Friday, November 07, 2025
Thursday, November 06, 2025
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.Predictions are hard, especially about the future, but with all the various self-inflicted wounds, it's hard not to see a recession arriving...
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.
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
— Editing the Blue-Gray Lady (@nytdiff.bsky.social) November 6, 2025 at 1:40 PM
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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:
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.
Sir Humphrey: The only way to understand the Press is to remember that they pander to their readers' prejudices.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:
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 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.
Confidence Building
Good luck flying.
WASHINGTON/CHICAGO, Nov 5 (Reuters) - U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Wednesday that he would order a 10% cut in flights at 40 major U.S. airports, citing air traffic control safety concerns as a government shutdown hit a record 36th day.Maybe I just don't watch much (hardly any) cable news anymore, but am I wrong that the shutdown generally doesn't seem to be getting the same kind of coverage previous ones did? I'm exaggerating a bit here, but my memory is that it was scary graphic SHUTDOWN DAY 3 [ominous music] in the past, and now it's just... eh, this is normal now.
Sure Why Not
A pre-bailout is easier to sell than a bailout.
OpenAI Wants Federal Backstop for New InvestmentsGotta, um, beat China. Send it over to our favorite bribed senators and see what they can do. This looks like a job for Gillibrand!
Sarah Friar, the CFO of OpenAI, says the company wants a federal guarantee to make it easier to finance massive investments in AI chips for data centers. Friar spoke at WSJ’s Tech Live event in California. Photo: Nikki Ritcher for WSJ
Coordinated messaging push. "Give us all the money or the Chicoms win."A statement from NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang. pic.twitter.com/Exwx54OYJV
— NVIDIA Newsroom (@nvidianewsroom) November 5, 2025
Wednesday, November 05, 2025
Source: I Made It Up
Dems listened to Shor after the election, and he had no data to back up assertions like this.
This kind of thing had Chris Murphy saying things like, "We must gift some of our women to the incels." (exaggeration).@NBCNews exit polling on young men (18-29) in VA, NJ and NYC
— Allan Smith (@akarl_smith) November 5, 2025
VA: Spanberger +14
NJ: Sherrill: +10
NYC: Mamdani +40
The Dem "data gurus" have just been lying to them for years, either making things up wholesale, like this, or doing bullshit interpretations of issue polls. It's a combination of getting paid to tell leadership what they want to hear, and getting paid to tell them what donors want them to hear.
I don't want to get into the details, but part of Shor's origin story was that he was fired from a Group (CANCELLED INTO MAKING MILLIONS) for not being woke enough. He's also one of those "I'm really left wing deep in my heart, HOWEVER..." guys.
Brad Lander For Whatever Office He Wants
Our message to Andrew Cuomo was loud & clear in June.
— Brad Lander (@bradlander) November 5, 2025
It’s louder & clearer tonight. pic.twitter.com/9BIjlDD6ar
QOTD (Yesterday)
Mamdani: I wish Andrew Cuomo only the best in private life, but let tonight be the last time I utter his name.
Cruelty
On many "culture war" issues (a bad term, those are often the most important issues), there are a set of self-identified moderate voters who yearn for the compromises that those nice people on NPR tell them are desirable and workable. Abortion, immigration, race-related issues, trans rights, ... just go down the list.
Those people aren't cruel, mostly, but they don't understand that the compromises themselves are cruel. They definitely don't understand, because our Advanced Politics Knowers don't either, that "compromises" are just the start of the next phase of "negotiation."
"Abortion shouldn't be legal in all cases" sounds sensible to them. "Your doctor can't treat your ectopic pregnancy" does not. These are, often, the same picture.
"We have legitimate concerns about participation in girl's and women's sports" sounds sensible. "The school board is going to inspect your kid's genitals" does not. These are, often, the same picture.
The Sensible Centrist view is that we should embrace the sensible compromises and put the issue behind us forever, something that never works. The compromises themselves are often cruel and unworkable, no matter how they are sold, and they are, of course, just the first step. Once you've acknowledged your opponents have a point...
It isn't hard to stand on stage and explain why these things are cruel and unworkable instead of conceding the point to your opponents. The totebagger set often doesn't like the cruelty of the policies they support. They just need someone to explain this to them.
I don't think this is a "last war" issue. I think it's that people started to see the cruelty.
"Abortion shouldn't be legal in all cases" sounds sensible to them. "Your doctor can't treat your ectopic pregnancy" does not. These are, often, the same picture.
"We have legitimate concerns about participation in girl's and women's sports" sounds sensible. "The school board is going to inspect your kid's genitals" does not. These are, often, the same picture.
The Sensible Centrist view is that we should embrace the sensible compromises and put the issue behind us forever, something that never works. The compromises themselves are often cruel and unworkable, no matter how they are sold, and they are, of course, just the first step. Once you've acknowledged your opponents have a point...
It isn't hard to stand on stage and explain why these things are cruel and unworkable instead of conceding the point to your opponents. The totebagger set often doesn't like the cruelty of the policies they support. They just need someone to explain this to them.
I don't think this is a "last war" issue. I think it's that people started to see the cruelty.
Republicans re-up trans attacks on Dems that worked for Trump in 2024 But the tactic seems less effective this time around: “They’re falling into the fundamental mistake of trying to refight the last war,” a Democratic strategist asserts.
Also, too, immigration.
Lots of Wins
Mamdani likely to exceed 50%, destroying those talking points from the Center (he didn't even win a majority!) and the Right (Silwa was a spoiler!).
Spanberger wins in VA, as expected, Sherrill wins in NJ, which was also expected but there was some close (wrong) polling.
A lot of Republicans lost in the VA House of delegates.
The Dem won the VA attorney general spot, despite his big "scandal."
The Dems on the PA Supreme Court all keep their jobs.
CA redistricting wins.
Good news across the board, anywhere it would have been possible, really.
Spanberger wins in VA, as expected, Sherrill wins in NJ, which was also expected but there was some close (wrong) polling.
A lot of Republicans lost in the VA House of delegates.
The Dem won the VA attorney general spot, despite his big "scandal."
The Dems on the PA Supreme Court all keep their jobs.
CA redistricting wins.
Good news across the board, anywhere it would have been possible, really.
Tuesday, November 04, 2025
Much Seth Moulton News
A completely untrustworthy guy, but useful in seeing which way the wind is blowing.
National Democrats have been grappling with how to talk about issues facing trans people since, by their own admission, they were caught flat-footed by Republicans’ focus on anti-trans messaging in 2024. Moulton became the poster boy for Democrats who were looking to distance themselves from trans rights when he told The New York Times shortly after the election that he doesn’t want his daughters “getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat I’m supposed to be afraid to say that.”and
...
Markey has positioned himself as a top trans rights ally in the Senate. He has led legislation, such as the LGBTQ+ Panic Defense Prohibition Act and the Gender-Affirming Care Act and has called to increase access to gender-affirming hormone therapy. Last Congress, in response to hundreds of anti-trans state bills introduced across the country, Markey was the Senate lead for the Transgender Bill of Rights, which seeks to “protect and codify the rights of transgender and nonbinary people under the law.”
In response to a list of questions from NOTUS, Moulton committed to “support and lead legislation like the Transgender Bill of Rights” if elected as senator.
“I understand that some people were hurt by how I framed my comments in the past, and I take that seriously and have listened to their feedback,” he said.
Before making public denunciations and rejections of AIPAC an early pillar of his Senate campaign against Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) spent months seeking a promise that the group would endorse him upon the announcement of his Senate campaign, a source familiar with the situation told Jewish Insider.
The source said that Moulton — who has been endorsed by AIPAC in previous races — began courting AIPAC leaders in Massachusetts in the spring this year and then made multiple explicit requests for an endorsement throughout the summer.
AIPAC leaders were ultimately unwilling to provide such a guarantee before the race began, the individual said.
On the second day of his nascent primary campaign, Moulton released an announcement rejecting AIPAC and saying that he would return any donations he had received from its members.
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