Category: Social Justice

“Black Creativity” celebrated at the Jewish-founded/Jewish-funded Griffin Museum of Science and Industry

by philg

The Griffin Museum of Science and Industry was founded by a Jew, Julius Rosenwald:

Funding for a major expansion was provided by a Jewish family led by Henry Crown (“Henry Krinsky”):

(Ken Griffin provided the latest slug of funding for the museum, shortly before coronapanic and the peaceful BLM riots led him to relocate to Miami and Griffin is not, to my knowledge, Jewish.)

Does the Museum celebrate Jewish achievements in scientice, engineering, and industry? No! Since 1970, the museum has been specifically focused on a celebration of “Black Creativity”:

As with other nonprofit organizations’ race- and gender-related programs, I can’t figure out how this is legal. The museum is partly supported by tax dollars, e.g., the taxes that Ken Griffin didn’t have to pay because he gave $125 million (in pre-Biden dollars) to the museum. The museum also gets some state and federal grants. They wouldn’t be allowed to have a “white cisgender heterosexual male creativity” exhibit, right? ChatGPT:

Why don’t they run up against the 14th Amendment as Harvard did in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard? Because they don’t discriminate in who can pay $26 to come in and see a discriminatory exhibit? It’s $15 for kids, but note that the price could also be $0 times 8 if you present your EBT card:

Black creativity seems only loosely related to today’s visitors. ChatGPT says that the Black population of Chicago is declining even faster than the city’s overall population decline while the percentage of Chicago residents who are Asian or Hispanic is growing (but it isn’t fair to characterize this as a “replacement”). Our Venezuelan Uber driver from O’Hare enthused over the fact that Spanish is now spoken everywhere in the city, a huge change in his experience from when he arrived in 2019. As we were driving in from Oshkosh we passed mosques and women in burkas. Here’s the map of mosques on the north side of the city:

What do the Muslim, Indian (“Asian”), and Hispanic taxpayers who visit the museum see? A bronze relief showing Black Creativity in various domains:

(There are no relief sculptures celebrating Muslim, Indian, or Hispanic creativity.)

I asked ChatGPT “Explain to me how the depicted items are examples of Black creativity”. Excerpts:

Pyramids (top center) – These almost certainly refer to ancient Egypt. Some museums emphasizing Black history present ancient Egypt as part of Africa’s cultural heritage. Historians agree Egypt was an African civilization geographically

Flasks and laboratory glassware (center left) – … They likely honor African American scientists, engineers, inventors, and physicians.

Wheel/gear (bottom center) – This suggests engineering, industry, machinery, and technological innovation.

Of course, I followed up with “Were the people who designed and built the pyramids Black?”

Most Egyptologists would not simply describe the pyramid builders as “Black” in the modern American sense. Some Afrocentric scholars argue that ancient Egyptians should be regarded as Black Africans.

“How about the microscope? Was that invented or improved by a Black person?”

Looking closely at the relief, I think those are laboratory flasks (Erlenmeyer or Florence flasks) rather than a microscope. [there is clearly a microscope in the relief! AI is not as smart as we think?] If the artist had intended a microscope, it would not be accurate to associate its invention primarily with Black inventors. The microscope was developed in Europe in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. There are, however, many notable Black scientists and inventors associated with scientific instruments and laboratory research more broadly.

“I see an airplane there. Was aviation a Black invention?”

I think it is intended as a symbol of a field of achievement rather than a claim that the airplane itself was invented by Black people. However, Black Americans have made important contributions to aviation … the Tuskegee Airmen … Guion Bluford became the first African American in space. … Mae Jemison was the first African American woman in space.

“How is it an example of “Black creativity” to operate a machine designed and built by non-Black people?”

the airplane represents aviation as a discipline, and “Black creativity” includes designing aircraft components, advancing aerospace engineering, pioneering aviation, piloting, maintenance, research, or other creative work within that field.

“I drive a Honda Odyssey, but didn’t design or build it. Does that make me creative?”

Simply using a product that someone else designed and built does not ordinarily make you creative with respect to that product. If you drive a Honda Odyssey from point A to point B, most people would not say that is an example of your creativity.

“why is operating an airplane an example of “Black creativity” if I don’t get credit for operating the Odyssey?”

Black creativity” includes contributions such as advancing aviation through research or leadership,

“What fundamental innovations in aviation are Blacks responsible for?”

There have been many important Black contributors to aviation, but if you mean fundamental innovations that changed aviation as a whole, the list is relatively short. … the Tuskegee Airmen demonstrated the effectiveness of Black military aviators

“It was “creative” for the Tuskegee airmen to fly airplanes designed by non-Blacks and previously flown millions of hours by non-Blacks?”

The Tuskegee Airmen … demonstrated exceptional flying and leadership under combat conditions. They disproved racist assumptions that Black Americans were incapable of serving as military pilots.

““exceptional flying and leadership”? So they were better pilots and leaders than all previous WWII pilots?”

The Tuskegee Airmen included many highly competent military pilots who served successfully in combat. Their historical significance comes from several factors: They were the first Black military aviators in the U.S. Army Air Forces. … They flew hundreds of combat missions in Europe.

“What was “exceptional” about their flying and leadership compared to non-Black mediocrities such as Bob Hoover, Richard Bong, and David McCampbell?”

The Tuskegee Airmen are primarily notable because they successfully completed combat missions despite institutional discrimination. When I used the word “exceptional,” I was referring to the fact that they met demanding combat standards under adverse circumstances—not that they were uniquely superior to all other WWII aviators.

“How were they “exceptional” if they weren’t better at flying and leadership than other wwii pilots?”

“Exceptional” can mean either: (1) Better than almost everyone else, or, (2) Worthy of special recognition because of unusual circumstances or historical significance. I was using it in the second sense, but I can see why that was unclear.

If we’re evaluating pure flying skill or combat leadership, historians generally do not rank the Tuskegee Airmen as uniquely superior to the best fighter groups of WWII. There were many outstanding fighter units and aces in the U.S., British, German, Soviet, Japanese, and other air forces.

So if someone told me that I shouldn’t be able to drive a minivan and then I drove one to Publix anyway, that would make me an “exceptional driver” like Max Verstappen?

If someone wrongly told you that you were incapable of driving a minivan because of your race, and you then drove one to Publix safely, that would disprove their stereotype. It would not make you comparable to Max Verstappen as a driver.

(I tried some of the above with Grok and its answers were consistent with ChatGPT. It cited the Tuskegee Airmen as examples of “creativity” in aviation and praised them for “exceptional skill”. At the same time, it said that they were no more skilled than the average USAAF pilots of the day, but that they’d overcome prejudice described in a 1925 memo. Pressed a little, it said that despite decades of intensive efforts to recruit Black pilots (“deliberate outreach, scholarships aimed at underrepresented groups, mentoring programs, recruiting at HBCUs, and periodic adjustments intended to increase Black representation”), 2% of current military pilots are Black (vs. 14% of the population) and that the reason for this is that Blacks score 1 standard deviation lower on Test of Basic Aviation Skills and Air Force Officer Qualifying Test. These tests are highly correlated with the ability to complete pilot training, says Grok, and that actually if the U.S. military operated in a race-neutral manner the percentage of Black pilots would be around 1%. At the same time, though, Grok says that any statement that Blacks on average aren’t as suited to being military pilots must be considered irrational prejudice.)

Oh well, despite this lengthy exchange I still can’t figure out why an Arab, Indian, Chinese, or Venezuealan taxpayer wants his/her/zir/their tax dollars to be spent on promoting a single racial group’s creativity going back to the pyramids.

Exit through the gift shop and pick up some Black Creativity fridge magnets:

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Harley-Davidson Museum features Black riders to its Hispanic visitors

by philg

Our Oshkosh 2026 group included a couple of people who hadn’t been with us during the 2024 visit to the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee.

What was new for 2026? The entrance features just one person, “part of a Black riding community in Florida”:

An upstairs gallery had an exhibit limited to photos of “Black riders in New York”:

What’s interesting about the above centering of the Black experience on Harleys? I don’t remember seeing any Black visitors inside the museum ($26/person; median income for a Black-headed household in Milwaukee is about $37,000/year), but we heard tons of conversations in Spanish.

Photos of some parts of the museum not included in the 2024 post…

Biker chicks in the old days:

From roughly the same era:

Elvis Presley, one of my candidates for Greatest American Ever, purchased a Harley with the income from some of his earliest success:

This might have been the inspiration for New York Times coverage of various European vehicle ramming events: it is the “automobiles” doing the killing.

Example from the NYT:

A rare U.S. Navy shore patrol Harley from WWII:

A 1958 classic:

A 2002 masterpiece:

Overview:

Next stop: Chicago!

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I drove my Prius to the bookstore in Evanston

by philg

Picking up where Evanston, Illinois Public Library left off…

Houses in the nicer parts of Evanston are worth over $2 million. Some of what were originally family houses have been converted to commercial or Northwestern University use. Example:

Here’s a 10-bedroom (with no “master” bedroom?), 5,500-square-foot place at 1707 Hinman Ave, worth $2.2 million (Zillow):

What if the owner were to drive his/her/zir/their car from this house a few blocks to the bookstore? First, let’s consider the Prius, a beautiful genocide-free car from any angle:

The shop directly in front of the car is Bookends & Beginnings, an “ICE FREE ZONE” (because a lot of undocumented migrants spent their time in English-language full-price bookstores?):

Just as one walks in, the shop reminds us to #Resist Amazon:

(See also How’s your National Data Center Day of Protest going? for how other retailers in Evanston are #Resisting)

There were no customers or employees in the store who appeared to identify as “Black”, but there is a robust African American Studies section on the main level:

A “Love is Love” card is available on the main level, but most of the Rainbow Flagism books are downstairs:

Acceptance of homosexuality is in no way a gateway belief to acceptance of polygamy:

Did the cruel Trump administration manage to kill DEI? Fortunately, a book by Evelyn R. Carter, PhD, remains available:

Stepping out into the wider world of downtown Evanston, we find that undocumented migrants who like to dress in tennis whites and swing a custom-strung racquet are safe inside the tennis shop:

What if speaking with one of the handful of Republicans who are hiding somewhere in Evanston has made a “marginalized” progressive feel unsafe? “Support and validation” are available for a fee in “The Safe Room” (fully virtual, for safety from SARS-CoV-2):

(Over 90 percent of Evanstonians vote correctly in a typical election so it is unclear why a “POC” would be “marginalized” by these righteous folk.)

The store by our hotel was a refuge for dogs, migrants (ICE thugs not allowed to enter), and the 2SLGBTQQIA+ (note trans-enhanced Rainbow Flag):

Given that so many migrants to Illinois are Islamic, however, how can the store be considered a welcoming environment for migrants if it also welcomes the haram (pet dogs; men who have sex with men)?

There was a Cars and Coffee event the next day and at least one attendee was sacrilegious (“Black Cars Matter”):

Speaking of religion, the First United Methodist Church seems to have been neglecting its BLM and Rainbow Flags in favor of sheltering migrants from ICE. It’s not a replacement, of course, but concern for migrants has replaced concern for native-born Blacks and native-born 2SLGBTQQIA+:

The Lake Street Church has a huge pro-open-borders banner and somewhat smaller signs promoting Rainbow Flagism (not trans-enhanced, however) and BLM:

Is there any space for the progressives of Evanston to welcome the stranger? Northwestern isn’t $100,000/year to attend just yet, thank God, but only $99,375/year:

Northwestern is officially relentlessly positive regarding immigration (web site). Immigrants don’t commit crime and create tons of jobs. ICE is bad because “Immigrant Enforcement Can Impact Trust in Law Enforcement”. Any objection to open borders stems from a “misconception”.

Could these virtuous pro-immigration folks make room on their own campus for enrichers? If they built up their 240 acres to the standard height of newer lakefront buildings in Chicago proper, i.e., about 50 stories, they could house roughly 500,000 immigrants in addition to their 5,000 on-campus students. That assumes that the new apartment buildings cover about 50 percent of the 240 acres, leaving the rest for green space, streets, etc.

Like Pope Leo XIV, in other words, Northwestern doesn’t want to “welcome the stranger” on property that it actually controls, but instead wants other people to organize a welcome for strangers.

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Olympia, Washington: Too busy with “Nothing but Hate for Israel and Zionism” to help their homeless neighbors

by philg

After two nights in Rainier National Park, we stopped in Olympic, Washington. The town’s passions are summarized beautifully on State Ave. Stonewall Youth, a group that hosts “drop-ins for queer+trans youth 12-21”, is surrounded by unhoused neighbors (the encampment in the photo below is one block away) and has not a single sign regarding what might be done to assist the unhoused. At the same time, the group is occupied with pro-Hamas advocacy: “Nothing but Hate for Israel and Zionism; Nothing but Love for Palestine and Liberation: from gaza to the americas, decolonization means attack!” (they don’t want to decolonize Olympic, Washington and give the land back to the Native Americans?)

5.5 years after coronapanic, indoor masking remains common in Olympia, but some locals go the full distance into delightful Outdoor Masking (not shown: the homeless guy in the background literally dancing to his own tuen):

The folks who post Black Lives Matter signs all over their town celebrate the memory of RBG, a person famous for refusing to hire any Black law school graduates, while ignoring their indigent neighbors:

Captain Little, a toy store, joins Stonewall Youth in combining advocacy for the 2SLGBTQQIA+ with advocacy for a Hamas-ruled society in which non-heterosexual sex is a criminal act:

Instead of collecting money to help their unhoused neighbors, a couple of whom walked by the store during the few minutes that I needed to get the photos, the toy store is raising money to help a 23-year-old Gaza “demolished home that was bombed by the IOF”:

Children are invited to a couple of Pride events:

One shopper who would absolutely love this children’s store is Mindy the Crippler, our golden retriever:

Speaking of children, here’s what they experence at the Browsers bookstore… The front window:

Specifically in a section marked “Children” within the store:

(It is a little unclear what will happen on Juneteenth in Olympia, Washington. The U.S. Census says that the town is just 3% Black. Based on our walks around downtown, this seems like an overestimate.)

Featured for the parents, in the adult area:

At the front of the store, a reminder that the apparently meek person sitting in an armchair with a book is actually a brave fighter against fascism.

The edge of the building that holds the bookstore is devoted to a massive “Oympia-Rafah Solidarity” mural. The State of Israel is compared to the United States in terms of illegitimate occupation of land that properly belongs to the indigenous, but there is no indication that any of those behind the mural project have returned the land underneath their own houses to the rightful Native American owners and started paying rent. Curiously, the mural says that “no human is illegal” and the anyone can immigrate into the U.S., which seems to be inconsistent with their opposition to Jews having immigrated to British-administered Mandatory Palestine and, after being expelled from Arab/Muslim countries, to the State of Israel. Finally, note that not every Jew is a bad Jew. a Jewess who “refuses to occupy” might be acceptable:

Loosely related, the local indigents get a cheerful mural backdrop:

The sacred Pride mural is desecrated by the presence of rubbish cans in front:

The crosswalk murals are kept clean:

The local flag store sells everything but the American Flag:

Here’s a store that advertises a “No Hate” festival and also warns people to “Beware of [hate-filled?] dog”:

Maybe the dog doesn’t want to “Make America Gay Again”?

Shopping for women’s clothing is an occasion to ponder “No Kings”, Ukraine, Equity, and Immigrants vs. ICE:

Shopping for flowers is a time to remember to “Protect Trans Youth” and that “Queer is Normal”:

There is a huge disconnect between the interests of contemporary Olympians and those of the folks who set up and decorated the State Capitol. War is glorified, including our illegitimate war against Germany in 1917 (after providing a lot of help to the British while officially neutral, we declared war on Germany, untimately winning a “victory” that resulted in Adolf Hitler being elected):

The State of Washington officially flies the sacred Trans-enhanced Rainbow Flag:

It’s magnificent inside, the entire Marble Island of Alaska having been mined to decorate the interior (chandeliers from Tiffany):

Slaveholder George Washington is honored and, on the flip side, Martin Luther King, Jr. (the great man visited Washington State just once, spending four days in Seattle at a time when 1% of residents were Black):

The plastic aerosol virus shields that went up during coropanic are still there in the state offices where the public might show up. Perhaps nobody has had time to read “Those Anti-Covid Plastic Barriers Probably Don’t Help and May Make Things Worse” (New York Times 2021): “erecting plastic barriers can change air flow in a room, disrupt normal ventilation and create “dead zones,” where viral aerosol particles can build up and become highly concentrated.”

Next stop: Olympic National Park!

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Target on Juneteenth

by philg

Did anyone go to Target yesterday to purhcase Pridewear for a beloved 2SLGBTQQI+ canine?

It seems that Target is the ultimate example of Juneteenth. Elite white corporate executives at the headquarters in Minnesota, a state in which slavery was never legal, get a paid day off. Black retail workers in former slave states must toil to help customers if they want to be paid for working on June 19th. Google:

(The Target leadership team page depicts not a single person who appears to be African American. Screen shots below.)

If any reader happened to be at Target and happened to get a photo of a Black worker toiling while the above elites enjoyed their day off, I would love to receive it!

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Sonos, eight years after the IPO

by philg

Readers are likely aware of my fondness for whole-house audio and, since 2005, Sonos, a company that has roots in Santa Barbara, CA and Boston, MA. The company went public at $15 per share almost exactly eight years ago. How’s the stock done? If you don’t adjust for inflation, it’s right at its original IPO price (down from the first-day bump, though). Adjusted at official CPI, though, someone who got IPO shares is down 25 percent. Adjusted for South Florida real estate costs, the investor is down about 50 percent.

Given that state governors ordered peasants to stay home for 2-3 years in a lot of high-income states, how do we account for a home audio company having done this badly? Sony has doubled, in nominal dollars, over the same period. Consumers don’t care about multi-room audio because they always have their AirPods in and the sound thus follows them?

Did Sonos fail to jump on the social justice bandwagon or ignore Is LGBTQIA the most popular social justice cause because it does not require giving money? Certainly not!

Sonos in June 2020:

In celebration of global Pride the Internet radio service introduced a limited-edition station, initiated by a group of LGBTQ+ employees.

Dmitri Siegel, VP Global Brand, extended his support becoming Pride@’s official executive sponsor. “I am so grateful to have the opportunity to be an ally in the Pride@ group,” he said. “As a straight white male, it’s common to feel intimidated or uncomfortable engaging on LGBTQ+ issues because you feel like you are going to say the wrong thing or be offensive in some way. Being a part of Pride@ has given me the opportunity to do my work—listen and learn. Getting over insecurity and discomfort unlocks all these amazing people and a whole aspect of the human experience that I would otherwise miss out on.”

The article references a corporate tweet:

The station was still up and running a year ago:

How about this month? The radio web site features state-sponsored NPR and Democratic Party-affiliated MSNBC, but I didn’t see anything about Pride.

Sonos Radio has an Instagram account. No Pride station is mentioned. (The “Full Spectrum; Celebrate Child” station is still available in the app, however.)

Sonos has an X account(!), but hasn’t posted anything for Pride 2026. Nor did they post anything regarding Pride on their (rather thin) Facebook account. Their careers page assures today’s young people that working life can be a continuous Pride celebration:

It looks as though the company has abandoned its commitment to proselytizing for Rainbow Flagism to consumers, reminding consumers that Black history is more important than other kinds of history, etc. In other words, Sonos has abandoned its principles and still can’t make money, the worst of all possible worlds for a corporation.

I still love the product, even if their lightweight powered speakers can’t overcome the laws of physics (see below regarding the latest Sonos S2 gear versus their old amps driving heavier passive (ancient) speakers). They also have great support compared to most companies. I’m wondering what they could make that would be profitable in an Apple-takes-all world.

Related:

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New Bumper Sticker for my Tesla and/or Honda Odyssey

by philg

A righteous neighbor here in Abacoa (not everyone in Florida is Deplorable, especially here in Palm Beach County, though it is rare even for the Righteous to have a political/social justice bumper sticker), this afternoon:

I asked Grok to redo it to read “I bought this before Elon had four commas” rather than “I bought this before Elon went crazy”:

The updated sticker is perfect for adorning any Tesla, of course, but it also makes sense for those of us with non-Tesla cars. We can proudly proclaim that we didn’t help Elon get to his envy-stoking level of wealth.

How are others dealing with their grief? New York Times front page:

The Native American community:

Not sure who this guy is:

Some folks who probably didn’t work too hard to get IPO shares:

An old lady from Maskachusetts:

(What evidence does Ms. Markey have that Elon ever “traded stocks”?

Bernie:

A reasonable suggestion regarding Bernie:

Another candidate for a wellness check:

An envious California progressive at the peasant level of wealth for Palm Beach County (at least $30 million for Mx. Newsom and the female companion he/she/ze/they plucked from Harvey Weinstein’s hotel rooms):

(If California could confiscate 100% of Elon’s $1 trillion would that be sufficient to realize at least part of their high-speed rail dream?)

The grandson of Muhammad Kenyatta:

The pro-Hamas next U.S. Senator from the Islamic Republic of Michigan:

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Peak Land Acknowledgement at Glacier Bay National Park

by philg

A substantial portion of the Glacier Bay National Park official brochure is devoted to acknowledging that the Connecticut-sized park is the “homeland” for the Huna Tlingit Indians:

The Native Americans enjoyed life in their village within what is today Glacier Bay prior to the eponymous glacier expanding all the way into the ocean:

Due to President Calvin Coolidge’s designation of the bay as a “national monument” in 1925 (Wikipedia), the natives were forever cut off from residing in their Connecticut-sized homeland.

Given that it is a violation of federal law for an Indian to return what the acknowledger says is “home”, is it fair to call this Peak Land Acknowledgement?

Note that if we ever did give Glacier Bay back to the Native Alaskans they would immediately become insanely rich. The National Park Service disdains filthy lucre and therefore imposes a two-ship-per-day limit while charging an absurdly low $8/passenger fee (i.e., about what a cruise passenger might pay for a drink at the onboard Starbucks). Each ship parks itself in front of the headline glacier for only about one hour and, therefore, given the number of hours of daylight in the summer, it would be trivial to increase the number of ships to accommodate nearly all of the 1.7 million passengers who visit Juneau each year. The Indians could hike the price to $60 per passenger, the standard fee for a seat at specialty dining, and thus harvest about $100 million per year for doing almost nothing.

(Currently most of the profit from the land is extracted by Princess, Holland, and Norwegian because these are the major cruise lines that have long-term contracts with the National Park Service. I.e., the U.S. Treasury gets almost nothing and the government cronies get nearly all of the profit that is obtainable from the park. (The itineraries that include Glacier Bay can support higher prices even though the cost to the cruise line is no higher.))

A present-day Glacier Bay village of 2,000+ passengers on Holland America, owned since 1989 by Florida-based Carnival, which was founded by Ted Arison, a Palestinian born in Tel Aviv, Palestine.

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Closing out Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

by philg

As we complete our celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, celebrating the common culture, language, and religion of Samoans, Koreans, Burmese, and Rajasthanis, here’s an ABC story that will warm the hearts of Asian American and Pacific Islander parents:

A high school senior who lived through homelessness much of his childhood was accepted to 65 colleges, and plans to attend an Ivy League school in the fall.

Note that if we believe The Son Also Rises: economics history with everyday applications we wouldn’t expect Lamont Newell to do as well as a 17-year-old with the same grades and same test scores (assuming that he took any tests; Columbia is permanently test-optional) who came from a successful (not homeless) family. Our society has chosen to invest in Mr. Newell, who won’t be paying or borrowing a dime for his education (“California teen who grew up homeless earns full ride to Ivy League school after 65 college acceptances”), rather than invest in an Asian 17-year-old whose parents worked like slaves to avoid homelessness and/or reliance on “public assistance” (i.e., taxpayers). If University of California economist Gregory Clark is correct, in other words, by lower admissions standards for those whose families are poor, the U.S. is doing the opposite of what investors in higher education would do if the goal were a return on investment.

(Why is it “society” rather than “Columbia” investing in Mr. Newell? At least half of Columbia’s money comes from taxpayers thanks to (1) Columbia’s tax-exempt nonprofit org status (investment returns aren’t taxed; half of every donation comes from taxpayers rather than the donor because the donor’s tax bill is reduced), (2) Columbia’s federal grants that yield massive overhead profits.)

Related:

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Suspend the exit tax to get rid of Elon Musk and other toxic billionaires?

by philg

From the Harvard Book Store, a window into the thinking of our nation’s cognitive elite:

The #2 hardcover bestseller during my April 2025 visit was Muskism:

Elon Musk isn’t a glitch in the system—he is the system. His worldview promises sovereignty through technology: plug in, power up, and become self-reliant. But the more you connect, the more he owns you.

If Fordism defined the capitalism of the twentieth century, Muskism may define the twenty-first. Fordism helped build the welfare state. Musk undoes it. He thrives on dependence while preaching freedom. His cars run on subsidies; his satellites run the battlefield; his social networks train the AI that trains us.

Muskism sells itself as the future but entrenches age-old hierarchies. It offers autonomy for some and exclusion for others. It’s pro-natalist but anti-immigrant, futurist but reactionary. It speaks of humanity but warns against empathy.

The authors:

Quinn Slobodian is professor of international history at Boston University

Ben Tarnoff is a writer and technologist based in Massachusetts … He is a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books, and has also written for the New York Times, The New Yorker, and the New Republic,

These giant credentialed academically-inclined brains say that Elon is pernicious. He’s our “dependent”, which means he is costing us money. What’s worse, this spending has resulted in Musk “owning us” rather than vice versa.

Elon Musk is pernicious and we’d certainly be better off without him. But it is also bad to be “anti-immigrant”, according to the authors, and we thus can’t use our ICE thugs to denaturalize Musk and deport him. Maybe we could persuade him to leave voluntarily? Hardly likely, given the U.S.’s massive exit tax on those who renounce U.S. citizenship. Elon would have to pay 20% capital gains tax plus 3.8% Obamacare tax (NIIT), albeit not the 13.3% California state income tax since he moved to Texas rather than pay his fair share to Gavin Newsom. This tax rate would be assessed against substantially all of Musk’s assets since nearly all of his wealth is unrealized capital gains.

What if we offered our most toxic citizens, the ones who contribute the least to our prosperity (since they don’t pay their fair share of taxes) and contribute the most to our problems (all of the above-cited, plus their presence in our society exacerbates inequality), a reasonable cost way out? If they leave in 2026, for example, they wouldn’t have to pay the exit tax.

Let’s say that someone needs a minimum net worth of $200 million to make the rest of us truly sick with envy. Anyone under $200 million, therefore, would still have to pay for expatriation.

(Separately, one of our neighbors has taken to parking his or her fairly new Rolls-Royce on the street (to make room for a truly valuable car in the garage?). I often walk Mindy the Crippler (our golden retriever) with a physician across the street and his dogs. In response to the Rolls-Royce sighting, the doctor and I have agreed that anyone richer than us should have to pay a 100% wealth tax.)

(Department of Trust Official Sources: SpaceX has a 98% launch success rate over its corporate life. The authors and HarperCollins (publisher) have chosen to feature on the cover a photo of one of the 2% unsuccessful launches.)

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