By Lambert Strether.
Bird Song of the Day
Brown Thrasher, Guernsey–Fish Ponds and Platte River Trail, Platte, Wyoming, United States.
Patient readers, there are many developments on the DOGE front, more moonsuit-worthy than yellow wader-worthy, or better yet, something lead-lined, and I must post on that. So this is an open thread! Where are the lawsuits?
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Great picture from Maine!!
Thank you!
So calming. I can feel my shoulders relaxing!
Slightly tangential but definitely follows on from issues raised on here: to what extent are people experiencing significant “aggression” or “mistakes” by others in life in last few years (*cough*COVID*cough*)?
My elderly dad can’t afford to retire and still drives a lot. Thankfully he does high margin shoji work for people like a certain Ambassador to the Court of St James. The “how to mess with AI” post earlier was amusing to me because it turns out Google can’t downplay my Dad because practically nobody else in Europe is “in” with TPTB. HOWEVER, my dad is currently taking my advice on transferring a dashcam of the most dangerous driving he’s ever seen in 75 years into a format that might help the police. This is just the most recent example of a HUGE increase in “weirdness” – my dad now agrees with me that something has materially changed. Either people lost skills during COVID lockdowns, or there has been real neurological impairment due to repeated COVID infections.
Sooooo many people are being “gittish”. Is this due to atrophy of skills or real medical impairment? Just wondering, cause when doing my walk yesterday I almost got run over. This was a very very serious mistake by a driver and not one “out of the blue” – he seems to have “lost it” briefly and I wonder if I need to up my care level still further. (I never wear headphones when walking – I was mugged back in 2001 so spatial awareness is big issue). The former actuary in me is wondering about lawsuits incoming if the life tables have taken a sudden hit from left-field…….
Causation is going to be a problem there. It’s dangerous on the roads, seemingly more so than before. How about everybody and their brother buying a car with stimulus money. Not only does that add to increased congestion, but I’d wager that put more than a few people behind the wheel who might not belong there. In a separate bowl, mix Covid and particulate matter together with a pinch of PFAs and Glysophates, combine with above and bake in an aluminum tin. Sprinkle with freshly chopped micro plastics once it comes out of the oven.
The stimulus money thing is very true in USA but less so in UK. However, I am not discounting the general point you make: I have seen loads of people with “free cash” around here recently who have been menaces (via getting very expensive scooters etc).
As someone with longstanding depression and who although not clinically trained, knows how to read the literature via my PhD (and has enough mates to translate for me) I know full well there’s a bunch of “gut stuff” that could be affecting me (and thus others).
This is why I’m curious as to whether people who don’t have existing issues have felt “possibly COVID caused” issues….thanks for the input BTW.
Forgive me, if this seems to be forward, but the New York Times has rad repeated articles on depression since the covid pandemic took hold:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/12/well/long-covid-depression-symptoms-treatment.html
November 12, 2022
Covid Depression Is Real. Here’s What You Need to Know.
The risk of developing symptoms of depression remains high up to a year after you’ve recovered.
By Knvul Sheikh
Thanks. That’s not forward, it’s something else to help me.
I have tended to share (overshare?) and my latest evaluation suggests my long covid has exacerbated my depression. I’m just restarting the one antidepressant that ever worked – it’s colloquially known as the “mother of all antidepressants” in UK, Australia and Sweden. Unfortunately, despite being as old as me, it is produced in virtually all Euro countries, Asia-Pacific and other areas by ONE generic company who charge approx GBP200 per month for the “standard dose”. This is plain and simple price gouging since it costs cents to produce. Indeed (ironically) you can get it for 10% of this price from certain USA suppliers because there are a lot of US shrinks who have stubbornly refused to buy in to the SSRI/SNRI thing, leading to competition.
The UK, EU and Australasia want this drug gone because it has some awkward side effects which complicate cost-effectiveness calculations. These effects can be managed. But even a died-in-the-wool defender of the UK NHS and Aussie Medicare like me will call them out when they’re flat out wrong.
Doesn’t help that some people are even more invested in their vehicle as identity – and that identity is belligerent and entitled.
Doesn’t help that cars are hard to see out of and cameras give people the false sense they have more visibility.
In my local neighborhood, the poor side of it, the poor folk in old cars drive very well. They may also be worried about being stopped.
The DOT probably had some data but I suppose they are closed. (Had to use EDGAR earlier and had a timeout. Turns out Windows was asking for a restart before functioning but for a moment there it wasn’t unreasonable to wonder if the SEC was offline.
I wonder how many people without organic brain-cell damage have still been traumatized into a state of not-giving-a-fick, and show it on the roads and elsewhere.
I have never owned a car. The last time I even drove a car was in 1991. My reason for not having a car and not driving is stress-reduction. The state of rising hatred and Mad Maxness on the roads that I keep reading and hearing about makes me think I will never ever get a car and never ever drive if I can help it.
But I keep renewing my drivers license. I call it my don’t ask -don’t tell license. They don’t ask me if I still know how to drive, and I don’t tell them.
I’m actually quite similar. Here in UK you can get your licence at 17. I was oldest in my academic year and succeeded in getting my licence ASAP. Then…..I really didn’t care! I drove mum’s car when needed….but I never wanted my own car unlike my mates.
I NEVER owned a car until early 2010s when I was almost 40 and living abroad in Sydney and needed a car. Driving was frankly stressful to me, given the gittishness of everyone else.
I moved back to Europe in 2015 and have not owned a car since. Like you, I renew my licence. I’m pretty sure I can still drive safely. But I don’t want to put my long-covid-impaired brain under that strain. It is just an ID card.
That’s almost exactly when I last drove! I did have a car, but it was totalled when my landlord didn’t maintain the drains at the parking lot and it flooded. The insurance gave me a very good deal (more than the blue book value) which puzzled me. Years later I realised that the insurance adjustor and the garage must have conspired to rip off the insurance company. Like you, I kept renewing the license, but then Covid stopped me coming to NY, and renewing it by mail was too complicated.
the week i turned 16 was the same week covid quarantine started. so i was prevented from getting my license for an extra year. i was also prevented from getting a job for an extra year. but i also just didn’t want it. it is much more fun to bike everywhere. i try my hardest to bike/walk/public transit everywhere. the only reason i drive is when i am at my parents house and they need someone to drive my younger siblings (too young for a license) around. i’ve never owned a car nor do i ever want to own a car, but i am worried once i graduate college i will be forced to buy one. my older sister has been telling me about the horrors of car insurance – i so do not want that.
When I quit college I settled into the host town, and (mostly) comfortably managed my affairs from the saddle of my cannonade 900. I was working the restaurant scene so most of my meals were built in making food shopping easy. The hardest part was getting the cats to the vet.
Then I got a serious girl, and the car thing happened.
Nice to see a “younger” commentator here. Stick around the blog and you will be heads and shoulders above those in your generation. Critical thinking is paramount in this timeline. Good luck and hang in there.
Matt, I echo what Joe Renter said. It really is nice to see members of the younger generation commenting here. You will gain so many insights and so many critical thinking skills. My hope is that you can be a beacon for others in your generation. I would also be interested in general as to how many in your age cohort are coming to Naked Capitalism; I hope they speak up.
As Joe Renter said, good luck and hang in there!
I used to love driving. I always lived rural, no real highway driving, not many cars on the road. Getting killed on the road probably meant alcohol was involved. There were few other risks. Then I moved to the city, and having a car sucked, as did driving in and out of the city. Used the subway for all travel within the boroughs. Now I’m country again. But the driving’s no longer fun, lots of cars on the road, too much crazy as well. And my car is as t describes above.The perks and whistles are designed with somebody else in mind, all “comfort” and bloody computers, nothing in the performance department, and I can no longer effectively work on it. Go on YouTube and watch a tutorial on how to change the headlamp bulb in a Prius. (Our younger boy drives an ’08).
Well, this turned into a rant, sorry, I’ll quit here.
Beginning about half way into the pandemic, the one driving behavior I’ve seen a marked increase in is people treating stop lights as stop signs — they come to a complete stop at the light and then proceed while the light is still red, oblivious to any other vehicles present. I haven’t seen any accidents yet but I’ve seen several near misses.
Before the pandemic, I’d see this happen maybe once every few years. These days, it’s once every few weeks and I’m an infrequent, by U.S. standards, driver (I usually average about 2000 miles per year).
Tailgating. High-beams.
The modern headlights on many newer cars are outrageously unsafe IMO. When they are on one of those giant pickup trucks they are blinding, whether behind or ahead of you. If they are poorly aimed it’s even worse.
You should see the blatant not stopping at the intersections when red in Las Vegas. Unbelievable. Police generally do not chase those that do this driving “ Russian roulette “ there. A different level of craziness.
There seems to be selective law compliance, not sure why. Someone will tailgate you for miles because they want to go 15+ over the speed limit and you’re only going a couple over. And there’s the two solid yellow lines meaning “no passing”. Once they can legally pass they roar off by you. So they don’t mind breaking the tailgating law or the speeding law, just the solid no passing line law bothers them. Why?? If you don’t care about two laws why not flout the third?
I don’t think it’s a loss of skills or covid-related. I have a strong feeling it’s a huge increase in self-centeredness. Me me me, go go go, I’m the only one that matters. When I bust and yell at them for nearly hitting us because they are doing something illegal, they react guiltily. They know better. Like t said, belligerent and entitled. They are speeding up to run red lights, so they obviously know better. They run cold reds. They know better. This increase in self-centeredness is apparent not only in driving but in everything.
And they know there’ll be no consequences. They know they’ll get away with it. I think that’s a big, big contributing factor. The deterioration of character, ethics, morals, whatever you want to call it has been massive.
As far as being on the road, I’ve noticed ( besides speed limits apparently treated as a suggestion), little things like forgetting there’s a little thing on the left side of the the steering column called a turn signal, the lack of courtesy when traffic has to merge, situations like that.
>And they know there’ll be no consequences. They know they’ll get away with it. I think that’s a big, big contributing factor. The deterioration of character, ethics, morals, whatever you want to call it has been massive.
I could not agree more. Jeez, sounds like you’re describing a top down approach that society and its leaders have taken. Or set the example if I’m making any sense here. It’s only the little person that suffers, doesn’t get away with it, faces the consequences.
Big joke today is that Ukraine/Zelensky can’t account for about 100 billion in aid. One wag said check Biden’s accounts for about 30 billion of it, 10% for the big guy and all.
These are the little people. These cars are clunkers, new, old, expensive, middle-aged. It’s everyone pulling this cr-p.
I think it’s a lot of things. We are a distracted lot these days and with good reasons.
I wonder if the screens on the dashboards of newer cars might be a contributor. Touchscreen controls can’t be making things any safer. And streaming “content” to heighten your sense of being in a bubble world of your own that other people and their vehicles shouldn’t exist in.
Poor driving is notable on the freeways and interstates here. It’s common to see drivers making last minute decisions and quickly crossing multiple lanes to exit. Many follow much too closely at high speeds and act “gittish” (adding that to my vocabulary, thanks).
Covid IS causing brain-damage– judgement and self-restraint are factors affected (look at “executive function”).
I am blaming the rise of narcissism on the Viet Nam war: institutional trust broke big-time and the draft made it personal; and when combined with capitalism’s appetite, we’re here today.
Together it seems these two main factors have intersected.
Speaking of DOGE, Stephanie Kelton has an interesting post on the DOGE takeover of the US Treasury payment system:
“I’m not sure most Americans appreciate the gravity of the situation. (In fact, I suspect they don’t.) Here’s a useful thread from Nathan Tankus that drives at some of what’s at stake. In addition to privacy concerns—Musk’s team now has access to some of our most sensitive data, including our Social Security numbers, bank details, etc.—there is a real risk that a rogue group of infiltrators could gain operational control over the payment systems.”
https://stephaniekelton.substack.com/p/will-the-ratings-agencies-react-to
It already has. DOGE itself IS that rogue group of infiltrators.
And here is a more detailed account of the coup in progress:
https://www.crisesnotes.com/elon-musk-wants-to-get-operational-control-of-the-treasurys-payment-system-this-could-not-possibly-be-more-dangerous/
I have to admit that the word “coup” has become a trigger word for me and I may have become overly sensitive to seemingly hyperbolic statements in the last eight years, so please bear with me.
From the crisisnotes page referencing a WSJ article (which is paywalled and I can’t access to confirm the accuracy or completeness):
and a Politico article that I can access:
I have never worked directly with payment systems in the past, but when I had my data analyst hat on in my previous job, I was given read-only access to high security, protected enterprise data to sift through millions of records for the purpose of answering specific questions presented to me by those running the show.
Looking at this issue through that lens, and if what is being reported by both publications is accurate, it seems much more likely to me that the reason for giving these people read-only access to this system is to give them the opportunity to go on the mother-of-all-fishing-expeditions to dig up as much dirt as possible for the purpose of revenge while preventing anyone with write access from doing damage control rather than staging a coup.
Can you (or anyone) help me understand how this is, in fact, a coup?
If you can’t work out how giving someone OUTSIDE ALL SYSTEMS OF ACCOUNTABILITY access to shit tons of personal information is a horrifically bad idea, I can’t help you. The Stasi would be green with envy with what Musk has pulled off.
The growing list of extra-constitutional actions is whispering ‘coup” to me.
DOGE is an advanced persistent threat?
How can we be sure that Musk isn’t inserting a bit of software to siphon off 0.00001 cents off of every transaction, like the movie “Office Space?”
(That might reduce the national debt over time, if it worked in reverse.)
I recall reading of an alleged real-life incident of this which happened several decades ago, but apparently it’s more convoluted than that:
https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/14925/has-a-programmer-ever-embezzled-money-by-shaving-fractions-of-a-cent-from-many-b
If he gets away with siphoning off 0.00001 cents off of every transaction, why would he stop at that amount? And why wouldn’t he try other siphon-offs?
I think he is thinking bigger than that. DOGE is an immediate code-red threat right now.
I remember seeing that part of how DOGE has power is that Trump cleverly renamed an existing office to DOGE, but I can’t remember the original name of said office. Also, were those kids formally hired?
Far as I understand, DOGE doesn’t have a formal existence. The employees work for Musk, and he presumably pays them.
This in all probability breaks a number of laws, but as long as the security guards keep escorting civil servants who doesn’t obey of the premises, they can keep going. Courts are slow, the coup is fast.
I thought it was USDS. Given how long it usually took to get hired by USDS, I don’t think these new staff members went through the regular process.
The kids (and they are kids) doing the DOGE dirty work have been outed –
https://bsky.app/profile/britculpsapp.bsky.social/post/3lhcucgjfnk23
Their names & addresses have also been doxed but the post above only shows their photos.
https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/5117075-long-covid-chronic-disease/
When infection disease becomes chronic: Lessons from COVID and beyond
by Janet Golden, opinion contributor – 02/02/25 11:00 AM ET
Trump’s Shock and Awe campaign is working like a charm. Democratic running dogs are yelping everywhere, whelping nothing but more calls for better bromides, since they can’t change their policies. Money outvotes voters.
I admit I was looking forward to Trump’s chaos replacing Biden’s bumble-fest, but just a little is already too much. Will he hasten the empire’s decline, or just make it more obvious?
When the thumb-suckers talked about the Thucydides trap, I thought they saw the wrong one. What Thucydides described was an honored victor becoming a selfish imperial tyrant within decades, and losing everything within 50 years. USA’s so great it took us a little longer, but there’s no turning back. It’s not like the Democrats could change their policies . . .
If Trump runs the car with 330 million passengers into the ditch, under Hollywood rules every vehicle has to explode after leaving the roadbed, does he get a pass?
Well . . . I personally was NOT looking forward to Trump’s chaos replacing Biden’s bumble-fest. I knew that just a little would become already too much within a short time. ( I am impressed with how short a time its been. I admit I did not see the Musk Internal Self-Coup).
I did not want the chaos. That is why I voted for Harris.
I saw a couple stats about last. Not sure if legit. So ICE is supposedly everywhere deporting people. Last week, trump administration deported 7,000 people. Normal week during Biden administration was 15,000. But border patrol encounters with illegal crossers along southern border were down 94% last week. Like I said, I have no idea if these are legit. If those are remotely, true that is quite the turn around.
I heard those deportation figures too on PMC radio, 7K per week for Trump vs 15K for Biden like Trump is a failure.
If that Biden figure is true why the clusterbravo wasn’t that 15 k figure being blared all over the place by the Harris campaign, arguing “We’re doing something about it!”
…I voted…
Isn’t that the problem? I mean, you’re helping to give a veneer of legitimacy to a pay-as-you-go system of power, supporting a facade of fakery pretending to be actual democracy, and swearing truth by the lies by your action of voting.
I get that here and there some democracy exists in USA on the local level– small-town mayor or a dogcatcher. By and large, ballot-casters are supporters of genocide, murder, and pretty much every other crime or sin known to mankind… I really hope that you are joking or left out the s/-tag.
I’m with you. I think voting should be compulsory but there should always be a “none of the above” option.
We need to distinguish people who are quiet because they’re satisfied from those who are quiet because they feel disenfranchised/left out. If we quantified the latter, I suspect change would be forced much sooner.
Where are the lawsuits?
Lawfare is the prerogative of the monied class who appear to be on board.
It would surprise me if agencies under the Executive remit had the resources or capacity to file suits against the Executive where whatever funds they used to permission their efforts would have to contend with the funding capability of Musks’ quickly broken Treasury. Or are you imagining there are other plaintiffs who might have standing?
“Lawsuits” move too slowly to address this fulminant necrotizing fasciitis.
Here is a link about a Senator who is doing a little something, anyway. He is called a “Democrat” but since the “Democrats” believe in nothing beyond upper class privilege, he is better viewed as a solo political entrepreneur who is doing this all on his own. Here is the link.
https://www.reddit.com/r/WhitePeopleTwitter/comments/1igu7qw/yes_democrats_are_finally_fighting_fire_with_fire/
Various other individual political entrepreneur Senators could do versions of this.
Here is a link to a posting implying just how few Muskites there really are, meaning how few people would need to be rounded up and or terminated with extreme prejudice to slow the internal coup down. But given this few people involved, I wonder what kind of “inside help” already predeployed with government that the Muskites could count on to be brought into all the engine rooms and command centers so quickly.
Anyway, here is the link.
https://www.reddit.com/r/clevercomebacks/comments/1igtx63/you_have_committed_a_crime/#lightbox
If those names are known to some, they could be made known to others. What if they were made known to the readers of Naked Capitalism?
What if those people could be thoroughly doxed and dos-attacked in every single aspect of their private lives by Anonymous and by other action mob-swarms inspired by all the advice available at Global Guerillas?
What if Dr. Luigi would make some house calls? Some White House calls?
I don’t think Dr. Luigi would live long enough to get close to the White House, or to Musk’s underground lair.
It would take a well trained well armed body-armored 2.0 Wide Awake Miliitia of many thousands to hit hard on the first day. Either that, or some super well-trained Special Operators.
And who would order them in there?
The guys at Due Dissidence are saying the a general strike of 10 million workers will be necessary to start a reset or to bring the plutocracy down to its knees. Not sure if that is going to happen. What a fricking weird timeline.
There is a general strike being called by the head of the UAW, but it’s not til 2029…
Within weeks of this commentary, President Obama had decided it was necessary to undermine Chinese space exploration and development, and signed the Wolf Amendment:
https://schott.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/the-thucydides-trap/
January 31, 2011
The Thucydides Trap
By Ben Schott
The theory that American anxiety about China’s increasing power might evolve into animosity and aggression.
(After Thucydides’s account of the causes of the Peloponnesian war.)
“For a superpower, dealing with the fast rise of a rich, brash competitor has always been an iffy thing,” The New York Times’s David E. Sanger wrote, * adding, “Just ask the British”:
Or ask Thucydides, the Athenian historian whose tome on the Peloponnesian War has ruined many a college freshman’s weekend. The line they had to remember for the test was his conclusion: “What made war inevitable was the growth of Athenian power and the fear which this caused in Sparta.”
So while no official would dare say so publicly as President Hu Jintao bounced from the White House to meetings with business leaders to factories in Chicago last week, his visit, from both sides’ points of view, was all about managing China’s rise and defusing the fears that it triggers. Both Mr. Hu and President Obama seemed desperate to avoid what Graham Allison of Harvard University has labeled “the Thucydides Trap” – that deadly combination of calculation and emotion that, over the years, can turn healthy rivalry into antagonism or worse.
* https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/weekinreview/23sanger.html
What is fascinating and distressing, is that prominent economist Dean Baker, who could write evenly or impartially about Chinese-American economic relations, has now started to demean China in every analysis.
Yes, it’s curious that the huffiest wokists have nothing against racist propaganda (is there any other kind?). They may be woke but they’re still Democrats, I guess. The ways we belittle Russia, China and North Korea would be utterly unacceptable against transsexuals, let alone women. (I’m guessing we can say ‘women’ again?)
And thanks for sharing the traditional definition of Thucydides’ trap. We got a twofer!
‘What made war inevitable was the growth of Chinese power and the fear which this caused in the US.’
Yeah, that works still. Trump and his ilk would not take that as a warning but as something that is inevitable. Actually this is not just Trump but has been US policy going back to the Obama years when it was finally recognized that not only was China going to surpass the US economically but that there would be no billionaire’s coup in China to take control of that country and sell it out. So we see the aborted Trans-Pacific Partnership aka the everybody but China Partnership, the Quad, the hundreds of new bases surrounding China, the attacks on Belt’s and Road infrastructure & people, etc. Trump is just a bit more open about the whole thing. But China does not actually threaten America. What China does threaten by their rise is the clout and dominance of American corporations so maybe this is kinda China vs Wall Street.
One night in Swamp-town
(Sung to the tune of, “One night in Bangkok” by Murray Head)
Melody
DC, Imperial City
But the city don’t know what the city is getting
The creme de la creme of the Tech world
In a show with everything, but due process
Time flies, doesn’t seem a minute
Since the Genocidal Ranch had executive privilege
All’s changed, don’t you know that when you
Play at this level there’s no chance of proper venue
It’s Greenland, or Panama, or South Africa
Or, the 51st state
CHORUS
One night in DC and the world’s Elon’s Oyster
The Feds are locked-out but the bloodletting ain’t free
You’ll find a RIF in every golden cloister
And no more pronouns like they/them/her/she
I can feel a summons sliding up to me
One clowns very like another when your heads down shuttin’ down servers, brother
(It’s a drag, it’s a bore, it’s really such a pity
To be lookin’ at job boards, not workin’ on Mars city)
WHATTYA MEAN?
You’ve seen one crowded, polluted, stinking agency …
(Tea, girls, warm and sweet, some are set up in the Muskian love suite)
Get Musk’ed, your sellin’ mugs to tourists
Whose every move’s among the purest
Elon gets his kicks above the waste-lined, no sunshine laws needed
One night in DC makes a hard man humble
Not much between despair and ecstasy
One night in swamp town and the tough guys tumble
Can’t be too careful with your company
I can hear the laughter from Putin and Xi
Georgetown’s gonna be a witness to the ultimate test of late-career fitness
This grips me more than would a muddy Potomac river
Or a declining empire …
Thank God I’m only watching the game, not controlling it
I don’t see Lindsey raging
Ukraine’s checkmate he’s contemplating …
On his watch, he would invite you
But the queens he likes would not excite you …
So, you better go back to your bars, your temples, your massage parlors
One night in DC and the world’s Elon’s Oyster
The Feds are locked-out but the bloodletting ain’t free
You’ll find a RIF in every golden cloister
And no more pronouns like they/them/her/she
I can feel a summons sliding up to me
One night in DC makes a donkey humble
Not much between despair and ecstasy
One night in swamp-town and the tough guys tumble
Can’t be too careful with your company
I can hear the laughter from Putin and Xi
DC, imperial *setting
And a suggestion: Maugham was, IIRC, an out and proud bisexual for his time. So, maybe some are set up in the Sammy Banks-Friedman suite, or the NXIVM suite.
All in all, I think Murray Head would have been proud. Kudos.
I struggled with that line; I do like your suggestion on the SBF suite.
Sam’s family is mongering for a pardon, I hear.
Nice, but then again I have always enjoyed chess, both the game and the musical.
I’ve been waiting for an open thread to share this thought.
Snce Trump’s inauguration I’ve been seeing reports about all the money going to NGOs that appear to have been serving as obvious cutouts for the Democrats. In fact it’s looking like NGOs were the “action wing” of the Democrat party. No need for volunteers when Uncle Sugar will hire a friend’s org to overpay their friends to try to do whatever needs be done but in accordance with elaborate human resource rules about who should receive preference in hiring, how many color/gender people need to be promoted to even out management, etc. DEI was more about pushing action, no affirmation needed.
I did a lot of research into South African Apartheid when I was an older student in the ’80s. People who didn’t follow that struggle closely often don’t realize that one of the major reasons why Botha couldn’t end South Africa’s system of Apartheid was that it was a massive jobs program for over half a million whites. There’s no definitive breakdown of how many of South Africa’s one million government employees were involved in Apartheid enforcement but it was significant.
There were 33 million South Africans back then, less than five million were white. At the very least, ten percent of white South Africans were involved in the enforcement of Apartheid for a living. That’s a lot of economic disincentivisation slowing reform.
I would like to see us get rid of NGOs or at least subject them to stringent regulations and limits on pay. ?
Luckily, the GOP is working on reversing Biden lead restrictions, in case DOGE tries to use kryptonite against us. Maybe that’s what you’re referring to. These people are cartoon villains.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/03/republicans-lead-exposure-rules
For those interested in digging in to the USAID portfolio this .gov dash board is still operational
https://foreignassistance.gov/
And you can filter by funding agency, county, region, and more. Part of a transparency initiative so we will see how long it lasts.
This document leans into some of the dei/color tactics of USAID and is worth skimming. May not be as positive a take as the author assumes. The tools and links in the appendix’s are already mostly off line so history in the un-making
https://sites.tufts.edu/bennaimarkrowse/2025/02/03/nonviolent-collective-action-in-democratic-development-a-usaid-primer/
Elon wears his war chest investment like a crown
He calls his pet project DOGE
‘Cause he likes the name
And he searches Federal files in Humordor town
Elon, Elon likes his money trails
He finds a lot, they say
Spends his days counting
In a garage by the Capital Beltway
He was born down under in South Africa
When the New York Times said, “Thank God
He wasn’t born here and can’t run”
Oh, Donald Trump’s son is 18 today
And he shall be Elon
And he shall be a good proxy President man
And he shall be Elon
In tradition with the Trump family plan
And he shall be Elon
And he shall be a good proxy President man
He shall be Elon
Elon sells rockets in DC town
His family business thrives
Jesus! one blows up on any given day
Sits on the porch swing watching them fly
And aside from making cars, he wants to go to Mars
Leave the Earth far behind
Take a rocket and go sailing
While Elon, Elon slowly dies
And he shall be Elon
And he shall be a good proxy President man
And he shall be Elon
In tradition with the Trump family plan (whoo!}
And he shall be Elon
And he shall be a good proxy President man
He shall be Elon
Levon performed by Elton John
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEgEmTgAEUk
Go easy on our boy … he’s just another immigrant doing the job Americans won’t do.
While all this going on the FOX DOGE Clock has millions of MAGA idiots cheering Trump and Musk for fixing the debt and fighting waste.
” Where are the lawsuits?”
They are hanging up in the spare closet in the basement room where the Dry Powder is stored.
+100. Good to see someone remembers Daily Kos (not an endorsement).
Team D is lost. Don’t know how to rule.
The donor class refuses to give them instructions.
Thank you, Lambert. Once again, you take a hit for the team to muck through beacoup toxic shit and tell us how (and how badly) we are being screwed. We are so going to miss that in the near future.
Mini-Zeitgeist Report for Late January.
As mentioned above, the quality of the driving encountered on the streets has diminished over the last two or three years. Running red lights and left turns against the red light have been observed by your humble correspondent of late. Seen several times recently have been examples of “sloppy” driving by 18-wheeler steersmen. The main offense seen recently is the tractor vehicle not swinging out far enough when making turns. I have seen the rear wheels of reefer trailers bump over avoidable ‘neutral ground’ corners a lot more than in years gone by. That is something one remembers, if only for the entertainment value.
Walking into the local “Upscale Grocery Store,” as in they were the local food shop until someone in the upper echelons of this small family owned chain decided to emulate the Whole Food Store methodology, I was behind a “mixed” couple who were wearing their sleep wear to go shopping. Both had on fleecy drawstring pants and ‘fashion’ tee shirts. As he approached the door to the store, the male started shaking his right leg. Lo and behold, what looked like a Taurus 9mm pistol fell out of his pants leg. He leans over and snags the item and stuffs it in his pants pocket. By then I was laughing out loud at the scene. He looks over at me, and thinks for a second, and then shrugs. His female companion, just in front of him never noticed a thing. (She wore fluffy slippers that looked like tiny tigers on her feet.) What struck me was that the ‘event’ was dealt with like it was no big deal. People are normalizing concealed carry, with and without license.
What is worrying about the above is that the gun carrier displayed no “respect” for the firearm. That’s how accidents happen.
Stay safe. Use a proper holster.
He won’t be shrugging after he shoots his dangly bits off. Here’s hoping. smh.
Out on the firing range that would be called a ….
On second thought, I find my more sensitive nature asserting itself. It feels unseemly to offer up to a lady a linguistic ‘rough usage’ play on words based on a common term for the projectile striking the centre of the roundel.
No matter how you term it, it does seem that we have a contender for the Darwin Awards, Glock Division.
Be ye of good cheer.
In my town I think the terrible driving is because of a turning away from traffic enforcement by the local cops. The BLM protests made traffic stops controversial or at least made it so in a town that is half African American.
So drivers run through stop signs and speed because nobody is stopping them and because everybody else is doing it. It’s an experiment in mass psychology.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-02-03/rick-caruso-rebuild-foundation/
“Rick Caruso, the developer and longtime civic leader, launched a new foundation on Monday to hasten the rebuilding from wildfires in Los Angeles and Altadena by convening top engineering and technology companies and pushing for a quick recovery that aims to prevent future calamities.
The foundation, Steadfast LA, already has a roster of industry-leading names who have signed on: Andy Cohen, co-chair of architecture and design powerhouse Gensler; Carey Smith, president and chief executive of infrastructure engineering giant Parsons; Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos and his wife, former Ambassador Nicole Avant; Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale; and executives from banking, insurance, real estate and private equity….”
Lots to unpack there, but especially what does Palantir suddenly have to do with “rebuilding LA”?
“Among the ways the foundation could help, he said, is by expediting how cities issue residential building permits. His team is exploring how artificial intelligence could be integrated with existing municipal codes to review construction plans and quickly flag code violations, citing a pilot program in Austin, Texas.”
No word on how that’s working out for Austin.
No one else seems to know either. Austin seems to be “On the Spectrum.”
Maybe Palantir sees it as a money pot and they want to get their grubby mitts into it.
Maybe Palantir wants to build demonstration New Model AI Panopticon Neighborhoods to learn how to perfect them.
Citizens United ruling has come to its full manifestation: Elon spent over $200m to buy a presidency so he could oligarch around.
Wrote a paper about that ruling when it came down, and all the horrid implications it would mean once a rich person figured out they could buy an election…
Well. . . Biden and Harris and DemParty helped by blowing and throwing the election too.
The way Musk tells it the Biden admin lawfare moves against him were threatening to do away with his considerable business and so the formerly politically uninvolved business mogul hooked up with Turmp as self preservation. And truth to tell it wouldn’t be that far fetched that Biden or his successor would do a Nordstream of Musk for daring to be off the reservation and buying the Dem important Twitter. The complainers are ignoring just how radical Biden was in his use of executive orders and zeal to expand Federal power.
If people now want to eliminate executive power as wielded by both parties–especially the warmaking powers–then that’s a good thing. They are a little late though.
I look forward to Lambert’s analysis of this DOGE situation (and, yes, he will certainly be missed). I’m having a very difficult time with this one. Depending on the source I read, either Elon and his cronies are staging a “coup” by accessing sensitive government information for unstated nefarious intentions or are striking critical blows against the DC swamp. I think both sides are engaging in emotionally manipulative reporting.
The pearl clutching over DOGE’s access to SSNs sets off alarm bells. Anyone paying attention should know that most people’s SSNs have already been leaked by numerous massive data breaches these last few years so what’s the problem with a few more eyes who hopefully are after bigger fish than running identity theft scams against John Q Public. On the other side, is it really so easy to drain the swamp by simply shutting down a few systems… seems like these pesky swamp creatures will just find a new rock to hide under. I do see that the swamp creatures are squealing so maybe it’s not all bad?
There are some interesting “truths” coming out – there’s a tweet from Bill Kristol saying “The deep state is far preferable to the Trump state”. A few years ago, there was no “deep state”. Hmm…
Interesting times…
About driving, I think much of the worsening behavior is because the media has been so successful at making everyone irate. Irate drivers make poor choices. I’m glad I work from home so I can typically venture out when the roads are less crowded.
‘Trump says Israel is too small, needs to be increased in size’
https://www.bitchute.com/video/fMAFRcj8nQxc (31 secs)
So I guess that he will let Israel take southern Lebanon, parts of Syria and recognizing the West bank as part of Israel – for a start. Trouble, here we come.
I remember offering warnings that Trump would be worse for Palestine than Harris would have been.
Was I wrong?
By what metric would there be any meaningful difference in misery?
By formally approving and supporting Israel’s formal anexation of the whole West Bank. By supporting Israel if Israel decides to Gazafy the West Bank. By supporting Israeli anexation of parts of South Lebanon and Israel-adjacent Syria.
At some point ‘whataboutism’ is just a form of cope and denial.
Events will prove me right or wrong on this particular prediction and metric.
Who is denying what? As for Kamala being better, one side stands passively while tens of thousands are murdered and the other wants to turn Gaza into a Trump resort. In this good cop/bad cop routine who is the good cop? Both are bad as are the “progressives except for Palestine” who prate about the two state solution while doing nothing in reality.
We’ll see what Trump has in mind. Our N. American neighbors are humoring him but his bullyboy routine may be about to run up onto the shoals.
And let’s be clear it’s Amerca’s bully boy routine. He’s just that other wing of the bird. Those who think Trump is the problem are kidding themselves.
Events will prove me right or wrong on this particular prediction and metric.
Come on, this is no hill to die on. What alternate events will you have them to compare against? I love gazing into the crystal ball I knicked off Marianne Williamson, but it has its limits.
It’s a world of slaughter
A world of tears
It’s a world of dashed hopes
And a world of fears
There’s so much that we’d rather not share
That it’s time we’re aware
It’s a small country after all
It’s a small country after all
It’s a small country after all
It’s a small country after all
It’s a small, small country
There is just one chosen people who loom
They need more living room
And a bulldozer means
Foreclosure to ev’ryone
Though the dogma divide
And to think we could live by the tide
Instead of side by side
It’s a small country after all
It’s a small country after all
It’s a small country after all
It’s a small country after all
It’s a small, small country
https://x.com/micah_erfan/status/1886515403649688003?s=46
So there really is a soft coup and where are Democrats lol
From Charles P. Pierce, Esquire Magazine, Jan 31 2025.
The first thought that popped into my mind was, “These guys were booted at least two years ago. Certainly almost all of them have found jobs by now. Are they going to be charged with AWOL or desertion if they don’t report for duty?”
A panel on immigration rights
Immigrant Solidarity in 2025 – with Zafiro Patiño, Aviva Chomsky, & Peter Bohmer
73 min.
https://znetwork.org/zvideo/immigrant-solidarity-in-2025-with-zafiro-patino-aviva-chomsky-peter-bohmer/
p.s. insignificant, but Avi really looks like her Dad!
Lambert – your medical information has been so helpful over the years. Are there any newsgroups or other feeds you might recommend to readers, that highlight new studies or reviews?