Futurology Today

Some political observers hope that Trump single-handedly inflicting deep financial pain on the world might break the spell among his most ardent supporters. In this way, the tariffs are a reality test. But if the recent past is any guide, what many dismiss as bad-faith rhetoric can quickly harden into a core ideology for a set of true believers; the anti-vax movement and the subsequent measles outbreaks are a sobering analog. This is how breaks with reality occur now, aided, in part, by the internet’s justification machine, which is an efficient mechanism for dispelling any trace of cognitive dissonance. In some cases, falling down the conspiratorial rabbit hole is motivated by grievance—my enemies hate this, therefore it must be good. And any market bounce-back after Trump’s announcement of a 90-day pause will be taken by true believers as evidence of the president’s genius (see: Bill Ackman).

Some Trump supporters are also worried about their reputations. For many outspoken VCs, backing Trump was a bet, much like investing in a portfolio company—one that came with substantial risk. Should Trump’s tariff scheme backfire completely by causing a recession or worse, their reputations as risk managers and complex-systems thinkers would naturally be tarnished (see: Bill Ackman). Unless, of course, they chose to double down and create a fictional narrative in which they cannot be wrong. The truthers are, in essence, talking up their reputational investment —as if the Trump administration was a stock they were holding. As Trump himself has proved throughout his political career, it is often easier to double down and build a fantasy world around your mistake than to admit you were wrong.

China retaliated against Donald Trump’s latest tariffs by hiking duties on all US goods, while calling the administration’s actions a “joke” and saying it no longer considers them worth matching.

Beijing will raise tariffs on all US goods from 84% to 125% starting April 12, the Ministry of Finance said on Friday, after the White House clarified that levies on Chinese goods rose to 145% this year.

“Given that American goods are no longer marketable in China under the current tariff rates, if the US further raises tariffs on Chinese exports, China will disregard such measures,” according to the statement.

However, China warned that it will “resolutely counterattack and fight to the end” if the US continues to infringe on its rights and interests. It also said America should take full responsibility for the damage caused by the tariffs.

Tensions between Beijing and Washington have spiraled beyond tit-for-tat tariff exchanges in recent days to impact services and people-to-people ties. Chinese authorities on Thursday moved to cut the number of American films allowed in theaters. Officials also warned citizens against traveling to the US and cautioned students about security risks in “certain states.”

The US and China now trade about $700 billion worth of goods each year. Without a deal to ease tensions, the higher tariffs will mean consumers and businesses on both sides are likely to face rising costs, as they scramble to adjust supply chains and reduce their tariff exposure.

So far, China has refused to cave to Trump’s pressure even as soaring duties are expected to weigh on the economy, with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. economists cutting their 2025 growth forecast to 4% from 4.5%.

President Xi Jinping on Friday made his first public remarks on the escalating trade war, saying China remains confident and unafraid of any “unjustified suppression.”

“One that goes against the world risks being isolated themselves,” Xi told visiting Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

Reaffirming China’s stance that there are no winners in a tariff war, Xi added that the country’s development has never relied on the goodwill of others. “No matter how the external environment changes, China will stay confident, remain calm, and focus on managing its own affairs,” he said.

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"wow, you have a 5 in your wallet? good job! let me find my T!" "A 20! let''s count that out!"

also, i never watched sesame street growing up if you can't tell

The number of billion-dollar disasters in the U.S. is increasing. A recent report says FEMA made a disaster declaration somewhere in the U.S. every four days, on average, in 2024

Unmanaged abandonment I guess ?

Archived copies of the article:

• web.archive.org
• archive.today

China had recently considered a complete ban on all American movies in retaliation to Donald Trump’s raising tariffs on Chinese imports

Archived version: https://archive.is/newest/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/china-trump-tariffs-hollywood-movies-imports-b2731396.html

Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.

Windows 10/11 is a requirement because it will be a shared console, sorry y'all. I'm considering a refurb'ed model on eBay because some include Win10 Pro licenses, which would save ~$80 versus building from scratch.

The PC would be used for streaming media through Plex and maybe some light gaming via SteamLink, so specs aren't very important as long as it can handle basic web browsing and graphic output.

Has anyone here had any experience with these? I would imagine they're pretty no-fuss boxes given that they're business-class units, but I also understand that they're several years old. What' the upgradeability of them like? What specific models/SKUs would be recommended for this use / are there any other SFF PCs that are comparable?

Archived at https://archive.is/uaXrU

The Data Protection Commission (DPC) has today announced the commencement of an inquiry into the processing of personal data comprised in publicly-accessible posts posted on the ‘X’ social media platform by EU/EEA users, for the purposes of training generative artificial intelligence models, in particular the Grok Large Language Models (LLMs). The Inquiry will examine compliance with a range of key provisions of the GDPR, including with regard to the lawfulness and transparency of the processing.

Recently, I noticed the keyboard would sometimes pop up at random times and I finally figured out reproducible steps.

Search any community from the sidebar and tap on it. Tap on a post and then tap and hold the screen, sliding it to the right. The keyboard should popup for some reason, even though there is no input field on-screen(after the post view is off-screen). This only seems to happen if the search field in the sidebar has text inputted. I was wondering why the heck the keyboard keeps popping up.

Hi all, I have my home lab set up as a single git repo. I’ve got all infrastructure as opentofu / ansible configs, and using git crypt to protect secret files (tofu state, ansible secret values, etc).

How would you back up such a system? Keeping it on my self hosted git creates a circular dependency. I’m hesitant to use a private codeberg repo in case I leak secrets. Just wondering what the rest of you are doing.

title says it all

Turkey (AFP) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday accused Israel of sowing divisions in Syria in a bid to "dynamite" the "revolution" that toppled strongman Bashar al-Assad.

Turkey is a key backer of Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa whose Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) led the rebel coalition which ousted Assad in December.

"Israel is trying to dynamite the December 8 revolution by stirring up ethnic and religious affiliations and turning minorities in Syria against the government," Erdogan told a diplomacy forum in the southern Mediterranean resort of Antalya.

Erdogan's comments come as officials from Turkey and Israel began talks this week aimed at easing tensions over Syria.

Israel has launched air strikes and ground incursions to keep Syrian forces away from its border.

A Turkish defence ministry source said on Thursday that the first technical meeting with Israel had taken place in Azerbaijan on Wednesday.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan warned this did not mean the two sides were moving towards normalising ties strained over Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza.

Turkey has suspended all trade with Israel, with Erdogan accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of "genocide" in the Palestinian territory [...].

On Friday, Erdogan condemned Israel's "barbarism" after a pre-dawn air strike that officials in Gaza said killed 10 members of the same family.

"Just this morning, 10 people, including seven children, from the same family were martyred in Khan Yunis. If this is not barbarism, I ask you, what is it?" he asked at the diplomacy forum.

Sharaa, who arrived in Antalya earlier in the day, was due to meet with Erdogan on the sidelines of the diplomacy forum.

It marks his second trip to Turkey as leader after Erdogan welcomed him to the capital Ankara in February.

After meeting with Qatar's foreign minister Sharaa, wearing a suit and a tie, was mobbed by reporters clamouring for comment.

Ankara's influence on Syria's new authorities has worried Israel, which considers Sharaa's forces to be jihadists and has launched hundreds of strikes on military sites in Syria since Assad's ouster.

"Israel is turning into a problematic country that directly threatens the stability of the region, especially with its attacks on Lebanon and Syria," Erdogan told the forum.

The Turkish leader said the Syrian "revolution" offered an opportunity to bring stability to the region and warned it should not be wasted.

"We will not allow Syria to be dragged into a new vortex of instability," he said.

He also said Israeli strikes were denting efforts to combat the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.

From Liron Gertsman

This image is a real single photo (not a composite) from my recent time in Alberta- a Northern Hawk Owl perched directly in front of the rising moon! I've long wanted to line up an owl with the moon, and while I've had some limited success in the past, this opportunity was the best chance that I've ever had...

"Given that there is no longer any possibility of market acceptance for US goods exported to China under the current tariff levels, if the US side subsequently continues to impose tariffs on Chinese goods exported to the US, the Chinese side will pay no attention to it," according to the statement."