Happy Hour

First one of the year!

The Failed Mamdani Mayoralty

It isn't looking good, folks. Gotta admit the NYT editorial board had a point when they published this.

Chuck's moved a bit.

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who didn't endorse Zohran Mamdani for mayor, is expected to attend his inauguration at City Hall set to start shortly, per a source. Schumer will be seated on the dais with other top pols.

— Chris Sommerfeldt (@c-sommerfeldt.bsky.social) January 1, 2026 at 5:27 PM

This Is Almost As Bad As The Time Sarah Huckabee Sanders Was Politely Asked To Leave A Restaurant

"This" could apply to many things at the moment, but that episode was a reminder of about how some people matter (friends of Maggie Haberman) and some people don't, and no amount of pointing this out will change this perspective for many people in the elite discourse.

"They" are capable of getting mad about things (their friends facing mild social discomfort), objectively, while only activists are concerned with things like "immigrant concentration camps."

"The Left have an unfortunate tendency towards political violence," I muse, as I read about the torture camps established by my favorite political sources.

Of course there are good reporters doing things like reporting about torture camps.  But as I used to say a lot, there is the news and then there is the talking about the news. The people who talk about the news shape what is seen as important, what is emphasized.

Sure Why Not

Ominous.

Elon Musk's brain implant company Neuralink will start "high-volume production" of brain-computer interface devices and move to an entirely automated surgical procedure in 2026, Musk said in a post on the social media platform X on Wednesday.

Pretty sure this is just hype to get some funding money from rich suckers, but even if I were a rich sucker I think I would understand that brain surgery requires the nuanced precision that needs a bit of human touch. It isn’t just injecting jelly into a donut.

Maybe it isn't the best task for the horny chatbot.

And 'high-volume' in this context is very funny. 

Hopefully The Last Gasp

I know some of you get annoyed when I give Professional Democrats and their press familiars shit, but nobody relevant got 10% of the shit they deserved for backing Cuomo or failing to support Mamdani once he won the primary.

Get mad that they supported a completely incompetent corrupt "centrist" sex pest to be the mayor of a city he hates. Get extra mad that they (New York Democrats) are so incompetent that they couldn't find one of "their guys" who had slightly less baggage.

It is good he lost, but you can also get mad that they are so incompetent that they put their whole asses out there to push the guy who didn’t even win!

Morning

The Islamo-Marxism era of NYC begins.

Happy New Year!

Start 2026 off right, whatever that means for you.

Final 2025 Happy Hour

Bit of an odd year for me, though not too bad. Had some stress injuries (hamstring, plantar fasciitis) which were a bit annoying. I am suppose to do a half marathon at the end of the summer so I had better get past those issues!

Excellent Work, Phony Stark

Another year of Elon's bullshit.

They Could Override That

They probably won't, but they could.

A plan to help local communities pay their share of the long-sought Arkansas River Valley conduit passed Congress with strong bipartisan support, but has still come up one vital signature short of becoming a reality.

In this case, "strong bipartisan support" = unanimous support in both the House and Senate.

Lunch

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What If They Buy Both Parties

A big part of what went wrong starting in 2022 was that crypto money was working its way through the Democratic party and its various mouthpieces.  After SBF's prosecution, that went underground a bit, but it's obviously back.

And the problem with crypto money isn't just crypto, it's that the crypto/AI guys and the tech overlords generally are throwing their weight around on other issues. They think they're in charge now. I'm not sure how wrong they are.

Pundit Accountability

I will say that in 2025, it is clear that "robotaxis" work better than I imagined a few years ago. Still it is also clear that there is an immense amount of human intervention required - from remote operation to gig workers closing the fucking doors - so the dream of a self-driving car world is still a few Friedman Units away.

I am pretty sure that my belief that Waymo continues to obscure a lot of its necessary human intervention behind carefully defined stats is correct.

Though less sure than I once was, I still doubt that Waymo and similar will be anything but incredibly expensive research projects anytime soon. They might continue to improve, but they won't lead to a profitable business model and we are a long way off from true personal robocars of the "take a nap while you drive" kind.

It is a weird business model to pursue. Drivers are cheap and the uber model makes them responsible for their own capital (car) expenses.  Exploitive but hard to beat!

Morning

Wednesday funday

Happy Hour

Get happy

Afternoon Thread

Apparently conservatives are trying to break into and film daycare centers all over the country.  Normal.

Mommy He Hit Me Back

Trumpers are people who believe that is not just illegal, but unpossible.

The Kennedy Center has been forced to cancel their annual New Year’s Eve concert as more artists pull out to boycott President Donald Trump changing the historic venue’s name to the “Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” 

Jazz supergroup The Cookers announced Monday that they wouldn’t be performing on New Year’s Eve. 

...

One member of the group, saxophonist Billy Harper, had already made his feelings more clear. 

“I would never even consider performing in a venue bearing a name (and being controlled by the kind of board) that represents overt racism and deliberate destruction of African American music and culture. The same music I devoted my life to creating and advancing,” he said in a previous interview. “After all the years I spent working with some of the greatest heroes of the anti-racism fight like Max Roach and Randy Weston and Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Stanley Cowell, I know they would be turning in their graves to see me stand on a stage under such circumstances and betray all we fought for, and sacrificed for, but also betraying all the listeners that believed (and still do) in our cause and our music.”

Lunch

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I Was Wrong

I recognize that sometimes I am a bit too tech-skeptical.  AI has found the killer app which has proven all the skeptics wrong.

Robot Coffee Cups? Self-Driving Trivets? AI Researchers Made It Happen

Scientists found a way to animate everyday objects and predict your next move, so your stapler is always nearby when you need it.

I know stapler is just an example, but they don't have any better ones!

For Decades

Media outlets when conservatives take power: Obviously we need to provide a platform for the people in power and give voice to their supporters so our readers understand them.

Media outlets when Dems take power: The party in power has plenty of ways of getting their messages out, so it is important that we provide a platform to the minority party and other critics of the administration. 

I can't find it now, but this is almost verbatim what Meet the Press's producer said during Bush then Obama in response to the data showing her guest list was in no way balanced.