Happy Hour

get happy

Out To Dry

Gotta admit the admiral involved deserves this.

Karoline Leavitt defends second strike on alleged drug-smuggling boat; Trump says he believes Pete Hegseth’s statement ‘100%’ that defense secretary didn’t ordered the attack

We did not do the thing which was good, akshually.

We're Going To Kill You And Everybody You Know

And a lot of other people, too, of course.

As Washington prepares to launch land attacks inside Venezuela, a long-awaited phone call between the White House and Caracas aimed at defusing the crisis carried a blunt message for strongman Nicolás Maduro: You can save yourself and those closest to you, but you must leave the country now, sources familiar with the exchange told the Miami Herald.

The call — which The New York Times reported took place last week — quickly reached an impasse as it became clear that the two sides’ positions were far apart. Washington demanded that Maduro and his top allies leave Venezuela immediately to allow the restoration of democratic rule, while regime leaders proposed handing political control to the opposition but retaining command of the armed forces.

According to the sources, the U.S. message to Maduro was direct: Safe passage would be guaranteed for him, his wife Cilia Flores, and his son only if he agreed to resign right away.

The Gang Of 500

Reminisicing a bit here, though of course it still has relevance, but the press corps we were "gifted" with for the post 9/11 era were people who had spent years absolutely having the time of their fucking lives over Monica Lewinsky and related. They decided that they - and the trivialities and gossip that obsessed them - ran That Town and that politics basically didn't matter except for their personal entertainment an bank accounts.

Sure put George W. Bush in charge, it'll be fun! Much more fun than that AL BORE amirite? You might remember how after 9/11 a few of them asserted that it was time to get serious, without giving much thought to why they had approached the previous few years as a party at Gatsby's.

A Good Senator

Van Hollen is one of the few who has been getting out there on a variety of issues other than healthcarandaffordability.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said Sunday he believes "it's very possible there was a war crime committed" in the administration's first strike against an alleged drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean Sea in September.

"I think it's very possible there was a war crime committed. Of course, for it to be a war crime, you have to accept the Trump administration's whole construct here ... which is we're in armed conflict, at war with this particular -- with the drug gangs. Of course, they've never presented the public with the information they've got here," Van Hollen said on ABC News' "This Week." "If that theory is wrong, then it's plain murder."

Always Be Posting

It isn't the most important thing, but I do find it rather odd that all these weirdos are always thinking about how their instagram posts might look. Always posing, always posting.

Flip

This kind of kool kid banter tone reminds me of the Mark Halperin/The Note era of political journalism. It never went away entirely, but I wouldn't say it is the dominant dialect of the Gang of 500 anymore.

Morning

Manic Monday

Sunday Sunny Afternoon

I recently saw The Kinks jukebox musical Sunny Afternoon. I normally don't go to such things (jukebox musicals) but I did enjoy it quite a bit.

Now Is The Time

There Dems will probably take the House. I mean, if they don't then my somewhat cynical view of their strategy will be more than validated, but I still expect them to.

Whem the Dems won in 2006, the legend of Rahm Emanuel was born. Do we think his genius really won it? No, but he made sure that was the story. 

Are You Going To Do Something

We can't have elections going back and forth between political parties claiming to be able to solve "affordability" and then not doing it. It is a problem that "affordaility" is not one thing and there is not one magic "affordability" button. Energy prices are one simple thing to focus on, but even if the follow through on these promises (they had better!) they are just one thing.

Across the country, Democrats have seized on rising anxiety over electricity costs and data centers in what could be a template for the 2026 midterm elections.

In Virginia, Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger pledged during her campaign to lower energy bills and make data centers pay more. In the House of Delegates, one Democratic challenger unseated a Republican incumbent by focusing on curbing the proliferation of data centers in Loudoun County and the exurbs of the nation’s capital.

In New Jersey, Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill promised to declare a state of emergency on utility costs and freeze rates. And in Memphis, State Representative Justin J. Pearson, who is challenging Representative Steve Cohen in a high-profile Democratic primary next year, has vowed to fight a supercomputer by Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, that would be located in a predominantly Black neighborhood.

A nontrivial chunk of the party (hi, Senator Gillibrand) are tech shills and there are going to be some conflicts

Morning

Sunday funday

Every Week Is Health Insurance Week

I'm rarely an accelerationist, as the costs of burning it all down are quite high and the likelihood of what emerges from the ashes not being an eldritch horror is low, but it's hard not to root, a little bit, for Trump to just go ahead and destroy our health care system.

I know, I know, it probably wouldn't be good, as I said, but...

We Must Hurry If We Are To Dance

RIP Tom Stoppard

Did We Find A Good Republican

This is good, at least.

The state senator said he declined the invitation and believes it violates the Hatch Act, which restricts certain political activities by federal employees.

Walker said he would have reported the alleged violation to federal authorities “if I thought that there was anyone of integrity in Washington that would follow through on my accusation and actually cause someone to lose their job over it.”

“I refused (the invitation), but the underling who reached out to me is trying to influence the election on my dime,” Walker told The Republic. “That individual works for me. He works for you. He’s on my payroll, he’s on your payroll, and he’s campaigning on company time. That’s a violation of the Hatch Act. He’s a federal employee. He works in the White House. But does anyone care about the rules anymore? Not that I can tell.”

I Suppose He Could Still Have Him Murdered At Sea

I'm starting to suspect that Trump's stated reasons for things are not always the actual ones? Big, if true. Hopefully I read about this kind of thing in the newspaper more!

Joke, but I don't want to read a piece about that in the newspaper, I want all coverage to start from the position that these people lie about everything all the time. Because they do!

20 stories taking them at faith, followed by one "hmm.. perhaps things aren't as they say? Much to consider, though we will forget this tomorrow," is not the appropriate way to cover them!

Morning

Slacker Saturday.

Happy Hour

 Get happy

Kill'Em All

Pete's a real man, unlike you.  He's willing to push the big red "kill innocent people" button.  Everybody respects Pete now, and that empty hole inside of him is filling up with warmth.

The longer the U.S. surveillance aircraft followed the boat, the more confident intelligence analysts watching from command centers became that the 11 people on board were ferrying drugs.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a spoken directive, according to two people with direct knowledge of the operation. “The order was to kill everybody,” one of them said.

A missile screamed off the Trinidad coast, striking the vessel and igniting a blaze from bow to stern. For minutes, commanders watched the boat burning on a live drone feed. As the smoke cleared, they got a jolt: Two survivors were clinging to the smoldering wreck.

Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble

But spicy chatbot is so useful.

On November 20th American statisticians released the results of a survey. Buried in the data is a trend with implications for trillions of dollars of spending. Researchers at the Census Bureau ask firms if they have used artificial intelligence “in producing goods and services” in the past two weeks. Recently, we estimate, the employment-weighted share of Americans using AI at work has fallen by a percentage point, and now sits at 11% (see chart 1). Adoption has fallen sharply at the largest businesses, those employing over 250 people. Three years into the generative-AI wave, demand for the technology looks surprisingly flimsy.

Whether AI adoption is fast or slow has profound consequences. For the world to reap productivity gains from AI, normal businesses must incorporate the tech into their day-to-day operations. It is also the most important question in determining whether or not the world is in an AI bubble. From today until 2030 big tech firms will spend $5trn on infrastructure to supply AI services. To make those investments worthwhile, they will need on the order of $650bn a year in AI revenues, according to JPMorgan Chase, a bank, up from about $50bn a year today. People paying for AI in their personal lives will probably buy only a fraction of what is ultimately required. Businesses must do the rest.

They are not designed to do the things their boosters have pretended they are good for.  We went from curing cancer to handling scheduling to 'horny computer friend.'

(yes I know the Shakespeare is 'double' not 'bubble')