January 29, 2021
In a heated political climate, it’s always tempting to paint your opponents as extremists. It’s the American way! We don’t engage in nuanced debates about the merits of arguments we disagree with. We re-cast others as despots, fascists, Communists and above all “Nazis,” and argue with
those fake people. This makes for pretty entertaining conversations, with two people debating a fictional final boss that only exists in their minds. Unfortunately, it also means nothing is really being debated. It’s just a performance.
We’ve seen this a lot in the last few weeks. Two high-profile Southern Baptists have now referred to Vice-President Kamala Harris as a “Jezebel” (interesting how you never hear men referred to as an “Ahab.” Wonder why?) On the left, evidence that Russian operatives waged online misinformation campaigns has been inflated into fantastical speculation about Putin as a Machiavellian puppet master with the entirety of the Repub
You know, while it s probably not the way people who talk about how much they love bipartisanship envisioned bipartisanship happening, this is the kind of bipartisanship that would actually be pretty good. In fact, if everyone could work together to make hedge fund billionaire Leon Cooperman whine more about how mean and unfair everyone is to billionaires, that would be a beautiful thing. But Ted Cruz cannot be invited to that party.
Given the way that Cruz s actions and rhetoric contributed to the January 6 insurrection that very well could have cost her and her coworkers their lives, AOC was not interested in holding hands and singing Kumbaya and was more than happy to tell him so.
Why Robinhood Had to Risk Infuriating Its Customers
The online broker raised $1 billion to prop itself up. Overcoming customer anger may be harder.
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A protester outside Robinhood’s California headquarters decrying trading limits on GameStop and other stocks. Credit.Ian C. Bates for The New York Times
‘The entire community is outraged’
Robinhood had to raise $1 billion from investors yesterday to help it cover cash demands during the week’s trading frenzy, while traders and lawmakers sharply criticized the online broker for halting some trading in Reddit-touted stocks. In short: The consequences of the mania in GameStop, AMC and other stocks are becoming more concrete and, in Robinhood’s case, more serious.
GOP lawmaker demands AOC apologize to Cruz for tweets
Texas Rep. Chip Roy objected to claims N.Y. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made in her Twitter back-and-forth with Ted Cruz.
A Texas Republican congressman sent a letter to House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi Thursday calling for her to demand an apology from his fiery Democratic colleague, New York Rep.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Rep.
Chip Roy objected to allegations Ocasio-Cortez made in a Twitter back-and-forth she had this week with Texas Sen.
Ted Cruz.
Republican Texas Rep. Chip Roy testifies before a 2019 House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on “The Trump Administration’s Child Separation Policy: Substantiated Allegations of Mistreatment.” (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Billionaires Bicker Over Space Toys
They should instead focus on the big question: Can satellites bring internet access to billions?
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Small satellites could help bring internet access to more of the world’s citizens. That’s cool.
You know what’s uncool? Rich dudes fighting over whose space toys are better.
Let me tell you about the satellite spat between Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, the technology they’re working on and the risks of over relying on tech to tackle complex problems.
Here goes: Musk’s SpaceX rocket company, Amazon and other rich companies are working on networks of relatively small satellites that beam internet access to the ground. These networks orbit at lower levels than conventional satellites and are cheaper to make and launch.