Danny Deck

Looks like Oracle is trusting Trump that they won't be subject to the fines associated with the law, but Apple and Google are not. They have not restored the app to their app stores. Tom Cotton has assured them Trump doesn't have the authority to do what he says and they will be subject to the fines.

Supreme Court upholds the ban.

Laughing at cyber truck owners has bipartisan support!

I just don't see the actual advantages for users over Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts. Call me an unrepentant nationalist, but if someone is going to be collecting more information about what I do on my phone than I'm comfortable with, they better be an American company!

All the ways TikTok tracks you and how to stop it | WIRED

Looking like the Supreme Court will uphold the law. Arguing on behalf of TikTok: Noel Francisco, contended that the law burdens TikTok’s speech, so the First Amendment applies. The government “has no valid interest in preventing foreign propaganda” and cannot constitutionally try to keep Americans from being “persuaded by Chinese misinformation,” he said. That is targeting speech, which the First Amendment does not permit, he added. Arguing on behalf of the government: Elizabeth B. Prelogar, the solicitor general, countered that the act does not violate the First Amendment. “All of the same speech that’s happening on TikTok could happen post-divestiture,” she said, adding, “All the act is doing is trying to surgically remove the ability of foreign adversary nation to get our data and to be able to exercise control over the platform.” https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01/10/us/tiktok-ban-supreme-court

"But in order for these prescribed fires to occur, they must go through the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review process, which can last anywhere from 3.6 years to 7.2 years between the time of initiation to when the burning can actually begin, according to a 2022 policy brief from the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC)." "Lawmakers have introduced legislation that would allow for more controlled burning, but because no laws have been passed, environmental red tape has continued to present challenges to proactive fire management. Oregon Democratic Senator Ron Wyden introduced the National Prescribed Fire Act of 2024 in May. The bill, which proposes a $300 million investment in hazardous fuels management and aims to ramp up prescribed burns on federal lands, will need to be reintroduced and begin its journey anew with the start of the new Congress." https://www.newsweek.com/controlled-burns-california-forest-management-los-angeles-fires-2012492 Widespread permitting reform has to happen at every level in California in particular, but really nationwide.

Not much of a surprise in the headline, TikTok says it will abide by the law if the law isn't struck down or enforcement stayed. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tiktok-trial-ban-appeal-bytedance/

Why do you never share actual articles, just your commentary on headlines? And also photos of headlines so I can't even copy and paste them into search to find full articles?

Here is an article on the topic for anyone curious: https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/stellantis-toyota-ford-mazda-subaru-plan-pool-co2-emissions-with-tesla-2025-01-07/

It's wild to go back and look at lots of stuff from the 90s and 00s. Countdown clocks for when Anna Kournikova and the Olsen Twins turned 18 really sticks out. As for @Husker_Du's questions, I don't really have a good answer for why this is so common. As for what's going on with our institutions, I think Yuval Levin is right when he says that we no longer seek to be molded by institutions but rather use them solely to "build our brand." When you don't really care about the institution you're a part of, you don't care if it works well or not. You just want to use it as a platform. So no one feels the need to make hard choices or do hard things for the betterment of the institution itself. This goes hand in hand with so many youth wanting to be an influencer for their career.

Sounds like he's talking about Therapy.

He doesn't have the build of someone who is both 6'3" and 215 lbs.

Are you under the impression that calling him Genocide Joe was a compliment?

Jim Wright held this seat for 35 years and still managed to retire at 67. Weaker parties need richer, and therefore older, candidates/office holders.

None. She didn't run for re-election. The new representative being sworn in Friday is a relatively spry 56.

I'm curious what "political means" he thinks are available to him to resolve this. The law mandating the sale passed with a veto proof majority on a bipartisan basis. Do we think the makeup of each house changed enough or that the Republicans remain scared enough of him to change their position? It seems to me his best bet to get the law off the books would be to hope the Supreme Court is receptive to the arguments the lower courts have not been. Otherwise, it's just kicking the can down the road on enforcement.

Alright, going to finish at least one more book before the end of the year, but here is where we are. I read 65 books last year, and only to 63 so far this year, but I did read more pages this year. My average rating on Goodreads was 3.4 which I think is the lowest average since I started using it to track what I was reading. That feels accurate since I don't know that I really loved a lot that I read this year. I liked lots that I read in November and December. I finally read The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. Only 20+ years after it was a sensation, but I did enjoy it. Endurance about the Shackleton Expedition was great, an incredible story of survival. I'm closing out the year reading several Dylan books, his own Chronicles Vol. 1, Why Bob Dylan Matters and Dylan Goes Electric. Unsurprisingly Chronicles is most interesting for his facility with words, as a memoir it's highly suspect. At least two chapters are at least mostly fiction. Why Bob Dylan Matters is mostly about how Dylan pulls together disparate pieces into new art focused mostly on him lifting passages from Roman poets. Dylan Goes Electric is the basis for the movie coming out, and I'm really enjoying it so far. It does an excellent job giving the full picture of what all was going on in music at the time. Overall favorites for the year are Augustus by John Williams. I can't recommend it or Stoner by him highly enough. The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V Higgins An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe Not sure what all I will read in 2025. Naturally despite all of the books I own, it's several books I don't that I'm most anxious to read now: To Overthrow the World: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Communism by Sean McMeekin. I enjoyed Stalin's War and The Russian Revolution also by him. The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, The CIA and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq by Steve Coll On the fiction side, I will probably put some more work in on the remaining Larry McMurtry and John Le Carre books I have to read. I've considered re-reading the Jack Ryan books. I read them up through Executive Orders in middle school. I enjoy the movies and the series so I thought it might be fun to revisit the books. I'm also considering working through some Russian Lit. Can't decide if it's better to really set the mood by reading in winter or wait for more sunlight.

Lighten up Francis.

So far the results have been exactly as hoped for when hiring a Cael acolyte. A long long way from competing still, but the product as entertainment is much improved.

It's good if upfront pricing is a bipartisan goal.

Imagine hating someone so much you volunteer them to be Speaker.

For sure. I just don't find him or any of the supporting characters likeable. This is somewhat on topic for this thread as well. I've thought about how they say it's impossible to make a truly anti-war film because at some point you do have to show someone being heroic, I think it's also impossible to make an anti-sociopath television show or movie as well. I'm victim of it as much as anyone. The Godfather (especially Part 2) is about Michael becoming and acting as a monster, but when he tells Senator Geary, "You can have my answer now, if you like. My final offer is this: nothing." I'm still like hell yeah, get him Michael. Even though I know that by the end he has murdered his own brother, and so many other people. This scene from Goodfellas is De Niro deciding to kill everyone involved in the Lufthansa heist and he might as well be Satan in it, but still I'm like damn he looks cool and it's gotta be done. So now we have all of these people brought up on this media and hidden behind their screens and so they get to play act at it themselves. And it just gets reinforced that you will get likes for pretending like this is a moral way to act. Most will never actually do something in the real world, but it's still a bad stew for people to live in.

For fans of The Wire, I recommend David Simon's (creator and showrunner) books Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets and The Corner. Both have scenes that go directly into The Wire. Homicide was also adapted on its own into the NBC series that's finally streaming on Peacock, and The Corner was made into a miniseries on HBO, but I think it's only uploaded to Youtube. I cannot get into Breaking Bad. I've watched the first season twice and both times I've thought "I'm supposed to watch these characters I despise become worse people?" Pass.

Isn't this about the rate cut rather than the election? Events have continued.