"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 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.
by liberal japonicus Pentagon says execution of Fort Hood shooter will be livestreamed.
by liberal japonicus I’m interested in the whole possible terrorism attack against the RAF base at Fairford, and the US bug-out (it seems to be something of a specialty for the US). Here’s the Guardian and the details, as I understand them, there were 5 men in three vans who were stopped near the base, … Read more
by liberal japonicus I’ve never had much time for Francis Fukuyama, I felt like his thesis about the End of History was warmed over Hegel, and I never really registered him as a Japanese-American, so this Ones and Tooze podcast was quite interesting to me. Tooze discusses how Fukuyama’s personal history influenced his intellectual development … Read more
This in today from Brian Beutler:The New RadicalsDemocrats need to be the uncompromising ones now.Brian BeutlerSep 30 Over the past year and a half I’ve warned promiscuously about the dangers of “funding Donald Trump’s government.” I’ve taken to referring to bipartisan spending bills, which have passed with Democrats casting decisive votes, as “enabling” legislation. This … Read more