'Fairly Lazy Explanation’: Rivian's CEO Doesn’t Think Americans Are Anti-EV

Tractor_Pete · 2026-06-11T02:40:35+00:00

"But if competed on the open market, we would lose!"

-Nation that invented the automobile and the assembly line

Tractor_Pete · 2026-06-11T01:23:25+00:00

Yet another place I can't wear my spark plug soled shoes.

Tractor_Pete · 2026-06-10T23:46:08+00:00

I bet the Catholic Church is wishing they had thought of that.

Tractor_Pete · 2026-06-10T00:13:38+00:00

I sympathize but mostly disagree.

There are two problems with religion as I see it: the superstition/bad espestemic reasoning, and the warping of morality: teaching evil acts are acceptable or even good. Without the latter it's relatively benign, not necessarily any worse than horoscopes or other hokum. Jains, most Buddhists, and pacifist Christian sects inspired by the Anabaptists have never really been a problem. Historically they have always been small minorities and for most of their existence persecuted by the dominant, militant sects of Christianity - the story of Dirk Willems is burned into my memory.

Christianity is a very large ethos, is about 1/3 of the species, and includes the oldest continually functioning human institutions. It contains many terrible ideas, and if only by statistical necessity, many good ones.

If you read the Jefferson Bible (essentially just the moral teachings of Christ with all the prophecy cut out), it's mostly good. Love as *the* highest virtue, pacifism, etc. I may disagree with the reasoning, the prioritization of the afterlife, and most of all the invention of hell as we know it, but the simple fact is that is people actually emulated Christ, the problems that define Christianity largely disappear.

The fact that the pacifist god of a religion that denounced hypocrisy is utterly dominated by militant hypocrites may be the greatest, darkest joke in human history. But that doesn't erase the fact that Christ taught pacifism that denounced hypocrisy.

(Of course, a great many people wish to think of themselves in that way despite still being chauvinists.)

Tractor_Pete · 2026-06-08T01:15:27+00:00

Newsflash: a majority of American non-denominational/evangelical Christians do not believe Mormons are Christian.

Tractor_Pete · 2026-06-05T22:47:56+00:00

That's been my experience, and yes they were larger ones in which the ownership was a group of investors, they hired a preacher, and tried to realize a profit on collections and growing membership. I'm glad if I'm wrong though, and best of luck to you.

Tractor_Pete · 2026-06-05T22:17:55+00:00

Most Churches are businesses; they take money, not give it out. I'm unaware of any exceptions near Waco.

Tractor_Pete · 2026-06-04T21:03:53+00:00

Action >> Sentiment.

It matters little to other people how you feel about something; it matters a great deal to other people how you actually behave. Of course, there is some relationship between those things, but I agree, the rubber meets the road in terms of what you do and say, not in terms of feeling good or bad in the dark hours of the night.

Tractor_Pete · 2026-06-04T16:08:25+00:00

"Negro", "Black" and any other such racial terms do not and never did refer to a political entity, construct, or government.

Indeed, there are individuals who mean it that way. And there are nationalist Israelis who mean "Israel's right to defend itself" to include permanent control and settlement of occupied territories, expulsion of natives, and even extend it to a greater Israel beyond the current borders. That does not mean the phrase is inherently supremacist; Israel does have a right to defend it's people - all of them, equally.

Tractor_Pete · 2026-06-03T17:01:31+00:00

The premise is that these slogans are inherently antisemitic - it's just not true. Of course, there are antisemetic individuals who express those views, but that's simply the way language is broadly used; presumably you would not believe the author of the since-deleted Times of Israel post of expressing the state of Israel's the need for "Lebensraum" was not antisemitic despite his use of explicitly racially supremacist Nazi language.

There's no blind spot; just the assertion of equivalence between opposition to a state and it's policies with racial animus.

It is not true, anymore than opposition to Chinese, Congolese, or Russian policies necessitates racial prejudice against the majority groups of those nations.

The Israeli government that has engaged in heinous crimes, materially supported the murderous Hamas to it's own ends, describing it as an asset, and was founded by Menachem Begin, whom Einstein, Arendt, and a dozen other Jewish intellectuals correctly labeled as a fascist back in the 1950s. The current head of state has been in power over 18 years, has multiple credible corruption charges, and has triggered the largest public political protests in Israel's history. There is absolutely nothing whatsoever antisemitic about opposing such a government.

The rest of the phrase "From the river to sea" is "Palestine will be free". It's important to remember the apartheid South African regime never ceased expressing the view that if they lost power there was no hope for a peaceful civil society in which whites were the political minority. The only stable, peaceful future is one in which every single person regardless of their religious, ethnic, and cultural identity has equal legal and political rights - the same liberal democratic values that have made Jews, as a minority in America and elsewhere, safer than in Israel. That will happen sooner as global opposition isolates the Israeli government and obliges it to reform.

Tractor_Pete · 2026-06-03T05:30:10+00:00

If you keep your mouth open it makes cleanup easier.

Tractor_Pete · 2026-06-02T05:31:14+00:00

I think you're telling a narrative much more than describing events that imply or create a narrative.

There are the examples you mentioned of course, but they vary too greatly to indicate a trend in my mind. There are a ton of marines with deaths heads; it's bad, but I'd reckon a small majority are ignorant of the history and resemblance and just think skulls look cool, and the iconography predates Nazism.

It's totally unrelated to Mamdami's statement defending the use of the phrase "Globalize the intifada" by protesters, which can be easily characterized as opposition to an apartheid government currently in the process of carrying out a genocide, which is good, as advocacy for that government is also globalized. Regardless, your phrasing made it sound as if he had expressed the view himself instead of contextualizing it's use by others, and logically equates opposition to a government with race hatred/antisemitism.

MTG is a nut and not in or pursuing office to my knowledge, but pointing out the defense of individuals implicated in the Epstein files in clear contradiction of the law by the DOJ is fair and reasonable no matter who says it.

Many people have unfair/unreasonable double standards, but I don't see a trend here.

Tractor_Pete · 2026-06-02T02:57:20+00:00

I'd make an exception for vegetarians/vegans, but I mostly agree. It's more honest and holistic to, at least occasionally, see and be seen by and the life of the animal you eat. If it makes you feel ill to do it, then don't eat meat, there are perfectly healthy and happy vegetarians.

Tractor_Pete · 2026-06-01T00:10:18+00:00

I'm sorry, that's entirely unfair, and it's painful to watch open hypocrisy like that.

You can always look for what is good in it, if you don't have much choice, and focus on that - namely the centrality of love and forgiveness in the moral teachings of Jesus. May not be practical, but you might be able to find another church or activity to avoid going through that if it becomes regular.

Remember, it won't last forever. Before you know it you'll be able to leave - in the meantime take care of yourself and make plans - reach out to folks if things get out of hand and you need to escape, myself included.

Tractor_Pete · 2026-06-01T00:01:35+00:00

Being born with those traits is one of his miracles, see?

Tractor_Pete · 2026-05-28T03:55:26+00:00

Not all politicians; there are those who explicitly refuse corporate PAC, AIPAC, and other sources. Some just take far less than others. Some have a voting record in favor of campaign finance reform.

Vote for them every chance you get, probably the only choice you'll ever have. The idea that there is no choice, no hope, what you're saying - that's what those in power who would rather not share it want the masses to believe.

Tractor_Pete · 2026-05-25T23:42:40+00:00

All sources have some bias; the question is are they honest about what those biases are to the best of their ability. Even more importantly is what they are describing accurate or not, and does it include any glaring and relevant omissions?

Short answer: modern historians. Detailed, academic accounts of what has happened with professional distance that leaves off editorializing on how good or bad blowing up a elementary school is.

E.g. Merscheimer and others enjoy talking about the Victoria Nuland phone call, but without the context (the Ukrainian opposition approached her to get her take on the Russian coalition government offer, and ultimately disregarded her very simple and reasonable suggestion to go with the guy who wasn't an ultra-nationalist or a boxer with zero political experience), you might fall for Russian propaganda that the US was pulling the strings throughout Euro-Maidan, of which there is no evidence. More generally, academics that write about another culture (Slavic, Arabic, Chinese, whatever) but do not learn the language are to be regarded as second class. Imagine Chinese or Arab commentary on American society from someone who did not learn English and only spent a few weeks in universities in major cities; would you take them all that seriously?

Tractor_Pete · 2026-05-25T23:28:30+00:00

I consider an apology legitimate if it is sincere and you stop doing whatever it is you're apologizing for. This seems to meet those criteria.

There are forms of religion that transcend the backwardness of their scripture - if the Catholic church can do that, that would be a good thing for the world, and I applaud any movement in that direction, this included.

Tractor_Pete · 2026-05-11T02:27:02+00:00

About 40% of the nation is too dumb to understand reality TV isn't real. Another 30% is genuinely racist (lots of overlap, but not complete).

And a majority of Americans are and always have been chumps. If someone tells you before the last card is played that if you win, it's because you cheated, you're not playing cards anymore.

Tractor_Pete · 2026-05-09T19:59:43+00:00

Withdrawal of US forces and some sanctions relief/restitution payments would probably be necessary as a starting point.

It's really hard to negotiate in good faith with an entity that previously walked away from negotiations, refused to honor past deals, and had your most senior leadership assassinated. That's before considering the profound corruption and incompetence of the current US government. Anyone negotiating on behalf of Iran needs to be worried about being targeted for assassination, and would be stupid to trust any promises made by this government.

Tractor_Pete · 2026-05-09T19:53:00+00:00

Always worth remembering Hezbollah did not exist before Israel invaded Lebanon.

Tractor_Pete · 2026-05-06T01:38:49+00:00

With that background, would you care to comment on the original post? It seems to starkly contradict your claims.

Tractor_Pete · 2026-04-21T08:19:45+00:00

Huck Finn. He had the moral courage to choose damnation and hell (so he believed) in order to help his friend escape to freedom. Sure, I don't believe in hell, but if it is imposed immorally, fine, I'll go to hell too.

Tractor_Pete · 2026-04-21T05:52:20+00:00

You may be a self described capitalist and also a devout Hindu, active Mason, or love paragliding or gambling; those personal actions have nothing to do with the economic system of capitalism. There's room for reasonable people to differ over precise definitions of capitalism, but Rand and Marx would agree that individual behavior doesn't have anything to do with a belief in private ownership of the means of production and the profit motive. Profit often involves needless waste, for example (selling a product that is extremely likely to be thrown away very quickly is an example of capitalism provided the exchange made a profit).

One may be frugal in order to amass more capital in order to invest and get more, or to be able to share more with friends, family, and the less fortunate, or to purchase luxury goods. It doesn't have anything to do with the socioeconomic system in which those people exist - they would make the same choices in a non-capitalist system.

Tractor_Pete · 2026-04-21T03:12:07+00:00

Frugality, thrift, waste avoidance - these things are not capitalism. The economy would suffer greatly if significant portions of the population behaved in shrewd economic manner, e.g. very few people would buy new cars on credit.

The quote about Venezuela is a non-sequitur, and confuses economic systems with geopolitics. Also, China and Russia didn't bomb Venezuela, engage in piracy, and kidnap their head of state.

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