False Profits

Machine Rages Against Itself

They're mad as hell and they're not gonna take it anymore. What are they mad about? They've come of age during an era that has been historically advantageous for people like them. They've made more money in a shorter time than anyone in history. They're famous. They're influential. And the divide between what they've got and what the rest of the world has is growing almost as fast as their financial portfolio. Still, for some reason the people who are benefiting the most from the status quo are the ones expressing the most anger about the way things are. And that message has a very big audience among those who actually have something to be pissed about and who are convinced that these profitable prophets offer them elite at the end the of the tunnel. It's elite on elite crime and from RFK Jr to Elon Musk, it sells. Derek Thompson in The Atlantic (Gift Article): RFK Jr. Is a Bellwether. "This style—the elite who despise the elite—describes some of Trump’s most influential backers, including Elon Musk, the venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, and the financier Bill Ackman. What’s notable about these figures isn’t that they’re wealthy people supporting the conservative candidate; that’s a dog-bites-man story. Rather it’s that they’ve all couched their support for Trump as anti-establishment—whether it’s Ackman against colleges and the DEI bureaucracy, Musk against legacy media, or Andreessen against the Biden administration’s crypto policies. Each of these immensely powerful men has recognized that, in an age of anti-incumbency, the best way to promote one’s cause is to align oneself with the common man’s plight and to frame one’s opinions as a war against power." Somehow when those in power pretend fight the power, they become even more powerful. I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually put the fight on pay-per-view. Why leave all that money on the table?

2

Delivery Notice

"We’re more than a decade into a severe maternal mortality crisis in the United States, and access to hospital-based maternity care has continued to decline over that entire time period." Sarah Kliff in the NYT: Most Rural Hospitals Have Closed Their Maternity Wards, Study Finds. And here's what makes news of these closures even more dire. They took place before the abortion bans. "Because its data runs only through 2022, the study does not account for the additional challenges that hospitals have faced since the Supreme Court case that overturned Roe v. Wade that year and led many states to restrict abortion. States with abortion bans have experienced a sharp decline in their obstetrician work force."

3

Bunker Bunk

"They return to an unremarkable home in a neighborhood that could be anywhere. There are no trap doors, underground bunkers, or stashes of gold. But there is a gun safe in the garage, long-lasting emergency provisions on a designated shelf in the pantry, and Ring cameras installed inside and outside the house. The kids have their own LifeWater straws to filter freshwater, and their parents watch the news carefully for signs of growing instability in global affairs, of interrupted trade relations, of the return of Jesus Christ." Bunkerised society – why prepping for end times is so American. "Bunkerisation posits that far from being at the fringes of US society, prepping is at the core of an American mythology of yeoman frontierspeople, from the Boy Scouts of America to the contemporary homestead movement. Bunkerisation as a process also plugs into the broader US phenomenon of mass consumption as Americans are asked to purchase their way to safety." (Who am I to judge? I'm still only about halfway through my pandemic toilet paper stockpile.)

+ About four-in-ten U.S. adults believe humanity is ‘living in the end times.' (Relax, we have like six weeks before that starts...)

4

Profound Regret

"In my early years my home was an abusive one, and by the age of 11, I had been mugged, sexually assaulted and jumped by other kids while walking home from school. I was tired of feeling weak and unsafe. I was tired of being a kid. And looking at my reflection holding the gun, I finally saw myself as a man." In the NYT (Gift Article), Christopher Blackwell, who is incarcerated, reflects on regret. I Should Never Have Picked Up That Gun. "Picking up that gun is the single biggest regret of my life — one that I will have to live with forever — but years passed before I was able to truly understand the gravity of my actions."

5

Extra, Extra

Targeted Attack: "UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed Wednesday morning in what police said was a 'brazen, targeted attack' outside a Manhattan hotel where the health insurer was holding an investor conference." As I'm writing this, police are still searching for the gunman. Here's the latest from CNN.

+ Pick Axed: "Over the last 24 hours, Donald Trump lost his pick to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration. His choice for Defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, is struggling to gain support from Senate Republicans. The president-elect is now even considering his onetime rival, Gov. Ron DeSantis, to lead the Pentagon." Trump’s transition was supposed to be a show of force. What happened? Meanwhile, the picks keep coming. Trump picks Peter Navarro, who went to prison for defying Jan. 6 committee subpoena, as top trade adviser. And Vox on Kash Patel: I listened to hours of Trump’s FBI pick on Steve Bannon’s podcast. Oh boy. "Kash Patel believes a lot of wild — and disturbing — stuff."

+ French Toast: "The minority government of Michel Barnier has lost a no-confidence vote in parliament, making it the first administration to be ousted in such a way since 1962 and the shortest-lived government of the Fifth Republic."

+ K Flop: "South Korea's opposition lawmakers have begun impeachment proceedings against President Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed attempt to impose martial law." (In some democracies, coups are still frowned upon.)

+ Scotus Operandi: US supreme court conservatives appear reluctant to overturn Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care.

+ From Vlad to Worse: "Russia's president and senior Kremlin officials have financed and facilitated the transport of at least 314 Ukrainian children in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine into coerced foster care and adoptions since the 2022 invasion."

+ Sales Epipany: "The Pew Research Center found that about 28% of adults in the U.S. now consider themselves religiously unaffiliated." But everyone else is buying a whole lot of bibles. Sales of Bibles Are Booming, Fueled by First-Time Buyers and New Versions. (We Jews have a slightly different definition of what constitutes a new version...)

+ Fool's Gold: "The idea is simple. Once a game, a manager gets to put his best batter at the plate regardless of where the batting order stands. So imagine, as a pitcher facing the Dodgers, you get Shohei Ohtani out in a high-leverage situation. Then Dave Roberts plays his golden at-bat card, and you have to face the best hitter in baseball all over again." What is Rob Manfred's 'golden at-bat' idea, and how would it change baseball? (This is such a bad idea. Baseball needs to put a pitch clock on their brainstorming sessions.)

+ Pump Up Prices: Coffee has reached its highest price in 47 years. (As long as it's still cheaper than cocaine, I remain a buyer.)

6

Bottom of the News

"Stress levels in dogs are affected by how much stress their owners are feeling, according to a study from researchers at Queen's University, Belfast. 'The experience of stress, particularly chronic stress, can have deleterious effects on canine behaviour and welfare.'" (This is exactly why I told my beagles that Kamala won.)

+ The world's oldest known wild bird has laid an egg at the approximate age of 74.