Curt Gardner

- Cause he really thinks that any trade deficit is "ripping us off" - Cause it will force lots of CEOs to "bend the knee" and beg for mercy - Cause he thinks he can single-handedly restructure the US economy (bring low-paid jobs back!) - Cause he's pretty stupid, actually All can be true!

I suppose now every country will be wanting to have their own satellite network. Lotta space junk!

Last night I watched Wim Wender's film 'Anselm' (2023) on Kiefer. I was aware of some of the paintings, but did not realize the scale of his sculptural/architectural works!

This video camera study showed that less than 5% of people on bikes broke traffic laws while riding bikes, yet 66% of people did so while driving. And perhaps even more importantly, if you REALLY want even MORE bike-riders to obey laws, build more protected bike infrastructure. Via @carltonreid.com

Authoritarian circle jerk.

Airborne Toxic Event

This awful saga is a good glimpse into how MAGA gets propaganda laundered into mainstream discourse by making just enough noise to get news outlets to treat their outrage as a "controversy," which then requires even-handed treatement of both sides' stances: newrepublic.com/article/2168...

Just discovered Mallo today at Word Virus Books, PDX. The Things We've Seen

Saw 'Wichita' (1955) last night - essentially Wyatt Earp implements gun control cause the raucous cowboys are killing innocent folks in town during their revels. Chamber of Commerce folks are pissed cause they figure it will hurt business if the guys can't shoot their shots.

What percentage of AI industry workers feel that they are actively speeding up evolution in order to get to digital life-forms that will succeed humans?

Most people used to understand that it's good if people want to come to your country.

Don DeLillo - always ahead of the action! Underworld, actually 1997 - this bit from pp. 315-316. "He pronounced it nucular."

What's truly absurd is that this travesty could have easily been avoided by doing just 10 minutes of auditioning - but of course DJT gets whatever he wants and no one will peep.

How much am I supposed to care about the WH press secretary? Either she becomes a more talented/charismatic huckster, or gets replaced with one.

Been reading & enjoying this one lately, as I was in SF for the opening sections covering the 90s and 00s. @jsweber.bsky.social is coming to @powells.bsky.social on Sunday Oct 18.

Please remember to vote! Your voice matters. 🌊

All fun and games til there's no food.

There will be a lot of equivocating about all the times search warrants have been executed on members of Congress for corruption investigations and the like, and it can't be stressed enough in how many ways HSI raiding Ilhan Omar is extremely not like that.

listen i won’t shed a single tear for kim or any of the women who work for trump, but it remains interesting that only the women in his orbit suffer consequences for being pieces of shit

Man it will a great when I don't see DJT's face every single day on this site.

Saw the tapestry in Bayeux a few years back, it's like a graphic novel! Go see it in London while it's there.

These three freaks are up to no good.

The term everyone is dancing around is "secret police", a hallmark of totalitarian regimes.

On the use of the term 'SI'

Nice coverage of recent Acid Mothers Temple show in Portland, courtesy Spectrum Culture & J Simpson.

I was happier when the U.S. didn't have a domestic terror squad.

Really feels like ramped-up ICE activity being used to provoke a situation.

My statement on the ICE shooting in Marble Hill ⬇️

Corruption top to bottom

I studied math a bit, soon realizing I was far from understanding what mathematicians were actually working on. Move on a few decades: things are getting very weird in mathematics, 'Mathopocalypse' from Scott Aaronson and his wife Dana Moshkovitz.

Turnstile ramping it up, Oct 24 in DC

Sure, my disquiet.com site celebrates the 30th anniversary of its 1996 launch in December, but @perival.com's amazing Don DeLillo website launched even earlier in 1996, and is still going strong: perival.com/delillo/deli...

DJT economics: - Paying for anything is bad (you lose money) - Selling things is good (you get money) - Borrowing is good (you get money) - But high interest is bad (see #1) No concept of a fair trade or win-win.

Digging into 'Conversations with Don DeLillo' by Drew Lerman

Picked up a copy of Ingeborg Bachmann's 'Malina' last month for a train ride out of Zürich. Here's a recent piece on Tom McCarthy's look at Bachmann.

New Tom McCarthy novel out this week!

Every day I wake up in amazement that so many Americans put their trust in an obvious con man and grifter.

Sam Altman's malicious hacking collective keeps doing malicious hacking things. "We don't have the legal tools to stop this unprecedented hacking," wail officials who very much do have the tools. www.ft.com/content/1150...

Between Schmitt and Leavitt's 360 it was a real banner day for the GOP braintrust.

Belatedly reading Michael Lewis's book 'The Fifth Risk' on DJT's first admin and their incredibly incompetent know-it-all attitudes toward government. Frightening, and obviously the second term is even worse.

Gaslighters all! Just saw post where Mike Johnson claims data center opposition is Chinese psyop. bsky.app/profile/atru...

The look of a man who's made some big mistakes.