I have been finding myself suddenly saving techdirt articles for my reading list day after day, and I guess now I know why. Not to say I wasn’t interested before, but they’ve been providing analysis and commentary lately that has just hit different/ has been scratching a particular itch. Please, keep that train rolling.
Yeah this has been what I’m wondering lately. Clearly Thiel can’t be super in love with Elon since they ousted him from PayPal while he was on his honeymoon… but if he’s a useful idiot that can take the attnetion and heat, when everything implodes it’ll be on Musk and then Trump, and then Vance, who has been higher profile as VP than most, can try and worm his way in there and voila, Thiel has got what he wants. Vance is pretty off putting to most people though, which seems like bad judgement on his handlers part if they want a pseudo-legit govt CEO… but then the handlers are also super off putting in real life and clearly live in a alternate reality/bubble so maybe it’s not that far fetched.
I think just dog goggles and a pov camera thing on top.
American culture, partly because of bullshit mythos and partly because of religious like devotion to oligarchic capitalism, selects for low-empathy sociopaths and individual atomization/isolation. My favorite low end example is to observe my fellow citizens driving when I go to the suburbs: you are in their personal story, and you are in their way. City living doesn’t fix all that, but having to live in close proximity to neighbors and get used to compromise helps push a slightly more communal vibe.
But basically the entire culture is built around a get-yours-first mentality? And more recently an influencer-inflected sort of hyper-real understanding of one’s value and potential. We’re like a national exemplar for the dunning-Kruger effect, or like kids who cheat at online video games swaggering around proud of their “achievements”.
Seems like we’re in the finding out phase after fucking around though.
This makes me wonder: when someone like this goes on a ski vacation… does that mean that a bunch of his secrect service detail has to also ski / be able to ski competently?
The only good bug is a dead bug!
(Billionaire Undermining Government)
Yeah that would make sense why I unintentionally oneself on it so often. I almost always hit back or close when I end up there (usually because I click on a link that is interesting to me without interrogating the URL very closely, bad opsec I know)
It’s… one of the worst sites I’ve ever come across. Everything about it is shit and suggests a lack of credibility, but I am constantly surprised by the number of times they have articles I initially wanted to read.
I agree with your assessment: I find it both fascinating (who would have thought each new thing was actually possible, what insane bad idea will be launched today?) and horrifying.
Still working out the coping aspect, as what’s going on directly affects me and some of my family, but mostly switch between paying very close attention and trying to game out what the agenda is, and then taking a day to not pay attention and live in calm denial.
The article could be incorrect, but they state that OPM is directing all agencies to terminate their probationary employees. OPM is the source of all these agency directives that come from exec orders. The exec order is created and then OPM issues “guidance” to all the other agencies about what they are required to do per the order.
So no, this is not just OPM, it’s every agency that has not been exempted (based on the memo, which we haven’t seen yet). The RTO guidance and DEI removal guidance also came from OPM. There is some per-agency leeway provided (again we’ll have to see the memo) but my understanding is agencies generally have to comply with OPM direction unless it’s unlawful (this may or may not be, I don’t know).
Yeah honestly after the first couple I was like, crap I’ve been missing out. You can tell they’re legit because the website looks like forum websites I used to frequent in the early 00s (sounds like a dig, but I swear it’s not, the modern web is damn awful to read most of the time).