"This is the Voice of Moderation. I wouldn't go so far as to say we've actually SEIZED the radio station . . . "
by liberal japonicus I am trying, unsuccessfully, to avoid overdosing on all the election post-mortems. The most recent was this New Yorker interview with Pete Buttigeig, which is where the title is from and made me laugh out loud in the gym. Here’s the exchange: Pete Buttigeig: And the fact that he deep down knows … Read more
by liberal japonicus Thought we needed an (h)open thread about the midterms. I did like the Guardian graphics, which are here. Comments, observations, and praises to whatever deity manages karmic retribution.
by liberal japonicus The dynamic duo at the Rest is Politics had a fascinating interview with Kevin Rudd, former Australia PM who just wrote a book that basically analyzed everything that has ever been put out with Xi Jinping’s name on it, entitled On Xi Jinping: How Xi’s Marxist Nationalism is Shaping China and the … Read more
by liberal japonicus This article about Mussolini’s hometown, via LGM, had this Whatever ambivalence the residents of Predappio feel about their town being synonymous with Mussolini, they seem prepared to thole it. If you’ve come across something interesting, make a comment.
by liberal japonicus The other open thread is burbling along, but it’s been a bit, so I’d put this one up. Some random thoughts. The reportage is that the Alaska Doppleganger was recruited by the Democrats. Bad Democrats, bad democrats! (Said in the tone one says to a dog that has chewed up a rug) … Read more
by liberal japonicus This interview of Michael Lewis, from the Rest is Politics duo, was truely jawdropping to me. From the transcript, starting here Where Russell Vought walks into my story is that when I was casting the role of like the human embodiment of the American science project, I cast a man named Francis … Read more
by liberal japonicus I’m not planning on travelling anytime soon, but when I went to grad school, I chose to study Thai rather than Vietnamese because I thought that travelling to Thailand would not be as awkward as travelling to Vietnam. This was a big mistake in a number of ways. One was because I … Read more
by liberal japonicus From this. Forget sleepmaxxing and cold plunging: smoking is the new lifestyle flex among AI researchers. At least, that’s according to Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar, who said some AI researchers are taking up smoking to signal their belief that AI will eventually cure cancer. [snip] The logic, he said, is: “I believe … Read more
by liberal japonicus Perhaps some strange juxtapositions, but I just came across this substack piece, entitled Bad Aikido is Bad for Business right after I listened to this NYTimes interview with Min Jin Lee, author of Pachiko. There was a zoom meeting discussing this that I unfortunatley missed (though it seemed like an open event, … Read more
by liberal japonicus You know what to do.