I recently saw The Kinks jukebox musical Sunny Afternoon. I normally don't go to such things (jukebox musicals) but I did enjoy it quite a bit.

There Dems will probably take the House. I mean, if they don't then my somewhat cynical view of their strategy will be more than validated, but I still expect them to. Whem the Dems won in 2006, the legend of Rahm Emanuel was born. Do we think his genius really won it? No, but he made sure that was the story. 

We can't have elections going back and forth between political parties claiming to be able to solve "affordability" and then not doing it. It is a problem that "affordaility" is not one thing and there is not one magic "affordability" button. Energy prices are one simple thing to focus on, but even if the follow through on these promises (they had better!) they are just one thing. Across the country, Democrats have seized on rising anxiety over electricity costs and data centers in what could be a template for the 2026 midterm elections. In Virginia, Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger pledged during her campaign to lower energy bills and make data centers pay more. In the House of Delegates, one Democratic challenger unseated a Republican incumbent by focusing on curbing the proliferation of data centers in Loudoun County and the exurbs of the nation’s capital. In New Jersey, Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill promised to declare a state of emergency on utility costs and freeze rates. And in Memphis, State Representative Justin J. Pearson, who is challenging Representative Steve Cohen in a high-profile Democratic primary next year, has vowed to fight a supercomputer by Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, that would be located in a predominantly Black neighborhood. A nontrivial chunk of the party (hi, Senator Gillibrand) are tech shills and there are going to be some conflicts

Sunday funday

I'm rarely an accelerationist, as the costs of burning it all down are quite high and the likelihood of what emerges from the ashes not being an eldritch horror is low, but it's hard not to root, a little bit, for Trump to just go ahead and destroy our health care system. I know, I know, it probably wouldn't be good, as I said, but...

RIP Tom Stoppard

This is good, at least. The state senator said he declined the invitation and believes it violates the Hatch Act, which restricts certain political activities by federal employees. Walker said he would have reported the alleged violation to federal authorities “if I thought that there was anyone of integrity in Washington that would follow through on my accusation and actually cause someone to lose their job over it.” “I refused (the invitation), but the underling who reached out to me is trying to influence the election on my dime,” Walker told The Republic. “That individual works for me. He works for you. He’s on my payroll, he’s on your payroll, and he’s campaigning on company time. That’s a violation of the Hatch Act. He’s a federal employee. He works in the White House. But does anyone care about the rules anymore? Not that I can tell.”

I'm starting to suspect that Trump's stated reasons for things are not always the actual ones? Big, if true. Hopefully I read about this kind of thing in the newspaper more! Joke, but I don't want to read a piece about that in the newspaper, I want all coverage to start from the position that these people lie about everything all the time. Because they do! 20 stories taking them at faith, followed by one "hmm.. perhaps things aren't as they say? Much to consider, though we will forget this tomorrow," is not the appropriate way to cover them!

Slacker Saturday.

 Get happy

Pete's a real man, unlike you.  He's willing to push the big red "kill innocent people" button.  Everybody respects Pete now, and that empty hole inside of him is filling up with warmth. The longer the U.S. surveillance aircraft followed the boat, the more confident intelligence analysts watching from command centers became that the 11 people on board were ferrying drugs. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a spoken directive, according to two people with direct knowledge of the operation. “The order was to kill everybody,” one of them said. A missile screamed off the Trinidad coast, striking the vessel and igniting a blaze from bow to stern. For minutes, commanders watched the boat burning on a live drone feed. As the smoke cleared, they got a jolt: Two survivors were clinging to the smoldering wreck.

But spicy chatbot is so useful. On November 20th American statisticians released the results of a survey. Buried in the data is a trend with implications for trillions of dollars of spending. Researchers at the Census Bureau ask firms if they have used artificial intelligence “in producing goods and services” in the past two weeks. Recently, we estimate, the employment-weighted share of Americans using AI at work has fallen by a percentage point, and now sits at 11% (see chart 1). Adoption has fallen sharply at the largest businesses, those employing over 250 people. Three years into the generative-AI wave, demand for the technology looks surprisingly flimsy. Whether AI adoption is fast or slow has profound consequences. For the world to reap productivity gains from AI, normal businesses must incorporate the tech into their day-to-day operations. It is also the most important question in determining whether or not the world is in an AI bubble. From today until 2030 big tech firms will spend $5trn on infrastructure to supply AI services. To make those investments worthwhile, they will need on the order of $650bn a year in AI revenues, according to JPMorgan Chase, a bank, up from about $50bn a year today. People paying for AI in their personal lives will probably buy only a fraction of what is ultimately required. Businesses must do the rest. They are not designed to do the things their boosters have pretended they are good for.  We went from curing cancer to handing scheduling to 'horny computer friend.'

Shop while you eat! (Ad, I get a commission). I am sure there are many fine Black Friday deals.

I would accept that more if news outlets published his more obviously batshit stuff without qualification or attempt to explain, along with the more plausible-sounding stuff.PALM BEACH, Florida, Nov 27 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday his administration may slash income tax completely over the next couple of years because of government revenue generated from tariffs. "Over the next couple of years, I think we'll substantially be cutting and maybe cutting out completely, but we'll be cutting income tax. Could be almost completely cutting it because the money we're taking in is going to be so large," Trump told U.S. military service members on a video call. This is batshit too, of course, but it's the kind of thing that sounds plausible if Reuters and others news outlets bless it.

Dentauralization is something Dems have to come out against. They'll start with someone unsympathetic, someone with a murder conviction, and they'll keep going. A poll will come out with majority supporting "removing citizenship from people guilty of the worst crimes." Dems will cower. David Shor will tell them it is a winning issue. The line needs to be drawn before that Yes there are Dems speaking out on these issues generally, but leadership is wedded to the "talk about health care and affordability and nothing else" strategy.

I won't post the latest rant from gramps, but the desire by Miller (and him) to engage in mass-denaturalization is, actually, Nazi shit.

Smell the Glove Friday! Holiday weekend posting might be less than normal, or not! We will see!

eat

It is hardly hidden that certain "journalists" have a bit more license to get away with certain things, but it isn't aways clear just why some are treated like "stars" and some aren't. Sure the person getting paid millions to sit behind the anchor desk is a "star" whether or not they deserve to be there, but there are some people who aren't really "stars" - like Lizza, like Nuzzi - who keep bouncing back from scandals. Neither is a household name. No one is clamoring for them. And yet...

Time for another blogger ethics panel.

 Happy Turkee Day! Nothing like an impossible-to-explain-you-had-to-be-there joke being your major life's legacy.

Don't forget to take the turkey out of the freezer.

Holiday weekend begins.

Not bringing his best, anymore.

The elite press chooses to notice things when the time is right (according to them). And when he is in public, occasionally, his battery shows signs of wear. During an Oval Office event that began around noon on Nov. 6, Mr. Trump sat behind his desk for about 20 minutes as executives standing around him talked about weight-loss drugs. At one point, Mr. Trump’s eyelids drooped until his eyes were almost closed, and he appeared to doze on and off for several seconds. At another point, he opened his eyes and looked toward a line of journalists watching him. He stood up only after a guest who was standing near him fainted and collapsed. Though even in this piece, it takes them awhile to get there, perhaps realizing he reads 3 paragraphs at most. With headline-grabbing posts on social media, combative interactions with reporters and speeches full of partisan red meat, Mr. Trump can project round-the-clock energy, virility and physical stamina. Now at the end of his eighth decade, Mr. Trump and the people around him still talk about him as if he is the Energizer Bunny of presidential politics. Sure.