Thursday Thoughts 9.27.23 - Naval-Gazing Payoffs

Daytime or Evening release? Still tinkering with the timing to discover when you fabulous people read this the most easily & often. Show this to your family when they ask why you & your better half haven’t bought a house yet. In other words, This Is Fine dot jpeg.

How Russia’s Salary Woes Helped Ukraine Strike the Black Sea Fleet HQ (Kyiv Post) Ukraine was able to land direct hits on the Russian Black Sea Fleet, because they were able to get critical intel on locations & movements of Russian forces. How? The Russian troops hadn’t been paid in so long, they were willing to work with Ukrainian intelligence. Pay your soldiers, folks.

Taliban weighs using US mass surveillance plan, met with China’s Huawei (Reuters) The Taliban is attempting to deploy a nationwide digital panopticon, similar to one the US intended for the country before it was flushed. That’s right, the Taliban are copying our playbook for fighting the War on Terror, on their own streets. Seems that’s as concrete of a referendum on how dumb that idea was, as can possibly be.

America’s Missing Empty Homes (Apricitas Economics) & New report sheds light on vacant rent-stabilized apartments (NY1) Where are the vacant homes & rent-stabilized apartments? They’re being held off the market by those “investment property” assholes and landlords who paint over power sockets. That bit in yellow, are the houses I’m talking about.

The House GOP’s Star Witness: Eric Adams (Hell Gate) & Adams Campaign Repeatedly Ignored Regulators’ Demands to Identify Supporters Behind $300,000 in Contributions (The City) Mayor Adams, the “useful idiot” of New York. His blustery swagless discussion of migrants is now being used by the House GOP to yell at refugees. He also just straight up ignored calls to identify who gave him over 300k in political contributions, because he could. An unenforced law is just an idea.

Are “Never Trump” Republicans Actually Just Democrats Now? (New Republic) Somehow related to the previous As we said after the Super Tuesday primary when the corporate Dems destroyed Bernie’s chances as a pack…Yes.

Clarence Thomas Secretly Participated in Koch Network Donor Events (ProPublica) & TurboTax Parent Company’s Latest Argument Against Free Tax Filing: It Will Harm Black Taxpayers (ProPublica) At what point does “the appearance of impropriety” evolve into “just impropriety,” and how many years ago did Judge Uncle Ruckus sprint past that line? To be honest Clarence Thomas has hurt black taxpayers more than anything Intuit has ever or could ever do. But, "Porque no los dos?”

Uber Eats will start accepting food stamps for grocery delivery in 2024 (The Verge) This is one of those stories that first flashes warnings of “Soylent Green is People.” But, when you remember Instacart, Aldi, Walmart, Amazon Prime, and Kroger all provide this functionality, it’s more that Uber is showing up late & broke for the party. Kind of like when you take an Uber to a party in Brooklyn these days.

King celebrates Candy Crush Saga’s 15,000th level and $20B in revenue (VentureBeat) 15,000 levels, $20,000,000,000 in revenue, one of the most popular and successful games of all time. But people “don’t spend money on cell phone games,” right?

Rich Men North of Richmond (Thoughts From a Small Town Lawyer) My old friend Joe Zlatnik is a staunch advocate and tough-as-nails defense lawyer. Having moved out of NYC to Pittsfield, MA, he’s seen the last decade from a small town, defending those who needed it the most. His thoughts about honest workers being left behind explain perfectly with the conditions that Trump exploited to get elected. The Democratic party stopped caring about our small towns in the 70s & 80s, and we’ve been paying for it ever since.

The Complete Y Chromosome Marks an Opportunity to Move Away from Stigma (Scientific American) This science update comes from another Factual Dispatch reader & friend. Mr. Donohue’s reminder that we just invented the idea of “Dual Y Chromosome = DOES ALL THE CRIME” in the 60s, with geneticists and science communicators spending the intervening decades trying to shake Americans out of this notion.

Curious Canine in Brazil Turns Out to Be a First-of-Its-Kind Hybrid (Science Alert) New dog x pampas fox, called a dogxim just dropped, and shockingly, it’s not a Supreme re-issue.

Quote of the Week

For hearts long lost and full of fright,For those along in blackest night,Accept our ring and join our fight,Love conquers all, with violet light.~Violet Lantern Corps Oath, DC Comics

Vibe of the Week

A kid named Jin San Kim virtuosos all over a guitar to perform a piece named “Crow.” My favorite bit of the video is when the camera zooms in on the judges, who are all in varied states of awe, appreciation, and shock at what they are watching. Talent like this doesn’t come along very often, you’ll see when you play it.

Keep your head up,T