Friday Potpourri: 25 April 2025

Apr 25, 2025

I know y’all know about Elmo’s most recent Tesla failure (the first quarter financials) - but did you know that if not for the US government and its credits, instead of making LESS, the company would have LOST money?

Yeah, it makes me happy, too.

Tesla earned $595 million in regulatory credits in Q1. But its total net income for the quarter was $409 million.
This means that without those regulatory credits, Tesla would have posted a -$189 million loss in Q1. Source.

What better way to celebrate the end of the work week than watching Elmo fail?

We all know that Harvard fought back against the fascist regime. And you’ve likely seen the letter in support from hundreds (more keep signing) college and university presidents. It’s worth reading. You’ve heard about the lawsuit.

You might also have seen this:

The decision to refuse to appease, to stand and fight, and to take the Feds to court was decided by “The Harvard Corporation”, which is effectually their Board. And some people on the Board wanted to fight with everything Harvard has. Others were less convinced, fearing what could happen in the future.

But here’s what you might not have known. One of the Board members who was adamant that Harvard must stand is a guy named Theodore “Ted” V. Wells Jr. His name is likely unfamiliar to you, but he’s a named partner at Paul, Weiss, the first law firm to kowtow.

We can learn from our mistakes.

Adulting

Next week is the Canadian Federal election. Fingers crossed for Mark Carney and the entire Liberal Party. OH! How I wish he wins AND is granted legal guardianship of the US, since he IS a competent adult.

I actually think that’s the major problem with the fascist regime — they lack adulting skills. They actually give courses on adulting now. Not joking. Courses cover things like personal responsibility, self-improvement, health and finances.

Think about what it would have meant if there were actual adults involved. They would have understood their responsibility TO AND FOR the American people, the criticality of following the US Constitution and the rule of law, and also:

Pete would have stopped drinking, followed the rules, and not given away military secrets. Under “self-improvement” he would have concentrated on trying to learn to do his job instead of concentrating on make-up. Honest.

Pete and I have something in common: I, too, have Signal on my computer. I have family members associated with my Signal. Pete and I diverge in terms of what is shared. For example, I have no access to anything secret or compromising. If someone broke into my Signal app, they’d see family things like: “If you go to the Wegmans, please remember we need milk.”
Scott Bessent and Howard Lutnick, who actually understand finance, would have taken “Ron Vara”, hog-tied him and put him a closet while they explained the disaster of across the board tariffs to the Orange Idiot. As an aside, I have heard (I cannot prove, and therefore it’s just a rumor) that his love of tariffs (in addition to his misunderstanding of history) is that he believes other countries should pay a premium to be involved with the US — in the same way that he likes that MAGA idiots pay a premium to belong to Mar-a-Lardo.
And health!!! I’m going to skip over the food dyes except to say that while they may be imperfect, they are far less important than MMR vaccines, stopping bird flu from becoming a pandemic, ensuring testing and evaluation of potential food disasters like, oh, eColi, etc. etc. etc.

But I’ll mention autism. It’s a spectrum, and we need to recognize that. It’s also NOT NEW, only our testing abilities are.

Action Item for people in Pennsylvania

If you live in Pennsylvania, the primary is on 20 May, less than one month from now. Because there are cross-filed Board of Ed candidates and judicial candidates, and we want the Democrats to win, here’s your assignment for this weekend.

Ask EVERY PERSON YOU SEE