Tuesday, October 03, 2023

Lunch

eat

Lock Him Up

Powerful rich people should be less able to get away with this shit, not more.

Ideological, But Not Just

There was a big push against The Left from the centrist dipshists after Biden got elected, in part because SBF was funding various important pieces of the propaganda network, and in part because the wrong sorts of people were getting White House jobs.

You know, too many Elizabeth Warren staffers instead of my friends.

Sure it's ideology and pure corruption, but it's also about which rival gangs achieve power for its own sake.

Not *everybody* thinks like that, but quite a lot of people who achieve power do so because they think a bit too much like that.

Centrist Dipshits

The simple explanation is they prefer fascism to socialism - and perhaps more importantly fascists to socialists - though "socialism" is just mild social democracy. There are more complicated explanations, too, but that's really it.
Why do centrists keep falling for this? The answer, to paraphrase Voltaire is that, since no-one like the imagined intelligent, honest conservative exists, they have to be invented. In reality, intelligent honest conservatives, are either ex-Republicans (for example, David French and the Bulwark group) or open enemies of democracy (Adrian Vermeule).

But once they recognise that there is no serious thought to their political right, centrists would have to recognise that they themselves are the conservatives. That would entail an intellectual obligation to engage with the left, which is the last thing they want.

Morning

Every day

Monday, October 02, 2023

Monday Night

Rock on.

Happy Hour

Get happy

The Press Will Play Along

I look forward to journalists calling terminal [absent simple medical interventions] conditions "life limiting" from now on.
This summer, for example, the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists published a “Glossary of Medical Terms” instructing doctors on what “life affirming” language to use. Under their guidance, a woman whose fetus has a fatal anomaly would be told not that the condition is terminal but that it’s “life limiting.” Similarly, if someone’s water breaks months before her due date, she would be informed not that the pregnancy is nonviable but that it’s “pre-viable.” The goal is in part to persuade women to carry doomed pregnancies, which can be emotionally and physically catastrophic.

Nepo Babies

I actually had no idea Alicia Menendez was Bob's daughter.

Some Laughs

We might only get laughs, but I'll take them.

Lunch

eat

The SBF PR Continues

This 60 minutes Michael Lewis/SBF piece is just embrassing from start to finish.

How did we get here? People like Michael fucking Lewis. Basically starts with:
[A]ll I knew was I was supposed to evaluate his character. And that 18 months earlier, he had nothing, now he had $22.5 billion dollars and was the richest person in the world under 30.

He didn't care much about like, spending it all on yachts, he was gonna spend it to save humanity from extinction kind of thing. So the whole walk was, like, my jaw was on the floor about here, after I heard all that.
Dear readers, do we think SBF ever had "nothing"?

Do we think SBF didn't live a life of luxury?

Dear readers, do we expect Michael Lewis is going to be able to evaluate his character?

Do we think, knowing what we know about all this, Lewis is changing the story he had already written? And then:
The dollar coming in is being used to pay the dollar going out. And in this case, they actually had-- a great real business. If no one had ever cast aspersions on the business, if there hadn't been a run on customer deposits, they'd still be sitting there making tons of money.
I'll let Dan explain: Just amazing:
There is still a Sam-Bankman-Fried-shaped hole in the world that now needs filling. Like that character would be very useful to have--
Just the easiest marks in the world.

Don't See How Donnie Two Scoops...

Trial day!
Former President Donald Trump will be in attendance Monday in a New York courtroom for the start of the civil fraud trial against him, his eldest sons, their companies and Trump Organization executives.

Opening statements in the civil trial over inflated assets in fraudulent financial statements come less than a week after a shocking ruling by Judge Arthur Engoron that found Trump and his co-defendants are liable for “persistent and repeated” fraud.

Let Them Fight

I guess we have some laughs ahead of us.
A cohort of House Republicans are reportedly penning a motion to expel Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) as he ramps up his efforts to boot House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from GOP leadership.

Citing anonymous sources within Congress, Fox News and CNN both reported Sunday that lawmakers will turn against Gaetz if an ongoing Ethics Committee probe doesn’t clear him of long simmering allegations of wrongdoing.
And:
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) said Sunday that he is determined to try to oust McCarthy from his leadership position after McCarthy passed a stopgap measure to fund the government with Democratic support.
Poor Kev.

Morning

Once again it's Monday.

Sunday, October 01, 2023

Sunday Night

Rock on.

Sunday Evening

 I got nothin'

Heat

Yes we know that weather is not climate, but...
The Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon in Minnesota scheduled to take place Sunday was canceled due to concerns of record-setting heat, according to a news release.

Sunday in Minneapolis and St. Paul will be the hottest day of the week with record-setting temperatures close to 90 degrees Fahrenheit possible in the afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.
I've never done a marathon (a couple halfs, not recently!), but I'd be pretty pissed (not at the organizers) if I was planning to do one and it was cancelled! 

Lunch

Eat

What Do They Want

I know they are mostly chaos agents, but I still don't know what the MAGA caucus hoped to achieve. There must be some "if we do X, then we can achieve Y" but I have no idea what Y is.

Maybe it is just "get more time with Sean Hannity."