James Surowiecki on Xitter has figured out the formula used to compute the #trumpTariffs and it’s dumber than you ever expected. Like, STUPENDOUSLY stupid. I wouldn’t even be surprised if you told me they used AI to come up with this nonseniscal scheme.

Be sure to catch Trump’s Deputy White House Press Secretary try to dispute Surowiecki’s assertion by publishing the formula they used…which confirms Surowiecki’s assertion.

Read the formula here https://ustr.gov/issue-areas/reciprocal-tariff-calculations and marvel at the fancy Greek constants they chose ε = ¼ and Φ = 4 which multiply together to cancel each other out, and leave behind exactly what Surowiecki asserted. Hilarious.

#kakistocracy #incompetence

Sources:

https://xcancel.com/JamesSurowiecki/status/1907559189234196942#m

https://xcancel.com/JamesSurowiecki/status/1907564123862257863#m

https://xcancel.com/JamesSurowiecki/status/1907657860793696281#m

mass mobilization is bad for the consultant class. they don't even want the normies to do it. they want us to sit by ourselves in our big houses and send money whenever they ask for it.

i will add to this that it's not just the "progressive left" that Democrats abandon. they are against ANY kind of mass mobilization. Obama had a huge digital grassroots organization that he just abandoned once he became president. likewise, the Democrats did basically nothing to support and connect with all the Women's March organizations. and now they are **pleading** with the base to do nothing.

all my love and support goes out to the people trying to bootstrap a new opposition movement. the Tesla Takedown, the pro-Palestine organizers, the people who shout obscenities at townhalls. these people are heroes, but the institutional Democratic Party is always working behind the scenes to undermine them.

there is no strong opposition movement in the United States because the mainstream Democrats **don't want one** and they have done everything possible to discourage the formation of one.

the people who typically lead protest movements--students, people of color, people with values--have been systematically maligned and marginalized by mainstream Democrats and their allies in the conservative media (New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, etc.). most of the national lawmakers who aligned with the protest movement were removed from office.

for the people in Europe wondering why Americans don't protest, they did. 2020-2021 saw the biggest protest movement in American history. and then the cops beat the shit out of everyone, and when the Democrats re-took power on the backs of those protesters, they gave all the cops raises and threw the movement under a bus.

sidewalk potato 🥔

I'll be honest, I don't intend to submit academic papers to US-based journals and conferences anymore.

1. Self-censorship of science at US universities and scientific organizations is in full swing and I see virtually no institutional resistance (although some individual scholars are protesting). I don't expect to get a fair hearing with human rights-oriented empirical legal research in peer review any longer.

2. The way this is going I would expect even currently neutral journals to fold within the usual timeframe of a paper review process. I don't feel like burning a paper in the hopes of getting it published before the door closes.

3. I prefer to submit my research to journals backed by institutions that support human dignity, diversity and the freedom of scientific research.

We've all seen where this went in Europe during the 1930s. I hope the US will learn from our history, but I am not optimistic right now.

#AcademicMastodon #ScienceMastodon

this is one of the all-time greats.

honestly think a lot of what has happened over the last 15yrs is because Americans are comfortable, bored, and isolated. add some algorithmic social media and a 24/7 conservative hate-cycle and here we are.

this one is worth spreading.

human: [saves the life of a majestic snowy owl]

mouse: what the fuck.

the Framework 12 laptop is cool as shit and i want one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ejl-7X74tgc

hooooooly shit. yikes.

found a potato out on the sidewalk! jackpot. gonna fry it for breakfast.

this kind of thing is psychotic. wtf.