Monday, November 20, 2023

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

 

The good:

X CEO Linda Yaccarino, the longtime NBC advertising executive tapped to bring back revenue and credibility to the company from big advertisers, is facing her own credibility crisis as advertisers halt spending over Elon Musk’s endorsement of antisemitic abuse on the social media platform.

Forbes has confirmed that Yaccarino has been contacted by a groundswell of leading advertising executives who questioned why she is risking her reputation to shield Musk’s behavior—and suggested that she could make a statement about racism and antisemitism by stepping down. She has so far resisted their entreaties, sources said.

Last week, Musk endorsed an explicitly antisemitic conspiracy theory, and a report from watchdog Media Matters found that ads from major companies including IBM and Amazon had been placed next to content promoting Nazis and white nationalism, prompting advertisers including Apple, Disney and IBM to pull ads from the platform. Even the White House has condemned Musk’s antisemitic and racist statement, in which Musk agreed with an X user who espoused a conspiracy theory that “Jewish communities have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.”  [snip]

The personal outreach to Yaccarino by leading advertising executives comes as X, previously known as Twitter, struggles to right itself under its mercurial owner and to battle the advertiser-unfriendly content his behavior has emboldened. After nearly a dozen years at NBCUniversal as its top advertising executive, where she also launched a partnership with the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, Yaccarino was brought in six months ago to ease advertisers’ nerves over the surge in hate speech and other toxic content on Twitter since Musk bought the platform for $44 billion...

X will continue to be a sewer as long as fascist man- boy Musk owns it.  Whether it's X, Tesla, SpaceX or Yaccarino, Musk will find a way to bring it down.

The bad:

Argentina’s Economy Minister Sergio Massa conceded defeat to populist Javier Milei in Sunday's fiercely polarized presidential runoff even before the country's electoral authority released official results.

Massa congratulated his opponent, a right-wing economist who has promised a dramatic shake-up for many of the nation's institutions and welcomed frequent comparisons of him to former U.S. President Donald Trump

Immediately after Massa's concession speech, the Argentine electoral authority released partial results: With 86.6% of votes tallied, Milei had 55.95% and Massa 44.04%.

With a Milei victory, the country will swing to the right amid discontent over soaring inflation and rising poverty, and empower a freshman lawmaker who describes himself as an anarcho-capitalist and got his start as a television talking head blasting what he called the “political caste.”

Inflation has soared above 140% and poverty has worsened while Massa has held his post. Milei, a self-described anarcho-capitalist, has proposed to slash the size of the state and rein in inflation, while the government minister he was running against warned people about the negative impacts of such policies. The election forced many to decide which of the two they considered to be the least bad choice. [snip]

The vote took place amid Milei's allegations of possible electoral fraud, reminiscent of those from Trump and former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Without providing evidence, Milei claimed that the first round of the presidential election was plagued by irregularities that affected the result. Experts say such irregularities cannot swing an election, and that his assertions were partly aimed at firing up his base and motivating his supporters to become monitors of voting stations.

Argentina is going to be entering another dark phase in its history, courtesy of its latest caudillo.

The ugly:

Americans are bracing for inclement weather during one of the busiest holiday travel weeks of the year.

A potent storm will be making its way across the country as travelers make their way to their Thanksgiving destinations.

Heavy snow will begin to fall in the Rocky Mountains on Sunday, leading to a foot or more in some of the highest elevations, forecasts show. Winter alerts have been posted for much of Utah, as well as parts of Colorado and Arizona.

Gusty winds could also pose potential problems for a large swath of the West, forecasts show. Wind alerts are in effect for nearly 16 million Americans on Sunday, with gusts approaching 50 mph this afternoon in some regions.

Severe weather threats are possible elsewhere in the country over the next several days. Oklahoma may be seeing a few strong thunderstorms on Sunday, but the bulk of the threats will begin on Monday.

A severe weather outbreak is likely across parts of the South on Monday, with powerful storms expected from eastern Texas through Louisiana and Arkansas and eventually into Mississippi. Damaging winds, large hail and scattered tornadoes are the main concerns.

As this large storm system moves eastward, it'll bring cool and wet weather to much of the East.

Travel will likely be disrupted for millions of people as moderate to heavy rain falls on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Snow could lead to a white Thanksgiving from the Adirondacks in New York to the White Mountains of New Hampshire and Maine.

Colder air will move in once the storm subsides.

That's your Hackwhackers holiday travel forecast for the coming week.  Be careful out there!