…can something be both ubiquitous & exceptional?

Ninety percent of the counties in the US suffered a weather disaster between 2011 and 2021, according to a new report.

Some endured as many as 12 federally declared disasters over those 11 years. More than 300 million people – 93% of the population – live in these counties.
[…]
California, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Iowa and Tennessee had the most disasters, at least 20 each, including severe storms, wildfire, flooding and landslides. But Louisiana, New York, New Jersey, North Dakota and Vermont received the most disaster funding per person.

Amy Chester, managing director of Rebuild by Design and co-author of the report, said she was surprised to see some states getting more money to rebuild than others. That is partly because cost of living differs among states. So does the monetary value of what gets damaged or destroyed.

“Disaster funding is oftentimes skewed toward communities that are more affluent and have the most resources,” said Robert Bullard, an environmental and climate justice professor at Texas Southern University, who was not part of the team that wrote the report.
[…]
Another reason for the unevenness of funds could be that heatwaves are excluded from federal disaster law and don’t trigger government aid. If they did, states in the south-west like Arizona and Nevada might rank higher on spending per person.
[…]
The report recommends the federal government shift to preventing disasters rather than waiting for events to happen. It cites the National Institute of Building Sciences which says that every dollar invested in mitigating natural disaster by building levees or doing prescribed burns saves the country $6.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/nov/16/weather-disasters-us-counties-11-years-report

…either way…the same weather doesn’t necessarily have the same impact on different places

The Middle East has always been hit by dust and sandstorms and is considered one of the dustiest regions in the world. The frequency of these storms is said to be increasing, causing financial losses of $13bn annually, according to the World Bank.

Polluted air and duststorms can have severe public health impacts, causing respiratory diseases in addition to environmental damage. But, if the whole region is victim to these storms, is it more bearable in certain cities than in others?
[…]
Sometimes it seems that duststorms are out of control as they hit the Middle East region where many parts of it are desert. In the UAE, authorities usually advise against driving during sandstorms. But how will people move around, given that the prediction is that there will be more and more of these storms, with hotter summers by 2050, according to a 2017 report by Emirates Wildlife Society? This is expected to affect outdoor workers and increase health risks.

In Cairo, authorities also issue alerts to those with respiratory diseases, elderly people and children during duststorms to avoid leaving their homes.

Both countries are destined to face this inevitable condition from time to time, but it’s hard to compare the infrastructure available to a developing nation with the resources offered to a wealthy oil-rich Gulf state.
[…]
The threat of climate breakdown is facing every country. And yet, Cairo and Dubai experience it so differently. It is striking how the economic ability of countries, even though in the same region, can affect the efforts to prepare for a warming climate. It turns out that a sandstorm is not the same wherever it happens. World governments are making promises, but is it the actions that made a sandstorm in one city more bearable than the other? And while the size of the action needed may differ – comparing a city of 25 million people with another of 3.5 million – I keep asking: what is the main factor, the economic ability or the country’s adaptation to its climate?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/16/life-halts-when-a-storm-hits-how-a-climate-threat-affects-cairo-and-dubai

…&…you know…in the grand scheme of things we’re talking about shared accommodation

On biodiversity day at the Cop27 climate conference in Egypt, Christiana Figueres, Laurence Tubiana, Laurent Fabius and Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, who helped design the Paris agreement, said that Cop15 would be an “unprecedented” opportunity to turn the tide on nature loss.

It follows scientific warnings that humans are driving the sixth mass extinction of life on Earth, with 1m species in danger of extinction.
[…]
On Tuesday, ministers from about 30 countries met in Sharm el-Sheikh at a side event co-hosted by Canada and China to discuss the draft nature agreement, formally known as the post-2020 biodiversity framework. Sticking points in negotiations were discussed by governments, including financial backing for the agreement.

At Cop15, China is overseeing a major UN agreement for the first time and holds the presidency, although its leaders have played a modest role so far, prompting fears that the biodiversity summit could be nature’s “Copenhagen moment”, a reference to the conference where climate talks fell apart in 2009. Cop15 was moved from China to Canada after several pandemic-related delays and no world leaders have been invited by Beijing amid fears they are trying to downplay the event so as not to embarrass Xi Jinping, who is not expected to attend.
[…]
Scientist Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research said nature was crucial to keeping global heating within 1.5C of pre-industrial levels.

“To have a 50% chance of achieving 1.5C and thus limiting tipping point risks, global greenhouse gas emissions must be cut by half by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050,” he said. “Critically, these pathways rely on the continuing capacity of nature to operate as a carbon sink and to buffer against the worst impacts of climate change – 1.5C is not a goal, it is a biophysical limit. Nature is one of the best climate solutions for remaining within that limit. An ambitious global framework for biodiversity at Cop15 that addresses root causes of decline of the global commons is urgent and necessary.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/16/paris-agreement-architects-urge-leaders-to-reach-deal-at-cop15-biodiversity-talks-aoe

…not that we can manage to get along with each other…much less other kinds of critters

In a clip recorded by the media pool at the G20 summit in Indonesia, a visibly frustrated Xi pulls the Canadian prime minister aside and says it was “not appropriate” for details about a previous conversation between the two leaders to have been shared with media, suggesting Trudeau lacked “sincerity” in his approach.

…a lot may be lost in translation…but it sounded to me more like the problem wasn’t a lack of sincerity…more like an excess of sincerity on public record?

“Everything we discuss has been leaked to the paper, that’s not appropriate,” Xi says to Trudeau through a translator. “And that’s not the way the conversation was conducted,” he added.

The testy exchange came a day after government sources briefed that during a previous conversation on the margins of the summit, Trudeau had raised “serious concerns” with Xi over China’s increasingly aggressive “interference activities”.
[…]
The uncomfortable exchange – and the previous conversation – followed repeated warnings from Trudeau and other officials that China had attempted to undermine Canada’s democracy. Canadian intelligence officials briefed parliamentarians in January that they believe China interfered in the 2019 federal election, and media reports earlier this month alleged that Beijing had funded a clandestine network of candidates. On Monday Canadian police charged a researcher at Quebec’s power company with espionage for allegedly sending trade secrets to China.
[…]
Stephanie Carvin, a professor of international relations at Carleton University in Ottawa, said Xi probably didn’t appreciate how news of his meeting Trudeau was leaked to Canadian media and took a more confrontational approach in order to “save face” the next time he spotted the Canadian prime minister.

…it’d be nice to think that international relations didn’t operate by the law of the elementary school playground…but…what does this sort of thing sound like to you?

“At the end of the day, Canada isn’t Europe or the United States and Xi knows he can take a more aggressive stance publicly. Moreover, he can use Canada as an example to other states without much in the way of consequences,” she said.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/16/xi-trudeau-canada-china-g20

…things are plenty tense enough without that kind of petulance…if you ask me, anyway

Russia may not have fired the missile that landed in NATO territory but was ultimately responsible for the deadly blast, Western officials and analysts said Wednesday — suggesting that it will likely add to pressure on Ukraine’s allies to send new military aid at a crucial phase in the war.
[…]
Retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, a former commander of the U.S. Army in Europe, said the sudden crisis over Poland should not distract from that reality.

“In all this frenzy over what happened we forget that 90 missiles were launched across Ukraine yesterday,” he said, referring to the attack that prompted Ukraine to fire the defensive missile in the first place.

“This just shows the recklessness of Russia engaging targets that close to the Polish border. It’s either incompetence or they don’t care,” he said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/poland-missile-strike-change-putins-war-ukraine

…the polish on the other hand…as you might imagine…feel differently

The question for Poland, however, remains, as it would for any Nato member state, and especially one living in Russia’s shadow: what if this, or a similar incident, turned out to be a deliberate Russian operation after all? What protection could it expect from the US and its other Nato allies?

Under Article 5 of the Nato treaty, an armed attack on one ally is regarded as an attack on all. But what constitutes an armed attack? And what would Nato solidarity mean in practice? The answer that Poland and other smaller Nato members (as well as the Kremlin) are learning would appear to be “it depends”.
[…]
So at what point does a Nato member get to claim that it needs to invoke Article 5’s protection, as the organisation’s territorial integrity has been violated? Russia has violated Scandinavian – Danish and Swedish – airspace on countless occasions. But Nato’s supposedly impassable red lines appear mutable when nuclear-armed global conflict is at stake.

…which…I dunno…maybe isn’t a bad thing…given that seems to suggest that if they weren’t we’d be waking up to a post-nuclear-armageddon kind of a morning…but…I can see how you might want a bit of clarity that might make vlad & his merry band of war criminals wind their neck in

The collective fear reawakened across eastern Europe by this war is visceral. Our recurring nightmare is of Russian troops and weapons breaching the Polish border again, as they have done many times over the past 300 years. In a survey conducted after Russia invaded Ukraine, 84% of Polish citizens said they were afraid that the war could spill into Poland. “I think about it every day,” one man living on the Polish-Russian border told the Guardian recently. “They could come any time. Kill us in our beds.”

…arguably it’d be a sort of poetic justice if the result of what putin’s done ended up being pretty much the very thing he made out to be pre-emptively setting out to prevent

These regional fears translate into an expected outcome of the war. For many Poles, like their neighbours in the Baltic states, there are only two acceptable scenarios in the wake of the Ukraine war. The first is the utter destruction and utter defeat of Putin’s Russia, similar to Germany’s wipeout in 1945. And if this is not an option then they want at least a repeat of 1991, the collapse of the Russian empire. There is no third way.

At Poland’s insistence, Nato will have to deliberate seriously on whether the events of 15 November require active preparations for a decisive military response. A viable missile shield on Nato’s eastern flank will become an absolute priority. The German chancellor Olaf Scholz’s recently proposed shield for more than a dozen European countries is just the beginning. Current events should accelerate an early compromise on the issue. Rather than more sanctions, frontline states will demand that more Nato troops and defence systems are put in place.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/16/missile-strike-poland-nato-allies

…but…I don’t know as that sounds like something that would make me rest easier, exactly? …&…well…I might have other things to worry about…like whether I’m still going to be around when steak ceases to be on the menu

More than enough food is produced to feed all of the 8 billion people currently alive on the planet, yet after a decade of steady decline hunger is back on the rise, affecting 10% of the global population. According to the World Food Programme, ripple effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have contributed to one of the worst food crises in decades, with acute food insecurity affecting 200 million more people globally than in 2019 due to rising costs of food, fuel and fertiliser.

But there are bigger problems on the horizon. As the global population passes 8 billion and is predicted to reach 10 billion by 2050, farmers, governments and scientists face the challenge of increasing food production without exacerbating environmental degradation and the climate crisis, which itself contributes to food insecurity in the global south.

The United Nations projects that food production from plants and animals will need to increase 70% by 2050, compared with 2009, to meet increasing food demand. But food production is already responsible for nearly a third of carbon emissions as well as 90% of deforestation around the world.
[…]
“We need to find a way to decrease our input [land] while increasing our food production.”

But there is no magic bullet to achieve this goal. Instead, an overhaul at every step of the food production chain, from the moment the seeds are planted in the soil to the point where the food reaches our dinner tables, will be necessary.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/nov/15/can-the-world-feed-8bn-people-sustainably

…& realistically trying to keep a viable population of steak-on-the-hoof out the back of my place is pretty much a non-starter…a lifetime’s consumption of dystopian sci-fi assures me that I’d only get myself murdered & very possibly butchered before the livestock made it through the first generation…but it’s going to cause me difficulties…even if I’m not alone in thinking there might be more useful things to be done with vegetarian fare than substituting it for real food

[…] New research has shown that mushroom skins could provide a biodegradable alternative to some plastics used in batteries and computer chips, making them easier to recycle.

Researchers from the Johannes Kepler University in Austria were working on flexible and stretchable electronics, with a focus on sustainable materials to replace non-degradable materials, when they made their discovery, published in the journal Science Advances Friday.
[…]
At the time, a member of the team had been looking at using fungus-derived materials for use in other areas. This work led to the latest study, which shows how Ganoderma lucidum mushroom skin could work as a substitute for the substrate used in electrical circuits.
[…]
According to the research paper, the skin is slightly less insulating than plastic, but it still worked safely and successfully in the electrical circuits, with a thickness akin to paper and the ability to withstand temperatures exceeding 200° Celsius (392° Fahrenheit), making it a good substrate.

The skin has many properties that set it apart from other biodegradable materials, Kaltenbrunner said, “but most importantly, it can simply be grown from waste wood and does not need energy or cost intensive processing.”

“Our mycelium is kind of in the sweet spot” because it can last a long time if kept dry, but in just a standard household compost, it would degrade entirely within two weeks or less, he added.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/15/world/mushroom-skin-electrical-circuits-scn-scli-intl/index.html

…material science, ladies & gentlemen…ain’t she something? …why…you’d almost think they’d start pulling things out of thin air like some sort of magician

It was space travel that inspired scientist Lisa Dyson to create an unusual climate solution: protein made from air, which can be grown inside a tank instead of using up valuable land.

…look…if there’s a chance it means I don’t have to give up steak…I’ll hear it out even if it does sound crazy

Dyson is the founder of Air Protein, a California-based startup that is harnessing cutting-edge technology to create a meat alternative called Air Meat, using just microbes, water, renewable energy and elements found in the air.

Launched in 2019, Dyson based the technology on research carried out by NASA in the 1960s, which explored ways to feed astronauts on long missions to Mars. One proposal was to make food by combining microbes with the carbon dioxide (CO2) that the astronauts were breathing out, but the idea was never realized by NASA.
[…]
Air Protein’s process is similar to yogurt or cheese fermentation. But instead of feeding sugar or milk to the microbe cultures, CO2, nitrogen and oxygen are whisked through large fermentation tanks, where the culture produces proteins within hours. These proteins are harvested, dried and made into a flour which can be used to produce a steak substitute by adding flavorings and nutrients.

…&…we’re back in the realms of dystopian sci-fi…but…there’s a good chance I’d take steak-in-a-vat over ground insect flour…you know…assuming that’s an either/or proposition

Dyson, who has a PhD in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, decided to focus on the food industry because “it produces more greenhouse gases than the entire transportation sector.”

The global food industry contributes around 17.3 billion metric tons of CO2 equivalent emissions per year, almost 19 times the amount produced by international aviation and 35% of all human-caused emissions, according to a study by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the US.

Farming animals is responsible for 14.5% of the global carbon footprint and the production of red meat accounts for 41% of those emissions, according to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization.

With the global population predicted to reach 9.8 billion by 2050, meat consumption is expected to increase significantly, and feeding that many people using conventional methods will require vast swathes of land.

…& this is why I’m so fond of vegetarians…I may not envy them at mealtimes…but I need them to off-set my morally bankrupt dietary choices…&…speaking of off-setting

One of the biggest challenges companies such as Air Protein face is competing with the traditional meat industry, which is heavily subsidized, [Robert] Lawson [managing partner at Food Strategy Associates, a consultancy for the food industry] says.

“To reach pricing parity with meat will require scaling up of infrastructure – so maybe when biomass fermentation is 10-20 times the scale it is today there will be more scale economies,” he says.

Companies that use this new technology also face “the challenge of explaining to consumers what fermented proteins are and why they might want to eat them,” says Lawson.
[…]
The company will be entering the market at a time when the plant-based meat industry is facing difficulties in the United States. Shares of Beyond Meat are down more than 75% this year, and a recent report from Deloitte noted that sales of meat substitutes were “stagnating,” with consumers struggling with high inflation and questioning the assumed benefits of the products.

Air Protein is also working on creating scallop protein, but its main focus is the meat industry. “We are focusing on that first, but [the technology] is very flexible to tap into many different food groups, including cheese and fish,” says Dyson.

“We need to produce food in a way that isn’t suffocating the planet,” she says. “We don’t have a choice. I think there’s a bright future when we bring innovation to the equation and change how our food is made.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/15/world/air-protein-lisa-dyson-climate-scn-spc-intl/index.html

…& sure…if it all goes the way it did in “the death of grass” then I probably wouldn’t last long enough to mourn the end of a world that had whisky & coffee in it…but…if it’s not too much trouble…I’d quite like to live in entirely less interesting times…although I’d be more confident about my chances if some of the timelines people say they’re sticking to seemed a tad more credible

Rishi Sunak has promised Joe Biden that a deal will be reached with the EU over the Northern Ireland protocol by the time of the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday agreement next year.
[…]
The Democratic Unionist party is boycotting the devolved institutions in protest at the protocol and the party says it will not countenance a return to a Stormont executive until its economic barriers on trade between Britain and Northern Ireland are removed.

Last week, the Northern Ireland secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris, extended by six weeks the deadline for Stormont parties to form an executive to 8 December, with the option of a further six-week extension.

The deadline to establish a new executive lapsed on 28 October, at which point the government assumed a legal responsibility to hold a fresh poll within 12 weeks, by 19 January.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/16/ni-deal-will-be-sorted-by-good-friday-anniversary-sunak-promises-biden

…sure…that totally sounds like it’s on track to be resolved this side of easter…after all where there’s a will there’s a way…& it only took j.c. a long weekend to come back from beyond the grave…so how hard can it be?

As a Black American, it’s really hard for me to shake what I just saw on TV.

It is an epic failure of our criminal legal system that Trump, having committed so many crimes in plain sight for years, was able to freely stand on that stage and announce his third run for President.

— Mondaire Jones (@MondaireJones) November 16, 2022

…yeah…something’s gotta give…but…sigh…some wheels turn slow

Yes. It has been almost a week since the close of polls last Tuesday. No. Merrick Garland has not carted Trump away in a paddy wagon yet (nor would the FBI, if and when they ever did arrest him).

Yes. We actually know why Garland hasn’t done so — and it’s not for want of actions that might lead there.

There are still known steps that have to or probably will happen before Trump would be indicted in any of the known criminal investigations into him. For those demanding proof of life from the DOJ investigations into Trump, you need look no further than the public record to find that proof of life. The public record easily explains both what DOJ has been doing in the Trump investigations, and why there is likely to be at least a several month delay before any charges can be brought.
[…]
There’s one more thing that may delay any more spectacular charges in January 6. The oral argument for DOJ’s appeal of Carl Nichols’ outlier decision on the application of 18 USC 1512(c)(2) to the insurrection won’t happen until December 12. It drew a pretty unfavorable panel for that hearing (listed as Joseph Fischer here): Trump appointees Greg Katsas (like Nichols, a former Clarence Thomas clerk, who also worked as Deputy White House Counsel in 2017) and Justin Walker (who is close to Mitch McConnell), and Biden appointee Florence Pan (who presided over January 6 cases before being promoted to the Circuit Court). It’s possible, but by no means certain, that the Trump appointees will do something nutty, in which case, DOJ would surely appeal first to the full DC Circuit panel; if they overturn Nichols, Garret Miller and the other January 6 defendants who got their obstruction charges thrown out will presumably appeal to SCOTUS.

Nichols’ decision, which ruled that January 6 did count as an official proceeding but ruled that any obstruction had to involve some kind of documents, probably wouldn’t stall any charges relating to the fake electors, which were after all about using fraudulent documents to overturn the vote certification. But it might lead DOJ to pause for other charges until the legal application is unquestioned. 18 USC 1512 is the charge on which DOJ has built its set of interlocking conspiracy charges, and so this decision is pretty important going forward.

Unlike the stolen document case, I can’t give you a date that would be the soonest possible date to expect indictments. But for a variety of reasons laid out here, unless DOJ were to indict on charges specifically focused on Mike Pence (with the possibility of superseding later), it probably would not be until March or April at the earliest.

…so…around about the same time rishi will be triumphantly announcing he’s solved all the issues surrounding northern ireland in the wake of everybody’s favorite self-inflicted calamity…that’ll be nice

To be clear, none of this is a guarantee that DOJ (or Willis) will indict Trump and/or his closest aides. It is, however, a summary of the reasons that are public that all these investigations have been taking steps that would have to happen before they could charge Trump, and that most have additional steps that would have to happen before prosecutors could even make a prosecutorial decision.
https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/11/14/merrick-garland-hasnt-done-the-specific-thing-you-want-because-doj-has-been-busy-doing-things-they-have-to-do-first/

…these optimistic timelines are all over the shop at the minute, at this rate they’ll be ten a penny before we’re through

“I think the fundamental organizational restructuring will be done this week,” Musk said of his work at Twitter, where he has claimed to be sleeping on the floor, at times, since acquiring it last month for $44 billion. He has also fired its top executives and laid off half the staff. He added that he expects to soon scale back his time at the company and will eventually find somebody else to run it.
[…]
Under questioning from the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Greg Varallo, Musk defended bringing Tesla engineers to Twitter to evaluate Twitter’s engineering staff ahead of mass layoffs at the social media site. He said their participation was “voluntary,” “after hours” and “a minor thing.” Pressed as to whether anyone on Tesla’s board had contacted Musk to suggest that it might be problematic to use a public company’s employees to help his other private company, Musk said he did not recall any such conversation.

…is “ask me no questions & I’ll tell you no lies” a valid legal defense? …asking for a “friend”

The trial highlights Musk’s singular position as a top executive of five companies at once, and calls into question whether the unorthodox terms of his leadership at Tesla are in the best interests of the automaker’s shareholders, or of Musk himself. It’s the second time in two years Musk has testified in a trial stemming from a Tesla shareholder lawsuit. In a 2021 case that questioned his role in Tesla’s 2016 acquisition of his cousins’ solar panel company, SolarCity, Musk prevailed.

…huh…so…maybe that’s a yes? …color me surprised

After Musk testified on direct questioning from Tesla lawyer Evan Chesler that he hadn’t been involved in any meetings discussing the substance of his pay plan, Varallo presented documents that appeared to imply that Musk may have in fact played a role in devising it.

Musk also seemed to acknowledge that some of his tweets may have violated the terms of a consent agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He defended them on the grounds that the agreement “was made under duress” and thus, in Musk’s opinion, “not valid.”

…so…I guess none of us are beholden to any of that T&C small print we have to click through to use things like [checks notes] twitter?

On a couple of occasions, Musk objected to questions as “misleading” or too complex to answer with a yes or no. Varallo told Musk: “When your lawyer wants to make an objection, he has the right to do it. Sadly, you don’t.”
[…]
Musk’s staggering compensation depended on Tesla hitting wildly ambitious targets for its market capitalization. He testified that when the plan was conceived, Tesla’s market value was about $40 billion. He would receive a large slice of Tesla stock, on the order of half a percent of the company, if that rose to $100 billion, and more for each additional $50 billion. In all, he acquired about 5 percent more of the company, on top of his previous Tesla stake of 22 percent.
[…]
A key issue in the trial is whether the board acted with appropriate oversight and independence in crafting and approving the pay package, or whether Musk himself played an improper role in orchestrating it. Varallo repeatedly emphasized Musk’s unorthodox and at times unilateral actions during his time as Tesla chief, from changing his title from CEO to “Technoking” to sending a Tesla Roadster into space, where it has spent the past four years orbiting the sun.
[…]
Wednesday’s testimony also shed light on some aspects of Musk’s management style. For instance, he acknowledged that Tesla often misses its own targets, from revenue goals to publicly announced timetables for shipping vehicles. But he said that’s by design.
[…]
Musk’s testimony concluded shortly after noon, after which former Tesla board member Antonio Gracias was called to the stand.
[…]
The plaintiffs are making the case in the trial that Musk wanted an astronomical pay package from Tesla to fund his plans for exploring and creating colonies on Mars. Musk acknowledged that’s a goal of his.

Gracias said in his testimony that Tesla’s board at one point considered hiring someone else to be CEO so that Musk could serve instead as chief product officer. But he said the board couldn’t find the right person for the job.

…hold that thought

When Musk said he expected to complete his fundamental restructuring of Twitter by the end of this week, Varallo replied, “We’ve heard you’re terribly bad at predicting things,” referring to past public predictions by Musk as Tesla CEO that did not come true.

“Well,” Musk demurred, “my record varies.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/16/elon-musk-tesla-trial-pay/

…you know what else varies? the degree of over/understatement at work in some of that…let’s see how a few bits sounded in the courtroom

"The funny thing the way this works is that—if I ask a complex question—you have a highly-paid lawyer who will stand up and say "Objection!" and her Honor will make a ruling, so would you be so kind as to answer my question?"

"Yes?" ::laughter bc no one remembers question::

/72

— The Chancery Daily (@chancery_daily) November 16, 2022

…always nice to know there’s time for a little light relief

"Would you have accepted a plan that effectively had a punch clock where you had to punch in and out at certain times at Tesla In order to get the compensation?"

"I mean, I just pretty much work all the time w/rare exceptions. So, I don't know what that would've achieved."

/23

— The Chancery Daily (@chancery_daily) November 16, 2022

…weirdly the thread about elon testifying was having a bunch of unusual technical issues which kept making tweets vanish & breaking the thread…which you might think would be one of the things keeping el-always-on-line so busy…except

correction on /29 above:

"Did you consult with the board before giving yourself the title?"

He said no at his depo and he says yes today.

/31

— The Chancery Daily (@chancery_daily) November 16, 2022

"In connection with a settlement w/the SEC, Tesla agreed to form a permanent board committee charged with overseeing implementation of the SEC settlements and controls governing Tesla's management in public statements regarding Tesla, is that right?

Yes."

/42

— The Chancery Daily (@chancery_daily) November 16, 2022

"During the most recent Tesla earnings call, did you say that the board was considering a five to $10 billion buyback of Tesla stock?

Yes.

Did the board or anyone else authorize you giving that statement before you gave it?

No."

/45

— The Chancery Daily (@chancery_daily) November 16, 2022

Elon on the SEC tweet: "I believe I suggested having a naming contest for a three-letter acronym, middle word is Elon's."

In deposition, Elon described it as a rorscach test—and then walked straight into the definition of it as "save ELON's company"

Varallo's masterful.

/51

— The Chancery Daily (@chancery_daily) November 16, 2022

Then he puts up a summary of the background of the transaction, and basically makes clear that Musk can't object to it or dispute it, because he's just gone clearly on the record that he has no recollection of things prior to that certain date.

/56

— The Chancery Daily (@chancery_daily) November 16, 2022

Then he puts board of directors meeting minutes in front of Elon where Elon is marked as present, and asks if it can be inferred then that the compensation plan was not discussed if Elon is there.

/58

— The Chancery Daily (@chancery_daily) November 16, 2022

…well

"I'm trying to take the set of actions that maximize the probability for the good of civilization. If I overallocate time to Tesla at the expense of humanity becoming a multiplanetary species, then I'm not sure that would serve the greater good."

/71

— The Chancery Daily (@chancery_daily) November 16, 2022

We're back on the "I remember just enough to help my case" but "not enough to hurt my case" dichotomy, and when memories came back.

"There's a lot of things going on here," Elon says.

/88

— The Chancery Daily (@chancery_daily) November 16, 2022

y'all really need to dial in to hear this guy's accent. it's amazing.

then you also get to hear gracias say things like:

"Elon is a genius with the abiity to combine electrical, mechanical, and neuroscience engineering in a way that is extraordinary and I've never seen."

/95

— The Chancery Daily (@chancery_daily) November 16, 2022

we're rolling through the various relationship aspects between Gracias and Musk — some new things not mentioned specifically in the pre-trial brief, including President's Day Jackson Hole something-or-others.

here's what is highlighted in the pre-trial brief ⤵️

/115 pic.twitter.com/jV5A3cl5es

— The Chancery Daily (@chancery_daily) November 16, 2022

everyone rich is friends with everyone rich

all the rich people have parties and ski things and you're not invited

/117

— The Chancery Daily (@chancery_daily) November 16, 2022

Gracias: "At some point, the Board should say, he can't meet his obligations, but no, there's nothing contractual.

There is no time restriction."

/122

— The Chancery Daily (@chancery_daily) November 16, 2022

…I guess all those “rare exceptions” must be piling up…unless this is work?

Among the first he interacted with upon assuming control of Twitter was an anonymous, anti-“woke” reactionary known as “Catturd,” who believes that the previous leadership had “shadowbanned, ghostbanned” and “searchbanned” them, effectively limiting their reach on the site. Musk responded to a post about these alleged issues, promising Catturd that he’d be “digging in more.” Meanwhile, Catturd went about their usual business: casting doubt on the legitimacy of American elections and the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines while denying the reality of climate change and calling liberals “triggered.”
[…]
Musk has also accepted counsel from Ian Miles Cheong, a right-wing culture warrior who continually weighs in on American politics from his home in Malaysia. He has criticized Covid-19 vaccine mandates (recently arguing that Americans who die of the disease “are typically fat as hell“) and thinks that trans rights advocates “force their beliefs” on others. In the past, he’s praised Adolf Hitler, and, like Catturd, he hates anything he considers “woke” — which is probably why he told Musk to “stop appeasing the activists,” i.e., anyone raising the alarm about hate speech on Twitter. Musk replied, “You’re right.”

You’re right

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2022

Elsewhere, Musk has replied to a user with 300 followers alleging that Brazil’s latest presidential election was stolen — a claim spread by supporters of the losing candidate, Jair Bolsonaro, as well as right-wingers in the U.S., without a shred of evidence. Although Musk did not explicitly agree with the claim, he was open to hearing if election fraud had been “proven.”
[…]
Musk has chatted about Twitter’s fact-checking systems with Mike Solana, a venture capitalist at Founders Fund, which was co-founded by Peter Thiel, a billionaire Trump donor who has become the chief financier of MAGA candidates, including some still contesting the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. Solana runs something called “Hereticon,” a “conference for thoughtcrime” pitched as an event for the intellectual dark web: “Imagine a conference for people banned from other conferences,” reads the official description. “Imagine a safe space for people who don’t feel safe in safe spaces.” Solana, too, has implied that U.S. elections are illegitimate. And he, like Catturd, is paying for his blue check.
[…]
Impressively, Musk keeps finding worse people to listen to. Just today, he could be found in the replies to Second Amendment poster-boy Kyle Rittenhouse, who at age 17 shot three people and killed two at a 2020 protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, was acquitted of murder, and has himself become the proud owner of an $8 checkmark after failing to be verified under Twitter’s old rules. But Musk wasn’t talking directly to Rittenhouse. Instead, he was replying to another paid blue-check account called @FBIPantyRaid, a conservative “parody” account that — you guessed it — spreads election and anti-vaxx conspiracy theories. Musk was struck by their baseless theory that all the negative replies Rittenhouse receives are from bots, and commented, “Interesting.”
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/elon-musk-twitter-advice-right-wing-troll

Interesting

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 14, 2022

…is it, tho? …or is it “interesting” that hypothesis skips past the implication that people-who-pay-for-the-appearance-of-legtimacy & people-willing-to-simp-for-the-likes-of-these is a self-selecting venn diagram with no need for more than the single circle…who can say? …I do know that when I first saw that “interesting” response in rittenhouse’s replies I assumed I was looking at some kind of photoshopped effort to make the man look like an asshole…which seemed like gilding the lily…but…no…he actually is that much of a fucking asshole…still…if this is the beginning of the end for anything good about twitter…in the words of monty python…keep ’em laughing as you go

10. We have streamlined the process to report violations of our safety policy. To notify our staff about any threat of violence, abuse, hateful conduct or offensive language, the user only has to answer one question:

"Did you die, tho? "

— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) October 28, 2022

5. We are DEFINITELY reading your DMs

— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) October 28, 2022

3. Ain't nobody got time for no fact-checking shit!

— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) October 28, 2022

1. Moving forward, Twitter will be pronounced with a "hard R."

— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) October 28, 2022

…& what do you know…I’ve made it all the way down here with barely a mention of mr multiply-impeached-serial-bankrupt-bigly-loser…which is sort of weird…because it took the NYT pretty much every slot in their opinion section to say maybe we ought to spend less time paying attention to that guy…or more specifically “How Is It Possible We Are Still Talking About This Man?“…even bedbugs-brett & mr I-doubt-that piled on to that bandwagon…just sayin’