I assume videos like this are scripted by someone other than the person on camera. Are these not commercials?

pic.twitter.com/4M5uNd6U0l

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 10, 2025

I watched the Super Bowl last night because I fell prey to the rumor that Elon Musk had spent $40 million of his own money on several pro-DOGE commercials that would air. That didn't happen, and I spent the evening viewing the actual commercials, which, by the way, were terrible.

They weren't funny. And since any damned thing you can think of — such as the singer Seal as an actual seal — you can make look "real," there's no wow factor in showing anything. And how many times was the narrative arc simply: 1. Wonder what this is an ad for? 2. Oh, yeah, that.

Anyway, propaganda for DOGE, yeah, why not? Let the anti-DOGE folk propagandize back. I'm sure there's some clever way to express the old anti-transparency idea. Maybe a glossy CGI take on the old metaphor of government as a sausage factory. You like the sausage well enough, so don't be looking inside.

I couldn’t understand Kendrick Lamar’s words but it seemed like a statement of anger against America — not really the "meaning" of the Super Bowl, whatever that's supposed to be.

Kendrick literally protested, and taunted America in front of the president during America’s biggest sports event. Chefs kiss. pic.twitter.com/5xmcQsIuuu

— Joy De’Angela (@joydeangela) February 10, 2025

Was this a metaphor? Divide the nation with rap music or something? I don’t get it. What was the assignment?

— 😵‍💫 (@Joshdr) February 10, 2025

I say get rid of nickels too. Let the dime be the smallest coin — not just physically but denominationally.

I saw Trump's Truth Social post: "For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies. Let's rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it's a penny at a time."

Then I read the hand-wringing in the NYT — "Trump Orders Treasury Secretary to Stop Minting Pennies/Can he do that? It’s not clear. But President Trump is right when he says that pennies 'literally cost us more than 2 cents'" — because they can't just say Thanks, Trump, thanks for doing what we've known for 40 years we needed to do but we couldn't do because some people whine about the nostalgic and symbolic value of the Lincoln-stamped copper-plated disc.

The NYT article says: "[T]he elimination of the penny will increase the demand for nickels, which are even more expensive to produce and distribute at 13.78 cents per coin, the organization said. (The dime is the smallest coin whose face value is greater than what it costs to produce.)"

To that I say, get rid of the nickel too! It's always been absurdly oversized, especially compared to the dime. With the penny and the nickel gone, the size and the value of the dime will finally merge. So aesthetically pleasing.

I feel a little sorry for the sector of America that feels that whatever Trump does must be bad. Can't they at least celebrate his action eliminating the penny? 

Last September, the NYT published the column "Abolish the Penny? Inside an intractable problem inside America’s change purses."

Sunrise — 7:05, 7:10, 7:15, 7:17.

Talk about whatever you want in the comments.

"With most describing him as 'tough,' 'energetic,' 'focused' and 'effective' — and as doing what he'd promised during his campaign — President Trump has started his term with net positive marks from Americans overall."

"Many say he's doing more than they expected — and of those who say this, most like what they see. Very few think he's doing less. His partisans and his voters, in particular, say he's got the right amount of focus on matters like ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs and deporting those who are in the country illegally...."

From "CBS News poll — Trump has positive approval amid 'energetic' opening weeks; seen as doing what he promised."

That was just so good for Trump that there was no way to spin it negative and CBS tells it straight.

"Success will bring the country together."

Said President Trump in his Super Bowl interview.

ADDED: Comment on all things Super Bowl. 

VIDEO:

pic.twitter.com/esjBwCjKOU

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 9, 2025

AND: About that half-time show:

Who's couping who?

I'm trying to read Raw Story, "'The feel of a coup': Elon Musk said to be poised to 'defy' major judicial order":

ADDED: More "coup" talk:

Swisher & Galloway are threatening talented, young software engineers who are gave up high compensation for death threats in order to help the American people.

Shame on Swisher & Galloway, cruel, mean & deceitful human beings that they are! https://t.co/50MdPfsOQl

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 8, 2025

Galloway envisions the legislative branch physically attacking the executive branch:

"I'd like to see all — whatever it is — 48 or 49 U.S. Senators and any Republicans who want to join, I'd like to see 100 members of Congress go to the fucking building where this is and demand to go in and physically stop this, and let them arrest you."

It's so January 6th. 

"Emilia Pérez & The New Gaza."

I tried to quote something from this, but it's impossible, and that's how it should be. Live inside it — inhabit it — or skip it altogether. You know which is right for you.

"Yesterday, I was told that there are currently over $100B/year of entitlements payments to individuals with no SSN or even a temporary ID number."

"If accurate, this is extremely suspicious. When I asked if anyone at Treasury had a rough guess for what percentage of that number is unequivocal and obvious fraud, the consensus in the room was about half, so $50B/year or $1B/week!! This is utterly insane and must be addressed immediately."

Tweeted Elon Musk.

Grok or ChatGPT — here's the one question that made the choice clear to me.

Here's ChatGPT:

And here's Grok:

Sunrise with ATV and UFO.

 

At 7:16 this morning, video'd from the shore of Lake Mendota.

"How horrifying it is on the regular."

I'm listening "Resistance, Where Art Thou?," the new episode of the NYT "Matter of Opinion" podcast. At 5:28 in the linked audio/transcript, Ross Douthat says:

From 2016 to 2020, there was a sense that there was a fundamental liberal, or at least center left majority in America that had been unfairly denied its rightful position of power and influence. And so it just made sense to say, we just need to mobilize.... [I]n the early days of 2017, and indeed throughout his presidency, [the White House] was filled with people who were not at all loyal to Donald Trump. Some of whom were just total opportunists, some of whom were sort of, you know, respectable Republican figures who felt like they were there to manage the weird, bizarre phenomenon of the Trump presidency. But those people played a very important role, a kind of feedback loop in driving the energy of the resistance by basically leaking constantly about how crazy things were inside the Trump White House.... [T]he teams that exist in the Trump White House this time have esprit de corps. They have internal loyalty and cohesion. And so whatever is going on... in the kind of Trumpian attempt to remake the executive branch, you know, people aren't interested in just telling Politico and The New York Times all about how horrifying it is on the regular.

By the way, I had a long conversation with Grok about the idiom "on the regular." I won't link to it. Have your own conversation with your own robot. 

I also wanted to quote this from Michelle Cottle: "There was a big piece in Politico saying, oh, you know, the Democrats are, are taking the bait by defending USAID, Americans hate USAID. They think that, you know, we give way too much money to people abroad and things like that. And... I, personally... I am much more familiar with the left critiques of USAID and the work that it's done around the world."

The left critiques of USAID. Where's the NYT article about that? When are we going to hear that side of the story? When — if — Elon Musk releases it into the public domain? Who wants to see that and who is desperately afraid?

"... Riley Gaines Barker, a 24-year-old former college swimmer whose sole issue is fighting trans people in women’s sports..."

I'm noticing this line in that much discussed New York Magazine article — "The Cruel Kids’ TableAmong the young, confident, and casually cruel Trumpers who, after conquering Washington, have their sights set on America."

Context:

“There would be no celebration tonight if it weren’t for the commitment of our keyboard warriors,” Alex Bruesewitz, who advised Trump on his social-media strategy, announced to the room. The honorees represented a hodgepodge of special interests. The list featured long-familiar pundits, including Ben Shapiro, as well as people nobody had heard of even three years ago, such as Riley Gaines Barker, a 24-year-old former college swimmer whose sole issue is fighting trans people in women’s sports. Bryce Hall, the 25-year-old boxer with 23 million TikTok followers who once dated Addison Rae, was at the bar, downing shot after shot of tequila. He wondered how many would be too many in the case that, as he had been told might be possible, he got a few minutes with Trump later in the night...."

The article came out on January 27th. Riley Gaines got what she'd fought for on February 5th. Is she a "sole issue" character who now fades from view? I see she framed it this way (on February 4th, on X): 

Things could've been so different. Gender insanity was the final straw that brought a lot of moderates to the side of common sense. Specifically, I believe it was the issue of men in women's sports.

If your "sole issue" is a wedge issue, you're not as obscure as New York Magazine would like to paint you.

"Barker" refers to her husband Louis Barker. He was born in England, and they met at the University of Kentucky, where he was also a swimmer.