin offered the oligarchs a deal: bend to my authority, stay out of my way, and you can keep your mansions, superyachts, private jets, and multibillion-dollar corporations (corporations that, just a few years before, had been owned by the Russian government). In the coming years, the oligarchs who reneged on this deal and undermined Putin would be thrown into a Siberian prison or be forced into exile or die in suspicious circumstances.
Since Musk is in contact with Putin and seems sympathetic to him, I guess Musk just bought into Putinâs version of things without (as usual) having any fucking clue about any of the relevant facts and how replicating that dynamic would screw him over here in the States. With Musk, in his stupid ignorance, seems to go beyond the usual âHow could leopards eat my face!?â into âWait, leopards are real - and they eat faces!?â
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He has always assumed he was the apex predator I guess.
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Musk has always been a major glitch in the Matrix, and in so many ways. 
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Sorry about the ai-assisted article, w/the emphasis on âass.â Iâll be moar careful in future.
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If Putin hasnât suggested it yet, I wonder if Trump is now closer to making a display of his strength and control by having (for example) Musk die accidently. Just a year and a half ago he was arguing for the kind of immunity that would allow him to assassinate his political enemies.
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Itâs bound to sneak in from time to time, slippery sneaky bugger that it is.
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Were lone skum bumped off, the investigatorsâd hafta innerview thousands.
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âThe authorities said âBest leave it unsolvedââ
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I donât get the fascination with novel door handles on EVs. Ford is facing a lawsuit and a recall on Mach-Eâs (which I now own) because the handles are electric, too, and powered by a standard 12v battery, not the main battery pack. If that accessory battery does (as is common due to age), you canât open the car from the outside.
Unlike the dangerous cybertruck design, the inside handles ARE normal handles, but that doesnât help if thereâs a pet/young one/etc. unable to open the door from the inside in there.
So if your battery is iffy, you get out of the car, close your door, go around to the back door to open it and the car⌠dies, you canât open the door!
https://www.reddit.com/r/MachE/s/3HYyMlEVUY
Enough with the dumb door handles!
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