Morning

Sunday funday.

Saturday Evening

Enjoy

Saturday Long Read

enjoy 

A taste:

Every bit of this is disheartening on its face. But it’s actually worse than any first-blush irritation, that familiar annoyance that comes from encountering still another textbook exercise in witless triangulation. Because what this sort of reporting ultimately means is that if you have enough money to get somebody, anybody, to produce a white paper for you, which you can then put on some think-tank stationery? Then, my friend, you are ready to enter into the rushing current of elite reportage. For no matter how unhinged the position you’ve taken, or paid someone marginally credentialed to sketch out on your behalf—“Can Woman Think?: We Investigate,” “Is the Negro a Man: A Reconsideration”—that opinion will, by virtue of such provenance, possess all needed evidentiary gravity for the Times. And then some. (Only yesterday the Times ran this actual story, which is not parody.)

That's Your Audience

Fine, liberals are horribly intolerant. You still have to sell to them, the people who might buy your product.

Like other conservatives interviewed for this article, Ms. Bowers contended that left-wing politics had crept into the Kennedy Center, warping it so that it became a place that was not welcoming for all. And yet, she would not accept that Mr. Trump had injected his own politics into the place, which has driven away audiences.

“That characterization is a little unfair,” she said. “In the past, I don’t think that everyone felt welcome, to be frank with you. I know that lots of conservatives did not.”

Asked why people were not coming to the Kennedy Center as much anymore, Ms. Daravi, the head of communications, replied with two words.

“Liberal intolerance.”

Obviously businesses (and nonprofit arts orgs) don't always get it right, but generally conervatives don't understand that they didn't do all the 'woke shit' to please Joe Biden, they did it to sell widgets and tickets.

The Law Is Ass

I refuse to waste any of my beautiful mind following the various court cases as they head towards Sam Alito's desk. 

Once upon a time you could at least follow the arguments and, for sport if nothing else, see how the conservatives were doing "heads republicans win, tails republicans win" this time. But increasingly there isn't any argument all, just "because we say so," so there isn't any point in indulging that particular kink.

Nothing against the Law People who do that stuff. It has value. I'm just not going to follow it!

Morning

Slacker Saturday.

Happy Hour

Friday edition.

White House!

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— F.O. (@get-effed.bsky.social) November 6, 2025 at 7:54 PM

Was This ChatGPT's Idea

Just a Treasury bust out. Faced with this dilemma—where do you get a trillion dollars quick?—OpenAI is getting ready to run hat in hand to the taxpayer for subsidies, like every great Ayn

Randian self-created entrepreneur, pulling themselves up by their bootstraps. At a recent Wall Street Journal tech conference, OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar suggested that a government loan guarantee might be necessary to fund the enormous investments needed to keep the company at the cutting edge.

Gerrit De Vynck of The Washington Post explained further that she also discussed “financial innovation,” like making sweetheart deals with chipmakers like AMD that get a stock boost from having any relationship with OpenAI, or trying to get a cut of the revenue that other companies generate through ChatGPT. But the loan guarantee suggestion stuck out; it felt like a pre-bailout, leaping past the crash and going right to the socialization of risk.

Though Friar later walked back her suggestion, saying that she was advocating for structural support for AI in general, not just her company, it is likely true that some kind of huge subsidy or another is probably the only way that OpenAI’s preposterous business model—it is “worth” a supposed $500 billion—can be sustained.

Odd Play

In normal times, most blue states are actually capabale of electing a Republican governor for various reasons, but this timing doesn't seem great for Stefanik! Trump ally Elise Stefanik announces run for New York governor

Seems Bad

Every tech innovation since smartphones have just been excuses to get away with various crimes/civil harms that old boring companies couldn't.

A CNN review of nearly 70 pages of chats between Shamblin and the AI tool in the hours before his July 25 suicide, as well as excerpts from thousands more pages in the months leading up to that night, found that the chatbot repeatedly encouraged the young man as he discussed ending his life – right up to his last moments.

Also, Too

The Republican plan for the shutdown was "the Democrats will cave." The Democrats, so far, have not caved!

Things changed, I think, but the early press push was to put all the blame on the Democrats. Then polls showed people mostly blame the Republicans. Then an election happened in which, while it was not a pure referendum on the National Democrats, the Democrats did well!

Can we learn from this???

Disqus Problems

People are complaining they can't login. I don't have a solution, but some are saying you can get in to the comments (and login?) through here. I can't replicate the problem for myself.

...seems to be a general disqus problem. Hopefully they fix it.

Remember When

For no particular reason (okay there was a reason), I was remembering that when Pelosi ascended to Speaker, Republicans and conservatives were excited that they would be able to portray all Democrats as under the thumb of a "San Francisco liberal."

One reason these types of attacks can work (they did not, in her case, obviously), is that Republicans correctly think they can usually get some number of journalist-friendly Democrats and centrist dipshit pundits to echo their attacks.

You know, some "moderate" member of Congress in Ohio, or wherever, will go on TV and say that while he supports the Speaker, he hopes she leaves her gay-loving, tree-hugging, tax-raising impulses back in San Francisco with the rest of those weirdos. Political reporters will write 27 articles wondering if America is ready for San Francisco values. The (old) New Republic runs a cover story (written and edited by Harvard grads) about the ongoing coastal elitist problem of the Democrats.

As I said, that didn't play out that way with Pelosi, much, even though they tried.  But my point is that Republicans can only dangle the bait and the various fishies have to bite.

Morning

Fatuous Friday

Justice

The sandwich hero is innocent.

Is That Good

Because of The Great Recession, I think "we" have forgotten that even modest recessions really suck for people.

Layoff announcements soared in October as companies recalibrated staffing levels during the artificial intelligence boom, a sign of potential trouble ahead for the labor market, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Job cuts for the month totaled 153,074, a 183% surge from September and 175% higher than the same month a year ago. It was the highest level for any October since 2003. This has been the worst year for announced layoffs since 2009.

Predictions are hard, especially about the future, but with all the various self-inflicted wounds, it's hard not to see a recession arriving...

Speaking Of The New York Times

Why are all these chunky butches mouthing off to me?

 

Fortunately, in the post-woke era, no one can file an HR complaint against Ross.

Nice try, guys.

Change in Headline

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— Editing the Blue-Gray Lady (@nytdiff.bsky.social) November 6, 2025 at 1:40 PM

The Two Wings Of The Republican Party

The "Hitler sucks" one and the other one.

“I’m in the ‘Hitler sucks’ wing of the Republican Party,” Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said over the weekend at the R.J.C. event. “Here’s what I do know: You can sit in a basement with weird people and say weird things. It’s a free country.”

Who Runs The World

This bit from Yes, Prime Minister always makes me laugh:

Sir Humphrey: The only way to understand the Press is to remember that they pander to their readers' prejudices.

Jim Hacker: Don't tell me about the Press. I know *exactly* who reads the papers. The Daily Mirror is read by people who think they run the country; The Guardian is read by people who think they *ought* to run the country; The Times is read by the people who actually *do* run the country; The Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who run the country; The Financial Times is read by people who *own* the country; The Morning Star is read by people who think the country ought to be run by *another* country; and The Daily Telegraph is read by people who think it *is*.

Sir Humphrey: Oh, and Prime Minister, what about the people who read The Sun?

Bernard Woolley: Sun readers don't care who runs the country as long as she's got big tits.

The specifics are a bit dated (no more Page 3 girls, for one), but it's still surprisingly close. However, I think putting it on *the readers* misses the point. The idea that if news outlets are shit, it's because they are just giving the readers what they want, erases the  agency and intentions of  the people who make the newspaper. Change it to:

The Daily Mirror is written by people who think they run the country; The Guardian is written by people who think they *ought* to run the country; The Times is written by the people who actually *do* run the country...

I was reminded of this because the tone of the New York Times editorial board and a chunk of the politics news side increasingly is, basically, "written by the people who think they ought to run the country." Maybe that isn't new and I am just noticing it more, but it does seem to be the new perspective of the Dash Sulzberger era.

Obviously anyone putting their opinions out there thinks they should be listened to (including me!), but that's a bit different than the entitled 'respect my authoritah' tone, combined with the implicit threat that the news side is going to go after you if you don't please the publisher.