Althouse: At the Bumble Bee Café...

1 ઑક્ટોબર, 2026

At the Bumble Bee Café...

... you can talk about whatever you want.

123 ટિપ્પણીઓ:

Ann Althouse કહ્યું...: We were rained out of the sunrise today. Rained out all day in fact. This is a picture I took yesterday. Didn't realize there was a bee in it until later.; 1/10/26 06:34 PM
tcrosse કહ્યું...: Having just returned from a trip which took me to Budapest, Vienna, and Prague, I was struck by the lack of street people and homeless in these three cities. This suggests that there is a serious shortage of fentanyl in central Europe.; 1/10/26 06:46 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit કહ્યું...: Video: What did Talarico say? about trans kids? It's like a super AI Chain-of-Thought that only AI understands. Anybody knows the code?
I took "I'm going to have your love one's back" to mean he's for allowing boys to play against girls in schools.; 1/10/26 06:58 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit કહ્યું...: We may have had some victories in court, in pediatrics, and in the court of public opinion, but that trans kids fight is by no means over for the far left.; 1/10/26 07:02 PM
YoungHegelian કહ્યું...: This is basically out of nowhere, but as time goes by I find myself absolutely stunned by two aspects of the election of 2024 that no one, Republican or especially Democrat, seems to want to follow up on:
1) The Democratic Party just tossing a sitting president who is the official candidate aside after 15 million Democrats had voted for him in the primaries. I mean, is that not one of the most anti-democratic moves in US history or what? If I was a Democratic voter, I'd be madder than a wet hen. I mean, like leaning towards violence mad. But, from the Democratic establishment and voters, not a peep. WTF?
2) How did the Harris campaign spend between 1.5 & 2 billion dollars in 103 days, and still do such an awful job? Where did that money go? If I was a Democratic donor, it would be never again a single penny. My thoughts are that the Dems knew that the Harris campaign was a train wreck and that her candidacy was a Democratic money laundering operation pretending to be a candidacy. I also think the lack of transparency about where the funds went is a big reason why the DNC is flat broke before a mid-term .; 1/10/26 07:03 PM
Jim at કહ્યું...: *Having just returned from a trip which took me to Budapest, Vienna, and Prague, I was struck by the lack of street people and homeless in these three cities. This suggests that there is a serious shortage of fentanyl in central Europe.*

My wife just got back from 10 days in Croatia. She admitted it took awhile to get used to NOT seeing the streets filled with homeless junkies.

In fact, she can't recall seeing even one.; 1/10/26 07:21 PM
Narr કહ્યું...: I'm jealous, tcrosse. You are right about mittileuropaeisch social controls--they are especially sensitive to tourist opinion.

When we were in Prague in '19 there were a few bums and beggars around the church doors, but no urban zombies. On the way to the airport on our last morning, I spotted a little enclave of tents and trailers in a wooded area away from the road, but they could have been Roma for all I knew, and didn't look quite as squalid as what is so common here.

Budapest is still on our list.; 1/10/26 07:30 PM
tcrosse કહ્યું...: While in Budapest I toured the great synagogue, the one whose restoration was bankrolled by Tony Curtis (a Hungarian Jew). In the courtyard there was a display of eminent Hungarian Jews in the Arts, Letters, and Sciences. It is quite a cohort, but most of them achieved their considerable achievements outside of Hungary. No indication of how many were observant, which would not have mattered to the Nazis.; 1/10/26 07:38 PM
chickelit કહ્યું...: "1) The Democratic Party just tossing a sitting president who is the official candidate aside after 15 million Democrats had voted for him in the primaries. I mean, is that not one of the most anti-democratic moves in US history or what?"

You didn't get the memo did you? Harris was never supposed to stand for election. The plan all along was for Joe to pull her over the finish line and then he was supposed to resign for whatever reason, putting Her--Obama's choice--in place. But ol' Joe blew it at that debate and the DNC leaders panicked: They knew she was unelectable but they had no choice but to buy votes. Whence the spending. And here we are.

The DNC leadership is fully on board with leadership by committee. With a figurehead POTUS. They haven't yet decided on a leader for 2028. They are waiting to read the race/ethnicity results of who wins/votes this fall. It could be anyone as long as they are not male AND white.; 1/10/26 07:40 PM
Saint Croix કહ્યું...: I love this ad.; 1/10/26 07:53 PM
JaimeRoberto કહ્યું...: Central European countries don't have a problem locking up crazies and junkies.; 1/10/26 07:58 PM
Zavier Onasses કહ્યું...: Seems the students are holding peaceful demonstrations in France, torching schools, school busses, fire trucks, firemen. Most all the students are wearing the school uniform - black pants, black hoodie, black mask.; 1/10/26 08:01 PM
Zavier Onasses કહ્યું...: Seems students are holding peaceful protests in France - torching schools, school busses, fire trucks, firemen, etc. Most are wearing the school uniform - black pants, black hoodie, black mask.; 1/10/26 08:03 PM
YoungHegelian કહ્યું...: @chickelit,

"The DNC leadership is fully on board with leadership by committee."

I believe the proper word is "leadership by politburo". This was some seriously Soviet level shit.; 1/10/26 08:06 PM
Vance કહ્યું...: Meanwhile, Democrats are cheering as the Iranian military releases a plea for Americans to vote Democrat so Iranians can continue to murder women, children, and Jews because Democrats will support them in all of that.

note that Democrats scream about Russian interference!!!! but are juuuust happy and fine with open Iranian meddling on their behalf.; 1/10/26 08:09 PM
Zavier Onasses કહ્યું...: I remember "If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor." Most of the ones I liked quit their practice after the Afraudable Care Act settled in. So I did not get to keep them.; 1/10/26 08:10 PM
Christopher B કહ્યું...: Republican campaigns have been money laundering operations for years. Remember the guy who spent $130 million to net 3 delegates in 2016, and I'm pretty sure he wasn't the first one burning through tons of cash for no effect (McCain's botch job of a campaign comes to mind, as well). Democrat consultants have probably been taking notes.

To your first point, I've thought for years the Democrats haven't run a clean primary since at least 1992, with some exceptions for nominating sitting Presidents at least until 2024 and bowing to the inevitable in 2008. Their primary voters know they are just going through the motions of recording votes for whichever candidate will have a path to the nomination cleared by the powers that be.; 1/10/26 08:22 PM
Peachy+2 કહ્યું...: The democrats are 100% Soviet. 100%.; 1/10/26 08:24 PM
Peachy+2 કહ્યું...: Lovely fall flowers.; 1/10/26 08:25 PM
Political Junkie કહ્યું...: For the sports fans here.....
Just saw that Bob Griese was not only a damn good guarterback in high school, but also damn good at basketball, and baseball.
Griese in college was a star in football, of course, but he also went 12-1 one year on the baseball team, and played guard on the baseball team.
Wow.; 1/10/26 08:26 PM
narciso કહ્યું...: Cool flowers
https://notthebee.com/article/michigan-removes-more-than-20000-sex-offenders-from-registry-including-the-infamous-larry-nassar; 1/10/26 08:30 PM
narciso કહ્યું...: https://x.com/Anc_Aesthetics/status/2105502057679495341; 1/10/26 08:31 PM
narciso કહ્યું...: Cornyn like a rattlesnake; 1/10/26 08:32 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit કહ્યું...: "1) The Democratic Party just tossing a sitting president who is the official candidate aside after 15 million Democrats had voted for him in the primaries."

If true that they stole the 2020 Presidential from Trump, installing Joe, to then steal it from Joe was like taking a lollypop from a palliative care patient, which is just as solid as... Joe Biden. Paraphrasing Yogi Berra's commercial.; 1/10/26 08:37 PM
Iman કહ્યું...: “Meanwhile, Democrats are cheering as the Iranian military releases a plea for Americans to vote Democrat so Iranians can continue to murder women, children, and Jews because Democrats will support them in all of that.”

Those Democrats colluding with the enemy during war are scum-sucking traitors. They’ll deserve all that comes their way.; 1/10/26 08:37 PM
Mason G કહ્યું...: "According to the Eaton County (Michigan) Prosecutor's Office, the 63-year-old [Larry Nassar] is among more than 20,000 people whose names have been removed from the sex offender list after the Michigan State Police recently purged thousands of individuals from the database whose crimes happened before July 1, 2011."

No word on when the purging of voter rolls will occur. Pro-tip: Don't hold your breath waiting.; 1/10/26 08:39 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit કહ્યું...: Is that because if they are in the rolls, they are not permitted to vote?; 1/10/26 08:46 PM
Curious George કહ્યું...: "Political Junkie said...
For the sports fans here.....
Just saw that Bob Griese was not only a damn good guarterback in high school, but also damn good at basketball, and baseball.
Griese in college was a star in football, of course, but he also went 12-1 one year on the baseball team, and played guard on the baseball team.
Wow."

This is common.; 1/10/26 08:47 PM
Mason G કહ્યું...: "Is that because if they are in the rolls, they are not permitted to vote?"

No. I was commenting on the fact the state can manage to get sexual predators removed from an offender list but they can't seem to be bothered getting ineligible voters removed from the voting rolls.; 1/10/26 08:51 PM
James K કહ્યું...: Political Junkie: Not to diminish Griese, but a lot of star pro athletes were multi-sports stars in high school and college. Just to name a couple off the top of my head: Danny Ainge was high school All-American in football, baseball, and basketball. Kirk Gibson was an All-American wide receiver with Michigan State, and I think only took up baseball in his junior year.; 1/10/26 08:54 PM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ કહ્યું...: Renee Good’s Family Sues ICE Agent and Top Officials Over Minnesota Killing ~ NYT

This lawsuit didn’t come out of nowhere—it was made inevitable by the federal government’s refusal to conduct a serious, independent investigation. When DHS closes ranks and the Trump administration won’t provide a credible public accounting of a fatal shooting by their own agent, the family is left with the courts as the only meaningful avenue for answers and accountability.; 1/10/26 08:54 PM
Josephbleau કહ્યું...: I posted on an earlier thread:

In the Libya war of Obama and Hillary, US air war lasted eight months—from February to October 2011. Gaddafi was killed on October 20.

oil prices rose sharply when the 2011 Libyan war began. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that Brent crude rose $15 per barrel between February 18 and March 2, as the market lost about 1.5 million barrels a day of Libyan exports.

So we have a great “partisan President is bad” on Iran, but had “cheers of enthusiasm” on a war of choice by a democrats. That is impossible to justify except that saying democrats attack their opponents for doing things they gladly do themselves.; 1/10/26 08:55 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit કહ્યું...: Video : The socials killed the local legend

It's more than a gut feeling, this IS definitely different now.
Thou I have a gut feeling I heard this before 🤔; 1/10/26 08:56 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit કહ્યું...: The Mirror US: "Ben Affleck opens up about being robbed at knifepoint in Boston"

What could Ben Affleck possibly done now? 🤔; 1/10/26 09:06 PM
Peachy+2 કહ્યું...: Recommendation:
Netflix (I know I know)
Fauda
episodes 7 and 8 , everyone should watch it.; 1/10/26 09:07 PM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ કહ્યું...: Libya is a fair criticism of Obama, but it weakens the “𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘺𝘱𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘴” argument. In 2011, 63% of Americans said the U.S. had no responsibility to act, 77% opposed bombing Libyan air defenses, and 82% opposed sending troops. The U.S. also transferred operational command to NATO in April, leaving America in a primarily supporting role rather than an independent eight-month air war.
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2011/03/14/public-wary-of-military-intervention-in-libya/

Criticizing Democratic support for Libya is valid, but using it to dismiss criticism of a vastly different current war is whataboutism. Apply the same standards—clear objectives, congressional authorization, and an exit strategy to every president, including Obama.; 1/10/26 09:07 PM
Peachy+2 કહ્યું...: Dems want the thugs of Iran to hold on.; 1/10/26 09:08 PM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ કહ્યું...: આ ટિપ્પણી લેખક દ્વારા દૂર કરવામાં આવી છે.; 1/10/26 09:13 PM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ કહ્યું...: @ Josephbleau: Credit where it’s due: you managed to invoke Libya without mentioning Benghazi or Hillary’s emails. Standards are low, but I recognize the achievement.; 1/10/26 09:15 PM
Josephbleau કહ્યું...: I always aim to please, IEE.; 1/10/26 09:30 PM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ કહ્યું...: Trump's next war will be with the bond market. Those vigilantes are tough cookies.; 1/10/26 09:41 PM
Iman કહ્યું...: “This lawsuit didn’t come out of nowhere…”

May ICE be upon ALL of these mutts, Inexcusable Enema Exhibitions™️.; 1/10/26 09:41 PM
Bushman of the Kohlrabi કહ્યું...: Let’s be honest. If you were leading the Iranian military, you would be rooting for the Democrats too.; 1/10/26 09:54 PM
Dr Weevil કહ્યું...: આ ટિપ્પણી લેખક દ્વારા દૂર કરવામાં આવી છે.; 1/10/26 09:55 PM
Dr Weevil કહ્યું...: An expert on the bond markets who still hasn't figured how not to put forbidden italics in his posts? If he can't figure out something that simple, what are the chances he could possibly understand something complex like the bond market?; 1/10/26 09:56 PM
Mason G કહ્યું...: A French woman tells one of the second and third-generation migrant rioter no to vandalize her city

He responds by trying to set her face on fire

https://x.com/visegrad24/status/2105775744320184678; 1/10/26 09:58 PM
Original Mike કહ્યું...: "Let’s be honest. If you were leading the Iranian military, you would be rooting for the Democrats too."

It's not the IRGC rooting for the democrats that's so odius, it's the democrats rooting for the IRGC.; 1/10/26 09:59 PM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ કહ્યું...: Mortgage Rates Surge, Notching Largest Weekly Gain in Four Years ~ WSJ
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 7.28% 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘯𝘥-𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵

It’s almost like electing Donald Trump as president was some kind of error.; 1/10/26 10:02 PM
Gospace કહ્યું...: The Democrats cannot comment on the IRGC letter urging support for the Democrats. Haven't heard a peep from any of them- because anything they say can and will be used against them.

They can't criticize the letter- it loses them a significant part of their voting bloc.

That cannot say "Hey! We can bring this war to and end! Our enemies want to work with US!" That's a losing statement virtually everywhere except NYC, CA, and Dearborn MI.

And ignoring it? Even that's not viable. When Republicans start using it- their only hope is the media pouring on the "Republican's Pounce Card." to deflect from the simple fact the enemy supporting them is really real.

Right now most voters in the USA haven't herd of this. Before election day, one way or another, they will. Problem for the Republicans with the letter is - most voters initial reaction is going to be "This isn't really real, is it?" and the media will try to tell them "Not really." I understand that becomes problem with quoting actual things Democrats have said to uninformed voters. What they say is just too nonsensical for normies to believe someone actually said the things they say.; 1/10/26 10:03 PM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ કહ્યું...: Bond investors are explicitly pricing their assessment of the state’s fiscal position and repayment risk.

It’s funny how a lack of confidence in a state’s ability to repay its debt can somehow be portrayed as a perfectly normal consequence of a red-hot, booming economy.

And yes, the economy is being juiced by a U.S. government deficit approaching 6% of GDP. That’s borrowing from tomorrow to make today’s numbers look better—spending the kids’ money on today’s groceries.; 1/10/26 10:12 PM
Jim at કહ્યું...: *It's not the IRGC rooting for the democrats that's so odius, it's the democrats rooting for the IRGC.*

Quoted for truth.

A true fifth column.
It will have to be dealt with sooner or later. There's really no way around it.; 1/10/26 10:36 PM
Josephbleau કહ્યું...: 1. Quantitative easing after the housing crisis of 2008 kept interest rates low, below 3%. This set expectations that normal 6 to 8% mortgage rates are oppressive rather than normal.

2. The necessary unwind of QE to normalize the economy causes rates to return to historic norms but consumers see this as an unacceptable change.

3. There is no way either party can keep mortgage rates below 3% for the long term when inflation targets are 2%.

4. Claiming that the outcome is due to poor policy by the Trump Administration ignores the long term trajectory of the issue, and only promotes the false promise that Democrats have any credible policy to go back to low rates.

5. The solution can be found in long term changes in budget and entitlement structure that are only possible by bipartisan cooperation, because the first mover is going to be destroyed politically as a thief of benefits.; 1/10/26 10:44 PM
Prof. M. Drout કહ્યું...: If AI is such a truly wonderful and empowering tool, why are the cult-recruiting tactics necessary? Why wine and dine a bunch of religious leaders--and make them sign NDAs--so you can try to convince them that your AI is conscious? Why are orgies and prostitution apparently a significantly enough part of the lives of some of the "AI community" in SF that they feel the need to defend these things in public? Why does every single executive in the AI industry come across as a creepy weirdo and every lower-level person interviewed sound like they have multiple mental illness diagnoses?; 1/10/26 10:51 PM
Prof. M. Drout કહ્યું...: My tentative answer: What people have created by the way they are 'training' their LLMs is not Artificial General Intelligence, but interfaces that have, though absolutely relentless selection pressure, become so exquisitely tailored to the desires of their users that the people in the social circle on which they were trained are unable to resist their pull. The weirdos at Anthropic probably do believe that their LLM is a conscious being, not because it has general intelligence or is anything other than a word-shuffler, but because it has become so optimized to please that they are defenseless against its blandishments. Perhaps the reason so many of the people working in AI are so weird--but don't give off the 'strange-but-genius' vibe of earlier tech leaders like Bryn or Musk--is that socially maladjusted people with multiple mental illnesses are particularly vulnerable to being addicted to the fake social validation that AI provides.; 1/10/26 10:52 PM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ કહ્યું...: You have to look at what the growth is made up of before deciding whether it’s healthy or sustainable.

Here’s what Trading Economics says about the recent “strong growth”: “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘱𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘹𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 (𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴) 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.”

In other words, a significant part of the recent investment boom is being driven by the extraordinary buildout of AI/data-center infrastructure.

That’s worth examining more closely. Data centers require enormous upfront capital investment, while the computing equipment inside them has a much shorter economic life than the infrastructure itself. Much of the buildout is also being financed with debt.

And there is another wrinkle: some of the financing and commercial relationships in the AI ecosystem are becoming increasingly circular. AI companies invest in other AI companies that then spend money on AI infrastructure, chips and services. That doesn’t make the revenue or GDP contribution fictitious, but it does make it harder to determine how much of the apparent demand is ultimately being supported by independent end-user cash flow.

So the question isn’t simply whether GDP is growing. It’s whether this investment boom can generate enough economic returns to justify the enormous amount of capital being committed to it.

If the pace of data-center investment or the availability of credit slows sharply, one of the economy’s major sources of investment growth could reverse. An investment boom that requires continually increasing investment to sustain itself isn’t necessarily evidence of a healthy, self-sustaining expansion.

Fortunately, Elon says AI will eventually mean nobody has to work, so I’m sure this time is different.; 1/10/26 11:04 PM
Iman કહ્યું...: One reads these plagiarized posts from the likes of Inexcusable Enema Exhibitions™️.and posts of the other mincing supporters of the thieving, fraud-fueled Democrat Party and one might think the Dems didn’t create most, if not all, of the “affordability issues”, the deep hole they put these United States of America in with their policies, thievery and moronic priorities.

Or that they have an answer, or even a single clue about corrective action that should be taken.

They, most assuredly, do NOT. Wherever there’s a Democrat, there is much fuckery afoot.; 1/10/26 11:18 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit કહ્યું...: There is a free "SELF-PACED COURSE" via BlueDot Impact .

The Future of AI
"An introduction to what AI can do today, where it's going over the next decade, and how you can start contributing to a better future."

I've signed up. It says it can be completed in hours.; 1/10/26 11:22 PM
Josephbleau કહ્યું...: This is not the first time nations have had massive buildouts of new untested technology. The ancient Romans spent massively on good roads and were highly rewarded. England and America spent massively on railroads, and mostly the original investors went broke due to capital costs and sold out for 25 cents in the dollar, and the new companies made a fortune, making the national productivity explode.

The internet was mixed, fiber com companies over built but Microsoft, Apple and google are still there. So if ai data centers do overspend in capital the assets will be bought out and new companies will prosper. Perhaps that is why current companies want government to step in and promote ai will kill us all. To get a secure monopoly.

So the data centers will be running either before or after bankruptcy. And will expand productivity like the railroads, or they will die out.; 1/10/26 11:39 PM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ કહ્યું...: The scale of this is easy to miss. The St. Louis Fed estimates that four AI-related investment categories—information processing equipment, software, R&D and data centers accounted for roughly 39% of total U.S. real GDP growth during the first three quarters of 2025.
https://www.stlouisfed.org/on-the-economy/2026/jan/tracking-ai-contribution-gdp-growth

That doesn’t mean AI is 39% of the economy. It means something more interesting: AI-related investment has become extraordinarily important to the economy’s marginal growth.

So when you look at the enormous buildout of chips, data centers and supporting infrastructure and the debt and investment financing behind it, the question isn’t whether AI contributes to GDP. Obviously it does. The question is how sustainable that contribution is if the pace of AI investment eventually slows.

That seems like a pretty important consideration when evaluating an economic growth story built increasingly around keeping that investment cycle going.; 1/10/26 11:45 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit કહ્યું...: France is burning.

Again.; 1/10/26 11:47 PM
Josephbleau કહ્યું...: IEE, the spending on US steel production in 1900 was an equally great part of and boost to the economy. That’s what nations do to grow and make their populations wealthy. AI spending is exactly that, no more no less, steel fed a large portion of America for 100 years, will AI? Who knows,, but if not there will be something else.; 2/10/26 12:03 AM
Not an oldster. કહ્યું...: Hey... didn't your son John go to Cornell?

Lol.; 2/10/26 01:32 AM
Jim at કહ્યું...: Pulled from a great post:

*This set expectations that normal 6 to 8% mortgage rates are oppressive rather than normal.*

We're still in our first house. 1998. Still borrowing against it when needs arise.

I busted my hump on a side gig - to buy a point - in order to get us down to 6.15%.; 2/10/26 02:06 AM
Jim at કહ્યું...: *“affordability issues”*

The $25 door dash coffee has entered the chat ....; 2/10/26 02:11 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) કહ્યું...: When GDP growth exceeds 5% as it’s heading for now then 6-7% mortgages will be easy to service because wages will rise with the booming economy.; 2/10/26 04:48 AM
Saint Croix કહ્યું...: I woke up this morning, and my brain was working on this problem. "What is the difference between shit and shat? Why do I like one of these words, and not like the other?"

And the answer (my brain is fast -- maybe not always right, but fast), is that I don't like this "shit" word because it's dirty and messy. There's work to be done. Got to clean up now. Wash your hands. It's just not a good word.

Shat, on the other hand? It's in the past. It's all over. We can laugh about it now.

Is your name "Will Shit"? I'm like, "Don't sit next to me."

"Will Shat" is amusing. I like Will Shat. This is going to be funny.; 2/10/26 04:51 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) કહ્યું...: After nine months of growth at twice the historical average, the manufacturing index is above 54. There is an economic boom underway and all the Big Media doomerism can’t hide the highest rate of growth ever recorded in America. AI optimists OTOH see possible 10% YoY growth as the data and manufacturing sectors help each other.

They couldn’t “hide the decline” way back when and they won’t be able to hide the growth and all credit goes to Trump and his tariff and manufacturing policies.; 2/10/26 05:10 AM
rcommal કહ્યું...: What Josephbleau said at 10:44 p.m. I try and say this IRL all the time re: mortgage rates, but...deaf ears.; 2/10/26 05:26 AM
Lawnerd કહ્યું...: The Democrats are 100% Soviet.

What an insipidly stupid comment. On par with calling Republicans 100% Nazi. We can do better, or maybe we can’t.; 2/10/26 05:27 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) કહ્યું...: So this peaceful orderly withdrawal from Iraq, one of the handful of Forever Wars that Trump inherited from the Biden-Obama-Bush wing of the Democrat Party, should buy him a little time to complete his work ending another Forever War that has plagued America since the Carter administration.; 2/10/26 05:35 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) કહ્યું...: I’m amazed that the IRGC letter reads like a DNC/DSA mashup of typical anti-American bullshit regurgitated in freshman university courses at Columbia. Exactly like that. Maybe it’ll help Al-Sayed and maybe not.

It certainly makes clear that the IRGC and DNC are “on the same page” going into the midterms.; 2/10/26 05:44 AM
rcommal કહ્યું...: [begin virtual italics]Lawnerd said...
The Democrats are 100% Soviet.

What an insipidly stupid comment. On par with calling Republicans 100% Nazi. We can do better, or maybe we can’t.[end virtual italics]

Whether we can or can't, the bottom line is that we won't. Too baked in at this point, and it's a sad and destructive state of affairs, but here we are.; 2/10/26 05:46 AM
narciso કહ્યું...: Plagiarizing like bin laden was doing old msnbc scripts; 2/10/26 06:00 AM
Saint Croix કહ્યું...: Death to America!

Vote Democrat

I don't think these bumper stickers ought to be on the same car. That's not going to work.

Basic problem with one-party states is that they have no idea how to campaign for votes. Did you hire a political consultant to help with this?

You ought to call up the DNC and ask for advice on how to defeat Trump. "Send us some money," the DNC replies.; 2/10/26 06:19 AM
n.n કહ્યું...: The Nazis were Pro-Choice, Diversity, and redistributive Change.; 2/10/26 06:23 AM
narciso કહ્યું...: Like this caldera fellow who wanted to shoot up the texas capo
pital because aipac oh righty that; 2/10/26 06:24 AM
Achilles કહ્યું...: Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ said...

You have to look at what the growth is made up of before deciding whether it’s healthy or sustainable.

LOL! The retard speaks.

How is your Tesla stock doing?

You have been wrong about everything. It is entertaining to watch you just say stupid things over and over and over again and never actually have a thought above 85 IQ.

You are a bot copying and pasting bloomberg and chatham house slop and you don't even know who you are parroting.; 2/10/26 06:25 AM
Saint Croix કહ્યું...: Iranian student confronts El-Sayed in a town hall.; 2/10/26 06:29 AM
narciso કહ્યું...: Reminds of semanticleo dana ward emeritus professor pomona; 2/10/26 06:33 AM
Saint Croix કહ્યું...: That links not working, let's try this one.; 2/10/26 06:33 AM
Humperdink કહ્યું...: “The Democrats are 100% Soviet.”

“What an insipidly stupid comment”

I dunno, look at their voting patterns, Some Commie Dems are intentional in their choice to be Commies, the rest of the Dems are just following like lemmings.

I have tried to steer Dems from their choice. The response I get? “I’ve always voted Democrat.”; 2/10/26 06:41 AM
Saint Croix કહ્યું...: The NYT makes Josh Blackman feel like a scoundrel.

Roberts has a liberal daughter and she loves her dad. She confronted the protestors. "What do you hope to accomplish?" That's blue-talk for "you are so stupid." I love a blue-on-blue uppity smackdown from a daughter who loves her dad.; 2/10/26 06:43 AM
Saint Croix કહ્યું...: “The Democrats are 100% Soviet.”

I see the DNC as 80% Trotsky and 20% Stalin.; 2/10/26 06:46 AM
Achilles કહ્યું...: Mamdani is getting into the slumlord business in New York City.

He is the most efficient slumlord I have seen in a while.

Apparently he is going to fix the 1150 or so apartments owned by NYC but he needs over 500,000$ per apartment to do it.

Democrats are retards. People that vote for them are retards.

You are just stupid people.

Voter ID and paper ballots and purple thumbs and democrats get 40% of the vote nationwide tops.; 2/10/26 06:51 AM
Achilles કહ્યું...: Saint Croix said...

“The Democrats are 100% Soviet.”

I see the DNC as 80% Trotsky and 20% Stalin.

They are teamed up with big oil, the banks, and the tech oligopolies so there is at least 30% Hitler in there too.; 2/10/26 06:52 AM
n.n કહ્યું...: "Trotskyism is a specific branch of Trotskyism" h/t Genesis AI; 2/10/26 06:53 AM
Saint Croix કહ્યું...: I forgot about the blue dogs!

79% Trotsky
19% Stalin
2% Blue Dogs; 2/10/26 06:54 AM
n.n કહ્યું...: ... and the [Novel] Green Blight. Arbitrage in choice. Super Delegates!, too; 2/10/26 06:56 AM
Humperdink કહ્યું...: I hear there are extremists on both sides. I am curious if the loyal opposition *cough* could identify some far right positions that weren’t main stream a few decades ago.; 2/10/26 07:05 AM
n.n કહ્યું...: Far-right? Libertarians are classical liberals tempered by the religion of the invisible hand; which is necessary and sufficient for persons of moral character, without ethical states. Oh, far-far-right or anarchist is leftist in practice.; 2/10/26 07:11 AM
Saint Croix કહ્યું...: "79% Trotsky" is so accurate, I don't even think liberals will complain about that shit. They don't want to bad-mouth Trotsky.

It's fun to read those old NYT articles with their pro-Stalin bias. Trotsky in Disgrace.

What a Communist soap opera the NYT was in 1924.

"there was only one man of outstanding ability among the leaders, and that was STALIN."; 2/10/26 07:12 AM
Gerda Sprinchorn કહ્યું...: Busy commenter day today. I wonder why.; 2/10/26 07:14 AM
n.n કહ્યું...: Come to the center where conservation in moderation rule.; 2/10/26 07:15 AM
Saint Croix કહ્યું...: I swear, I read that whole article for free. And now they put up a Berlin pay-wall overnight. Commies are swift with the walls when they want to be.; 2/10/26 07:16 AM
Saint Croix કહ્યું...: આ ટિપ્પણી લેખક દ્વારા દૂર કરવામાં આવી છે.; 2/10/26 07:18 AM
n.n કહ્યું...: TGIF LOL 😆 LoL ❤; 2/10/26 07:19 AM
Saint Croix કહ્યું...: And now the wall's down again!

It's like there's a hole in the Berlin wall. And I'm like, "are they going to shoot me? Should I run across?" The NYT hates ICE agents, unless they are working for Moscow.

The Communist motto: "You can come in but nobody can leave."; 2/10/26 07:19 AM
Peachy+2 કહ્યું...: આ ટિપ્પણી લેખક દ્વારા દૂર કરવામાં આવી છે.; 2/10/26 07:21 AM
Peachy+2 કહ્યું...: Lawnerd.
Democrats are:
60% Soviet
40% $ mob

fixed. These are the people at the top. The D- Central Committee and Politburo. Not all democrat voters are soviet mobsters. But they vote soviet mobster.; 2/10/26 07:21 AM
Peachy+2 કહ્યું...: 5:35 Mike
Right? Indeed.; 2/10/26 07:26 AM
Saint Croix કહ્યું...: The all-caps stylings of the NYT in 1924. We're so excited about Communism, we're going to shout all the names. It's like Duranty is calling a Communist horse race.

KAMENEFF ("man of little force")
ZINOVIEFF ("only a highly gifted soap-boxer")
STALIN ("silent man as well as a strong one")

All the News That's Fit To Print; 2/10/26 07:29 AM
Peachy+2 કહ્યું...: The democrat base, made up of emotional grade-schoolers and economic illiterates (buttressed by a mob-D cheat machine) - vote for this economic insanity.; 2/10/26 07:29 AM
rehajm કહ્યું...: …we’re seeing under 6 percent, closer to 5.5 but we’re special…maybe shot bus special but at least getting a good rate; 2/10/26 07:38 AM
Peachy+2 કહ્યું...: wow. How long will this story go on?

When Islamic nations are sick to death of the Hamas bullcrap.; 2/10/26 07:38 AM
Peachy+2 કહ્યું...: Highest concentrations of D Soviet-Mob are DC, VA, NY, CA, MN, OR, WA, CO. Spreads like cancer.; 2/10/26 07:41 AM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ કહ્યું...: Josephbleau writes: ..𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘜𝘚 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 1900 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘺.

The steel analogy is actually fair but it doesn’t answer the question.

Steel was enormously important because it became an input into an enormous range of productive activities: railroads, buildings, machinery, automobiles, infrastructure, etc. The same could ultimately be true of AI.

But that’s precisely the question: will the enormous capital being invested in AI generate comparable downstream economic returns?

The St. Louis Fed estimates that AI-related investment accounted for 39% of U.S. real GDP growth in the first three quarters of 2025 -- more than the comparable technology investment categories contributed during the 2000 dot-com boom. It also notes that the contribution fell sharply in Q3 even though the level of AI investment remained elevated, because the rate of investment growth slowed.

So nobody is arguing that AI spending isn’t “real GDP.” It is. The issue is whether we’re looking at the beginning of a productivity revolution like steel or an investment boom whose economic returns ultimately fail to justify the capital being poured into it.

“Who knows?” is actually the important part. The historical analogy doesn’t prove that AI will be the next steel. It just tells us what we need to find out.; 2/10/26 08:19 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit કહ્યું...: Saint Croix said...@4:51
I had a friend who preferred Italian swear words.
Merda for Shit.
When someone would cut her off on the road she would say Fanculo – fuck you!

She was not Italian. I don't know if it was a direct result of her usage, but I started saying Puck, for Fuck, to myself, in my mind. I mean I've never vociferously react when frustrated. I just wouldn't. I don't know why. But to this day Puck has stuck. the moment I realize, I just drove past my exit for gas at Costco for example.; 2/10/26 08:27 AM
Breezy કહ્યું...: https://nypost.com/2026/09/28/us-news/nithya-raman-takes-lead-over-karen-bass-in-new-la-mayors-race-odds/

LOL…. Karma doesn’t care about your politics.; 2/10/26 08:29 AM
Leland કહ્યું...: Neither do the fentanyl users on skid row.; 2/10/26 08:46 AM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ કહ્યું...: આ ટિપ્પણી લેખક દ્વારા દૂર કરવામાં આવી છે.; 2/10/26 09:00 AM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ કહ્યું...: Here’s a fun stat for anyone curious about orbital data centers:
And there’s a rather striking implication: Google analysis estimates that if SpaceX's historical launch-cost learning curve continues, Starship would need to launch roughly 1,800 launches over 10 years = 180 launches per year, or about 3.5 launches every week. TechCrunch correctly highlights that this is an enormous operational assumption.

Google thinks SpaceX’s Starship has to launch 1,800 times before space data centers get off the ground ~ TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/01/google-thinks-spacexs-starship-has-to-launch-1600-times-before-space-data-centers-get-off-the-ground/; 2/10/26 09:07 AM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ કહ્યું...: US economy added 29,000 jobs in September, a slower pace than expected ~ FOX Business
𝘋𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘓𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘚𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 2026 𝘫𝘰𝘣𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵

𝘗𝘢𝘺𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘑𝘶𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘈𝘶𝘨𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘺 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 60,000 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘑𝘶𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 10,000 𝘫𝘰𝘣𝘴.𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 4.2 𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 4.1 𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘈𝘶𝘨𝘶𝘴𝘵.

The September jobs report looks weaker than the headline comparison with August alone suggests. Payroll growth slowed to just 29,000, July was revised to a loss of 10,000, and July and August together were revised down by another 60,000. So this is not simply one disappointing monthly print. The broader pattern is that job creation has been running close to stall speed for several months, while the unusually strong August number now looks increasingly like an outlier.

The weakness is coming mainly from hiring, not firing. Companies are reluctant to add workers, but they are not cutting existing staff aggressively. The gap between ADP, which reported 90,000 private jobs, and the BLS private payroll figure of only 46,000 also shows why ADP should not be treated as a direct proxy for the official payroll report.

The article is therefore right to caution against declaring a labor market collapse from one report, but the problem is also more serious than one soft month. The revisions, sector mix, weak hiring breadth, and slower wage growth all point in the same direction. The labor market is not breaking because layoffs are surging. It is weakening because hiring has become unusually scarce. That distinction matters for the Fed. The economy is not in free fall, but further tightening would be acting on a labor market that already has very little hiring momentum left.; 2/10/26 09:29 AM
Saint Croix કહ્યું...: આ ટિપ્પણી લેખક દ્વારા દૂર કરવામાં આવી છે.; 2/10/26 10:51 AM
Rustygrommet કહ્યું...: rich. Why don't you have your own website and you can post the stuff you lifted from other sites there. I read that SpaceX schtick from another website a week ago.; 2/10/26 11:25 AM
Saint Croix કહ્યું...: Lem, I like foreign cuss words. When I was a kid, those were the first words I would look up in my translator dictionary.

I've more or less trained my brain to avoid blasphemy. Even when I drop a rock on my foot. I curse a lot but my blasphemy count is really low.

In the Nero Wolfe books, Inspector Cramer was always saying, "Cheese and rice." I was like, why is he saying cheese and rice? And then I realized, it rhymed with Jesus Christ. He did a word substitution to avoid the blasphemy.; 2/10/26 11:27 AM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ કહ્યું...: @rusty, by “lifted”— you’re must be referring to having provided a link to the publication.. 🤣; 2/10/26 11:35 AM
Leland કહ્યું...: SpaceX has publicly stated (only need to watch 20 seconds) that in plans to fly Starship thousands of times a year. SpaceX requested from the FCC and other regulatory bodies to be able to have a constellation of 1 million AI1 Satellites. None of this is news nor information anyone needed from google or publications like techcrunch. SpaceX is constantly telling people what they are doing. You don't need to imagine what "striking implication" there may be, because SpaceX figured it out 7 years ago by their own admission. Glad google, techcrunch, and IEE finally caught up?; 2/10/26 12:57 PM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ કહ્યું...: Here’s a gift article you might find interesting:

SpaceX pivots away from space ~ FT
https://giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/actions/redeem/d1f3b1c1-056b-41e9-a55a-8f77146a7c2a

𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙗𝙖𝙨𝙚, 𝙬𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙢; 2/10/26 02:22 PM
Leland કહ્યું...: Bags of shit reporting are not gifts. You can keep your garbage.; 2/10/26 03:03 PM
rehajm કહ્યું...: “That’s borrowing from tomorrow to make today’s numbers look better—spending the kids’ money on today’s groceries.”

…I’m all for cuts in spending so long as we start with the trillion plus in entitlement fraud…; 2/10/26 03:51 PM
Josephbleau કહ્યું...: “ Google analysis estimates that if SpaceX's historical launch-cost learning curve continues, Starship would need to launch roughly 1,800 launches over 10 years = 180 launches per year, or about 3.5 launches every week. TechCrunch correctly highlights that this is an enormous operational assumption.”

When I hear about a front line company’s new technical program the first thing I do is go to one of their competitors, here google, and believe every word when one of their paid analysts tell me it will surely fail.; 2/10/26 05:56 PM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ કહ્યું...: JB — feel free to read the Financial Times gift article.; 2/10/26 06:45 PM
Josephbleau કહ્યું...: I’ll just use a heuristic,

Google wants me to know that Spacex will fail because:

A. Google wants to warn Spacex about making a big costly mistake.
B. Google wants to pressure Spacex to stop their program by casting shade.; 2/10/26 07:06 PM

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