Saturday Afternoon

 Doing some weekending.

Some Of Our Faves

A very big and influential Dem donor who everyone has long known is Epstein adjacent is, in fact, in the Epstein files with some stuff that doesn't look good!

I suspect the chips will not fall from above so it is time for another woke uprising.

Phone Addiction

I heard stories for years from some academics about how The Kids Today were worse than The Kids Of Yesterday and they were mostly bullshit (and plenty of other older academics agreed that nothing important had changed). Still, between "AI" and the phones, I suspect these stories are no longer bullshit.

I have a rule, mostly followed, that if I'm deliberately watching something (as opposed to background noise TV, which as an old I still do sometimes), I don't look at my phone. If I really feel the need to, I will pause whatever I am watching (again, mostly followed).

I won't deny the addict's urge exists, though I will blame my job and the current state of affairs for that, somewhat. It wasn't so bad a million years ago in the Biden era.

Beyond the classroom, it's a bit hard to have interests and hobbies if you can't put your phone down occasionally. Go watch a movie, kids!

But They'll Be Safer Than Humans!!!

This was an evidence-free article of faith among autonomous vehicle boosters. I've never really doubted that to the extent that they work, they'd be reasonably safe, but how safe they are in practice won't just depend on the technology, but on how safe they are told to be. 

By accounts, Waymos are being set to drive more aggressively than they had been previously.  They had been safe, in part, because they were programmed to be cautious.  Maybe overly cautious, but it is risky to turn the dial the other way.

Elon's technology was always trash. His commitments to safety and honesty are, of course, what you would expect.

Tesla’s nascent robotaxi program is off to a rough start. New NHTSA crash data, combined with Tesla’s new disclosure of robotaxi mileage, reveals Tesla’s autonomous vehicles are crashing at a rate much higher than human drivers, and that’s with a safety monitor in every car.

Morning

Slacker Saturday

Happy Hour

Get happy.

In Her Defense, She Needs The Money

Welp.

Mrs. Clinton’s take was somewhat more subdued. She said, nonetheless, that she had been impressed by the development that had taken place since her last visit more than a decade ago, when she was secretary of state.

“The example that the kingdom is setting for the right kind of development — ambitious, audacious, but organized, focused, bringing people, men and women together to move into the future — that is a very strong model for other parts of the world,” she said.

Mrs. Clinton met with the crown prince, and with Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former Saudi ambassador to the United States whom she called a “very valued friend.”

“I can’t wait to call Bill and tell him that I got to see you,” she said of her husband.

Ah, Prince Turki al-Faisal, let's learn a bit about him.

From 1979 to 2001, Prince Turki was director general of Al Mukhabarat Al 'Ammah, Saudi Arabia's intelligence agency, resigning from the position on 1 September 2001, ten days before the September 11 attacks in which 15 Saudi nationals hijacked commercial American airliners.

Fascinating stuff!

America's Worst University

Dartmouth University.

Seems Bad

Mr. Trump, Sir, Don Lemon is on your side, it's those nasty people at The Atlantic who are overly concerned with "free speech" that you should be focused on.

Space Data Centers

I know I don't have the genius of Elon Musk, but the issue with data centers isn't land, it's power and cooling. While we think of the vacuum of space as being "cold," it also doesn't conduct any fucking heat as you thermos users might know, which is why cooling is a big issue on the space station!!!

I hate that "everyone" feels obligated to take obvious cons seriously.

A Man Of Principle

I gotta say that I do respect Lindsey Graham for using the power that he has to stand up for what he thinks is right.

NO SENATE VOTE TONIGHT Couldn’t get all senators to allow a speedy vote. Schumer tells reporters Lindsey Graham is blocking it. “That’s the holdup,” Schumer tells reporters. Graham wants to keep a provision letting him sue to pocket $500,000 over J6 phone records seized.

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur.bsky.social) January 30, 2026 at 4:28 AM

It Was Someone Else's Vomit

We do love our "law enforcement officers."

A U.S. Customs and Border Patrol employee was charged with drunken driving in St. Paul after a state trooper found him passed out in a car Tuesday morning “covered in vomit.”

The state trooper found 31-year-old Alfredo Mancillas Jr. of Corpus Christi, Texas, “slumped over in the driver’s seat” at 3:25 a.m. Tuesday in the Hamline-Midway neighborhood near Allianz Field, according to charges filed that day by the St. Paul City Attorney’s Office.

Morning

Whiskey Friday with Tony Dokoupil

Happy Hour

get happy

America's Worst Humans

Chaya Raichik.

Hype Machine

A lot of people have lost betting against Elon for the past decade or so, but going all in on robots that certainly won't do anything useful anytime soon...

Tesla also announced plans to end production of its Model S and Model X vehicles. It will now use the manufacturing plant in California that made those cars to produce its line of humanoid robots - known as Optimus.

Fred, who used to be one of Elon's hype men but finally saw the light, caught the important bit:

Elon Musk admitted on Tesla’s Q4 2025 earnings call today that the company doesn’t have any Optimus robots doing useful work in its factories right now.

This is a striking admission, given that Musk has spent the past two years claiming the opposite.

Good That You Can Get Them On The Phone

Now that her problem is taken care of - at least enough to push it off the front page for a bit - she can go back to not pretending to care about it.

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said Thursday that immigration officials have ceased their "enhanced operations" in the state, the site of an enforcement surge and more than 200 arrests since last week.

Collins, a Republican, made the announcement after saying she had several direct communications with Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.

RIP Dan McQuade

I only met him a couple of times, years ago, though I'd see him randomly around Philly occasionally, but he always struck me as good people. I think he was still in college when I first met him.

First, We Remove All Leverage

Propose a shitty compromise because it got a group hug in the caucus meeting, and then remove any leverage you have to pass it.

Under the emerging plan, according to two officials knowledgeable about it, the Senate would split off legislation funding the Department of Homeland Security from a six-bill package of spending measures needed to keep the military, health programs and other federal agencies funded for the remainder of the fiscal year.

The Senate would pass those bills before a Friday midnight deadline, and Congress also would consider a short-term extension for homeland security operations, which would prevent an interruption of services by the Transportation Security Agency, Coast Guard and Federal Emergency Management Agency.

This isn't a "rein in ICE plan" it's an "avert the shutdown that our hog voters are yelling for" plans.

Then they will yell at people for not understanding their brilliance. Then not understand why people are mad when ICE continues its campaign of ethnic cleansing and murder.

...The Democrats!

Morning

Thinkpiece Thursday.