I didn’t even say anything!

I’m not sure there’s anything surprising there… They all hate his guts, since most of them are rational people and have the benefit of plenty of intelligence profiling confirming what we all know, that he’s a genuine sociopathic narcissist and is easily manipulated.

They’re doing what needs to be done to weather a violent storm, trying to manipulate him towards good (or less evil) to counteract Putin manipulating him towards evil (or more evil), and nothing more.

I suspect, with gerrymandering the House creating a nearly insurmountable GOP advantage (would not be surprised to see nationally +5-10% democratic votes but end up with a GOP House majority), this may be the moment non-fascists lost any chance to avoid a trifecta MAGA government for the next two years - and maybe beyond.

To be clear, I am not blaming this on anyone but Platner, to the extent we can (as we must) guess at the truth without a criminal investigation and trial. But I admit, I would have really liked for these stories to be not true. I could buy him lacking awareness of the tattoo, and further his uncovered private Reddit posts corroborated that he legitimately was going to fight for left causes and was not a Fetterman. And the timing means the story being released now is suspicious as hell.

But corroboration as detailed as this, with reliable journalism checking contemporaneous sources, makes the story credible. After all, the likely fact that it’s a political hit piece doesn’t make it not true, and in fact the ideal hit piece is one that is true. And if this story is true, then yes, that disqualifies him and also means he likely would lose the general even if he didn’t withdraw. This isn’t a Franken if the story is true - Franken was sacrificed by Gillibrand and others for a stupid but ultimately harmless photo, not any actual physical contact or conduct at all.

I agree with everyone here dooming about Maine’s chances now, though. Democratic insiders will always choose a safe loss over a risky victory.

Obviously we need to keep pushing as hard as we can to salvage November, but also keep one eye on what we need to do to resist the next stage of politically unopposed fascism from 2027-2028 (as if figuring out how to resist the fascism already here wasn’t enough).

Why would anyone just give you $200 like that?

Well, I take that to mean that Google (ad profit), Meta (ad profit), and Nvidia (hardware profit) are profitable companies even if AI is a notorious money-sink. I do agree that if they weren’t able to absorb vertigo-inducing billions of dollars of AI losses via their other income, the AI bubble would have popped already.

It’s important to remember, there’s no point in fighting against a worse future. Especially if you are in the minority, since you’ll lose anyway. Resign yourself to things getting objectively worse because nobody likes a whiner.

“Instead of chasing AI”? They heavily implement AI to lay off employees, even though it severely degrades service.

Their whole business model is just typical private equity nihilism. Buy a business with a lot of user inertia, strip out all the development and maintenance costs while leaving the bare essentials to keep subscriptions or ad revenue flowing, and let the hollowed out business zombie-walk as long as it makes money.

Fluff journalism.

This is perfect for a needlepoint kitchen hanging.

I thought it was expensive, but always thought the expense was the right choice compared to a razor-blade model that would have created an evil incentive to close their platform.

Now that we’re looking forward to years of bearing the full effects of Trump’s tariffs and unregulated AI hyperscalers cornering the semiconductor industry, however, it’s starting to look downright cheap.

Dead corporation theory.

This is not to say that Trump has not had success influencing America’s electoral system, particularly in the past year. The president has elevated MAGA-friendly election deniers into the federal government, sicced the Justice Department on his political enemies, and drafted multiple agencies into his relentless hunt to substantiate his broad claims of voter fraud. The Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais ruling in April gutted the Voting Rights Act and cleared the way for several Republican-led states to redraw congressional maps and eliminate Democrat-leaning districts with large portions of minority voters. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court rolled back campaign-finance restrictions on political parties, which Trump hailed as “A BIG WIN FOR REPUBLICANS.” At the state level, pro-Trump lawmakers have implemented miniature versions of the SAVE America Act or found other ways to support the president’s vision for voting. At least 10 states have voluntarily turned over the personal information of millions of voters to the Justice Department.

Unfortunately, here’s the paragraph that reveals this article to be hopium/copium.

I am holding out my own hope that voter anger will be impossible to gerrymander away. But the Supreme Court rubber-stamping racial gerrymandering will very likely result in an insurmountable bias towards the GOP in the House. With Virginia striking down the democratic gerrymander to counteract GOP’s huge gains in Texas, Florida and the deep south states, although I haven’t seen a detailed analysis yet, I assume democrats will now need +5-7% at least in general ballots to overcome new built-in right bias.

That’s the thing about fascists who want to tear down a system. We need to win every fight to uphold our institutions; they just need to win once or twice. As Trump plans to do, they attack the chain at its weakest links, suppressing or invalidating votes and voter will in a few key left-leaning districts. Like most sociopaths Trump and his strategists - Miller, Bannon and Stone before that - know that compliance may not happen the first time they attempt to break their victims, so they keep trying things until they find what does.

The DOJ losing so many cases is great, sure, but we absolutely cannot take lightly how harder their few victories have made it for us through gerrymandering, infinite PAC spending, and all the usual GOP suppression tactics. We will need to work as hard as we can this fall to make sure they do not subvert the will of voters.

Hearn “forcefully and violently” pulled the pool’s lining, she said.

But asked whether the pool’s lining was already damaged when Hearn touched it, Pirro said she was “not going to get into the evidence.”

“What I told you is what our witnesses saw and experienced,” she said. “Irrespective of whether or not we think there is some situation that preceded it, we can state and prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he caused damage.”

I swear, these people somehow seem to be addicted to the sounds of their own voices and yet can’t even hear themselves talk.

I hope you aren’t putting wrecked EV batteries anywhere there may be flammable anything, such as near your house, your neighbor’s house, a forest…

I think you’d agree with me that it matters enough to comment on.

Someone at Sony is feeling very smart and modern right now, totally unaware that PlayStation is now a dead brand walking.

They are a strong brand, but that’s not going to be enough to justify a definitely-$1k+ PS6 compared to increasing handheld and console-like gaming options that are not locked down ecosystems. Their exclusives likely can’t save them, they have been dying out already.

Physical media was one of the few remaining differentiators for hardcore collectors and loyalists. Even if I’m sure it’s a greatly diminished part of their bottom line, it’s a psychological anchor that justifies the existence of a console. Now their console will be just another extremely handicapped and uncompetitive digital box, even if (as recently reported) they copy the Switch dockable format.

Next up: Meta plans rural backyard wrestling league. Analysts expect a healthy side business selling whippits.

In his memo, Zuckerberg predicted that even more difficult days could be ahead for the company, despite vowing to hold off on any future layoffs for the rest of the year.

“Given the complexity of these changes, we’ve made mistakes and will almost certainly make more,” he admitted.

“I will certainly make more mistakes that you will have to pay for, but I can promise you you will probably not be laid off for at least six months.”