Never forget the institutions and individuals that surrendered eagerly.
Friday, January 02, 2026
Run Away
They will just try to find a way around any setback, of course, but there is immense value in making these lazy people have to work a bit.
America's Worst Newspaper
That fucking newspaper.
Remember this stuff every time they try to lecture you about their sacred journalistic objectivity, or whatever.
Reciprocity
More countries will do this.
Mali and Burkina Faso will impose a travel ban on Americans in response to President Trump’s announcement this month that citizens of the two West African countries would be barred from entering the United States from Jan. 1.Usually absolute bans aren't at issue, but if you've ever wondered why some country requires difficult-to-obtain visas for Americans, it's because the US requires it of their citizens.
Both governments said in separate statements on Tuesday that they were acting “in accordance with the principle of reciprocity,” and would apply the same restrictions on Americans that were imposed on their countries. The travel bans would take effect immediately, they added, and the decision was announced after Niger made a similar decision last week.
Thursday, January 01, 2026
The Failed Mamdani Mayoralty
It isn't looking good, folks. Gotta admit the NYT editorial board had a point when they published this.
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!
Wednesday, December 31, 2025
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!
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.
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!
Tuesday, December 30, 2025
Afternoon Thread
Apparently conservatives are trying to break into and film daycare centers all over the country. Normal.
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