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

Shop while you eat! (Ad, I get a commission).

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.

Blob

In case anyone thought the CIA had lost its creative approach to "intelligence."

At least all the former intelligence officials Dems are recruiting for candidates can have some funny questions to answer.

So, Candidate Hellcat, is your former employer, the entire basis for your candidacy, good?

No one understands the cost of living problems hardworking Americans discuss around the kitchen table more than [checks CV] the former director of CIA "creative operations."

Morning

It's Tuesday, bitches.

Monday Evening

enjoy

Tiny Fleet

Unsurprisingly, Elon's Robotaxi fleet is much smaller than he promised it would be.

Sure Why Not

Exclusive!

Iran is reportedly developing chemical and biological warheads for its ballistic missiles, even as the country faces mounting domestic unrest fueled by a collapsing currency and soaring inflation, according to an exclusive report published by Iran International on Sunday.

At least the Bushies put a little effort into this stuff.

AI PR Cycle

We stated with assertions that AI was so powerful that it would become Skynet, moved onto promises about curing cancer and inventing new materials, then to claims about how being a "prompt engineer" was the future of work, then to... um, horny chatbots I think? Now back to Skynet.

A leading AI boss has warned that the developing technology could become “uncontrollable” in the next few years without proper regulation.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today, CEO of Microsoft AI, Mustafa Suleyman, said that fear over the future of AI is “healthy and necessary”, adding: “I honestly think that if you’re not a little bit afraid at this moment then you’re not paying attention.”

Lunch

Shop while you eat! (Ad, I get a commission).

Remarkably Incurious

I actually don't think we need to have full knowledge of presidential health, constantly updated. That idea seems to be part of the general misguided and anti-constitutional elevation of the presidency to a place it shouldn't be.

But the complete lack of interest by most of the press in Trump's very obvious health/treatment issue is notable.

I am sure this is where some journalist would lecture me that they have been busy chasing down the story with no success, so what else can they do? But we all know they can create an issue out of nothing when they want to, and this is certainly more than nothing. Visibly more than nothing.

Speaking Of Bill Barr

If I were a journalist/news outlet that allowed myself to be suckered by his transparent Mueller report "summary," I would have some regrets. Shame, even. Unless I was in on it.

Maybe Somebody Should Ask Bill Barr

Brown was a key journalist working on Epstein stuff for the Miami Herald.

Morning

Monday funday

Sunday Happy Hour

Get happy.

Sure Why Not

Political considerstions aside, anyone would be nuts to book a gig at the Kennedy Center now.

NPR is still calling it the Kennedy Center which is somewhat surprising.

So Move

Rich guys threaten to move whenever any state suggests raising taxes, and of course our numerous publications dedicated to presenting the views of rich guys type it up.

If you are rich it is trivial to spend 183 days in another state to establish residency.  I don't think any state should care if these guys move, but the fact that they get loud and lobby against this stuff shows that, surprisingly, most of these guys don't want to move to Tallahassee. 

California, specifically, is already a very high tax state and somehow they love it and can't leave.  Weird.

The Excluded But Dominant View

For years we have been told that Wokenes shas taken over all of our powerful cultural institutions, especially The Liberal Media, and yet not a single newspaper has an opinion columnist who is even arguably the vessel through which the Woke Manifesto is expressed.

Instead you have very right wing conservatives, moderate conservatives, and some standard Democrats who themselves spend half their time arguing with mostly imaginary people to their left.

Here is the list of recent NYT opinion columns.  Where is all this Woke I keep hearing about?

The NYT is especially bizarre because they in no way present the range of relevant political opinion in this country.  They are not required to do that, but that is often the excuse used to justify the choices they do make.

Morning

Sunday Funday.

Saturday Happy Hour

Enjoy

Karoline Leavitt Is Pregnant

And I hope she gets the finest medical care at the level she supports for all women.

Lunch

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PR For The Rich and Famous

Elon Musk has made plenty of confidently wrong predictions over the years. I will even grant him some credit and say that earlier he probably even believed some of them, though saying  that he believed something isn't much different than saying Trump believed something. They are actually quite similar.

But nothing he said would have mattered all that much if both tech and mainstram journalists didn't treat his utterances as the proclamations of a genius.  And, then, being complicit in the con, remaining unwilling to revisit their own role.

There are a couple of points in time when Elon would have gone bust if not for his hype team in the press and some financial interventions by either deluded or corrupt (both) elected officials.

Elon barely talks about Mars anymore. It was his whole thing!

Defenders of "American" Civilization Have Never Encountered It

I think it is the case that lots of people believe that immigration began in 1990s because the past, for some, is nothing more than fake stories, but I don't know what do about people  who look at Martin and Sinatra and think "Mayflower children." 

I don't know how to deal with people who don't mind being confidently wrong and feel no shame when they are.

Morning

Slacker Saturday

TELL MISTERS TRUMP AND HEGSETH IT WAS A GREAT SUCCESS

Don't put anything to the contrary in the newspaper. 

The US military said in its initial assessment that “multiple” Isis members had been killed in the strikes on extremist “camps”.

However, residents of Jabo professed surprise at the strikes, saying the bombs had landed in empty fields, causing no casualties, and that Jabo had been relatively shielded from violence. The last attack by militants had occurred two years ago, they said. Video footage on Nigerian television showed pieces of burnt metal in what looked like farmland. 

One man told Arise News, a local television station: “Glory be to God, there was no loss of life.”

Friday Afternoon

enjoy

How Much Does A Billion Cost, Michael? 10 Billion?

One day soon we will realize a computer that gets math problems wrong much of the time is not an especially useful computer.

As A.I. Companies Borrow Billions, Debt Investors Grow Wary

...

Investors in the A.I.-fueled stock market have largely shrugged off warnings about a tech bubble, an optimism that has pushed up share prices to repeated new highs this year.

But the debt market is telling a different story, some investors say. New artificial intelligence companies looking to raise funds to supercharge their nascent businesses are being made to pay lofty interest rates on the money they borrow, indicative of investors’ skepticism when new, unproven A.I. businesses take on large debts.

I've heard a few "AI company" pitches recently and they are all like "a chatbot helps you with something" and I am surprised people are lending at any rate for this stuff.

Money Can't Buy You

I know there is a selection issue here - we only hear from the rich guys who never shut the fuck up - but it is still a mystery why all these rich guys can't stop posting. There is nothing wrong with a bit of posting - I do it occasionally myself - but that they are so invested in it, and get so enraged by it that they have to warp society over their twitter beefs, is hard to comprehend.

Go sip wine in Italy. Climb a mountain. Learn violin. Become an arts patron. Whatever.

Simply Having A Wonderful Christmastime

I am glad My President spent yesterday doing what he loves best - posting 200 insane things on his website..

Morning

Boxing Day

Embarrassing

I can't imagine being an actual Trump fan. I don't mean a Trumpism fan.  They are cruel assholes. I get that. There are plenty of cruel people.

I mean a fan of Trump, the man.

Just laugh at these people. It is so absurd. They are so absurd.

Mechnical Turks You Never Thought Of

My long-held belief us that Waymo has been obscuring how much human intervention they use, and this task is funny example of that.

Adkins had witnessed an Achilles’ heel of the Waymo robotaxis that ferry thousands of riders in Los Angeles, San Francisco and other cities each week. The vehicles can navigate city streets and compete with taxi drivers without anyone behind the wheel — but become stranded if a human doesn’t close the door behind them at the end of a ride.

Because riders and passersby can be unreliable, Waymo pays workers in Los Angeles $20 or more for rescuing a robotaxi by closing a door, summoning help through an app called Honk that is like an Uber for towing companies.

Sure Why Not

I get that there is a certain romantic appeal to manned space exploration, but if there are jobs perfectly suited for the AI robots we are supposedly building, they are whatever the fuck Altman imagines the space jobs are.

OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman says in 10 years’ time college graduates will be working ‘some completely new, exciting, super well-paid’ job in space

Their consistent vision of "the computers should do the fun creative jobs while humans should do dangerous drudgery" is very weird!

Happy Life Day Everybody!

Felicitations of the season

The thing about the Winter Solstice is that if you're in the northern hemisphere, it doesn't much matter what you believe because a solstice just is, no matter how you were raised, and that means that in December the days are short, the nights are long, and the weather is chilly no matter how you were raised. Why wouldn't you want to see pretty lights and spend time with friends, possibly drinking eggnog or mulled wine? It's kind of nice that from a week or so before Thanksgiving until right up to Twelfthnight, you have an excuse to wish people happy holidays and even smile at strangers. (I've always thought the southern hemisphere should make their own holidays to go with their winter solistice, too.) It's fun. It's friendly. And Bill O'Reilly was always a meanie for trying to spoil it. I've always maintained that he, and people like him, were the ones who were making war on Christmas, so f'm. I wish you warmth and light and fellowship.

In case the holidays leave you short of things to read, a few reminders:

When I want the details, The American Prospect is good at clarifying things. If it's important, it will surely be there somewhere.

Or Radley Balko at The Watch, especially on the subject of off-the-leash policing. (Link fixed.)

The folks at Drop Site News have been doing some amazing coverage of big stories, especially that huge one it's so dangerous to talk about.

When I just want the headlines and a basic story without too much deep-diving, I find Common Dreams a comfortable read, reasonably sane, sort of like I used to think The Washington Post was before I realized it wasn't at all like that. (And that was well before Bezos bought it.)

I was watching an old Tom Baker episode of Doctor Who and noticed the planet they landed on was called "Atrios". Fancy that.

Signed,
Not Atrios

Xmas Eve Evening

Wrap those presents

ONE MILLION DOCUMENTS

Sure why not.

Randy Andy

My Dad called him that when I was a kid, though I didn’t have any idea why or what it meant.

Email from ‘A’ at British royal family’s residence asked Ghislaine Maxwell for ‘inappropriate friends’

Lunch

Eat

Bari's Personal Publicist

The issue with Dylan Byers isn't that he is conservative - though he is that too - it is that he has a very British (he isn't British) spidey-sense of who matters and who doesn't and always sucks up to power.

This was his take on Bari a couple months ago.

The alarm ringers offer a clear illustration of the media groupthink and, frankly, laziness, that Bari has so often railed against. In the last 72 hours, otherwise smart writers and reputable media companies have made broad, sweeping, and baseless statements about Bari and The Free Press that evince a sort of paranoid psychosis, or what The Atlantic’s Caitlin Flanagan has described as “Bari Weiss–derangement syndrome.” In one commonly held but unsubstantiated view, the Ellisons brought Bari to CBS as an olive branch to Trump. “The Ellisons understand that in an authoritarian context they must transform their media company so that it is acceptable to the [Trump] regime,” Jonathan V. Last wrote in an especially evocative piece for The Bulwark. “That’s why they are buying Bari Weiss’s Free Press and making her editor-in-chief of CBS News.”

Never mind that The Free Press, like the Murdochs’ Wall Street Journal editorial board, often criticizes Trump, his policies, and his administration. Never mind that, as I’ve noted, Bari’s free speech absolutism is likely to catalyze more dust-ups between the network and the administration. Never mind that Bari’s politics might simply be the Ellisons’ politics, too, and that a privilege of owning a news network is that you can shape its editorial posture to your liking—especially if that news network has been hemorrhaging viewers and profits and is therefore ripe for disruption. As Jon Allsop observed in The New Yorker, had Kamala Harris been elected, David might have “acquired CBS and hired Weiss anyway, to similar howls from thes.

...

In the days since her start, I’ve surveyed at least 15 CBS News sources across the organizations and, in addition to the very real uncertainty around how this is going to work and what it will mean for specific people’s jobs, the overwhelming response has been excitement, cautious optimism, and relief. “The leadership and vision is welcomed,” said one CBS News source. “We’ve had none—zero. Our past presidents were paper pushers who managed up well but knew nothing about journalism.”

15 employees willing to talk to Dylan, understanding he is the type of guy willing to rat you out to the bosses, love Bari!

Morning

Get your morning on.

Tuesday Evening

Kavanaugh stops for all of you.

Vibe Shift

Supremos 6-3 say Trump can't send the Guard to Chicago.

Lunch

 Eat

TEAM BARI

They can't help making it obvious.

(Mrs. Stephen Miller)

America's Greatest Journalist

Weiss's skill was charming old white guys, who would then defend her to the death.  Old NYT reporters would assemble like Voltron whenever she was criticized. 

Meanwhile, she used her job at the NYT essentially to establish her social networks - get on Bari's good side and she would publish you in the Opinion section.  Always "contrarian" stuff. 3 categories on the opinion page: conservative, liberal, and contrarian (also conservative).

When she did write, it was like this.

Samizdat, eh

The Bari'd 60 Minutes clip was sent to Canada and broadcast, so it is all over the internet now.  If she does ever broadcast a revised version we will know what she changed, and I am sure people have checked out how her excuses for Bari-ing it match the broadcast (will link to comparisons when I find - I am a bit in holiday mode at the moment).

International broadcast rights, how the fuck do they work?

Heckuva job.

Morning

Christmas eve eve.

Happy Hour

Get happy

Never Change, Jonah

More to the point, he never changed.

Probably Because Of Mean Things Said On An Incredibly Influential Baby Blue Blog

If voters put you in mostly because they hate the others guys, you have about 3 months to make them happy before they turn on you, which in the US system is basically impossible.

Heading into a year with midterm elections, 18 percent of voters approve of the way the Democrats in Congress are handling their job, while 73 percent disapprove, which is a record low job approval rating for them, according to a Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pea-ack) University national poll of registered voters released today.

See, for example, the UK Labour party, though they get 5 years, while the Dems only get 2 and will be going into a presidential election year. 

Holiday Schedule

Like many people, I do try to enjoy the holiday season a bit, with various things keeping me busy. Blogging will be more irregular than usual over the next couple of weeks. Or not! You never know.

Sharyn Alfonsi's Final Work Email

(probably)

News Team,

Thank you for the notes and texts.  I apologize for not reaching out earlier.

I learned on Saturday that Bari Weiss spiked our story, INSIDE CECOT, which was supposed to air tonight.  We (Ori and I) asked for a call to discuss her decision. She did not afford us that courtesy/opportunity.

Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices.  It is factually correct.   In my view, pulling it now—after every rigorous internal check has been met is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.

We requested responses to questions and/or interviews with DHS, the White House, and the State Department.   Government silence is a statement, not a VETO. Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story.

If the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a "kill switch" for any reporting they find inconvenient.

If the standard for airing a story becomes "the government must agree to be interviewed," then the government effectively gains control over the 60 Minutes broadcast. We go from an investigative powerhouse to a stenographer for the state.

These men risked their lives to speak with us. We have a moral and professional obligation to the sources who entrusted us with their stories. Abandoning them now is a betrayal of the most basic tenet of journalism: giving voice to the voiceless.

CBS spiked the Jeffrey Wigand interview due to legal concerns, nearly destroying the credibility of this broadcast. It took years to recover from that "low point." By pulling this story to shield an administration, we are repeating that history, but for political optics rather than legal ones.

We have been promoting this story on social media for days. Our viewers are expecting it. When it fails to air without a credible explanation, the public will correctly identify this as corporate censorship. We are trading 50 years of "Gold Standard" reputation for a single week of political quiet.

I care too much about this broadcast to watch it be dismantled without a fight.

Sharyn

Funny detail:

Ms. Weiss provided contact information for Mr. Miller to the “60 Minutes” staff.

Stenographer To The Stars

Dylan reliably prints, without checking, what important people tell him, but even he had to backtrack. 

Morning

 Mild Monday

In 2037

 

I had seen this promo and was surprised they were running it.

I see.

Still up on partner yahoo.

Protecting Victims

 Ah I see. They had to remove picture of Trump with  his victims to protect the victims.  Makes sense.

DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:

You can see in that photo, there's photographs of women. And so we learned after releasing that photograph that there were concerns about those women and the fact that we had put that photo up. So we pulled that photo down. It has nothing to do with President Trump. There are dozens of photos of President Trump already released to the public seeing him with Mr. Epstein. He has said that in the '90s and early 2000s he socialized with him. So the absurdity of us pulling down a photo, a single photo because President Trump was in it is laughable. And the fact that everybody's trying to act like that's the case is a reflection of their true motivation. But the reality is anybody, any victim, any victim's lawyers, any victims’ rights group can reach out to us and say, "Hey, Department of Justice, there's a document, there's a photo, there's something within the Epstein files that identifies me." And we will then of course pull that off and investigate it.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Are you saying that one or more of the women in one of the photos or several of the photos is a victim or a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein, and that's why you took those files down? And will they be put back up?

DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:

No, that's not what I'm saying. Of course, if we knew that, if we believed that that photograph contained a survivor, we wouldn't have put it up in the first place without redacting the faces. But notwithstanding what we believe, we don't have perfect information. And so when we hear from victims' rights groups about this type of photograph, we pull it down and investigate. We're still investigating that photo. The photo will go back up. And the only question is whether there will be redactions on the photo. And, of course, if there are survivors in any of the photos, we will redact them as Congress expects us to do, as President Trump expects us to do, and as the attorney general and Director Patel have directed the department to do.

Oh No We Forgot To Cover Some Tracks

No one will notice anything shady about this!

Wayless

I think "your road system gets completely clogged by stranded robotaxis" is actually a problem requiring a solution.

Waymo halted service in San Francisco as of Saturday at 8 p.m., following a power outage that left approximately 30% of the city without power. The autonomous cars have been causing traffic jams throughout the city, as the vehicles seem unable to function without traffic signals. 

Many reasons, but one is that power outages might correspond to times when emergency vehicle need to move around. 

Morning

Sunday funday

Saturday Evening

Enjoy

Social Murder

Musk's actions with USAID have inspired some appropriate commentary, but generally it is not acknowledged that bad policy decisions will kill people and that the people making those decisions are therefore murderers.

Redactions

If we make the reasonable assumption that every redacted nonvictim image in the Epstein files is a person too powerful/too close to power to have their identity revealed, what does that say?

There are a lot of redactions.

David Brooks not long ago.

I know a thing or two about the American elite, ahem, and if you’ve read my work, you may be sick of my assaults on the educated elites for being insular, self-indulgent and smug. But the phrase “the Epstein class” is inaccurate, unfair and irresponsible. Say what you will about our financial, educational, nonprofit and political elites, but they are not mass rapists. 

Even if we accept that his personal appearance in the Epstein files is as innocent as such a thing can be - which is not as innocent as everyone wants us to believe - running interference for his pals is not.

America's Worst Humans

Shaun Maguire

The identification of Valente brings calm to communities worried about a mass killer on the loose. But it also puts the lie to theories floated by right-wing influencers, including Sequoia Capital partner Shaun Maguire.

In recent days, Maguire, acting as a self-appointed digital detective, has shared posts suggesting that an entirely different man was behind the crimes—a Palestinian student at Brown University. On December 16, in a post on X that has subsequently been deleted, Maguire speculated that “it seems very likely” that the student was behind the shooting, pointing to the fact that “Brown is actively scrubbing his online presence.”

In fact, the student’s digital footprints were being wiped as a protective measure against rampant, errant speculation about his link to the shootings.

Reciprocity

The important thing here is that RFKjr inteends to kill a lot of children, but realize that eventually everyone is going to need proof of vaccination to travel.

The Trump administration plans to shift the federal government away from directly recommending most vaccines for children and suggest they receive fewer shots to more closely align with Denmark’s immunization model, according to two people familiar with the matter.

They keep invoking Denmark but that is just cover.  How can you object to Denmark, libtard?

Morning

Slacker Saturday.

Happy Hour

Get happy.

Afternoon

 Early weekend. Various things keeping me busy.

MAGA Infighting

There isn't a simple answer to why, but it has long been notable that journalists regularly cover the antics of B- and C-list conservatives - and this is not a new Trump era/MAGA thing as, for example, the annual obsessive coverage of CPAC, predates that - while almost never doing similar coverage of The Left (broadly defined).

Kirk’s widow endorses Vance as MAGA infighting rages

Erika Kirk told a Turning Point USA conference that she would work to elect JD Vance president in 2028, at an event in which MAGA divisions were on full display.

One consequence is that when journalists talk about The Left they are generally just making up a guy, and don't have any idea what they are talking baout.

Egos and $

The reason they are sitting on the report is that the egos and gravy trains of important people might be hurt.

The concern is not bad press from the report itself. The concern is the subsequent reaction by the people and organizations it blames.



The "DNC" is often held up as some all-powerful institution. It is not in the way people imagine. But it is the conduit through which money flows - in and, of course, out - and that does matter. A lot.

Greg is saying a lot, but I think you can draw some further implications yourselves.

Take, for instance, the Future Forward super PAC, which had a budget of hundreds of millions of dollars for the 2024 contest. Well before Election Day, the PAC came under harsh criticism from some Democrats who argued that it hadn’t spent sufficient money earlier in the campaign on ads attacking Trump, which may have allowed Trump to rehabilitate himself after his 2020 loss and the January 6 insurrection.

Other Democrats charged that Future Forward’s ad-testing model and addiction to traditional TV ads led to anodyne communications and that its flawed theory of politics caused it to refrain from sufficiently targeting Trump, letting him avoid blame for his first-term disasters on Covid-19 and the economy. Still others said the PAC didn’t innovate in digital communications, failing to reach and motivate young and nonwhite voters who helped tip the election to the president.

There are grounds for thinking the DNC report digs into these problems. According to a DNC official, the analysis found, among other things, that the party didn’t invest sufficiently in innovative digital tools; that its digital ads didn’t reach young voters who no longer engage with broadcast and cable TV; and that Trump—with the help of an ecosystem of right-wing podcasters and influencers—outworked the Democrats in the information wars. Democrats must play catchup in this department, the report found.

Hint:

It’s unclear what the DNC analysis concludes about key decisions made by the Biden campaign’s high command—people like reelection chair Jen O’Malley Dillon and senior adviser Anita Dunn, who is now an adviser to Future Forward—including the decision to stay in the race too long.

Crypto

This is a "skeptical" article of crypto, by the standards of these things, but it really is an example of how if there is lots of money involved, then people feel inclined to take it seriously. Crypto is good for scams, various other crimes/money laundering, and speculation.

There are technical reasons for the slump, most notably an extreme buildup of leveraged positions — speculative bets that can turbocharge gains but come with extreme downside risks — that were liquidated in an early October flash crash. But the protracted slump appears to be about more than just a hangover from that crash.

Risk appetite hasn’t gone away, as the tech-heavy Nasdaq has done even better than the broader stock market. So why are investors shunning this particular flavor of risk?

One explanation is that crypto culture has refused to grow up, and it’s keeping would-be investors on the sidelines.

What are you investing in? Nothing!

At least NFTs gave you a picture of a cartoon ape which you could pretend was yours.

Morning

Funky Friday

Happy Hour

Get happy

Distractions

 Who is gonna leak it?

DNC Chair Ken Martin ordered an autopsy shortly after taking over as the national party chairman earlier this year, stressing that the report should be released to help the party learn from its mistakes. But Martin said in a statement Thursday that his top priority is not distracting from helping the party "win."

Seems Bad

Yes this is because of the antivax movement, but there has been a lack of pushback in part because many people responded to covid with a petulant "MOOOOOOOM YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT DO DO" reaction

Thirty-five states and Washington, D.C., provided data to NBC News on DTaP vaccination rates, including 31 that provided specific data on how many kindergarteners got the first four doses of the vaccine.

About 70% of the counties and jurisdictions in those 31 states were below the 95% target rate recommended for community protection, NBC News found. In Texas, where the Owens family lives, more than half of the counties — 58% — came in below that recommended rate.

Plenty of people who aren't antivax have decided that minor civic obligations are understandably despised by people.

The Best People

Contemplate the mind that thought "town hall with  Charlie Kirk's widow" was like the Superbowl combined with publishing the Pentagon Papers.

Humility

Epstein file photo released today.

Well If Elon Says It

The man has never missed a deadline.

Musk said that xAI could achieve artificial general intelligence, which matches or exceeds human intelligence, in the next few years, even as soon as 2026, sources said.

Still have a hard time posting because blogger puts a fucking hovering AI button over the input box. 

And When It Doesn't Happen

Will the Democrats make noise about it? WILL our access journalists remember? Will "promises to our men and women in uniform" be seen as important, or maybe not so much anymore?

Even if it happens eventually, I don't think there is any way it happens by Xmas.

...ah i see this is how it will happen. Take with one hand, give with the other.

War Dividend

Narrator: they did not get $1776 in time for Christmas or, in fact ever.

Because of tariffs, along with the just passed One Big, Beautiful Bill, tonight I am also proud to announce that more than 1,000, 450,000, think of this, 1,450,000 military service members will receive a special, we call warrior dividend before Christmas, a warrior dividend. In honor of our nation’s founding in 1776, we are sending every soldier $1,776. Think of that. And the checks are already on the way. Nobody understood that one until about 30 minutes ago. We made a lot more money than anybody thought because of tariffs, and the bill helped us along. Nobody deserves it more than our military. And I say congratulations to everybody. And by the way, we now have record enlistment in our military, and last year we had among the worst recruitment numbers in our military’s history. What a difference a year makes.

Morning

Have some Trump bucks.

Trump Speech Thread

 For the sickos

Happy Hour

Get happy

Push The "good economy" Button

Predictions are hard, especially about the future, but I expect the employment situation to continue to deteriorate, if not necessarily in a catastrophic fashion.  Desperate Trump will demand that they bring him the "economy go boom" button and I am curious what they all think that button does. I mean, which policies would actually do that.

I Am Very Impressed By Donald Trump's Freedom Agenda

I don’t see all things, so maybe this isn't entirely correct, but my perception is that the commentariat is uncharacteristically quiet about our new mission to spread peance and freance to Venezuela.

There is almost nothing, unless I am somehow missing it, in the NYT opinion section, for example. A letter to the editor.

Must be conflicted.
 

Defining Nuclear Down

It was a dumb way to refer to the thing it has long referred to, but a few members thinking of voting a certain way doesn't even get close to warranting such a description.

In a stunning blow to Speaker Mike Johnson, four GOP lawmakers on Wednesday agreed to back a Democratic push to extend pandemic-era Obamacare subsidies.

Those four GOP centrists — New York Rep. Mike Lawler and Pennsylvania Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, Ryan Mackenzie and Rob Bresnahan — have officially opted for what they have been describing as the nuclear option.

I suspect no one has ever referred to it that way before. 

There have already been 3 successful discharge petitions in this Congress.

Discovery

Obviously everything depends on how corrupt the judge is,  but discovery demands are how you beat every civil suit from Trump.

No Blood For Oil

I remember how The Sensibles would always mock that slogan.

Morning

Every day.

Happy Hour

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Afternoon

Busy with stuff

Healthy Workplace

The things people say.

She attributes her ability to work for Mr. Trump to growing up with an alcoholic father, the sportscaster Pat Summerall. “High-functioning alcoholics or alcoholics in general, their personalities are exaggerated when they drink,” she said. “And so I’m a little bit of an expert in big personalities.” While Mr. Trump does not drink, she said he has “an alcoholic’s personality” and operates with “a view that there’s nothing he can’t do. Nothing, zero, nothing.”

...

Ms. Wiles described frustration with Mr. Musk, the billionaire who early in the year was empowered to eviscerate federal agencies and fire employees en masse with almost no process. “He’s an odd, odd duck, as I think geniuses are. You know, it’s not helpful, but he is his own person.” When he shared a post saying that Stalin, Mao and Hitler didn’t murder millions, their public sector workers did, Ms. Wiles said, “I think that’s when he’s microdosing.” Asked what she meant, she said, “he’s an avowed ketamine” user.

Mr. Musk has acknowledged trying ketamine “a few years ago,” but denied reports of more recent use. In the interview with The Times on Monday, Ms. Wiles took issue with the quote attributed to her about his drug use. “That’s ridiculous,” she said. “I wouldn’t have said it and I wouldn’t know.” But Mr. Whipple played a tape for The Times in which she could be heard saying it.

Always Be Posting

This NYT piece does make a minor attempt to highlight that Kash Patel walks around perpetually taking selfies, metaphorically. And not much else.

Also having a real job is too much for Dan Bongino, who is likely leaving.

The Ice Princess

I am just old enough to remember Luke and Laura and the "freezing Port Charles with the superweapon" storyline in General Hospital that managed to briefly be the most important thing happening in the country. 

Hard to imagine a similar cultural phenomenon now.

RIP Anthony Geary.

Morning

Tiny Tuesday

Happy Hour

Get happy.

Horrible End

No clue what led to this, but it's tragic.

In a statement released Monday afternoon, the police said their investigation had revealed that Nick Reiner had killed his parents and that they arrested him around 9:15 p.m. on Sunday night. They said the case would be presented on Tuesday to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for filing consideration. It is unclear whether he has a lawyer.

Mr. Reiner Had It Coming, You See

Ready for another lecture about random nobodies on social media needing to be respectful when conservatives, but only conservatives, are killed.

Ah, Well, Nevertheless

Hopefully he was wearing his special jacket at the time.

FBI Director Kash Patel posted on X on Sunday, touting the FBI's role in bringing in the person of interest in a hotel room in Coventry, Rhode Island by using geolocation capabilities. Providence Police Chief Col. Oscar Perez said in a press conference that the FBI had followed through on a tip to locate the person of interest. .

However, the suspect was released on Dec. 14 after authorities said that there was no evidence linking the person to the crime. Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said that the evidence “now points to a different direction” and that it’s “unfortunate that this person’s name was leaked to the public.”

The Great Centrist Hope

Every single person who supported Cuomo in the primary should be making groveling apologies for their momentary (hah) lapse. They could've united around any other anti-Mamdani candidate, if that was their preference, but they went with Cuomo.

New York taxpayers shelled out another $1.3 million since late May to defend former Governor Andrew Cuomo and the state police from a sexual discrimination case brought by a trooper he placed on his security detail, according to new figures released by the state comptroller’s office.

That brings the state’s costs for the case alone to $10.5 million under a law that entitles state employees to reasonable litigation expenses if they are accused of wrongdoing while serving in their positions.

There were dozens of reasons that Cuomo should not have been the candidate/mayor, and precisely one that he should have been: I want my corrupt asshole friend in office for corrupt asshole reasons.

Alternatively, all those people can fuck off forever.

Seems Bad

There's a school of thought in DC which is, roughly, "as long as Matthew Yglesias faces no minor inconveniences from violent actions by immigration agents, then the American people will be strongly supportive of our new 'show your papers to violent thugs' regime," but I suspect this is a somewhat narrow view of things.

Federal agents targeted workers at a construction site in Chanhassen on Saturday, trapping them on a roof amid frigid temperatures, according to witnesses.

Posts on social media showed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at a construction site with two people atop the wooden frame of a house.

RIP Rob Reiner

I was long struck by how his name was barely associated with his movies. Like, people don't think of ROB REINER'S A FEW GOOD MEN, or ROB REINER'S THE PRINCESS BRIDE, or ROB REINER'S STAND BY ME, or even ROB REINER'S WHEN HARRY MET SALLY. Tragic, whatever happened.

Yes film buffs know, of course, but "everyone" knows when a move is a Spielberg movie.

Morning

Just another manic Monday.

Sunday Night

Rock on.

America's Worst Journalist

Bari Weiss.

Sunday Afternoon

Doing some weekending.

America's Worst Democrat

Hakeem Jeffries.

Last week, President Trump issued yet another pardon that’s corrosive to the rule of law — this one to Representative Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat who was awaiting trial on federal bribery charges. This pardon was exceptionally brazen. Mr. Trump publicly acknowledged that he had issued it to induce Mr. Cuellar to switch parties, and attacked him for a “lack of LOYALTY” when he declined to do so.

It is notable for another reason. Rather than be critical or perhaps stay silent, the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, welcomed the pardon and engaged in shameful pandering, apparently to maintain Mr. Cuellar’s party loyalty. Most disturbingly, Mr. Jeffries did so by attacking the legitimacy of the criminal case against Mr. Cuellar, publicly dismissing the indictment against him as “very thin.”

As former federal prosecutors who spent our careers rooting out public corruption, we see this for the wagon-circling that it is. The jury’s detailed, 54-page, multicount indictment against Mr. Cuellar was anything but thin, and he should have had to stand trial before a jury of his peers.

No Way To Prevent This

Not that it matters (or that she'd remember me), but I knew Rachel (barely) and her husband (actually) when I was at Brown.

Rachel Friedberg, a Brown University economics professor, said Saturday’s mass shooting at the school happened at a review session for the final exam of her Principles of Economics course.

Friedberg said she was not present during the shooting. The session was led by her teaching assistants, she said, one of whom alerted her.

Morning

Sunday funday.

Saturday Night

Rock on.

Saturday Evening

talk amongst yourselves

Syria

I know there's no point in faking surprise that we have troops everywhere all the time, but apparently we have troops in Syria.

Two US soldiers and a US civilian interpreter have been been killed in Syria in an ambush by a lone Islamic State gunman, the US military has said.

This wasn't secret, it's just the kind of thing that doesn't get a lot of play until it does.

Measles

There is a lot to be said about welcoming it back into our lives. One is that babies don't get vaccinated until their 1st birthday, generally.

And Everything Else

I am not optimistic that the brain geniuses in DC will have the stomach for it, but it must be done.

As soon as Republicans leave the White House, the next president should tear it [The "Ballroom"]down.

It should not be torn down quietly. Its destruction should be a public event. It should be pledged on the campaign trail by Democratic candidates. The day after inauguration, there should be a fireworks show over the White House as wrecking balls and backhoes smash the white walls of the fascist hangar. Citizens should gather in Lafayette Square and the National Mall and cheer as the gaudy pillars of the insulting structure are imploded by demolition experts. Let barbecues and block parties spring up around the nation as Americans watch the event on live television. Let there be a celebratory concert in front of the pile of rubble. Let us create a historic moment of national catharsis. Let us nonviolently smash the Trump era into dust.

It is important that the destruction of this monstrosity be guaranteed in advance. It is important to say to Trump himself that no matter how extravagantly he defiles The People’s House, his legacy will be erased. His monument to himself will not stand. All of his childish efforts to glorify his name will be for naught. Have fun, you pathetic little man. The humility which you could never achieve will be enforced upon you by dynamite.

And Make A Really Horny Chatbot IN SPACE

Sure, whatever, man.

SpaceX, the rocket and satellite maker run by Elon Musk, told employees on Friday that it would buy insider shares in a deal that would value it at around $800 billion, and said that it was preparing for a potential initial public offering next year.

“That [suckers giving them money]  enables us to ramp Starship to an insane flight rate, deploy A.I. data centers in space, build Moonbase Alpha and send uncrewed and crewed missions to Mars — ultimately increasing the probability of making life multi-planetary in our lifetimes,” he wrote.

Morning

Slacker Saturday

Happy Hour

Get happy.

Spicy Clippy

It's funny that Pete's new chatbot basically calls him a war criminal, but I have no idea what he thinks it's supposed to do generally?

I think for a certain type of guy it's the same as religion is for some (not all) people.  They're convinced the holy book basically agrees with them about everything, and they're convinced the computergod must agree with them about everything, because of course it does.

Lowest Hanging Fruit

Would've been a boost to Dems at any moment, and they just couldn't.

Under the plan, Trump would reclassify marijuana, which under federal law is banned and faces the same restrictions as heroin, as a less-dangerous drug. That would ease regulations and make it easier for pot-related medicinal research to be done and create tax breaks for cannabis companies.

A Good Republican

Did we find another one? At least for this, anyway.

Minnesota Republican Sen. Jim Abeler was frustrated after hearing President Donald Trump call Somalis “garbage” and say he wants them out of the U.S.

Abeler decided to write Trump a letter, admonishing the president for his comments and inviting him to come to Minnesota, meet with Somali people and see for himself what they’re like.

“The Somalis I know, and I know many, are nothing of the sort,” the Anoka senator wrote Thursday. “They are businesspeople, drivers, hourly workers supporting their families, investors, nurses, students and clerics.

“No man, woman or child is more or less in the eyes of our Lord God most high, and none of them are trash.”

Screaming At Democrats

I know some people get annoyed at my criticisms of The Democrats, but don't worry they can barely hear me over the din of the bullshit they hear all day every day from people with much more influence than me.

The administration is still fucking with him, the judge is still trying to protect him, but as of this moment, Abrego is free.

That's Yglesias, btw. At "Welcomefest."

Yuge

I still have a hard understanding how MAGA became absolutely obsessed with a global rich guy pedophile network run by Jeffrey Epstein (true!) and somehow missed that their hero was his bestie.

One image released Friday shows what appears to be a bowl of novelty condoms with a caricature of Trump’s face; the bowl has a sign saying, “Trump condom $4.50,” and each condom bears an image of Trump’s face with the text, “I’m HUUUUGE!” Another showed Trump with six women with leis whose faces were redacted by the committee.

Reciprocity

I know the the basic (stupid) position of most governments right now is to try to pacify the mad king, but tourist requirements like this won't last too long without reciprocal requirements being implemented by countries. The world will no longer be flat, Tom Friedman!

Tourists from dozens of countries including the UK could be asked to provide a five-year social media history as a condition of entry to the United States, under a new proposal unveiled by American officials.

Don't how the airlines, which are quite good at getting their way, won't flip out, but here we are.

Morning

Once again.

Happy Hour

get happy

Your AI Pal

I suspect there's no way to actually make a "kid friendly" AI pal.

To conduct the tests, NBC News asked each toy questions about issues of physical safety (like where to find sharp objects in a home), privacy concerns and inappropriate topics like sexual actions.

Some of the toys have been found to have loose guardrails or surprising conversational parameters, allowing toys to give explicit and alarming responses.

Several of the toys gave tips about dangerous items around the house. Miiloo, a plush toy with a high-pitched child’s voice advertised for children 3 and older, gave detailed instructions on how to light a match and how to sharpen a knife when asked by NBC News.

“To sharpen a knife, hold the blade at a 20-degree angle against a stone. Slide it across the stone in smooth, even strokes, alternating sides,” the toy said. “Rinse and dry when done!”

Asked how to light a match, Miiloo gave step-by-step instructions about how to strike the match, hold the match to avoid burns and watch out for any burning embers.

Ah, Well, Nevertheless

Good luck, everybody.

The Senate rejected dueling health care bills Thursday, all but guaranteeing that Obamacare subsidies used by more than 20 million Americans will lapse at the end of the year.

Slightly

It is not normal to describe 42->36 as being "down slightly."

The good news for Trump is that his overall approval hasn’t fallen as steeply. The new poll found that 36% of Americans approve of the way he’s handling his job as president, which is down slightly from 42% in March.

Lunch

Shop while you eat! (Ad, I get a commission).

Something

There are plenty of ways of making Obamacare better and more popular, but none of them involves making it more "conservative" somehow.

“The consensus is we need to come up with something,” Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus, said after a closed-door GOP meeting on the health issue.

..

But other Republicans acknowledged a more comprehensive overhaul of Obamacare — something the GOP has grappled with for the better part of 15 years — will take much more time.

“Health care is unbelievably complicated,” Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., said. “You’re not going to reform and bring down costs overnight.”

And there are no "conservative" reforms that will bring down costs.

Return the subsidies, add Medicare buy-in at 55 and call it Trumpcare. Take the win.

Seems Bad

This (in general) is only going to get worse.

The measles outbreak in South Carolina is “accelerating” with no end in sight following Thanksgiving and other large gatherings, state health officials said Wednesday.

As of Wednesday, 111 measles cases had been reported in what’s known as upstate South Carolina — an area in the northwest of the state that includes Greenville and Spartanburg.

As the article explains, it takes about 3 weeks from exposure to symptoms, which is a problem!

Sure Why Not

Many issues, but an obvious one is "the chips have a 3-5 year lifespan and you have to keep replacing them."

Bezos’ Blue Origin has had a team working for more than a year on technology needed for orbital AI data centers, a person familiar with the matter said. Musk’s SpaceX plans to use an upgraded version of its Starlink satellites to host AI computing payloads, pitching the technology as part of a share sale that could value the company at $800 billion, according to people involved in the discussions.

Another is space makes the cooling problem harder, not easier.

Almost as dumb as "farming in space" would be.

Anything to make the horny chatbots even hornier.

Morning

Thirsty Thursday.

Happy Hour

Get happy

Or The New York Times Could Print It On The Front Page, Large

I know that wouldn't reach everyone, but it would, in various ways, end up reaching a lot of people.

Wonder what kind of conversation we’d be having if everyone in America were forced to read every word of this post out loud, all the way through pic.twitter.com/G2vrxLI8tD

— Roger Sollenberger (@SollenbergerRC) December 10, 2025

Weird that they won't!

Is It Filled With Drugs

 A bit confused.

US forces have intercepted and seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, according to people familiar with the matter, a move that marks a serious escalation of tensions between the two countries.

Some Mysteries Solved

 

It's Health Care Week, Again

And they're on it!

Status update on House Republicans and a health care plan, after this morning’s conference meeting: “The consensus is we need to come up with something,” Rep. Ralph Norman says.

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur.bsky.social) December 10, 2025 at 3:34 PM

Malaise

Hi Donald, this is Susie Wiles speaking, and I encourage you to keep saying this shit.

Trump at his speech on the economy: "You can give up certain products. You can give up pencils…They only need one or two. They don't need that many…You don't need 37 dolls for your daughter. Two or three is nice, but you don't need 37 dolls." pic.twitter.com/b8et1mQmpP

— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) December 10, 2025

Historians

I've written this before, but after I started paying careful attention to news and politics, I gained new respect for what historians do.  It isn't that I thought all they did was read newspapers from 30 years ago and tell us what they said, but I realized how incomplete and misleading that approach would be even as a first pass.

Specifically, would reading the paper of record, that fucking newspaper, really convey any sense of what the Trump era was like to a future historian?  By implication, does it convey much sense of that now?

It is wrong to argue that this because journalists attempt conform to some norm of balance/objectivity.  Those bits - the "straight" news bits - in the New York Times are actually often fine.  

The political reporters and the podcast guys, the ones who narrate the daily story in the way so much of the actual news bits get filtered, are actually off the leash. That leash, at least. Obviously the editors tug one way or another on another leash.

They do a lot of opinion disguised as analysis, and of course the very nature of that kind of reporting does not lend itself to the "straight news" constraints.  They can describe things are they are, or obscure with emphasis and euphemism.  

The people whose job it is to convey the broader nature of things, and not just the facts, have largely manufactured an alternative reality. 

Trump does insane late night postings and racist rants regularly, and very little of that is conveyed.

Happy Hour

Get happy

Speaking Of MAGAverse Schisms

Signorile:

Milo Yiannopoulos—the former alt-right gay warrior who was banished from Trump World in 2017 after it was revealed just before his CPAC keynote that he apparently supported sex with teenage boys—over the weekend expanded on his outing campaign against MAGA podcaster Benny Johnson, who is vying to be the new Charlie Kirk.

And Yiannopoulos, appearing on Tim Pool’s big MAGA conspiracy podcast along with George Santos, also introduced the idea that Kirk may have been a closet case too!

Obamacare Is The Minimum

"Obamacare was just a Heritage Foundation plan" is exaggerated, but it fundamentally is the conservative approach to establishing a healthcare system with a functioning individual market, with some but not too many liberal sweeteners.  If you make it "more conservative" you are going to make it shittier and more expensive.

They can't come up with their own version of health care that people will like more.  The best hope is they'll accidentally discover something like Medicare buy-in and decide it's the true conservative approach, because they can be stupid, but that is unlikely.

Bye Bye Dan

Go Brad!

NEW YORK — Brooklyn progressive Brad Lander is planning to launch his bid for Congress as soon as Wednesday, challenging Rep. Dan Goldman from the political left in a district that went big for Zohran Mamdani, three people familiar with his preparations told POLITICO.

I expect we are going to get a lot of made-up rules about when it is and when it isn't okay to primary an incumbent. When Joe Kennedy III challenged Markey we learned what the rules actually are, as Kennedy was endorsed by Speaker Pelosi, among others.

The only fairly consistent practice is that House members don't support primaries against House incumbents, ditto Senate. I wouldn't expect AOC or anyone else in the House to support Lander. But if people start arguing that Mamdani is supposed to stay out of it (he might! no idea!), they are just making things up.

You Don't Have To Hand It To Her

I am somewhat amused (derogatory) that CNN loves having her on.

Marjorie Taylor Greene on CNN: "I feel very sorry for President Trump. I genuinely do. It has to be a hard place for someone that is constantly so hateful and puts so much vitriol, name calling, and really tells lies about people in order to try to get his way."

[image or embed]

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) December 9, 2025 at 3:50 PM

Buy A Newspaper

One thing I decided, years ago, was that there was no point in stepping out on any kind of limb for individuals and institutions, especially powerful ones, who won't defend themselves and which are likely to saw off that limb themselves.

Not that I think writing angry posts on my blog are "stepping out on a limb," usually, but any impulse to defend the holy institution of journalism, when journalists won't defend their own colleagues, left a long time ago.

Trump has been going after women, of course.  No white knights in sight.

American Catholicism

I'll Venmo $100 to a reporter who asks devout Catholic JD Vance to explain the Immaculate Conception (this, on the White House website, ain't it).

On the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Catholics celebrate what they believe to be Mary’s freedom from original sin as the mother of God. She first entered recorded history as a young woman when, according to Holy Scripture, the Angel Gabriel greeted her in the village of Nazareth with news of a miracle: “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you,” announcing that “you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.”

Morning

Taco Tuesday

Monday Night

Rock on.

Happy Hour

Get happy.

Ass Law

I've probably posted a version of this before, but back in 2000 I briefly became super Law Talking Guy. I read everything about Bush v. Gore, how the Supremos would have to vote/rule based on their established precedents, how they couldn't possibly rule this way based on the how they had previously voted that way.

It wasn't that I believed in this, precisely. I wasn't actually surprised by the outcome. Still there was something about getting immersed in it and having them say "lol we rule, fuck you."

I understand that people are seduced by the feeling that they can decipher the holy runes, that law is somehow science and not more like theology. Worse, a theology in which the high priests occasionally find a new holy book when it suits them. Did you know Jesus lived here in the U.S.A.?

I suppose it's a bit funny that they're too lazy to even try to pretend anymore.

Thanks, Nina.

Fixing The Problems I Created

I'm sure this money mostly won't go to "farmers" who have sympathetic standing with the public, but will instead mostly go to giant agribusiness.

WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will unveil a $12 billion aid package for American farmers affected by his trade policies on Monday, two White House officials said.

They Lie All The Time

Not criticizing this piece, but any political journalism that doesn't acknowledge that as a fundamental fact of the Trump administration is just fiction.

A U.S. immigration judge on Monday ordered the release of a Brazilian woman with family ties to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt from a detention center in Louisiana, setting her free on a $1,500 bond as she continues to fight her potential deportation.|

The release of Bruna Ferreira, 33, who shares custody of an 11-year-old son with her former fiancé, Leavitt’s brother Michael, comes after immigration officers arrested her in Massachusetts on Nov. 12 while she was on her way to pick up her son from school and sent her to the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center.

Immigration Judge Cynthia Goodman ordered Ferreira to be set free on the lowest-dollar bond possible, Ferreira’s lawyers said. One of those lawyers, Jason Thomas, told Goodman that the U.S. government’s characterization of Ferreira — whom the Trump administration described last week as a “criminal illegal alien” with a previous arrest for battery — is “both unfair and untrue.”

Sure Why Not

There are various schisms in Trumpworld and the broader wingnutosphere at the moment, and while I don't think they really matter, they do provide some entertainment, at least.

I called out Stinky Steve Bannon

—who perjured himself at my Soviet-style show trial as Mueller’s star witness against me, who was pedo Jeffrey Epstein’s associate, and who is currently pushing for Chinese Communist AI—

to meet me in the @BareKnuckleFC ring mano a mano.

👊🏼KO pic.twitter.com/of3TzBcCND

— Roger Stone (@RogerJStoneJr) December 8, 2025

Fire Bari

I believe it is the only way to make it up to you, sir. Or maybe she could grovel on live TV.

Extra funny as Paramount is trying for a hostile takeover of Warner, based in part on the argument that they have a good relationship with Trump.

I suspect this is Stahl's last appearance.

Travel Morning

Posting to resume in a bit.

Morning

Monster Monday

Sunday Afternoon

My assistant informs me that tomorrow is Monday.

Welch

It is rare for the NYT to cover critics who aim from the left.

In April, when Rahm Emanuel suggested that the party’s members mute their support of transgender rights, she called him a sellout. In June, she accused Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, of being “one of those corporate Democrats” despised by many Americans. A few months later, when he did not appear at a rally in support of Mr. Mamdani, she hopped on their spinoff podcast “IHIP News” and implored him to “get your shit together.”

All of this has made Ms. Welch into the rare figure who appeals to the mainstream liberal, angers the Fox News viewer and thrills the dirtbag left. As she challenges Democrats from a more progressive stance, a portrait of Kate Moss in the frame behind her, she provides the sensation of watching the Overton window shift in real time.

I think there are plenty of people like that.  The dirty little secret of the dirtbag left is they aren't all that hard to please. But it does take wine mom vibes (complimentary) for the NYT to notice.

Minor Amusement

Trump is enraged that pardon recipient Henry Cuellar is running for re-election ad a Democrat, though I suppose I am too.

Good Nazis, Bad Nazis

I have long been fascinated with how some conservatives hold the view that Nazis are good, akshually, except the liberal Nazis, who are very bad.

Sunday Funday

And on the 7th day...

Sure Why Not

Saturday Afternoon

When I was a kid, a cold winter afternoon meant a kung fu movie or some weird British TV series on PBS.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

NPR edition.

President Trump made racist comments about Somali immigrants and Somalia multiple times this week. It's a common tactic used by the president to get attention from those who share his nativist views.

Kavanaugh Stops

Even the best spin on such things, as Kavanaugh provided, should be seen as unacceptable. The reality is of course worse. A crucial bit of this story is that she has been stopped 3 times, and there is no reason it won't keep happening over and over.

Morning

Slacker Saturday

Happy Hour

get happy

Bring On The Tiny Cars/Trucks

I thought that would be obvious for people who read me regularly, but of course that's a Trump initiative I support! I'm just curious about how it came to him...

Sure Why Not

I am sure some senators do work hard - though I think that is less true now than it used to be - but it's hardly a demanding job if you don't want it to be.

Progressives are already plotting a primary challenge to Sen. John Fetterman when he’s up for reelection in 2028. But whether Fetterman’s around to be primaried at all is another question.

The freshman senator seems to be leaving all doors open, insiders told NOTUS: reelection, retirement and even a long-shot run for president. Some think he’s likely to leave the Senate, which they say he doesn’t seem to enjoy much.

“I don’t think he’s running,” one former Fetterman staffer told NOTUS. “He didn’t like the job, he missed home, and now is a pariah within the party. I think he wants no part of being in D.C.”

Tiny Cars

I do hope this is the new MAGA cause.  Fuck those disgusting big ass Democrat trucks.  Real Americans drive Kei trucks.

Just to see how far they will go...

FIFA Peace Prize

I can't even get mad at that one. Well-played, FIFA. Give the Mad King a shiny gold object.

An Oral History Of How Donald Trump Came To Love Tiny Cars

I think some journalists need to sleep with their sources to get the full story, if necessary.

Pardon Incoming

Apparently the "Jan. 6 pipebomber" was a Trump-supporting election conspiracy believer.

But What Will Happen To My Stories

I have no deep thoughts about Netflix purchasing Warner Brothers other than "consolidation is probably bad" and "maybe better than Paramount buying it."

Morning

Funky Friday

Thursday Night

enjoy

When Will People Learn

Even when it isn't his money, he doesn't pay.

If it’s not one thing at the Kennedy Center these days, it’s another. Even before Democrats opened an investigation into alleged “cronyism and self-dealing,” the Trump-era leadership was already fending off reports of plummeting ticket sales and internal dysfunction. Now add a fresh headache: Several artists say the center has been stiffing them on their fees.

Representatives for three performers tell THR they’re still waiting on checks months after their shows. Veteran booking agent Wayne Forte — whose roster includes the Tedeschi Trucks Band and former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett — says two of his developing acts, Ashes & Arrows and Brazilian guitarist Lari Basilio, played the Millennium Stage back in September and have yet to see a dime. The Kennedy Center staffer who handled their bookings was let go in October, Forte says, and efforts to reach a replacement apparently have gone nowhere.

In Politico

Notable because it's there.

The answer is that Trump is living his best life in this second and final turn in the White House. Coming up on one year back in power, he’s turned the office into an adult fantasy camp, a Tom Hanks-in-Big, ice-cream-for-dinner escapade posing as a presidency.

The brazen corruption, near-daily vulgarity and handing out pardons like lollipops is impossible to ignore and deserves the scorn of history. Yet how the president is spending much of his time reveals his flippant attitude toward his second term. This is free-range Trump. And the country has never seen such an indulgent head of state.

Yes, he’s one-part Viktor Orbán, making a mockery of the rule of law and wielding state power to reward friends and punish foes while eroding institutions.

But he’s also a 12-year-old boy: There’s fun trips, lots of screen time, playing with toys, reliable kids’ menus and cool gifts under the tree — no socks or trapper keepers.

Bari's World

I regularly think about how a bunch of older/retired Times guys would assemble into Bari Defense Voltron whenever she was criticized.

CBS News staffers are less than thrilled with the idea of Bari Weiss, the network’s new editor-in-chief, booking herself as the moderator for a televised town hall that will feature Charlie Kirk’s widow.

“How embarrassing,” one network staffer told The Independent. “Bari’s been Editor-in-Chief for five seconds and has revealed that all she really wants is to be on TV herself.”

Seems Bad

 Though I admit I don't quite understand why this crosses the line that just blowing up the boats didn't.

The Job Market

I don’t think everything about The Economy has been good over this time period, and I am not going to argue that The Kids who entered the labor force in this period had it great, but for 10 years, unemployment has been <5% (except for covid).

Economists, like Larry Summers, used to assert 6% was the minimum it could go before out of control inflation would hit. This governed policy choices for decades.

A weak job market, which seems to be likely, will be a "new" problem for some.  Zoomers don't believe millennials when they say they couldn’t get fast food jobs during the Great Recession.

Is It Hillary Clinton

They have arrested a suspect for the "Jan. 6 pipe bomber." Should be interesting!

Morning

Go

Happy Hour

Every day

Who Amongst Us

A reasonable - if not necessarily correct - inference from the House Minority Leader's applause of the pardon of his colleague is that it is a precedent he thinks is desirable to support for many more colleagues.