Call it revenge of the nerds. Or social engineering. Whatever you call it, we're in the middle of tech support coup, and no one (so far) seems willing or able to stop it. It doesn't help that the president and his party are handing out passwords like candy. "Ever since the pandemic, the MAGA movement has decried the tyranny of a cabal of self-certain experts, who wield their technical knowledge unaccountably. But even as the right purports to loathe technocracy, it has empowered an engineer to radically remake the American state in the name of efficiency." The Atlantic (Gift Article): The Dictatorship Of The Engineer. (Maybe it's time to try unplugging America for thirty seconds and then plugging it back in...)
+ "Sometimes a constitutional crisis sneaks up on you, shrouded in darkness, revealing itself gradually. Other times it announces itself dramatically. Elon Musk, to whom Donald Trump has delegated the task of neutering the congressional spending authority laid out in Article I of the Constitution, could hardly be more obvious about his intentions if he rode into Washington on a horse trailed by Roman legions." The Atlantic (Gift Article): The Constitutional Crisis Is Here. "In theory, Congress ought to revolt against the prospect of Musk deciding which federal programs should live and which should die. In reality, its Republican members largely share Trump’s goals—and to the extent that they don’t, they correctly fear that opposing him would invite a primary challenge." (The latest example: Republicans block Musk from congressional subpoena as DOGE continues to access government data.)
+ "A couple dozen young men go from government office to government office, dressed in civilian clothes and armed only with zip drives. Using technical jargon and vague references to orders from on high, they gain access to the basic computer systems of the federal government. Having done so, they proceed to grant their Supreme Leader access to information and the power to start and stop all government payments. That coup is, in fact, happening. And if we do not recognize it for what it is, it could succeed." Timothy Snyder: Of course it’s a coup.
2
Homewrecker
The house always wins. It's an adage in gambling. But it's also been a core part of the American economy. "Homeownership is the bedrock of America’s economy. Residential real estate in the United States is worth nearly $50 trillion — nearly double the size of the entire gross domestic product. Almost two-thirds of American adults are homeowners, and the median house here has appreciated more than 58 percent over the past two decades, even after accounting for inflation." But while the value of our homes increased unhindered, so did climate change. And with that increased risk (and the costlier and costlier disasters from hurricanes to fires) comes increased insurance costs—where insurance companies will still write policies. And those increasing insurance costs could lead drive home prices down over time. "Many Americans could face a paradigm shift in the way they save and how they define their economic security. Climate change is upending the basic assumption that Americans can continue to build wealth and financial security by owning their own home. In a sense, it is upending the American dream." From NYT and ProPublica (Gift Article): That Giant Sucking Sound? It’s Climate Change Devouring Your Home’s Value.
3
Unreal Estate
"He proposed not only that the roughly 2 million Palestinians in Gaza leave their homeland—because, he said, it’s “a hellhole” and always will be—but that the United States take it over, 'own it' (he dropped that phrase a few times), and develop it into 'the Riviera of the Middle East.'" Fred Kaplan: This Trump Plan for Gaza Is One of the Craziest Things I’ve Ever Heard. (We're only 16 days into Trump 2.0. Just wait...)
+ "To Benjamin Netanyahu’s delight, Trump proposes the wholesale ethnic cleansing of Gaza and the creation of a new 'Riviera.'"David Remnick in The New Yorker: The Madness of Donald Trump. "Miller cautioned that, although Trump may back away from his proposal of ethnic cleansing and Riviera creation, such a performance sends a particularly dangerous message: “It is a nod to Putin that he can keep the territory he’s taken in Ukraine, and to Xi, who might now have more confidence about establishing a blockade of Taiwan in preparation for an invasion. It all reflects the mind-set of an unserious man."
+ Yair Rosenberg in The Atlantic (Gift Article): Nobody Wants Gaz-a-Lago. "Trump’s Gaz-a-Lago plan has just one minor defect: It is a nonstarter with pretty much all of the parties required to make it work ... But as flawed as Trump’s proposed solution is, it does identify a real problem. The U.S., Arab states, the European Union, the United Nations, and countless human-rights organizations all claim to care about Gaza. In the decades since Israel withdrew its troops and settlements from the territory, however, the international community has participated in a perverse cycle: It shovels money and aid into Gaza; watches that money get appropriated by Hamas to bankroll its messianic war against Israel’s existence; relegates the military response to Hamas to ever more hawkish Israeli governments, elected by voters pushed to the right by rocket attacks; rebuilds Gaza with more soon-to-be-compromised aid after yet another ruinous conflict between Israel and Hamas; then proclaims itself shocked and appalled when the cycle repeats."
+ It's important to note that even the craziest comments during the craziest press conference are not nearly crazy enough to dent support from the enablers. US House Speaker Johnson praises Trump’s ‘bold’ Gaza proposal.
+ Meanwhile... After uproar, White House says Trump only seeking to remove Gazans ‘temporarily.'
+ Arab Americans for Trump, "a group that played a key role in Donald Trump’s voter outreach to the Arab American community alongside his allies is rebranding itself after the president said that the U.S. would 'take over' the Gaza Strip." (Ya think?)
4
When Life Gives Oranges Lemons
OJ has been given a bad name. No, not that OJ. I mean Orange Juice. Between public concerns about consuming sugar by way of fruit juice and a tree-killing citrus disease, the once wildly popular beverage isn't hitting the sweet spot these days. Can the trend be reversed? And should it be? Bloomberg (Gift Article): Orange Juice Makers Are Desperate for a Comeback.
+ The Last Days of American Orange Juice. "The primary cause is a disease known as citrus greening ... Around the world, millions of acres of orange trees have succumbed, and in the past 20 years, production in Florida’s storied orange groves, which once supplied the majority of America’s juice, has declined 92 percent. What little fruit is left on the trees gets blown to the ground by hurricanes, which are becoming more destructive in the state."
5
Extra, Extra
With Friends Like These: "Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev praised Elon Musk — Trump's righthand man who has led the charge against USAID — for 'trying to plug USAID's Deep Throat.'" America's adversaries cheer Trump admin's USAID teardown.
+ Law and Disorder: "A federal judge in Maryland has issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against President Donald Trump's executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship."
+ Fight Clubs: The move, outlined in a memorandum issued Tuesday by West Point, told 12 campus clubs to immediately shut down all activities, formal and informal." West Point disbands 12 cadet organizations in response to DEI directives. (Just in case you viewed the occasional meetings of the Asian-Pacific Forum Club or the Corbin Forum, a group for female cadets founded in 1976, as threats to national security. These days it's not who you want next to you in a foxhole, it's who you want next to you while watching Fox News.)
+ Breaking the Law: "The Central Intelligence Agency offered buyouts to its entire workforce on Tuesday, citing an aim to bring the agency in line with Donald Trump’s priorities." This is coupled with the attacks on the thousands of FBI agents who did their jobs investigating Jan 6. Here's the excellent Congressman Jim Himes on the risks associated with these attacks.
+ Shake, Rattle, Let's Roll: "According to officials, more than 11,000 people have left Santorini, with around 7,000 departing by ferry and 4,000 people leaving by air. Hundreds of earthquakes have rocked the island, the strongest of which was a magnitude five tremor." Thousands evacuate Santorini as more earthquakes strike island.
6
Bottom of the News
"A lot of this genre is about cleaning. In particular, it involves watching people clean extremely dirty old rugs with power washers and buckets of suds, going round after round until they uncover the rug's original color and pattern. And these things are quite intentionally marketed as soothing." Sometimes, you just need to take a break and watch a guy unclog a drain.
+ "Since Riley has had variations of the term 'three-peat' trademarked for years, the NFL reached an agreement with his camp to use the phrase on various merchandise if the Chiefs are able to win their third straight Super Bowl." (I still think Pat-Trick is better than three-peat...)
As one observer said, with yesterday's proposal to "own" Gaza, expel Palestinians, and make it the "Riviera of the Mideast" Trump has moved the goalposts on crazy so far they are outside the stadium.