Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Since Monday, Tesla has been under pressure from officials in Alameda County to shut down operations of its car factory in Fremont, California, to fight the spread of the coronavirus. On Thursday, Tesla finally announced it would halt vehicle manufacturing in Fremont.
"We have decided to temporarily suspend production at our factory in Fremont, from end of day March 23, which will allow an orderly shutdown," Tesla said in a post on its website.
March 23 is next Monday—a full week after officials in seven Bay Area counties ordered non-essential businesses to close down. To make sure there was no confusion about Tesla's status, Alameda County tweeted on Tuesday that Tesla was not an essential business.
But Tesla persisted. In recent weeks, Elon Musk has been a vocal skeptic of efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus. "Danger of panic still far exceeds danger of corona," Musk tweeted on Monday.
Previously:
Alameda County Sheriff Pressures Tesla to Shut Down Fremont Factory
Related Stories
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
The San Francisco Bay Area is in lockdown to fight the spread of the coronavirus. Under a "shelter in place" order announced Monday, people in seven Bay Area counties are prohibited from leaving their homes except for essential activities like visiting the doctor or buying food.
Tesla's Fremont car factory is in Alameda County, which is participating in the lockdown. But Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been defiant. In a Monday evening email, he told employees that they could stay home from work if they felt sick. However, he wrote, "I will personally be at work" on Tuesday.
But late on Tuesday, the Alameda County Sheriff's office fired a shot across Tesla's bow:
Alameda County's Monday order directed businesses in the county to "cease all activities at facilities located within the County except Minimum Basic Operations"—like processing payroll.
[...] Tesla's stock plunged on news that Tesla could be forced to shut down its Fremont factory. As of publication time, Tesla's stock is down more than 11 percent at $380. That's down from a high above $900 the stock hit just last month—before the economic impact of the coronavirus became clear.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 21 2020, @05:16PM (6 children)
Good, maybe their suppliers around Fremont will shut down now too (they haven't so far)
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 21 2020, @06:17PM (5 children)
Good luck starting back up when their suppliers are out of business.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 21 2020, @06:30PM
Vigorous. Energetic. Passionate. Those were three words that would instantly come to anyone's mind upon listening to the teacher give his lesson.
But that wasn't all. It was safe to say that no other teacher was as passionate as this one. Was it because that was simply who he was? No, it was the nature of the topic that drew out this individual's passion to levels never before seen. Just what subject could inspire such passion, such legendary dedication? It was silence.
Yes, silence. The elementary school students were being instructed on the concept of silence. At first, they did not understand; it was simply too difficult a topic for them to comprehend. But, thanks to their great teacher's passion and dedication, they eventually came to understand just what silence truly was. No, the truth was that they were simply forced to understand, thanks to a related concept: Violence.
Silence was always preceded by violence, as the children came to understand. After all, if a fist repeatedly rocketed towards your face until your very existence was snuffed out, what would the end result be? After all, if your head was twisted backwards, what would the end result be? After all, if your head was repeatedly slammed onto a hard, cold tile floor with great force, what would the end result be? That's right: Silence. Silence, silence, silence!
At first, the children screamed. They screamed, shouted, cried, screeched, bellowed, and begged for mercy, all actions which were in total opposition to silence. But, after their great, passionate teacher stripped them bare, violated them, and demonstrated to them the very first step on The Road to Silence, an epiphany dawned on them, and then they understood.
In record time, every child in the classroom understood. They understood all too well. In fact, so passionate were they about silence that they would forevermore remain in its grasp!
Satisfied with his lesson, the wandering teacher, Dongham, put on his clothes, packed his bag, and left for the next classroom, leaving his old students under the ever-watchful eyes of flies and maggots. As he was walking, he thought about how exciting it would be to instruct a classroom of preschoolers...
(Score: 2, Insightful) by sjames on Saturday March 21 2020, @06:31PM (2 children)
Good luck starting back up if half the planet is mad at them for causing excess deaths and hospitalizations by hampering efforts to curb a pandemic.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 21 2020, @06:38PM (1 child)
Yeah, but the other half loves them for saving the environment. And that half hates people anyway.
(Score: 2) by dry on Sunday March 22 2020, @02:15AM
Don't be tricked by the name conservative, they're actually not interested in conserving the planet. You do seem to be right about them hating people though, just have to look at their leader along with the alternate they offer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @06:23PM
good. fuck california. move that plant to texas.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday March 21 2020, @05:54PM (6 children)
Virus panic is dumb, Elon said so!
I want my Cybertruck, and I want it NOW, NOW, NOW!
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 21 2020, @07:48PM (5 children)
It is dumb. He is right. In four months all of you panicked Chicken Littles will be bigmouthing: "Of course, I knew this was going to pass just like SARS."
As you stand in line for the dole.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Saturday March 21 2020, @09:08PM (1 child)
Here's the real test of a society/economy: can we take a little disturbance in the cause of saving millions of lives without putting everyone on the dole permanently?
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2020, @12:18AM
At what cost are we running that experiment?! Why not set fire to our homes to see how fast the fire department can react?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday March 22 2020, @02:14AM (1 child)
(Score: 3, Funny) by dry on Sunday March 22 2020, @02:17AM
Ah, you're the one who emptied out the toilet paper aisle.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2020, @06:09AM
At least they won't be standing in line at Death Panels any more thanks to Donald Trump.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 21 2020, @06:15PM
to parasites
(Score: 3, Insightful) by fadrian on Saturday March 21 2020, @06:15PM (4 children)
He could buy the expertise to tell him why if he weren't an arrogant prick.
That is all.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 21 2020, @07:16PM (1 child)
Nonsense, he's the Real Life Tony Stark. He knows better than actual experts in their fields.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2020, @06:12AM
Just as long as all his employees are equally enlightened as to the risk to themselves (+families), this is a rock solid position. I'm sure Mr. Musk is down there with the guys breathing the same virus-laden air. What a pal!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 21 2020, @08:04PM (1 child)
Dude, who hurt you?
Pedo Guy may seem like a wanker but his battery deployment does save the people of South Australia from blackouts every summer heatwave.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2020, @06:15AM
> South Australia has population of over 1.7 million, which accounts for 7.14% of Australia population
You hear that? OVER 1.6 MILLION DOLLARS!?$! Almost 7.14% of the population of a small country!$>#!@
(Score: 2, Informative) by j-beda on Saturday March 21 2020, @06:28PM (5 children)
If you and your workplace have not taken steps towards "social distancing" and all that stuff - you probably should have by now. Here is a great article on how exponential and hidden growth rates should be effecting policy decisions:
https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca [medium.com]
Then he did a followup:
https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-the-hammer-and-the-dance-be9337092b56 [medium.com]
And there is a Whitehouse.gov petition:
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/buy-us-time-fight-coronavirus-and-save-millions-lives-hammer-and-dance-suppression-strategy [whitehouse.gov]
Wash those hands, and stay at home!
(Score: 3, Funny) by Bot on Saturday March 21 2020, @08:07PM (4 children)
> Wash those hands
Or don't shower at all. That should keep people at a safe distance.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday March 21 2020, @09:11PM (2 children)
I'll have the bean beef burrito, with extra onions and garlic - thank you.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Barenflimski on Saturday March 21 2020, @10:32PM (1 child)
The problem isn't with the food you eat. The problem is with the folks who act like a different smell is the worst thing on the planet.
I actually had this conversation with someone. The lady wore so much perfume that it stunk up the place. I asked her what that was about. She said that it was so that she didn't ever have to smell anyone or anything else. I pointed out to her that to a 3rd party that was just as strong of a smell as the other smells she wanted to cover up if not more so. She said, "Yea. That's the point and I don't care what they think. I don't want to smell anything else."
Moral of that story is that you should tolerate her intolerance.
(Score: 1, Troll) by JoeMerchant on Saturday March 21 2020, @11:14PM
The "me me me" generation (c. 1949-1960) in a nutshell.
I knew a South Indian guy in college - jet black skin, ate fried curry from the pan, no meat, no veggies, just curry in oil. His sweat was yellow. Nice guy, just don't bump into him if you're wearing white...
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Sunday March 22 2020, @03:46AM
Is that why I have noted no difference pre-Chinese coronavirus and now?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by ledow on Saturday March 21 2020, @06:52PM (15 children)
Maybe one day the Musk hero worship will end.
"Danger of panic still far exceeds danger of corona," Musk tweeted on Monday.
That's not your decision to make, Mr Musk.
(Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Saturday March 21 2020, @07:28PM (11 children)
It is not his decision, but that does not make him wrong.
The economy has already gone from bad to borked. Much more panicking and we can just throw the entire economy in the trash. Is anyone going to keep track of those who die because they won't have a roof over their head next winter? There is no good solution here, but there seems to be little regard for balance.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 21 2020, @07:42PM (7 children)
Right you are!
Let's just take all our lumps at once: let the virus run unimpeded and take out the old and sickly; their days of being prime economic contributors are mostly over. After the herd is thinned by the shock therapy, we will be left with a younger population which is always better for economic growth.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 21 2020, @08:30PM (3 children)
I live near a hospital. You would expect to see high amounts of activity and maybe schools being converted into care stations. Like the Chinese building that field hospital. Don't we have the best military in the world?
None of that is happening. We are being locked out of work, people's lives are being destroyed while the government bullshits us with "flattening the curve", yet it's not like we are obviously pulling out any stops to grow capacity and provide care to the people who actually may end up needing it.
(Score: 2) by dry on Sunday March 22 2020, @02:25AM (1 child)
Wait another week or so. Here it seems it's the community centres first but there is serious talk about using the currently empty hotels.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @01:44PM
"Wait"? I thought we were out of time.
I did see a change now, with the governor's ban hammer, construction activity on their new wing has stopped.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2020, @06:22AM
I figured the over-reation is becuase collectively we all decided we needed a time out from the bullshit. A week or 2 off work, let the "leaders" hang out in the wind instead for a while then a bunch get canned and the rest of us (the essentials) get back to the grind.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by SomeGuy on Saturday March 21 2020, @09:49PM (1 child)
Typical parrot response. Always thinking in absolutes. News flash: "Not panicking" does not equal "no action". In this case, it means finding a medium that saves as many lives as practical while at the same time not blowing up the economy, dooming us all.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 21 2020, @10:26PM
A personal thank you for your measured take on the issue. You put it much better than I could have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @10:26AM
It's actually a great opportunity for Europe to fix their "aging population problems"...
But it's probably a big vote loser if they appeared like they weren't doing anything about it and millions of old people died.
Don't think they could get away with a Stage Four Coronavirus Plan ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSXIetP5iak [youtube.com] ).
The UK did seem like they were trying that plan at the beginning, but the pressure got too high when everyone else and the Queen were cancelling mass events while the Gov was just making vague noises about herd immunity and flattening the curve.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by quietus on Saturday March 21 2020, @07:57PM (1 child)
Maybe the banks, which you helped save, can pitch in? After all, a lot of defaults and they too are back at square 2008.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2020, @06:26AM
I don't think they sold the subprime with the same gusto since then, and a lot of the previous default-risks have defaulted. You're talking about high quality mortgages defaulting. That's a hard thing to fathom...
(Score: 3, Insightful) by deimtee on Monday March 23 2020, @03:53AM
The virus isn't going to destroy housing*. If people are homeless that is a failure of society, not the fault of the virus.
*unless it gets bad enough they are burning infected houses full of bodies, and in that case a shortage of housing is a very minor problem.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 21 2020, @08:27PM
Not his decision but it is his opinion. He's entitled to that, same as we all are.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2020, @09:19AM
https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2020/03/21/newsom-says-california-enlisting-elon-musk-tim-cook-for-coronavirus-help-1268647 [politico.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2020, @06:29PM
he's right, and it's not the parasitic government slugs' decision to make either.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 21 2020, @10:04PM (1 child)
DC energy electolyses your cells when you come into contact. The production of lye within the cells makes them pop. This does not happen with AC.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2020, @01:06AM
Fuck off Edison, you Elephant murderer.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Barenflimski on Saturday March 21 2020, @10:48PM (1 child)
Musk isn't wrong concerning the data about the virus. Musk is wrong because he is thinking outside the box and not following the talking points of this government.
We have got to get something figured out as shutting down the world until COVID-19 is eradicated isn't feasible. The government already screwed the people as they appear to have done almost zero preparation in January and February. Now they've shut down the economy so they can catch up. The people have given them that, for now.
The looming issue is that when the banks all come knocking in 15 days and people are threatened with eviction the day the government ban on evictions ends, any thoughts for little 'ole grandpa with a heart condition down the road are going to end.
It seems to me that we could have had a plan in place a long time ago to infect low risk folks at a measured pace so we had folks to be able to keep the economy going. All we are doing now is dealing with panic and a smathering of information from different levels of government. None of that helps us in the short term or the long term.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2020, @06:29AM
Littl' ol' grandpa-voter is going to be very happy with the settlement the Federal Government comes up with. Young-person-non-voter won't be pleased. That makes voter bear sad.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Sunday March 22 2020, @03:51AM (5 children)
The damage the government is doing by shutting down the economy exceeds the harm from Chinese coronavirus itself by several orders of magnitude. You don't slam the brakes on a ten-thousand car-long freight train and avoid a train wreck.
There need to be extremely serious consequences for this fuck-up. China as a rising power has to be shutdown immediately. They need to get voted off the island for at least the next century or until they can get their shit together. The people at the highest levels of industry and government in the rest of the world who have done China's bidding instead of working for us need to be cleared out with prejudice.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2020, @06:32AM
Wait are you saying there are 2 viruses? The CIA one and the Chinese one? I hope I get the CIA one so I get teh chance to die for my country.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2020, @07:55AM (1 child)
Oh shut the fuck up you racist piece of shit. Why don't you drown yourself and everyone like you for spreading disease to native americans and then stealing their land until all your racist bs is permanently removed the earth?
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday March 25 2020, @12:44PM
No, you're the racist in assuming the connotation of "Chinese" harbored racist intent. It's probably because you are grossly ignorant, and a blinkered partisan.
FYI, "Chinese" is not a racial label, "Asian" or "East Asian" are. "Chinese" connotes ethnicity, though, which does not qualify for the ham-fisted, ignorant assumption (of yours) of "racism," but would qualify for the more applicable term of "bigoted." "Chinese," however, also carries a meaning of "People who are citizens of the country called 'China'." That is what I meant when I used it.
Now, it is cricket to criticize the actions of other countries, especially when actions or inactions of the governments of those countries have endangered the entire world (SEE: Nazi Germany). My assertion is that the communist government of China is stupid, and acted stupidly, and the rest of us are paying the price also. For that, they must be shunned with a good, long shunning.
Go, chew, and digest. Contemplate your own racism, and your dastardly penchant for ascribing the worst possible motives to every other human, you bigot.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by ilsa on Sunday March 22 2020, @01:54PM
While you're not wrong, the problem is that the US completely fucked up it's response to this problem and now slamming the brakes on the economy is the only option left to provide even the hope of regaining control. The question is... Do you slam the breaks now and save millions of lives, or do you wait for the train to derail all by itself, causing orders of magnitude more damage, take even longer to recover, and the invest in the funeral industry because they're going to have a really awesome couple of quarters?
Everything will get overwhelmingly worse very quickly. It's an expotential curve and we're not even close to the peak yet, and since people are *still* not taking the situation seriously... I dunno.
Now is not the time to dole out punishments. We don't have that luxury. Now is the time to respond as a local, regional, national, and global community to keep the bodies from piling up.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday March 23 2020, @02:28AM
New thread: https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=36703&page=1&cid=974282#commentwrap [soylentnews.org]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]