Spring link cleaning: politics, environmental issues, war, and/or abuses of power

[erinptah]

2022:

“A flight attendant for SpaceX said Elon Musk asked her to “do more” during a massage, documents show. The billionaire founder exposed his penis to her and offered to buy her a horse, according to claims in a declaration.”

December 2023:

“The lead contamination in recalled cinnamon applesauce pouches that potentially poisoned at least 65 children may have been intentional, the Food and Drug Administration said on Friday.” Not intentional poisoning, but intentional cost-cutting.

“Bar:PM’s other co-owner, James Pence, spoke to the RFT this morning and said that it was the police who came at bar staff aggressively, even beyond the fact they drove an SUV into their business.”

“The woman referred to as “Witness 1” in Taake’s FBI affidavit has previously recalled how “comically minimal ego-stroking” from her led Trump supporters to give her information about their activities on Jan. 6. […] Her strategy, she said, was to say, “Wow, crazy, tell me more,” on repeat until guys gave her enough to send their information to the FBI.”

“It’s an open secret in fashion. Unsold inventory goes to the incinerator; excess handbags are slashed so they can’t be resold; perfectly usable products are sent to the landfill to avoid discounts and flash sales. The European Union wants to put an end to these unsustainable practices. On Monday, it banned the destruction of unsold textiles and footwear.”

January 2024:

“I’m a pediatrician, so I didn’t expect to be of great use in a war zone. I’m disheartened and really disturbed to say that I had many, many pediatric patients who were war-wounded, burned orphans, traumatic amputations, and that is something different than what I witnessed in Iraq, or elsewhere.”

“The BBC has now spoken to these young women about the escalation in suspicious activity they observed, the reports they filed, and what they saw as a lack of response from senior Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officers. […] To some of them it became a dark joke: who would be on duty when the inevitable attack came?”

March 2024:

Remarks by President Biden at the Gridiron Club and Foundation Dinner: “Our big plan to cancel student debt doesn’t apply to everyone. Just yesterday, a defeated-looking man came up to me and said, “I’m being crushed by debt. I’m completely wiped out.” I said, “Sorry, Donald, I can’t help you.””

Comments

[lb_lee]

In the first link, Musk is quoted as saying that if he was sexually harassing people, this wouldn't be the first time it's come up.

It's like, buddy, you're the richest man in the world. Do you not have an assistant whose job it is to keep you from saying stupid shit like that?

[erinptah]

Hah! The great genius Elon needs no "assistants" to improve the brilliant pearls of wisdom that fall perfectly-formed out of his mouth! That's millionaire thinking, that is.

[lb_lee]

Mori: I can't lie, I sometimes still think about that damned Cybertruck and how it fucking rusts because of course it fucking does, it's naked steel, and I think about how mad it made me for what seemed to be absurd frivolous reasons in 2020...

...and then I see that I apparently magically pegged this dude just from that and feel like the worst oracle.