Imperialism
Israel
Palestine
Fig. 1. The ruins of a terminal at the Gaza airport. Image by Said Khatib (Agence France-Presse) on September 9, 2018, via the Times of Israel,[1] fair use.
An Israeli intelligence ‘concept paper’ proposed relocating Gazans to the Sinai desert—which is part of Egypt.[2] A lot of folks are worried that something like that is still the plan.[3]
Abby Sewell, “Hamas official says group would lay down its arms if an independent Palestinian state is established,” Associated Press, April 25, 2024, https://apnews.com/article/hamas-khalil-alhayya-qatar-ceasefire-1967-borders-4912532b11a9cec29464eab234045438
Ishaan Tharoor, “Israel could still force an exodus into Egypt,” Washington Post, April 26, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/04/26/gaza-egypt-exodus-rafah-invasion/
Russia
Ukraine
Fig. 2. “Destroyed Russian military vehicles located on the main street Khreshchatyk are seen as part of the celebration of the Independence Day of Ukraine in Kyiv, August 24.” Photograph by Gleb Garanich for Reuters, August 24, 2022,[4] fair use.
Michael Birnbaum and Christian Shepherd, “Blinken warns China to address its support for Russia or ‘we will,’” Washington Post, April 26, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/25/blinken-china-wang-yi-beijing/
Neoliberalism
Self-driving cars
Fig. 3. Photograph by Mark Doliner, August 1, 2012, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
Elon Musk doesn’t want it fixed. The December recall[5] was criticized at the time for not really fixing anything.[6] And so the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is likely finding.[7]
Ian Duncan and Trisha Thadani, “Regulators launch review of whether Tesla did enough to fix Autopilot,” Washington Post, April 26, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/04/26/tesla-nhtsa-autopilot-recall-investigation/
Neoliberalism
Banking
Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and Credit Suisse, 2023-2024
Fig. 4. “The monument sign in front of the parking lot of the Silicon Valley Bank headquarters at 3003 West Tasman Drive, Santa Clara, California.” Photograph by Minh Nguyen, March 13, 2023, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Felix Salmon, “Republic First Bank seized by regulators, sold to Fulton Bank,” Axios, April 26, 2024, https://www.axios.com/2024/04/27/republic-first-bank-failure
Electric vehicles
Fig. 5. “A Toyota bZ4X electric sport utility vehicle: EVs currently on the market are fitted with batteries that use liquid lithium-ion electrolytes.” Photograph by Kiyoshi Ota, n.d., via Financial Times, fair use.
[Hertz] said it plans to get rid of 10,000 more EVs than it initially planned this year. Now Hertz intends to sell off 30,000 EVs in 2024, after taking a $195 million charge last quarter because of the depreciation of its fleet. That hit, when combined with a $245 million write-down in the last quarter of 2024, means Hertz has lost $440 million on its failed bet on electric cars led by former CEO Stephen Sherr.
The new round of sell-offs leaves Hertz with just 30,000 EVs in its fleet.[8]
If folks are worried about a lack of enthusiasm for electric cars, then first, they need to get Elon Musk under control. Second, the very point of an electric car for anyone like me isn’t just that you save money on fuel costs, but that I’m getting rid of internal combustion maintenance issues. If electric vehicles are indeed less reliable,[9] that would be a complete fail for me.
I think the folks who wait for Toyota’s solid state batteries[10] are going to be looking a lot smarter than any Musk fanboy.
William Gavin, “Hertz is ditching even more electric cars,” Quartz, April 26, 2024, https://qz.com/hertz-ev-sales-tesla-rental-cars-1851438100
Illiberalism
Gilead
Donald Trump
Hush money
Fig. 6. Cartoon by Jesse Duquette, undated, via “Minneapple23” [pseud.] on Imgur, April 1, 2023, fair use.
Elie Honig, “Donald Trump Is a Special Kind of Courtroom-Discipline Problem,” New York, April 26, 2024, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/what-does-donald-trump-gag-order-mean.html
- [1]Times of Israel, “20 years after its opening, destroyed Gaza airport embodies grounded peace hopes,” September 12, 2018, https://www.timesofisrael.com/20-years-after-its-opening-destroyed-gaza-airport-embodies-grounded-peace-hopes/↩
- [2]Times of Israel, “Intelligence Ministry ‘concept paper’ proposes transferring Gazans to Egypt’s Sinai,” October 31, 2023, https://www.timesofisrael.com/intelligence-ministry-concept-paper-proposes-transferring-gazans-to-egypts-sinai/↩
- [3]Ishaan Tharoor, “Israel could still force an exodus into Egypt,” Washington Post, April 26, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/04/26/gaza-egypt-exodus-rafah-invasion/↩
- [4]Reuters, “Ukraine puts destroyed Russian tanks on display in Kyiv,” August 25, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/ukraine-puts-destroyed-russian-tanks-on-idUSRTSALV9Q↩
- [5]Gareth Vipers, “Tesla to Recall More Than Two Million Vehicles Over Autopilot Safety Concerns,” Wall Street Journal, December 13, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/tesla-recalls-more-than-two-million-vehicles-over-autopilot-safety-concerns-274eb6e6; Jeremy White, “Tesla Is Recalling Nearly All Vehicles Sold in US to Fix an Autopilot Fault,” Wired, December 13, 2023, https://www.wired.com/story/tesla-us-recall-autopilot-fault/↩
- [6]Faiz Siddiqui and Trisha Thadani, “Recalling almost every Tesla in America won’t fix safety issues, experts say,” Washington Post, December 16, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/12/16/tesla-autopilot-recall/↩
- [7]Ian Duncan and Trisha Thadani, “Regulators launch review of whether Tesla did enough to fix Autopilot,” Washington Post, April 26, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/04/26/tesla-nhtsa-autopilot-recall-investigation/↩
- [8]William Gavin, “Hertz is ditching even more electric cars,” Quartz, April 26, 2024, https://qz.com/hertz-ev-sales-tesla-rental-cars-1851438100↩
- [9]William Gavin, “Hertz is ditching even more electric cars,” Quartz, April 26, 2024, https://qz.com/hertz-ev-sales-tesla-rental-cars-1851438100↩
- [10]Akito Tanaka et al., “Toyota bets on solid-state as CATL eyes Thailand,” Financial Times, June 15, 2023, https://www.ft.com/content/09e23ac9-f73a-4104-aa2e-33ea48eba67a↩