Neoliberalism
Self-driving cars
Fig. 1. Photograph by Mark Doliner, August 1, 2012, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
Apparently, this latest incident in San Francisco’s North Beach, which is just about the last neighborhood on the planet you want this too happen, was also caused by cellular network issues.[1]
I deal with cellular data coverage issues all day long in Pittsburgh, where the terrain is far hillier—it’s the fucking Appalachian Mountains for crying out loud—than San Francisco, certainly hillier than anyplace in North Beach where robotaxis might be expected to congregate. My observation has been that coverage went completely to hell when they introduced 5G.
And you may accordingly infer something pretty unfavorable about the prospects for success with self-driving cars when the companies developing this technology actually hallucinate that mobile data coverage is anywhere near up to the job.
Russ Mitchell, “San Francisco’s North Beach streets clogged as long line of Cruise robotaxis come to a standstill,” Los Angeles Times, August 12, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-08-12/cruise-robotaxis-come-to-a-standstill
Illiberalism
Israel
Fig. 1. “Sara Netanyahu, wife of the Prime Minister of Israel, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu signing the visitors book, at Teen Murti Chowk, in New Delhi. . . . The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi is also seen.” Photograph credited to Prime Minister's Office (GODL-India), January 14, 2018, via Wikimedia Commons, GODL-India
Methinks Binyamin Netanyahu is feeling some heat.
Times of Israel, “PM said to have shouted at IDF chiefs: ‘It looks like the army is running the country,’” August 14, 2023, https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-said-to-shout-at-top-generals-over-public-warnings-on-idf-fitness/
Gilead
Abortion, reproductive freedom and health
Fig. 1. Sign at demonstration in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, May 3, 2022. Janni Rye, via Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
Abortion rights activists qualifed their abortion rights measure for the Ohio ballot and White Christian nationalists promptly sued to get it disqualified. And they lost. Unanimously.[2] This after the white Christian nationalists had failed to raise the threshold for amending the state constitution (to make the abortion rights measure harder to pass).[3]
And folks are starting to notice that abortion just ain’t the winning electoral issue that white Christian nationalists thought it would be.[4] Give it time: There will be ramifications.
Jessie Balmert, “Ohio Supreme Court rejects legal challenge, clears path for November abortion rights vote,” Cincinnati Enquirer, August 11, 2023, https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2023/08/11/ohio-supreme-court-rejects-legal-challenge-to-abortion-rights-issue/70567955007/
- [1]Russ Mitchell, “San Francisco’s North Beach streets clogged as long line of Cruise robotaxis come to a standstill,” Los Angeles Times, August 12, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-08-12/cruise-robotaxis-come-to-a-standstill↩
- [2]Jessie Balmert, “Ohio Supreme Court rejects legal challenge, clears path for November abortion rights vote,” Cincinnati Enquirer, August 11, 2023, https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2023/08/11/ohio-supreme-court-rejects-legal-challenge-to-abortion-rights-issue/70567955007/↩
- [3]Andrew J. Tobias and Jake Zuckerman, “Ohio voters reject State Issue 1, defeating hurdle for abortion-rights vote in November,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, August 8, 2023, https://www.cleveland.com/news/2023/08/ohio-voters-reject-state-issue-1-defeating-hurdle-for-abortion-rights-vote-in-november.html↩
- [4]Matt Ford, “Voters Keep Thwarting the Right’s Plans to Build Their Post-Dobbs Dystopia,” New Republic, August 11, 2023, https://newrepublic.com/article/174956/voters-stomping-anti-abortion-movement↩