Enjoy
Friday, October 31, 2025
Nobody Could've Predicted
That the audience and patrons and artists of the Kennedy Center would be repulsed by a Trump takeover.
Just Do It
The only reason to be against this is the likelihood that the next Dem senate will reinstate it right away, probably while saying the pledge of allegiance on the Capitol Steps.
Celebrate By Neuken In De Keuken
It is always good when far right assholes face a bit of a setback.
Dutch centrist party D66 won the most votes in Wednesday’s general election, news agency ANP said on Friday, putting its 38-year-old leader Rob Jetten on course to become the youngest-ever prime minister in the Netherlands.
With almost all votes counted, D66 can no longer be overtaken by the far-right Freedom Party (PVV) led by Geert Wilders, according to the news agency, which collects the results from all municipalities in the Netherlands.
A Dutch friend tells me that it is more of a left party than a centrist party, though anglo media is loathe to label it that way. Their coalition will be centrist, but the party is not.
Big Shitpile II: NVIDIA BOOGALOO
Welp
Here is where the bubble dynamics get complicated. Tech firms don’t want to formally take on debt—that is, directly ask investors for loans—because debt looks bad on their balance sheets and could reduce shareholder returns. To get around this, some are partnering with private-equity titans to do some sophisticated financial engineering, Paul Kedrosky, an investor and a financial consultant, told us. These private-equity firms put up or raise the money to build a data center, which a tech company will repay through rent. Data-center leases from, say, Meta can then be repackaged into a financial instrument that people can buy and sell—a bond, in essence. Meta recently did just this: Blue Owl Capital raised money for a massive Meta data center in Louisiana by, in essence, issuing bonds backed by Meta’s rent. And multiple data-center leases can be combined into a security and sorted into what are called “tranches” based on their risk of default. Data centers represent an $800 billion market for private-equity firms through 2028 alone. (Meta has said of its arrangement with Blue Owl that the “innovative partnership was designed to support the speed and flexibility required for Meta’s data center projects.”)In this way, the data-center financing ends up being a real-estate deal as much as an AI deal. If this sounds complicated, it’s supposed to: The complexity, investment structure, and repackaging make exactly what is going on hard to parse. And if the dynamics also sound familiar, it’s because not two decades ago, the Great Recession was precipitated by banks packaging risky mortgages into tranches of securities that were falsely marketed as high-quality. By 2008, the house of cards had collapsed.
Haven't seen the word "tranche" in awhile.
As with the original shitpile, the complexity makes it hard to see just how fucked everything is until it is too late. There are the underlying assets, and then who knows how many bets placed on them, and bets placed on those bets, with all the bets somehow going in the same direction..
Proof of Vaccination
In the near future, you will need vaccination proof to travel more and more places.
SARASOTA, Fla. — Florida plans to end nearly a half-century of required childhood immunizations against diseases that have killed and maimed millions of children. Many critics of the decision, including doctors, are afraid to speak up against it.
Thursday, October 30, 2025
Woke Universities
College freeze peach was always about how it was wrong for students to even question their betters, as defined by who Atlantic writers respect, and this is what they have achieved.
Melissa DeRosa ’04 M.P.A. ’09, secretary to former governor Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.) and unofficial advisor of his bid for New York City mayor, berated a Cornell undergraduate student after she probed DeRosa about Cuomo’s sexual harassment allegations at an Oct 1. Zoom event hosted by the Cornell Political Strategy Group.You are surely thinking that the student must have been really out of line.
After the event, the club suspended the student, before reducing her punishment to a strike in the club’s punishment system days later, according to a former club member familiar with the situation.
“I was wondering how you, as a woman who has done a lot of work for women, can grapple with the ethical and moral qualms of working with a disgraced governor with numerous sexual harassment allegations?” the student analyst asked DeRosa during the event.
It's Going To Keep Getting Worse
I don't think Dems have some magic wand to fix everything, but I do wish the leadership would prioritize giving a shit about this stuff.
Right now I'm pretty sure that if I get whisked away and my member of Congress starts making a big deal about it, Jeffries will send him not so subtle signals to focus on What The American People Really Care About.
I could be wrong about that, but that I'm not obviously wrong about it..
I could be wrong about that, but that I'm not obviously wrong about it..
Sure Why Not
Time for internal passports and borders too. Maybe states can set internal tariffs as well.
Oh So That Was True
Spent years being yelled at by people who claimed Garland was doing everything perfectly.
The slow decision-making at the top of Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Justice Department affected two major probes into Trump after he lost the White House in 2020: whether he illegally possessed and obstructed the retrieval of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence, and whether he conspired illegally to overturn the 2020 election.Surely if we do this just right then no one can accuse us of being "political!"
Far from rushing the Trump cases, FBI and Justice Department officials chose to move cautiously and slowly over concerns about the implications of investigating a former and possibly future president, taking pains to insulate the probes from even the appearance of politics.
Trump Almost Fixed The Problem He Created
Huzzah.
Trump said afterwards that Washington’s dispute with Beijing over the supply of rare earths has been settled, China would resume buying US soybeans and Washington would reduce its tariffs on China.
Trump shook hands with Xi after their talks and boarded Air Force One to return to Washington, saying onboard that the meeting had been a “great success”.
He told reporters the Chinese leader had agreed to work “very hard” to prevent the production of the synthetic opioid fentanyl – blamed for many American deaths – and in exchange the US would reduce fentanyl-linked tariffs from 20% to 10%, lowering the overall tariff burden from 57% to 47%.
Mechanical Turks
Why
It was wild to watch. Sure, Neo nearly toppled over while closing the dishwasher, took two minutes to fold the shirt and twisted its arm attempting to dance the Macarena. But shhh. Remember the rule. Oh, did I mention Neo had a human puppet master, controlling it with a VR headset?For not entirely good reasons, actual human beings will clean your home for not very much money!
Neo’s creator, 1X Technologies, is making the Rosie-the-Robot dream: some of the first humanoid housekeepers. Starting Tuesday, you can apply to its early adopter program and preorder one for $20,000, with delivery expected in 2026. The company will also offer a $499 monthly rental plan with a six-month minimum commitment.
Just one hidden cost: your privacy. For now, you’ll need to be cool with a company representative potentially peering through the robot’s camera eyes to get chores done. There are guardrails, including controls over when and what the operator can do.
Wednesday, October 29, 2025
America' s Worst Humans
Andrew Cuomo
So here's Andrew Cuomo reacting to Maria Bartiromo wondering if Mamdani will "change the look of New York" and have Muslim women "completely covered up," telling her that Mamdani "doesn't understand New York culture" because he has "dual citizenship" and "he's a citizen of Uganda."
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona.bsky.social) 29 October 2025 at 15:50
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Leftist Dogma
The article from the NYT's resident white supremacist, Jeremy Peters, is even worse, but for the moment I will just say we are several decades into pretending a small number of humanities department dominate universities which, even if the caricatures of those departments are true, are a tiny portion of universities dominated by business schools etc.
Also does the undergraduate degree of any other politician get this treatment? Like the "conservative dogma" of every econ major?
Yes most econ professors probably vote Dem for obvious reasons, but the econ major is still conservative dogma.
Tuesday, October 28, 2025
Almost Pony Time
Someone tell journalist/The Democrats they can start referring to him as "a widely loathed president" or similar.
Presidents’ popularity tends to wane. In his second term Donald Trump’s has fallen faster than that of his recent predecessors.I thought it was fine if journalists referred to Biden as "unpopular" in the latter part of his presidency. Trump is more unpopular.
Since modern polling began most presidents have started their terms with positive net approval ratings (the share of voters who approve of their job performance minus the share who disapprove). Both of Mr Trump’s terms began with public opinion split nearly evenly. In both cases his net approval rating quickly turned negative. Now it is -18, the lowest it has been since his inauguration—and three percentage-points lower than at any point in his first term.
I Guess That's Ex-Speaker Johnson
Oh well.
Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday that he’s spoken with President Donald Trump about the possibility he might seek a third term but said he doesn’t “see the path” for such a move.Asked about Trump floating a third term, which is barred under the Constitution, Johnson replied, “Well, there’s the 22nd Amendment.”
It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over
While I get the attempts to shorten the length of a typical 9 inning game, I get very annoyed when people propose measures to reduce the potential for extra innings. That baseball games occasionally last forever is part of the fun.
I didn’t watch last night's 18 inning game, but wish I had!
Experts
This doesn't just apply to China, of course. Basically every "Middle East Expert" on journalist speed dial as well.
I don’t think spending 10 days in a place makes you an expert, either, but any time I travel anywhere I am amazed at how quickly one can fill a blank slate view with a sense of a place. That is not a substitute for other knowledge, of course, but if you are a current events expert, flipping through local TV for a couple of hours gives you information that no think tank publication could. As can just walking down the street.And there are officials in the U.S. government and those in related circles who think people who have spent substantial time in China (and some other countries) are greater security risks. This leads to hurdles in getting security clearance and works against some real experts. https://t.co/5FxnwuXp4S
— Edward Wong (@ewong) October 28, 2025
The American media portrayal of places I have visited is often hilariously and obviously wrong.
Sure Why Not
I will admit Trump's dementia progression was slower than I expected but it has never been incorrect to observe it.
He also mused about magnets, encouraged military members to buy Toyotas, claimed unanimous support for the Nobel Peace Prize (sure, everybody but the Norwegian Nobel committee) and rhapsodized about hugging missiles. That was on top of a smattering of election and inflation denial, Joe Biden insults and, on a more ominous note, a threat to summon “more” than the National Guard to U.S. cities he deems dangerous and uncooperative.
Monday, October 27, 2025
LET'S GOOOOOOOOO
Some of the worst Dems are actually in very blue districts.
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander has told allies that he is planning to challenge Rep. Dan Goldman in New York’s 10th Congressional District, multiple people told City & State.
“He’s going to run and knows he’s got the best shot at defeating Goldman,” one person in touch with Lander told City & State, on condition of anonymity.
Consequences
One reason Republicans make these kinds of threats is it doesn't occur to them that they and theirs could be impacted, also. I don't want the next Demcratic president to start firing up the the denauturalization machine, but maybe it shouldn't be so obvious that they wouldn't.
FAA
I certainly don't mean this as a defense of Trump and Duffy, but we should always have a large surplus of air traffic controllers, because they are kind if important, and a lot of decisions over many years made the system as brittle as it is.
The Federal Aviation Administration said flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted Sunday morning due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility.
"But, Atrios, this sounds like you are defending Trump and Duffy!" No I am saying there were shortages before they arrived - and there never should have been - though they have made fixing that almost impossible.
Narrator: But it was not perfect
Did they find the brain worms:
Donald Trump said that he received an MRI scan during a recent trip to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center – marking the first time he has provided a reason for his second medical exam this year and raising new questions about the president’s health.“I did. I got an MRI. It was perfect,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One Monday.
Sunday, October 26, 2025
President Deals
The buzz is we are going to get a big beautiful deal with China, which I assume involves us giving them all our lunch money. More seriously, I am sure it be another edition of Trump breaking something and then taking credit for half fixing it. Thank you for glueing my coffee mug back together, sir, it only leaks a bit.
Don't Take Away His Binky
Trump announces new tariffs every time he gets mad at something he sees on TV. It is his coping mechanism, his emotional support tyranny. If the Supremos take that away (they probably won't because nothing matters anymore), he won't have that satisfaction anymore. There is nothing he loves more than announcing new tariffs.
Saturday, October 25, 2025
Why
Even aside from the impracticalities making this less than possible, why would millions of people live in space?
Jeff Bezos says the future is so bright, he "doesn't see how anybody can be discouraged who is alive right now." Speaking at Italian Tech Week 2025 earlier this month with Ferrari and Stellantis chair John Elkann, the Amazon and Blue Origin founder laid out a plan to launch humanity into orbit — literally.
The conversation started on Earth but didn't stay there long. Bezos dove headfirst into space — predicting colonies, building data centers off-world, and using the moon as a gas station. "I believe, in the next couple of decades, there will be millions of people living in space. That's how fast this is going to accelerate," he said.
[fixed typos, sorry, phone posting]
Friday, October 24, 2025
Happy Hour
Another week done.
Obviously there are people who are actual victims, unlike me, but Trump I was probably the worst 4 years of my life and Trump II will certainly exceed that.
My job is easy, but I don't have the luxury of tuning out. And, yes, I get that is a minor complaint, relative to the experience of many.
Obviously there are people who are actual victims, unlike me, but Trump I was probably the worst 4 years of my life and Trump II will certainly exceed that.
My job is easy, but I don't have the luxury of tuning out. And, yes, I get that is a minor complaint, relative to the experience of many.
Donald The Dove
I have no idea what Venezuela will or should do, but "they won't hit us back" is their assumption in their approach to everything.
BLOGGER ACCOUNTABILITY
One of my regular takes has been that we won't have real self-driving cars in my lifetime.
By accounts (I have never experienced), Waymo works a lot better than I expected. But I was still not wrong. Waymo has a remote operators who intervene. As long as that intervention is required, self-driving cars don't really exist.
You can have a modest taxi fleet, but you can't scale that too much. Personal cars definitely won't function like that.
And even if Waymo works, it is still a research project. It isn't a viable business model. That doesn't say anything about whether the technology works, precisely, but the dream of replacing low paid drivers with robot cars was always a bit dubious. Drivers are cheap!
True self-driving vehicles would be a neat invention, but the case for 96% self-driving is less obvious.
Everybody Knows By Now
Just to add to the previous post, everybody who is making "deals" with President Deals fully understands that the deal only lasts until he changes his mind. More than that, he knows you're someone he can keep extracting things from.
The point is that people/entities that do make deals are just agreeing to do what they want to do anyway, with Trump as cover. This is especially true of universities.
The point is that people/entities that do make deals are just agreeing to do what they want to do anyway, with Trump as cover. This is especially true of universities.
Remember Trump blew up NAFTA and forced a new agreement in 2019, even before we got to the recent shenanigans.
For The Best
Carney sucks but I suspect he is realizing that there are no deals with President Deals.
Thursday, October 23, 2025
Our Silly Attempts To Bully China
Dean Baker:
Trump apparently thinks that by making it more difficult for them to sell stuff here (by charging us high taxes), he is putting enormous pressure on our trading partners. He definitely is putting some pressure, but Trump seems confused on the size of the impact.No proccessed rare-earth metals for us.
Take the case of China, Trump’s archenemy. They sold $440 billion worth of goods to the US last year, about 2.2 percent of its GDP measured in dollar terms. (Their GDP measured in purchasing power parity terms is over $40 trillion, but for this calculation, the dollar value is more appropriate.)
If Trump were to cut off all imports from China, this is the amount of demand in the economy they would have to replace. (Their exports to the US are already down to $330 billion.) By contrast, the United States lost an amount of demand of more than 6.0 percent of GDP when its housing bubble collapsed in 2007-09.
Welp
If the powers that be wanted to defeat Mamdani - and of course they did - then they should've lined up behind someone who wasn't a complete scumbag.
It says a lot that they were happy enough with Cuomo that they never bothered.Cuomo, talking to conservative radio host Sid Rosenberg this morning:
— Nick Garber (@nick_garber) October 23, 2025
"God forbid, another 9/11—can you imagine Mamdani in the seat?" Cuomo asks.
"He'd be cheering," Rosenberg says.
Cuomo paused and chuckled before saying: "That's another problem."
Sure Why Not
Not precisely what I expected when this arrest was first reported.
More on NBA arrests: Chauncey Billups involvement in a poker game scheme involved La Cosa Nostra Italian crime families. Proceeds laundered were converted into crypto currency in an effort to avoid detection
— Yianni Kourakis (@WPBF_Yianni) October 23, 2025
Unwitting victims were defrauded out of tens of millions of dollars
There were also insider information sports bets, inclding Rozier saying he planned to leave a game with an "injury." Prop bets like that should be illegal, for obvious reasons.Details of the rigged poker games that Damon Jones and Chauncey Billups were involved (from the US Attorney press conference):
— chad millman (@chadmillman) October 23, 2025
+ X-ray machines built into tables to read face-down cards
+ Contact lenses/glasses that read pre-marked cards.
+ Secret cameras in card trays
Sounds like a Trump dementia fantasy (not saying it is).
The Epstein Ballroom
I haven't yet figured out if demolishing the entire East Wing was always the plan, or if an incompetent rush job fucked up a small amount of intended demo so they just kept going.
I've seen the conjecture about it all being about the bunker, but right now there's no bunker. There isn't going to be one for awhile!
I've seen the conjecture about it all being about the bunker, but right now there's no bunker. There isn't going to be one for awhile!
Pray for storms.
Whoopsie Doodle
The payroll company ADP appears to have cut off the delivery of timely data encompassing 20 percent of all payrolls, which Fed governor Christopher Waller disclosed in an August speech. ADP and the Fed would not comment on the matter, but sources tell the Prospect that ADP was unhappy with the disclosure. A letter from Fed chair Jerome Powell that has been described to the Prospect urgently asks ADP to reverse its decision and resume giving them the data, intimating that the central bank needs the information to set policy. A Freedom of Information Act request for the letter has yet to be processed.\
Waller was a first term Trump nominee, in the lame duck period.
Wednesday, October 22, 2025
Sure Why Not
That he is just doing this isn't funny, but since he is, it would be quite funny if he just collapses the whole thing. Or his never-to-be-paid contractors do.
Trump Administration Live Updates: White House Changes Course and Will Demolish Entire East Wing"changes course"
Sending this script back to the writers. Some metaphors are too obvious, guys.
That Town
Trump is Trump and of course we can't expect him not to pal around with the worst people in the world, including the man in the mirror, but the thawing of official DC to the guy who bone sawed their supposedly treasured pal happened rather quickly.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration is preparing for a visit to the United States by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman next month, in what could be the first state visit to the U.S. by a foreign leader in Trump’s second term, according to several people familiar with the planning.
A lot of money from the worst people in the world flows around official DC. This is called realism.
Fall Fundraiser Day The First
Thanks to everybody who keeps this place - and me - going.
At this point it's no secret that the internet ad economy was eaten by Google and Facebook. That's why all the paywalls went up! No more free pie.
Except here. It's free. I intend to keep it free. I have no idea if revenue would increase or decrease if I put it behind a paywall, but I don't intend to.
At this point it's no secret that the internet ad economy was eaten by Google and Facebook. That's why all the paywalls went up! No more free pie.
Except here. It's free. I intend to keep it free. I have no idea if revenue would increase or decrease if I put it behind a paywall, but I don't intend to.
Flood The Zone
They don't do it frequently, but everyone knows when the New York Times leadership is mad about something and they start running daily front page above the fold stories about it.
Sometimes it's "drip drip drip" coverage, with new information revealed, but it can also just be "recycling the same old shit just because" coverage.
We all remember how mad they were that a black lady was running Harvard, for example. Day 15, in a controversial move, black lady is still running Harvard. We don't even know precisely why they were so mad about that.
We all remember how mad they were that a black lady was running Harvard, for example. Day 15, in a controversial move, black lady is still running Harvard. We don't even know precisely why they were so mad about that.
I suspect the contents of the "rich failson groupchat" would be quite revealing, if ever such a thing was unearthed.
Probably an angry buddy of Dash Sulzberger who had some connection to Harvard had some random axe to grind. Or maybe just pure racism! Who knows? Maybe a blogger ethics panel would tell us!
Once you know they do get mad about some things, you get to notice all the things they don't get mad about.
Sure Why Not
Saving Argentina, and the fortunes of some hedge fund guys, is a mission-critical "America First" policy.
Finalizing a $20 billion lifeline for Argentina using taxpayers’ funds during the government shutdown was an essential action for the agency, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday.
As I said, it was doomed to fail, as soon as Trump opened his mouth, anyway.
Tuesday, October 21, 2025
Tuesday Night
Rock on.
NEW: After The Washington Post reported Monday on the demolition of the "East Wing facade," a new picture obtained by Law Dork that was taken on Tuesday shows that a substantial portion of the entirety of the East Wing has been demolished.
— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner.bsky.social) October 21, 2025 at 9:13 PM
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Welp
NEW: After The Washington Post reported Monday on the demolition of the "East Wing facade," a new picture obtained by Law Dork that was taken on Tuesday shows that a substantial portion of the entirety of the East Wing has been demolished.
— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner.bsky.social) October 21, 2025 at 9:13 PM
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There Are Still Lines?
A bit surprised.
President Donald Trump’s pick to head the Office of Special Counsel, Paul Ingrassia, appears unable to win Senate confirmation — although he’s still slated for a committee appearance later this week."Offensive" is what we call describing oneself as a Nazi.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., a member of the Homeland Security Committee, told Semafor he doesn’t “plan on voting for” Ingrassia after Politico published racist and offensive text messages attributed to the nominee. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., another member of the panel, also said he cannot support Ingrassia and said the nomination should be pulled.
Just Like Their Leader, Donald
A deadbeat cult.
When the New York State Young Republicans Club disbanded Friday amid an uproar over its racist and antisemitic rhetoric in a group chat, the club left behind unpaid bills from extravagant social gatherings.Paywall, but there are a whole series of unpaid bills like this described in the article. A little dine and dash gang.
At two of those events, the club ran up bills of more than $23,000 over a weekend at a Syracuse hotel – spending big on a three-course plated dinner with filet mignon and open bars – but then didn’t pay, according to records obtained by syracuse.com.
Master Race
I don't think this stuff is as easy as some people say, but it’s not hard to train for if you're reasonably fit to begin with.
The article says the run is what is taking most of them down. Lots of guys lift but don't do cardio. Cardio is for pussies.
I couldn't do the pushups. I run, so that would be trivial for me, but it isn't trivial for people who don't run at all. Though, as I said, it's not difficult to train for in a short amount of time for someone who is generally fit.
More than a third [of ICE recruits] have failed so far, four officials told me, impeding the agency’s plan to hire, train, and deploy 10,000 deportation officers by January. To pass, recruits must do 15 push-ups and 32 sit-ups, and run 1.5 miles in 14 minutes.Even if you are fairly fit and active, no particular activity is easy unless you actually do exercises related to that activity. The important implication here is that they are trying to onboard so many people that none of them are told to go away and train for a few weeks.
The article says the run is what is taking most of them down. Lots of guys lift but don't do cardio. Cardio is for pussies.
I couldn't do the pushups. I run, so that would be trivial for me, but it isn't trivial for people who don't run at all. Though, as I said, it's not difficult to train for in a short amount of time for someone who is generally fit.
There's a big difference between what people can do cold and what they can do after a few weeks of effort. A regular cyclist might struggle to do the run cold, but they would probably find it easy after a few runs.
Very Stable Genius
There are a few reasons why propping up the Argentine Peso isn't likely to work (hitting record lows, again). One reason is that the entire point of promising a backstop is that it's a credible, sustained commitment. The value isn't just the money itself, but the promise of the money. Trump going out there and saying he might yank it soon does not provide that!
I'm not sure how "we" are going to buy more beef from Argentina - unsure who the "we" here refers to - but cattle ranchers are going to love this!
I'm not sure how "we" are going to buy more beef from Argentina - unsure who the "we" here refers to - but cattle ranchers are going to love this!
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) — President Donald Trump said the United States could buy Argentine beef in an attempt to bring down prices for American consumers.
“We would buy some beef from Argentina,” the Republican president told reporters aboard Air Force One during a flight from Florida to Washington on Sunday. “If we do that, that will bring our beef prices down.”
And Things Got Out Of Hand
Amazing stuff. Read the whole thing:
While everyone - including me! - is reacting to this as "haha she doesn't know how journalism works," I do think we have to understand that this is, quite often, how political journalism works. The Tim Russert rule - off the record until asserted otherwise.
Lindsey Halligan—the top prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia—was texting me. As it turned out, she was texting me about a criminal case she is pursuing against one of the president’s perceived political enemies: New York Attorney General Letitia James.As a teaser, this is near the end of 15 pages of screenshots:
So began my two-day text correspondence with the woman President Donald Trump had installed, in no small part, to bring the very prosecution she was now discussing with me by text message.
Over the next 33 hours, Halligan texted me again.
Mommy He Hit Me Back
Yes just to spite Trump:
It is remarkable, especially for those of us who grew up in the era of Globollocks and The World Is Flat, that the collective media response to Donald Trump blowing up the world's free trade regime has been a very loud silence.
How China weaponized soybeans to squeeze U.S. farmers — and spite TrumpIt's all about pressure before a meeting. Nothing happened before that?
For Beijing, halting U.S. soybean imports has been an easy and relatively cost-free way to pile pressure on Trump ahead of a planned meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea later this month.We do get this in the second paragraph:
This year, however, Chinese importers aren’t buying. In retaliation for President Donald Trump’s tariffs, Beijing has cut off Midwestern farmers from their largest and most lucrative overseas customer: China accounted for half — or $12.6 billion — of U.S. soybean exports last year.But otherwise there's little sense that, well, DONALD TRUMP STARTED IT. Half a sentence in the entire piece.
It is remarkable, especially for those of us who grew up in the era of Globollocks and The World Is Flat, that the collective media response to Donald Trump blowing up the world's free trade regime has been a very loud silence.
Monday, October 20, 2025
Sure Why Not
Take a wrecking ball to the whole building.
I hope one side collapses.
Demolition crews have begun tearing down part of the White House to build President Donald Trump’s long-desired ballroom despite his pledge that construction of the $250 million addition wouldn’t “interfere” with the existing building.I'm imagining 2011-era David Brooks losing his shit on the Newshour if Obummer had mildly modified a window or similar.
I hope one side collapses.
Money Talks, Bullshit Walks
As I said when this was happening, it was surprising that there seemed to be mass cancellations happening when there wasn't, as far as I could tell, any organizing force behind it.
Disney saw more than double the typical number of customers cancel their Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions in September — when subscribers threatened to quit because of Jimmy Kimmel's brief suspension.
It appears some of those subscribers followed through on their boycott threat and canceled, according to new subscription data from research firm Antenna.
The data firm said 8% of Disney+ subscribers and 10% of Hulu customers in the US canceled in September. The services usually lose 4% to 5% of their customers a month, in line with the industry average, the data firm said.
That Trick Works Every Time
I am not an expert on Argentinian voters, but I suspect this will not help Milei.
I dropped my monetary economics class in grad school, but I remember enough to know that trying to maintain a currency value with finite and limited dollar supplies wasn't going to work.
Hosting Milei at the White House last week, Trump threatened Argentinian voters with withdrawing aid if his ally was defeated at the ballot box.The election in question is for the legislation, not a re-elect for Milei. Earlier in the article:
“If he loses, we are not going to be generous with Argentina,” Trump said.
Milei, once a global poster boy for budget-slashing libertarian politics, is heading into the polls diminished by his failure to stabilize the ailing peso, despite spending nearly all the Central Bank’s dollar reserves to prop it up.The problem with libertarianism is, quite literally, you eventually run out of your Central Bank's dollar reserves.
Inflation, which Milei had initially managed to stem after taking office in December 2023, has been rising again month-on-month.
I dropped my monetary economics class in grad school, but I remember enough to know that trying to maintain a currency value with finite and limited dollar supplies wasn't going to work.
Maybe Somebody Will Die Or Something
I imagine the endgame hope of Johnson is that somebody dies soon so that he can seat Adelita Grijalva without there being enough signatories on the Epstein discharge petition.
Saying that I hope they have a plan does not, as always, mean that I think there is a magic wand that they are failing to use. I just hope it's a better plan than Obama's Garland plan, which was to nominate him then shrug his shoulders when Mitch did nothing.
I don't have any advice, but I would like to know that the Dems have an actual plan here.Johnson defends his refusal to swear in Grijalva: "I'm following the Pelosi precedent." When Republican "Julia Letlow was elected... Pelosi took 25 days to swear her in." Karl fact-checks him: "that was the date [Letlow] requested ... Pelosi didn't delay that." Johnson admits nothing and moves on.
— Will Saletan (@saletan.bsky.social) October 19, 2025 at 9:33 PM
[image or embed]
Saying that I hope they have a plan does not, as always, mean that I think there is a magic wand that they are failing to use. I just hope it's a better plan than Obama's Garland plan, which was to nominate him then shrug his shoulders when Mitch did nothing.
Protests Are Violent When The Police Get Violent
There are a lot of things journalists pretend not to understand, and this is frequently one of them. Sure there can be actual violent actions by protesters, like when they go to the White House Capitol and try to hang the Vice President, but most of the time the difference between a violent protest and a nonviolent one is whether or not the cops start kettling and bashing.
It is interesting that there weren't reports of violence from the No Kings rallies (that I have seen), but the interesting story isn't the lack of violence from protesters, it's that the cops didn't instigate any.
If you approach a subject with what you know, instead of what you're supposed to know, you can find some interesting stories!
It is interesting that there weren't reports of violence from the No Kings rallies (that I have seen), but the interesting story isn't the lack of violence from protesters, it's that the cops didn't instigate any.
If you approach a subject with what you know, instead of what you're supposed to know, you can find some interesting stories!
Sunday, October 19, 2025
LOL, LMAO EVEN
Amazing.
A 155-millimeter shell fired during a live-fire demonstration for the 250th anniversary of the Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton on Saturday prematurely detonated, dropping fragments of the shell on a California Highway Patrol vehicle and motorcycle that were part of Vice President JD Vance’s protective detail, according to a patrol report.
Museum Heist
Seems like if you pull this off without injuring anybody then you get to keep it.
“Priceless” historic jewellery has been stolen from the Louvre in Paris after a highly professional robbery by men who used an angle grinder to break through glass and enter one of the museum’s most ornate rooms.Not really, of course.
Mommy He Hit Me Back
I don't know why countries imagine they can bully China. That stopped being the case a long time ago.
The Dutch government stepped in on September 30 to take control of Nexperia, which makes chips for carmakers and for consumer electronics, citing worries about the possible transfer of technology to Nexperia's Chinese parent company, Wingtech (600745.SS)"We" need them more than they need our soybeans or even our consumer demand.
The Chinese commerce ministry then issued an export control notice on October 4 prohibiting Nexperia China and its subcontractors from exporting specific finished components and sub-assemblies manufactured in China.
Changing Practices
During Trump I, the standard was, basically, if he tweets it then it's news!
During Trump II, it's "except for the most embarrassing shit, just pretend he didn't do that."
During Trump II, it's "except for the most embarrassing shit, just pretend he didn't do that."
Saturday, October 18, 2025
Just Another Day
Kudos to Politico for actually highlighting this.
NEW YORK — When POLITICO approached Rep. Elise Stefanik this month with hate-filled messages from the same Young Republicans she backed and bankrolled for years, her condemnation was swift and full-throated.Hours after the story published — and just minutes after Vice President JD Vance derided criticisms of the chat as “pearl clutching” — Stefanik pivoted to attacking Democrats. She derided POLITICO’s story as a “hit piece” and those across the aisle raising alarm about it as “hyperventilating.”
Rare minor act of pulling back the curtain.
That's Rich
Regular readers know that I have never been the biggest fan of Frank Rich, but he is much better at reading the moment, in this piece, than the people who he observes are not able to.
Such, for me at least, was the takeaway from the scene that unfolded at the September 21 premiere of the new opera inspired by Michael Chabon’s Holocaust-haunted novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. In keeping with tradition, the company’s general manager, Peter Gelb, appeared in front of the curtain before it went up to deliver a few welcoming remarks — albeit this time spiked with an impassioned paean to artistic freedom that drew a standing ovation. Once he finished, an unexpected player popped out of the wings: Chuck Schumer, the most powerful Democrat in Washington and the most durable lion of Democratic politics in New York. Why was he there? Not for the opera. He breezed on- and offstage with the casual affect of someone dropping by before a round of pickleball. He had come to pander to the mishpocheh on the safe turf of the Upper West Side. In his brief remarks, he gave the same vow to protect artistic freedom Gelb just had, name-checking Jimmy Kimmel for good measure. But this time the audience did not cheer. “Do something about it!” shouted a heckler from a perch on high. Waves of boos followed, drowning out some light applause and implicitly giving Schumer the hook.Not Schumer's biggest fan, either, but I still give him credit for being a politician who actually likes to go out and greet the people, even if he talks more than he listens.
Not a single word he said was in any way objectionable. The jeers were for the messenger, not the message.
Sure Why Not
Probably somewhat less evil and corrupt than most of his pardons.
US President Donald Trump has commuted the sentence of George Santos, a former Republican congressman serving seven years in prison for fraud and identify theft.Though also probably corrupt in ways I am not aware of.
In a post on social media, Trump said Santos "has been horribly mistreated", adding: "Therefore, I just signed a Commutation, releasing George Santos from prison, IMMEDIATELY. Good luck George, have a great life!"
Everybody Is 12
I was reminded of this story by someone.
Surely they can beat those middle aged broads lining up with them at the start!
He probably didn't carry enough water with him, either. Or any.
It happened last summer when Ackman decided to join a group of a half-dozen dedicated cyclists, including Loeb, who take long bike rides together in the Hamptons. The plan was for Loeb, who is extremely serious about fitness and has done sprint triathlons, a half-Ironman, and a New York City Marathon, to pick up Ackman at Ackman’s $22 million mansion, in Bridgehampton. (Ackman also owns an estate in upstate New York and lives in the Beresford, a historic co-op on Manhattan’s Central Park West.) The two would cycle the 20 or so miles to Montauk, where they would meet up with the rest of the group and ride out the additional 6 miles to the lighthouse, at the tip of the island. “I had done no biking all summer,” Ackman now admits. Still, he went out at a very fast clip, his hypercompetitive instincts kicking in. As he and Loeb approached Montauk, Loeb texted his friends, who rode out to meet them from the opposite direction. The etiquette would have been for Ackman and Loeb to slow down and greet the other riders, but Ackman just blew by at top speed. The others fell in behind, at first struggling to keep up with the alpha leader. But soon enough Ackman faltered—at Mile 32, Ackman recalls—and fell way behind the others. He was clearly “bonking,” as they say in the cycling world, which is what happens when a rider is dehydrated and his energy stores are depleted.I don't cycle, but I've experienced this with running. Guys - usually young, but also older ones - who are in decent enough shape, but who don't really have any distance training, sign up for a 10 miler or half marathon, go out at their stop speed, and start dropping at about 4 miles.
While everyone else rode back to Loeb’s East Hampton mansion, one of Loeb’s friends, David “Tiger” Williams, a respected cyclist and trader, painstakingly guided Ackman, who by then could barely pedal and was letting out primal screams of pain from the cramps in his legs, back to Bridgehampton. “I was in unbelievable pain,” Ackman recalls. As the other riders noted, it was really rather ridiculous for him to have gone out so fast, trying to lead the pack, considering his lack of training. Why not acknowledge your limits and set a pace you could maintain? As one rider notes, “I’ve never had an experience where someone has gone from being so aggressive on a bike to being so hopelessly unable to even turn the pedals…. His mind wrote a check that his body couldn’t cash.”
Surely they can beat those middle aged broads lining up with them at the start!
He probably didn't carry enough water with him, either. Or any.
Friday, October 17, 2025
Joke Line
"What's Joe Klein been up to?" asked nobody. Promoted by longtime cuomocrat operative Melissa DeRosa as "the legendary Joe Klein."
Joe is 79.
We continued to talk when he became Bill Clinton’s HUD Secretary and I admired his practical turn of mind: “Mario asks why, I ask how,” he once said. We lost touch after I left New York Magazine and began to write for national publications, so I didn’t follow his time as governor very closely—although he did some things that improved my life markedly, like transforming LaGuardia Airport from a near-slum to a state-of-the-art masterpiece. He was brought down by MeToo# allegations; I don’t know whether they had substance or not, but I do know that at a certain point MeToo became a disaster for the Democratic Party—the presumption of male guilt fit too neatly into the toxic male meme that came to dominate the over-feminated progressives. Over time, it cast an electoral pall over the Democrats for many men, especially young ones…of all ethnicities, as we saw in 2024.I don't know if he was a good governor, or anything about the allegations, really, but it's time we stop listening to those silly bitches.
It is time for Democrats to move away from that—and electing Andrew Cuomo mayor of New York would be a step in the right direction. More important, he would be a mayor who concentrated on the “how” of politics, the practical steps that need to be taken—constantly—to keep New York City afloat. This is in sharp contrast to Zohran Mamdani who is the candidate of kindergarten “whys.” Like, why don’t we have state-run grocery stores? (Because a great middle class grew out of New York’s family owned fruit stands and butcher shops and dry goods stores and bodegas, which still could use some love from the municipal government—all small businesses could, a reality that too often eludes Democrats.)
Joe is 79.
How Do People Afford This Shit
I do not know how people who live in "one car per driving age adult" areas manage at all.
The average price of a new car was $50,080 in September, marking the first time the going rate of a passenger vehicle has exceeded $50,000, according to a press release from Kelley Blue Book.It's one thing to have built an environment where most households will own a car, it's another to have built one, as we have so many places, where adults cannot function without their own individual car.
Buddies Of Big Balls
Nobody could have predicted.
A group of hackers from the Com, a loose-knit community behind some of the most significant data breaches in recent years, have posted the names and personal information of hundreds of government officials, including people working for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“I want my MONEY MEXICO,” a user of the Scattered LAPSUS$ Hunters Telegram channel, which is a combination of a series of other hacking group names associated with the Com, posted on Thursday. The message was referencing a claim from the DHS that Mexican cartels have begun offering thousands of dollars for doxing agents. The U.S. government has not provided any evidence for this claim.
One doesn't have to be fans of DHS and ICE guys to get that the existence of massive data breaches being wielded by assholes is a bit concerning.
Sure Why Not
I know that a lot is going on, but our collective political press who, despite their claims, have no problem getting outraged about something, could pick at least one thing, even a stupid one. Have some pride!
Trump met Putin in Alaska in August, which ended without the ceasefire Trump had said Putin needed to agree to. It is unclear why Budapest was chosen as the location for the next meeting.Or at least not treat them as trusted sources. I doubt any of them have the skills of Sarah Sanders with MagHabs, but I am sure they make nice behind the scenes, somewhat.
...
In response to HuffPost’s query about who suggested Budapest, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded, “Your mom did,” and White House communications director Steven Cheung replied: “Your mom.”
They made no secret of their contempt for Karine Jean-Pierre.
My Robot Brain Is Frying
John Bolton indicted... but of course it was a politically motivated action that wouldn't have happened otherwise... but also maybe he deserves it... also he's John Bolton?
John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser-turned-adversary, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Maryland on Thursday.Daisy...
Bolton, the third high-profile Trump political enemy to be indicted in less than a month, now faces eight counts of transmission of national defense information and 10 counts of retention of national defense information.
Essentially, prosecutors say, Bolton kept — and shared with family members — digital diaries of his activities that included all kinds of classified material from when he was national security adviser.
According to the indictment, Bolton shared “more than a thousand pages” of “diary-like entries” “that contained information classified up to the TOP SECRET” level.
Thursday, October 16, 2025
Accelerationism
I have never been an accelerationist, but I admit various scenarios of "fuckups so mighty they cannot be ignored" are increasingly appealing.
That doesn't mean we should wish for them, other than stock market crashes. Those are easily reversible, generally.
That doesn't mean we should wish for them, other than stock market crashes. Those are easily reversible, generally.
Liars
The issue of journalists not dealing with prominent liars well is not a new one, but the we are at the point where "these fuckers are lying again" should be the presumption. God bless the fact checkers, but we are way beyond any individual story or even a pattern. They just lie constantly! About everything!
A dramatic voiceover video shared by the White House and US President Donald Trump claims to show immigration agents responding to the "mess" in Chicago as the Republican seeks to justify deploying National Guard troops to the Democrat-run city. But an AFP investigation found that the video is littered with outdated footage highlighting drug busts, arrests and deportation raids in other states, including Florida, Texas, South Carolina and Nebraska.
Pass The Buck
For awhile I thought that even if AI is the useless bust I think it is, the data centers would have some productive use, at least. There was something there! But learning that the GPUs don't necessarily last very long...
As is often the case in the AI industry, Nvidia came to the rescue, announcing a $100 billion investment in OpenAI. Now OpenAI has the money to send to Oracle to build data centers, which Oracle will fill with Nvidia GPUs. So wait—is Nvidia just paying itself?
Remembering Unity
The Kids won't remember gems like these
ONE MONTH from The Anniversary, I'm thinking another 9/11 would help America.
What kind of a sick bastard would write such a thing?
A bastard so sick of how splintered we are politically - thanks mainly to our ineptitude in Iraq - that we have forgotten who the enemy is.
It is not Bush and it is not Hillary and it is not Daily Kos or Bill O'Reilly or Giuliani or Barack. It is global terrorists who use Islam to justify their hideous sins, including blowing up women and children.
...
If it is to be, then let it be. It will take another attack on the homeland to quell the chattering of chipmunks and to restore America's righteous rage and singular purpose to prevail.
Unity
I think it is a dumb concept, no matter who invokes it, but this is extra "hilarious" given the constant stream of rhetoric from top Republican figures.
Exaggerated Wink Dot Gif
Why would the police need to be involved when it would be, at worst, a bad prank (we all know it was not a prank) and not anything resembling a crime.
U.S. Capitol Police were called about an American flag altered to include a swastika and displayed inside the office of Rep. Dave Taylor (R-Ohio), his spokesperson said.Yes I understand that the police were called so everyone can pretend it's something that it isn't, but it doesn't even make sense at that level.
Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Come All Ye Nazis
Good job everybody who got enraged by Free Palestine signs.
The proposals also advise Mr. Trump to prioritize Europeans who have been “targeted for peaceful expression of views online such as opposition to mass migration or support for ‘populist’ political parties.”That appeared to be a reference to the European far-right political party Alternative for Germany, whose leaders have trivialized the Holocaust, revived Nazi slogans and denigrated foreigners. Vice President JD Vance has criticized Germany for trying to suppress the views of the group, which is known as the AfD.
Respect My Authoritah
I say this without sympathy, but it must be hard being Pete Hegseth. He can't walk into a room - any room - without imagining that people think he's a big dork loser, which he is.
The Department of Defense is pressuring staff to watch or read Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Quantico military address – or else. In recent days, senior officials at Donald Trump’s Pentagon have actively monitored staffers, pressing them to confirm whether they had seen the speech Hegseth forced hundreds of top military officials to listen to last month, according to two Defense Department staffers and another person briefed on the matter.All these manly men lack any confidence and self-assurance. Making your underlings watch your dumb speech won't change that!
They'll Be Back
I suspect they will all have good Republican jobs within 6 months.
NEW YORK — Two more members of a Young Republican group chat strewn with racist epithets and hateful jokes stepped down from their jobs Tuesday after POLITICO published an exclusive report on the Telegram exchanges.Someone track their linkedins, if you are on there.
Peter Giunta’s time working with New York Assemblymember Mike Reilly “has ended,” the Republican lawmaker said. Giunta served as chair of the New York State Young Republicans when the chat took place. Joseph Maligno, who previously identified himself as the general counsel for that group, is no longer an employee of the New York State Unified Court System, a courts spokesperson confirmed.
Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Are We Going To Give It Back
Probably a small donation to a Trump-linked "enterprise" will make it go away.
On Tuesday, officials in the United States and United Kingdom took coordinated action against one giant Cambodian organization and its boss who has allegedly run a series of notorious scam centers in the country. The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced it has issued financial sanctions against 146 “targets” linked to the newly designated Prince Group Transnational Criminal Organization. This action includes targeting individuals and shell companies linked to the alleged criminal enterprise. As part of the sweeping action also involving the FBI, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has also seized almost 130,000 bitcoin worth around $15 billion at the time of the announcement—the largest US cryptocurrency seizure to date.
Seems Bad
Somehow expressing admiration for Hitler is no longer antisemitic. I'm not sure how that happened.
There are plenty of pictures of fine representatives of the superior race at the link.
‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat(not the only bad thing in there, of course)
There are plenty of pictures of fine representatives of the superior race at the link.
By The Short And Curlies
Even a dumbass like me knew who held the cards.
That we got to such a point is totally insane. In my 2020 book Monopolized, I explained that the U.S. invented rare earth magnets for fighter jets in the 1970s. “A company called Magnequench manufactured these magnets in Indiana until 2004, when the plant closed and shipped out to China,” I wrote. “In fact, China bought the entire company, using as a front a hedge fund operated by Archibald Cox Jr., son of the famed Watergate prosecutor.”
It took decades to hollow out industrial production, hand over critical inputs to other countries to monopolize, and then base our economy on development that needs those critical inputs. No single president is responsible for creating this vulnerability; it was a team effort of short-sightedness. But it’s true, as Rush Doshi has said, that Trump bumbled into a trade war “without preparation, without allies, and without reducing our own vulnerabilities.”
Rare earths aren’t that rare; it’s the processing where China really excels. And we’ve had a decade-and-a-half of knowing that China was capable of wielding rare earths as a geopolitical weapon. The country briefly cut off Japan in 2010 after a skirmish involving disputed islands in the South China Sea. Nine years later, Xi Jinping pointedly toured a rare earth factory in the middle of Trump’s first trade jostling with China.
U.S. efforts to diversify the rare earth supply chain have been honestly pathetic. There have been a lot of developments of blueprints of plans, and more recently small funds for production. Trump’s Defense Department took a stake in MP Materials, which runs the biggest rare earth mine in America. But none of this represents the kind of serious resources and market commitments that are necessary.
The Supremos Are Good Now
It should not be the case that we are pleasantly surprised by these things. They should just be expected.
The Supreme Court declined an appeal from Alex Jones on Tuesday, brushing aside the right-wing conspiracy theorist’s effort to overturn a $1.4 billion libel judgment a lower court ordered against him over his false comments about the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre.
On Tuesday, officials in the United States and United Kingdom took coordinated action against one giant Cambodian organization and its boss who has allegedly run a series of notorious scam centers in the country. The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced it has issued financial sanctions against 146 “targets” linked to the newly designated Prince Group Transnational Criminal Organization. This action includes targeting individuals and shell companies linked to the alleged criminal enterprise. As part of the sweeping action also involving the FBI, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has also seized almost 130,000 bitcoin worth around $15 billion at the time of the announcement—the largest US cryptocurrency seizure to date.
Joe Rogan, Welcome To The Resistance
Joe Rogan is a bit like David Brooks in that he's a dumbass whose views I don't really care about, but he is, sadly, an influential dumbass.
Related: while I don't think trying to appeal to Joe Rogan is an especially fruitful political strategy, it's no less of a fruitful strategy than the 25 years of trying to appeal to David Brooks.
Related: while I don't think trying to appeal to Joe Rogan is an especially fruitful political strategy, it's no less of a fruitful strategy than the 25 years of trying to appeal to David Brooks.
The World is Flat
I don't really know what's happening here, but imagine "Bolivia Takes Control Of US-Owned Chipmaker."
BRUSSELS — The Dutch government has granted itself the power to intervene in company decisions at Dutch-based Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia.The old world is dying, and its creators are pretty quiet about it.
The highly unusual step, announced late Sunday, grants the country the power to “halt and reverse” company decisions — meaning Nexperia cannot transfer assets or hire executives without Dutch government approval, according to national media.
The move is a significant escalation in relations between the Netherlands and China and could inflame wider trade tensions between Beijing and the European Union, with Europe caught in the middle of a tit-for-tat chips war between the U.S. and China.
Monday, October 13, 2025
One Battle After Another
I really do recommend going to see it. I don't see all the movies these days, but it is the best movie I've seen in awhile.
If it had been released a year ago (filming began January 2024), it would have been criticized as being too over the top. It isn't a precise mirror of our moment, and I don't think it was intended to be, but it is much more that now than then. I don't think "too over the top" will be what comes to mind when you see it.
There is a missing perspective from the film, deliberate of course. We see the perpetrators of state violence, and those who resist it, but there are no "normies," no politicians, no cable news anchors. There is no sense of "the discourse" around what is happening, no sense of how the rest of the population sees and reacts to what is happening.
The audience in the theater is not told what the audience in the film thinks about things.
If it had been released a year ago (filming began January 2024), it would have been criticized as being too over the top. It isn't a precise mirror of our moment, and I don't think it was intended to be, but it is much more that now than then. I don't think "too over the top" will be what comes to mind when you see it.
There is a missing perspective from the film, deliberate of course. We see the perpetrators of state violence, and those who resist it, but there are no "normies," no politicians, no cable news anchors. There is no sense of "the discourse" around what is happening, no sense of how the rest of the population sees and reacts to what is happening.
The audience in the theater is not told what the audience in the film thinks about things.
Every actor deserves an Oscar.
Is That Good
Probably not.
The planet is grappling with a “new reality” as it reaches the first in a series of catastrophic and potentially irreversible climate tipping points: the widespread death of coral reefs, according to a landmark report produced by 160 scientists across the world.Once upon a time, the one thing you could plausibly call CNN generally liberal on was its climate/environmental coverage. A long time ago (just a random aside, not criticizing the linked article, which does not Both Sides it).
Sure Why Not
Thank you for spending two years working toward this moment creating the basis for the agreement once the two sides were finally prepared to compromise - we hope!
— Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) October 11, 2025
Bricked
The best rental car I drove recently was maybe a 2016 KIA that seemed like it came from 2003. The most advanced "technology" was power locks.
It's probably bad that your car can be bricked remotely, for whatever reason. I guess it makes life easier for Repo Men.
A software update to Jeep 4xE models caused major malfunctions over the weekend – leaving many owners stranded and some in danger after their power failed.For my rental car, what I'm referring to mostly is no touch screen, just knobs, which I know isn't directly related to this issue. Still, what would an OTA update be for if not those types of features?
The culprit appears to have been a buggy "over the air" (OTA) software update to the company’s uconnect software on Friday October 10, which “bricked” vehicles if owners installed it.
It's probably bad that your car can be bricked remotely, for whatever reason. I guess it makes life easier for Repo Men.
What Is Happening
Was the latest round just a big insider trading scam, or did somebody pull Donald aside and tell him that China actually does hold all the cards?
Frictions
As I said, it isn't just the cost but the complexity and uncertainty.
It has meant that since 18 August, companies such as Krone and the construction company Liebherr in Germany have to provide an unprecedented level of detail to customs border authorities certifying the origin, weight and value of any steel in their products right down to nuts and bolts.It's complexity requiring many participants, which don't all have the same incentives to bother.
“You have to get paperwork from the supplier to the supplier to the supplier. That is pretty much impossible,” said Oliver Richtberg, the head of foreign trade at the German engineering federation VDMA, one of the most influential trade bodies in Europe.
He described the EU/US trade deal, struck in July, as “not worth the paper it is written on”.
“Von der Leyen speaks of stability, for our industry that is 100% not true. The bureaucratic hurdles are so high that some companies have just stopped exporting to the US,” added Richtberg.
Sunday, October 12, 2025
"Coding Error"
What do we think is really going on here: 1) they are that incompetent, 2) they love chaos, 3) competing factions.
In the process of laying off large numbers of health employees, the Trump administration mistakenly issued reduction-in-force notices to members of key CDC offices due to a “coding error,” a federal health official told ABC News on Saturday.
Slurp Juice
I don't think the writer of this piece gets that ape holders can use multiple slurp juices on a single ape, so if you have 1 astro ape and 3 slurp juices you can create 3 new apes.
In Silicon Valley, the debate over whether AI companies are overvalued has taken on a new urgency.
Sceptics are privately - and some now publicly - asking whether the rapid rise in the value of AI tech companies may be, at least in part, the result of what they call "financial engineering".
The World Is No Longer Flat
What happened to that guy, whatshisname? Trump is destroying the world he birthed, and he's been pretty quiet about it.
In addition, the basic costs of tariffs are often exceeded by the complications and difficulties of importing/exporting. Fine, I'll pay the 20% if it's simple and straightforward. But if it isn't? If I can't just click the button and pay the bill? If I worry my time sensitive shipment will be held up?
Thousands of U.S.-bound packages shipped by UPS are trapped at hubs across the country, unable to clear the maze of new customs requirements imposed by the Trump administration.I'm one who thinks tariffs (maybe not that big of a deal) are less important than trade wars (what Trump is doing, absurdly), and economists tended to exaggerate the importance of the first to try to prevent the second.
As packages flagged for customs issues pile up in UPS warehouses, the company told NBC News it has begun “disposing of” some shipments.
Frustrated UPS customers describe waiting for weeks and trying to make sense of scores of conflicting tracking updates from the world’s largest courier.
In addition, the basic costs of tariffs are often exceeded by the complications and difficulties of importing/exporting. Fine, I'll pay the 20% if it's simple and straightforward. But if it isn't? If I can't just click the button and pay the bill? If I worry my time sensitive shipment will be held up?
Saturday, October 11, 2025
Friday, October 10, 2025
Look At What You Made Us Do
(The thing we had long planned to do but now we are going to try to blame on you)
Probably didn't tell gramps before he went for his "physical" (48 hour dobutamine infusion).
Probably didn't tell gramps before he went for his "physical" (48 hour dobutamine infusion).
What Are You Going To Do About It, President Soy Boy
Some of it is above my pay grade, but successive administrations have, in various ways, continued to hand China all the cards, while, in various ways, stamping their little feet louder and louder each time that became apparent. Doing something other than getting mad rarely occurred.
Stocks tied to rare earth minerals jumped Friday after President Donald Trump threatened countermeasures against China, accusing Beijing of holding the world “captive” over the metals.
“I will be forced, as President of the United States of America, to financially counter their move,” Trump said on his social media plaftorm Truth Social.
“One of the Policies that we are calculating at this moment is a massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States of America,” the president said. “There are many other countermeasures that are, likewise, under serious consideration.”
China this week imposed more stringent export controls on rare earths, a subset of critical minerals that are crucial inputs for U.S. weapons platforms, robotics, electric vehicles, and electronics among other applications. Beijing dominates the global supply chain for rare earths and the U.S. is dependent on imports from China.
Now about those soybean purchases...
What Exactly Do We Do Here
If I were at CBS I would just do exactly what Bari asks. No more, no less.
News: Bari Weiss just sent a memo to staffers at CBS News asking them to produce a memo explaining "how you spend your working hours—and ideally, what you've made (or are making) that you're most proud of." One CBS News staffer puts it like this to me: "We just got Elon Musked."
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy.bsky.social) October 10, 2025 at 3:13 PM
"Do stuff, news stuff."Here's the full memo.
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy.bsky.social) October 10, 2025 at 3:16 PM
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