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As many of you know, I spent four years in Detroit with a law firm that had large practices that were heavily dependent on design; in automotive, furniture, retail and consumer manufacturing and the like. For several years, I volunteered with a large, local organization that was trying to organize a North American Center of Design. They were working in feverish competition with a group from California. Both wanted to be the first with an enormous campus devoted to design. I left Michigan in 2018, so I don’t know what they’ve done over the past four years, but they were on the verge of site selection when I left, and had identified 1/2 dozen unique sites. My favorite was the Michigan Central Depot, which was an amazing building in Corktown. It operated until Amtrak ceased in 1988.
A number of automotive people I knew back in Detroit had a bit of a jaundiced eye with respect to Tesla, for two reasons: first, manufacturing vehicles on a cost-effective, yet high quality basis is trickier than most might think, and in fact, that has turned out to be true for Tesla. Separately, the design issues is where my Detroit Auto friends thought Tesla might really trip up. And I have to agree, having been in a fair number of Teslas, and domestic and foreign EVs.
Frank Stephenson, who has designed vehicles for BMW, Ferrari, Maserati, Fiat, Lancia and McLaren, shares his opinions, with the Tesla cybertruck:
Tesla Cybertruck design issues explained by legendary auto designer (teslarati.com)
[quote quote=6804]my counter-argument, based on economics, is that the reduction of existing workforce makes immigration necessary. I just want it well structured, with more economic benefit than burden on our governmental services.
I don’t disagree, and I think moderated, legal immigration is both necessary and preferred. But let’s face it…everyone wants to come here, including people we want, and people we don’t want.
I also think they have called the officials off a little bit. I wish college fb could get that right. Let ’em play.
Generally speaking, I agree with you. Watching the known dirty player Abrams purposefully pull and twist Deebo Samuel’s leg (on which Deebo had recently come off MCL and ankle sprains) and the refs did not call ANYTHING, though it happened in front of two of them — well…at least it lit a fire under the 49ers.
No pressure. If the rest of the country cares what it looks like when Democrats are in charge, California, Oregon and Washington are textbook examples.
It must be interesting to be Gavin Newsom. He has presidential ambition seeping out of his pores. Yes, he personally told Biden that he’s not running. Biden ran as a moderate — which the country wanted, he was the only Democrat who could beat Trump — yet he has given much of his party’s policies over to the Progressives, who are considered far left by most of the country.
When it’s Newsom’s turn — and I believe he thinks his turn will come sooner rather than later — the Far Left dominates California politics, and frankly, the country just isn’t ready for it. I know that Newsom thinks he has a grand story to tell: economic success of California, at $3.63 trillion, the 4th largest economy in the world. He trounced the recall effort, rolled over the November election, and has spoken in Florida and Texas on the California miracle, such as it is. In all likelihood, he’s shooting for 2028, rather than 2024.
So Biden will run again, presuming he’s still alive, and the country’s first octogenerian President may — or may not — get re-elected. Not sure what will happen to Kamala, I think she’s short-term only.
Food for thought. Newsom might be running for Feinstein’s Senate seat. She’s 89 and should retire soon, although she filed the paperwork with the FEC that indicates she’ll run again in 2024 when she’s 91.
Good find. Whitmer won the recent Governor’s election big, riding abortion as her key (really sole) focus. She spent millions on pro-abortion ads when the Republican candidate literally didn’t answer. Spent nothing. Whitmer was sworn in two days ago for her second term. Michigan Democrats now have control of the House, Senate and Governor’s office for the first time in 40 years.
Whitmer’s interesting…super smart, with comparatively few people skills and super tone deaf. My favorite part of her first election was that she ran on getting funding for both roads and schools, and then reneged on both promises.
Good quote:
While Michigan has been slow to bounce back from some of the country’s strictest COVID policies, Whitmer has said priorities in her second term include bringing auto jobs back to the state and helping small businesses recover.
Yeah…she’ll be able to do that. Sure. Another great quote from Rosemary Bayer, a Democratic state senator first elected in 2018. She and others already have tried to lower some expectations and focus on passing legislation that has widespread appeal across the state.
“Pressure from lobbyists and special interest groups already is immense, and Democratic caucus members are having internal debates about how to proceed. “We can’t do everything at once,” Bayer said. “We don’t want to scare everybody.”
Love that. Don’t want to scare everybody. And speaking of scaring everybody, last quote is best, from State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who received national attention after a viral speech on the state Senate floor in April, said what Michigan Democrats are able to accomplish could stand in contrast with Washington, which will have divided government with the GOP holding a slim House majority.
“It feels like Michigan is going to be a real opportunity to signal to the rest of the country what it looks like when Democrats are in charge,” McMorrow said.
Yep. It sure is.
‘You’ve got to deliver’: Democrats take charge in Michigan (clickondetroit.com)
I wish you, but in no way guarantee, a reasonably Merry Christmas and/or festive period, including, but not limited to a reasonably happy twelve (12) months from this date hereof.
That was a really good read. Funny how the infiltration only happened outside of academia when academia stopped having capacity. Wonder where all the DEI experts go when companies start cutting costs aggressively.
I have a feeling our DEI head will have to find alternative employment in 2023. It isn’t a cost-cutting move. She’s basically flipped the table on the culture that’s been curated over 75 years (offending basically everyone), she has poor interpersonal skills, she treats budgets as if they don’t matter, and she very clearly exhibits preference for and support of one very specific diverse group at the expense of all others.
California is home to 11 million immigrants, overall. As of 2019, 27% of Californians were born in another country. Foreign born residents are at least 1/3rd of the population in five counties, including Santa Clara (39%), San Mateo (35%), Los Angeles (34%), San Francisco (34%) and Alameda (33%). 53% are naturalized citizens and another 25% have some kind of legal status (green card, etc.).
Interesting charts in this article. Since 2007, Asia was the source of the majority of immigrants to California:
Immigrants in California – Public Policy Institute of California (ppic.org)
The funding thing isn’t bothersome to me as it remains aligned with the same incentives that exist when the law firm does the funding itself. There was already big money there. Now, if you are saying those particular incentives are shit and we need tort reform, then I agree. But the foxes have been guarding that henhouse forever. Most politicians are lawyers and are unlikely to hurt their guild.
The legal profession, as a guild, takes myriad steps to reduce competition. In spite of the fact that there are 1 million+ lawyers practicing their craft, they’ve set up the rules for their profession to maximize income for lawyers, period, at the expense of their clients. Clients have made inroads here and there; e.g., through use of Alternative Legal Service Providers (ALSPs) and AI, but the anti-competitive barriers are still in effect, particularly for B2B purchasers of legal services. Part of the issue is that anti-solicitation rules remain in effect, so clients are underinformed. Part of the issue is that the internal buyers are lawyers themselves. That’s not to say that they don’t seek competition among the law firms from whom they purchase, but they aren’t particularly aggressive about it. If you want to see reduced legal fees, you’d see the use of reverse auctions (bidding out of legal matters/projects) on the rise. In fact, the only time I’ve ever seen a standing ovation at an industry conference that wasn’t related to a retiring lawyer was from a roomful of people after the 2009 financial shocks. There was a client panel of five very senior GCs, and the first question from the audience was whether the GCs intended to expand use of reverse auctions. The seniormost GC (IIRC) was from 3M, and he looked up and down the panel before he reluctantly said “No.” The entire place leapt to their feet and cheered.
As for litigation funding, that started in Australia 27 years ago from insolvency litigation when the courts there, and later in the UK and America recognized that legal claims were assets and permitted insolvency practitioners to enter into contracts to finance litigation. The Australian High Court held that third party litigation funding served a legitimate purpose and were not an abuse of process or contrary to public policy. So the niche has been around for more than a quarter century. We have about 300 litigators, but our use of litigation funding is extremely limited.
El Paso is preparing for a surge of as many as 5,000 new migrants a day.
US border cities strained ahead of expected migrant surge | AP News
Title 52 had deterred more than 2.5 million migrants from crossing since March, 2020.
I think the capper for me was Bernie Sanders wanting all convicted felons in prison to vote, including the Boston Marathon bomber “even for terrible people.”
(1) Bernie Sanders Says Felons, Including Boston Marathon Bomber, Should Be Able To Vote – YouTube
Buttegieg says, at least wait until they’re out.
FAIR estimates that there are now 15.5 million illegal immigrants in the United States, led by California with 3.266 million illegal immigrants.
When Title 42 ends in five days, estimates are that illegal crossings will increase from 1,000 to 4,000 per day, or nearly 1.5 million annually.
End Of Title 42 Caps Worst Year Of Illegal Immigration Ever (thefederalist.com)
Reminds me of California Supreme Court Chief Justice Rose Bird, who overturned 65 death penalty verdicts during her tenure. She taught at Stanford Law School from 1972 to 1974.
She was despised by the associate justices on the court. She forced them to schedule an appointment to talk with her, for any reason. She substituted her opinion for rule of law, according to other liberal justices. In 1982, she argued that the Victims’ Bill of Rights (Proposition 8) should not have been allowed on the ballot, said proposition supporting restitution to victims, school safety, the right of public safety superseding guaranteed bail, limitations to plea bargaining, higher levels of proof for insanity pleas, introduction of prior felony convictions without limit in subsequent court cases, victims were granted the right to be notified when criminals had parole and sentencing hearings, limitations on excluding evidence, etc. Despite Bird’s attempts to keep it off the ballot, it stayed and it passed, 56% to 43%.
1982 California Proposition 8 – Wikipedia
She was voted out by a 67% to 33% vote. I wonder if the next Oregon governor will support similar commutations?
And China leads in space-based weapons:
