On this day in 1862, Mexico repelled the French forces of Napoleon III at the Battle of Puebla. Please drink responsibly.
There’s a phenomenon where someone writes an essay about this or that but someone else wants to discuss something that has not yet made it to the front page.
This is unfair to everybody involved. It’s unfair to the guy who wrote the original essay because, presumably, he wants to talk about his original essay. It’s unfair to the guy who wants to talk about his link because it looks like he’s trying to change the subject. It’s unfair to the people who go to the comments to read up on the thoughts of the commentariat for the original essay and now we’re talking about some other guy’s links.
So!
The intention is to have a new one of these every week. If you want to talk about a link, post it here! Or, heck, use it as an open thread.
And, if it rolls off, we’ll make a new one. With a preamble just like this one.
In this week’s “We’re All Going To Die” news, I was at friends’ for Game Night on Saturday and we were close enough to the teenager’s computer setup to hear him playing Fortnite with his broskis and, at one point, he was yelling “Chicken Jockey!”Report
I remember having to explain “All Your Base” to my mom. She didn’t get it. I finally just said “it’s an internet joke”, and she still didn’t it but at least she got why I got it.
also Leeroy Jenkins is 20 years old now.
******
Someone on Tumblr suggested, and I agree, that you could kill on TikTok just by recruiting a few reasonably-attractive kids and having them do Monty Python’s Flying Circus material. Don’t even update anything, just straight off the page, no reference or credit to the original at all.
(which goes neatly with my idea that someone needs to just start doing old Cosby material with zero credit or attribution, daring people to call them out and put themselves in the position of defending Bill Cosby…)Report
I think the Cosbey show thing would work for a short time but then Casey-Werner and/or Paramounts’ lawyers would quietly get in contact with TikTok and your account would be deleted in short order with very little public commentary on the matter.Report
There is currently an internet rumor that DOGE is trying to get into the Library of Congress (Which is run by the legislative branch, not executive) and the Capitol Police (Also run by the legislative) is stopping them.
This is after Trump fired the head of the Library of Congress, which he apparently has the power to do, and supposedly appointed an acting director, which I am not clear he can do.
it is unclear what is actually happening at this point, but we’ll see if Congress allows the executive to run roughshod over something _they_ own.Report
Oh, here’s a article about it:
https://www.mediaite.com/news/trumps-attempted-library-of-congress-takeover-thwarted-as-two-of-his-appointees-were-escorted-off-the-premises-cbs-news/Report
(might want to check your sources on that one)
(i know, i know, it’s too juicy to wait, it’s too moist flaky tasty-shortbread smooth-mouthfeel delicious to wait, it just feels so good to be First)Report
A Holocaust denying podcaster has turned anti-Semitism into crypto. Making matters more worrisome, left and right anti-Semites seem to be finding common ground. A kid name Mo Khan who put up a “F*ck the Jews” sign at one of David Portnoy’s bars after ordering bottle service got $10,000 from them. The right and the left can’t make any positive arguments on why Jews should support them, only negative ones.Report
Why in the world would Mo Khan have needed $10,000 just for putting up an offensive sign after ordering bottle service?Report
The right and the left can’t make any positive arguments…
The Right wants to support Israel to prepare the way for Jesus coming back. IMHO this is a foolish reason but they’re committed to it. In theory at that point Jews (and everyone else) will convert or die, but you should agree to disagree until after he actually shows up.
The Right is also forcing Colleges to deal with antisemitism. That’s a rare good thing that Trump is doing even if he’s being crass about it.Report
The right has plenty of anti-Semitism of it’s own that it hides up. They force universities to deal with a particular type of anti-Semitism. The problem with left anti-Semitism for the Democratic Party and mainstream liberals is that most of it comes from forces outside the Democratic Party.Report
The right has plenty of anti-Semitism of it’s own that it hides up. They force universities to deal with a particular type of anti-Semitism.
I’m going to need more detail on this?
I’m not sure that the right has a whole lot of ability to force universities to do stuff? (And, if so, it’s only manifested in the last year or so due to Trump/Trumpism and that particular manifestation leans far more “pro-Israel” than “anti”.)Report
The right has plenty of anti-Semitism of it’s own that it hides up.
It has small hate groups which identify as Right. What does it have at an institutional level?
The problem with left anti-Semitism for the Democratic Party and mainstream liberals is that most of it comes from forces outside the Democratic Party.
We are currently trying to remove anti-Semitism from college policies and administration. How did “outside forces” create that? My strong impression is the Left faction which views the world as “white oppressors vs black victims” has decided Jews are white and therefore should be thrown under the bus in the Palestinian conflict(s).Report
Fleeing from war, political oppression, and starvation in Ukraine, Sudan, and other parts of the world? No thanks, don’t come here.
Are you the former runners of brutally oppressive and racist regime and really upset that you are no longer in power? Please come, thanks:
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/05/12/us/trump-news
It should be noted that Trusk had the U.S. government pay to fly the Afrikaaners here. You can take the boy out of Apartheid but you can’t take the Apartheid out of the boy.Report
(“boy” is a racist term for black men.)Report
In this case I am referring to Elon but thanks for trolling.
“Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.”
― Jean-Paul SartreReport
I’m not entirely sure that you want to mix the whole “antisemitism” thing with the “antiapartheid” thing.
Like, that is not proverbial chocolate that you want to get in your proverbial peanut butter.Report
I am an Afrikaner. I, and most Afrikaners, think this enire refugee thing is redicilous and embarassing. Worse; it is deeply hurting my relationship with my fellow countrymen.Report
https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/elizabeth-holmes-partner-brazen-business-20321733.php
Theranos 2.0 from the Baby Daddy of the fraudster that brought us Theranos 1.0Report
The New York Times will have us know that the Qatar’s illegal and unconstitutional bribe of a 400 million dollar plane to Trump, “strains the bounds of propriety.”
We will be killed by people who think it is untoward and gauche to be direct and pointed.Report
I forgot the link from my point yesterdeay:
https://forward.com/news/718429/mo-khan-stew-peters-crypto-jproof/Report
This is an interesting one. I do wonder about how cost effective fixing these are though.
https://farmingdale-observer.com/2025/05/10/a-german-experiment-proved-that-simple-concrete-spheres-make-fantastic-batteries-now-california-plans-to-submerge-a-9-meter-diameter-sphere-in-the-ocean-and-is-already-planning-versions-of-30-metersReport
Also it says “excess electricity” is involved in pumping the spheres down, which suggests that we could just build a battery farm and get the same benefit without involving the ocean at all.Report
Batteries require scarce minerals which make building anything at the needed scale a problem.Report
I’d suggest they need similar minerals (and to the same degree) as the electric turbines these spheres are supposed to have in them.
And, honestly…you don’t really get a lot of energy from flowing water unless you have “literally the Colorado River” kind of volume.
If someone wants to do wild things with ocean-based energy generation, I’d like to see them try OTEC at scale…Report
Gotta agree with the duck here. Also, any time you’re working with anything that involves the ocean you’re talking about an undertaking that will have massive corrosion/wear/weather problems even under the best of circumstances. Salt water is extremely unkind to most materials.Report
Seems like water turbines do not need much lithium or cobalt.
Turbines need steel, zinc, iron, and copper for the main structure and wiring. Rare earth elements are also needed for the magnets in turbine generators.Report
There are lots of generators/motors at conventional hydro power plants and pumped hydro storage systems that predate rare earth magnets. Weight is not an issue for them, so cheaper magnets are fine.
Interestingly, wind turbine companies are rapidly shifting away from rare earth magnets to electromagnets. Those are even lighter (and cheaper!) for a given field strength. Non-permanent magnets are a problem if you have to do a grid-wide black start — see, eg, Spain/Portugal recently. I suspect that a battery installation big enough to jump start enough turbines to bring an entire farm back online has gotten quite cheap.Report
In 2024, an additional 38 GWh of grid-scale battery storage was deployed in the US. Almost all of that was lithium-ion. The biggest battery manufacturers look ready to start switching to sodium-ion for grid applications: it’s safer, cheaper, uses less scarce materials, operates well over a wider temperature range, and the modest weight penalty doesn’t matter.Report
No Veronica, there is no Santa, much less two. But the GOP sure does love to stack the deck anyway.
https://open.substack.com/pub/thomhartmann/p/americas-long-coup-how-the-gop-rigged-812?r=v677&utm_medium=iosReport
David Hogg fans should know that HE HAS RELEASED A STATEMENT: “Today, the DNC took its first steps to remove me from my position as Vice Chair At-Large.”
If you haven’t seen David Hogg on Bill Maher recently, you should check it out. He points out that the Dems have lost young men because “What I think happened last election is younger men—they would rather vote for somebody who they don’t completely agree with, they don’t feel judged by, than somebody who they do agree with, that they feel like they have to walk on eggshells around constantly because they’re going to be judged or ostracized or excommunicated.”
He concludes: “Young people should be able to focus on what young people should be focused on, which is how to get laid and how to go and have fun.”
We may be witnessing a turnaround in real time!
Assuming, of course, he isn’t removed from the Vice-Chair position.Report
Credit where it’s due, I think he handled that quite well. Might be too little too late for him but no harm in a force for figuring this stuff out within the larger coalition.
Part of the challenge for Hogg personally might be that… well he’s kind of a weener. He’s also glued to one of those cultural issues that polls in ways that I think one has to conclude are kind of misleading and anyway aren’t a priority.
However if he wants to start saying what has often been unsayable, maybe start making doing so contagious, I’m all for it.Report
My take on the whole take on young people wanting to get laid thing is that this is one hell of a departure away from #MeToo and, as one hell of a departures go, they probably needed a better spokesperson. One who was less of a weenie.
Like, imagine if Joe Rogan said such a thing. It might mean something.
As it is, Hogg is a walking “Why ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ is Problematic” essay and he comes across with that sort of energy.
That said… a correction is needed and handling it less than perfectly is probably the only option and, as such, well… we’re stuck between the weenie and the waiting for someone good to say it. The weenie is not obviously the wrong option.
Now, with *THAT* said, this is a completely different message than “we’re going to light fires under the Dems in safe seats by primarying the useless ones!”
If the DNC chair fired Hogg for saying “We need to reach out to young people without sounding like those PMRC Schoolmarms”, I’d find that to be the funniest thing that has happened this week.
However, the DNC chair seems to be firing him for running ahead with the whole primarying safe dems thing *BUT* using the whole “we elected a white dude instead of following our diversity goals” rule which, somehow, manages to take a reasonable position (“you don’t get to threaten safe dems in safe seats as the DNC vice-chair”) into an unreasonable one and, somehow, also turning it into the funniest thing that has happened this week.Report
Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, Jeffrey Epstein, Donald Trump, and Andrew Cuomo (and their victims) don’t count as “young people wanting to get laid,” which has next to nothing to do with #MeToo.Report
It’s certainly not an endorsement of Moira Donegan’s playbook.
Was Al Franken considered a victory?
To be perfectly honest, I think that he represents a fairly important victory for #MeToo but I have argued against people who see it as an excess. Something to the effect of “We shouldn’t be leaning on #MeToo if all it does is result in people like Al Franken, Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, Jeffrey Epstein, and Andrew Cuomo either going to jail or getting their charges dropped or having to resign or whatever weird thing happened with Bill Cosby that still isn’t exactly clear.”
Remember The Crappy Media Men’s list? Moira Donegan paid out a six-figure settlement over that thing.
In any case, Hogg’s statement strikes me as being, at least!, a pivot away from the #MeToo actual energy of 8 short years ago (while allowing that the theoretical energy that anybody would defend was a needed corrective for the time).Report
What did the Crappy Media Men’s list have to do with young people wanting (presumably mutually) to get laid? Were they youngsters trying to obtain the willing sexual favors of their peers? Or dirty old men with power?Report
The same thing that #MeToo had to do with it.
In theory, it wasn’t sex-negative but abuse negative and fought *VERY* hard against abuses large and small up to and including those of Al Franken.
In practice, it resulted in Al Franken resigning and all sorts of weird cultural eddies. I mean, you’ve witnessed the last decade or so, right?
We’ve seem to come a long way from trying to get justice for Jackie Coakley.Report
Eh. I think David Hogg should have stayed but that in the end this is kind of gossip for the very online political hobbyist and probably does not matter at all for Democratic prospects in November 2026.
Plus JB likes to be an agent provocateur who thinks Dems are always screwing upReport
Even a blind squirrel is right twice a day.Report
And, to be perfectly honest, removing Hogg from his seat not because “you can’t sabotage Dems in good standing from your position of Vice-Chair, no matter how Righteously Angry you are… do it yourself, not as a DNC official” but because “you’re male” is one of the things that does, in fact, matter for the Democrats in November 2026 (and 2028, and 2030, and so on).
There’s a very particular reason that the Democrats have a lower approval rating than Trump and the stuff like this is why.Report
Tossing him at this point would be the second stupidest thing the DNC has done in the last year.Report
Which means it’ll happen before the day is out.
*****
Kid doesn’t realize that the Democrat Party is all about machine politics (always has been) and he’s trying to kick back against that, and he’ll get burned, because you don’t go around doing things that make the bosses think they’ll miss out on their Goodies.Report
That used to be true, but the machine is sputtering pretty hard in the era of social media. Especially with Democratic Party approval numbers south of 40%, a promising Dem politician nowadays will probably have better personal success if they visibly buck the establishment and trumpet it on the socials rather than toeing the line.Report
He’s claimed his job as DNC Vice-Chair is to primary sitting Democrats based on [something].
The definition of that [something] changes every conversation.Report
Good news/Bad news. The bad news first: David Hogg’s election to the position of Vice-Chair is a step closer to being overturned.
The good news: It’s not related to his arguments that we should primary useless Democrats in safe seats. It’s because he’s male.
Report
The DNC is run by f*cking idiots. This is why no one believes Democrats about anything. If Trump was such a threat they wouldn’t be focused on kindergarten rules designed to protect the self esteem of losers.Report
Alawites and Christians are being massacred in Syria by Islamists. This is why Israeli Jews aren’t up for completely dismantling Israel and replacing it with a one state solution:
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/P-10-2025-001051_EN.htmlReport
Pretty sure these are the same Islamists we were told were “inclusive” and “should be given a chance” just last month.Report
They are. One of the frustrating things about the I/P conflict conversations is the tendency of Pro-Palestinian Westerners to just see the conflict in ethnic terms and ignore the religious angle. They can’t get beyond the White vs. Color framing.Report
This analysis might make sense if it wasn’t the left that had been warning about these U.S.-backed Islamists in Syria for years.Report
Like it should be blindingly obvious to people that there is a big issue in Islam’s adopting to modernity. Every Muslim majority country has big issues in how the wrong type of Muslims and non-Muslims are treated even if it doesn’t go to the levels of massacres. It should also be really clear to others why many Israeli and Non-Israeli Jews, no matter what type of Jew they are, aren’t exactly into letting their guard down when they see what is happening to non-Muslims through out the rest of the Middle East and North Africa.Report