Wednesday, July 15, 2026
Sure Why Not
According to Hegseth, the U.S. had a "sacred duty to maintain that advantage Which is why we must constantly look for new ways to optimize your performance, your resilience, and your long-term health." The Trump official stated that in order to meet the goals, he was "authorizing a new screening program for testosterone deficiency for our service members, ensuring you have the right testosterone levels to operate at your absolute best.Hegseth added that it was "well-established science that as we age, testosterone levels often naturally drop." He added that anyone over 30 who served in the army would receive the screening as part of their annual "periodic health assessment."
Endgame
Tuesday, July 14, 2026
How Much Damage
Aside from this WSJ piece from 3 weeks ago, I haven't seen very much investigation into the true damage Iran has done to US military assets in the region.
The extensive damage done to America’s sole naval base in the Middle East—along with hits to at least 20 U.S. sites across the region, including military installations and diplomatic facilities—has the U.S. re-evaluating its entire footprint in the region, according to U.S. officials familiar with the deliberations.
Damaged sites include warehouses, a water tank, two satellite communications terminals and a communications management facility, and the headquarters building for the U.S. Navy in the Middle East. Airbus
The military is now considering revamping the base in Bahrain, reducing the U.S. presence in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and moving some bases or base functions west, farther from the reach of Iranian missiles and drones, according to the officials familiar with the deliberations.
"I haven't seen" doesn't mean it doesn't exist, of course, as I don't see everything, but my broader point is I haven't noticed too much interest from journalists in finding out.
All We Need Is More Magic
While I tend to be pessimistic (sometimes correctly, occasionally not) about the latest supposedly world-changing gadget, I am not actually anti-technology or even pessimistic about the potential of technology. It's just that a lot of what is been sold to us in the past decade or so has been hype and scams.
Anyway, as long as we invent yet another technology this one will live up to its promise. Trust me, bro.
(Bloomberg) — SoftBank Group Corp. founder Masayoshi Son said that in the not-so-distant future, nuclear fusion technology will offer the most realistic solution for powering AI data centers’ ballooning needs.
Natural gas will provide the bulk of data centers’ power needs for the time being, Son said. But he predicted that nuclear fusion — the process by which the sun and other stars generate energy — has a role to play, predicting the world will need 3 terawatts of data center capacity in 2040.
The fantasy version of nuclear fusion would be great. I do not think powering data centers would be its greatest use.
As for energy generally, a lot of exciting things are happening! But they got coded as "left" so the supergeniuses don't care.
At Least The War Is Over
Train services have resumed along a critical international transit route in Iran days after a US air strike damaged a key railway bridge.Getting rid of Pete wouldn't change everything, but it might slow down his attempts to drive all black people out of the military.
According to local news outlet SNN, the Aqqala bridge in Golestan province is fully operational again following rapid repair. Iranian officials have frequently described it as the country’s “most important transit corridor”, serving as a central link between Tehran and the northeastern border towards China and Turkmenistan.
Heroes Of The Revolution
Charlie Kirk had more chance of remaining relevant in death. They really tried, too.Stephen Miller on Lindsey Graham: "He's someone we're still gonna be talking about 200 years from now"
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) July 13, 2026 at 9:18 PM
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Most people are forgotten, except by their loved ones, pretty quickly. I'm not even insulting Graham. But the only way he remains relevant is if Meet the Press puts out an honorary empty chair for him every week (they might!).
Monday, July 13, 2026
Put It On Your Calendars
Redemption Plot
Those of us who have been around for awhile remember when Ahmadinejad was, for awhile, the Big Bad of the discourse, when there was big push to go to Iran before it was too late (before Bush was out of office).
Mr. Ahmadinejad’s 2024 visit to the university and a second one the following year were part of a yearslong Israeli effort to groom him as an intelligence asset who, when the time came, could be installed as Iran’s new leader, according to both American and Iranian officials familiar with the operation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive intelligence.
Recruiting Mr. Ahmadinejad was of such priority for Israel that the country’s then-spy chief David Barnea even traveled to the Hungarian capital in 2024 to meet with Mr. Ahmadinejad personally, according to former American officials. Soon afterward, they said, Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence service, notified the C.I.A. that it had been in contact with Mr. Ahmadinejad.
Israel’s decision to build a regime-change plan around Mr. Ahmadinejad is an extraordinary twist in the saga of the country’s relations with the former president, who was known for accelerating Iran’s nuclear program, calling regularly for the destruction of Israel and denying the Holocaust.
He was president when Netanyahu did the cartoon bomb.
People are good or bad independent of The Discourse, of course, but whether someone is the chosen Big Bad for the moment has little to do with how they are relative to our many bad pals. And they can all be redeemed when desired.
Civility
There are plenty of members of Congress who support this. Not even that they support the policies which inevitably, if "sadly," lead to this, but that they will fight to protect individuals and institutions responsible from consequences and fight any efforts to ensure the abuses don't continue.
During Peña López’s transfer to California City Detention Center last August, the lawsuit says, “detention staff denied Ulises timely administration of his daily medication, violated his disability rights, and subjected him to unnecessarily harsh conditions,” such as not getting adequate medical care. At the facility operated by CoreCivic, Peña López also struggled to get his medications. As a result, Peña López’s health worsened before he was deported.
People Who Matter
Hope Greta and her friends can swim!https://t.co/Noab4QyJtV
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) June 1, 2025
"Unraveling"
Guys, if what is happening at the moment isn't enough to demonstrate that it's an ex-ceasefire, Trump himself declared the ceasefire to be over. Did we forget?
Live Updates: Cease-Fire Unraveling as U.S. and Iran Trade Strikes Again
Sunday, July 12, 2026
Our Colleagues Are Great
This is a general issue. You can't separate the Republican party (especially, but not limited to, Graham) from Trump, and you can't message on days ending in 'y' that they are a threat to all we hold dear while also messaging on days ending in 'y' that they're a great bunch of guys and gals.
President Deals
Critics say that Mr. Trump conceded this new status quo in the June agreement with Tehran. At the insistence of Iranian negotiators, that 14-point document acknowledges Iran’s power in the strait.President Deals made the deal to prevent economic meltdown (in his mind, whether it would have happened or not) but the key thingsabout President Deals is he doesn't believe deals are ever binding on him!
It prohibits the charging of tolls or fees, but only for 60 days while negotiations toward another agreement continues. (Mr. Trump has said the United States could try to charge tolls.) The memorandum also does not include an ironclad guarantee that ships can safely sail any portion of the strait.
Iranian officials and diplomatic experts say the final line formally ceded to Iran a central role in managing the strait: “The Islamic Republic of Iran will conduct dialogue with the Sultanate of Oman to define the future administration and maritime services in the Strait of Hormuz, in discussion with other Persian Gulf littoral states, in line with the applicable international law and the sovereign rights of coastal states of the Strait of Hormuz.”
At the time, Mr. Trump praised the agreement as a return to free navigation through the strait. But Iranian officials were soon citing it as grounds for dictating where ships should sail — namely, along a route near Iran’s coastline.
What A Great Guy
After reading the many tributes to Senator Graham from his friends across the aisle, I'm suddenly very sad that I never had a chance to vote for him.
A Long Proud Career
There will be many tributes to one of the favorite senators of our rotten political journalist class.
My view: he was one of America's most successful serial killers.
What are his proudest accomplishments? War. All war.
People will pay tribute to the man he wasn't instead of the man he was proud to be.
Remember him how he would want to be remembered. He wasn't shy about his support for and love of every war.
The internet tells me David Petraeus first applied "Three Amigos" which I had forgotten. Perfect.
Saturday, July 11, 2026
Happy WHCA Dinner (Soon)
The Trump administration has issued subpoenas to several New York Times journalists after the newspaper reported on security concerns with the president’s new plane, according to the outlet.
Shahada
Friday, July 10, 2026
Let Them Fight
Apple on Friday sued OpenAI in federal court in Northern California, alleging trade secret theft, saying that the artificial intelligence lab took the iPhone maker’s intellectual property in order to develop its own consumer hardware.No respect for IP? Shocking. There were no warnings.
“This much is clear, however: at every level, from members of its Technical Staff to its Chief Hardware Officer, and in coordination with business partners, OpenAI has been stealing Apple’s trade secrets and confidential information,” the company said in a legal filing.
Read the full article. There are good bits!
They Could Still Tout It
President Donald Trump said Friday that he will not sign a bipartisan housing bill in protest of Republicans’ inability to advance separate elections overhaul legislation, dealing a major political blow to vulnerable lawmakers in his own party.
The housing bill is set to become law at midnight even without Trump’s signature. But GOP leaders had originally hoped to tout the moment as a historic economic achievement ahead of midterm elections that are likely to be defined by Americans’ concerns over the cost of living.
"AI Agents"
I really think the only people who could imagine the computer assistants would work well are the people who have actual assistants do everything for them and therefore don't understand the complexity of "simple" tasks.
NEW YORK, July 2 (Reuters) - Meta (META.O), opens new tab Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged shortcomings in the company's sweeping restructuring at an internal town hall on Thursday, saying the systems known as AI agents had not progressed as quickly as he had expected, according to a recording heard by Reuters.
Sure, Jan
Israel shared new intelligence with the U.S. that it said indicated a fresh Iranian plan to kill President Trump, people familiar with the matter said, a finding that would mark an escalation in the war between Washington and Iran.Analogous to this one:
I Spoke To Mitch McConnell Yesterday For 20 Minutes
But being completely unconcerned with the health of the president of the United States and prominent members of Congress is bizarre.
If it comes out that Jennings was completely lying here, CNN won't fire him.
“I spoke to my old friend Mitch McConnell this morning, the senior Senator from Kentucky,” the pundit wrote.
“He’s still recovering in the hospital. We talked for just shy of 20 minutes… about IRAN, UKRAINE, the unfolding situation in MAINE, my visit to the TR Presidential Library, and even a little bit of Senate history. I told him we want to see him back at work as soon as possible.”
Subsequently on appearing on The Arena with Kasie Hunt, Jennings was asked by the anchor whether McConnell would be willing to dial into the studio from his hospital bed.
“As we wrap up here, do you think he’d be willing to call into the show? Could we get him on the phone now?” Hunt asked.
Her guest carefully brushed aside the request, answering instead: “I wasn’t really expecting him to call this morning, to be honest so when the phone rang and I was able to talk to him, I was frankly pretty grateful.
Videos taken by the neighbor show emergency responders wheeling a person on a stretcher toward an ambulance. The videos are shot from some distance, and the face of the person is not visible. Once in the ambulance, the person’s lower legs appear to be covered by an orange blanket, but feet are visible.
The neighbor said they asked officers what was going on, and the officers responded that there had been a “medical emergency.” But when the neighbor inquired if McConnell was having a medical emergency, officers said they would block the street for anybody. The neighbor said they learned from another eyewitness who saw the individual’s face that the person on the stretcher was McConnell and he was not wearing an oxygen mask.
...
“In a situation where perhaps time is of the essence, there seems to be a little bit more urgency, but there was no urgency here,” the neighbor told CNN.
Then the emergency vehicles left the street, the neighbor said their sirens were not on.
Obey The Decider
The new Air Force One, which President Trump flew on earlier this week to Turkey, lacks the same defensive countermeasures that were security features of the old model, including its advanced antimissile capabilities, according to multiple officials who have been briefed on how the jet was retrofitted.
...
“The new Air Force One is a state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the president and his staff,” Steven Cheung, the communications director, said in a statement. “As the president has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats.”
Thursday, July 09, 2026
Sounds Familiar
Where have I heard of cyclospora?
But this summer, with cases of diarrhea caused by a microscopic parasite called cyclospora climbing across several states, you may want to take extra care with how you prepare your produce and where you swim.
The epicenter of an outbreak is Michigan, where more than 1,200 people have fallen ill. Ohio has also seen nearly 200 cases. Other states, including New York, Illinois, Indiana, North Carolina, and Texas have also reported a jump in cases, although it’s not clear whether they’re all part of the same outbreak. More than 40 people have been hospitalized.
As of July 1, the Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) program has reduced surveillance to just two pathogens: salmonella and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), a spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told NBC News.
Before July, the program had been tracking infections caused by six additional pathogens: campylobacter, cyclospora, listeria, shigella, vibrio and Yersinia. Some of them can lead to severe or life-threatening illnesses, particularly for newborns and people who are pregnant or have weakened immune systems.
Talent Scouts
Last July, in a small town in coastal Maine, a couple of progressive, self-styled recruiters of economic populists showed up at the blue-shingled house of Graham Platner, a little-known oyster farmer and Marine veteran who lived largely off government benefits.They knew his name from local labor organizers and activists, and they had watched a video on the internet of him talking about oysters. Struck by his left-leaning ideology, his working-class affect and his gravelly voice, they became convinced that he could win a Senate seat in Maine — and quickly persuaded Mr. Platner of the same.The initial headhunters, Dan Moraff and Leanne Fan, and then a third out-of-state operative they called up to Maine — Morris Katz — told Mr. Platner he was “the one,” a “hero of the movement,” “a historical figure” who could be “leading a revolution,” according to half a dozen people with knowledge of their conversations.But a clutch of people who cared about Mr. Platner were telling him something else. They worried about his mental health, amid his ongoing efforts to heal from post-traumatic stress disorder after tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. They feared this trio of out-of-state operatives was a dangerous combination of inexperienced and overconfident. The worst-case scenario, they thought, wasn’t running for Senate and losing — it was destroying the life he worked hard to build.
They were plotting a 2028 presidential run.
Popularism!
Sorry, I forgot, "popularism" means do popular stuff as long as the people funding my fake think tank like it, too.NEW: Our first report on the swing voters of the 2026 midterms finds that when they are asked which policies would make them definitely vote for a Democrat, the most selected option is “raise taxes on the wealthy,” followed by “create a Medicare for All health care system.”
— Data for Progress (@dataforprogress.org) July 9, 2026 at 2:30 PM
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The Internet Is Real, But Not All Of Reality
I stayed away from the Platner discourse largely because it seemed like one of those things people were fighting about, pointlessly, on the internet. Probably, most arguing on the internet is pointless, but sometimes the heat/light ratio is off the charts.
Eventually it was obvious he was going to win the Maine primary (which he did) and no arguing about it on the internet was going to change that one way or another. Sometimes it is best not to stir shit up just for the sake of it.
Even if the worst stuff about him hadn't come out, I would have still found it very odd that (some) people both Left and Center were so invested in him.
Too much of the reason is that he used to be the DC bartender for some somewhat influential people.
That kind of explanation applies to too many things.
Quick, Call Boxer
Not especially important but an odd detail.
But some Platner allies moved to canvass national Democrats to assess whether he still had support. Former Senator Barbara Boxer of California said that a representative from the campaign reached out to her on Monday afternoon to see whether she would stand with Mr. Platner.
She refused.
Wednesday, July 08, 2026
Happy Hour
Betting against Elon has been a loser for a long time but his latest is below the IPO price.
Sure Why Not
I'm sure these commie stores will get as much negative attention as Mamdani's proposed FIVE urban grocery markets.
The White House launched 25 Freedom Fuel gas stations, all selling fuel at $3.47 a gallon.
The White House announced the initiative on July 7 on X with a video of customers thanking President Donald Trump for lowering gas prices. The gas stations are located in the greater Philadelphia area, the White House told USA TODAY in an email on Tuesday, July 7.
In the video, one customer claimed the gas station saved him money. "I thought gas was more expensive, but it's not," the man, who was not identified, said. "Thanks, Trump, for saving me some money."
They aren't really commie, just some corrupt deal of some sort.
The White House did not immediately respond to CBS News' inquiry about who operates Freedom Fuel, or how it is offering gasoline at more than 30 cents a gallon below the national average. The stations are run by a private company and aren't part of a government program, nor are they receiving funding from the administration, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported, citing the White House.
Sure Why Not
Back to his old games.
ANKARA, July 8 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday at a NATO summit he had ordered his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to cut off all trade with Spain, calling Madrid a "terrible partner" in the alliance.
I don't even know what this means, or if he knows what it means, but it's funny!
"I don't want to do any trade with them, alright?" he said, turning to Bessent, who replied: "Yes, sir."
"Take it immediately, Don't even talk to them. They're hopeless. They're bad people," he added. "They make so much money with us, and we're going to see that they make a lot less. I want no business with them."
At Least The War Is Over
- Air raid sirens blare in Bahrain and Kuwait as Iran says it targeted “85 US military installations” over attacks on its Hormozgan province and the port city of Mahshahr.
- The US says it launched the “powerful strikes” against Iran after attacks on three ships in the Strait of Hormuz, including Qatari and Saudi tankers.
Tuesday, July 07, 2026
Seems Bad
I have no larger point here.
On Tuesday, a safety manager reported that a steel beam was compromised on the 21st floor, according to Buildings Department records. The Fire Department said that two support columns inside the building were buckling, and several upper floors were sagging.
Cliff Jensen, a business agent for the Steamfitters Local 638 Union, said fitters were evacuated after the beams started to bend.
“The north side of that building is crumbling,” he said. “I-beams are bending like cigarettes in there.” The developers and authorities did not say what had caused the damage, and Mr. Jensen’s claim could not be immediately confirmed.
Show Your Papers
And none of us actually have the papers to prove we are citizens, aside from our birth certificates or any subsequent documents that follow from them, like passports. Well, except for naturalized citizens, amusingly.
Take away birthright citizenship and those birth certificates don't prove anything at all! Births would have to be logged with the citizenship of the parents, which would be proven by...
Where's Kash
President Deals
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says negotiations on a final deal will not begin if threats continue, after US President Donald Trump warned that Washington will reach an agreement with Tehran or “finish the job”.
Fair Play, Belgium
Trump will probably deport them.#GMB: "It was Belgium who had the last laugh, in victory mocking Donald Trumps signature dance move"
— Saul Staniforth (@saulstaniforth.bsky.social) July 7, 2026 at 6:30 AM
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Fingers Pointing
To the extent that it mattered, he was pushed by both "The Center" (Pod Jons, Bulwark) and various figures associated with The Left.
One of those somewhat rare non-factional things, at least not as we normally define these factions.
A certain kind of person loves an ex-military guy cosplaying as Everyman, independent of ideology. A certain kind of person loves absolution for "youthful" sins.
Monday, July 06, 2026
Monday Night
QoL
Millionaire biohacker Bryan Johnson has hit a major obstacle in his yearslong quest to “defeat death.”While his problems aren't necessarily caused by his practices, getting blood transfusions from your son can lead to Transfusion-Associated Graft-Versus-Host Disease which looks very much like autoimmune gastritis.
The 48-year-old tech entrepreneur, who rose to fame for chronicling his extreme health routine curated to reduce his biological age, announced on social media last week that he has been diagnosed with an incurable autoimmune disease.
“My stomach is eating itself,” Johnson wrote in a June 30 post on X. He explained that he has autoimmune gastritis, in which his immune system mistakenly attacks the healthy cells in his stomach lining.
Do You Forget To Ask For It To Be Good
I am still somewhat astounded by the completely lack of competence around Trump's Big Beautiful 250.
How hard is it to hire people to make stuff good? There are a lot of people who know how to make stuff good. Sure I get why certain creatives with public brands might not want to be associated with him, but that doesn't really cover event organizers.
The State Fair idea was pretty good, even! The country is filled with people who know how to do that shit. How did they not manage to hire one of them?
I understand why they fuck lots of things up. I am puzzled by this one. Making it Trump-centric wasn't even close to being the only issue.
At Least The War Is Over
Katz is saying a bit more loudly what the DC Blob has been telling each other for decades and what is conventional wisdom for most journalists.
Israel’s defence minister has claimed that his country assassinated Khamenei for allegedly leading a “plan to destroy” Israel and again threatened to “eliminate” any Iranian leader who tries to promote such actions, according to Israel’s Channel 13.
...
Earlier, Katz said Khamenei’s son and successor, Mojtaba, was “marked for death”, spurring an angry protest from Tehran. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Trump “has committed the US to muzzling its pets in Tel Aviv”, adding, “Any threat against our people and leadership will receive an immediate, powerful response.”
Some of you might remember the era of Iraq War mea culpas, when highly paid big brain pundits were paid lots of money (again) to tell us how their big brains had incomprehensibly led them astray on this issue of minor importance and consequence.
My favorite was from Will Saletan:
Consider the opportunity cost. The problem with dumb war isn't that it's war. The problem is that it costs you the military, economic, and political resources to fight a smart war. Everything Bush wrongly attributed to Iraq turns out to be true of Iran. But we can't confront Iran with the force it probably requires, because we wasted our resources in Iraq. Americans, having been suckered in Iraq, won't accept evidence of Iran's nuclear program. Countries that might have supported us in a strike on Iran won't do so now, since we led them astray. Our coffers have been emptied to pay for the Iraq occupation. Our troops are physically and spiritually exhausted. In the name of strength, Bush has made us weak.
The problem with the Iraq war was that it made it harder for us to attack the real threat - Iran!
He wrote that 18 years ago.
Better Than Winning
The Lis Smith Magic
This was a bit of a Sunday drive-by post, but to flesh out her insiderness. She's an advisor to Majority Democrats, the 178th reboot of the Democratic Leadership Council. She gets quoted regularly by the various ghoulish NYT columnists and political journalist whose goal is to support the centrist ghouls in the Democratic party.
One would think her history with Andrew Cuomo would be disqualifying, but if you are a well-connected centrist Dems who journalists AND donors can't get enough of, this is, of course, not disqualifying. As we saw with the NYC mayoral race, not even Andrew Cuomo was disqualified by his long relationship with Andrew Cuomo.
And, yes, she was a barnacle on McMorrow's campaign ship from the beginning, and most likely (I don't know this) engineered the stunts of questioning whether her doctor opponent was really a doctor, and trying to make Hasan Piker a major campaign issue. Basically the centrist dipshit turn. That's when her polls started plunging.
No one who matters ever asks whether having Lis Smith regularly attach her name to things turns off voters. Certainly repels me! Do I not matter? I'm a harm reduction voter but I ain't gonna lift a finger for any of these assholes otherwise.
Because no one who matters brings it up, they don't think people can come to conclusions all by themselves about such things.
People have heard of Lis Smith and know her history no matter how many times the New York Times tries to rehab her.
Sunday, July 05, 2026
The Lis Smith Magic
If she wasn't buddies with all of them, a journalist could probably do a deep dive into just why Lis Smith keeps getting lucrative work.
State Sen. Mallory McMorrow is expected to drop out of Michigan's competitive U.S. Senate race Sunday afternoon, according to three sources with knowledge of the development who were not authorized to speak publicly about her decision.
"Rookie Mistake"
NPR’s eminent Supreme Court correspondent Nina Totenberg says she made a “rookie mistake” on Tuesday morning, and that’s why she reported that Justice Samuel Alito was retiring.
It's the opposite of that! No "rookie" would make this "mistake"! No editor would let them! Only someone for whom special rules apply could have done this! It's an elite access journalist mistake!
Saturday, July 04, 2026
Sure Why Not
Everyone planning to attend the Salute to America program and fireworks on the National Mall this evening will need to get through security within a one-hour period, Freedom 250 organizers said in an email sent just before midday today.
The email, received by an NBC digital editor at 11:14 a.m., had a subject line that began with "IMPORTANT TIME CHANGE: General Admission Guest Guidance."
The security magnetometers will open at 5 p.m., according to the email.
The Master Race
I don't just mean his/their beauty. More generally, how does Musk imagine that everyone should be just like him? He's obviously fucked up and miserable.
Even if we believe, as he does, that he is a supergenius, it isn't the only important trait. I mean, Elon Musk would fucking hate Elon Musk if he met him. How is civilization going to persist with an entire race of Elon Musks?
Suckers And Bribes
Nearly 1 million people who bought President Trump’s memecoin have lost money through the end of June, according to a report by the cryptocurrency analytics firm Nansen. Their losses total $3.81 billion.The clearest bits of the consitution are suddenly confusing.
The analytics firm’s assessment was calculated this week after Mr. Trump signed an annual financial disclosure showing that he walked away with a $636 million payout on the same crypto bet, part of a haul of at least $2.2 billion from all of his business ventures in 2025.
Friday, July 03, 2026
Big, If True
Billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel delivered a series of provocative warnings and predictions about the future of artificial intelligence and the West on Tuesday, accusing Pope Leo XIV of inadvertently serving as a “Chinese communist agent” by calling for AI regulation. In his remarks at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado, he also warned of a “democratic-socialist takeover” of the United States’ Democratic Party.Meanwhile, in other AI news:
Tesla told staff it will impose a $200-per-week limit on employee AI spending starting July 6, according to an internal memo reported by The Information (paywall).Even if it is correct to believe that firms can benefit from "AI" beyond some niche uses, it is quite hilarious that executives spent the last couple of years yelling at their employees to use it for something, anything, and then as soon as the bait-and-switch prices ended they pulled back.
The cap lands just months after Tesla pushed employees to use AI more aggressively, a sign that even companies betting their future on the technology are struggling to control its costs.
Generally it is hard to see how almost any use survives non-subscription pricing.
Moral Leadership
Senior U.S. officials feared that Israel intended to assassinate Iran’s top negotiators as the Trump administration pursued a high-stakes deal to end the war there and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, current and former officials familiar with the matter said.One can always argue that we very often don't live up to "our" supposed ideals and that hypocrisy is always the normal state of things, but when you stop even paying lip service to such things - stop even trying to pretend - you do make it quite a bit harder to complain about anyone else.
All those Woke Rules Of War and similar sound a little silly, sometimes, but those rules exist for self-serving purposes, too. They aren't just constraints on our own behavior.
Thursday, July 02, 2026
Jake Crapper
Dan Goldman lost his race, so now he's on CNN inventing slurs and tropes I never uttered. I challenged you before, @danielsgoldman. Quote one thing I actually said. You won't, because you can't.
— Mahmoud Khalil | محمود خليل (@mahmoudkhalel) July 2, 2026
And I'm not surprised by @jaketapper laundering baseless accusations against me.… https://t.co/GHYcxEhUSH
Smelting Pot
I can't believe these 2 earn the big bucks.Amazing things are happening on @TheArgumentMag podcast.
— Jerusalem (@JerusalemDemsas) July 1, 2026
cc: @mattyglesias pic.twitter.com/6ksEc0u3l6
Well, yes, I guess I can.
Reciprocity
Schism
There's an opening for Pope Vance or Pope Douthat.
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican responded aggressively Thursday to a traditionalist group that consecrated bishops without the pope’s consent, declaring the Society of St. Pius X had formally broken with the Catholic Church. It also excommunicated its bishops and priests, and warned its faithful that they too face the harshest sanctions in the church.
Best 4th Ever
Our big beautiful sweaty president is going to stroke out on stage while giving a speech in 100 degree weather, as fireworks choke DC with toxic pollution and then burn down the city.
Fireworks on Mall likely to cause hazardous air pollution, documents show
Internal National Park Service modeling for the July Fourth show predicts dangerous pollution around the Mall and “very unhealthy” conditions across central D.C.
Can't wait!
Wear a mask to signal you are woke and to avoid lung cancer:
Levels of up to 1,200 micrograms per cubic meter match what have been recorded with other fireworks events but are nevertheless reason to take precautions, said George Thurston, a professor of medicine and population health at New York University. He added that the worst-case scenario would exceed anything he has seen previously recorded from pyrotechnic displays.
“People should use the precautionary principle, which is to minimize exposures,” Thurston said. “An N95 mask would be a good idea.”
Wednesday, July 01, 2026
Remarkable Lack Of Curioisity
Normally the (lack of) health of the president is a big concern! Suddenly not.oh my goodness -- it looks like the rot on Trump's hand is now rotting 😳 (Andrew Harnik/Getty)
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) July 1, 2026 at 5:32 PM
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If I Could Turn Back Time
The University of Tennessee System Board of Trustees approved a settlement with former assistant professor Tamar Shirinian, agreeing to pay the fired faculty member $1.9 million.Shirinian will not be reinstated at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. State officials, including the attorney general and Gov. Bill Lee, need to approve the settlement.
At 5% return, not a bad little lifelong income base.
The Moderates!
15 Terms
30 years in Congress and Genette managed to be Chief Deputy Whip, a somewhat fake job. Never a committee Chair.
Maybe she didn’t want to be, which is fine! I don’t think everyone does or should want to have real leadership positions.
But plenty of them do stand in line for decades to the Dem official and official deference to seniority.
Exceptions, of course, but for various reasons, after 30 years of waiting you don't necessarily have the juice once you do get the gavel. And maybe you lose before you get it.
Again, maybe this isn't her story, but it is for many .
That's A Lot Of Terms
The democratic socialist Melat Kiros unseated the long-serving US representative Diana DeGette in Colorado’s primary elections held on Tuesday, the latest in a string of high-profile victories for the party’s insurgent left.
The Associated Press reported that Kiros had defeated DeGette for the Democratic nomination in the deep-blue first congressional district centered on Denver. Kiros’s triumph came a week after New York voters unseated two Democratic congressional incumbents and replaced a third who was retiring with candidates who had campaigned on standing up to Israel amid accusations that it was carrying out a genocide in Gaza.
Her success in the solidly Democratic first district all but ensures her election in November.
Kiros, 29, was born in Ethiopia in 1997 – the year DeGette arrived in Congress – and graduated from law school at the University of Notre Dame in 2022. The following year, she wrote a blogpost rejecting accusations that law students who protested against Israel’s counterattack after 7 October were antisemitic. The New York law firm where Kiros was working fired her after she refused to take the post down, and she then went into politics.
